"Well, Okay Doc, Stick It Where…!"

Well, the prognosis is good. I went to see my dermatologist and, after all the preliminary silliness with the admitting nurse, she gave me a folded piece of paper, and told me to strip down to my underwear including my socks and put this on. Of course, trying to figure out how to put on that paper "robe" proved to be quite problematic. I was looking for holes to insert my arms and never found one. I looked for some pre-scored dotted line to punch my head through, but there wasn't any. I even tore it, thinking it was doubled up.

So, I thought to myself, this is what we've come to. First, cloth robes made of some flimsy paper seersucker material, and then robes with no backing at all to allow you to "air your differences"whether you want to or not, and now, this!

Later, during the examination, the nurse cracked up when I asked her what was it supposed to cover up!

The dermatologist arrived twenty minutes later and found me seated in my shorts next to a 4'x4' shredded paper robe. With a questioning look, he quickly dismissed some problem areas that I showed him and zoomed in on three spots I didn't think much of. With a look of serious concern, he scratched, poked and squeezed one particular area on my left arm and stated that it was a "ipsoclomaticphallangia fit"… or something sounding strangely similar to a Mass spoken in Latin. 

The guy's a kook...

At my request, attempting to divert his attention from my arm, he goes searching on my scalp for any problems like a monkey inspects and helps groom another monkey in a monkey tree. Thankfully, he didn't find anything there, nor did he pick something off of my dome and eat it! 

Satisfied he didn't find any obvious problems up there, I, once again, got the lecture about vitamin D, ultraviolet rays, and the damage the sun can do. Then, moving the shredded and useless 4'x4' paper robe covering my groin area, he asks…

"Do we need to remove your underwear investigate this area?"

I said, "Gee Doc, I don't think so… "Isn't that where the sun doesn't shine?"

Copyright 2014/Ben Bensen III

"It's A Sin And A Shame My Solo Socks Can't Find A Mate."

Too embarrassed to show any more!

Well, this year I resolve to, once and for all, find the mates to this "rats nest" of lost souls.  I'm tired of making New Year's resolutions to be a better husband, an understanding father, a patient, less critical person and a not so stubborn so and so, not so persnickety, but just persnickety enough, a better reader, a less snarling, foaming at the mouth, alpha male, and a more intense and passionate… uh, painter.

No, that stuff's for sissies…

No. This year I'm gonna find soul mates to some loved but long lost socks. And, that's okay. You can make all the jokes you want about it, like, "the joy of sox,"and "Sock it to me, baby!"and, "It Socks To Be In Love!" "Kawabunga on your KawaSOCKIE!" and the ever popular, "Socks, Dammit Or Darn It!", but I've decided to finally dump those that no longer make sense keeping them.

See, some socks have an emotional attachment that just can't be explained.Take, for instance, that solo red sock in the picture. I've worn that red pair for twenty Christmases. And, it embarrassed my wife every time I wore 'em. I even wore one, one Christmas day, solo with another green solo sock...like tootsied Michael Jackson. I have not found either mate in five or six years.

I have another pair of socks that were so expensive, I would hand wash them and hang them out to dry instead of putting them in the washer and dryer. Man, they were great pair of ski socks and worth every penny on the cold, wet and windy slopes of Mammoth Mountain in California. I always made sure I'd put them back inside my favorite pair of ski boots. The last time I went skiing was the winter of 2005 and I couldn't find the mate, so I had to take a less than perfect pair on the trip.

Needless to say, my skiing performance suffered dramatically. I can't explain that, but I still hang on to the fading hope that one day that missing left sock will return to me.

I now know how Evangeline felt waiting all those years for the return of her lover!

Nowadays, you don't need to darn or sew up a worn out pair because they get separated long before they wear out. Some socks become real favorites like a pair of jeans, but you can't always wear them in dress shoes because they're too thick and comfy. Our son rarely wore dress socks because he never went anywhere he felt was that formal. But, I knew that once I'd loan him a pair of dress socks, only one returned.

