Ep 118: Halloween Memories with Joe Coiro

[00:00:08] Welcome to episode 118 of A Gamer Looks At 40. Talk about the enormity of time. 118 episodes of this ridiculous show have made its way to the internet. I'm Bill Tucker and with me is a guest beyond compare. He has joined the show many times. He was one of the original members of the show and him and I have been doing podcasting stuff for a long time now. Please welcome from Perfect Storming Gaming and from

[00:00:38] Retro Gaming Guy, the one and only Joe Coiro. What's going on man? Thank you. Thank you so much. What a great intro. I, if I could have you around as a hype man, right? Only like other people in your life. You ever feel that way? Like there is it. If my kids appreciated me as much as you, I can be, I can hang out with you at all times. Be at the deli counter when you come up, like now stepping up to the deli counter number 58 on the ticket, the one and only looking for some worth of doubt.

[00:01:08] Joe Coiro.

[00:01:11] That's good, Phil. That's good. Everyone needs a hype. Who was Carson's, who was the guy that introduced Carson? I forget his name.

[00:01:20] Ed Sullivan, right?

[00:01:21] Ed Sullivan, thank you. I'm sorry. Yeah.

[00:01:25] Yes, Johnny.

[00:01:26] Yes, Johnny.

[00:01:29] We are here not to talk about Italian cold cuts, but to talk about Halloween is right around the corner as of this recording, as of this release as well. And I was, I, unlike a lot of shows that I know and adore and care for, I don't feel like I need to do seasonal shows. I'm like, I, if I have something, I'll do something. If I don't, I don't.

[00:01:54] I don't, I don't like to force it. And cause if I don't have anything for it, I won't. But this time around, I'm like, you know what? I'd like to do something. I could use another week to get the final fantasy seven stuff done. Everyone's in a festive Halloween mood this week.

[00:02:07] So let's just talk to Joey about Halloween and our memories.

[00:02:14] Halloween's actually one of my favorite. I hate saying this because, you know, I'm Christian and I'm, you know, I love Christmas, obviously. And when you, when you tell people Halloween's your favorite holiday, you come off like a pagan. They're like, oh yeah, that's, you know, if you're not 12 years old, it's kind of like weird, but it is, it is. It's one of my, I just love it.

[00:02:35] It's, it's a great reasoning and excuse to be childlike, you know, not, not, not to get into the dark cultures and witchcraft and all that stuff, but just to be a kid and just, you know, dress up and pretend that you're not your age and eat a lot of candy.

[00:02:51] What's better than that? Honestly.

[00:02:52] And it's really fun to share with kids. You know, you and I obviously have, you have kids are now high school age.

[00:02:57] Yeah. My kids are elementary slash preschool, but it's, it takes totally different temperature with kids. I was never, I always liked Halloween fine. I was never super duper into it as a single adult. Halloween was an excuse to just go drinking heavily.

[00:03:13] That was what Halloween was. It was just, let's get it. It's just an excuse to dress in costumes and drink are my face off. Um, but now with the kids, I agree. It's, it's fun to experience it through their lens.

[00:03:26] And my wife really loves Halloween. So we do, we, the house is all decorated. We do all the stuff for Halloween. And, uh, so, but I thought we could just talk about Halloween in the old neighborhoods, the old Halloween. I did this with my brother a couple of years ago where we kind of just talked about Halloween growing up. And, uh, I figured I would get one half of the perfect storm team on to talk about.

[00:03:51] I love it. I love it. I was just there. I was an ampere park. Yeah. I'm sorry. Go ahead.

