A Segarini Scrapbook of Awesomeness and Oddities For Modern Boys and Girls

My CMW wrap up will be posted on Friday. In the meantime, I want to share with you the joys of my life, some interesting music, some snapshots from the far distant past, and a few bon mots culled from endless research and the Facebook Newsfeed. Yes…the Facebook Newsfeed…where rumour, satire, and stupidity are taken as news, fact, and truth. Let the LOLing begin….

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Somewhere…A cat is riding a Roomba

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A Segarini Scrapbook of Awesomeness and Oddities For Modern Boys and Girls

A Food….

Say what you will about the lowly hot dog, but there are worse things. Kale, for example. Kale and Tofu and black beans and Doritos and bottled water, and soya burgers and whatever that stuff is that people are wolfing down like tortillas…oh yeah…whole wheat tortillas. And please tell the boutique burger people that hamburgers are made from medium ground beef and are flat and don’t weigh half a pound and look like a hockey puck or baseball. Also…use shredded, crisp, iceberg lettuce on burgers…romaine and the rest of them are just limp and wrong…and Miracle Whip is not Mayonnaise. Ever.

Anyway, this is the King of Hot Dogs. It is a Pink’s Chili dog with mustard and diced Spanish onions. The chili is bean-free like REAL chili is supposed to be, and the closest thing you can find in Canada to this perfect hot dog chili is the stuff that comes out of the same machine the nacho cheese comes out of at 7-11. Seriously, if the honchos at 7-11 had an inkling of how good it is, they would shove it into cans, label it “7-11 Chili Dog Chili”, and it would be on every grocery store’s shelf from here to everywhere else. If you don’t believe me, grab a take out coffee cup next time you’re in a 7-11, fill it with the free chili, put a lid on it, and barter with the guy behind the counter as to how much you have to pay for it. (I usually end up giving them a toonie.

The Pink’s hot dog itself is a natural casing (held together in a tube of intestine) that pops when you bite into it, and made exclusively for Pink’s by Hebrew National since the 1940s. You can get them in 9 inch or 12 inch versions…well…you can’t, but Pink’s can.

Fancy Franks in Toronto has a natural casing hot dog. Order the hot dog with onions and mustard, then whip out your coffee cup full of 7-11 chili and have at it. Not Pinks, but not bad. You’re welcome.

Pink’s have other amazing things on their menu as you can see, but this hot dog…this hot dog is EPIC!

A Pink’s Chili Dog with Mustard and Onions

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Other Foods That Have My Attention….

Meat. I love meat. I understand that some people won’t eat meat, even though our teeth are built to be able to eat meat and indicate that we should eat meat, but hey, more for us Omnivores. So, everything is cool…right?…except for the folks who insist on telling us meat-heads that meat is bad for you, has a face, not healthy, etc, etc, etc. To them I say “Shut up and pass the ribs…and please, enjoy your mung beans and tofu kale salad.” See? I am such a nice person. Hand me a napkin.

The Bone-In Ribsteak

Pork-u-Pine…A Hollowed out Pineapple Wrapped in Bacon and Stuffed with Meat.

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Food to Want…NOW!

There comes a time in your life when you can say the following; “Fuck my weight…I love food and I am going to eat the food I love instead of starving myself to be attractive to shallow people who judge others by their physical form, or just to fit in with my trendy friends who fall in line whenever a new healthy eating fad comes along.” Just look in the mirror and repeat that every morning just after you brush your teeth…preferably with a fudgecicle or corn dog in one of your hands.

The Banana Split Donut. Thank you, God (and Ames)

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…and then there IS healthy food that TASTES good….

Two of the biggest reasons I miss Northern California. made with this amazingly tasty guy….

A Dungeness Crab

 

Crab Louie

Cioppino

Here are two of many different recipes for the two dishes above. Great, but not “my Mom’s recipe” great….

Crab Louie

Cioppino

Lunch break….

If you have to ask why, you haven’t been looking at the pictures….

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Why Radio isn’t what it used to be….

Because most of the great production guys and broadcasters are busy getting together at New Ho King to eat stupid-good Chinese food and laugh.

There were so many legendary broadcasters at this function, I sat at the Kiddie Table.

