Pernell the Tagger
Taggers have targeted my blog. Specifically, one tagger in particular. My good friend Pernell Goodyear has become a tagger. Figures that a guy who plants a church in the downtown area of The Hammer would pick up a tagging habit.
Oh, wait, my confused...
This actually has nothing to do with graffiti after all. Well, well... a-hem. Start over: my good friend Pernell Goodyear, who in real life is an innovative and missional church-planter for the Salvation Army, tagged me to follow his lead into historical vulnerability, and list five not-so-well-known things about me.
Fifth and finally, like my good friend Brother Maynard, who blogs under a pseudonym for self-preservation instincts, I have also used a pseudonym while writing for the college paper back in the day. Brother Maynard also wrote for the paper, under the moniker -- wait for it -- "Brother Maynard". I, on the other hand, used the pen-name "Bubba Schlapbutnik" whenever I wrote something deliberately bizarre and Monty Python-esque. Not being anywhere near as intelligent as Bro. Maynard, however, I freely let my "real" name stand for the many (usually controversial) articles that I wrote. I think Brother Maynard opted for his pseudonym after observing the gracious and loving treatment that my articles inspired in others (to be fair, I was just a wee bit caustic in my writing, as this article documents.
I now follow Pernell's illustrious example and "tag" five others: Emerging Grace, Brother Maynard, Neil McKeever (feel free to use the comments for your list, Neil!), Gerry Milchalski, and Jamie Arpin-Ricci.
Oh, wait, my confused...
This actually has nothing to do with graffiti after all. Well, well... a-hem. Start over: my good friend Pernell Goodyear, who in real life is an innovative and missional church-planter for the Salvation Army, tagged me to follow his lead into historical vulnerability, and list five not-so-well-known things about me.
 | First off, I have been known to wear tie-dye. It actually started as a joke, but people thought I was serious, and kept giving me tie-dye shirts as gifts, and the rest is history. Tie-dye is fashion livin' large! Second, my hair is NOT a really dark brown like most normal caucasians. It's black, black, BLACK (well, now sprinkled with premature wisdom), and strongly resists being dyed (Jules managed to dye it purple mid-90's but you could only tell in direct sunlight). |
| Third, I escaped my entire childhood and teenage years without (A) breaking a bone, (B) chipping a tooth, or (C) getting stitches. One false step while rock-climbing at 25 (and I was only about ten feet above ground at the time!) took care of all three in one fell swoop (emphasis on the word "fell"). |  |
 | Fourth, I didn't start playing bass until I was 18 years old. I had picked up guitar when I was 16, but the reality is that my first instrument (from age 8 to 14) was piano. I finished Grade Eight Royal Conservatory after six years of lessons, and was so sick of "taking lessons" that I played nothing but the stereo for two years, before picking up guitar in Grade 10. Things like harmonica, mandolin, djembe, and dulcimer came later. |
I now follow Pernell's illustrious example and "tag" five others: Emerging Grace, Brother Maynard, Neil McKeever (feel free to use the comments for your list, Neil!), Gerry Milchalski, and Jamie Arpin-Ricci.
December 21: Update for KSG
Do these fingers look "fat" to you?!?!? |
posted by Robbymac at
8:02 PM
18 Comments:
OK, This is my first tag. Here it goes:
1. I sailed on the HMCS Provider from Victoria to San Diego with a Sea Cadet Marching band to perform at "Maple Leaf Days" in San Diego for a week. I stood on the flying bridge and watched waves come over the bow off the Oregon Coast.
2. I used to rap children's books to Jo with a good friend just before she would go to bed when she was around 3 - 5 (I think)
3. I gave my life to God because a girl said she wouldn't marry me if I wasn't a christian. Thankfully, her Mother was a wonderful, devout Christian who God partially used to make it stick (no, this girl is not my wife).
4. By the time I was 30, I had tried four of my five careers (Statistics say that most people have five career changes in their lives these days) - Auto mechanics, tourism/hotel industry, small photocopier/printer repair person, and the one that seems to have stuck - accounting/business admin.
5. I love being on the ocean. I have done my Marine Emergency Duty courses, Industrial First Aid, and volunteered with the Victoria Coast Guard Auxillary for 5 years.
I would tag 5 other people, but everyone I know in this blogging world has been tagged.
Neil
Oh thanks, thanks a lot...
Now I'll have to wrack my brain to come up with 5 things that nobody knows about me, public persona that I am ;^)
Aachh!
Okay, here's the easy list-
1. I am left handed.
2. I have an accounting degree.
3. My middle name is Rae.
4. I used to be pretty good at playing piano and pool.
5. I used to drink whiskey shots.
Believe what you want. ;)
For the real list, see my blog.
