Boot Camp & The “Nasty Nine”, Hypothetical Rock Bands, Podcast Musings, and…I Dunno…Stuff

Posted on May 24, 2020 by Christopher Tallon

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:

Ep.99 | Trino – Magic in the Golden Age of Entertainment! – Creative Ops

"Trino the Magician" is the coolest. A super nice guy, talented, ambitious, and laser focused. You're going to want to get up and go do something cool after you listen to this. And you might have an itch to see a magic show. If so, check out http://www.trinomagic.com for info on Trino's monthly show "AMAZE & AMUSE", as well as anything else he might be up to. If you're the social media type, Trino is @trinomagic on most platforms. Also check out Luc's Light, a youth music and arts foundation set up in memory of Trino's brother. . . . Thanks for stopping in. Go to http://www.christophertallon.com for more on the show and its host, check out Christopher Tallon online @tallonwrites on social media, and make sure to read and review his novel Switchers. Go be creative!