Thanks to Warren Cosford for the invite and many years of GREAT CHUM Radio.

Warren in the back, Mark Elliott in the front, and more Legends in-between. I accidently ate my notes….

Charlie Ritenburg, Maddie, and Doug Thompson

Dick Smyth (News and Commentary) and Liz Janik (Music Director, Program Director, and my Boss at Sirius Sat Rad

 

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Stockton California: E. Ellis Street….

No Segarini Scrapbook would be complete without a trip to the old hometown and the people who made it the greatest place in the world to grow up. Read my annual Father’s Day column when it comes back in June for some early history, but here are some new pictures and a couple of stories I haven’t told yet. It all starts with this….

Sunta

I’m probably spelling that completely wrong, but that’s how it sounded like it should be spelled. This was my father’s mother. my grandmother on my father’s side. I found this picture on the internet, but I swear to you, the woman, the kitchen…it is so close to what I remember, it is eerie.

She passed away when I was around 9 years old.

Up until then, for as far back as I can remember, I spent a lot of time in that kitchen handing her vegetables, drying dishes, and grating parmesan cheese by hand until I thought my arm would fall off pushing the aged hard-as-rock slab of cheese back and forth filling the drawer in the old fashioned wooden grater.

 

A Real Cheese Grater

When she first moved her brood to America from Genoa Italy, the whole family lived in this apartment building on Ellis Street in Stockton.

The Apartment Building on Ellis

The brothers (Vic, George, Ed, and John, eventually all bought homes on Ellis, with George buying one around the corner on California Street. Eventually, the family bought the apartment building and many other homes and properties in the area and then, all over Stockton. The garage and patch of lawn above was where the brothers opened their first market. They never looked back….

My Dad holding dinner and standing in front of the first Segarini Market delivery truck 1932

 

My Aunt Jenny, and cousins Linda and Eddie

My Aunt Jenny was kind of nuts. When Linda was dating a guy Jenny didn’t like, she planted a bag of weed in his car and called the cops. Her kids, however, are two of my favourite people ever. We lost Linda early…far too young, but Eddie is still out there keeping the fire lit.

Linda in Columbia California Old West Picture

A shout out to My Dad and the Patriarch of the Figone Family, Al Figone. My favourite uncle. Bob Gray is Al’s son in law. I’m sure my dad and uncle Al are doing the exact same thing they are doing here…somewhere in the afterlife….

Cousin Bob Gray, My Dad, and Uncle Al Figone playing Liars Dice on the living room rug.

My 8th Birthday. Top: Diane, George. Middle: Linda, My Dad, Me. Bottom: Ronnie, Eddie, Judy. An abundance of cousins…and that’s not all of them. Ronnie might be Mario, Eddie might be someone else…and dammit…these are just the Ellis Street Segarinis, not a Figone in sight!!

My Mom and Dad lap-sitting Eddie

…and speaking of Eddie….

It would take a book to do the man justice, so all you get now is a few pictures of the boy, the man, the legend….Edward “Steady Eddie” Segarini aka “Doc”.

Edward “Steady Eddie” Segarini is a skier

Eddie skiing nude because…Eddie

Eddie now with Lizzie

Our smarter, wiser Cousin, Mario.

That’s Don Mario to you….

Mario. Tired of our silly antics. Also capable of silly antics.

My best friend Glenn Gallup and I all dressed up to drive to Sacramento to see a double bill for 2 Dollars. James Brown and the Famous Flames and Ray Charles with the Rae-lets. Both with their full bands. One of the highlights of ever. I was 16.

The REAL Righteous Brothers.

Out dance us? I don’t think so….

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Okay…one more blast from the past…this one is here in this Facebook Message chat with Fred Gallant.

Fred Gallant?

Fred spent time playing on the actual Love Boat. The onboard band on the Pacific Princess, the boat used on the TV show. He also played a lot of gigs with Joni Mitchell, and was a friend from the moment we met in Lake Tahoe when he was a mainstay in the Jim Burgett band. To this day, Fred is as fine a drummer as you will ever hear, and steady as a rock.

Fred and Jim go waaaay back

The Chat….