Robby,
I found the fact that you didn't play bass until 18 especially interesting.
Neil,
Thanks for the list! Everybody else should also know that Neil's nickname when he first joined our youth leadership team was "The Sarge". Neil is one of those youth leaders that any youth pastor would give their eye teeth for -- authentic and real in his faith journey, gracious and fun with the teenagers, and a passionate worshipper on his drums.
Oh, and he DOES indeed rap children's stories for kids; Jo was three at the time, and it was a hoot -- we have pictures!
Grace,
An accountant? That qualifies as the real surprise for me in your list. The whiskey and pool I took for granted.
Speaking of pool, Wendy has chided me for not divulging that I learned to play pool in prison. So, now you know.
Brother Maynard,
You're welcome, of course!
Grace,
What about my learning to play bass at 18 strikes you as "especially interesting"? Does it explain my lack of ability? :)
What about my learning to play bass at 18 strikes you as "especially interesting"? Does it explain my lack of ability?
I thought all bass players were just guitar player dropouts?!?
KSG,
Why you... ooooh... it just... arggg!
Actually, I thought the same thing as a child, before getting acquainted with bass players like Geddy Lee (Rush), Chris Squire (YES), and Victor Lamont Wooten (Bela Flek & the Flektones).
:)
argh, ksg, bass players aren't dropout wannabe guitar players - they are the passionate heartbeat of the band, the obscure musicians who avoid the cocky showmanship often associated with lead guitarists. bass players are the unsung heroes of rock n roll. they are the true renegades, artists who create with little acknowledgement, yet continue to create for the love of the song. bass players are pure.
bass players are hot.
i am married to a bass player, and he's damn good.
how cool to discover that you play bass as well, robbie. now i know why i click with you. and i thought it was just your writing...:-)
(check out my blog for my list of five, including a bonus surprise...)
When I mentally thought of the 5 things, I was sure you were going to say something about owning Disco before Rush at some point in your life...
And apparently bass players are a little testy about it (being dropouts I mean). And bass player wives getting all worked up??? ;0 (Pam).
I mean hey, maybe God just made you with fat fingers?! That's not YOUR fault is it? :)
Another Robbymac factoid... back in the college days, he was once famously described as "a lead guitarist in a bass player's body." Suddenly, I think that makes a lot more sense now!
HA! Robby, that's exactly the sort of snarky comment my friend from Hawaii would make. As for the pool-playing, I knew we had a lot in common. :)
I was going to put the accounting degree on my real list, but I think it's kind of sad when being smart is a little-known fact about oneself. It was probably a poor career choice, because it bores me to tears, but it seemed like the thing to do since I'm mathematically gifted.
I know little about guitars. I just found it interesting that you would stumble across something at 18 that would become such an important part of your life. Based on the experiences you've described, I'm assuming you are a very talented player.
logical philosopher,
I just know that one of these days Robby will reveal his secret love of disco. ;)
for the record, that last "Anonymous" was me... hit the button too quick!
KSG,
Fat fingers? Did that slow Randy Bachman down? :)
Bro. Maynard,
I KNEW that was you under "anonymous"! Remember, that was the 80's, where keyboardists all tried to do everything, leaving bassists to play only the occasional note here and there (much like disco in its entirety).
Grace,
Dream on re: revealing a secret love of disco. I really liked the early p-funk stuff, including Rare Earth, early Stevie Wonder, Isley Brothers, Sly & The Family Stone, etc. It was funky, dancable, but unlike disco, muscially interesting. :)
Robby, This is getting fun!
Okay, so we've ruled out fat fingers... what does that leave? Couldn't play a power chord?
On the fat fingered guitar player note, you missed BB King or any number of Afro-American blues legends. And Randy B has been losing weight so those fingers are bound to get skinnier.
Re. 70's funk: I totally dig The Meters, Kool & The Gang, KC and the Sunshine Band. When I first got a wah pedal I listened to a lot of that stuff so I could hear how to play it right.
To Everyone,
In defense of Rob - and this is not solicited - he is good at any instrument I have ever seen him pick-up.
I played in a band with him when he played guitar all the time and I think base every once and a while.
It would not matter if he had "fat" fingers because he would still be "phat" on the base!!! (LOL!!)
Neil
Rob, you are so right. Your hair is... (as they say in "the biz") a level one black. Man, how I wish I could go back..(what, 10 years?) to that infamous day- the purple hair day, with the information I have now. I could do it, Rob. You could have more than a sunlight-induced purple "hue". I'm talking Grimace (of McDonaldland fame) PURPLE. I could make it happen. Ah, bygones...
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