Thursday, October 28, 2010

Beta Pi Blog, Vol.2010, No.17 - Reunion, Part 1 - Ware Bush, THERE Bush!



















Beta Pi:



IS BETA PI BLOG WITHOUT ANY REDEEMING SOCIAL OR ARTISTIC MERIT?:





















YEA . . . . or



NAY?

Beta Pi Blog exists for one reason: to bring ATO, Beta Pi Chapter Brothers and ATO Gal-Pals together. The blog does not take itself very seriously - it is meant for



fun, and therefore is non-political. It includes



pictures,












links,

Archives of previous issues, and

other time-wasters. To get there, go to web address: http://beta-pi-blog.blogspot.com .






PROLOGUE: Reunion 2010 events stretched over 4 days and 3 nights. There are many photos, and many stories to tell. For those reasons, there will be 2 or 3 installments devoted to reporting these historic encounters.

REUNION 2010 - PART 1


THURSDAY NIGHT - STOOGE HOCKEY: Ever the Sports Matron, Young Ann procured Nashville Predators Hockey Tickets for us - it was Vanderbilt Childrens’ Hospital Hockey Fights Cancer Night! (Ann is a Pediatric Oncology Nurse at VUMC). So, Ann and I and Buck Biller went to the Preds vs. the Pittsburgh Penguins. We had great seats.














Excellent Hockey action.






Buck was transfixed by





the skating female acrobats that performed during the breaks. He was literally jumping out of his seat, he couldn’t decide whether to watch the actual Blond on the ice, or watch the Blond on the Jumbo-Tron.

You could go cross-eyed trying to do both.







And what do Hockey fans love most? Fighting! No disappointment here.

















There were 3 great pile-on brawls! I had to restrain Buck, he was so agitated he wanted to go down and join the brawl.



The Preds held forth mightily, and it was a tie match that went into overtime, 5 minutes of 4 on 4. The Penguins prevailed. Both teams fought well. Great action. Thanks to Young Ann for the Hockey Action!


* * *


FRIDAY NIGHT - Ware Bush, THERE  Bush!

As we arrived at the Class of 75 Class Party, I scanned the room for familiar faces. As I approached a rather rotund little fellow,





with an extremely tight collar, he turned, my eyes caught his ridiculous bow-tie.



I immediately said the words WARE BUSH. And in my imagination - as in Young Frankenstein -








IGOR was right beside me saying: THERE  BUSH!




As fate had it,






the Immortal Frank  Marty  Collins was also in attendance (but not Friday Night) - which may be why my imagination went there. (If you don’t get the joke, you need to watch













Young Frankenstein, the great Mel Brooks comedy which has also been turned into a Broadway Play.)






So, that ignominious arch-rival SAE Ware was polite (Ware is always polite), and he smiled (if you call it a smile) with his usual overly-southern, ultra-sincere, class-conscious-look-down-his-nose insincerity, and said:

Larry, I got some of your political e-mails, but didn’t respond (smiling) . . . because I am not of that political persuasion (as if neither he, nor anyone worth knowing was either).

So, smiling, and looking straight at his bow-tie, and straightening it, I said:

Ware, somehow, I knew that. Nice tie.
That was it. I felt as if I’d been given an audience with the King of High Finance.


The Party was excellent, good food as usual. They had coffee, in addition to spirits.



ATO ATTENDEES &  GAL-PALS: ATO and ATO Gal-pals were strong in attendance.

















BUCK BILLER fbiller1@msn.com    MARK McGANN: markmcgann@prodigy.net




















ANN POLK SIMONS annpolksimons@gmail.com   MATTBLANKENSHIP mattsb@texas.net 
















GENE YOUNG gyoung@westernwireprod.com  and will someone please get this guy a cup of coffee?   ART LANDRY awl@awlandry.net





















KAREN DEGERBERG karen.degerberg@gmail.com , BECKY DENHAM bejasy@comcast.net
BECKY BRUNING MANYAK rmanyak@yahoo.com























JACK MUENCH trujac@sc.rr.com






















BETTY INGLE BACH e.bach@comcast.net


















TISON KEEL tison.keel@hotmail.com

















LARRY  & ANN SIMONS
















MARILEE JACOBS mljacobs25@hotmail.com


* * *

HOW TO POST, OR READ COMMENTS: Get off the freakin’ sofa, Potato-head, click the button - Comments - just below VTL, . . If you’re having trouble, send me an e-mail and I’ll post your comment.


