When I first arrived in Denver in July 1988 and was looking for jobs, I searched the classifieds for people looking for actors. I found one ad for John Casablancas. I went to their open call in Aurora without knowing anything about what they were. It turned out it was a modeling agency. I had some three-year-old headshots that I was able to use. When I talked to the recruiter, I told her I was interested in acting and voiceover work, but not in being a model. The woman was rather impressed with my voice and said they could help out in that area. However, I still had to attend their modeling school before they would be my agent. I signed up and got a loan of $600 to pay for the classes. It seemed like a worthy investment.
I enjoyed going to the classes once a week. They were taught by beautiful women. They had separate modeling classes for men and women. The women had a lot more classes and had to pay about $1000 for the school. One of my fellow classmates was a 13-year-old boy. The agency was booking for a runway show and needed someone about his age and size, so he was able to get work while he was still going to school. It looked like John Casablancas was on the ball and strived to get work for its models.
I was the first one in my class to complete all the requirements for being signed by the agency. I kept calling them once a week to see if they had any voiceover work for me. They didn't. They never did. I don't think they really had the connections to help me get voiceover work. I wasn't good-looking enough to be an actual model. However, they were able to get me in with a couple of marketing promotions at the 16th Street Mall. In the first one, models from several different agencies were handing out free Marlboro Menthol cigarettes. They had groups of models stationed at each corner. Only the women handed out the cigarettes while wearing these white Marlboro jumpsuits. The men were in charge of the supplies, so I didn't really hand out the cigarettes. However, I did feel like a pimp.
We got paid $10 an hour and were there all week. Because we were from John Casablancas, we actually got paid more than the models from the other agencies and were told not to discuss the pay with the other models. One model told me she was getting paid $8 an hour. We only had a few people griping about us giving out cigarettes.
A few months later, the same marketing group did the same thing. Only this time, it was with Twix Peanut Butter Cookie Bars. Yes, it was a much better choice for giving things away. The idea was to increase sales of the peanut butter version, because just about everyone only ate the original caramel version. I also had to take part in giving them away, so I didn't get to just stand on the sidelines while the women did the work. This time, they only used the models from John Casablancas and we made $8 an hour. We each also got a whole case of Twix to take home. It took me about a month to eat mine.
With those two jobs, I actually made my money back on the school. I landed one more gig, doing a hair demonstration for Modafini products at some kind of hair convention in Colorado Springs. This job didn't pay. All I got was a free haircut and some Modafini samples. The only other thing the agency pointed me toward was an audition for a production of "Hair" in Boulder. At this time, my hair wasn't very long, so I never got past the audition.
Interestingly enough, I talked to Bid sometime after I had moved to Denver. He told me that he has John Casablancas was his agent as well. I'm certain they were able to do a lot more for him than they did for me. I realized that meant he also had to pay $600 and take their classes.
A few years later, when I was about to move to San Diego, I took a bus out to Aurora (because my car wasn't working) to talk to them about making certain my representation would transfer to San Diego. I figured that since it was closer to Los Angeles, I would have better luck getting voiceover work there. When I got there, the office was vacant and the business' name had been removed from the front of the building. There were no notices of where they may have moved. I didn't know when they closed, but I sure felt sorry for anyone who paid for and completed the school right before they shut down.
As for JF Images, I found out about this modeling agency after a PSA appeared on my station while I was working a shift. It put out a call for extras to appear in some television productions that were being shot in Denver. Right after the PSA aired, I got flooded with phone calls from people trying to find out more. I looked through all our PSA information, but I couldn't find the info. I had to call the woman who recorded the announcement. She told me that it was for JF Images and where I could find the information. I was able to answer the questions and I decided to look into it myself. I told Bez about it and she was also interested in taking part. We went down to the agency, filled out the paperwork and they took polaroids of us. At the time, I didn't have a phone in my apartment, so I listed Bez' phone number.
I was aware that this was flat-out wrong, having this agency book me for extra work when I was signed with someone else. I just didn't mention that on the JF Images paperwork.
One night, I was at my apartment when someone rang my doorbell. This was the first time this had happened since I moved in. I had a problem trying to get the intercom system to work because I hadn't dealt with it before. I kept hitting the buzzer to let whoever in, but I couldn't talk to them. I went outside my door. Bez' parents and grandmother were there. Her mother told me that I had gotten a call from JF Images and they wanted me to be an extra the next day. I thanked them for coming over. I did not let them in the apartment. Bez later told me her parents didn't like that I didn't show them around, but really, the apartment was a bit messy.
After they left, I went over to to my workplace at Phone Survey, Inc because they had phones over there I could use. I called the agency. They said they had filled their quota for the next day, but they could use me for another production a couple of days later. The location would be at Denver University.
I'm not going to go into full detail about my extra experiences because they involve celebrities. I'm saving that for Phase 2 of this blog. (It could be at least a year before I get to that.) Toward the end of the day's shoot, they told us to call JF Images in a couple of weeks because they would need extras for courtroom scenes. I called them and they told me that yes, they could use me and I was to show up at the City and County Building. I spent a whole week doing that. I got a taste for was it was like to make a living as an actor.
JF Images called me again to do more extra work. It was supposed to be one day on the outskirts of town. I drove all the way over there. After a couple of hours, they told us that the main actress was sick and couldn't work that day, so the shoot was canceled. They told us to all come back the next week, which I was able to do.
In all of this, they never called Bez to get her to be an extra. I found it hard to believe that they were that overloaded with women extras that they couldn't have found one day of work to do.
All in all, I made almost as much money working for JF Images than I did for John Casablancas, and I DIDN'T have to pay hundreds of dollars to take classes. I'm certain that John Casablancas has been able to get a lot of people work, but for me, it was really a ripoff. I actually don't feel bad about doing work for JF Images.
I never tried to do extra work again after that in Denver. I tried in San Diego, but the agency I used there only called once and then found out I wasn't the right type of person for the project.
I just wasn't meant to be in showbiz.
Friday, July 31, 2015
Thursday, July 30, 2015
Girlfriend #3: Bez (Part 4)
When Bez broke up with me, it was probably the most adult decision she had made in her life up to that point. I doubt her parents had anything to do with her deciding to see what else was out there. However, every major life decision she made after that was reflective of her 14-year-old mentality.
During the year and four months that we were together, I had five (technically seven) different jobs. She was aware of her employment history and figured that one of us needed to have more stability job-wise if we were going to ever get married. She probably felt like if I was going to be a loser for the rest of my life (which I have been, so to speak, but not always at minimum-wage), she didn't want to have any part of it.
What happened after we broke up is that she met some other guy and spent a lot of time with him. However, this guy didn't have his own place. He was living with his brother. Her father told me that she would go over there and spend the night sometimes. This kind of made me mad because I could never get her to spend the night at my apartment. Any time we were at my place, we had to wrap everything up so I could drive her home before 10pm. Her parents didn't like the idea that kind of stuff was going on when we were together, but they didn't find out until after we broke up that Bez and I never had sex. But I guess she exerted her independence and they just let her spend the night at that guy's place.
Just before her 30th birthday, the guy she was seeing decided to move to Milwaukee, where he came from. He was going to move back in with his mother. He invited Bez to go along with him and she agreed. I talked to her one last time before she left. I don't remember the conversation, but I know I ended it by telling her that I loved her.
In the meantime, I moved upward in my job at the movie theatre. I was the Assistant Manager before I had been there a full year. A year later, I was offered the Assistant Manager position at a new multi-plex they were opening in San Diego. I moved there in November of 1991.
Bez had always wanted to move back to California. I can only imagine her reaction when she found out I was moving out there. In fact, I think she realized she made the wrong decision when it became apparent that I had job stability. But she probably felt like she had to prove to herself she made the right decision by marrying that guy. Mind you, this followed a volatile period in which they had broken up and she moved back to Denver. Somehow, he talked her in to returning and a wedding was held. She got pregnant and had a baby girl. Then, they went through a divorce and custody proceedings. Bez' father mentioned something to the effect that the guy physically abused her.
