Meet the Beatles

 It was the first week of September of 1968. This was before my Father was Ludlow Porch, he was mild mannered Claims adjuster Bob Hanson the owner of Hanson Claims Service with offices in Atlanta, Macon, and Athens and looking to expand even more. He heard about an adjusters convention that was supposed to be the best of the best for building a franchise and he wanted to go. The desicion was easy, the hard part was it was London but he was going. 

He made reservations for him and my Mom. It was a 5 day trip, starting Thursday morning with the last class about noon on Sunday. Everything was all set...Then came the problem.  My little Sister came down with the mumps and my Mom said she could not leave a sick baby with a babysitter for five day and go traipsing halfway around the world. The airline tickets were not refundable but they were transferable. My Mom shot down the idea of my Dad taking his secretary.  My older Sister Barbara was the next logical choice but she had a date to go to her first Homecoming dance on Saturday. That left me and I was packing before I was told I was going.

We left Wednesday afternoon because stuff started for my Dad Thursday morning. It was dark when we checked in and jet lag was all over me so we went straight to bed. Morning came fast and we went downstairs and had breakfast. Keep in mind I had just turned 10 a few days earlier and I did have a small wild streak and my Dad knew it.

We went back to the room and he sat me down and held my shoulders and looked me straight in the eye and said "Now Phil, I'm gonna be gone about 8 hours and I need you to STAY in the hotel, do you understand that". I assured him that I did and I would, and I meant to. 

Thursday I was still tired so I did stay in the hotel building. I don't remember the name but it was one of those big old 100 year+ hotels with a lot of stuff in it so I stayed busy.

Friday was a different story. I did some scouting and I found out our hotel was only 4 blocks from Abbey Road Studios. I had been a HUGE Beatles fan since I saw them in Atlanta 3 years earlier. 

My Dad left Friday about 8:00 and I was gone at 8:15 on my adventure. I was rich we had converted dollars into pounds and I must have had 14 or 15 pounds burning a hole in my pocket but shopping could wait I needed to see Abbey Road Studios and maybe even  Beatle...A 10 year old mind can wish.

There was a very light mist as there usually is in London and I made my way the 4 blocks to Abbey Road. I made it and it looked like an office building. I was a bit disappointed but I didn't know what to expect.  

While standing on the curb looking at the building a car pulled up to the curb and I didn't pay much attention to it and I guess they didn't pay too much attention to me because suddenly the back door swung open hard and hit me in the butt and knocked me down. A very proper English Gentleman and a boy about my age got out. The man was very apologetic and made sure I was okay. I said I was fine but he insisted on talking to my parents to apologize to them but I explained I was alone and just stopped by to try to see a Beatle and he laughed and told me to come with him and his Son and I did.

We walked right up those steps like we owned the building and went right in. There was only one security guard at the door and we walked right past him as he said "Good morning Mr. Martin".

At this point I still didn't understand who Mr. Martin was but I would in a few minutes. 

We walked up 2 flights of stairs to a door that said George Martin on it and it was beginning to make sense now. He introduced me to his Son Greg and told him to show me around and to introduce me to "The Boys" when they came in. 

Greg ask me how old I was and he made sure I understood he was a year older than me, even though I was about 2 inches taller. He showed me around for about an hour and we went everywhere then he said he thinks the boys are coming in. They were supposed to be there at 9:00 but they were always late. We went to the main studio and the catering company had just put out pastries and coffee and hot water for tea and OJ and milk. Greg said we need to eat before John got there because he was a pig. About 10:30 Ringo shows up and heads straight to the pastries and made some tea. Greg introduced us and we shook hands and made small talk and I was in heaven. About 10 minutes later Paul comes in and it was kinda the same thing and I'm still in heaven. Then George shows up and walked straight over and started hooking up his guitars. Greg introduced me to George and he was very nice. About an hour later the three that were there were making small talk and playing a little bit of this and that. I didn't know at the time but they were working on The White Album. Paul was working on The Birthday Song and I thought that was cool. It was now 11:30 and still no John. George spoke up and said "Hey kid, can play the guitar and sing, you can fill in for John". 

About that time John and Yoko show up and he yells sorry I'm late...Paul says he's always late. John headed straight for the pastries and loaded up a plate and made 2 cups of coffee, Yoko was on her own. Greg was right he was a pig.

Greg took me over to meet John and Yoko and John ask Greg if I was a friend of his and as John was taking a sip of coffee Greg said "No my Dad hit him with the car this morning and he felt sorry for him and brought him in". That was the point that John blew coffee out of his nose. Greg explained what happened and it was all good.

They all sat there feeding off each other and playing this and that and it was all new to me because the White Album had not come out yet but I was looking forward to it.

