3 Down

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Ever hear the saying, "They always die in Threes."? "They" being the rich and famous. This week three greats are gone. "Greats" of course is a matter of opinion, but from my viewpoint they really were greats, even if the world is divided on the opinion, they were often recognized as greats in their fields. The perpetual sidekick, the "king of pop" and a great actress, one the the original Angels. Yes, I am talking about Ed McMahon, Michael Jackson, and Farrah Fawcett.

Ed McMahon, was the voice of The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, I'm old enough to remember that, but what I really remember him from was the blooper show with Dick Clark, and Star Search. If your old enough to remember Star Search, you remember that it was THE thing to watch on Saturday nights. The new, up and coming comics and singers, acrobats, dancers and who can remember what else. The original version of American Idol. They performed head to head and the winner each week took on a new player the following week, and at the end the one who survived was the winner. Who can remember all of the future stars who crossed that stage? Just like Idol today, even most of the losers went on to great things. Sawyer Brown the great country band, a 5 year old LeAnne Rimes. What about Sinbad? These are the three that pop to the top of my own memory, and the TV says that Brittany Spears and Justin Timberlake crossed the stage too, before they were Mousekateers. He gave so many people a start over the years of that show, that it is hard to believe that he is still best remembered as the perpetual sidekick to the class clown, and the Peter Pan of Bandsstand. One more thing that he was known for for many years was being the face of and integrity of Publishers Clearing House. He was the guy delivering the big check, when the winner was chosen and presented. You may already be a millionaire!

Michael Jackson, once one of the most amazing artists on the planet. I freely admit that I was a fan at one point, and I grew up on the sounds of Motown, and the Jackson 5 was part of that sound. "1-2-3", Was probably one of the songs that I remember best of the original family group, along with "Never can say good-bye". I also remember the Saturday morning cartoon of the Jackson 5. Like Scooby-Doo without the stoner and the dog! Yes, the man became the butt of jokes, but it was really a lot of his own doing. With his immense fame came some mind warpage. Who wouldn't get a little freaky when everywhere you went you were a riot waiting to happen. No privacy, no anonymity and never a chance to just walk down a sidewalk without the prying eyes of the tabloids and paparazzi scrutinizing your every move. The truth is that he got weirder and weirder as the years went on, but it seems that some of it was pushing to see when someone would stand up and call him on his stuff. It seems that nobody ever did, until he was arrested and charged with child molesting. It's too bad that this will be his legacy for more than a generation. It will take that long before his music once again becomes the focus of the country where he grew up and got his start, and gave him and his whole family a great career. He had real problems to be sure, but he actual work and contribution to the history of music will far outlast his freakazoid lifestyle.


Farrah Fawcett, just her name inspired the plumber jokes, but she was a great actress. She was a pin-up model, and another one noted for her strangeness. Who can forget the infamous Letterman interview when she seemed to be lost in the ozone and floating in her own little world? One of the original Charlie's Angels, she was the postergirl of the 70's. I can't think of a single one of my friends that didn't have that poster someplace where they could stare at it and her OH so perky nipples. We all longed for the day that we could see her nekkid, and then here comes the 90's and none other than Hugh Hefner gets her to show us them boobies! Not once, but twice! And even on a pay-per-view show where she used her nekkid body as a paint brush. Yeah, she lived up to her reputation. But she was also an actress who did things that were worth watching, the battered wife who sets fire to the house with here drunken husband passed out inside, The Burning Bed. She was the mother and wife who goes into stress induced breakdown in Dr. T and the women. A role that she seemed so perfect for that it was amazing. But she was also a mother to a son who wasn't perfect, and the one time wife of the Six Million Dollar Man,

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and the live in lover of Ryan O'Neal. The tumultuous relationship provided years of tabloid fodder for the voracious gossip appetites of the tabloid reading public. Beautiful and talented, but in some ways disturbed, she will be missed by many.

I have never figured out why they seem to go in threes, but if you think about it, it almost always seems that three big names always seem to die at close intervals.This time was less than a week, and 2 in the same day! Usually less than a month apart, but on rare occasions the interval can stretch out to 8 weeks, but as far as I remember you really have to dig to find a time in the last few decades when this wasn't the case. Sometimes the Fame Level is questionable, but it is generally they are on par with each other like this now gone trio. Even with the disparate ages, their level of fame remains on par.

Remember them for the great stuff that they did, and not for the jokes that were told about them. Their contributions were worth more than most of us will ever be able to accomplish, and what they did wrong, well, it doesn't really matter anymore does it?

Why "troll"?

