This is such a cute story it just makes me grin. Not much to it really, but for starters I’m a dork who loves The Mr. T Experience (click and you can read about them and download some sample songs for free). They’ve been around since forever — I think those guys are older than me! Gasp! They were one of the first, maybe the very first band to make punk rock that was fun and goofy, and that could grab loads of catchy hooks straight out of pop music and still be totally punk rock.
“Anyhow, I went to this Mexican restaurant the other night, and Billie Joe and Mike from Green Day happened to be at the please-wait-to-be-seated spot right ahead of me. I bump into Tre Cool every so often at the grocery store, but I hadn’t seen these two in quite some time and we had a brief, pleasant conversation about this and that, as one does. Bill said he liked my book, which was nice of him. Good egg.
“It was only afterwards that I realized I was wearing the twenty-year-old Crimpshrine shirt all through the conversation. I mean, of course it was through the whole conversation. I didn’t, like, take it off in the middle of it or anything. This isn’t that type of anecdote….
“Later that evening, halfway through dinner, this guy comes up to me and says, “that’s an interesting T shirt.” “Oh?” I replied, trying to be at least a bit noncommittal till it became clear what he wanted. Well, he didn’t want anything, but he did turn out to be: Jeff Ott’s [of Crimpshrine] dad!
“When I told her about it, Erika said, drily, “you are really living the East Bay dream,” meaning that there is probably some kid out in Michigan or somewhere who really does imagine that that’s what it’s like to live in Berkeley. Every time you go down to the Mexican restaurant, there’s two thirds of Green Day and Dr. Frank and Jeff Ott’s dad, all hanging around wearing their Gilman era T shirts.
“The other thing that occurs to me is that a ways back, there had been some talk of trying to get Bill to blurb King Dork…. In the spirit of working with what ya got, how about this:
“‘Hey I liked your book’ — (author’s recollection of personal conversation while standing in line wearing Crimpshrine T shirt at Mexican restaurant with) Billie Joe of Green Day.”
If only Dr. Frank had known that Billie Joe himself was seen wearing a 20 year old Crimpshrine shirt just a few short months ago! That would have been the icing on this lovely story. Apparently Crimpshrine shirts have some essential quality that makes them completely indestructible.
Dr. Frank wearing his Crimpshrine shirt.
Billie Joe wearing his Crimpshrine shirt.
[ Source ]
Crimpshrine, by the way, is one of those seminal bands from the olden days of the Berkeley scene that people talk about with mist in their eyes. The bio on their Lookout page is worth a read, and there are a couple songs you can download as well.
I love reading Green Day stories and these are some excellent ones from a die hard fan, and she can write about it so very well! From the inspiration that Green Day brings to attending the premiere of Bullet in a Bible, to the disappointment of having been in the building when they performed on American Idol last week and missing it!!! Go make yourself a cup of tea, and dig in:
I made this for Cheryl to amuse her, and well, because she really is lovely and I’m sure Billie Joe himself would say so if he had the chance.
You have to know, to get that little joke, that when she went to see Billie Joe and Elvis Costello in Atlantic City last May, her husband was being a funny wiseass and shouted out “I love you Billie Joe!” I wasn’t sitting near them so I didn’t know it was him who did that until later. I just heard a grown man yell “I love you Billie Joe” and it cracked me up.
The drawing at the end is a Billie Joe original. [ Source ] All the other writing is mine, of course. (Shhh, don’t tell Cheryl.)
These videos are not new, but they’re new to me, so they may be to you too, and I found them quite entertaining.
Part one, in which a woman who worked as a bartender at a bar in Rodeo, California, where the members of Green Day hung out, tells the story of Billie Joe throwing a tantrum and getting mad at her:
Part two, in which she tells how Billie Joe apologized and told her how badly he felt, and where she tells of going to a Green Day show and realizing what an incredibly amazing band they are:
March 8, 2007 at 9:29 am
[ Category: Videos, Humor ]
I’ve always loved paper dolls. Just the idea that a piece of paper with some stuff printed on it can be a toy is so wonderfully simple. Plus there is no end to how many outfits you can make, in seconds, just by tracing around the outline of the doll and filling it in with bows and blazers and clown costumes… When I was little, maybe six, a neighbor showed me how you can place the doll over a model’s picture in a fashion magazine and trace around the doll to fit the dress in the picture to the doll. I thought that was brilliant. And I figured everything in a magazine can be a dress, so I had my paper dolls wearing soup cans and blocks of text. So modernist for a six year old.
Anyway, I wasn’t going to post this but I can’t stop myself. Not long ago a magazine came out with some Billie Joe [of Green Day] sticker dolls, and I just found them lacking in so many ways: no tattoos, silly heart boxers, and a huge staring head that looked like a demented elf. Or Liza Minelli. [Plus Hillary Duff was in there too…] So I couldn’t leave it alone and had to make my own version of Green Day paper dolls. Okay, it’s only Billie Joe. I think it’s very mild but I suppose, uh, don’t click it if you’re underage.
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