Happy long weekend for those of you who celebrate and, in the words of Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In, you bet your sweet bippy I do! This is Calithumpian Weekend in Thamesford and if you are wondering what a Calithumpian is, you’re not alone. I’ve lived here since 2009 and I couldn’t give you a solid answer on what it is. I’ve heard everything from it’s a made-up word to it’s another word for a bit party to it’s a celebration after killing a witch. (The latter probably isn’t politically correct in 2025.)
Anyways, there’s a lot to do in Thamesford this weekend as always with Calithumpian Weekend. I don’t partake in too much of it, save the town-wide yard sale on Saturday and Monday’s parade which is cool because it comes right by my house. Mom and I will be able to sit on our newly-painted (thanks to Mom’s talents) porch.
As for the yard sales, it will depend on the weather as to how far out I venture. My plan is to see how many yard sales are in north Thamesford and see how I feel after that as to whether I hit the south side yard sales. (I will visit the library to see what they have to offer.)
Hammerlock Wrestling is coming to Brunnies, a local bar on Saturday afternoon. I was tempted to go to it but I most likely will give it a pass. (Although if by 4 p.m. tomorrow I feel really jazzed about heading out to see some live wrestling in town, who knows?)
This is also NASCAR’s All-Star Weekend (plus the Trucks) so I will be keeping a close eye on that and hopefully won’t be too worn out from walking around Thamesford to give the races a watch. I supposed Kyle Larson will be the favourite but I don’t have a lot of use for him. Sure, I’ll be cheering him on to do the double in the Indy 500/Coca Cola 600 but overall, I’m not a fan. (I’m hoping there’s a Track Talk blog in the near future on that subject.)
Ever get a song stuck in your head? Right now, Wham’s Edge of Heaven is stuck there. But it’s by design. On Thursday, I was listening to an old broadcast of Casey Kasem’s American Top 40 from late 1986. One of the songs that was part of the countdown was Carly Simon’s “Coming Around Again.” I don’t know what it was but I got very emotional hearing that song because it got me thinking about my Dad. Things I miss about him. Things I wish I’d done differently or said to him. Things I wish I’d done when he was around. Of course, I couldn’t get the damn song out of my head and it just made me more emotional. (Thankfully I hid it well and didn’t have to deal with too many people.) The weird part is that my Dad wasn’t a huge Carly Simon fan nor do the lyrics remind me of him. Just one of those things.
This morning I woke up and Wham’s “Edge of Heaven” was in my head (I think it was part of a similar countdown I’d listen to earlier in the week) so I decided to go with it. I went into work, found a video of the song, put it on loop, put my headphones on and got to work. I bet in the hour between me starting work and our weekly meeting, I listened to that song about 20 times. And make fun of the song choice all you want, it is a pretty catchy tune.
Now keep in mind, I was “listening” to the song, not watching the video. At lunch I was, as I am wont to do, reading Wikipedia and I decided to check out the entry on Wham. (What is Andrew Ridgeley up to these days?) From there I started reading the entry on “Edge of Heaven” and hey! it turns out that it features and appearance by Danny John-Jules who played Cat on Red Dwarf. I watched the video just now and sure enough, that’s Cat dancing with George Michael.
For those wrestling fans reading along (let’s be honest, is anyone still reading at this point?), we lost a true hardcore legend in Sabu last weekend. Now, allow me to brag for a paragraph or two, because I HAVE A SABU STORY!!!! (Actually several rolled into one.)
It was the early part of the winter of 1999. I was backstage at a Universal Championship Wrestling (UCW) show at Fanshawe College. I was writing for SLAM Wrestling and was there to interview Edge and Christian. However, they didn’t appear – and I knew Sabu wouldn’t break kayfabe to do an interview and so I was hanging backstage talking to some of the local and area talent they had. (And truth be told, they had some great local stars there.)
So as I’m talking to different people, Sabu comes in from outside and looks over at me and the guy I was interviewing and says “It’s cold out there!” (Yes, I heard Sabu speak. I even got it on tape – although I don’t have the tape anymore!)
At the time, I was friends with the UCW promoter and was kinda hoping to become more involved with the organization, with the goal of being a commentator. The main event of the night was Sabu vs. Scott D’Amore. I was sitting ringside at a table with the idea that when we dubbed commentary into the video. (It never happened, thought.)
I was also tasked with keeping an eye on the UCW Championship title belt (which was supposed to be some former Mid-Atlantic belt – don’t quote me on that). The promoter told me to make sure Sabu didn’t take the belt after the match. (Apparently there was concern that he might take the belt and just leave with it.)
I didn’t say it but I was like “Dude, this is a guy who is referred to as suicidal, homicidal and genocidal, if he wants to take the belt, I’ll carry it to the car for him. I’m not crossing the guy!”
Anyways, during the match, Sabu placed D’Amore on a table in the ring and then climbed up to the top rope to eventually land a flying legdrop on D’Amore. The thing I will always remember though is that the absolute milisecond that Sabu’s feet left the top turnbuckle – DEAD SILENCE! We’re talking you could hear a pin drop. It was the weirdest phenomenon I’ve ever heard.
As I said, I was becoming friends with the promoter and I had a copy of ECW Extreme Music, the CD of all the ECW theme music that I had bought at that huge video store that used to be across from Masonville. (What was the name of it?) He asked me to bring it with me in case Sabu didn’t bring a copy of his theme music with him. (I’m starting to think Sabu wasn’t the easiest guy to work with.)
After the show, I ended up not getting the CD back. I’m sure the promoter probably snagged it but I like to think that for the rest of his days, every time Sabu appeared at a wrestling show, he came out to theme music that was playing off my CD.
Wow! That was a lot. As always, however, iIf you read this – and actually know me – and want to discuss anything covered above (or below), chat me up on Facebook Messenger or via email.
johnmilner.ca 