sometimes it’s good to be leary

i spent today, when i SHOULD have been cleaning the house, getting drunk and watching shit off my DVR with lil’ dude…

…these things happen.

one of the gems that i watched and erased (but if anybody wants to get me the dvd keep in mind juneteenth ain’t too far off) was “imagine, john lennon”. two things stuck out to me this viewing:

1. i still get goosebumps when the orchestra crescendo and minor chord from “a day in the life” run to symbolize his assassination.
2. tim leary is at his feet when they’re recording “give peace a chance” in the amsterdam hilton

the reason the second one hit was an odd story (if i’ve told you this go ahead and ignore the rest of the entry)…

so, i was doing the show with gibby back in summer/fall of 1995 when he was telling some random story and said, “well, i tell this story well, but i have a friend that tells it better…we’ll try and get him on the line after this!” and he gave me the hand signal we had worked out to go to commercial.

hey – dig in the cooler (gibby carried around eighty CD’s or so to each show in a cheap, convenience store styrofoam cooler) and grab my copy of the beatles “white album” and look at the back page or two of the booklet….

i did and saw “Tim L – 504-XXX-XXXX” on it (there were numbers in place of the “X’s” but i can’t remember ’em)

call him and get him set for after the break…i gotta take a piss!

and gibby ran off to the bathroom. i dialed the number…and a guy answered the phone, sounding CLEARLY out of breath:

hello?!?!?
hi – this is sean with the gibby haynes show in austin, texas…
wait…gibby has a SHOW? on tv or radio?
radio
and is it just you two on the show?
with the exception of guests like…well, POSSIBLY you, yeah…
so it’s just YOU and GIBBY in a room? how big is the room?!?

(i take a mental measurement)

i dunno…around eight by six feet or so…maybe ten by six..
do you get hazard pay for that?
no, but i fucking well should…
what’s your name, soldier?
sean M
no, not your radio name…your REAL name. the one your mother gave ‘ya…
michael sean mccauley
oh – an irish kid like me! nice to meet you, sean…i’m doctor timothy leary

(pause for obvious reasons on my end as i look at the “Tim L” on the inside back cover of the white album book with a number below it…)

tim, sounded like you were out of breath when you answered…you okay?
yeah, sean, i was just having an…um…er…’moment’ with the wife….
if that’s the case, tim, why’d you answer the phone?
sean, do you realize how few people have my home number?

the man had a point.

gibby walked back in at that point and talked to tim trying to get him on the air but he declined, telling gib to fuck off but saying it was nice to meet me before hanging up the phone…i assume to get back to his “moment with the wife”.

less than a year later he was dead.

dude, true story.

(and kramer, before you think you know the “secret code” here ’cause you told me to always put “dude, true story” after entries that were complete bullshit, this was, in all actuality, an actual TRUE FUCKING STORY!)

not being a big 60’s person (born too late) and not really following a lot of the counter-culture shit from then (i don’t do drugs, i just smoke weed) i forget how much of a cultural icon he was…until you watch something like john & yoko, recording “give peace a chance” in an amsterdam hotel room and there, at john lennon’s feet, clapping along without a shirt on and a short pony tail is the man that pulled his cock out of his wife to answer my phone call…

…all of a sudden i feel kind of special…and overcome with the urge to take a shower. all at the same time.