Beta Pi Blog, Vol.2006, No.67 - GUEST BLOGMEISTER DOUG MARTIN

Beta Pi:

GUEST BLOGMEISTER DOUG MARTIN: I had asked Venerable Brother Doug Martin to contribute a column to this blog, and Doug sent me some very amusing words - that apparently flew back-and-forth between him and Venerable Arthur Landry. Doug’s contribution is presented herein, for your amusement:

"Final note on Homecoming/Reunion 2006 - Class of 1976

Received an e-mail from brother Arthur Landry in response to Homecoming pix that Kathy, my wife, took and I forwarded to you both. Excerpts as follows.

"...And the prize for the person who looks best after all these years, other than your wife, goes to----Frank! Just kidding. It goes to JD Strickland." (censored derogatory comment about source of JD's remarkable preservation 30 years later) "...Is that a tin foil hat on his head? And why the tiny crowd at Dudley on a beautiful day? These do make me sorry I missed it, but it couldn't be helped..."

Sent Arthur the following reply this morning.

"Yes, it was more fun than I'd thought it would be.

"Homecoming was a nostalgic, time-warp sort of experience. A lot has changed to be sure - new construction all over, Phi Delt house closed down, Krystal and Steak & Egg are gone, Phi Psi's seem to be the party boys (what???) with many beer cans and cups strewn across their lawn. But there were momentary flashes, at the Tic house, Rotier’s, the wall at Rand terrace, when it seemed as though it was still the '70's. No moment more so that weekend than seeing JD.

"You are absolutely correct - other than a better haircut, he has not changed in appearance (or demeanor) AT ALL. I kept looking over my shoulder to see if Dom and Fur would appear next. He is not only a Vandy season ticket holder but a member of the National Commodore Club and travels to some road games where he continues to harass opponents and take abuse from all he encounters. He is attempting to enlist others in his deranged and Quixotic quest to lift the Commodores by verbally abusing opponents and their fans. His hat, not tin foil but a sissy, shiny gold ball cap, is part of the Liberace ensemble to which Buck's jacket belongs. He claims the hat is good luck. Doesn't seem to work for the Commodores though.

"The Tic house now seems to be permanently infused with the post-Shipwreck bouquet of mildew and stale beer. All carpet is gone, minimal furniture, kitchen gutted - limited meals are catered in (Alex & Laura, God rest your souls), no cow, and worst of all - no pins. Some of the kids seemed oddly impressed we were amongst the group that cracked the foundation. They don't build a pool anymore, for any number of good reasons, but it lives on in their lore from ancient times when we did. Some of them have seen or heard of Wales Tales ("played by old guys who occasionally come by") but don't play themselves opting instead for the modern scourge - beer pong - a pointless excuse for a game involving no mental acumen, little skill, and no redeeming social, educational or self-disciplinary value. What has this younger generation come to?

"The crowd for the football game was disappointing made even more so by the fact that a third or so were South Carolina fans. VU has to be thankful the SEC travels well and that the university is in Nashville with other attractions rather than someplace like...Starkville. I can't even imagine how pathetic it must have been for the Temple game.

"Wish you could have been there. Others should do it as well. At the very least it seems to give Bozo a sense of purpose; plays to his border-collie instincts."

CHECK OUT WORLD'S CHEEZIEST WEB SITE: Venerable Vin Starr sent me a link to web site that is so cheezy I could only bear 6 seconds of it. Hilarious! Just click on the link to find out why Vinnie's favorite singer is Johnny Mathis.

BLOG ON! Post a comment directly to the blog by going to: http://journals.aol.com/lasimons4law/beta-pi-blog/

VTL,

Larry Simons

Beta Pi, ‘72

Beta Pi Blog, Vol.2006, No.66 - A THANKSGIVING TIK TALE

Beta Pi:

A THANKSGIVING TIK TALE: It was Thanksgiving, 1974. I opted not to go home for the 5-day Thanksgiving Break. My plan was to have some "alone time" to write poetry. That sounds nuts, and is nuts, but I was (and still am) very "into" poetry writing. I was taking the Poetry Writing Course offered by the Vanderbilt English Department, taught by Poet in Residence, James Seay. You may remember Mr. Seay, he was a young professor, very tall and slender, with very long dark hair. He looked very mysterious because he wore a black patch over one eye. Very bohemian, very cool.