Well if you have gotten this far I guess I can tell you this only happened in my mind...I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

The Great Village Inn Pizza Fight

 This is the story about me being in my one and only police lineup. A million or so years ago around 1978 I was in the Marine Corps stationed in Charleston, South Carolina. If I remember correctly I was spending a quiet evening at the barracks watching TV. In town was a different story. Two Marines from our base decided to stop in to the Village Inn Pizza place for pizza and beer. At the time they had no idea that there was a Navy retirement party going on at the same place. The Navy had reserved the back room for the party and there were between 75 and 100 sailors in attendance. One of the Marines went to the bathroom and there were 3 sailors there also. The sailors had been drinking for about 3 hours at this point and they decided that 3 on 1 in the bathroom would be a fair fight and normally it would but they were drunk. There was a lot of noise in the bathroom and the other Marine joined him in the bathroom. 2 of the sailors were unconscious and the third one got away and got back to his buddies. The sailors came swarming out like ants at a picnic and basically beat the crap out of the Marines. Feeling pretty good about themselves they tossed the Marines out into the parking lot. The Marines were feeling pretty dejected and hurt and they came back to base to lick their wounds. 

When they got back to base they checked in with the Sargent of the guard when the Officer of the day saw them he came out of the office and said " What the Hell happened here"? Once the story was told to him he was livid and told the SOG to knock on every door and get as many Marines as he could find. While he was doing that he had 5 vans and 3 trucks pull up outside. This Captain probably overstepped his limits but he didn't care at that point. 

About 40 Marines headed to the Village Inn Pizza. When we got there it was about 10:00 and the party was still going strong. We marched in and went straight to the back room. Our Captain went to speak to one of the Navy officers and it went downhill from there. I think it might have been okay but the Navy office pushed my Captain. My Captain punched the Navy officer and he dropped like a rock and so it began. After about 10 minutes 4 Charleston police showed up and jumped up and down and ran around in circles and did nothing. The restaurant was a mess with bleeding and unconscious sailors laying around the broken furniture and we left and went back to the barracks and thought it was over but it wasn't. 

Monday morning the Charleston police and the manager of the Village Inn Pizza place showed up at the base to pick out and prosecute the Marines involved. So out CO had EVERYONE fall-out on the parade deck. There were about 250 of us in formation for the police lineup. The police and the restaurant manager walked up and down looking at everyone.  After about 10 minutes the manager pulled the police aside and told him "Damn it they all look alike".

That was the end of it but we were restricted from going back to the Village Inn Pizza place. How did I ever live this long?

Worlds fastest and most powerful hair dryer

 The story must be told...In high school my best buddy was Jimmy Johnson and he lived 4 houses up Will Lee Rd. from me in beautiful Red Oak, Georgia. Jimmy had a few different cars in the day and the one in the picture was one of those cars but back in the day it was green. I know it doesn't look like it from the picture but this is also the World's fastest and most powerful hair dryer. 

I'll explain. Jimmy drove to school everyday and out of the kindness of his heart he would pick me up and we would ride together. I was not as punctual then as I am now and I would over sleep more times than not. Jimmy would come to the house and if I did not pop right out he would just come in and come upstairs to my room. There was 6 boys in the house so nobody even paid any attention when he came in, the fact is I don't remember our doors ever being locked, if it did lock I never had a key. Anyway Jimmy would yell get your butt up we gotta go and I would say I'll meet you in the car. He would head back to the car to probably listen to that rock & Roll music and I would grab whatever I was wearing to school and run downstairs and jumped in the shower. My hair was longer then than it is now as you can see in the picture but after the 90 second shower there was no time to dry it at home. This is where the world's fastest and most powerful hair dryer comes into play. We lived about 5 miles from school so the way Jimmy drove that would give me about 3 1/2 to 4 minutes to dry my hair and the best way to do that was to be on my knees and hang my head out as far as I could looking kinda like a Golden Retriever on a long family vacation but it worked. By the time we got to school my hair was clean and was wind swept into perfection. I'll never forget that green LeMans. Precious Memories how they linger.

You can't fool your parents

 Your parents didn't miss nearly as much as you thought they did...This would have been about 1973...OMG that was 50 years ago. WOW! Anyway, I would have been 15 years old and living in Red Oak Georgia with my Dad, my Step-Mom and my 5 Step-brothers. My Dad was working in Radio full time by then and many times him and his wife would travel on the weekends because my Dad was also a popular after dinner speaker and us 6 boys, 2 were 15, 1 was 14, 1 was 13, one was about 11 or maybe 12, and 1 about 9. In today's world parents would go to jail for leaving 6 small boys to fend for themselves over a long brutal weekend alone probably starving to death. In 1973 we said..."Have fun, see ya when you get back.

