Kennedy

11.2.2015

Baka guy!

In 1992 we were sitting around watching "120 Minutes" on MTV and Dave Kendall told us of a "hot new all-girl act from Japan" called Shonen Knife.  They had just released their first major-label
record in the US, "Let's Knife."  One of the tracks on the album was, "Antonio Baka Guy," and Dave explained to us that "baka" in Japanese means, "stupid."  Baka Guy = Stupid man.  We loved it.

The "we" I'm referring to is Jimi and me.  Jimi and I had gone to school together in Phoenix and while I moved away to Chicago, he moved to California.  At some point, he decided to move to Chicago and boxed up all his shit and moved there.  He stayed in my apartment for a while, as he tried to find a job and a place of his own to move his boxed-up shit.  It was winter and it was really cold and it's no fun to slog around looking for work and apartments.  Jimi's Chicago experiment did not last long.  He was back in sunny California by Spring.

But in the meantime, we watched MTV and learned exciting new foreign words like, "baka."  We wore that word out.  Replacing a word like, "stupid" demonstrated how frequently the word came up.  Baka snow.  Baka cat.  Baka ice.  Baka broken TV.  Baka this.  Baka that.  I remember ordering a pizza and upon delivery, opening it and it wasn't what we ordered.  We looked at each other and Jimi simply said, of the situation, "Baka."

I try not to say, "stupid" around my kid, as it's not a really nice word and I've proved it can apply to many people, places and situations.  I don't like him saying it either.  But, "baka?"  Some day I'll teach him that.


Tonight - Club Deluxe.

TNSC Founding Member John Metsker's Birthday!  Come on out and help him celebrate. 

Of course Little Minsky's Burlesque will be performing, so bring $5 for the cover charge and enjoy!

bye-ee!
whrr ... clik!