ST. LOUIS SUNDAYS

St. Louis City Hospital

I was born in St. Louis City Hospital in 1950, and lived in the Clinton Peabody Housing projects the first few years of my life.

They looked like the ones in the photo above, but with no air conditioners.

They were actually pretty nice back then, and everyone kept everything clean and litter free.

I haven't seen them for a number of years, but I hope they haven't gone down the road of the ones that have deteriorated to almost unlivable, miserable conditions!

Go to 2:53 on this video to get a better idea of what my housing projct looked like.

My favorite memory of living there was listening to the street vendors.

Every vendor guy had a song.

Kind of like the beautiful voiced creole girl in "King Creole," starring Elvis.

The watermelon guy would bring in his sweet juicy watermelons (they would even plug 'em for ya) on a flatbed truck and sing...

Waateeeemelloooow! Translation:Watermelon.

The tamale guy had his tamales in a box that hung from his neck with a strap (they were wrapped in corn shucks and out of this world good!) and his song was... Tooomaaalleeee! Translation: Tamale.

The tamale guy had the same basic setup as this, but with a lid on the box.

The ice cream guy had ice cream bars, ice cream sandwiches, and stuff like that, in a small cart that had dry ice in it to keep everything cold.

It was cool to see all the smoke coming off the dry ice every time he opened the lid!

And his song was...Get your yum yum's! 

Really!

Let me take that back about EVERY vendor having a song, the huge soft pretzel people (the people weren't huge, just the pretzels) didn't have a song, because they stood at busy intersections, in the middle of the street to sell their delicious pretzels to people in their cars.

They did not have the time to sing a song, and even if they did, it would have been hard to hear them with horns honking, brakes squealing, people cursing, windows rolled up, and the sound of V8 engines!

I know, I know, in my first book (Chickens' Butts And Coconuts Will Ultimately Make Or Break You) I said that ONE pretzel guy had a song... but he was CRAZY!

You want to hear his song?

Really?!

Okay, but I warned you, he was really crazy!  Here's his song...By the way, he sang it to the tune of "Puff The Magic Dragon."

Eat the stinking pretzels,

Eat all you want

‘cause death and destruction,

Will come anyway,

Zits on you face will swell

And ooze and pop,

And how you gonna ever

Get a date with that mug,

Love is a sickness, and laughter is phony,

But life as we know it will only get worse,

Here’s your lousy pretzel

I hope you choke on it.

No need of translation!

Now that guy was creative, but his pretzels were disgusting!

FYI, I have the music written for my "Sweet Yellow Rose" song (and I think it's pretty awesome, in my humble opinion) but I'm not sure if I'll have it recorded by Monday, for Danny Madness Music Mondays.

If not, I'll have to wait another week for the NEXT Danny Madness Music Mondays!! 

See how cleverly I build anticipation?!

I seriously want it to be the best it can be, in spite of my worn out, el cheapo equipment! 

Love you guys more than you could ever imagine in your wildest dreams!

Danny Bruce Maness

In memorandum, 

Bev Rockhold, our next door neighbor, passed away peacefully last night in her sleep.

I mowed her lawn every summer, and helped her to create a beautiful rock garden in her back yard.

She was very funny, witty, and the best neighbor imaginable.

She will be sorely missed!

God will enjoy her stories and good humor like I did!