“You’re 300 pounds of muscly bloggin’! Congratulations, Transman!” Howlin’ Wolf as himself.
Someone hand Transman a needle to pop his giant ego balloon head. He’s got himself 300 followers. While he would like to send each and every one of them cheesecake or roses, he’s broke (and also doesn’t know where most of them live; hell, he doesn’t even know the real names of 297 of them). Instead, he is sending out this happy blues tune by Howlin’ Wolf.
Besides being a great groove, this tune is special to Transman because he has fond memories of his mother attempting to sing it while crocheting an afghan. She spent the fall of 1983 making blankets for the whole family, trying to use colors she thought fit their personalities. She made a camouflage blanket for the teenage Transman. Nothing beat watching his left-handed mama swilling gin and tonics and busting out the blues while crafting away the night.
June 27th, 2012 at 8:24 pm
Woohoo! Thoroughly deserved followance (?) figures. Your writing rocks.
ps It’s Mikaela (there, only 296 left to discover)
June 27th, 2012 at 9:30 pm
I will never be able to spell everyone’s names correctly.
June 28th, 2012 at 2:45 am
It’s just to create that authentic “O Captain My Captain” moment anyway, so there’s no actual obligation to remember the names, let alone spell them!
June 27th, 2012 at 8:42 pm
Hey, T! Congratulations! Keep it up!
best,
fran
PS: Speaking of Wolf: You probably go much deeper into the blues than I, but remind me to tell you sometime about the Hot Wheels car I have signed by Hubert Sumlin …
June 27th, 2012 at 9:26 pm
You must tell that story right now! Or blog it. With photos.
June 27th, 2012 at 9:57 pm
Well, the car is in storage at the moment …
I was a big Hot Wheels collector from about ’95 until shortly after I moved out here — partly because I was running out of room, poartly because I wanted to pay off my moving expenses. Then the economy tanked and I lost my job, so that made hardcore collecting a moot point.
This was in 2000. Two things happened at once. First, someone I knew online in the HW community was gonna put together an auction to benefit the family of a collector who died suddenly.
At the same time, a good friend (and neighbor) of mine in New Haven, an extraordinary blues guitarist named Rocky Lawrence (his face was on billions of bags of Lays Memphis BBQ chips 10 years ago), brought Hubert Sumlin in to play a couple shows at my favorite New Haven music hangout, Cafe Nine. He and Hubert were like son-father for a while in the late ’90s/early 2000s. (Most recently, he played with Honeyboy Edwards and Robert jr. Lockwood on tour a lot the last eight years; and there was the night Keith Richards joined Honeyboy and Rocky on stage …)
Anyway, the night after, Rocky asked me if I wanted to meet up with him and Hubert for drinks. And it hit me: I could offer something unique to the auction!!!
There was a Hot Wheels model in the late ’90s called Tail Dragger, kind of a ’49-50 Merc lead sled. And Wolf recorded a song in 1963 called “Tail Dragger.” You see where I’m going. And it took a couple hours to dig up two HW Tail Draggers, but I did it, and I met up with them. I told Hubert what I wanted to do, to get his autograph, and I told him, “I think you’ll like the name of the car.” He looked at it, looked up at me with a long, slow smile and said, in his best Wolf rasp, “TAAAAAAAAAILLLLLLLL Draggerrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!” He signed one for me, one for the auction.
Anyway, the auction fell through, but I put it up for auction at a Hot Wheels convention in Ct. three years later; it went for $93. I’m not getting rid of mine. I’m not a big autograph hound, but I cherish this one, especially now that Hubert’s gone ….
And that’s my story of Hubert and Tail Dragger …
ff
June 30th, 2012 at 10:12 am
That’s a fantastic story! Very cool.
June 27th, 2012 at 8:43 pm
Congrats Cap’n T!!!
Now it’s 295- Lynne aka Sassie Mae (thx Dad)
June 27th, 2012 at 9:30 pm
Sassie Mae is the best nickname a parent could bestow on a child. Much classier than Monkeyhead.
