Due to events going on elsewhere I've been thinking a lot about Coventry of late. Even though seeing that Coventry Now is being promoted as a 'shopping experience', which is not entirely what Coventry Then was about for us, this still brings back an overwhelming cascade of mostly positive memories:
A fun game: work out how many of the movies referenced you've actually seen, and further, read the source material for (when applicable). Game is most fun when it involves lots of loud geeks and also alcohol.
The biggest discovery during this Nostalgia Trip is discovering not only that Big Chuck and Li'l John have a website, but that Big Chuck wrote a book that dropped not too long ago!!!
You might have to be from where I'm from to understand the freak out over this discovery. You might also have to be of A Certain Age. For me it flows like this:
- Hoolihan & Big Chuck...
- Big Chuck & Little John...
- With The Ghoul (successor to Ghoulardi) woven throughout the transition...
- And me sprawled out on the floor in the basement, often with Dad behind me in his recliner, us either commentating on the hilarious events unfolding on the tv or me (mostly) silently enduring being lectured by Dad about big picture things for reasons I didn't fully understand at that time...
- With occasional playground fist fights with peers who said mean/racist things about Polish people sprinkled throughout those years.
- To this day my parents don't know a thing about those incidents. I launched into them because of Big Chuck.
- For the record, I was maybe 30-70% with Victory when it came to physical altercations. This was long before I studied aikido. I guess it's a good thing that back then I didn't know how to fight with my body. I was fine fighting with my mouth, but being Mouthy on the playground and making the Opponent an object of ridicule means eventually somebody's gonna be pissed off enough to try to deck you, and then It's On. Even though you might lose, you gotta make the attempt to hold your ground. At least, that's what's in your/my head at the time.
I never met Hoolihan or Big Chuck in person. I did meet Lil John once, when I learned that his day job at the time was working at a jewelry store in Severance Mall. You know what happens when you walk into a jewelry store at age 13 wearing a Star Trek T-shirt and a hopeful Geek aura? The worker bees in the jewelry store figure out real quick that you're not there to buy anything, and one of them goes in the back to give Lil John a heads-up. He'll come out and kindly talk to you for a couple of minutes. And you will never forget it.
Big Chuck will personalize any book ordered directly from the site. They're only $2o. A couple of payday cycles from now? I'll have spare moolah to get one for me, one for Dad! Mine "to Moi from Big Chuck" is fine. For Dad's, fingers crossed Big Chuck will write a couple of lines more. Okay if he doesn't, but I gotta make the ask.
The last 'luxury' purchases of the foreseeable future, and totally worth it!
Also discovered during this Nostalgia Roaming - Ghoulardifest. What?!?? OMG. Do I need to adjust my only needing the one convention per year thing?