Against my better judgement, I allow my aged mother fold and put away our clothes. It provides her with something to do which, in turn, also helps me. But, I can't believe where I sometimes find some of my socks. So far, she keeps them pretty well in pairs, but I once found two pair in the kitchen drawer with the towels.

Now, I just have her fold the clothes!

So, though this will be heart breaking, and my toughest New Year's assignment in years, though it is September, darn it, I am bound and determined to toe the line, heel the hurt, and sock it up to see this to it's unmatched end.

Undefeeted...

Copyright 2014/ Ben Bensen III

"Ready Or Not, Here We Are...2014."

No resolutions till later, ha! 

Well, here we are, 2014, ready or not. 

I hope everyone at Paschal Sabatella's South Pasadena Villa survived. We use to have a tradition, of sorts, on New Year's Eve and Day. 

We'd walk, from our home, to go see how well the South Pasadena float entry to the Rose Parade was doing. Then, it would be over to Pascal's family bash which would go well past midnight. Great food, good friends, and lots of "Italy." It was fun. Tee, Brian and me, would then, get some shut eye till dawn and take off to see the floats lining up and finishing their last minute floral adjustments. We usually drove to a close spot, then walk the entire length of Orange Grove Avenue checking out the pre-parade scene.

Around 8 am or so, we'd go to our good friends house at the southern end of Orange Grove Avenue for Ramos' Phizzes, breakfast and the televised version of the parade.

By bowl game time, most of us were passed out in the Walker's living room or headed for home to sleep/watch football.

Good times, great memories...

Today...we're kinda laying low. Kinda overdosed on coffee and chocolate chip cookies while watching a game between Duke and Texas A&M.

No resolutions till later, ha!

Copyright 2014/ Ben Bensen III

"So Much A Part Of Our Lives…In So Many Ways!"

Another special waitress in our lives who was a part of our lives in South Pasadena.

Steve, 

A friend sent me your article on Maggie and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Everything you said about her was right on. I loved your comment.

"We tend to commemorate the glamorous and spectacular in Los Angeles, and we celebrate those who beat long odds. But maybe we too often overlook the people who toil in anonymity, bringing dignity and pride to their work, and going out of their way to touch lives and give meaning to our daily routines."

http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-1201-lopez-waitress-20131201,0,635725.column#ixzz2oyazx96E

I was a student at Art Center College of Design in the mid seventies and when the college moved to Pasadena, we students found a late night place to drink coffee, have a knosh, and converse about art. Back then, the Salt Shaker was the only place that was opened past midnight.

As it happened, once I graduated and started working, I bought a place in South Pasadena, not too far from the restaurant. Maggie was still there, serving it up! She loved watching our son, Brian, grow up. We'd sit and draw pictures and she'd get a kick out of his scribbles.  And yes, she knew my favorite dish for so many years, "The Great Eggs Incognito" with extra chili and an English muffin, well done.

My little story is a mind blower. In 2001, after living and working in South Pasadena, we returned back to the bayou north of New Orleans, which is our original home. Occasionally, since we left, I'd return to  South Pas, and have my favorite dish for old times sake. Margaret was on another shift, I guess, because if I saw her, I, like others, would have requested a table where she was working.

But last time I was in town, around Christmas, I saw Margaret and requested one of her tables. Though I'd been to the Shakers, as it then, became known, I hadn't seen her in, at least,eight or ten years or so. After some holiday greetings and a brief chit chat, she asked me what I wanted for breakfast and before I could get the words out, she giggled and ordered my regular. 

"Maggie, I said, there are many things I miss having move back to Louisiana, and you are definitely one on the top of my list!"

Guess I will be missing her for a long time, now.

This is my response to the LA Times reporter who wrote this article, Steve Lopez.

Copyright 2013/ Ben Bensen III

"Sometimes, Ya Gotta Do What'cha Gotta Do… A Follow Up!"

Mom better not find out her name was misspelled… 

Some friends mentioned wanting to see my mother's picture in two of the local newspapers. What's the big deal about that?