Even though Bez and I split up, I still had a rapport with her parents. They were very much like a second set of parents. After moving to San Diego, I would come visit them anytime I came to Denver. In 1995, I was going to see them, but Bez had moved back home with her daughter. That meant that I was going to have to deal with her somewhat. I was afraid that, after all she had been through, she was going get the idea that she could try to start things up again. I did not want that thought to enter her mind when she saw me I was staying with Rid. Bez really did not like Rid. Even though she was civil to him when we were spending time together, she made it clear she wished I didn't have anything to do with him. I begged Rid to come with me to her parents because if he was there, she would remember all the stuff she didn't like about me.
Rid agreed to go. He had never met her parents before, but they had heard plenty of things about him. Bez was on her way home from work when we got to the house, so we spent some time visiting with her parents. He seemed to get along with them pretty well. When Bez did come home, she recognized Rid, but didn't recognize me because I had really long hair. Her daughter was there and was walking around here and there. Bez said I could pick her up if I wanted to. I shook my head. There was no way I was going to let her see me bond with her child. Again, I didn't want to give her any ideas.
Rid and I left after a little while. Bez did not request to speak to me alone. I told her it was nice seeing her again. I don't think she really ever had any intention of getting back together, but I felt better knowing that I had taken every precaution to keep that from happening.
Bez managed to get custody of the girl and they continued to live with her parents. At one point, Bez was working at Incredible Universe and Rid ran into her there. I came through Denver once a few years later and saw her parents. Bez was at work, but her daughter was there. She was about eight years old at the time. The last time I saw her parents was in December of 2009. My cousin Jend had passed away. My brother Loyd and I drove to see Bez' parents. When I called them ahead of time, her father said that Bez was coming home from work at a certain time. I told him I didn't want to see Bez and that we would be coming over before she got home. While we were there visiting the parents, Bez' daughter was there, but she stayed in her room the whole time. She came out real quickly once to go to the bathroom, so I didn't really get to see her. The parents said she acted like a typical 17-year-old. However, I wonder if she would have taken a greater interest in the visitors if she knew I was one of her mother's ex-boyfriends, particularly the one she dated before meeting her father.
I still send them Christmas cards and will get their annual newsletters in return. The 2013 edition showed that she was living with some guy who also appeared to have job instability. The 2014 version didn't really give much information about her, but said that her father had prostate cancer and it had worked its way into his bones, so he may not be around much longer. (UPDATE: He passed away in 2015. I sent Christmas cards in 2015 and 2016, but I didn't get anything from her mother last time, so I won't be sending any more cards.)
One of the things I realized about myself later was that, if we had gotten married, I might have wound up having an affair. I mean, I wouldn't have actively sought one out. But if a woman came along with the qualities I desired and made it quite clear that she was interested, I would have a hard time turning her away. If Bez ever made any indication that she wanted to be with me again, I would have told her about this and agree that she had made the right decision in breaking up with me.
So, before I close out this chapter on Bez (and know that she'll be making several more appearances in this blog), I'll let you know a little tidbit that I'd forgotten to mention in the previous posts. In 1963, Bez and her family lived in Washington, DC, where her father worked for the Department of Labor. They went to John F. Kennedy's funeral. Bez doesn't remember it, but it's interesting to know that I dated someone who attended a Presidential funeral, especially his.
During the year and four months that we were together, I had five (technically seven) different jobs. She was aware of her employment history and figured that one of us needed to have more stability job-wise if we were going to ever get married. She probably felt like if I was going to be a loser for the rest of my life (which I have been, so to speak, but not always at minimum-wage), she didn't want to have any part of it.
What happened after we broke up is that she met some other guy and spent a lot of time with him. However, this guy didn't have his own place. He was living with his brother. Her father told me that she would go over there and spend the night sometimes. This kind of made me mad because I could never get her to spend the night at my apartment. Any time we were at my place, we had to wrap everything up so I could drive her home before 10pm. Her parents didn't like the idea that kind of stuff was going on when we were together, but they didn't find out until after we broke up that Bez and I never had sex. But I guess she exerted her independence and they just let her spend the night at that guy's place.
Just before her 30th birthday, the guy she was seeing decided to move to Milwaukee, where he came from. He was going to move back in with his mother. He invited Bez to go along with him and she agreed. I talked to her one last time before she left. I don't remember the conversation, but I know I ended it by telling her that I loved her.
In the meantime, I moved upward in my job at the movie theatre. I was the Assistant Manager before I had been there a full year. A year later, I was offered the Assistant Manager position at a new multi-plex they were opening in San Diego. I moved there in November of 1991.
Bez had always wanted to move back to California. I can only imagine her reaction when she found out I was moving out there. In fact, I think she realized she made the wrong decision when it became apparent that I had job stability. But she probably felt like she had to prove to herself she made the right decision by marrying that guy. Mind you, this followed a volatile period in which they had broken up and she moved back to Denver. Somehow, he talked her in to returning and a wedding was held. She got pregnant and had a baby girl. Then, they went through a divorce and custody proceedings. Bez' father mentioned something to the effect that the guy physically abused her.
Even though Bez and I split up, I still had a rapport with her parents. They were very much like a second set of parents. After moving to San Diego, I would come visit them anytime I came to Denver. In 1995, I was going to see them, but Bez had moved back home with her daughter. That meant that I was going to have to deal with her somewhat. I was afraid that, after all she had been through, she was going get the idea that she could try to start things up again. I did not want that thought to enter her mind when she saw me I was staying with Rid. Bez really did not like Rid. Even though she was civil to him when we were spending time together, she made it clear she wished I didn't have anything to do with him. I begged Rid to come with me to her parents because if he was there, she would remember all the stuff she didn't like about me.
Rid agreed to go. He had never met her parents before, but they had heard plenty of things about him. Bez was on her way home from work when we got to the house, so we spent some time visiting with her parents. He seemed to get along with them pretty well. When Bez did come home, she recognized Rid, but didn't recognize me because I had really long hair. Her daughter was there and was walking around here and there. Bez said I could pick her up if I wanted to. I shook my head. There was no way I was going to let her see me bond with her child. Again, I didn't want to give her any ideas.
Rid and I left after a little while. Bez did not request to speak to me alone. I told her it was nice seeing her again. I don't think she really ever had any intention of getting back together, but I felt better knowing that I had taken every precaution to keep that from happening.
Bez managed to get custody of the girl and they continued to live with her parents. At one point, Bez was working at Incredible Universe and Rid ran into her there. I came through Denver once a few years later and saw her parents. Bez was at work, but her daughter was there. She was about eight years old at the time. The last time I saw her parents was in December of 2009. My cousin Jend had passed away. My brother Loyd and I drove to see Bez' parents. When I called them ahead of time, her father said that Bez was coming home from work at a certain time. I told him I didn't want to see Bez and that we would be coming over before she got home. While we were there visiting the parents, Bez' daughter was there, but she stayed in her room the whole time. She came out real quickly once to go to the bathroom, so I didn't really get to see her. The parents said she acted like a typical 17-year-old. However, I wonder if she would have taken a greater interest in the visitors if she knew I was one of her mother's ex-boyfriends, particularly the one she dated before meeting her father.
I still send them Christmas cards and will get their annual newsletters in return. The 2013 edition showed that she was living with some guy who also appeared to have job instability. The 2014 version didn't really give much information about her, but said that her father had prostate cancer and it had worked its way into his bones, so he may not be around much longer. (UPDATE: He passed away in 2015. I sent Christmas cards in 2015 and 2016, but I didn't get anything from her mother last time, so I won't be sending any more cards.)
One of the things I realized about myself later was that, if we had gotten married, I might have wound up having an affair. I mean, I wouldn't have actively sought one out. But if a woman came along with the qualities I desired and made it quite clear that she was interested, I would have a hard time turning her away. If Bez ever made any indication that she wanted to be with me again, I would have told her about this and agree that she had made the right decision in breaking up with me.
So, before I close out this chapter on Bez (and know that she'll be making several more appearances in this blog), I'll let you know a little tidbit that I'd forgotten to mention in the previous posts. In 1963, Bez and her family lived in Washington, DC, where her father worked for the Department of Labor. They went to John F. Kennedy's funeral. Bez doesn't remember it, but it's interesting to know that I dated someone who attended a Presidential funeral, especially his.
Wednesday, July 29, 2015
Girlfriend #3: Bez (Part 3)
Bez and I had a very good relationship. It was the kind I always wanted, where the affection we felt for each other didn't disappear just a few weeks after we started the hand-holding and kissing. We got along very well as friends. And I had a really good rapport with her parents, who liked that I had graduated from college. It seemed like everything was moving toward something bigger.