It probably would have started Friday night, I would have been depressed and lonely stuck in Red Oak with 5 other boys and I was going to do something about it. I worked at the National Triple Theater on Old National Highway at the time so I had some money but there was no where to spend it on Will Lee Rd and I was going to remedied that. I had a motorcycle but it was a dirt bike with no tag or headlight so that was out. So I picked the only other option I could come up with...I'll take one of my Dad's cars...That sounded like a swell idea but there was a small problem with...Being 15 I only had my learner's license. I was not worried about my driving ability because at 15 I already knew everything especially how to drive.

I decided that would be a good night to take the Dodge instead of the Orange & White VW Bus. My Dad must have been going through his mid-life crisis because in 1968 he bought a brand new Dodge Coronet 440 and it was a true hotrod.

Anyway I waited long enough so I could be sure the old folks were truly out of town and were not going to sneak back to try to catch us at something. 

I knew where he kept the keys so that was not a problem. So at about 6:30 or so I hit the road for a wild Friday night on the town. It was not going to be too wild because I was a good boy and didn't smoke or drink or do drugs. I just liked to drive.

I was gonna head to where all the action was on Old National Highway. On my way there the temperature light came on and it was up to about 220° after about 5 miles so I pulled into a gas station and popped the hood to take a look. It looked like an easy fix, the upper radiator hose had a crack in it and it wouldn't hold water. I let it cool down and added water and drove straight to a parts store and bought a hose and replaced it in the parking lot, nothing to it. 

Overall it was an uneventful weekend cruising all around Red Oak, East Point, and College Park. 

Back home safe and sound in plenty of time before the folks got home Sunday.

The next day my Dad took the Dodge to work and that was unusual because he liked driving his Skylark. 

When he got home he came straight to wherever I was and he said he wanted to thank me for fixing the busted hose on the Dodge. You see he had driven it the week before when the hose broke and he had an appointment to get it fixed Monday morning. I said alright which kid told you I drove it and he said nobody said a word, he just knew it was me. 

It makes me wonder just what else they knew about...I don't really wanna know.

New Bat Kite

 This would have been about 1975 or so and it was a GLORIOUS spring day in College Park, Georgia and for some reason I was at my high school after hours. My high school was Lakeshore High School in College Park Georgia. 

Being in College Park we were just a few miles from the Atlanta Airport. In fact we were so close that when a plane flew over the teacher would have to stop talking because we had no AC so the windows were all open. That's how close we were. I said all that to say this.

We had a concrete football Stadium behind the school with a large press box on the top of the stadium. On the top of the stadium I saw a friend of mine Mike Brown with a strange black kite that looked like a bat. I had never seen a kite like that before so I went up to investigate. Mike told me this was a brand new kite design with no tail. It was already in the air when I got there and it was flying great. Mike told me he had 4000 feet of string and looking at the spool about the size of a pineapple I had no reason to doubt him. After about 30 minutes all was going well and the kite was flying strong and pulling hard. Mike said, lets see how high it will go and he started letting out string. 

Now from time to time they would change the traffic pattern at the airport and this was one of those time when all of the sudden planes started their landing approach almost directly over our football stadium. With about 3000 feet of string most normal kids would have panicked and would have quickly started reeling in the string. Well that's not what we did, I yelled MORE STRING and so Mike did just that...Up to about 3500 feet now we were laughing like crazy people because as each plane went over the turbulence from the plane would cause the kite to dip and dive and sway back and forth and we laughed even harder. Then it happened...A Delta plane came over and the kite disappeared and the spool of string was ripped out of Mike's hands and landed about 200 feet away in the middle of the football field. The kite had been sucked into the engine of the plane. 

We were convinced the plane was on the was down and killing everyone on board so we decided it would be a good time to go home. On the way to the car we were expecting to hear the crash but it never happened. I'm sure there was an investigation but I was not involved.  I'm hoping the statue of limitations has run out by now. 

#Batkite

Robert Plant is a good guy.

 I've got another Big Ed story...The absolute very best part time job I EVER had was being a Swag Merchant. For those who are scratching their head with that I sold merchandise at concerts and sporting events. I really don't remember how I even got involved in it but I'm glad I did. You see Scott Eisenberg ran most of the merchandising that went on in Atlanta including everything at the Omni, sports, concerts, basically anything that went on at the Omni that included selling T-Shirt, hats, posters, and so on. Also we did the Braves World Series at the old Atlanta Fulton County Stadium. So you got the picture, Big Ed and I were vendors. We would need to be at an event many hours before hand because there was a lot of work to do before and after the show. This would have been in the late 80's I think. Now remember Big Ed and I were roommates as well as doing this side gig together.

Robert Plant and Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin were on tour together as strangely enough "Plant & Page". For some reason Big Ed was not able to do that concert. After I got my cart together and put it where it needed to be and all the T-shirts and hats and posters and programs were all displayed in all they're  glory there was not much to do but wait. I think for a 7:30 show they would open the doors about 6:00. We would have been setup by 4:30 or so. The bands would do a sound check no later than 5:00. This was always very cool because they would do a song or two in the sound check. Most of the vendors would step inside and watch and listen because there was no people yet so it was just you and the band and no other noise. 