Well, I composed a blog the afternoon I returned home with my mom, who was just as "happy as spiked punch" with the reception she received about the Santa's baseball cap I gave her to wear earlier that morning. I didn't think it was a big deal and actually had to sell her the idea of wearing such a "chapeaux." I never thought it would be a highlight of the season here in Mandeville, LA. There's no need to rewrite that story, which explains the "high drama" hilarity. You can read about, at:

http://graphicgumbo3.blogspot.com/2013/12/sometimes-ya-gotta-do-whatcha-gotta-do.html

Santa's baseball cap was a hit… with the "paparazzi" as well as the media, and here's the proof!

Ho, Ho, Ha…

Copyright 2013/ Ben Bensen III

"Christmas Will Never Be The Same Without You"...

A Christmas promo a few years back…

Brian, you know that I am a Christmas freak. I love this time of year whether here in Louisiana or your hometown, South Pasadena. There's no heart for trimming the house with lights, Christmas trees, mistletoe or stockings hung from the chimney mantlepiece, but your mom and I will still celebrate His birth and Santa's special gifts. Christmas is always great, but it will never be the same without you. It's just that we'll miss you so much…

We'll toast you at dinner man… So much!

Dad

Copyright 2013/ Ben Bensen III

"Daddy's Drinking Up Our Christmas!"… And Other Great Seasonal Vibes!

The gift that kept on giving until it is left on the car's dashboard.

There was a time when cassettes were all the rage. Maybe, to understand it, is to remember the convenience of having ninety minutes of uninterrupted music at your disposal. No album to flip over or replay. You could cram both sides of three entire albums on one tape. You could design your own play list, overdub, overlap, fade in, fade out, make poignant statements politically, socially, musically, emotionally, comically… whatever.

It all seems so silly and insignificant nowadays, but...

There was a time, I'd take my date to a movie and afterward, have dinner at the hippest hamburger joint in New Orleans, The Ground Patti. It was so cool to snuggle in your "CPO" next to a roaring fire and listen to uninterrupted tunes on a reel to reel tape machine. And, as a twenty year old, eating there was a definite upgrade from Burger King!

Ah, the simple pleasures…

Years later, much to the disdain of many of my musically sophisticated friends who just hated Christmas music, save one or two songs from their childhood, I made cassettes of Christmas music. I made them with all kinds of music from the baroque to ultimate classics like Nat King Cole's, "Christmas Song," which has to be in my top twenty five songs ever.

Eugene Rappolo's version of Judy Garland's," Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas," is also one of my favorite tunes. "Stax/Volt's" collection of risqué and raunchy, tunes like"Santa Claus Wants Some Lovin'"and the country corn tear jerkers like "Daddy's Drinking Up Our Christmas!"were just a sample of the kind of tunes I'd record to tape.

As a part of the fun of giving these thank you gifts to my clients, was creating, along with the discography, the artwork for the cassette holders. I enjoyed creating them for my collection whether it was a cassette of Beatles hits or a Christmas concept of all "Silent Night" tunes. I made a Cajun Christmas cover, a Country Christmas with Santa's tip of the hat, and a Black and White Christmas, which had "white" Christmas tunes on one side and soulful, rhythm and blues and doo wop tunes on the other side. I thought juxtaposing Bing's, "White Christmas" with the Drifter's version was pretty illuminating, as well as, entertaining.

Some disagreed. They didn't appreciate the visual of a split Christmas tree, black on one side and white on the other. C'est la vie!

There was a time, I feared that I'd run out of Christmas material, but after a dozen years of gift giving, the technology changed and beat me to the need to find new ideas. In a way, I sort of, lost interest.

Also, by that time, the culture and how we connected and worked together had changed. The computer made it unnecessary to physically be in the agency interacting with creatives like art directors, production people, account execs and designers. It was time to move on...

But, I still have my original cassettes and, here's a picture of some of the artwork I created in those crazy, conceptual, cassette days.

Copyright 2013/ Ben Bensen III

*Some folks asked me for the url to the title of this blog, so here it is: Quick get out the hankies!

http://youtu.be/plT2sgkU-Ck