The first time I brought her to my apartment, we listened to some music. Very soon, we started making out. After rolling around on my mattress for a few minutes, I told her I was a virgin. She was a little shocked. I told her I wanted her to know that because I didn't want her to think that I was expecting our makeout session to turn into a takeoff session, as far as our clothes were concerned. She didn't seem to mind, but she told me she wasn't a virgin. I told her that didn't matter to me.
Most of the time, our makeout sessions took place in my car because her parents rarely let her come to my house. We always had trouble finding decent places to park because the cops loved finding the cars with the steamed-up windows. I never had an officer actually come up to the car, but a couple of times, they shined their beacon in our window. The prospect of us moving in together was never in consideration as both our parents looked down on that practice.
Even though I was a virgin, we eventually engaged in activity of a sexual nature. We never had actual sex, but I discovered that I enjoyed all the things that would lead up to it. At the time, I was still planning to wait until I was officially married. She seemed okay with it.
A couple of months in, I asked her what she expected her wedding to be like. While she answered the question, she was rather taken aback that I was already talking about the subject of marriage. Something that I interpreted about her was that she wanted to get married before she turned 30 years old. That turned out to be a correct assumption. For a period of time, I actually thought she might be the one I marry.
And we actually came close one time. In 1989, Re/Max held a balloon festival in Denver. KOA-AM 850 held a contest in which some lucky couple could get married in a balloon. They would provide the wedding rings, the food and some other gifts for about 25 guests. Bez agreed to go along with it, if we won. I wrote what I thought was a very good essay comparing how being in the balloon would make the world seem like it was revolving around us for once. We didn't win.
It turned out to be a moot point anyway. Bez had bought tickets for us to go that day. At the time, I was working a job in which I was there until 2am on Saturday night. I came over to her parents' house to spend the night so we could get a fresh start in the morning because we had to be there before 7am. As it turned out, it rained the night before. Traffic was backed up getting into the site. The instructions on the tickets said that we needed to put this placard on the rearview mirror so we could park. Bez was driving and I asked her to give me the placard. She wouldn't give me the placard. I was still cranky from not getting enough sleep, so I started YELLING at her to give me the placard. It was the only time I wasn't able to keep my cool around her. She still wouldn't give it to me. When we got up to the gate, the person directing traffic told us the festival had been canceled and we had to turn around and go back. My yelling turned out to be a moot point as well. She didn't say anything on the way back to the house. I could tell she was very upset.
But when we got back to the house, everything seemed okay. I crawled onto the couch in the den to finish my sleep. Bez climbed on top of me and I put my arms around her. We slept for a little while this way and her parents didn't say anything.
When we had discussed having an actual wedding, we were looking at March of 1990, when my parents would be on spring break. I never officially proposed to her, but was saving up money to get her an engagement ring.
Sometime later, I had a job that had me working even more ridiculous hours. I was there all day on a Saturday and didn't get out until 8pm. I called Bez to let her know I was on the way. She told me that she and her friend had declared it a "Girls Night Out" and I shouldn't come over. After a terrible day like that, all I wanted to do was spend time with my girlfriend and cool down. She wasn't going to let that happen. I told her that if drove down there and she and her friend hadn't left yet, we were going to see each other that night. She angrily told me not to do that.
Very soon after that, she told me that she wanted to wait a year before we made plans to get married. She said that we would still be boyfriend/girlfriend and we would still do things of a sexual nature, but we weren't going to be planning a wedding for March of 1990. I reminded her of her goal to get married before she was 30. She said that goal no longer mattered.
After that, I didn't really try that hard in the relationship. We would still be affectionate toward each other and still did a lot of stuff together, but I just felt like we were coasting until she decided she wanted to get married. I had actually saved up $1000 to buy an engagement ring. I was hoping she would change her mind if I went ahead and proposed. However, I lost the high-paying job at the time (the one that had me working ridiculous hours) and started working for minimum wage at a movie theatre.
Very soon after that, Bez called me one night. She said she needed to talk to me about something. I said, "Uh-oh." She told me that she thought we should start seeing other people. We could still be friends, but we'd no longer be boyfriend/girlfriend. I had a meltdown and started crying and yelling at her. I told her that what hurt the most was that she actually thought there was someone out there better for her than me. As it turned out (and as I'll go into detail tomorrow), I was correct on that point. There really was not a better person out there for her. I simply was the best she could do.
I was also hurt that she broke up with me over the phone. I was calling her before I came over so that she could give me money that she owed me. She had it in her head that she could just break up with me over the phone and then I would come by to pick up the money. I completely forgot about the money until later. Why didn't she just have me come over and break up with me then? I may have yelled at her before, but I'd never threatened her with violence. But I guess that's the way someone with the mentality of a 14-year-old thinks. I did eventually get that money.
We went out "as friends" one last time about a month later. There was a movie she wanted to see at the Esquire (where we had our first movie date) and I could get us in for free. I came to the house to pick her up. When I saw her, I gave her a long embrace. We went to the theatre and sat down. A few minutes into the movie, I started holding hands with her. She let this go on for about 30 seconds, then she took her hand away. I knew then that it was over.
Tomorrow, I'll go into detail about why I believe she decided to break up with me and all the stuff that happened after she did.
The first time I brought her to my apartment, we listened to some music. Very soon, we started making out. After rolling around on my mattress for a few minutes, I told her I was a virgin. She was a little shocked. I told her I wanted her to know that because I didn't want her to think that I was expecting our makeout session to turn into a takeoff session, as far as our clothes were concerned. She didn't seem to mind, but she told me she wasn't a virgin. I told her that didn't matter to me.
Most of the time, our makeout sessions took place in my car because her parents rarely let her come to my house. We always had trouble finding decent places to park because the cops loved finding the cars with the steamed-up windows. I never had an officer actually come up to the car, but a couple of times, they shined their beacon in our window. The prospect of us moving in together was never in consideration as both our parents looked down on that practice.
Even though I was a virgin, we eventually engaged in activity of a sexual nature. We never had actual sex, but I discovered that I enjoyed all the things that would lead up to it. At the time, I was still planning to wait until I was officially married. She seemed okay with it.
A couple of months in, I asked her what she expected her wedding to be like. While she answered the question, she was rather taken aback that I was already talking about the subject of marriage. Something that I interpreted about her was that she wanted to get married before she turned 30 years old. That turned out to be a correct assumption. For a period of time, I actually thought she might be the one I marry.
And we actually came close one time. In 1989, Re/Max held a balloon festival in Denver. KOA-AM 850 held a contest in which some lucky couple could get married in a balloon. They would provide the wedding rings, the food and some other gifts for about 25 guests. Bez agreed to go along with it, if we won. I wrote what I thought was a very good essay comparing how being in the balloon would make the world seem like it was revolving around us for once. We didn't win.
It turned out to be a moot point anyway. Bez had bought tickets for us to go that day. At the time, I was working a job in which I was there until 2am on Saturday night. I came over to her parents' house to spend the night so we could get a fresh start in the morning because we had to be there before 7am. As it turned out, it rained the night before. Traffic was backed up getting into the site. The instructions on the tickets said that we needed to put this placard on the rearview mirror so we could park. Bez was driving and I asked her to give me the placard. She wouldn't give me the placard. I was still cranky from not getting enough sleep, so I started YELLING at her to give me the placard. It was the only time I wasn't able to keep my cool around her. She still wouldn't give it to me. When we got up to the gate, the person directing traffic told us the festival had been canceled and we had to turn around and go back. My yelling turned out to be a moot point as well. She didn't say anything on the way back to the house. I could tell she was very upset.
But when we got back to the house, everything seemed okay. I crawled onto the couch in the den to finish my sleep. Bez climbed on top of me and I put my arms around her. We slept for a little while this way and her parents didn't say anything.
When we had discussed having an actual wedding, we were looking at March of 1990, when my parents would be on spring break. I never officially proposed to her, but was saving up money to get her an engagement ring.
