Trailer Park Boys Revisited

I reviewed this show eight years ago, back in 2011, after having seen two seasons.  At that time they were up to seven seasons and two movies.  It began in 2001 with season 1.

Now it’s 12 live action seasons; one animated season; two special 8 episode seasons (Europe & USA); three movies; and three live specials.   It seems the show was originally cancelled after season seven (2007) and picked up again for seasons 8 (2014) through 12 (2018), then the animated series. 

Out-of-the-Park Europe had the trio start in England and work its way across Europe performing tasks (e.g. walk across Abbey Road, sample the drug district of Copenhagen without doing any drugs) which were really set up for them to fail.  Then they picked up again in the US with a similar set-up.  “Beat this guy at basketball” – who turns out to be Dennis Rodman.  “Out smoke this guy in weed”, and the opponent turns out to be Tommy Chong.  You get the idea.

It’s similar to Beavis & Butt-head (Beavis asking about Black Sabbath, “are these guys American?” Butt-head: “No, they’re from Seattle”) in that while most of the characters are stupid, the humor itself is very clever.  However, I find it’s something I can tolerate in small doses.  The live specials are my least favorite, but they are entertaining and have some good audience participation. 

Basic Premise.  A trailer park in Darmouth, Nova Scotia pays host to a trio of dysfunctional Canadian rednecks, Ricky (Rob Wells), Julian (Jean-Paul Tremblay), and Bubbles (Mike Smith).  Ricky is easily the most arrogant and maladjusted, one of these guys who constantly misquotes words – like Bush Jr. and Trump – and throws his weight around, blaming everyone else for his own mistakes.  Julian is always with a rum and coke in his hand, having some elaborate but dishonest scheme hatched up which usually gets them back in jail by the end of the season.  Bubbles lives in a storage shed with cats and rustles shopping carts.  The trailer park supervisor, Lahey (Dunsworth) is a drunk, his assistant Randy (Pat Roach) loves cheeseburgers and never wears a shirt despite a huge pot belly, and a variety of other characters (J-Roc, Cyrus, Barbara) come and go. 

As the show progressed through the seasons more celebrities graced the show with their presence.  Canadian band Rush, guitarist Alex Lifeson in particular, are big fans, and Lifeson himself shows up multiple times.   In the Dublin special the group did a video of “Closer to the Heart”, with Bubbles as Alex, Julian as Neil, and Ricky as Geddy Lee (who he refers to as “Freddy”), which wins them a trip to Ireland on Rush’ private plane to catch a Rush concert there.  But toking on the plane gets them arrested and they plead out – the judge himself is a fan of the show – by doing a comedy special for charity.  Other celebrities are Sebastian Bach, Tom Arnold, Snoop Dogg, and in the final episode of the animated series, Josh Homme and Queens of the Stone Age. 

Back in the early 70s, after the original series of Star Trek was cancelled, they did an animated series.  A big advantage of animation is that you’re no longer limited to humanoid aliens, and what happens is only limited by the animators’ imagination.  Likewise, the animated TPB series gives us the guys as boys, a mission to outer space, a hurricane, and finally meeting up with QOTSA.  

From seasons three onward the trio remains the same:  Ricky, Julian and Bubbles.   Lahey remains drunk, Randy never wears a shirt, and various other characters come and go.  It’s not something I could binge watch all thirteen seasons, three movies, three specials, and two miniseries, but I’m glad I kept up with it.

The Drunk & On Drugs Happy Funtime Hour.   A six episode miniseries in which Wells, Tremblay and Smith portray different sets of trios – none of them being the Trailer Park Boys themselves.   John Dunsworth (Lahey) and Pat Roach (Randy) are also in here.  The plot is borderline incoherent and involves some time/space shifting into WWII.  To say it gets confusing is an understatement, so it’s best reserved for those with, as I like to call it, “high tolerance for weird s**t”.  

The Mexican-American War 1846-48

I picked up the Osprey Men-At-Arms book on this from McKay’s Used Books in Manassas.  It concerns a war we fought with Mexico from 1846-48.   Here are some facts about it.

The major US general was Zachary Taylor.   He later became President.  In fact, the President, James K. Polk, had promised to only serve one term, and thus did not run for re-election in 1848.  Taylor won the Whig nomination and the election itself, taking office in March 1849.  However, he died in July 1850 after consuming fruit at the Washington Monument building site.  His vice president, Millard Fillmore, took over from him. 