So, the Poetry Writing course requirement was to write a new poem every week all semester long. In other words, be a poet, write poetry - about 15 or 16 poems. Well, the course was terrifying, because it was taught "round-table" style. Here’s how it looked: we all (a dozen or so of us) sat around a big conference room table, and each week, everyone had to show up with a new poem, circulate copies to Mr. Seay and classmates, recite the poem, and then listen to each classmate’s verbal "critique." Finally, Mr. Seay critiqued each poem - on the spot, in front of thewhole class. The student then received the poem back from Mr. Seay. I kid you not, it was intensely frightening. If you were lucky, he put a "check mark" next to a line or two, and if you were very lucky, he wrote a terse comment at the foot of the page. A comment heard a lot from classmates was "that sounds trite" or "that is like Rod McKuen (the popular poet who was always trite). I began hearing "trite" in my dreams. Trite means "used so commonly that the novelty is worn off; stale; syn: hackneyed, stereotyped, commonplace." A powerful word, I’ll tell you.

This method of teaching was meant to teach the young poet to "self-critique" - the idea being, write a page of lines, come back to it the next day, and critique yourself. If there is one good line, keep it, scrap the rest, and start over. This method is actually quite useful. But at the time, I was terrified, because some of the critiques were quite cutting. It felt like Chinese Water Torture.

So, it was Thanksgiving, and I’m planning to light a roaring fire at the Tik House fireplace, set the mood just so, and write. But . . . there was always the lure of our stereo, and the Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skinyrd, you name it, I put it on the stereo for inspiration.

Then, about 3:00 a.m., I’m agonizing with writer’s block - I heard screeching tires coming from the direction of the SAE House (this is a true story). So, I go out on the side porch, and I’m looking down 25th Avenue (south, toward Memorial Gym) - and this drunk guy had set a Grocery Store Cart/basket in the middle of 25th Avenue! Then he was backing his car up. It was a very clunky looking Chevy, and not a late model, more like a 1960's model. When he had backed it up sufficiently, he put the car in gear, and he floored it - "burned rubber" - heading at break-neck speed toward this grocery cart. I suppose his goal was to launch the cart into space, because when he hit it, the cart actually did go airborne! The impact made a loud "crack" noise. The thing flew over and landed in the Phi Delta Theta yard, with a thud.

To me, this was intensely entertaining, and because there were only a few people to witness it, this stunt was obviously being done for the pure fun of it, much like when David Letterman features someone throwing large pumpkins off of a tall building, just to watch them splatter.

So, I finished a few poems, showed up in class the next week, and got creamed for trite poetry. One of my classmates was the very cool Marie Raggianti (yes the very same Marie Raggianti who later became very famous for blowing the whistle on Tennessee Governor Ray Blanton, the pardons and parole scandal, which eventually brought down Ray Blanton, and a movie was made - "Marie" starring Sissy Spacek). Well, Marie was a really nice girl, very lovely, very cool. Why else would they get Sissy Spacek to play her on the big screen? I had a very enjoyable, friendly date with her, we talked poetry - she told me she liked "my stuff" - but little did I know she was destined for fame.

All of those words, just to waste time, (I love wasting time) thinking about the Tik Mansion at Thanksgiving. I wish each of you a very happy and blessed Thanksgiving.
GEEZER PHOTO FEST, PART 2, FROM 2006 VU REUNION: In todays e-mail, Doug Martin sent me an additional treasure trove of pics. Great memories - Doug, you make me feel very, well, thankful to be an ATO.

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VTL,

Larry Simons

Beta Pi, ‘72

Beta Pi Blog, Vol.2006, No.65 - HEME HONORED AT VU LETTERMENS' DAY

Beta Pi:

HEME HONORED AT VU LETTERMENS' DAY: At the now infamous Vanderbilt vs. UT game last Saturday, while we all still had a glimmer of hope in our hearts that Vandy would somehow beat UT 2 years in a row, during pre-game festivities Vanderbilt paraded a slew of All-Time-Great Vanderbilt Lettermen (and women) onto the field to honor them, en masse. Among those greats, one athlete stood out among the horde - THE HEME! George Tomlinson, one of Vanderbilt’s finest football players.

After the game (which was too disappointing to mention further) Heme and his daugther Maddie, and son Grady, and me and my wife Ann, had burgers at Ted’s Montana Grill. I am posting a few pictures of Heme and his kids. Maddie is a high school junior who plays basketball, and Grady is a freshman football player - obviously, Heme’s kids inherited their Dad’s super-athlete genes, but they must have gotten their good looks from their Mother! Heme, great to see you again, old friend.

GEEZER PHOTO FEST FROM 2006 VU REUNION: In todays e-mail, Doug Martin sent me a few pictures from Reunion, which are also posted. Great pics - thanks Doug!