Sometime later, I had a job that had me working even more ridiculous hours. I was there all day on a Saturday and didn't get out until 8pm. I called Bez to let her know I was on the way. She told me that she and her friend had declared it a "Girls Night Out" and I shouldn't come over. After a terrible day like that, all I wanted to do was spend time with my girlfriend and cool down. She wasn't going to let that happen. I told her that if drove down there and she and her friend hadn't left yet, we were going to see each other that night. She angrily told me not to do that.
Very soon after that, she told me that she wanted to wait a year before we made plans to get married. She said that we would still be boyfriend/girlfriend and we would still do things of a sexual nature, but we weren't going to be planning a wedding for March of 1990. I reminded her of her goal to get married before she was 30. She said that goal no longer mattered.
After that, I didn't really try that hard in the relationship. We would still be affectionate toward each other and still did a lot of stuff together, but I just felt like we were coasting until she decided she wanted to get married. I had actually saved up $1000 to buy an engagement ring. I was hoping she would change her mind if I went ahead and proposed. However, I lost the high-paying job at the time (the one that had me working ridiculous hours) and started working for minimum wage at a movie theatre.
Very soon after that, Bez called me one night. She said she needed to talk to me about something. I said, "Uh-oh." She told me that she thought we should start seeing other people. We could still be friends, but we'd no longer be boyfriend/girlfriend. I had a meltdown and started crying and yelling at her. I told her that what hurt the most was that she actually thought there was someone out there better for her than me. As it turned out (and as I'll go into detail tomorrow), I was correct on that point. There really was not a better person out there for her. I simply was the best she could do.
I was also hurt that she broke up with me over the phone. I was calling her before I came over so that she could give me money that she owed me. She had it in her head that she could just break up with me over the phone and then I would come by to pick up the money. I completely forgot about the money until later. Why didn't she just have me come over and break up with me then? I may have yelled at her before, but I'd never threatened her with violence. But I guess that's the way someone with the mentality of a 14-year-old thinks. I did eventually get that money.
We went out "as friends" one last time about a month later. There was a movie she wanted to see at the Esquire (where we had our first movie date) and I could get us in for free. I came to the house to pick her up. When I saw her, I gave her a long embrace. We went to the theatre and sat down. A few minutes into the movie, I started holding hands with her. She let this go on for about 30 seconds, then she took her hand away. I knew then that it was over.
Tomorrow, I'll go into detail about why I believe she decided to break up with me and all the stuff that happened after she did.
Tuesday, July 28, 2015
Girlfriend #3: Bez (Part 2)
So, Bez and I had gone on our first date (as friends). I was definitely hoping that we would be more than "just friends" and was getting signals that she wanted that as well. Very soon after, I had moved into my own apartment. My parents had been waiting for that day so they could bring up the stuff I had left at their house when I moved out of Clovis, NM. In fact, they came up the very next weekend.
I decided I would like them to meet Bez, especially after the experience they had with Marz. She was kind of hesitant at first, but I guess she could see this was important to me, so she agreed to go with us to eat and to a movie.
I told my parents about Bez before they came up. When I told Mom she was 28 years old, she said, "That's kind of old for you, isn't it." (Yeah, Marz was 4 years younger.) I guess Mom was afraid that she was really getting up there in age and wouldn't be able to produce grandchildren. (Remember, Mom was 21 when I was born.) At the time, I kept trying to emphasize the fact that Bez and I were just friends and it wasn't anything serious.
My parents came to see my apartment. Dad said something about me having two pillows on my bed. Mom reminded him that I had said that Bez and and were just friends. Later on, we went out to pick up Bez. She was still in her room getting ready. At the time, Bez' paternal grandmother was staying with them. My parents got to meet her parents and her grandmother. They seemed to get along well with Bez' parents.
We went out to eat at Red Lobster. At the station, we ran an ad for some restaurant with a jingle that featured a chant that went, "Who's got crab legs? (beat, beat, beat) WHO'S got crab legs? (beat, beat, beat) WHO'S GOT CRAB LEGS?" It wasn't a Red Lobster commercial, but it still made me want to try crab legs. (It turns out it was an ad for Sea Galley, which had a restaurant in Denver in 1988. I remember seeing the print ad, but I never saw the TV commercial before I posted that link. If I had, I probably wouldn't have wanted to eat crab legs.)
Bez had to show me how to crack open the legs and use the fork to get at the meat. It probably seemed to my Mom and Dad that we were kind of flirting with each other. I guess we were, but I was just trying to work my way to the meaty part of the legs.
We went out to see the movie "Punchline." Bez sat between me and Mom. Dad was on the other side of Mom. We liked the movie okay, but Mom was kind of disappointed. We drove Bez home. I walked her to the front door and we hugged for a bit before she went in. She said she really liked my parents, especially my Mom. Mom and Dad drove me over to Uncle Ord's house, where I had parked my car. They had to leave the next day, so we said our goodbyes then.
After they had gotten home, Mom called me and told me that she really liked Bez a lot and hoped that things would work out so that she would become a part of our family. However, she was kind of concerned that we didn't hold hands or anything during the movie. Mom was the one who got that we were just friends before she met her, so I was suprised that I had to remind her that we weren't really boyfriend/girlfriend yet.
Bez said she was interested in going to see the film "Bird," which was the closing presentation of the Denver International Film Festival. I was interested in seeing that and was surprised that she asked me to go with her. The tickets included the ability to get into the post-festival party at a nightclub called 23 Parrish in Denver. Without any prior discussion between us, we both decided to get really dressed up for the movie.
I'm particular about trying to show up early for everything. For class, for work, for social activities. I showed up 15 minutes early for this date. Bez wasn't ready yet, but I didn't think there was anything wrong with being early. Later, she told me she didn't like me showing up early and told me to never do it again in the future. ("In the future? That means you plan for us to go out more.")
We went to the movie at Landmark's Esquire Theatre. I had been there before, because that was where I saw my first foreign film in a theatre. I had seen "Wings of Desire." (More than a year later, I would be working for the Landmark Theatre chain.) We were lucky enough to find two empty seats together in the back row next to the aisle. I went and got us a soda. During the first 15 minutes of the movie, I reached over and held her hand. I could tell that my hand was still cold from holding the soda. She didn't seem to mind and we continued watching the movie.
After it was over, we went to the nightclub and danced to a couple of songs before deciding to call it a night. She actually thought I was a pretty good dancer.
I drove her home and walked her to the front door. We started hugging before I left. We hugged for a long time. Originally, I was planning to just give her a quick peck on the cheek before leaving, but after I pecked her, I kissed her some more and worked my way toward her mouth. We enjoyed a passionate kiss. I had to leave, but I knew at that moment, we were officially boyfriend/girlfriend.
One of the thoughts running through my head as I was driving home was that I had managed to do something that I never thought I'd be able to do: I actually STOLE a woman from some guy. After having someone do that to me, it felt pretty good and I didn't feel the least bit sorry for the other guy. Bez told me later that she went ahead and broke up with him.
Since this is the second post about Bez, I'll go ahead and reveal the major flaw with her. (Remember that my previous girlfriend was blind.) Bez actually had two flaws. The first was that she apparently had the mentality of a 14-year-old girl. I didn't notice this at first and no one in her family let on that this was an issue. She was able to function as an adult, but from time to time, she would do and say things that only a teenager would conjure up. The second thing was that, according to Mom and Loyd, she was ugly. I only saw her as beautiful, but they had issues with her nose (which I will admit was larger than normal for a woman). Years after we broke up, Loyd told me about how Mom felt about her and that she had made a comment that she was going to have to pay for nose jobs for the grandchildren. I was surprised because of what Mom said about having her join our family after the first time she met her. Understand that my Mom really liked Bez as a person and at the very least, she couldn't accuse me of being shallow, but she wanted a daughter-in-law who was more attractive.
Bez and I had a very good relationship. But as I will go into more detail in the next couple of posts, it ended in a very surprising manner and the aftermath was rather unbelievable.
You'll see what I'm talking about starting tomorrow.
I decided I would like them to meet Bez, especially after the experience they had with Marz. She was kind of hesitant at first, but I guess she could see this was important to me, so she agreed to go with us to eat and to a movie.
I told my parents about Bez before they came up. When I told Mom she was 28 years old, she said, "That's kind of old for you, isn't it." (Yeah, Marz was 4 years younger.) I guess Mom was afraid that she was really getting up there in age and wouldn't be able to produce grandchildren. (Remember, Mom was 21 when I was born.) At the time, I kept trying to emphasize the fact that Bez and I were just friends and it wasn't anything serious.