June 27th, 2012 at 9:48 pm
tee-hee.. Monkeyhead? oh boy that’s not even fair..
June 27th, 2012 at 8:45 pm
Well done! Surprised it’s not 10x that, though, with your talent.
June 27th, 2012 at 9:31 pm
Thank you, Meizac.
June 27th, 2012 at 9:17 pm
James Brown…”So good…so good…”
294….JOTS aka Raye
June 27th, 2012 at 9:32 pm
I will soon know everyone and their musical tastes.
June 27th, 2012 at 9:18 pm
Yay for you!! Now you need to get it all published into a book. And sign copies for all of us!! x
Keep blogging, it gives a lot of pleasure to lots of people.
June 27th, 2012 at 9:33 pm
I’m still waiting for my “anger celebrities by using their images until the big publishing house picks up on it” plan to work out.
July 1st, 2012 at 6:21 am
You have the talent to not need that – but to be honest I am hoping Johnnie Depp does contact you merely so I can know him by association and maybe have you pass on my good wishes – my husband says that good wishes are all I am allowed to give Johnnie… *le sigh*
July 1st, 2012 at 9:45 am
See the latest blog entry.
June 27th, 2012 at 9:33 pm
A well-deserved congratulations! (It’s Kat, btw)
June 30th, 2012 at 10:12 am
Thanks!
June 27th, 2012 at 11:54 pm
Congrats!! I might be new here, but I can already tell that I’m gonna be sticking around for a while. This blog is excellent!
And this follower is Robin. 291 to go!
June 30th, 2012 at 10:13 am
Welcome to the circus, Robin.
June 28th, 2012 at 12:24 am
Your mom sounds awesome. And a camo afghan is one of the coolest things I’ve ever heard of.
June 30th, 2012 at 10:13 am
My mom was very cool. I didn’t realize it at the time, though. Kids are kinda dumb like that.
June 28th, 2012 at 2:19 am
As always funny, poignant and very readable. Congratulations.
Juno
June 30th, 2012 at 10:13 am
Thanks, Juno.
June 28th, 2012 at 9:43 am
I’d give my name AND address if it got me a cheesecake in return. You could just float it over on your inflated ego! (Which is well deserved) Congrats on 300!
June 30th, 2012 at 10:14 am
I will have to learn to make cheesecake.
June 28th, 2012 at 9:48 am
Congrats! And thanks for the video – loved it!
Cate
June 30th, 2012 at 10:14 am
Glad you dug the tune.
June 28th, 2012 at 9:59 am
Congratulations! And the tune was amazing!! You deserve that many followers and more!!! Here’s to the continued success of your blog and everything in your life! ((((HUGS)))) ~ Robin
June 30th, 2012 at 10:15 am
Thank you for the good wishes and virtual hugs.
June 29th, 2012 at 10:09 am
Congratulations… Whenever I see your Meme I think of Waylon’s line “He’s a good hearted man…” Cheers.
June 30th, 2012 at 10:15 am
Thank you, Trisha.
June 30th, 2012 at 9:47 am
Whoa, dude, you rock! I thought the 87 followers I had was good. But your stuff is so good, I guess 300 is not a huge surprise.
Hey, let’s make it 301 — I’ll sign up right now.
June 30th, 2012 at 10:16 am
My secret to success is honoring all coupons, even those from competing blogs.
Glad you came to the dark side, my friend.
June 30th, 2012 at 4:58 pm
YAY! Congratulations! You deserve this glory!
July 2nd, 2012 at 5:12 am
Congrats, handsome man!
July 2nd, 2012 at 8:45 pm
They all came here because you started the trend, you know.
One day, we will sit together in a bar or cafe being the handsomest writers on the planet. People passing by will look at us and say, “My god! What a pair of handsome devils! They are both so talented and charming! Why? Why? Why can’t we be like that?!”
We will pay them no mind as we smirk to ourselves and write the best books that have ever been.
One day that will happen.
July 3rd, 2012 at 6:03 am
I like your confidence. I guess that happens when you get 300 follows. I will get there someday…