Most of the most important generals on both sides of the US Civil War served in this war, albeit on the same side and as junior officers rather than generals – Grant was a 2LT, Lee was a captain.  Winfield Scott was the senior US general, Taylor was underneath him.

Texas joined the US shortly before the war, but the border with Mexico was disputed.  We considered the Rio Grande river to be the border, whereas Mexico considered it the Nueces River which ran parallel to the Rio Grande to the northeast. 

We wound up with Nevada, Utah, southwest Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and California – and we paid the Mexicans reparations.

Almost all of the hostilities occurred in Mexico itself.  Mexican territory in what is now the US was sparsely populated and US forces were able to quickly overrun it without much problem or resistance.  The Bear Flag of California dates from this era when US forces managed to defeat the nominal local Mexican forces.

In terms of actual combat operations, we landed at Veracruz on the eastern coast, marched west, and eventually took Mexico City, which effectively ended the war.  “From the Halls of Montezuma”, from the Marine Corps Hymn, refers to the battle of Chapultepec in this war.   The above-referred Civil War generals saw most of their action on this front. 

The Mexicans typically outnumbered us 4 to 1, but their troops were poorly armed, poorly trained, and above all poorly led.   US forces were either regulars – by nature, volunteers – or recent immigrant volunteers.   The US officer corps was top quality.  Moreover our artillery so far outclassed the Mexicans’ that we were able to take out their forces at a range they couldn’t hope to match.  If you’re a Mexican peasant drafted to fight Americans and they can blow you up well before you can hit them with your poor excuse for a rifle, why stick around?  Least of all for officers who treat you poorly and have zero inherent leadership skills.  Under these circumstances the Mexican Army becomes a non-factor.  For its part the Mexican Navy was practically nonexistent as well.   By practically any standard the Mexicans were completely outclassed. 

Aesthetically, even as late as the mid 1840s, military uniforms were pretty much the same as they were back in the War of 1812 and the Napoleonic period.  Many of our uniforms were light blue.   The Texas Rangers had a more organic, brown-fringed uniform.   Regular troops wore more of these bizarre shakos, but also some forage caps.  They’re starting to move towards more practical uniforms.  The Civil War looks like the first war with actual practical uniforms, but even then the Union forces wore dark blue.  We’d have to wait for WWI to get truly functional uniforms in sane colors:  field grey (Germany), khaki (England, Canada, US, Russia), or horizon blue (France).   Not sure why looking like the sky is ideal, but it beats dark blue and bright red – by WWII the French had switched to brown. 

Santa Anna.  The main Mexican Dude.  He had been in exile in the Caribbean when the war broke out.  The US smuggled him into Mexico with the express agreement that he would take over and end the war on US terms as “our guy”.  But while he did trick the Mexicans and take over, he also pulled a fast one on us and decided to fight us anyway.  Well, we beat him anyway. 

Another funny thing is that prior to the war, Polk offered to BUY the land from Mexico, but the Mexicans refused.   Polk knew that simply attacking Mexico without provocation wouldn’t fly in Congress, so they provoked the Mexicans into attacking us in southwest Texas, between the Nueces and the Rio Grande Rivers, which was contested area anyway.   Maybe not completely kosher, but enough of a pretext to get support for the war.  It didn’t fool everyone: even Grant could see the provocation for what it was.  Thoreau and Emerson also opposed the war; while Grant kept his mouth shut and served anyway.  Another famous opponent to the war was our beloved #16, Lincoln, who as senator from Illinois challenged Polk to identify the exact locations in US territory where Mexican forces attacked us, the so-called Spot Resolutions.  

With the peace treaty we paid Mexico reparations and they recognized our borders.   We developed those states since then, of which California was the most impressive – especially since the gold rush occurred in 1849. 

The funny thing is that I don’t consider myself anti-Mexican.  I’ve lived overseas in Europe or in the DC area and don’t have much direct interaction with Hispanics.   Having said that, however, Mexico did not develop those areas, we did.   Moreover, Mexico really hasn’t done much of anything since 1848.   No world cups, no space programs, and no substantial military activity, for the better or worse, anywhere else.   Its strongest actors in 2019 are drug gangs.   If we ever legalize hard drugs, even those gangs would shrivel up and die.

For those of you in the southwest US, enjoy!   For those of you anywhere else….enjoy as well.   TGIF.

King Crimson 2019

At loss for inspiration these days, and ill-inclined to simply blog about whatever band I happened to see on Thursday night, but here it’s a nice coincidence.   I’ve blogged on King Crimson before so I’ll try to keep my comments brief.

