It's Almost School Picnic Season

Thank-you to all the Catholic churches in south St. Louis. You taught me how to drink and gamble.

Hoosier Weight Boxing

This is a piece from KETC's "Living St. Louis" program about Hoosier Weight Boxing. Some better Hoosiers could have definately made the piece a lot more fun. I mean, come on, Kathleen Youngblood, Ladue Class of 95. That don't sound too Hoosier. Jeff Leegan's alright I guess. He has a conservative mullet and just wanted a smoke and a beer after the fight.

In reality though, most Hoosiers probably would not want to take away valuable drinking time to train for a sanctioned boxing match. Bar fights are no holds barred.

It's that thuggish Ruggish Jugband

Jim Varagona; Not ready to forget Peter E. Parisi: Saint Louis' Most Colorful Radio and TV Personality

CreativeSaintLouis-                           

Posted by Thomas Crone

This article was originally posted by Creative Saint Louis-02/11/2010.
Here's an article penned by Jim Varagona, or Diabeto Boy. Jim is in support of a cause, along with many other Saint Louisans. Yes, World Wide magazine hasn't had a new show since...I'll have to consult Jim, and WWM's been off the air, I think since maybe 2002? Correct me if I'm wrong. But, thanks to modern technology, Jim provides many, many great WWM clips on youtube.

Loocking Back at World Wide Magazine
By Jim Varagona


When Pete Parisi left us in January of 2002, succumbing to complications from insulin-dependent Diabetes, the city of Saint Louis lost a genius, although most probably didn’t realize it. Parisi was the man behind World Wide Magazine, a public access program that ran for 15 years in the Saint Louis area entertaining its inhabitants, hoosiers and all.

One of the taglines for the show was fittingly “50,000 Hoosiers Can’t Be Wrong.” The show averaged about a new show a month during its run and aired three-four times a week on what was known as Double Helix at the time (later dhTV and now KDHX-TV).

Parisi originally worked on the show while driving cabs. I don’t recall setting aside the time to watch WWM, at least at first; it was such an odd program that it drew you in and halted your channel surfing. It can’t really be classified as a certain genre. There were goofy skits involving the wild cast of characters that Pete always managed to find, but at its best it was a documentary of the side of life that we all know about but don’t really see on television like a visit to the Elvis is Alive Museum that used to be located in Wright City, which I’m sure the local news made it out to, but Pete happened to take the tour with a group of mentally handicapped people.

Parisi had a knack for finding strange people and places and creating interesting situations. He had a cast of regulars that his viewers grew to know like kooky members of our own families. Well kind of. Through the years we got to meet Watt Davis (and his magic feet!), Vladimir “The Mad Russian” Noskov, wrestlers “Dumptruck” Dave Perry, The Giant Assassin, and Big Daddy, Hung Wei Lo, Uncle Nunzio, the Feeney Brothers, Mike Perez, the Hoosiermooners (Ruth and Big Mike), the Horner brothers, “Little Songbird” Vanessa Vargo, Miss Kathy, and Pete’s girlfriends Denise and later Linda.

There were Vince and Marty, a couple of portly guys that were paired together in skits and doing commentary. We’d see them in grass skirts dancing with a hula girl or giving a somewhat correct history lesson while walking over the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge. Don Wayne, known as Black Jesus, was a gravelly talking man that Parisi would put in outrageous stereotyping situations for a black man. He would discuss going back to his homeland of Africa to visit his family while grainy black and white footage of tribal people would be playing.

For those not accustomed to the WWM way, that may sound racist, and surely it was, however Parisi did it all tongue planted firmly in cheek, showing the absurdity of life. When the Parks Department was amassing and escorting him off the grounds of the 1991 VP Fair (now known as Fair St. Louis), Pete edited it by intercutting it with footage of Nazi soldiers marching. Strangely enough, now stored at the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial is World Wide Magazine’s coverage of the ’91 fair (scroll to #248 on this list: http://www.nps.gov/jeff/historyculture/av_collection.htm).

People hear the term “Public Access” and they think of boring programs of dark sets with a couple of potted plants. They think of talentless people looking for an outlet. You may not agree with Parisi’s style, but the man was a great entertainer. His editing skills were impeccable, mixing in old film and commercials and laying a fantastic jazz soundtrack throughout. Many people that lived in St. Louis during the time the show aired would instantly recognize “Tiger Rag” by Fletcher Henderson as the theme of show (actually the second—“China Boy” by Red Nichols was the first).