[00:03:56] Okay. That was just there. I was in ampere parkway and it just, it's so flooded with vivid memories. Um, it's, it really is a time capsule. When we go back to the old neighborhood, I say the old neighborhood. Uh, that's yeah. Can I say the old neighborhood or what it is? New Jersey. Yeah. Yeah. That's fine. I don't want to say the old neighborhood for you and me, but, uh, yeah, blue field, New Jersey. Anytime I go back, it's just so, um, so vivid. So, so wonderfully, uh, filled with, uh, memories. And, um,

[00:04:25] I, I, any opportunity, any chance I get to go back, I, I certainly relish. Um, but you're right, Bill, there is something about going back this time of year and seeing the foliage and, and watching the leaves change colors. And, um, people, they decorate now. Like, I don't, I don't remember that at least growing up. I, correct me if I'm wrong. I remember just, I remember Christmas, obviously people decorated.

[00:04:52] I don't recall people decorating for Halloween. No, excuse me, excuse me, but no, now it's, you'd be pleasantly surprised. I, it's, there's a lot of houses that, uh, that do it up pretty good. And, um, I drove by Carterette that I remember. I remember pumpkins and I remember Mrs. Clark and our teachers decorating. I remember the school decked out for Halloween, but, uh, it was awesome. It was awesome, Bill.

[00:05:15] Yeah. People's homes. They didn't decorate. The only way you knew what house to go to was the universal. If the light is on, you can ring the bell. If the light is off, don't bother. There's no one there. Don't ring. That was the only way you knew, but now you're right. People go all out. We have paper houses in neighborhood in our neighborhood here in, uh, in Texas that go. I mean, more than Christmas. Like there was one house in our neighborhood. I don't know if they still do it. Um, but they,

[00:05:45] they turn their entire home into this house of horror. Like it's, it literally looks like a horror movie on some, it's like decapitated heads and there's things moving and animatronics. There's this giant walkway. And yeah, and there's somebody running around with half a head on his shoulders, scaring the kids. It's like, it's insane. It's insane what these people do, but yeah, no Halloween decorations rival the Christmas. My, my, my wife has a,

[00:06:13] a set of spooky gates that she made herself, like spooky, like a graveyard gates that she made a few years ago that we have in our front yard and a few tombstones and some lights. And so we have a whole, a whole setup going in our end. And if we had unlimited time, we would really go all out, but we don't live on a major thoroughfare. So honestly, who would see it? Let's be honest. People who go all out usually live on well-traveled roads, right? And a lot of people driving by, you know, we're on a cul-de-sac. No one's,

[00:06:43] there's not much foot traffic in our neighborhood. So let's be honest. Who are we doing this for? Really?

[00:06:47] No, it's for the kids. It's for the kids. And that is what I really remember most. My, my exist, my life was on three streets. I mean, that, that, that, I mean, my best friend lived on the same street as me, Bill. You know this, Bill, my, my grandparents lived on 16th street too.

[00:07:09] Um, the other set of grandparents I had lived on 15th street and Salento's apartment right near Bruno's. Your whole life was on, on three streets. And then we would go to school. We would go to the parade. Um, I just saw this recently, a picture of you and me, your Pee Wee Herman.

[00:07:26] And I think I'm Dracula. I'm some sort of a vampire. And it just got so, uh, so wonderful memories. It just filled me with all endorphins and serotonin. I was, I was a kid again. It was, but we would go to the parade.

[00:07:41] They would parade us around and our parents would take pictures. It was usually half a day and we'd get out and then mom and dad would take me. We'd have to see their family, right? Like I have to like, come on, we got to go see grandpa and grandpa. You know, they would want to take the kids to see their parents. Now, as a parent, you understand that you realize it. So we would, I would trick or treat. Uh, and again, this was all just on three streets.

[00:08:04] I would go to 15th street to see one set of grandparents and I would go back 16th street to see the other set of grandparents. And we would have Nikki there and Dave and Muldoon. This is, this could be a whole episode. Also the colorfulness, uh, if you call it that of our, our neighborhood, Bill and I, it's just, it's really, they could have made a movie out of it.

[00:08:27] No, it's, I talk about this a lot. This is a, this is going to be an all over the place episode, but I'm fine with that.

[00:08:34] This is, which is great. I, I, yeah, we had such a colorful neighborhood. I tell, um, people here in Texas about just the people I used to work with my first job at the deli in the supermarket deli, but about the characters, just characters, the creative.