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VTL,

Larry Simons

Beta Pi, '72

Beta Pi Blog, Vol.2006, No.64 - A TALE OF SHA NA NA & SHIPWRECK

Beta Pi:

Many of you may remember Shipwreck, the year Sha Na Na played Vanderbilt, and the Sha Na Na sax man came to Shipwreck after the concert. To investigate this further, your Beta Pi Blog reporter has sent an e-mail directly to the Official Sha Na Na website (click on the link on this page). Here is the e-mail:

"Dear Sha Na Na:

I was a Vanderbilt student from 1971 to 1975, and I remember Sha Na Na came to play a date at Vanderbilt. It was so cool, after the Concert, one of the Sha Na Na guys - a saxaphone guy who was ultra cool - came to my fraternity party. It was the famed ATO Shipwreck Party, in which we built a pool in our basement, with a slide down the stairs, and college kids would get drunk on PGA punch and "slide" down the stairs to the pool.

What was so cool that particular Shipwreck was this Sha Na Na sax man actually attended our party. He was sitting on the planter, above the pool slide, blowing awesome saxaphone blues while all these drunken partiers slid down the slide.

It was, in my humble opinion, only the all-time greatest college party in the history of Rock n' Roll, that’s all. And the Sha Na Na sax man made the scene cool - in the extreme!

Here's are my 2 questions:

Do any of you guys remember the Vanderbilt gig (around 1973) or the ATO Shipwreck Party?

Who was the saxaphone player?

I am still in touch with most of my ATO fraternity brothers, who remain interested in Sha Na Na. I will let them know I'm trying to reach you with these questions.

Thanks for the memories.

Sha Na Na Fan forever,

Larry Simons"

* * * *

It is a shot in the dark, but who knows, Sha Na Na might just respond. It’s a good story, even if we never get a response. I will keep you posted.

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VTL,

Larry Simons

Beta Pi, '72

Beta Pi Blog, Vol.2006, No.63 - A TALE OF TIKLORS IN SAN JUAN

Beta Pi:

I owe Beta Pi Chapter an apology - some 30 years overdue. I shirked my responsibility as Pledge Trainer, and I apologize to you, sincerely. Here’s the story . . .

It was Spring, 1974. I was a Junior, living in the ATO House with Frank Biller as my roommate. The Chapter had already honored me by electing me House Manager, and you doubly honored me by electing me as Pledge Trainer of the incoming Spring 1974 Pledge Class. I understood the responsibility, and took it with energy and commitment. We were in to the planning of Pledge Training full tilt, and I had a Pledge Training event scheduled for next Saturday morning. It was a Sunday night, Buck and I were tooling around the House.

I walk into our room (the "middle room" at Tik Mansion) and Buck says "Larry, its your Dad on the phone - he wants to take us to San Juan!"

I go "You’re kidding?"

"No kidding, its George, he’s on the phone now!" Buck had gotten to know my Dad, George H. Simons, because Dad came down to visit me at Vandy, more than most parents. He was going through a divorce during my Sophomore and Junior year, and came down to visit me a lot. My Dad was a guy who loved to party. He just showed up and joined in ATO parties, and once he even went with a small group of Tiklors to Columbia, Tennessee for what became "Columbia Tales." By the time I was a Junior, my Dad was on a first-name basis with Buck and Vinny, and many other ATO’s.

"Here, give me the phone."

"Dad, Buck said something about a trip to San Juan, you’re kidding, right?"

"I’m not kidding. I need a little vacation, and I want you to go to San Juan with me - bring Buck along. I already invited him, and he’s in. How about it?"

"When?"

"This Friday."

"This Friday! Dad, I’d love to go, but I’m Pledge Trainer - I have a pledge event scheduled this weekend. Let me think about it and I’ll call you back."

So, I get off the phone, and Buck says - "Geez, Larry, George is so cool - he just invited me to go to San Juan!" So, Buck and I talked it over, and as you might imagine, the temptation to fly to San Juan for 3 days was too much for a couple of college guys to turn down. I figured I’d get a brother to "cover" for me, run the Pledge event, and - no problemo - I’d breeze back into Nashville - no questions. I was somewhat naive. My memory could be wrong, but I think I convinced Tom Lovinggood to cover for me.

So the plan was in place, I was "covered", and that Friday we flew to San Juan and had a great time - I’m posting some pictures of Me, Buck and my Dad, and also, a photo of George at Columbia Tales.

We get back to Nashville, and I find out the Chapter named Chad Weiss (if memory serves me) as "Co-Pledge Trainer." I felt a chill in my spine, that feeling of "Boy, I really screwed up." I knew that I was one step away from being fired as Pledge Trainer, the boys had even named my successor. Now, I’ve never been a quitter, so I determined to do the best I could, keep my game-face on, and keep my commitment to the Chapter. I finished out Pledge Training, carried out my plan (build the fence) and that was that.

