Thing #1
AROUND THE AGE OF 10, Ray's father was the Chairman of the Department of Art at Louisiana College, a small Baptist college in Pineville, Louisiana. He was also of the head of the Lyceum Committee that provided public lectures, concerts, and entertainment to the college.
One of those speaking events was Vincent Price.
Ray's mother was a great cook, and the small central Louisiana town probably lacked an appropriate restaurant for a celebrity like Vincent Price, so they had him over to the house. Ray was aware of who Edgar Allan Poe was and had read at least several of his stories. Vincent and Ray were sitting on the living room couch, and Vincent asked, "Want to hear about The Pit and the Pendulum?"
“Gulp.” "Yes,"
Probably with a bit of trepidation, Ray sat next to Vincent Price and got a one-on-one recital of the nightmarish story. Ray says he wishes he could remember if he had any dreams that night.
A still from The pit and the Pendulum, 1961, starring Vincent Price
Thing #2
On a lighter note, one morning Ray's mom was cooking pancakes. They probably weren't big, but as he remembers it, he ate about a dozen, which to a 12-year old was just about life's pinnacle. Ray always hated his middle name [Dorsie] and decided this personal achievement offered the perfect opportunity to change it. He wanted to change his name to
Ray Pancake Eater.
Probably anyone reading this can't possibly take this seriously, but Ray says he can not emphasize enough how utterly committed he was to this new cause to rid himself of that dreaded middle name.
Ray's father, always one to be supportive, invited a lawyer friend over to the house for dinner. Afterward, the conversation worked its way around to talk about the process of going through a name change. The discussion was earnest, and they were talking to Ray as an adult. The lawyer started out by saying we would
fill out some forms and
go to court.
Interest in the name change immediately dissolved as "going to court" translated directly into "going to jail."
Ray says, " wish I hadn't been such a weenie. Can you imagine how different my life would have been to have gone through it named 'Pancake eater?'"
How cool would that business card be? The name would be unforgettable.
An aside from Ray : Just for the record, as I write this, just yesterday, I had pancakes at Perkins Restaurant here in Newark, DE yesterday. Happy to go there with anyone that wants to and I would most definitely order the "Magnificent 7" (for me, bacon, 2 eggs over medium well, and 3 buttermilk pancakes). Hmmm. Well, that made me hungry.
New aside from October 2, 2018 : Jill and I just went to Perkins yesterday where I ordered the “Magnificent 7” with pancakes. I didn’t quite finish them. If I had made that name change, I bet I would have. I Just happened to be looking at our blog and noticed this entry didn’t have an opening photo for the entry. A search found the one at the top and the rest is horror history.
Thing 3
This after 6.5 years without a haircut. Ended up going 8.75 so it was about a foot longer. No he didn’t take a photograph.
Thing 4
Ray’s first 3 teaching years were in Alpine, Texas (population about 5,000), at a small university named Sul Ross. While he loved the experiences from those years he was ready to get access to new things available in a larger metropolitan area.
Alone, on November 17, 1974, he ventured to his first Philadelphia concert, The Spectrum hosting Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. Recently digging his vinyl albums out of the basement, Ray found he had 13 Zappa albums. Here’s the set list from the concert.
Stink‐Foot
RDNZL
Village of the Sun
Echidna's Arf (Of You)
Don't You Ever Wash That Thing?
Penguin in Bondage
T'Mershi Duween
The Dog Breath Variations
Uncle Meat
Building a Girl
Dinah-Moe Humm
Camarillo Brillo
Oh No
Son of Orange County
Trouble Every Day
Babbette
Approximate ("One-Shot Riff")
Montana
Don't Eat the Yellow Snow
Nanook Rubs It
St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast
Father O'Blivion
Pygmy Twylyte
Dummy Up
Room Service
Tush Tush Tush