My parents came to see my apartment. Dad said something about me having two pillows on my bed. Mom reminded him that I had said that Bez and and were just friends. Later on, we went out to pick up Bez. She was still in her room getting ready. At the time, Bez' paternal grandmother was staying with them. My parents got to meet her parents and her grandmother. They seemed to get along well with Bez' parents.
We went out to eat at Red Lobster. At the station, we ran an ad for some restaurant with a jingle that featured a chant that went, "Who's got crab legs? (beat, beat, beat) WHO'S got crab legs? (beat, beat, beat) WHO'S GOT CRAB LEGS?" It wasn't a Red Lobster commercial, but it still made me want to try crab legs. (It turns out it was an ad for Sea Galley, which had a restaurant in Denver in 1988. I remember seeing the print ad, but I never saw the TV commercial before I posted that link. If I had, I probably wouldn't have wanted to eat crab legs.)
Bez had to show me how to crack open the legs and use the fork to get at the meat. It probably seemed to my Mom and Dad that we were kind of flirting with each other. I guess we were, but I was just trying to work my way to the meaty part of the legs.
We went out to see the movie "Punchline." Bez sat between me and Mom. Dad was on the other side of Mom. We liked the movie okay, but Mom was kind of disappointed. We drove Bez home. I walked her to the front door and we hugged for a bit before she went in. She said she really liked my parents, especially my Mom. Mom and Dad drove me over to Uncle Ord's house, where I had parked my car. They had to leave the next day, so we said our goodbyes then.
After they had gotten home, Mom called me and told me that she really liked Bez a lot and hoped that things would work out so that she would become a part of our family. However, she was kind of concerned that we didn't hold hands or anything during the movie. Mom was the one who got that we were just friends before she met her, so I was suprised that I had to remind her that we weren't really boyfriend/girlfriend yet.
Bez said she was interested in going to see the film "Bird," which was the closing presentation of the Denver International Film Festival. I was interested in seeing that and was surprised that she asked me to go with her. The tickets included the ability to get into the post-festival party at a nightclub called 23 Parrish in Denver. Without any prior discussion between us, we both decided to get really dressed up for the movie.
I'm particular about trying to show up early for everything. For class, for work, for social activities. I showed up 15 minutes early for this date. Bez wasn't ready yet, but I didn't think there was anything wrong with being early. Later, she told me she didn't like me showing up early and told me to never do it again in the future. ("In the future? That means you plan for us to go out more.")
We went to the movie at Landmark's Esquire Theatre. I had been there before, because that was where I saw my first foreign film in a theatre. I had seen "Wings of Desire." (More than a year later, I would be working for the Landmark Theatre chain.) We were lucky enough to find two empty seats together in the back row next to the aisle. I went and got us a soda. During the first 15 minutes of the movie, I reached over and held her hand. I could tell that my hand was still cold from holding the soda. She didn't seem to mind and we continued watching the movie.
After it was over, we went to the nightclub and danced to a couple of songs before deciding to call it a night. She actually thought I was a pretty good dancer.
I drove her home and walked her to the front door. We started hugging before I left. We hugged for a long time. Originally, I was planning to just give her a quick peck on the cheek before leaving, but after I pecked her, I kissed her some more and worked my way toward her mouth. We enjoyed a passionate kiss. I had to leave, but I knew at that moment, we were officially boyfriend/girlfriend.
One of the thoughts running through my head as I was driving home was that I had managed to do something that I never thought I'd be able to do: I actually STOLE a woman from some guy. After having someone do that to me, it felt pretty good and I didn't feel the least bit sorry for the other guy. Bez told me later that she went ahead and broke up with him.
Since this is the second post about Bez, I'll go ahead and reveal the major flaw with her. (Remember that my previous girlfriend was blind.) Bez actually had two flaws. The first was that she apparently had the mentality of a 14-year-old girl. I didn't notice this at first and no one in her family let on that this was an issue. She was able to function as an adult, but from time to time, she would do and say things that only a teenager would conjure up. The second thing was that, according to Mom and Loyd, she was ugly. I only saw her as beautiful, but they had issues with her nose (which I will admit was larger than normal for a woman). Years after we broke up, Loyd told me about how Mom felt about her and that she had made a comment that she was going to have to pay for nose jobs for the grandchildren. I was surprised because of what Mom said about having her join our family after the first time she met her. Understand that my Mom really liked Bez as a person and at the very least, she couldn't accuse me of being shallow, but she wanted a daughter-in-law who was more attractive.
Bez and I had a very good relationship. But as I will go into more detail in the next couple of posts, it ended in a very surprising manner and the aftermath was rather unbelievable.
You'll see what I'm talking about starting tomorrow.
Monday, July 27, 2015
Girlfriend #3: Bez (Part 1)
I met my third girlfriend ever the second night I worked at Fiddler's Green Amphitheatre in the Denver area. I was assigned to a kiosk behind the green. Interestingly enough, it turned out to be the kiosk I would manage toward the end of the season.
This was a hot dog kiosk. In addition to hot dogs, they sold Polish and German sausages, which were heated up and served right there. They were actually already overstaffed, so they had me just helping out at the roller grill. There was a woman there, who had been preparing the food. Her name was Bez. She had long blonde hair and slanted blue eyes. She told me which ones were the hot dogs, the Polish and the German. However, when she said "German," it came out as "Herman." Since just about everyone who worked for Fidder's was rather young, I thought she was about 18 years old. We started talking and kind of flirting with each other. She seemed to enjoy it. I found out a little later that she was actually 28 years old. I was impressed at how young she looked.
Pretty soon, I got sent over to a kiosk that was definitely understaffed. I got put on a register, which I was not expecting, especially since I hadn't gotten my Arapahoe County Liquor Server's ID yet. I worked there the rest of the night at that kiosk, but I had to go back to the kiosk where I started because my personal items were there. Bez was still working there, but things were wrapping up. I told Bez that it was very nice to meet her and I looked forward to seeing her again.
There was an afternoon concert the next day. I stayed in one kiosk the whole shift. During my break, I ran around the venue to the other kiosks to see if I could find Bez, but she wasn't anywhere. I was disappointed.
The next concert was two nights later. I was assigned to the back of one of the main concession stands. I was mopping the floor before the show started. I turned around and I saw Bez standing there. She was smiling at me. I said hello. She was sent to a kiosk in the courtyard outside the main stand. I went over to her kiosk when I got my break. She was getting her break at the same time. We went out to the green, watched the concert a little and ate our free hot dogs. We talked some. I asked for her phone number and she gave it to me.
I called her up a few days later. Her story was that she had lived in Los Angeles for the last six years. She had a good time there, but never could land steady employment. She decided to come back to the Denver area and try to get some solid footing by moving back in with her parents. She was working a temporary position doing demonstrations at King Soopers, which was the kind of work her mother was also doing. She had gotten hired at Fiddler's the same day I did, but didn't work the Friday night show because she had already bought tickets for it. After working the Saturday night that I met her, she felt really worn out and decided not to work the Sunday afternoon show. And she decided she wasn't going to work there anymore. (I wouldn't realize it until later, but this was why she had problems finding regular work.)
I told her we should try to get together and go do something sometime, like have lunch or go to a movie. She said she would like to do that. I called her up a couple of days later. Then she told me that she was seeing somebody and really didn't want to hang out with me. I was rather disappointed, but I wondered why she didn't mention this before.
A few weeks later, I was still thinking about her. I decided to send her flowers. Her address was easy to find because I had called and gotten the answering machine at her parents' before and her father listed the name of every person in that household. I found his name in the phone book and the address was listed. (I sure didn't need the Internet back then!) And yes, this was me in stalker mode, but I was working hard to tone that down.
She got the flowers and called me. She appreciated them (and didn't ask how I got her address). She agreed to go to lunch with me, as friends. At the time, we were doing a survey at Phone Survey, Inc. for Round the Corner restaurants. I had never eaten there before and she figured it was a good place for us to go hang out for a bit.