Some things about me that may interest anyone who feels like reading. I have done loads of different jobs over my life looking for that one thing that makes me happy and gets me paid. When I was in school I dreamed of being either a Hollywood stuntman, or a NASCAR driver. These were the two things that I wanted to do above all else. Then I thought maybe I wanted to be a Truck Driver. (yeah I watched BJ & The Bear, Have you figured out my age yet? ) When I got into high school I discovered 2 things that I was semi-decent at, and that might eventually make me some money, one was talking and the other was taking pictures. Along with the talking I have a primarily auditory memory and I love music, so I decided that I wanted to be a DJ, but I didn't want to be just any DJ, I wanted to work the overnight shift at a rock station. Where I grew up, the best station around had the best overnight guy I ever heard. He was Murdered a few years ago, but he was Unkle Rog. He was THE Coolest DJ in the world as far as I was concerned, and I wanted to be like him. Rumor has it that the Venus Flytrap character from "WKRP in Cincinnati" was modeled after Unk. I'll tell you more about him some other time, but for now back to my story.
So I wanted to be a DJ, now this was a time of transition in the radio business, they were done with the guys who walked in and started with a few weekend gigs and eventually made it to a regualr weekday/night gig. You were either "discovered" by someone in the business or you weaseled your way in as an intern. To be an intern, you needed to have a college course that was specifically geared toward the radio business, such as communications, or advertising. Plus you needed to have either a big bank account or a second job, because these internships were very rarely paid positions. Well I did my research and found out that a lot of the local radio guys liked this one particular titty bar, and I went and got a DJ job there. Long story short I was there for 4+ years and never got "discovered" Not for lack of trying, but because I didn't have the cutthroat attitude needed to get into radio, I'm just too damn nice. lol But while working there I did get my nickname. Here's how it happened:

There was a time in my life when I was dead set against scissors anywhere near my head, and I had LONG hair, at one time nearly down to my butt. Since my hair is naturally pin straight, I generally kept it tied back in a pony tail and I wore a hat most of the time. But me being me, I didn't where any old hat, I preferred cloth welders hats. If you are not familiar with a welders hat, they are special in that they come in bright colors, VERY bright colors! I had a large assortment of them once upon a time, now I am lucky if I know where I can find one or two, but anyways, back to my story. So I get this job working with nekkid babes, and music. Man I was in heaven! ( at least I thought so then!) So it's my first week working there and people are still trying to learn my name, and the day shift bartender was bad with names, (She could tell ya your drink in a heartbeat, but name? Not a chance!) So my second day, I was running behind, very uncharacteristically, and I forgot my hair tie, so it was sprawled out across my shoulders. One of the Dancers decided that she liked my hat, and wanted to wear it on stage, (It looked really cool under the balcklight. ) so who am I to deny a half nekkid babe? I let her borrow my hat. Have you ever pulled a blanket across your head and heard that static crackle? Now look in the mirrow, and see you hair standing on end! Imagine LONG hair static-ed out and sticking up everywhere. This was me in my little DJ booth. The Bartender needed to get my hours for the next day's schedule, and she couldn't remember my name, when she came around the corner she saw me with my hair all static and climbing up the wall and I bopped around in my booth, and she immediately thought of the little troll dolls that were all the rage at the time. She instantly called me DJ Troll, and it stuck, in less than three days, everyone in the places was calling me DJ Troll. I didn't mind it and in time I grew to actually enjoy it.

Jump ahead ten years, and I was no longer a DJ, I was now a maintenance guy in a factory, and since I didn't like most people to know my name I stuck with troll and even had it printed on my uniform nametags. I was troll and everyone knew who I was. There was no mistaking me for any of the dozen or so Karls and Carls walking around the place. Jump ahead another few years, and now I am discovering the wonders of the internet. Wow, there was all this knowledge and other interesting stuff, but I needed an alias of the crazy axe killers would hunt me down and kill me in my sleep! AAAHHH! OOH, I know I'll be troll. Already taken. troll69,( hehehe) taken. troll1967.... nope, trollpiano? YES, I could use that one, Since I love the piano, and play somewhat, it worked for me. Now I had me an alias that I could use around the internet. I wasn't thinking about the personals at that time, D'Oh! Oh well. So time goes by and I use a few different versions of the troll calls sign, trolleolleo, trollburger, and tragictroll. Now I have a job doing shipping and receiving, and Receiving troll just doesn't sound right, so I decided to go with shipping troll. It works and it seems to be fairly unique, so I will use it for now. Maybe someday in the future I can be "movie troll" or the one I really want, "travel troll".