Stray Thoughts

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The Night Before Thanksgiving Part XIII (13) written 11/26/25

"I saw a werewolf with a Chinese menu in his hand.”, Thank you Warren for the opening.

I swear I think of that song every time I have Chinese food, though each time I have tried to order Beef Chow Mein, it has been a gross disappointment. Maybe one day it will be decent. If I were to ever sing this song at some drunken karaoke event, I know my subconscious would change the lyrics to Beef Lo Mein, or my favorite Shrimp Lo Mein. I was driving home from Taco Bell earlier and “Rock This Town”, by The Stray Cats was on and I couldn’t help but smile as I remembered seeing them, well The Brian Setzer Trio (yeah same difference) open for Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers in Charlotte at the Pavillion, I don’t recall which company had their name plastered on it at that point. Luckily, we had first row tickets. 

Well, when Setzer and his other two were out there, Brian locked in on my brother a few times, who was 19, long hair, maybe he thought he was a she… (take a walk on the wild side).  Maybe it didn’t matter, but he seemed to enjoy the hip thrusts as he belted out one of his tunes.  It was irritating to my brother, and on second thought it pissed him off. If he were to read it, the telling of that story probably pissed him off. I might have to go back and add The Seltzer Trio to my algorithm shirt just to bring it up again. It’s the brotherly thing to do.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Well, almost everyone.

Parts 1-12 below:

It said he died unexpectedly while on vacation. Simply sucks.

He was an old story teller that I hate that I'll never hear a story from again. I haven't seen him in over 20 years, but he's the type of non-family uncle that would simply be happy to see you. Just fucking sucks. I'll be drinking a few cold ones to the old professional beer drinker.

On a dark desert highway.... no wait that Henley & the Eagles. Busted Flat in Baton Rouge... Sorry Kristofferson(RIP), I'm not in Louisiana. Just type dumbass, there we go. That works.

This is the twelfth night I've sat down and slapped at the keys on the night before Thanksgiving. I haven't been tumbling much. I've opened and scrolled here and there, but I think this is my 2nd post of the year. Probably less than 10 since I sat here last year.

On the way home earlier, Tom Petty's Free Fallin' came on and it made me smile, then it made me sad. I miss ole Thomas Earl. I am thankful that his family, wife/daughters/Heartbreakers have continued to unearth and release music. There is that, and it's better than anything else being played today.

When I was a teenager, the night before Thanksgiving usually meant a trip to Pizza Hut. Later on when it was usually just my brother and myself, it was Chinese Buffet. I miss both of those too. Yeah, I could have either, but neither would be exactly the same. Kinda like snow days as a kid were king, and now they are just another pain in the ass.

I've mentioned before in this collection of whatever you want to call it, how one of my traditions was to read Ron Green Sr. Mr. Green passed away earlier this year and he had retired from even that column a few years ago. Scott Fowler has offered his version a time or two. It's not the same, but I've still read it.

Maybe one of these days I'll copy all of these into word and save it as a PDF so it's easier to read straight through. Not that anybody has ever done that.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Well, most everyone.

Versions 1-11 can be found here:

Versions 1-11 can be found here:

https://thoughtsthatstray.tumblr.com/post/68324997296/the-night-before-thanksgiving

https://thoughtsthatstray.tumblr.com/post/103673334078/the-night-before-thanksgiving

https://thoughtsthatstray.tumblr.com/post/133975673298/the-night-before-thanksgiving

https://thoughtsthatstray.tumblr.com/post/153586877568/the-night-before-thanksgiving

https://thoughtsthatstray.tumblr.com/post/167790727293/the-night-before-thanksgiving-aka-wednesday-part

https://thoughtsthatstray.tumblr.com/post/180365975008/the-night-before-thanksgiving-part-6

https://thoughtsthatstray.tumblr.com/post/189344218103/the-night-before-thanksgiving-part-7

https://thoughtsthatstray.tumblr.com/post/635816573209296896/the-night-before-thanksgiving-part-8

https://thoughtsthatstray.tumblr.com/post/668796346416988160/the-night-before-thanksgiving-part-9

https://thoughtsthatstray.tumblr.com/post/701772301624082432/the-night-before-thanksgiving-part-10

Just the thought of it puts a smile on my face. Had this bowl game been in existence in the 80's/90's, I'm sure I would have attended more than one of them. Probably a couple of them as a kid with my Dad, Uncles/Cousins etc, and in the late 80's/90's as a teenager/idiot in my early 20's with my group of idiot friends.

Lucinda Williams has a song called "Stolen Moments", written about Tom Petty.

It is a touching song, but when it comes to these bowl trips, I think I would massage the title into "Missing Moments". I can visual various events, that steal from memories with friends, and how I can visualize certain things happening at points, a, b, or c. Maybe that's what the previously mentioned Thomas Earl Petty meant by "I woke up in between. A memory and a dream." in "You Don't Know How It Feels". I've always loved that line and feel far too many times to explain.

I can see some trouble being caused, some hands being thrown and a beer or sixty being kicked back. From beach trips, nights out on the town, nights in a small town, yes, chaos could easily happen. On here some where, I'll try to find it and link to it, I had another similar stray thought/vision about the same group venturing out to Woodstock 94 or whatever it was. I looked, it must be on a sub blog that isn't currently published. Oh well, I tried.

I doubt there would be much of a rooting interest in team x or y, and at that point it might be based on the best looking cheerleaders, or the easiest cheerleaders. Just being honest. Just "Missing Moments"

Sorry Clark I'm not a hot blonde in a Ferrari.

Where to start, where to end? This is more of a ritual than anything at this point. Eleven nights, I've sat here and let the soul bleed. Is it for the better? Who knows. To quote the great John Fox, "It is what it is.

I've mentioned the former Charlotte Observer writer Ron Green Sr. And reading his traditional Thanksgiving column. It ended a couple years ago but Scott Fowler has continued the tradition. I'll give it a read. It might take me back. It might not. We will see. I hope it does.

Sitting here IPO think to moments missed mentioned in previous installments and I ache. I can't do a damn thing about it, but I ache.

I started this at 40 years old; I've probably tamed that wild streak even more at this point but I can drift back in my mind. My pops passed at 52 and at 51, it's a bit hard to take day by day knowing I might surpass his days on earth. That will be eerie.

Happy Thanksgiving to all three of you.

Parts 1-10 can be found here:

Bo Diddley/Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers singing Diddley's classic "Mona".

This showed up on YouTube today, and it's been a bit of time since I listened to it. It's simply amazing. There used to be two versions of the same video on YouTube and I guess the other one is long gone, but there was a comment under by a black guy that started out something like this.

There is no way this whitebread from Florida is going to attempt to go toe to toe with Bo Diddley. He continued with his post and ended up saying something like this: but boy was I wrong. That boy has some soul.

I don't think he was trying to go toe to toe with him, just admiring him as they jammed together. I think the cool kids used to call this game recognize game.

I'm sure they are jamming out in some Smokey corner upstairs.

"Out on the road today, I saw two deadheads sitting in a Cadillac."

"Boys of Summer", -Don Henley

Game recognize Game