She told me that her parents were going to be there when I came to pick her up. She described her parents (who I will refer to as Mr. and Mrs. T) as being in their mid-50s. Her father had worked for the US Department of Labor and retired at the age of 50. He then went to law school, passed the bar and became a lawyer so he could work on behalf of Veterans Affairs. One of the things Bez warned me about was to not say anything about her mother's appearance. I didn't know what she was talking about.
So, the day of the lunch date came. I drove to their house. Her father was doing something to one of the cars in the driveway. He was just as I pictured him: Slightly bald and overweight with white hair. I introduced myself and he seemed pleased to meet me. He took me into the house. Bez was in the foyer. She seemed happy to see me. Then I saw this woman come down the stairs from the living room. She looked to be about 35. I thought she was Bez' older sister. Nope, I was wrong. It was her mother! THAT'S what she was talking about! I didn't say anything, but I know my eyes must have widened. I figured that looking youthful ran in the family. That was a good thing.
We had lunch and I drove her back home. Not once did I ask about the "boyfriend." I told her I had fun and we should hang out again. She said she would like that.
Our first "date" is a good place to stop today, because a whole bunch of stuff happened next before she officially became my girlfriend.
More tomorrow.
This was a hot dog kiosk. In addition to hot dogs, they sold Polish and German sausages, which were heated up and served right there. They were actually already overstaffed, so they had me just helping out at the roller grill. There was a woman there, who had been preparing the food. Her name was Bez. She had long blonde hair and slanted blue eyes. She told me which ones were the hot dogs, the Polish and the German. However, when she said "German," it came out as "Herman." Since just about everyone who worked for Fidder's was rather young, I thought she was about 18 years old. We started talking and kind of flirting with each other. She seemed to enjoy it. I found out a little later that she was actually 28 years old. I was impressed at how young she looked.
Pretty soon, I got sent over to a kiosk that was definitely understaffed. I got put on a register, which I was not expecting, especially since I hadn't gotten my Arapahoe County Liquor Server's ID yet. I worked there the rest of the night at that kiosk, but I had to go back to the kiosk where I started because my personal items were there. Bez was still working there, but things were wrapping up. I told Bez that it was very nice to meet her and I looked forward to seeing her again.
There was an afternoon concert the next day. I stayed in one kiosk the whole shift. During my break, I ran around the venue to the other kiosks to see if I could find Bez, but she wasn't anywhere. I was disappointed.
The next concert was two nights later. I was assigned to the back of one of the main concession stands. I was mopping the floor before the show started. I turned around and I saw Bez standing there. She was smiling at me. I said hello. She was sent to a kiosk in the courtyard outside the main stand. I went over to her kiosk when I got my break. She was getting her break at the same time. We went out to the green, watched the concert a little and ate our free hot dogs. We talked some. I asked for her phone number and she gave it to me.
I called her up a few days later. Her story was that she had lived in Los Angeles for the last six years. She had a good time there, but never could land steady employment. She decided to come back to the Denver area and try to get some solid footing by moving back in with her parents. She was working a temporary position doing demonstrations at King Soopers, which was the kind of work her mother was also doing. She had gotten hired at Fiddler's the same day I did, but didn't work the Friday night show because she had already bought tickets for it. After working the Saturday night that I met her, she felt really worn out and decided not to work the Sunday afternoon show. And she decided she wasn't going to work there anymore. (I wouldn't realize it until later, but this was why she had problems finding regular work.)
I told her we should try to get together and go do something sometime, like have lunch or go to a movie. She said she would like to do that. I called her up a couple of days later. Then she told me that she was seeing somebody and really didn't want to hang out with me. I was rather disappointed, but I wondered why she didn't mention this before.
A few weeks later, I was still thinking about her. I decided to send her flowers. Her address was easy to find because I had called and gotten the answering machine at her parents' before and her father listed the name of every person in that household. I found his name in the phone book and the address was listed. (I sure didn't need the Internet back then!) And yes, this was me in stalker mode, but I was working hard to tone that down.
She got the flowers and called me. She appreciated them (and didn't ask how I got her address). She agreed to go to lunch with me, as friends. At the time, we were doing a survey at Phone Survey, Inc. for Round the Corner restaurants. I had never eaten there before and she figured it was a good place for us to go hang out for a bit.
She told me that her parents were going to be there when I came to pick her up. She described her parents (who I will refer to as Mr. and Mrs. T) as being in their mid-50s. Her father had worked for the US Department of Labor and retired at the age of 50. He then went to law school, passed the bar and became a lawyer so he could work on behalf of Veterans Affairs. One of the things Bez warned me about was to not say anything about her mother's appearance. I didn't know what she was talking about.
So, the day of the lunch date came. I drove to their house. Her father was doing something to one of the cars in the driveway. He was just as I pictured him: Slightly bald and overweight with white hair. I introduced myself and he seemed pleased to meet me. He took me into the house. Bez was in the foyer. She seemed happy to see me. Then I saw this woman come down the stairs from the living room. She looked to be about 35. I thought she was Bez' older sister. Nope, I was wrong. It was her mother! THAT'S what she was talking about! I didn't say anything, but I know my eyes must have widened. I figured that looking youthful ran in the family. That was a good thing.
We had lunch and I drove her back home. Not once did I ask about the "boyfriend." I told her I had fun and we should hang out again. She said she would like that.
Our first "date" is a good place to stop today, because a whole bunch of stuff happened next before she officially became my girlfriend.
More tomorrow.
Friday, July 24, 2015
Radio Tease #9: The Lizard
(What's a Radio Tease? Click here!)
I'll let you know right now, this will be the last Radio Tease that I will ever write about. I had a few other women call me while at KSYY-FM in Denver, but I never met any of them and none of them really made a lasting impression on me. When I went to work at the newsradio station in San Jose starting in 2005, I never got any calls from radio teases there. Also, this is one of the few times I will use someone's actual first name (or what I believed to be her name).
Within the first few weeks of me working the Saturday and Sunday night shifts, I would get the occasional call from those women who enjoyed talking to DJs. Even though none of us were really on the air, a lot of people didn't really know that and would call us up requesting songs. We would even get calls from people trying to call another station's contest line, which had a phone number similar to our hotline. (These people would get mad at US because they didn't win!)
One Saturday night, I was talking to this one woman who had contacted other DJs in town. (I wouldn't refer to her as a Radio Tease. She wasn't trying to flirt or anything. She just wanted to talk.) She asked me if I had heard about "The Lizard." I told her I hadn't. She said that The Lizard was a woman whose name was "Elizabeth." However, she had a tendency to act schizophrenic (actually multiple personality disorder). Sometimes, she would say her name was "Liz," "Liza" or "Beth." She described her as looking like Sheila E and said that she was at least 18 years old, because she knew one DJ who had slept with her and he wouldn't have done that unless he knew for a fact that she was 18.
She also told me about one incident in which The Lizard was talking to a DJ at Y108. He invited her to come over to the station and meet him while he was on the air (which is something we all know YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO DO). It happened to be raining at the time. She told him she didn't have a car or any way of getting over there. He told her to just take a cab. So, she took a cab to the station and tried to get him to come outside and pay for the cab. She actually thought he had offered to pay for the cab. He wouldn't open the door and just left her outside in the rain to deal with the consequences of skipping out on a taxi fare.
The next night, I got a call from some woman. She asked me my name. I told her "Fayd." I asked for her name. She said, "Elizabeth." GASP! Was this The Lizard? She was very flirtatious during that first conversation and sometimes, the discussion would get a little inappropriate on her end. She asked when I worked and I told her Saturday and Sunday nights. She said she would call me the next weekend.
She called me back during the next couple of weekends. We usually talked for about a half hour each time. During the successive conversations, she was spinning this tale about how she was married to pro wrestler Randy "Macho Man" Savage. Without coming right out and saying it, she was trying to make me think that she was THE "Miss Elizabeth" of the World Wrestling Federation (which the WWE was known as at the time). She would tell me that Savage and Hulk Hogan were in her house at the time watching wrestling videos. At no point did I ever believe a word that she was saying. I was thinking, "What is it with these women and pro wrestlers?" I had a similar issue with Friez (although she picked one of the more obsure wrestlers), and Kiz, Chez and their younger sister Pid were into pro wrestlers, too.
