Glad, Mad or Sad: Tales of Chuck Barker: 2012-10-14

Friday, October 19, 2012

Amazing Expoding Straws Photo Jan 1983

Legendary Photo by Sandra (Helm) Dearing features many of the old Salem gang. Left to Right: Trey Miles, me, Bill Hill, Joey Cheatham and Chuck Barker. This was taken at the Beale's apartment. Like the letters shown below the photo has spent the last twenty plus years in a large manila envelope in my old room at my folks' house. Sandra claims to have more from this day and other olde tymes including the seminal Senior Talent Show throwdown.

Possible Bill, Chuck and Scott Collaboration

I remember cutting this unbelievably ridiculous Q and A out of some terrible doctor column in the newspaper. It was my idea to record Bill asking the question and me answering. Then, of course, to use it on one of the Poisonous Sewer Fish's tapes. We did read it behind a microphone in the Bell's basement, but whether or not we recorded it I don't know. The drawings on this piece of paper are either authentic Chuck or maybe Bill drew the figures in imitation of Chuck. Any ideas? Either way, this is likely the only extant piece of paper that all three of us contributed to. Oddly, I don't think we ever realized the typo in the answer. The first two words are reversed.

Note the clipping is being served up by Chuck's wait staff

Chuck's Letters from College #5: Envelope Only

Yowzuh! Speaking of obscene return addresses...Freddy Fuckwad? Does the Postal Service pay any attention at all? I guess that was the gag. I wonder if anyone sorting student mail at Roanoke College in early 1982 was deeply offended as they inserted this compelling missive into ol' box 211. The world may never know.

Green Ink? Who has green ink?

His usual expressive faces and a Zappa reference

Chuck's Letters from College: Letter #4 Envelope Only

Not only could Chuck get a letter through the mail containing an obscene return address, it didn't matter that my name was completely misspelled on purpose. I love the super curvy figure holding up the upside down stamp. Feast yer eyes on this, jerkies.

Ah, Bill Bookcase where are you now?

A Word on the Blog Title

I remember walking down to the Barker house one afternoon and Chuck and (Trey? or was it Lewis?) were seated on the front porch. Both were in high spirits and couldn't wait to announce the latest finding: all human mood is reducible to three states, which happen to rhyme. Glad, Mad or Sad.Later, on the very same front porch, Chuck and Trey discovered that if they removed the first letter of each of their names, rather than some nonsensical phonemes, they would still have names: Huck and Rey (okay, Rey would really need to be spelled "Ray," but still).