I’m also a fan of Frank Zappa.   I saw  him give a speech on censorship back at College Park, back when Tipper Gore was talking about putting warning labels on records about the foul language which frequently occurred.  It occurred to me Robert Fripp and Frank Zappa were similar eccentric geniuses.   Sadly, Zappa passed away in 1994, but fortunately Fripp is still with us and still actively touring.   The common link is Adrian Belew, who played with Zappa briefly in the late 70s and then joined King Crimson for the Discipline, Beat, and Three of a Perfect Pair trio.   I managed to contact him on Facebook and solicit his feedback on Zappa vs. Fripp, in particular their opinions of each other.   According to Belew, Zappa was oblivious to Fripp’s existence and not aware of King Crimson.    For his part, Fripp did not approve of the heavy dose of sauciness in Zappa’s lyrics and music.   So sadly they were not kindred souls.

Studio discography:  In the Court of the Crimson King, In the Wake of Poseidon, Lizard, Islands, Larks’ Tongues in Aspic, Starless (And Bible Black), Red (original slew of lineups to the mid-70s); Discipline, Beat, Three of a Perfect Pair (early 80s w/Adrian Belew); THRAK, The ConstruKcTion of Light, The Power to Believe (mid-90s). 

Current lineup.  

This lineup has three drummers, placed in the front of the stage:  Pat Mastelotto (left), Jeremy Stacey (center) (plus keyboards), and Gavin Harrison (right).  The rear of the stage gives us, from left to right, Mel Collins (sax and other woodwinds), Tony Levin (bass & stick-type things), Jakko Jakszyk (guitar and vocals) and finally on the far right, sitting with his Les Paul and a Mellotron, Robert Fripp himself.

The band plays two full sets with a 30 minute intermission, no opening act, and a one-song encore of “21^st Century Schizoid Man”.  The material covers the first album all the way through current era Crimson. While I prefer the 70s material, I enjoyed all of it – and could even identify some of the newer songs.  This was the September 12, 2019 show at the Warner Theatre in D.C. - right on Fourteenth Street.  We saw Twisted Sister there back in college (late 80s), this was the first show I'd seen here in decades.

Set:  First: Drumsons, Cirkus, Neurotika, Suitable Grounds for the Blues, Red, Moonchild, EleKtrik, Cat Food, Frame By Frame, Drumzilla, Epitaph

Second: Drumsons, Lizard, Larks’ Tongues in Aspic (Part IV), Islands, The ConstruKction of Light, Easy Money, Starless, Indiscipline, The Court of the Crimson King

Encore:  21^st Century Schizoid Man. 

TOOL.  Recently TOOL finally released their newest album, spurring much of us to purchase and enjoy it.  What’s interesting is that years back, King Crimson actually opened for TOOL.   My understanding is that Maynard and Fripp have met and – Zappa notwithstanding – are actually friends.  I think of King Crimson as the prog source material for TOOL.  

Aesthetics

I suppose aesthetics is officially defined as “the philosophy of beauty”, in my book it’s more along the line of “what I consider attractive, regardless of function or practicality”.   The particular application is regard to items which I think have some inherent beauty, at least in my own subjective opinion.

Guns.  I managed to acquire a Springfield Armory Saint, which is a very recent issue of the ever-popular AR15.  The AR15 is the civilian, semi-automatic version of the US military’s famous M16.   Over the years, since its introduction in the early 60’s in our controversial war in Vietnam, the military’s version has undergone several different models.

The original M16 was full auto and had a triangular handguard, that plastic thing in between the magazine (thing which carries all the ammo) and the end of the rifle.  The M16 had various problems, one of which was that the military couldn’t leave Stoner’s original design alone, and these problems were mostly fixed in the first change, the M16A1.   This model still had a triangular handguard.  Both fired full automatic, meaning automatic so long as the trigger is held.  It had a semi-automatic mode  as well.

Eventually the Army realized that soldiers were wasting ammo firing full auto and changed the gun to fire three round bursts.  This was the M16A2.  This model has a cylindrical handguard. 

Eventually they shortened it and gave it a pistol grip under the handguard, and named this the M16A4. 

Back in the early 90s I purchased an AR15, which I later sold.  This one looked exactly like an M16A2, with a 20” barrel and cylindrical handguard.   My Saint has a 16” barrel and a newfangled handguard which actually looks pretty cool.

