After we were done, the kids fell asleep in their car seats so we drove around looking at houses for a while. While we were in the Northwood subdivision of Royal Oak, he directed us to the childhood home of one of his friends, Jackie Fagg. It was a big ol' Craftsman-style that has been for sale so long, Karen and I had seen it many time online - we were surprised to find out that that house belonged to someone we semi-knew.
He then related the tale of how at one point, Jackie's uncle Skippy had moved in to live with her folks for a while and that he was bit of an eccentric. He had sold all of his possessions, bought a printing press, and created and distributed ranting religious pamphlets decrying the government, warning us about the Russians & rock music, and heralding the coming of the Anti-Christ. "Haaa ha ha", we all laughed, "poor fellow". I then asked if Skippy's surname was also Fagg, which would have been just too funny, but alas, he was from the maternal side of the family.
Two weeks pass, Paul has since returned to Baltimore, and I'm driving around when Black Sabbath's "666" comes on the radio. As it does, my mind goes back to the first time I became acquainted with the concept of 666 - it was from a crazy religious pamphlet that some weirdo used to leave in mailboxes around my neighborhood. They were so funny, I saved them all! For a whole summer these 'tracts' would appear every week or so and I saved as many of them as I could. "HEY!!", I said to my self, "you don't suppose... ?".
I called Paul as soon as I got home, told him about my collection of pamphlets, and he confirmed that they were the very ones Jackie's uncle had made! Paul then described one to me over the phone that he remembered and sure enough, it matched one I hadn't described to him yet!
So, here is the first installment in a series I'm going to call, Armageddon Ain't What It Used To Be. Enjoy.
6 comments:
I hadn't thought of Uncle Skippy in decades. I can't believe you still have some of his flyers. They are historic relics, a kind of bizarre folk art. Thanks for posting them.
Now, how about pdf's of the Wedge?
These are amazing...and so great that you saved them. People have to save stuff and not be made to feel like wierdos or pack-rats, especially in this 666 electronic age!! haha but great story, really funny, and WELCOME BACK TO BLOGLAND.
Looking forward, as George said, to pdf's of the Wedge.
:)
So glad you are back to blogging because whenever you do post, it is always great to read!
P.S. this post just screams at what a small world this is.
I guess I don't know you well enough to tease, but (ask George and Paul....that's not reason enough to stop me, probably part of the genetic flaw of being part of the same gene pool as Uncle Skippy), the irony of your calling Skippy a "poor fellow" while you still have his tracts is more than a little comical.
Uncle Skippy sold his home (off of Vinsetta in Royal Oak) to fund this endeavor spending more than $50,000. He distributed his messages in every suburb and the city of Detroit and walked more than five miles a day every single day for at least five years.
As if it weren't enough to be named Fagg!
Is that you Jackie? I'm glad you appreciated my narrative and how important using your surname was to it. At the least, Uncle Skippy was dedicated and his conviction can (at some level) at least be considered admirable.
I wish I had had a chance to meet him back then and get more info on which rock songs were sponsored by the devil. My record player at that time was able to spin records backwards and I was spinning everything he identified in the few tracts I had, but I'm sure there were hundreds more!
And even though I think we have only ever actually met in person twice, I can handle a little teasing, at the least :-)
Yay!! So glad you are back!!!
What a small world that you had those fliers!! Totally crazy, man....
barbnocity!
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