Fred

• Okay Bob, here it is. The history of the recording of your song INNOCENCE IS TO BLAME: In the fall of 1965 Jim Burgett recorded INNOCENCE IS TO BLAME at the FIDELITY RECORDING STUDIO, 6245 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles. (just east of Vine St., since renamed PARAMOUNT RECORDING STUDIO). Jim did the vocals, Craig Strode played guitar, Dave Woods played bass, “Big Donnie” Samporna played keys, Don Ralke did the arrangement and I played drums. It was released on the TORRERO record label and received regional airplay (east Texas and points beyond). Its an excellent song and an excellent performance and it should have done better chart wise. It should have at least cracked the BILLBOARD HOT 100. In 67/68 Jim connected up with Wayne Newton and his Brother Jerry. They had him record “INNOCENCE” again at GOLDSTAR ? in L.A. using L.A. studio musicians. It was released on the MGM record label with NOW I TASTE THE TEARS on the flip side. In 1968 we recorded it again at the McGREGOR RECORDING STUDIO on Western Ave(?) in L.A.. Jim sang lead, Bob “Chief” Hoyopottabi played guitar, your old bass player Bill “Kootch” Trochim played bass, Mike Coulter played sax and keys and I think Mike Morris also played sax and I played drums. That’s the version you have posted on YouTube. By the way, the only two guys in that photo you show along with the video that played on that version of “INNOCENCE” are Jim and myself. The other guys are from Jim’s band late 64 early 65. The fact that Jim recorded the song so many times shows you how much faith he had in it. It’s to bad it couldn’t have done better. It must be ten or fifteen years ago that I came across a 45rpm copy of INNOCENCE by Wayne Newton. I found it at a VALUE VILLAGE in East Vancouver. Newton pretty much used Jim’s MGM arrangement on his version. He spelled your name wrong on the credits (Sagarini). I made a CD-R copy for Jim and as I understand he let you know about it. You know Bob, I can still hear you playing INNOCENCE on your acoustic guitar at a cabin in Tahoe in the summer of 1965. The cabin was located towards Staeline just short of RALEY’S SHOPPING CENTER and was being rented by a guy named Daryll (?). Tom “big Tom” Presley used to hang out there a lot.
• By the way Bob I saw you on a local Vancouver T.V. show performing at THE OFFICE on Hornby St. in dwntwn. Vancouver in the 80s/90s? You did an impersonation of Elvis Costello. I also played THE OFFICE in the late 70s. Gary Taylor owned it then. Do you still perform? I’d love to hear you sing YOU’VE GOT A LOT OF STYLE AND I GIT A LOT OF PRIDE. Okay man, you take care and let me know what you think. CIAO FOR NOW. FRED GALLANT

7:23pm

Bob

Do you have an mp3 of Wayne Newton’s version?

7:30pm

Fred

Hey Bob. Let me see what I can come up with. I don’t have a mp3 of Wayne Newton’s version but I’m sure there’s a source here in Vegas that can do me a copy. I’m pretty sure I dubbed it onto a C.D.-R. and brought it with me. I’ll get back to you and if it works out you can send me a mailing address. it’ll be worth money some day. CHEERS MATE.

Jim Burgett – Innocence is to Blame

Written when I was about 14 or 15…recorded by Jim Burgett a few years later, and used by Wayne Newton to close his Vegas show for years afterward. Somewhere, there is a version of this by The Family Tree….

That’s enough for today, boys and girls. now brush your teeth, put on your jammies and get to bed. Tomorrow is another exciting fun-filled day. Nighty-night.

Another Segarini Scrabook of Awesomeness and Oddities for Modern Boys and Girls coming soon!

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Segarini’s regular column appears here every Friday

Contact us at dbawis@rogers.com

Bob “The Iceman” Segarini was in the bands The Family Tree, Roxy, The Wackers, The Dudes, and The Segarini Band and nominated for a Juno for production in 1978. He also hosted “Late Great Movies” on CITY TV, was a producer of Much Music, and an on-air personality on CHUM FM, Q107, SIRIUS Sat/Rad’s Iceberg 95, (now 85), and now publishes, edits, and writes for DBAWIS, and continues to write music, make music, and record.