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Patrick C. said on May 27th, 2009 at 10:16 am

This was sweet and funny and resonant and exceptionally endearing, but I’m not gonna lie, I kind of expected one of those “And now you know the REST of the story”-type of punchlines.

Something like “… and that band turned out to be the New Pornographers.”

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Lister Sage said on May 27th, 2009 at 10:46 am

So, what prompted this stroll down memory lane?

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Hahahaha, kid logic. I bet every decision made here was thought by every person involved to be the perfect choice at that given moment. Ahhh, to be in elementary school again… No, nevermind, screw that.

I imagine this was prompted by MGK drinking a glass of liquor in front of the fireplace in his library full of leather books, dangling a pipe from his other hand and wearing a bathrobe, imagining that Animal would concede he was the better drummer upon meeting the Muppets.

The closest I ever came to being in a rock band was when my mom once tried to get me to go to drama class, and I misheard her and thought it was drum class, and was really crushed when my visions of rocking out wound up being awkward teenage girls pretending to cry in an auditorium. I was more upset than when I found out what the vein was in the shrimp (thanks, dad).

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Thank you, this story resonated with me.

I was kind of a weird kid, I think, but I had an excellent knowledge of when to bail on something to avoid being humiliated. If I was there, I would have been sitting with you and Martin.

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The funny thing is, being in a “real” band isn’t much different than this. Except, instead of enthusiastic eight-year-olds, it’s drunk teenagers/twenty-somethings.

I went through almost the exact same experience just a few years ago…and I’m 35. At least I quit the band before I embarrassed myself.

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Cookie McCool said on May 27th, 2009 at 12:29 pm

If Maine can join up, what about the UP? We have valuable bear-taming skills that might prove useful to Canada.

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And thus, the rock world lost an eccentric drummer.

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I was also expecting a punchline, but a depressing one, like “and Felix died today.” D-:

I was much too busy saving the Pugglepeople in the land of Tir’Ninog to bother with rock bands.

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Strangely enough, I myself used to hear it as ‘Colour Chameleon’, which made it make MORE sense.

But then again, when I heard it I got the image in my head of my Egpytian Batman action figure singing it to an immense Chameleon god on a rain-swept foggy hilltop somewhere around Machu Picchu, so who knows. I was only a year older than you.

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Lister Sage said on May 27th, 2009 at 12:57 pm

For two years I was in the local boy’s choir.

Nothing interesting happened. The end.

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karellan said on May 27th, 2009 at 2:42 pm

Using maracas as drumsticks. That’s actually kind of brilliant.

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Comma Chameleon would be the best song ever.

Someone must get on this….

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DistantFred said on May 27th, 2009 at 3:19 pm

This is the kind of story that ends up in books of collected essays.

Be sure to include it when you get that publishing deal for Christopher Bird’s Mighty God King: A Blog, in paper form.

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Craig Oxbrow said on May 27th, 2009 at 3:32 pm

Normally this kind of thing happens in college. (I know it did to me…)

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Sofa King said on May 27th, 2009 at 4:53 pm

Being the usual focus of this site, I immediatly rewrote this story in my head to replace band with that MGK was in a superhero team.

“Well, I told you that the Defenders was a weak hero name. I was voting for Doom Patrol, but nooo.”

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comma comma comma comma
comma chameleon
not a full stop
not a full stop
writing would be easy if your colon were ellipses
dash and apostrophe
dash and apostropheeeeee

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Right, like you all weren’t thinking about it

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This post has a very Wil Wheaton-esque flavour to it.

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And one time at band camp…

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POL I TICS!

POL I TICS!

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JQ_NW_American said on May 27th, 2009 at 10:28 pm

Sure as hell beats the Jelly Belly Factory tour (two years in a row), followed by a municipal pool and Dairy Queen. Though, at a different camp, there was a a recital at the end of the two weeks. My group sang from the perspective of an acorn nut, laying on the cold cold ground, everybody steps on me, that’s why I’m cracked, you see, I’m a nut *knocking sound x2* I’m a nut

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I went to day camp in Toronto too, except it was through the YMCA. And I loved Centreville as well and would get day passes so I could go on my favourite rides over and over (the bored teens running the rides would just wave us through after the first few trips).

I never went to African Lion Safari as a kid, but now I go every year as part of the ‘Family Day’ event at my husband’s workplace. It’s still pretty cool.

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I was imagining this being played out as a Simpsons episode. Like, you = Bart, Martin = Milhouse, Felix = Nelson, Julie = that older girl who Bart has a crush on. The girls with too much sense to join the band (but who also clearly have no sense of fun) = Lisa, and Buddy Rich = Krusty the Klown. All you need is a bitter Scottish groundskeeper and you’re set.

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K. McAleese said on May 28th, 2009 at 9:04 am

Reminds me of the “music appreciation” class we all had to take in 5th grade, which turned into everyone faffing about on the piano in the first five minutes as Mr. BlackTightPants tore his hair out over our lack of appreciation for The Music.

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