The South Side Fellini, as Parisi was sometimes known, made a great series of shows during the Great Flood of 1993 going places and talking to folks that the local news stations weren’t getting to. Mike Perez, who was a cameraman for Pete, suggested that those tapes be put in a museum as a historical document along with WWM shows covering white supremacy groups. St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Jeff Daniel suggested after Parisi died that we “elevate World Wide Magazine from controversial cult phenomenon to necessary historical document.” I’m working on it, Jeff.

I actually met Pete once back in 1997. A few friends and I went up to a WWM picnic in Carondelet Park. I shot some video of Tom Horner, drunken with white makeup wearing a cowboy hat with a pacifier dangling from it. A group of people including my friends convinced him to roll down a hill in a dirty park trash can—twice. Someone saw that I had video and took me to Pete. It was like meeting the Diabetic Godfather (I too have Type 1 Diabetes). He told me he’d give me a call and we’d meet up to get him the footage. I ended up going to his apartment with two buddies and we chatted for a couple of hours about the show and working with video as he chomped on a cigar. It was very surreal.

Late in 2002, I made a documentary on Pete, entitled “P.E.P.” for a project at Webster University. I interviewed The Mad Russian, Big Mike, and The Feeney Brothers, as well as Pete’s mother and sister. It ran late at night a couple of times on KDHX-TV, but won’t go much farther than that. All of Pete’s material has copyrighted music, so it’s difficult to get air time or make a DVD aside from underground copies.

If you search for the show on YouTube, a lot of those were posted by me, and some were pulled due to copyright infringements. I’m not the shows biggest fan, as far as the amount of shows I’ve seen or can recall, but I am it’s and Pete’s biggest advocate. I’ve tried to compile as many video clips and news clippings that are out there on my WWM fan sit (http://wwm.diabetoboy.com –pay attention, it’s not www) and in the past year, the fan page on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/worldwidemagazine) has grown and become more active. I even own his ¾” tape decks and video mixer.

I understand that Pete Parisi may have been an offensive, grumpy old man to some, but he captured an angle on an era that no one else did in a way that no one else did. His style was before his time and that has been reinforced by witnessing the popularity since him of the extreme comedy of Tom Green, the Direct Cinema documentarian Michael Moore that gets involved with his subjects, and reality television in general. This reality TV certainly had its own South Saint Louis flavor to it, with the humor of an Italian from New Jersey. It captured simple moments that sum up a lot like when Pete was at Grand and Gravois asking people in traffic about what makes St. Louis so great and three hoosiers in a truck scream “KSHE 95 rocks your ass!” (Thanks to Johnny Vegas Moynihan for reminding me of that moment.)

My hope is that the hoosiers come out of the woodwork to talk about the show, share mementos and clips, and Pete Parisi gets some overdue accolade, whether it be a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame or an exhibit on classic local TV in Saint Louis at the History Museum complete with cardboard cutout of Pete with cigar.

Lemay Video

By Michael Mann

A postal worker walks into Lemay Video at 224 Lemay Ferry Rd. “Hey John, how ya doin?”

“Oh, you know,” John says as he leans on the counter. “Always busy. What’s goin’ on?”

The postal worker wasn’t there to drop off any mail. “My TV’s been making this funny humming noise,” the mail man says and mimics the sound.

Without hesitation John explains that the converter module needs repair just by the postal workers vague description. “Bring it on in and I’ll take a look at it.”

John Guenther owns Lemay Video, a movie and videogame rental store that thrived in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. In the early days the store survived by being the communities’ video rental store, electronics service played a minor role. These days it’s the electronic service that keeps the store going. There are a select few people that still rent movies or old Nintendo games, but when a man came in and asked if they still do rentals John replied, “No, we mostly do antiques now.”

While many children and teens of the baby boomer generation occupied their time by going to the movies, John liked to take things apart, see how things worked. “Always took things apart. New. Old. This is what I always did. [Upon putting things back together] And if I had parts left over and it worked, that’d be great because then I had a bonus.” After high school, John worked for a television repair parts distributor.

Self employed as an electronic repairman from 1985, John made service calls to Lemay Video. When the original owner of Lemay Video was liquidating and closing in 1989, John came along, bought the inventory and moved his service there. He was in the video business now, a successful video business, strange for a man who knew nothing about, or watched videos.

Not being into films, a soap opera plays on the mounted television in the corner, John developed a hobby of collecting film and pop-culture items that are proudly displayed around the store. Simpson’s dolls, Beavis and Butthead figures, and Jurassic Park toys line a shelf behind the counter. Because of John’s expertise in electronics, animated and speaking Toy Story toys above the entrance can be activated from under the cash register.