The lesson I learned is one of the most meaningful lessons I’ve ever learned: When a man gives his word, people expect him to keep it. That is the lesson I learned from Beta Pi: Larry, you gave us your word - we expect you to keep it. That may sound sophomoric, but please people - we were only 20 years old!

Gentlemen, again, I apologize for breaking my word, and for letting you down. I thank you for helping me learn a valuable lesson.

* * * *

As fate had it, that trip we took to San Juan was the last vacation I had with my Dad. He died of a massive heart attack in January of 1975 (my senior year). He was 47 years old, and as you guys know - he loved to drink and smoke (doctor’s advice be damned). Over the years, Buck has called me from time to time, and we’ve shared memories about my Dad. He was a real estate broker - a salesman - and Buck has made a career in sales. Dad once gave Vinny one of his promotion gag-gifts - a deck of cards imprinted "Who is George H. Simons?" - which Vinny gave to me a few years back. Buck and Vinny, here’s to you, my best friends, and to my Dad, George, may God rest his soul.

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VTL,

Larry Simons

Beta Pi, '72

Beta Pi Blog, Vol.2006, No.62 - MUENCH MAN COMES IN FROM THE COLD!

Beta Pi:

BETA PI BLOG WELCOMES VENERABLE BROTHER JACK MUENCH: Today, I received a great e-mail from none other than the MUENCH MAN:

MUENCHIE: "It IS me, Boze!! How's it hangin'? Great to hear from you--have heard from Smoot and TTK, too."

Jack Muench, jack@willcoxlaw.com perhaps more than any other living Tik-lo, embodied the Tik spirit in all aspects of his "miserable" life, including his infamous "miserable mug" which is featured today in MUENCH MAN’S honor.

Muenchie is also featured in the Archives, at Issues No. 59 and 60.

BETA PI BLOG IS GROWING: With today’s addition of Jack Muench, this blog now connects a grand total of 59 bona fide Beta Pi Tik-lo’s!

BETA PI BLOG IS A BEAST WHICH FEEDS ON E-MAIL ADDRESSES: If you know e-mail addresses for any brothers, get them to me, so I can ELECTROCUTE them with this blog!

BLOG-ON! Post a comment directly to the Beta Pi Blog at: http://journals.aol.com/lasimons4law/beta-pi-blog/

VTL,

Larry Simons

Beta Pi, '72

Beta Pi Blog, Vol.2006, No.60 - Guest Blogmeister Travis Parr

Beta Pi:

This page, submitted by Venerable Travis Parr, is re-printed here at T. Parr’s request:



My remembrance of the actual moment of the birth of this well deserved nickname is as follows:




"Dear Bozo-- Please Post this into the Anals:


THE STEAK

The un-comparably luscious & beautiful
Rena rightfully earned her ATO name due to the ever-present & lustful ATO comments and bulging eyeballs that were displayed each and every time we appeared at the Tic house.

(After all, there was sooooo much fineness to take in that a mere glance was never enough. In fact, a good long stare was absolutely necessary for all ATO' ers and all other males at Vanderbilt to comprehend all that was on display before them.... for their viewing pleasure and resourceful & creative imaginations).

It was a quiet and sunny spring afternoon in 1971. A surreal glow of heavenly light framed the entry for this heavenly female creature as we came into the room, entering the main room of the beloved haven of famous blues singing men and snarling pirates.

Misters M.Hart, Muenchy, Fotch and several other assorted and questionable characters were lounging on the couches, and were all occupied only with lazily scratching themselves as we walked in.

A short pause of silence then resulted in a growing yet distinct and deep & throaty roar of "MMM-MMM-MMM", which was cast in our direction to acknowledge our grand entrance with their hearty approvals and lust......  much to her delight!

As she was the delightful object of such obvious desire and envy, I simply felt spontaneously compelled as the lucky man to acknowledge the helpless, unsatisfied and pitiful wounded animal cries of my depraved and nutritionally-starved brothers by making the following famous historical statement:

"Boys: This is "(pause)-- Steak"......Grade-A-Prime"---
Followed by my next statement of fact "And It Sure is Fine!".......Very verbal approvals then continued from the couches.

And "Steak" became her name thereafter & forevermore.....and for the next 2 and 1/2 years, I was most certainly and truly blessed. And, I am still smiling!!!

Warning: Do not confuse my Grade A Prime meat with the "Luncheon Meat" (his formal name), aka "Lunch Meat " or his real name Schmeat......Bill Whalen.... who rightfully earned his Tic name prior to the Steak.}

Sent with Best Regards,



T. Parr


* * * *


THANKS TO T. PARR FOR THIS MOST EXCELLENT AND POETIC INSTALLMENT.
BLOG-ON!

VTL,
Larry Simons
Beta Pi, '72