I spent one Friday night hanging out with my girlfriend and her parents. We had all gone out to eat and came back to their house. Her father was also into pro wrestling, and NBC had started showing wrestling matches on TV on Friday nights. We came home in time to catch the last 15 minutes of a tag team match that featured Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan. Somehow, one of their opponents managed to knock Miss Elizabeth (the real one) unconsious and the EMTs transported her to the medic's office. Savage went with her, leaving Hogan in the ring. Hogan overcame his opponents and ran into the medic's office. He and Savage started yelling at each other. Hogan didn't like being left alone in the ring and Savage thought it was his responsibility to make sure Miss Elizabeth was okay.
On Saturday night, The Lizard called me. She started telling me about what happened to her the night before. She said she got knocked unconscious at a wrestling match. While she was kind of waking up in the medic's office, she could hear Savage and Hogan yelling at each other. I didn't really make any comment except, "Oh, that's terrible."
But this was bewildering to me! How could she have possibly known that I had watched WWF the night before? She's never gone into detail about matches previously, but why did she pick this one to tell me about? And what was the point? I just didn't get it. Of course, the answer was that she didn't know and there was no possible way for her to know. It was just a coincidence. And I know what you're thinking: That my girlfriend was pretending to be Miss Elizabeth, much like Marz did that one time. That wasn't possible. My girlfriend had a noticeable speech pattern that would have made it impossible for her to pass herself off as someone else.
The next night, The Lizard called me again. She was going on more about Savage and Hogan. Then, she suddenly said, "You don't believe that I'm the First Lady of pro wrestling, do you?" I told her no. "Why not?" I said something to the effect that it didn't seem possible that Miss Elizabeth would just call some DJ up out of the blue and start talking to him, especially in the manner in which The Lizard had been talking to me. That wound up being the last conversation I had with her.
Later, I wondered how many other DJs she called up that weekend and told them the same story. I doubt any of them took her seriously. I'm certain that if just one thought she was really Miss Elizabeth, they probably would have been surprised when they met her in person. I also wondered if that woman who told me about The Lizard in the first place was actually her. However, it didn't seem likely that she would have told me all that stuff about her being crazy.
Before writing this article, I tried to do some research to see if anyone else has ever written about The Lizard in the Denver radio market during the late 1980s. I was not able to find anything. I guess no one thought she was worth writing about until now.
The real Miss Elizabeth died in 2003. I wonder if The Lizard is still alive and if anyone still calls her that behind her back.
I'll let you know right now, this will be the last Radio Tease that I will ever write about. I had a few other women call me while at KSYY-FM in Denver, but I never met any of them and none of them really made a lasting impression on me. When I went to work at the newsradio station in San Jose starting in 2005, I never got any calls from radio teases there. Also, this is one of the few times I will use someone's actual first name (or what I believed to be her name).
Within the first few weeks of me working the Saturday and Sunday night shifts, I would get the occasional call from those women who enjoyed talking to DJs. Even though none of us were really on the air, a lot of people didn't really know that and would call us up requesting songs. We would even get calls from people trying to call another station's contest line, which had a phone number similar to our hotline. (These people would get mad at US because they didn't win!)
One Saturday night, I was talking to this one woman who had contacted other DJs in town. (I wouldn't refer to her as a Radio Tease. She wasn't trying to flirt or anything. She just wanted to talk.) She asked me if I had heard about "The Lizard." I told her I hadn't. She said that The Lizard was a woman whose name was "Elizabeth." However, she had a tendency to act schizophrenic (actually multiple personality disorder). Sometimes, she would say her name was "Liz," "Liza" or "Beth." She described her as looking like Sheila E and said that she was at least 18 years old, because she knew one DJ who had slept with her and he wouldn't have done that unless he knew for a fact that she was 18.
She also told me about one incident in which The Lizard was talking to a DJ at Y108. He invited her to come over to the station and meet him while he was on the air (which is something we all know YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO DO). It happened to be raining at the time. She told him she didn't have a car or any way of getting over there. He told her to just take a cab. So, she took a cab to the station and tried to get him to come outside and pay for the cab. She actually thought he had offered to pay for the cab. He wouldn't open the door and just left her outside in the rain to deal with the consequences of skipping out on a taxi fare.
The next night, I got a call from some woman. She asked me my name. I told her "Fayd." I asked for her name. She said, "Elizabeth." GASP! Was this The Lizard? She was very flirtatious during that first conversation and sometimes, the discussion would get a little inappropriate on her end. She asked when I worked and I told her Saturday and Sunday nights. She said she would call me the next weekend.
She called me back during the next couple of weekends. We usually talked for about a half hour each time. During the successive conversations, she was spinning this tale about how she was married to pro wrestler Randy "Macho Man" Savage. Without coming right out and saying it, she was trying to make me think that she was THE "Miss Elizabeth" of the World Wrestling Federation (which the WWE was known as at the time). She would tell me that Savage and Hulk Hogan were in her house at the time watching wrestling videos. At no point did I ever believe a word that she was saying. I was thinking, "What is it with these women and pro wrestlers?" I had a similar issue with Friez (although she picked one of the more obsure wrestlers), and Kiz, Chez and their younger sister Pid were into pro wrestlers, too.
I spent one Friday night hanging out with my girlfriend and her parents. We had all gone out to eat and came back to their house. Her father was also into pro wrestling, and NBC had started showing wrestling matches on TV on Friday nights. We came home in time to catch the last 15 minutes of a tag team match that featured Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan. Somehow, one of their opponents managed to knock Miss Elizabeth (the real one) unconsious and the EMTs transported her to the medic's office. Savage went with her, leaving Hogan in the ring. Hogan overcame his opponents and ran into the medic's office. He and Savage started yelling at each other. Hogan didn't like being left alone in the ring and Savage thought it was his responsibility to make sure Miss Elizabeth was okay.
On Saturday night, The Lizard called me. She started telling me about what happened to her the night before. She said she got knocked unconscious at a wrestling match. While she was kind of waking up in the medic's office, she could hear Savage and Hogan yelling at each other. I didn't really make any comment except, "Oh, that's terrible."
But this was bewildering to me! How could she have possibly known that I had watched WWF the night before? She's never gone into detail about matches previously, but why did she pick this one to tell me about? And what was the point? I just didn't get it. Of course, the answer was that she didn't know and there was no possible way for her to know. It was just a coincidence. And I know what you're thinking: That my girlfriend was pretending to be Miss Elizabeth, much like Marz did that one time. That wasn't possible. My girlfriend had a noticeable speech pattern that would have made it impossible for her to pass herself off as someone else.
The next night, The Lizard called me again. She was going on more about Savage and Hogan. Then, she suddenly said, "You don't believe that I'm the First Lady of pro wrestling, do you?" I told her no. "Why not?" I said something to the effect that it didn't seem possible that Miss Elizabeth would just call some DJ up out of the blue and start talking to him, especially in the manner in which The Lizard had been talking to me. That wound up being the last conversation I had with her.
Later, I wondered how many other DJs she called up that weekend and told them the same story. I doubt any of them took her seriously. I'm certain that if just one thought she was really Miss Elizabeth, they probably would have been surprised when they met her in person. I also wondered if that woman who told me about The Lizard in the first place was actually her. However, it didn't seem likely that she would have told me all that stuff about her being crazy.
Before writing this article, I tried to do some research to see if anyone else has ever written about The Lizard in the Denver radio market during the late 1980s. I was not able to find anything. I guess no one thought she was worth writing about until now.
The real Miss Elizabeth died in 2003. I wonder if The Lizard is still alive and if anyone still calls her that behind her back.
Thursday, July 23, 2015
Job #9: KSYY-FM Era, 1988 - 1989 (Part 2)
One of the things I enjoyed most about working at a radio station that had satellite programming was that I got paid more than I did at KZZO-FM to do a whole lot less. Because almost everything was automated, I had plenty of time to run around the station, go downstairs and talk to the cute woman who worked the same shift at KHOW-AM, eat, talk on the phone, oh, and get some production done.
One of the things I had to do every once in awhile was come in and get critiqued by the Program Director. I had heard stories about my former co-workers moving to larger markets and getting their butts chewed out at least once a week by their Program Director during the aircheck review. This Program Director wasn't like that, but I did think a lot of his criticisms just seemed to exist just so I would try harder. All I could really do was the weather. I really couldn't try harder than that.
