Veteran's Day Open Mic in Long Valley - 11/11/10

Enjoy!

Artist: Erik B. Anderson (The King of Funny Faces)
Songs: Seven Nation Army (The White Stripes)
House of the Rising Sun (The Animals)
Make it Rain (Tom Waits)
Date: 11/11/2010 (Veteran's Day)
Venue: The Studio of Long Valley

The Double Dare Story - 1/11/1987

My father grew up with Geraldine Bond Laybourne, who was the President/CEO of Nickelodeon Television in the 1980's. When I was eleven years old and my brother was eight, she sent us tickets to see a taping of Double Dare. Somehow, my mother got us a day off of school and she drove us down to Philadelphia to see this:







I shouted out "Harvey!" at the top of my lungs. This picture doesn't capture it, but he was annoyed! Harvey was the announcer of the show, very much beloved by me and by many kids of my generation.



And here is the host of the show, Marc Summers. Years later, he was in the news talking about having OCD, and I often wondered if this story had something to do with it. Did it make him worse? Was he trying to repress this memory as much I had tried to? I don't know. But Marc Summers  was the host of Double Dare, one of the biggest kids game shows of all time.



It was a kid's dream come true! Before the big obstacle course event at the end of one of the episodes (we saw four being taped), Marc goes into the audience and talks to some of the excited kids in the audience. He picked me! I was so excited!



But then things got ugly...

Of all the questions that the host of the most popular kids game show in America could ask me, he asked me if I had a boyfriend. He slipped. He made a mistake. But the damage was done...



I was a weird kid in the 80's. These were the days of "Nerds" and "Geeks" and "Dweebs" and John Landis movies. I was teased more than most, I fear. Of all the questions in the world he could ask me, why did he ask me if I had a boyfriend? I asked myself that question many times over the years. And I never really talked to anyone about being on everyone's favorite show, at least not until several years had separated me from the pain and humiliation.

I'm not homophobic now. I wasn't homophobic then. This has nothing to do with homophobia. I was just pissed that Marc Summers gave all of the 'popular kids' in school a reason to tease me. Yeah, it had a lot to do with pride and ego, but hey...I was eleven years old. Forgive me, please.

Well that's another amazing story from the life of the current King of Funny Faces.

Have a great weekend everybody.

Warm Regards,

Erik B. Anderson
Independence Township, New Jersey, USA
Established 1782

UPDATE:

We Will Rise (Live)

Where does the King sign up to join Angela Gossow's army?

On Madness

The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

Act 5, Scene 1

HAMLET
How absolute the knave is! we must speak by the
card, or equivocation will undo us. By the Lord,
Horatio, these three years I have taken a note of
it; the age is grown so picked that the toe of the
peasant comes so near the heel of the courtier, he
gaffs his kibe. How long hast thou been a
grave-maker?

First Clown
Of all the days i' the year, I came to't that day
that our last king Hamlet overcame Fortinbras.

HAMLET
How long is that since?

First Clown
Cannot you tell that? every fool can tell that: it
was the very day that young Hamlet was born; he that
is mad, and sent into England.

HAMLET
Ay, marry, why was he sent into England?
First Clown
Why, because he was mad: he shall recover his wits
there; or, if he do not, it's no great matter there.

HAMLET
Why?

First Clown
'Twill, a not be seen in him there; there the men
are as mad as he.

HAMLET
How came he mad?

First Clown
Very strangely, they say.

HAMLET
How strangely?

First Clown
Faith, e'en with losing his wits.

HAMLET
Upon what ground?

First Clown
Why, here in Denmark: I have been sexton here, man
and boy, thirty years.

HAMLET
How long will a man lie i' the earth ere he rot?

First Clown
I' faith, if he be not rotten before he die--as we
have many pocky corses now-a-days, that will scarce
hold the laying in--he will last you some eight year
or nine year: a tanner will last you nine year.

HAMLET
Why he more than another?

First Clown
Why, sir, his hide is so tanned with his trade, that
he will keep out water a great while; and your water
is a sore decayer of your whoreson dead body.
Here's a skull now; this skull has lain in the earth
three and twenty years.

HAMLET
Whose was it?

Hamlet and Horatio are wandering in a churchyard where they meet some clowns digging graves. The clown Hamlet speaks to in this section does not know he is speaking to the Prince of Denmark. The bold six word sentence below explains so much about why Hamlet is considered mad.

Hamlet is considered mad because he has faith, even though he is losing his wits. Faith is the most threatening thing to those with illegitimate power. Faith gives Hamlet the ability to speak truth to power, no matter how offensive it is. 


Check out HAMLET_HULK talk to TEAPARTYHULK and SARAHPALINHULK on Twitter today. What shall become of it all?


Warm Regards,


Erik B. Anderson
The King of Funny Faces
Independence Township, New Jersey 
Established 1782

Gracias a la Vida

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Published Again - Nov. 7, 2010

Read the letter at the DailyRecord.com.

Man wants to stay and fight for New Jersey

Letters to the Editor
Daily Record - November 7, 2010

An expatriated friend of mine encouraged me to "get out of New Jersey" the other day. That phrase comes up a lot and for the umpteenth time now, it perplexes me. I was always taught the grass is greener on the other side. If I were to leave, where would I go?

I was born in Morristown. Except for a few years of college, I have lived in the Garden State my whole life. I can trace my family tree back to pre-revolutionary New Jersey. I don't know anything else.

I feel very much trapped here. Many things are beyond frustrating; but what really gets me mad is the knee-jerk reaction so many people have just to flee the state. How is it patriotic to fight for our country and not for our state? Stay. Fight. Make things better for the next generation. Abandonement is not a solution.

Martin Luther King Jr. said it best: "A man who hasn't found something he is willing to die for is not fit to live."

If staying here and suffering makes me crazy, then I'm crazy. But so was King.

Erik B. Anderson