[00:08:50] You could literally write a book about just the people I worked with in the deli. It was insane. It's just that nature of like Northern New Jersey is such a, not this is going to sound corny, but it's like a tapestry almost of different personalities.

[00:09:04] And you know what? That's a great word. No, it's not corny at all. Yeah. And it's, and there's so, there's so much variety. Like it was, it was, it was, it was a week, every house was had different types of people there.

[00:09:15] It was a real, you know, melting pot as they call it. And it was, and it was great for that. Yeah. So you're a hundred, it was all these characters and a neighborhood of strong personalities. Like everyone, everyone had strong personalities.

[00:09:29] It was 16 and 15 street. And, um, you know, as a kid, then I would want to do one more, come on mom, one, you know, one more, one more. And we would go to Ampere Parkway. Usually there was great houses there. And you know, your, your, your parents are with you. It's not like we were by ourselves.

[00:09:45] Right. You know, you, we would ring the doorbell and right behind you was, was mom or dad or both, you know, I think we went one time, you, me and Dave, I think it was you, me, Dave and Paul Willie one time.

[00:09:56] And then there was just you and me one year. It was 87, 88, uh, and 89. Yeah. Cause I moved in 90. Yeah. And it was, um, those were some of the best years of my life. Uh, I, I know that sounds, that sounds cliche, but, uh, but it's true.

[00:10:15] There's some real formative memories there. I, I, I love how you brought up the, the Halloween parade at school.

[00:10:21] You remember that? They still do it. They still do the Halloween parade. Hey parents, everyone leave work, just leave work and we'll all gather around.

[00:10:32] Parents have no commitments. Yeah. And if you don't, you're a bad parent.

[00:10:35] You have nothing else better to do at two o'clock in the afternoon. Let's all gather in the playground.

[00:10:41] Now, mind you, of course, here in Texas, it's still 90 degrees out as of this recording, October 26th. It's still 90 today.

[00:10:48] Um, so let's go all into the, into the parking lot and we'll watch the kids walk around in a circle wearing the costumes you bought for them.

[00:10:57] These are the things you bought and you get to now have this weird, I don't know, a weird, like costume show contest where it can be like, man, my kid's Spider-Man costume looks like garbage compared to a kid down the street.

[00:11:12] And this is the eighties. So all our costumes look like garbage.

[00:11:15] I've never seen some pictures of eighties.

[00:11:17] Oh, I know that Pee Wee Herman costume very well. It had, I had a plastic mask. I don't know if it was plastic or not. It was probably made of, I don't know. It was probably made of asbestos.

[00:11:29] This is bestest mask that was a Pee Wee Herman face. And then of course the gray suit with the red tie and everything else.

[00:11:35] Oh my goodness.

[00:11:36] I'm talking about like now though, it's, it is like all it is like, yeah, I know. I, I, I got the kid out the door this morning.

[00:11:43] And then of course I got the kid out the door. Key word is this morning by two o'clock in the afternoon.

[00:11:49] This costume is now in tatters and ribbons and his, his hair is all messed. Everything mangled. It's just a shell of the perfection that I left the house with. It's now just six hours of him running around with his friends, eating candy at school. You know, it's yeah, that I, I like that. I had that busy.

[00:12:09] So yeah. And then of course we have now the philosophy, and this is kind of going back and forth. We did not have, we had traditional trick or treating when we were kids. We went to doors, we rang the bell.

[00:12:18] Yes.

[00:12:18] It was luck of the draw. You just, you just hope for the best, right?

[00:12:22] Yeah.

[00:12:22] But nowadays we have a trunk or treats are, have you, have you, your kids are older. So maybe you are past the age of trunk or treats. Do you know what this is?

[00:12:33] I know exactly what it is. The advent of it came at least here in Jersey at the dawn of, of COVID. And that was 2018, 2019, again, normal, quote unquote normal. And then 2020, it was, well, we were still underground at the time, but we did, we, you know, how can we give back to the kids? We don't want to take it away from the kids. So what can we do?

