An interview with my friend… The Profit and Poet Paul Thorn

It’s not everyday that you encounter someone who you literally feel is living a parallel in a different dimension. I know you must think I’m losing my mind but the reality is that I’m not getting metaphysical on you I’m just stating a fact. A little more than 12 years ago I met Paul Thorn. I was driving to my radio gig at the Gary Burbank Show like I did everyday listening to Gary’s show before i got there so I actually new what the hell was going on.

I happened to be a very successful Personal Trainer that went on Gary’s Show one day and step in shit. Gary loved my laugh and the energy I brought to the studio and I haven’t left radio since.

On this one day I heard a very distinct voice talk about a battle that he had with Roberto Duran, stone hands himself. I couldn’t really believe that a former professional boxer was going to be singing anything meaningful on my buddy Gary Burbank’s show.

It was just the opposite and it blew me away. Paul sung “Hammer and Nail” a song that refers to the beating he received for Roberto Duran as well as getting cheated on 151 times from an ex-girlfriend and working 12 years in a chair factory. His life was laid out in one song and it was hilarious and dead pan serious all in the same breath. I was hooked from the moment I met Paul and his business/songwriting partner Billy Maddox. We have been friends ever since.

I used to go Michigan, Tennesee, Louisville, Ky and always the Southgate House in Newport, KY whenever Paul and the band would come to town. I live in Albuquerque now and only get to see Paul when I travel to Mississippi, Memphis or when he comes west. I never interviewed Paul and I don’t know why but when he played the Soiled DOve Underground in Denver, Co…I decided it was about time for me to interview him and for you to get a glimpse of my good friend, Paul Thorn.

Here’s my interview:

If you want to know more about Paul Thorn go to: http://paulthorn.com

You’re a Chicken and…I’m a Chicken Hawk!

It’s always something either stupid or goofy that brings you back to something memorable from your childhood. To me it’s watching Looney Tunes cartoons. I would watch cartoons every Saturday morning and try to wake up extra early so I could watch Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig (whom I related to because I stuttered also) and my favorite, Foghorn Leghorn.

It wasn’t that I really liked the goofy rooster but his little known adversary used to kill me every time I saw a cartoon with him in it. This adversary was non other than Henery Chicken Hawk. He was a little “Chicken Hawk” in training that thought it was a good idea to try to eat Foghorn. It never worked but it was always a fun journey through cartoonland. Here’s one of my favorites:

Meet My Cousin Vinny…every Italian has one!

How much more of a cliche’ is this?  My cousin Vinny!

When I was a young kid running around tormenting my elders there was always a cousin that would save me from their wrath. Yes, it was my cousin Vinny.  We called him cousin Vincent.

It was funny because there was a huge gap between the older cousins, Cousin Vincent, Nora and Ricky and the rug rat cousins that I believed were a thorn in their side at social functions.  The older cousins were always cool…they had girlfriends or boyfriends, and they sat with the grown ups.  They just had that sense of coolness that only an eighteen year old or older could have as an 8 year old cousin looked on…wishing…he was cool.

No such luck!  My mother dressed me in plaid on f@#kin’ plaid and double knit slacks…f@#kin’ slacks…WTF.

If you tell anyone I will have to slap the shit out of you!

Watch this video and meet My Cousin Vinny.

Wrestling with the “The Wrestler”…

I just got back from seeing “The Wrestler”, a movie that I was absolutely pumped to see.  I really couldn’t wait to see Mickey Rourke again in a film that could blast him back into the stratosphere.  Make no mistake Mickey Rourke is a great actor that can reach inside and rip your heart out with emotion, then punch you in the face with drama.  I have been rooting for Mickey ever since I read the cover article of a magazine that escapes my memory, a couple of years back.