The “aesthetic” angle comes in here, insofar as I consider both the M16/M16A1 attractive, as I do the M16A2 and the Saint.  One thing I can’t stand is this:  many current AR15s have a weird handguard that looks like it belongs on Playstation or XBOX.  Not sure where they came up with that, but Springfield fixed that problem.  All of these guns fire exactly the same, the aesthetics making no practical difference.   But I can leave my Saint out in the open and love the way it looks, without even firing it.

Mausers.  These are the most famous bolt-actions.   The original Gewehr 98, introduced in time for the Germans to get nasty against the Chinese in the Boxer Rebellion, then serving as the standard rifle of the Imperial German Army during WWI, is relatively long and has a straight bolt.  It’s an attractive gun.   The carbine I felt looks too short.   In 1935 the Germans split the difference between the two with the Kar98K, which served as the main infantry weapon of the Wehrmacht and Waffen SS during WWII.   In addition to being shorter than the Gewehr 98 and longer than the carbine, it has a turned down bolt.  I purchased one in the 90s and still have it.  That’s another gun I could simply look at and admire without even shooting, though the picture above is a Gewehr 98. 

I also love the look of the Russian PPSh submachinegun with its wood stock, drum magazine and square holed barrel shroud.  These faced the Nazis in WWII but then faced us in Korea when the Chinese and North Koreans used them.  According to my cousin, my uncle tried using one – during his service in 1950-53 (not with a M*A*S*H unit!) - until he attracted friendly fire from neighboring US units.  Oops. 

Cars.   Recently I posted pictures of the ’71-74 AMC Javelin.  That’s the nicest looking AMC there is.  The ’68-70 Dodge Charger is another non-GM looker.  But for all around best looks, Pontiac gets it done.  The ’88-92 Firebird Formula, the ’67-68 Firebird 400, and many of the ’70-81 Formulas and Trans Ams, especially with the ’73-78 simpler pattern Screaming Chicken, are my favorites.   The best would be a ’74 Trans Am SD455 in dark blue with the hood bird.  Dream on.   Again, not all these cars are necessarily fast – a 305-equipped Formula looks just as nice, though isn’t nearly as fast, as its 350-equipped brother, and after 1975 with the introduction of emissions and catalytic converters killing the power, the later second generation Firebirds are slower than their beauty would indicate.   These 70s Firebirds, usually the Trans Ams, also have aluminum dashes.   If I ever get around to restoring my ’76 Esprit, I’ll see about upgrading the dash, as it has the faux-wood dash which was standard on non-Trans Ams. 

Oh, and Rally II wheels are by far my favorite, well over the honeycomb wheels I can’t stand.

Guitars.  I have the good fortune to have collected several guitars:  4 Gibsons (SG, Les Paul, Explorer and Firebird V) and a Stratocaster.  With the exception of the Les Paul, which is in Black Cherry Pearl, the rest of the guitars are in black, or as Gibson calls it, “ebony”.   All of them have rosewood fretboards, including the Stratocaster – I can’t stand maple.  I switched out the Explorer’s white pickguard for a mirror pickguard, and the Firebird’s white pickguard for a black one with the Firebird on it.  I kept the black pickguards on the SG, LP and Stratocaster.  The Stratocaster has the large, ’68-82 headstock typical of ‘70s Stratocasters – Robin Trower and Ritchie Blackmore are most often seen with those.   The SG is a 2013 Standard in ebony, the ’13 Standards being very popular as they are almost identical to the ‘61/62 reissue models.  In fact, I traded my ’89 ’62 Reissue in cherry for the current one, and while cherry was tolerable, ebony is MUCH better.   

Aesthetically I like the smaller pickguard and don’t like the ’67-70 larger one which surrounds the pickups.   Also, whether it’s on a Strat or a Les Paul, I am NOT a fan of sunburst finishes, least of all tobacco or cherry.  Finally, I love the Les Paul script on the headstock, which ruled out a Custom with its inlaid diamond. 

None of these preferences have anything to do with how well the guitar plays or sounds, and the wrong color, pickguard, or a maple neck won’t compromise anyone’s ability to extract heavenly tones with the right amp.   

But some things are nice to look at too, and I keep my guitars out on stands.  They certainly sound nice – either through the Marshall 1x12” Jubilee combo I bought new in 1990, or through the condo-neighbor-annoying half stack (Marshall 100 watt 4100 Dual Reverb through 4x12” 1960AV).