MetaChat - The man is keeping me down

MetaChat is an informal place for MeFites to touch base and post, discuss and chatter about topics that may not belong on MetaFilter. Questions? Check the FAQ. Please note: This is important.

31 January 2006

The man is keeping me down →[More:]And if I’m the man,
Then you’re the man, and
He’s the man as well, yes, but I wanted my MeCha friends to know I miss you all, and hope to get back to avoiding work and hanging straight-up with you all next week. If not sooner . . .

post by: tr33hggr at: 11:52 | 32 comments

I'm the man. I'm bad, I'm so bad I should be in detention. I'm Baaaad...

posted by jonmc 31 January | 11:59

When the man is getting me down, I like to get all up in some jive turkey's face and cold snarl:

"Peace out honkus!"

posted by Divine_Wino 31 January | 12:00

You're the man now, dog

posted by pieisexactlythree 31 January | 12:15

I am a man.

As in:

I'm a man
yes I am
and I can't help but love you so

Ah, that brief moment in time when Chicago (the band) was cool...

posted by wendell 31 January | 12:35

You the man as in, Mr. Charlie to you; The Man, got it? Cracker-ass white motherfucker, goddamn honk-ussss, ice-cream man! Who do we hate? You! Why? Because you're a cracker-ass-cracker, motherfucker! Now getcha hands up, vampire, reach for the fuck. Ing. Stars, white boy, I said now how do you like that, Mr. Man, who's on their knees now Mr. White, you fuckin' cracker, WHO THE FUCK IS CRYING NOW? Did you shit your pants just then, man? Your shit white too?

Or maybe you mean a different "the man." Hard to tell sometimes.

posted by Hugh Janus 31 January | 12:46

Man, thanks for the virtual hit, dude.

posted by danostuporstar 31 January | 12:46

Hands up, vampire!

posted by Divine_Wino 31 January | 12:53

Your shit white too?

Depends on what I been eating.

posted by jonmc 31 January | 12:53

and wendell, you couldn't have picked Muddy Waters? Bo Diddley? The Yardbirds?

and Chicago (Transit Authority)'s moment of cool came with "Make Me Smile," covered by Latin Funk whiz Joe Bataan.

you slippin', homeslice.

posted by jonmc 31 January | 12:56

or "25 or 6 to 4" covered by post-grungesters Local H.

(I've had 2 cups of coffee and a Mountain Dew. Does it show?)

posted by jonmc 31 January | 12:57

That song (25 or 6 to 4) will forever remind me of the Frogs.

Looked at my watch, it was quarter to two.
Whadja use for lubricant, baby, superglue?

posted by Hugh Janus 31 January | 13:03

Heh. The Frogs were on my famous mix-from-the-lesbian-girlfriend too. I'm gonna have to find that tracklist sometime.

Although the lyrics you quoted sing more like Chuck Berry's "Reelin' & Rockin'."

posted by jonmc 31 January | 13:05

Yeah, the first track on My Daughter the Broad is a "cover" of "Reelin and Rockin'," with lines like the above and

Looked at my watch, and it said thirteen,
That's jailbait, baby!

Not funny at all. But it also contains the sublime "Jerry Lewis" and the surreal "April Fools":

He had the change done at the shop,
Earlobes for cocks, April Fools.

As the followup to It's Only Right and Natural, their collection of barely-palatable tongue-in-cheek-(and-anus) gay anthems taken seriously by some credible reviewers, My Daughter the Broad's random vulgarity really raised a few eyebrows.

Most of the Frogs' actual music is kinda crappy, though, particularly on It's Only Right and Natural and the never-released Racially Yours.

posted by Hugh Janus 31 January | 13:16

Here's an article.

posted by Hugh Janus 31 January | 13:24

Ahem.

Man, thanks for the virtual hit, dude.

Any time. It's better in real life tho, sadly.

post-grungesters Local H.

They are from my freaking hometown - Zion, Illinois.

posted by tr33hggr 31 January | 13:56

so does that make you a Zionist?

posted by jonmc 31 January | 14:05

Reflection: know what I like about Metachat? The initial post tells you absolutely nothing about what might be happening within a thread just a few comments down. It's always a surprise when I finally click and read.

posted by Miko 31 January | 14:23

Almost. The town was founded by a Dr. John Alexander Dowie, an evagelist (have I told this story here?). He was a faith healer, yadda yadda yadda, founded the town as a Christian commune-thingy. All the street names come from the Bible, but it's not exactly a haven for Christianity any more . . .

posted by tr33hggr 31 January | 14:25

And I grew up in the church he founded (he was, of course, long dead, and didn't seem like a very nice man).

posted by tr33hggr 31 January | 14:27

Re: the turret in this photo.
My brother-in-law, a carpenter, was the one who removed and restored the turret.