BETA PI BLOG ROSTER STATS: As of October 28, 2010, the Blog roster stands at 107 Tick-a-lo men online who have e-mail addresses (plus 6 Brothers who do not have e-mail), and 14 ATO Gal-Pals. The blog needs e-mail addresses, please share!


VTL,








Larry Simons

Beta Pi, 72

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Beta Pi Blog, Vol.2010, No.16 - Calling Mr. Lee, MR. HEAVEN LEE!



















Beta Pi:



IS BETA PI BLOG WITHOUT ANY REDEEMING SOCIAL OR ARTISTIC MERIT?:


YEA . . . . or












NAY?



Beta Pi Blog exists for one reason: to bring ATO, Beta Pi Chapter Brothers and ATO Gal-Pals together. The blog does not take itself very seriously - it is meant for fun, and therefore is non-political. It includes










pictures, links, Archives of previous issues, and other time-wasters. To get there, go to web address: http://beta-pi-blog.blogspot.com/  .







*      *      *


Calling Mr. Lee, MR. HEAVEN LEE!: There were some dare-devils amongst us - eager to be recognized, eager to do something no one had done before, eager for GLORY! There were some who dared spectacular feats . . .











Matt Abominable Dr. Phibes Hart did the famous Human Torch.
















Frank Buck Biller led a group of Pledges in painting the SAE Actives, their dates and SAE front porch instead of the Lions.











Buck Biller and Larry Bozo Simons staged Beer Boxing with the unofficial sanction of Dean K.C. Potter.








J.D. Suckling Strickland went on to live with his Mother, forever.








BUT, ONE GIANT AMONG MEN stood out, and staged the greatest feat of all. This true story bears retelling.



























Jeff Locksmith Overby, a/k/a Mr. Heaven Lee!








As retold by Bozino:

Nashville night life had been opened to us by the recently changed Tennessee law lowering the drinking age to 18. It was not long before we discovered Printers’ Alley - the Nashville equivalent of New Orleans’ French Quarter.

Ok, it’s nowhere near as great as French Quarter.


At the time, there were several strip clubs in Printers’ Alley - and by strip club we are not talking Deja Vu or total nudes. No sir, probably the most skin you’d see in Printers’ Alley is if you got drunk, fell and skinned your own elbow. The strippers were more like vaudeville performers. They actually put on a real show, complete with music, lights, lavish costumes, flashy g-strings, tassels, and colorful scarves.

There was one exotic dancer who was far and above the rest, called

Heaven Lee, who danced at the Black Poodle, a joint in Printers Alley.


Buck and I  (this was before Vinny's time - he pledged as a Sophomore), who had together investigated many of the establishments on Lower Broad (at that time mostly honkey tonks, peep shows, and other seedy establishments) and Printers Alley, led a contingent of Ticks to  









The Black Poodle to see the Heaven Lee Show.











Impressive, exotic and culturally enriching (for a herd of wild young Tick-a-lors).

That is where the story would have ended, were it not for Jeff Locksmith Overby.

One evening back on campus, a rumor started that Locksmith was going to bring Heaven Lee to the ATO House for dinner. Who knew, it could happen?

That evening, there was a full house lining up to eat. As I recall,














Alex and Laura fixed their famous Lasagna with salad and garlic bread.


Sure enough, someone yells, She’s here!

And there is Jeff Overby, neatly dressed in a sportcoat and tie, entering the ATO House, escorting none other than Heaven Lee (and I think Heaven’s body guard as well). Only one rule, no photographs.

In our dreams, we thought Heaven Lee would show up in one of her costumes, but she was dressed casually in a party dress, she looked dazzling.

Overby had a look of accomplishment on his face - a top this kind of look.

Overby introduced Heaven Lee to Alex and Laura, and after Alex said the customary ATO Dinner Prayer, we all sat down to dinner.

All of the boys behaved like gentlemen









(although I had fully expected Muenchie to come running out of the shower-room, clad only in a bath towel, with his famous tongue sticking out, crowing Heaven . . . oh, Heaven!)






