Stay sick!

My old buddy and Cleveland rocker par excellence, Mr. John Petkovic, has, for his day (but still pretty rock and roll) gig at the Cleveland Plain Dealer, written a lovely piece commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the broadcast birth of Ghoulardi, and assembled an impressive sidebar of anecdotes from Friends of Ghoulardi, who include Tim Conway, Paul Thomas Anderson, and Jim Jarmusch. You should read both of these. 

Comments

[Brian]

Thanks a million for this, which I didn't catch in the PD today (decimated that Saturday crossword though). I'm a son of Cleveland far too young to have encountered Ghoulardi, and it's fantastic to read about the influence on Jarmusch and Pere Ubu, my local culture heroes. I also had NO FRIGGIN' IDEA about the PT Anderson connection.

[Oliver_C]

While I knew that Ernie had fathered P.T. relatively late in life, I was never aware of the full extent of his familial/matrimonial and professional activities. I wonder if the son will ever give the father the 'Ed Wood' treatment?

(I also believe the attempted prison breakout by Christopher Nolan's older brother would be ideal material for Nolan, but I digress...)

[Will Pfeifer]

Now all I can think about is a Ghoulardi biopic by his son, set in the midst of 1960s Cleveland.... I was too young for Ghoulardi, but I grew up devoting my Friday nights to Big Chuck and Houlihan (and later, Little John). Those guys and the movies they showed (especially Corman's "Little Shop of Horrors") warped my mind permanently -- and I'll never be able to thank them enough for it.

[DUH]

If you haven't already seen it, there's a fun one-hour documentary/appreciation of Ghoulardi called "Turn Blue," which is now on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7TcPI-vCDI