Ok, enough already!

posted by tr33hggr 31 January | 14:29

Is Zion anywhere near Decatur, Champaign, or Centralia? I have family who live, or have lived, in all three of those Illinois towns.

posted by jonmc 31 January | 14:32

Wow. I was born in Centralia. I now live about 30 miles from Champaign, and about 40 miles from Decatur.

Zion is near none of these though. I'm now in Central Illinois, Zion is tucked into the NE corner of the state, right on the lake and the Wisconsin border. About 50 miles north of Chi-town.

posted by tr33hggr 31 January | 14:35

Wow. I was born in Centralia.

So was my mother's brother's wife (aka Aunt Peggy). Small World. They've lived in Champaign, and currently live in Decatur. I fondly remember Krekel's Custard from there. They don't do frozen custard on the east coast.

posted by jonmc 31 January | 14:39

Trippy. It was my father's hometown; we never lived there, we lived in nearby Mt. Vernon when I was a baby. Wow, this makes today awesome! Small world. :)

Because I no understand the G-mail, did you get my short and pathetic e-mail? I didn't do that book justice, read it in fits and spurts over the holidays. I need to re-read it already.

posted by tr33hggr 31 January | 14:42

Speaking of Champaign . . .

GO ILLINI!

posted by tr33hggr 31 January | 14:43

I did. I am curious about what you thought of the ending-what it means for the narrator? and of the scene with the retarded kid and the scene with the merchant marine.

(ask your dad if he knows a family named Olen. Centralia's pretty small)

posted by jonmc 31 January | 14:44

Man, good questions. I'll give them some thought, but as for the narrator I don't see a lot of hope. The way the book is structured almost lifts it out of time. It's "a week," maybe any week. I unfortunately see the cycle repeating. Kenny makes a move.

Olen doesn't sound familiar, but dad passed several years ago. You're right though, it is small. I have vague memories of visiting my uncle, who owned one of the local bars.

posted by tr33hggr 31 January | 15:07

Well, the fact that he contacted Donny again gives me some hope. For a while I thought it meant he decided to be gay, which didn't make much sense. I think it just means that he realizes he needs something in his life besides his own bullshit.

posted by jonmc 31 January | 15:17

the scene with the retarded kid just struck me as strange. It was bizarrely funny in a nonsquitor way, but I couldn't figure out what point he was making. The scene with the old merchant marine was beautifully written, though, I thought.

posted by jonmc 31 January | 15:18

Well, the fact that he contacted Donny again gives me some hope. For a while I thought it meant he decided to be gay, which didn't make much sense. I think it just means that he realizes he needs something in his life besides his own bullshit.

Yes, yes, that's true. I thought he was thinking of making the swing too!

But really, that whole thing with Donny was nice because Donny took that chance, you know - hey, you really want to be friends with me? Well THIS is me? Can you handle it??

Ditto in the merchant marine scene; for me it really introduced some of the core themes in the book - the importance of friendship, of being true to yourself.

I don't recall the scene with the retarded kid. I may have been under the influence of something or another when I read that part . . . mea culpa.

posted by tr33hggr 31 January | 15:34

But really, that whole thing with Donny was nice because Donny took that chance, you know - hey, you really want to be friends with me? Well THIS is me? Can you handle it??

It helped that Donny was as fucked up as Kenny in many ways, and that they were very similar guys anyway. But I remember the line where Kenny says he sees "a lake in Donny's face...and I din't like it."

I don't recall the scene with the retarded kid.

When he goes back to seduce his door-to-door customer. Just when things are progressing Herbert (the kid) walks in and says "Who a you?" over and over till his mom ushers him out of the room. Then he says "who was him?"

posted by jonmc 31 January | 15:39

Ahh yes. Yeah, I dunno about that. The depravity of humankind man.

posted by tr33hggr 31 January | 15:52

← I've been getting a lot of phishing email lately. || OMG Translucent Concrete! →

HOME || REGISTER || LOGIN