And the coveted Chucky doll from Childs Play. These days, a film is released in the theater and then released straight to DVD for a consumer to buy. It used to be that the film would be released in the theater, and then released to distribution companies that would only sell the films to video rental stores at $60 to $80 a pop. John had to buy six Childs Play 3 videos to get the Chucky doll.

John still takes pride in his memorabilia displays even though he doesn’t really rent movies out anymore. The video aisles are crammed with old TVs and stereos waiting to be serviced. Ten models of the same television line the front of the counter, a contract job with an area hotel. “It’s the servicing that keeps us going,” John says of Lemay Video.

The rental business died at Lemay Video in part because of the Blockbusters, Blue Boxes, Red Boxes, and NetFlixes, and in part the Flood of ‘93. “90 and 100 homes were lost. It was devastating,” John says. “There ain’t nobody around anymore.”

John takes pride in the past success of Lemay Video and his display scenes. He is certainly always busy with repairs. But what John seems to really have pride in, and miss tremendously, is the link to the community that the video store once provided. He pulls out a folder filled with thank you letters, Christmas cards, and photographs.

One thank you letter is from a 2nd grade class at Hancock Elementary. John unfolds the note. It has a crayon drawing and the entire class signed their names. “This must be twenty years old,” John says looking over some of the names. John repaired the financially strapped school’s VCRs for free.

In the folder, there are dozens of Polaroid pictures of customers who had won contests that John used to hold. There is even a picture of Vice-President Al Gore surveying the flood damage in 1993. John still wants to make a collage of the photographs he has.

Being an independent video store, Lemay Video could cater directly to the clientele. The most popular categories were horror and wrestling. “People in Lemay love wrestling,” John says. John set up an autograph signing session at the store with professional wrestlers Kevin Von Erich and Chris Adams. The line wrapped around the block. “Chris Adams didn’t show so they sent a midget,” says John showing pictures of the event.

John Guenther talks about Lemay Video as a father may talk about a successful son who has moved away and doesn’t keep in touch. He has pride in the success and sense of community that the store once had and yearns for the “good ole days.” But he knows those days are gone and will stick to the repair side of the business, what got him into videos in the first place.

And though there is not much of a community surrounding Lemay Video anymore, John still makes his mark on people. The postal worker whose television was making a funny humming noise was not inquiring about getting the set fixed. He had already bought a new one and was going to pick it up the following day.

“You can just have the TV John, if you want it?” says the postal worker.

“Oh, that would be great,” John says. “I can always use extra parts. We can set it on the ground right here by these TVs.”

Movies at Lemay Video You Won’t Find at Blockbuster

Though Lemay Video only rents to select people these days, by building rapport with owner John Guenther, one may become one of the select. Here are some movies you will never find at Blockbuster.

-The Many Taboos of Death pts 1-8
-Brush with Death
-Dead on Arrival
-Executions
-Death: The Ultimate Horror
-Faces of Death pts 1-6

These movies show real, actual video footage of people getting killed. These are about the only movies Lemay Video has on both VHS and DVD. As a horror buff told me, “That’s not oddball horror, that’s sick shit!”

And for the children:

-Almost the entire collection of Disney’s Sunday Night Movies

            

Carondelet Concert Series

The beautiful view overlooking the Mississippi River at Bellerive Park where the bands play. The concerts are free, donations are cool, and they're BYOB.

I've yet to find out any details on the free concerts throughout the community...if anyone out there knows anything, please post details. I will update if I find out any details.

Thanks- Southside Word.....up!

The Beautiful, Scenic, River Des Peres Greenway

With the weather turning, I decided to take a bike ride down the scenic River Des Peres Greenway in deep south-west St. Louis. Sure, the trail's not incredibly scenic, and the air along the trail smells of a frothy mixture of car exhaust, sewage, and mothballs.

But it's a good ride, and it's reassuring that I am a bike ride away from anywhere in the world. The trail ends at the Shrewsbury Metro station. I can hop the Metrolink, get off at Civic Center, and catch a Greyhound or Amtrack. Or, I could take the 'link to the end of the line, Lambert Airport, and fly to Morrocco.

But city folk beware. Foxes and coyotes are plentiful along the River Des Peres. Hell, I'm scared of dogs, so keep your eyes peeled.

According to my Grandpa, he used to sail the river when he was a kid, much like our friends at Dudes Mag, who floated it. My grandpa said it was not uncommon to see human shit floating in the sewage. HOT!!