Thicko's
Having had the distinct honor of playing with WST and Bill Dalton at
Gingerman, and seeing WST performing head roadie duties with broken ribs that
looked as if they may have been hurting him a little bit (!!), I thought to
myself "here's a guy who is absolutely determined to have a good time". The
Thicko party was very relaxed and had the slightly disorganized flavor that
makes for good times. The heavy rain mixed with all the electricity for the
amps and PA provided some drama, and the food was excellent and abundant.
Sharing was clearly the theme, and everyone I spoke with was interesting and
was enjoying themselves.
What to a casual observer appears to be an effortless display of fun is truly
a heck of a lot of work. Organizing a party of that magnitude at your own
home is tough, try taking it on the road! But the Thickos pitch in and get
it done, with WST hauling enough PA and miscellaneous music gear to play
Woodstock (the original one anyway).
One would expect this sort of attitude would be embraced by all, but some
people seem to be suspicious or turned off by this sort of thing, and that's
just human nature, not everybody agrees on everything. Organizations do not
always like to see unofficial sub-organizations springing up. But (and this
is a big butt, heh, heh), official recognition is a two edged sword, being
unorganized
(meticulously disorganized?) means the rules can be informal, arbitrary,
capricous, or non-existent. I am a confirmed Marxist (Groucho, not Karl)
when it comes to joining organizations, so maybe this colors my point of view
a lot.
Some shirts would be nice though, huh. And as to whether WST is paranoid,
who really knows, all the guys in the blue windbreakers that were asking me
detailed questions about him at Gingerman seemed to hold him in high regard.
Terry Heffron
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