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Boot Camp & The “Nasty Nine”, Hypothetical Rock Bands, Podcast Musings, and…I Dunno…Stuff
Hey folks,
For those of you who don’t know, I was in the military. I enlisted after dropping out of college to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. The conversation at the recruiters office looked like this:
“Hi, welcome to–“
“Hey, I’m already sold. What’s the soonest I can leave?”
“First take this aptitude test.”
(A week or so later…)
“Your test said you should be a nuclear tech or a journalist.”
“Cool. When do I leave?”
“About a year for either.”
“Oh. Uh…I want to leave as soon as possible.”
[Recruiter typing on the computer, looking, looking…]
“Airplane mechanic. Leaves for boot camp in 4 weeks.”
“Done.”
Then I went and told my family and friends what I just did.
(Fast forward to boot camp.)
There was a dude named Jones who bunked near me. He was from Alabama, and loved to talk sports and music. I couldn’t help but jump in one time, and we quickly became friends. Then Jones was put in charge of the daily bathroom cleaning, and was told he could choose 8 people to help him. He chose me–and seven other guys–to be, what they called in boot camp, the “Nasty Nine”.
You might be thinking, Wow, cool friend–making you clean the shitters…
It was actually a sweet job. Everyone else was cleaning the larger main area, which was harder: you had to move lots of stuff and the drill instructors (we called them RDCs) were constantly in your face yelling at you. You got to clean the bathroom in peace, with people you liked and trusted to do a good job. We cleaned the bathroom in 10-15 minutes, then sat around, until everyone else was done cleaning the main area, and had conversations like this:
Who Would Be in Your All-Time Music Super Group?
We would break it into categories sometimes, or just go for something eclectic. So here are some of my all-time groups by category. Comment with your own groups, or to make fun of mine!
Metal
- Vocals: James Hetfield (Metallica), Alfonso Civile (Heartsick–he was on my show!)
- Guitar: Randy Rhodes (Ozzy), Dimebag Darrell
- Bass: Lemmy (Motorhead)
- Drums: The Rev (Avenged Sevenfold)
Rock
- Vocals: Freddie Mercury (Queen), John Popper (Blues Traveler)
- Guitar: The Edge (U2), Jimi Hendrix
- Bass: Geddy Lee (Rush)
- Drums: Travis Barker (The Aquabats, Blink-182)
Jazz
- Piano: Thelonious Monk
- Bass: Vic Wooten
- Trumpet: Roy Hargrove
- Drums: Dave King (The Bad Plus)
Blues
- Vocals: BB King
- Guitar: Buddy Guy, David Gilmour (Pink Floyd)
- Bass: John Paul Jones (Led Zepplin)
- Drums: Mitch Mitchell (Jimi Hendrix Experience)
Reggae
- Vocals: Alpha Blondy
- Guitar: Peter Tosh (The Wailers)
- Bass: Delroy “Pele” Hamilton (Raging Fyah)
- Drums: Stewart Copeland (The Police)
Hip Hop
- Vocals: Q-tip (A Tribe Called Quest), Snoop, Big Boi (Outkast)
- Bass/Guitar: Miles Doughty and Kyle McDonald (Slightly Stoopid)
- Drums: Ahmir Khalib Thompson–aka ?uestlove (The Roots)
Multi-Instrumentalists
- Prince
- Stevie Wonder
- Paul McCartney
- Dave Grohl
- Beck
- Curtis Mayfield
- David Bowie
- Trent Reznor
- Frank Zappa
- Me (the intro song on my podcast–that’s just me)
Speaking of my podcast…
I haven’t done a ton of episodes yet, so each one is a learning experience. I had notes for one interview on my computer, but it wasn’t working so I had to wing it. Now I write them down on paper. I didn’t follow up with one of my guests the day before, so when it was time to record, they were still asleep. One time I started recording but didn’t tell my guest, so they kind of figured it out a few minutes in. All part of the learning curve I suppose. But I’m really enjoying talking creativity with such cool people.
Got the next few episodes planned out. In the meantime, check out the available episodes:
Goodbye, folks! (For now…) – Creative Ops
Find me, Christopher Tallon, slinging my novel Switchers in-person the next few weekends:
September 8 & 9, 5p-11p, After Dark Art Market, Canal Park in Grand Rapids, MI (shout out to Lions & Rabbits Center for the Arts for the event)
September 16, 10a-1p, Author's Alley, Hyne Alley, Brighton, MI (thank you to 2 Dandelions Bookshop for the opportunity)
. . .
Goodbye, folks! (For now…)
I'm not "ending" the show. Let's be clear there. I just need to free up time. I'm in the middle of writing another novel and I still have yet to record the audiobook for my first novel. So I'm going to be doing those two things mainly in the time previously spent booking, recording, editing, and promoting the podcast.
HUGE THANKS to all the listeners who got a copy of my debut novel Switchers. You guys are amazing, creative, supportive people. I appreciate you very much. For the first few months, you were the only audience I had. I hope you'll stay subscribed so we can catch up when the show returns. And I might do an episode here or there while on hiatus. There are people and things I still want to talk to and/or about. And I'll probably use the podcast to give updates on the new book as it progresses and whatnot.
Stay creative. Thanks for listening. I'll talk to you again.
Your friend in creativity,
Christopher Tallon
What else?
Oh. If you’re wondering why I don’t write more lately–I’m working on a new book, sprucing up the old one, watching these dang kids, and…
I write blogs “professionally” now.
Seriously? Yep.
Check out the blogs on Threads Podcast: Life Unfiltered. I wrote most of em. Check out the podcast, too. It’s a good listen.
That’s it. I’m out.
-CT
Christopher Tallon writes, podcasts, and has a collection of old gaming systems.