No, there were no stunts, fireworks or indecent exposures, the only drama was the mystifying effect Heaven Lee had on the ATO House that evening, transforming all of us into gentlemen on our best behavior.

Thanks to Locksmith for that great memory.

* * *

Jeff Locksmith Overby also sent me an e-mail last week:


Hi Brother Bozo, I hope you are well . . . . I might be able to make it to homecoming, would you know if I could purchase two football tickets for saturday's game? and if so, can you direct me? Thanks, and I hope to see you and the other Brothers from another mother . . . jeff

Great news - we’ll take might as a yes. Looking forward to seeing you Jeff!



* * *



1984: George Orwell, or Charles Anderson ? I received a random e-mail from a Tick-a-lor from 1984, Charles Anderson:

Larry,

Great blog!!! I check it out every month. It is good to see names of people I heard of and some I know from my time in the TIC house (79-84 yeah I loved it so much I stayed an extra year) . . Jimmy Grisset, Hoover Noonan, Steve Boyd, Tom Soudan all great guys. Taught me to play tales the hard way!! Any way great site All the best

Charles M. Anderson (Big C) class of 84  cmandersonjr@bellsouth.net 

WITHOUT FURTHER TOO-DOO, BETA PI BLOG WELCOMES CHARLES ANDERSON!


* * *


REUNION / HOMECOMING UPDATE: This is the last Blog before Reunion. So far, it looks like we’ll have 35 people attend the Dinner Saturday evening. As I told you, we have to do a head count, because last year we had a cramped space, the head count was inaccurate. The dinner will be better if we have an accurate head count. If I have you listed incorrectly (or left you out, or have the number in your party wrong) please let me know.


THE ATO CLASSY BOYS OF 1975 - YES - LIST:


BUCK BILLER fbiller1@msn.com  : YES 1

MATT BLANKENSHIP mattsb@texas.net  : YES 1

TISON KEEL tison.keel@hotmail.com  : YES 1

JEFF OVERBY JeffOverby@aol.com  : YES 1

BEN PEDIGO banjoworks@sbcglobal.net  : YES 1

LARRY SIMONS Lasimons4law@aol.com  : YES 1

CLARK THOMAS clark@macusers.com  : YES 1

GENE YOUNG gyoung@westernwireprod.com  : YES 1














OTHER HONORED TROLLS-OF-YES:











ABE BENAVIDES abraham.a.benavides@vanderbilt.edu  : YES 2











FRANK COLLINS collinzes@gmail.com  : YES 5













DAVID HAINES haines.david08@comcast.net  : YES 2












MARK McGANN: markmcgann@prodigy.net  : YES 1











JACK MUENCH trujac@sc.rr.com  : YES 1
















ART LANDRY awl@awlandry.net  : YES 1
















TOM LOVINGGOOD tlovinggood@comcast.net  : YES 2












BILL WHALEN wawhalen@gmail.com  : YES 1














GEORGE WELBORN gwelborn@mindspring.com  : YES 1





ATO GAL-PALS - SLATED TO ATTEND:


ANN POLK SIMONS annpolksimons@gmail.com  : YES 1

BETTY INGLE BACH e.bach@comcast.net  : YES 1

KAREN DEGERBERG karen.degerberg@gmail.com  : YES 1

BECKY DENHAM bejasy@comcast.net  : YES 1

BECKY BRUNING MANYAK rmanyak@yahoo.com  : YES 1

KATIE HERRINGTON nurseless1@att.net  : YES 1

MARILEE JACOBS mljacobs25@hotmail.com  : YES 1















ATO CLASS OF 1980 TROGLODYTES -OF-YES LIST:



















MARTY HEFLIN m@m2hgroup.com  : YES 1
















KEITH SCHNEIDER kps428@hotmail.com  : YES 3


* * *




HOW TO POST, OR READ COMMENTS: Get off the freakin’ sofa, Potato-head, click the button - Comments - just below VTL, . . If you’re having trouble, send me an e-mail and I’ll post your comment.

BETA PI BLOG ROSTER STATS: As of October 5, 2010, the Blog roster stands at 104 Tick-a-lo men online who have e-mail addresses (plus 6 Brothers who do not have e-mail), and 14 ATO Gal-Pals. The blog needs e-mail addresses, please share!


VTL,











Larry Simons


Beta Pi, 72