Everything was going fine for awhile. However, I had one night in which the woman who worked at midnight didn't show up. It turned out she had covered for one of the full-timers earlier that week and he was supposed to come in. I tried calling him, but I only got his answering machine. I guess he forgot to come in. At first, I thought, "No problem, I'll just do this until 6am." But around 2am, I started feeling REALLY tired and it was hard to keep my eyes open. I resorted to calling up the Program Director. He told me that I could get the cute woman from KHOW-AM to watch both stations at the same time since she was working overnight that night. I have no idea how much trouble that full-timer got into.
I guess around this time, my job at Phone Survey, Inc. had me working 9am to 5pm on Saturdays and 1pm to 9pm on Sundays. I requested that my shifts change to Saturday night and Sunday morning. The Program Director didn't express any problem with this and was able to make this happen.
Everything seemed to be going okay. Then we had an air staff meeting early in November. The Program Director discussed some upcoming promotions. He also announced how things were going to go for getting Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's off. We were all supposed to write down which two holidays we were willing to work and which one we wanted off and he would try to accommodate, but made no guarantees. Up to this point, I had always spent my Christmas with my family. (Up until the previous year, I had spent every Thanksgiving with them, but Marz wrecked that streak for me.) The schedules came out, but I did not get Christmas off. I asked the Program Director if something could be done. He said he would work on it.
A few days later, he called me at work at Phone Survey, Inc. I thought he was going to ask me to cover someone's shift. He said that he was going to have to take me off the regular schedule and put on the stand-by staff. This meant that I would only work when they really needed me. I was stunned. He said he couldn't accommodate my Christmas request and my working Saturday nights and Sunday mornings was causing problems with the air staff. He had already made up his mind and hired someone to take my place. However, he said I could still come to the KHOW/KSYY Christmas party.
In my mind, this made him a worse boss than Crad. I mean, things were stressful under Crad, but he would let me know right away when I was doing something he didn't like. He gave me a chance to correct things before he was going to fire me. But this Program Director gave no indication that my schedule requests were going to lead to me being let go from the regular air staff. If he had said something about me not working the same shift on Saturday and Sunday, I could have just quit Phone Survey and found another job.
Even though I was the low man on the totem pole at KZZO, I always got Christmas off. It was never a problem. I didn't expect it to be a problem at KSYY. When I told the Program Director I couldn't work Christmas, he could have said, "If you don't work Christmas, you're not working here anymore." I would have immediately told him, "I'll work Christmas. Don't worry about it." I never expected him to be passive-aggressive.
I needed that radio job more than anything because, at the time, I felt like that was what defined me. Later, my life would just take on new definitions.
So, I went to that Christmas party. It was held at Union Station on board the Altschul train cars. These were private cars used by the Altschul family for various trips across the USA. It was a nice party, plenty of good food. I was glad I went. The Program Director was there, but I didn't talk to him.
I did get called back in a couple of time to cover shifts early in 1989. And if I wanted to, I could make use of the production studio to create airchecks for future radio applications. But I never did that.
A short time after that, the new owners took over the operations of the station. Then the Program Director announced he was leaving the station. After this took place, I came to the station, went up to the third floor and spoke to the General Manager. I asked him, "Do I still work here?" He shook his head, "No." That was it. I no longer worked in radio and wouldn't for another 16 years.
One of the things I have to consider is that, even if I continued to work regular shifts there, something else probably would have come along to screw things up for me, like when the station changed owners again later in 1989.
When that happened, KSYY-FM became KHOW-FM. It has stayed that way ever since.
The Program Director went to a country/western station in Phoenix, where he worked for 22 years. He doesn't appear to be doing radio now, but runs his own voiceover business. As far as everybody else I worked with, I don't really remember all of their names, so I can't look them up.
Ever since then, I stopped putting so much importance on seeing my family for Christmas. As it turned out, I would only be with my parents for Christmas in 1988 and 1989 (both without Loyd), but never again after that. There's a part of me that wishes I had chosen my job over being with them, because it was a choice I wound up making many more times in the future.
One of the things I had to do every once in awhile was come in and get critiqued by the Program Director. I had heard stories about my former co-workers moving to larger markets and getting their butts chewed out at least once a week by their Program Director during the aircheck review. This Program Director wasn't like that, but I did think a lot of his criticisms just seemed to exist just so I would try harder. All I could really do was the weather. I really couldn't try harder than that.
Everything was going fine for awhile. However, I had one night in which the woman who worked at midnight didn't show up. It turned out she had covered for one of the full-timers earlier that week and he was supposed to come in. I tried calling him, but I only got his answering machine. I guess he forgot to come in. At first, I thought, "No problem, I'll just do this until 6am." But around 2am, I started feeling REALLY tired and it was hard to keep my eyes open. I resorted to calling up the Program Director. He told me that I could get the cute woman from KHOW-AM to watch both stations at the same time since she was working overnight that night. I have no idea how much trouble that full-timer got into.
I guess around this time, my job at Phone Survey, Inc. had me working 9am to 5pm on Saturdays and 1pm to 9pm on Sundays. I requested that my shifts change to Saturday night and Sunday morning. The Program Director didn't express any problem with this and was able to make this happen.
Everything seemed to be going okay. Then we had an air staff meeting early in November. The Program Director discussed some upcoming promotions. He also announced how things were going to go for getting Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's off. We were all supposed to write down which two holidays we were willing to work and which one we wanted off and he would try to accommodate, but made no guarantees. Up to this point, I had always spent my Christmas with my family. (Up until the previous year, I had spent every Thanksgiving with them, but Marz wrecked that streak for me.) The schedules came out, but I did not get Christmas off. I asked the Program Director if something could be done. He said he would work on it.
A few days later, he called me at work at Phone Survey, Inc. I thought he was going to ask me to cover someone's shift. He said that he was going to have to take me off the regular schedule and put on the stand-by staff. This meant that I would only work when they really needed me. I was stunned. He said he couldn't accommodate my Christmas request and my working Saturday nights and Sunday mornings was causing problems with the air staff. He had already made up his mind and hired someone to take my place. However, he said I could still come to the KHOW/KSYY Christmas party.
In my mind, this made him a worse boss than Crad. I mean, things were stressful under Crad, but he would let me know right away when I was doing something he didn't like. He gave me a chance to correct things before he was going to fire me. But this Program Director gave no indication that my schedule requests were going to lead to me being let go from the regular air staff. If he had said something about me not working the same shift on Saturday and Sunday, I could have just quit Phone Survey and found another job.
Even though I was the low man on the totem pole at KZZO, I always got Christmas off. It was never a problem. I didn't expect it to be a problem at KSYY. When I told the Program Director I couldn't work Christmas, he could have said, "If you don't work Christmas, you're not working here anymore." I would have immediately told him, "I'll work Christmas. Don't worry about it." I never expected him to be passive-aggressive.
I needed that radio job more than anything because, at the time, I felt like that was what defined me. Later, my life would just take on new definitions.
So, I went to that Christmas party. It was held at Union Station on board the Altschul train cars. These were private cars used by the Altschul family for various trips across the USA. It was a nice party, plenty of good food. I was glad I went. The Program Director was there, but I didn't talk to him.
I did get called back in a couple of time to cover shifts early in 1989. And if I wanted to, I could make use of the production studio to create airchecks for future radio applications. But I never did that.
A short time after that, the new owners took over the operations of the station. Then the Program Director announced he was leaving the station. After this took place, I came to the station, went up to the third floor and spoke to the General Manager. I asked him, "Do I still work here?" He shook his head, "No." That was it. I no longer worked in radio and wouldn't for another 16 years.
One of the things I have to consider is that, even if I continued to work regular shifts there, something else probably would have come along to screw things up for me, like when the station changed owners again later in 1989.
When that happened, KSYY-FM became KHOW-FM. It has stayed that way ever since.
The Program Director went to a country/western station in Phoenix, where he worked for 22 years. He doesn't appear to be doing radio now, but runs his own voiceover business. As far as everybody else I worked with, I don't really remember all of their names, so I can't look them up.
Ever since then, I stopped putting so much importance on seeing my family for Christmas. As it turned out, I would only be with my parents for Christmas in 1988 and 1989 (both without Loyd), but never again after that. There's a part of me that wishes I had chosen my job over being with them, because it was a choice I wound up making many more times in the future.
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