This night after the sound check I was hanging out at my cart and display when the elevator across from my cart opened and Robert Plant stepped off and walked over to my display to check it out. We chatted for a second and he ask how sales have been? I looked him square in the eye and said, " We haven't opened yet". He apologized and said "Well that was dumb" and we laughed. 

Then I had an idea and I knew I would NEVER have this chance again. I ask if he would do me a favor and he said sure if I can and I said you can. I told him about Big Ed and what a big fan he was and I ask if he would call Big Ed and just say hello...He said sure that will be fun. As we walked the 30 feet to the payphone I said this must get old, I'm sure people ask you to do this all the time and he said, no actually no one's ever asked me to do this, so I felt better.

I popped a quarter in the payphone and called my house and it started ring and I handed Robert the phone...There was no answer.  At the tone Robert said "Big Ed...This is Robert Plant and I'm down here with your buddy Phil...I'm really sorry you're not home I had a couple of back stage passes for you tonight I would have loved to have met you...Maybe next time" then he handed me the phone and I said "Sorry you're not home...See you later"

Robert was laughing and said "How did I do"? I said you couldn't have done better. Then he said I guess it's time to go to work for both of us. I thanked him and he went away.

I got home about 1:30 or 2:00 and Big Ed  was still up and the first thing he said was, "Okay who was that you had call me this afternoon"? I said who do you think it was, you knew where I was...Big Ed responded "€£○|♤ zf:^(  ^%[ "?[=÷ "

His response can not be repeated in mixed company. Big Ed kept that tape for many years after that.

#RobertPlant  #LedZeppelin 

My Soul Food Lesson

 This would have been about 1978 or so, I was still in the Marines and I was stationed at the Navel Weapons Station, Charleston, South Carolina. It was really in Goose Creek, SC but not very people know where that is. 

Being born in the late 50's in Atlanta and raised in Birmingham, then Decatur I grew up in pretty much a white world. I went to Peachcrest elementary school in Decatur from 1st through 7th grade and I did it in ONLY 7 years. During that time Peachcrest was full of white students. I truly do not remember ever seeing a black child there the whole time.

Then I moved to Lakeshore High School in College Park, Georgia from 8th through 12th...Again in only 5 years.

Lakeshore was a bit more diverse than Peachcrest as they still had mostly white but they also had Black, Hispanic, Asian, and we even had an exchange student from Sweden. I said that to say this, I still mostly lived in my mostly white world. Yes I had black friends and some were better friends than others. I played sports and was very involved in the chorus and I had black friends in all of that but it was not until I joined the Marine Corps that I truly had GOOD friends that were black. My first day in the Marine Corps I learned there were NO black or white Marines we were ALL green, and we were. When you are in a life and death situation whether it is real or you are training for that situation you want someone next to you that has been through the same stuff you have and that thinks like you do so when you are knee deep in mud with barbed wire all around you and you stick out your hand for help you are glad there is a green guy there to pull you out.

This is the story of John...He was one of my very best friends that I had in the Marine Corps. I met John the very first day I made it to Charleston and we hit it off right away. If you haven't guessed yet John was one of those Black/Green guys. You see there was a LOT of Yankee boys stationed in Charleston for some reason and me being from Atlanta Georgia, and John being from Hickory, North Carolina we hit it off just fine.

The food in the chow hall in Charleston was pretty good mainly because it was run by civilians. There were only 300 Marines at the base. The base is where they maintained and rotated Poseidon and Trident missiles from submarines including the nuclear warheads there on the base. Apparently the government didn't trust the Navy to guard their own base so that's where we came in.

John and I hung out a lot when we were off duty including eating many meals together both on and off base.

One day John ask how I liked Soul Food...I replied that I don't think I have ever had any and he replied that I was in for a treat. The very next day John took my to a little hole in the wall and I think it was just called Mama's. We parked and went in and I noticed I was the only white person and I didn't care because of what I was smelling...OMG I was in heaven. This was not John's first time because the waitress called him by name and hugged his neck and he introduced me and she hugged my neck, I was liking this place more and more.

She handed us the menus and said I'll go ahead and get your Sweet Tea even though neither of us had said a word about Sweet Tea, she just knew.

John said what do you think about the menu? It's the best Soul food in South Carolina. I looked over the menu and I looked John square in the eye and told him I was a little disappointed. He seemed very confused and ask why?

I explained that I thought you were taking me to some wild and exotic place with food from around the world and I'm looking at this menu and EVERY SINGLE THING on the menu I have eaten at both of my Grandmother's house within past year...Don't get me wrong we had a splendid meal and we came back many times and thanks to John I found out I had been eating Soul food all of my life.

#SoulFood