Thursday, October 04, 2012

Primitive Sound System & DJ MotherJugsAndSpeed (Chuck Daly) at D.C.'s Tavern Thurs Oct 4..."10 - 4 GOOD BUDDY!"


Hello Y'all,

None of this has anything to do with the records I will be playing this week but I ended up on the website of Baron von Raschke and it reminded me of this…

I spent a whole lot of time lifting weights when I was younger.  I would workout about six days a week which also included jogging six miles a day and doing 360 sit-ups in six minutes.  This schedule included holidays and any other day for that matter.  I was obsessed, imagine that.  I first starting working out when I was 13, this was not long after I lost a lot of weight.  I was well over 200lbs by the age of 12 so it was either lose weight or become a statistic.   And hell, no one wants to be known as "Fat Pat The Water Rat." for their entire life.  By fourteen I was 142lbs and ready to change everything about the way I looked.  Four years later I was 248lbs and winning weightlifting competitions.  I worked out at a place called The Whippany Athletic Club.  The gym attracted professional and semi-pro football players, competitive power-lifters, bodybuilders, and professional wrestlers amongst the usual mix of societies finest from lawyers, doctors, teachers, mechanics, bouncers… a lot of bouncers, bikers, high school and college athletes local business owners and folks I just never learned anything about.  Occasionally someone famous would stop in to train, usually it was someone from the Professional Wrestling world because Ken Patera trained there.  Kenny was an interesting character.  He was easily one of the strongest people I have ever met but he was also the least friendly.  I met Kenny after I earned a key to the gym for winning a bunch of competitions.  It was the gym's policy that if you won a competition you didn't have to pay for the next month's rent.  If you won many competitions eventually the owner, Jimmy, would trust you with a key.

I didn't expect Jimmy to open the gym early since he was a bouncer and worked late most nights so having a key was perfect for me.  The first morning I opened early I was surprised to see someone already there… it was Kenny.  I didn't startle him and nor did he acknowledge my presence.  I am pretty sure Kenny was not afraid of anything.  I got changed and warmed up.  I started lifting when I heard a voice say, "Spot me."  Those were the only words he had spoken all morning.  I looked over and he was doing seated behind the neck shoulder presses with what appeared to be something like 400lbs, he was already doing reps by the time I made my way over to him.  "Spot me," meant if he pushed to failure it was my job to return the weight back to the racks and keep it from injuring him.  I wanted to say, FUCK YOU, ARE YOU INSANE?!  But instead, I walked over as if I was capable of this task and not concerned in the slightest.  He did what seemed like 20 reps and with the bar bending in that same gentle motion as a wave or the rhythmic motion of a bird in flight, he racked the bar with little to no effort.  Kenny Patera was a former Olympic lifter turned professional wrestler.  Vasily Alexeev, arguably the most famous Olympic weightlifter of all-time, once said that Kenny was stronger than him and it was a shame he failed his lifts in 1972.

I am not exactly sure of the year (somewhere between 1984 and 1986) but for one reason or another many wrestlers began training at the gym on a regular basis.  These included, Blackjack Mulligan, his son Barry, Tito Santana, and Baron Von Raschke (there were others I just can't remember them right now).  Blackjack teased Tito endlessly and Tito declared Professional Wrestling a sport and not entertainment as Blackjack loved to say.  Barry was tall so it made him look skinnier than he was and I felt bad that Blackjack would constantly say, "Why can't you be more like Pat."  It wasn't until many years later that I learned that "Barry" was actually Barry Windham and had only just started his career in the ring.  All of this was amazing but none of them were even close to being as interesting as The Baron.  The Baron was old looking.  He was bald, his skin sagged and he always looked tired but it all seemed to be part of his act.  Oddly enough he was probably the  same age then as I am now.   The Baron was hilarious if you could understand what the hell he was saying and even when you had no idea what he was saying you would still laugh.  Then, with the timing of a seasoned comedian, he would wait for the perfect moment and launch into his signature move, "THE CLAW!" and turn the laughs from your's to his.  The Baron spoke with a German accent but it wasn't even real, he created the character in the mid to late 60's and some where along the line forgot that it was just an act.

The Baron showed up to the gym every day that Blackjack and the rest of them did.  But he never did anything.  He would sit and talk to people or just mumble to himself while walking around.  You could tell he just liked being in the gym.  One day Jimmy said, OK Baron, if you are going to show up here every day you need to do something.  He grabbed the isometric push-up blocks and told him to do ten push-ups.  After his requisite comedy sketch he dropped to the floor like a fallen tree and began to do the push-ups.  He commented on each one until he collapsed.  It was all very funny and obvious to us that The Baron was in great shape and 10 push-ups were certainly not a problem.  Well, the next day Blackjack and the gang showed up but this time The Baron was not with them.  About an hour later we heard what sounded like someone rolling a boulder up the steps.  Jimmy took a look and then told us to do the same.  He was trying to keep himself from laughing but he could not contain his huge smile.  It was The Baron and he was crawling up the steps like a wounded soldier trying to save his own life.  He made it to the top, crawled to the middle of the floor, and rolled over as if relieved he survived his great ordeal.  In his odd German accent he spoke…"Yimmy…Yimmy da Baron, da Baron no good.  Hurt.  No more do push-ups."  Of course everyone burst out laughing and when the moment was right he threw up his mighty claw and went after Jimmy.

And as the Baron once so eloquently said, "Dat is all da people need to know."

This month I'll be bringing the Budget Record Breakdown amongst the usual Punk, Heavy 70's, Rock, 50's & 60's Instrumentals and a taste of Soul & Funk.  Nothing makes me happier when flipping through LP's than stumbling upon some Budget Label or as I like to call them "Dollar Records."   Most are filled with cover versions of hit songs but they all contain one or two originals to flesh out the sides.  Many of these bands have included musicians that went on to fame but again most are sadly unknown.  The Budget Label genre isn't limited to the obscure.  Sometimes labels (in many cases the parent company to the budget one) would remove one track or replace it with an older hit and release it for a cut rate.  There were no other formats (CDs, etc…) so if you were going to make the most from a single recording this was your best bet to extend its life.  They are cheap and I love 'em.

See you there!

- pat.

Primitive Sound System
VINYL RULES!
"Audio Visual Triumphs and Disasters" - http://primitivesoundsystem.blogspot.com

Thursday, October 4th - 9PM to Closing
Pat. James Longo - Primitive Sound System
Chuck Daly - DJ MotherJugsAndSpeed!

D.C.'s Tavern
505 8th Street
Between Jefferson and Madison
BACK IN BACK
Hoboken, New Jersey
PH: 201-792-5550

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WHAT'S IN THE BOX!

Psychedelic Guitars (Custom Records cat. CS 1078)

Freakout! - The Great New Guitar Sounds (Spin-O-Rama cat. M-190)

More Soul Sauce - Played and Sung by Great Artists  (Somerset cat. SF - 348000)

Discotheque Dancers-Go-Go  (Coronet cat. CX - 245)

Out Of Sight  (Design Records cat. DLP - 269)

Guitars A Go Go  (Crown Records cat. CLP - 5476)

Surfer Girl  (Viking cat. VKS 6622)

Alshire Presents Songs of Hank Williams - A Return Trip - Modern Sounds  (Alshire Records cat. s - 5136)

The Animated Egg  (Alshire cat. SF - 5104)

Rene Bloch & His Orchestra - Latin Discotheque  (Clarion cat. CLARION 613)