Mickey’s life paralleled mine in many ways.  A product of the eighties, taking on roles that were totally beneath his abilities, chasing the money, spending the money, not understanding the rage, not understanding the 10 year old child wanting his way, using alcohol to self-medicate, never really understanding that there is a responsibility for fame…and ultimately self-destructing in front of the world (my world was a little smaller then his)

I went into this movie wanting to experience the rawness that everyone was talking about, the Oscar worthy performance, the movie that lived up to the hype…and in all honesty, I was left empty.

I felt like I was constantly waiting for the movie and I felt like the film was a bit haphazard.  I come to find out that it was filmed in that way to make a point but that’s the real problem, it never did.

Mickey Rourke’s performances in most of his scenes were awesome.  You could feel his pain but I think the pain was all to real for this once Hollywood Royalty.  Some of the scenes I thought were worthless like the “fucking in the Women’s bathroom scene” and Marisa Tomei showing us her “tits” through out most of the movie.  A funny thing is I’ve been to Cheeques (the strip club, she works in) and you can’t by law show any sexual skin, i.e nipples, vaginal area  in New Jersey.  Maybe the laws have changed but I still didn’t see any reason except to see them.  The part could have still been “complicated” without the gratuitous “breast” exposure as director Darren Aronofsky stated in an interview for the reason why he picked Tomei for the role.

This movie had everything on the surface I would want in a movie…filmed in NJ, shot at some of the “haunts” of my youth, Mickey Rourke (one of my favorite actors), Marisa Tomei (just plain hot), and a Bruce Springsteen song (…that didn’t play until the end).  I’m still wrestling with “The Wrestler”, I think you should go see it if you haven’t but don’t have expectations for it and you will probabaly come out a bit more satisfied then I was.

Release Date: December 19, 2008
Genres: Action/Adventure, Comedy, Drama And Sports
Starring: Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood, Judah Friedlander, Ajay Naidu
Directed By: Darren Aronofsky
Produced By: Vincent Maraval, Agnes Mentre, Jennifer Roth
MPAA Rating: R
Studio: Fox Searchlight

Plot:
Randy “The Ram” Robinson, a 1980s-era pro wrestler, has become a burnt-out shell of his former self. After he has a heart attack during a small-time match, a doctor tells him he could die if he fights again. In an effort to build a new life, Robinson takes a job at a deli, moves in with an aging stripper and tries to build a relationship with her son. But the prospect of a rematch with his old nemesis, the Ayatollah, proves too tempting to resist, even if it means risking his life.

Making Pizza in Rocco’s F@#ked Up World!

There’s been a pizzeria at 678 Shaler Boulevard in my hometown of Ridgefield, NJ ever since I was in grade school. Everyday after school we’d run down and grab the “special” 2 slices and a coke for $1.00 (yea…a dollar!). It was a place that all the neighborhood kids would gather and hang out…sometimes tormenting the owner, Alfredo “Goumba” Morano but always having fun.

23 years ago a friend of mine Richie Sargenti bought the place from “Goumba” and started his career as a “Pizza Man”. Sarge’s Pizza has been a landmark in Ridgefield from the second Richie opened the place. “Sarge” as with lovingly call him always makes you feel like your part of his family…and at one time almost everyone in his family worked there. The stories and good times that come out of Sarge’s Pizza are to numerous to count and leave you always out of breath from laughing so hard.

The aspect of Sarge’s and Richie himself is the generosity and the respect for humanity he has for his customers, the town and community that visit the corner Pizzeria. He’s been a football coach, wrestling coach and a community leader for as long as he has lived here. It has always been an honor to call Richie Sargenti my friend and brother.

Watch this hilarious video of Richie Sargenti teaching Rocco how to make a Pizza.

Sarge’s Pizza
678 Shaler Boulevard
Ridgefield, NJ 07657
Tel: 201-941-5040
Menu | Map

Fun Rocco Fact: Before the property that houses Sarge’s Pizza was a Pizzeria it was a candy store called “Jerry’s” Candy Store where when Rocco was 7 years old his mother caught him stealing a “Ring Pop”

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