1980: While home for the summer from Mizzou, George and two of his best buddies, Mr. Doggity and Pig Slave Page, decide to throw a party. We meet and decide we need a theme. We agree that there are three things we all have in common. One, we love live music. Two, we love a big barbecue party. Three, we all admire Gus Grissom and want to honor his memory as a great guy and a salty character. Subsequently, the Gus Grissom Memorial BBQ is born. Over the next decade there are four Gus BBQ's and many of George's pals get involved in the efforts. In 1980 Gus II was an especially gargantuan party. It was July; it was 100 degrees outside. It was in the middle of a field on the outskirts of town. It was three or four hundred people at least. The evening peaked as the headlining band Duchamp got into a fist fight amongst themselves while onstage.Later, the field caught on fire in the middle of the night because of the drought. The Independence Police showed up too, as there were noise complaints from the nearest neighbor two miles away. In 1986 George and his pal Gary make a pilgrimage to Arlington National Cemetery to pay Gus our respects. Gus IV in 1990 would be the last Gus Party. Here's to you Gus. We love ya, man.

1985: George Blowfish leaves Mizzou after completing a degree in Radio-TV-Film and three years of Graduate School. George is burned out and broke. He takes a full time job working Midnight to Six AM on a Columbia EZ listening radio station. The first song he's forced to play is a xylophone cover version of the Beatles I Am The Walrus. He soon realizes he's made a critical vocational error. Luckily, 1985 was a great year for George's favorite baseball team, the Kansas City Royals. During the 1970's and 80's George and his pals were frequent habitants of KC's infamous Right Field GA section; home of all the kooks, nuts and rabid Royals fans. And the Royals were good. Real good. George Brett was (and still is) my main man. We hung out with Right Field legends Joe Hess (the GA Santa Claus) and helped Dorsey -Right Field GA's most famous beer man- make a living. My pal Gary and I even made it into Sports Illustrated! In 1985 the Royals won it all. From 1986 to 2002 the Royals sucked major pond water, masquerading as the Iraqi Army and losing 90 games a year. 2001 was the last year for Right Field GA. In 2002 the Royals started selling Right Field seats as "reserved seating." Again, the rich bastards of baseball ruin one of Kansas City's simple pleasures. It's depressing. Baseball must share the wealth and share it soon. In 2004 the Yankee's payroll careened towards an obscene $200 million. Baseball's competitive balance is way out of whack and needs to be addressed immediately.

In 1986, George moves back to Kansas City for good. It's the Reagan Recession, and George is getting desperate. Finally, he lands a job shrink wrapping cellophane around audio cassettes. He decides to give up his dream of being a big time rock n roll DJ, and instead becomes a devious sales weasel, and makes a 15-year career wrapping cellophane around boxes.