Friday, April 10, 2015

Sid Stern, who had owned a TV rcvr. manufacturing co. ...

in his home town Windsor, ON back from, uh, 1952 (the TV sets were called "Venus") began to hang around Rochdale College in the '70s, maybe even LIVED there , I don't remember... well, he bought a (new?) gold-top Gibson Les Paul
Standard gtr. for us all to jam on at the 2nd Floor Lounge jam sessions that
happened 1 or more? nights per week. ~ now, there was this African-Canadian
Sheldon "Shelly" Miller,(a drummer) from Montreal, I guess, who began wearing
a sash or call-it-what-u-will, a headband, u could say, Which made him look kinda like Jimi Hendrix, but shorter, who after the gtr. had been around 'Rochtown, The Vertical Village', as I liked to call it, for about a month, STOLE it and vanished.
Everyone thought, "Shelly Miller is the biggest f-cking asshole we've seen this year!" ~ However, 3 weeks later, Shelly Miller RETURNED (from Mtl., apparently) with... A WHITE  FENDER STRATOCASTER, new-looking, and
handed it to Sid Stern, so that he, Shelly, could strap it on @ the jams,
and look "very Hendrix" with his headband and all. It seemed that drummer
Shelly could play SOME guitar, rhythm and some simple leads, so WAO, WHAT A TALE, HEY? ~ When I lived in Rochdale with
my Rochester, N.Y.-born lady Sandie Bishop in the "14th-floor commune"
then later by myself on the 4th flr., rent discounted or FREE, I 4get which,
I owned a biz there which I called "CJ's Videoland" (I was known as "CJ"
back then until June '84 when I 4ever DIVORCED MYSELF from the
nickname and became "Lee" John Feeny. ~ In CJ's Videoland I sold used
TV sets for $30 - $40 each. They cost me $7 ea.! ~ I bought them from out of the bsmt. of Len Weinberg's TV and stereo store on Dundas St. W. near Keele St. ~
I had 2 techs who worked waay affordably on a piecework basis if the sets needed fixing. FACT: most problems w/ old tube-type TV sets were usually just
a matter of replacing a tube or tubes.  I knew a guy w/ a electronic repair shop who had a "tube tester" machine, who sold me used tubes for a buck apiece.
Ah, those were the days, my friend! ~ Now a funny story about Len Weinberg
and I.  I wasn't supposed to test the basement TV's, just "take my chances", BUT
I always arrived @ Len's with a 9-ft. extension cord wrapped around my waist
under my sweatshirt, and a 'thang' that could screw into any light bulb socket
that one could plug any 2-prong plug into. In Len's bsmt. there were 2 basic light
fixtures hanging from the ceiling -- I'd remove the lt. bulb from one, screw my
'thang' into it, plug in my xtn. cord and if a TV set showed a "raster" (which
means that the screen lights up), I would buy it! SO, I was never caught w/ a set
that had a burned-out picture tube. Yay, CJ! ~ By the way, Sandie Bishop Ashley
and I are still great friends as is her longtime husband Ross Ashley. Some day
I'll invite the Ashleys to a TapinJam night @ Melange, and they WILL come
if its the 1st 5-6 days of a month. ~ Footnote: Sandie's the only T.O.-based
friend of mine who's on good terms with, and socializes with, my lady from
Thornhill ON, Sherri Rhodes. ~ Sandie's 5'2" as is my 1st wife Donna, mother
of my daughter Debbie (Donna and I are still great friends, too!). After Sandie, I made myself a RULE: I will not date any woman under 5'6" . My 2nd wife Patti,
(may she RIP) was 5'7" and DEAR Sherri is 5'9". ~~  Next topic: IF ONLY
back in '84 I knew of performers who used their middle name as a 'stage'
surname, like Vince Neil or Robert John, I NEVER would have adopted
Van Leer as a stage surname! I would have been "Lee John" --
Rock on, Lee John! A month ago I thought of a name: Johnny Joy.
If I'd have thought of THAT one in '84, the nom d'etage of Lee John Feeny
MIGHT have been !JOHNNY JOY! ~ 
Tall-ish, aren't we?

 TTFN, y'all!

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