[00:12:58] And it was a group of parents that got their cars together in a circle. And it's like, okay, go to the high school. There's going to be a bunch of cars there and in their trunks are going to be candy. When my wife told me this, I said, this is not, I said, what did you, this is an SNL skate you saw last night. She's like, no, Joe, this is real. This is real. I go, that's impossible. She's like, yeah, I'm telling you. I'm like, why?

[00:13:25] She's like, uh, germs. I guess. I said, germs. What, what's more shkivoso than the back of a trunk in a car? What are you talking about? Germs? What does that mean? That's an oxymoron. Where are we going? Is it sterile? It's a back of a, it's a trunk. What are you going to get when they're going to pick up the Reese's pieces next to, next to the Jack? What, what is the jumper cables or the, this is a joke you're telling me, right?

[00:13:50] So we did it. We did it. I think, I think two years, I think 2020 and 2021. Yeah. I think it was too. They still do this ritual bill. They still do it now to this day. They do. She told me maybe last year. I'm like, COVID's over. She's like, no, no. It's like people gather. I can only imagine who gets, I'm picturing the bushwhackers.

[00:14:12] I can only walk in. Like, who can, who can guess this anymore? It didn't make sense at the time. It makes less sense now.

[00:14:20] It's great.

[00:14:24] I don't have as visceral reaction to this as you. Uh, I, I, we, we have not, it's a very church thing to do. It's a very church thing to do. Uh, church has been doing this for way before COVID because, and for kids safety and everything else.

[00:14:41] I like the traditional trick or treating. I like just going to houses and bothering people. I think that's fun. Um, and there's still a lot of that, but the trunk or treats are legit thing. We did it during COVID just like everybody else. And we participated in one. We did not dress up a trunk. Some people really went all out and really made these like elaborate little displays at the back of their cars. It was, it was neat. It was fine. But I, I, the reason I came to mind, I was reading an article this morning actually about, uh, about someone bemoaning an opinion piece.

[00:15:10] Someone bemoaning trunk or treats. And I'm like, God, it's fine. Yeah. It was very sarcastic. Very kind of like, look at me too cool for the room article. But I, I, I just thought like, does Joey know about this? Cause again, your kids are, are older. So maybe they're, they were out of trick or treating by them, but I guess not.

[00:15:27] That was at the twilight of their, of their run. Um, you know, they were kind of fortunate even now, like they're not dressing up. I, I, I asked Nicholas, he's in high school. I asked Andrew, he said, dad, I'm, I'm turning 17. I'm not, I'm not dressing up. I go, it's over. He's like, it's over. Yeah. I says, okay. All right.

[00:15:44] Good. He's like, he's like, I'm applying for colleges. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not going to pretend to be the mummy now. I tried to get into.

[00:15:51] Meanwhile, I'm still dressing up as Sting. So who's the. It comes around the other way. That's exactly what happens. It comes around the other way though. Cause again, there's, this is the season for your kids. I was the exact same way. When I was in high school, I probably dressed up once in my four years of high school.

[00:16:07] I just was Billy Corgan one year. Um, and I, I, and I just, because just, just because, and then, uh, I didn't really do it. I had, I dated a couple of people who were really into Halloween. So we dressed up for different parties, but then it became as an adult more of just like, again, Hey, let's put on a costume and drink heavily. Like that's, that's really what it became. That was, that was the fun of it. Yeah. Um, my sister and her and her brother and my brother-in-law, Pete, the great Pete Harney that we all should all know from the show.

[00:16:36] They are really into Halloween. They dress up every year and always have, they've, they've never stopped. They never had that lull, but I definitely, I definitely had that lull. I had that lull. I was like, I'm not dressing up for Halloween. And then in college, you know, there's a few, you know, again, dress up for, for whatever reason. Um, yeah, I, it's, I, I find that interesting, but you're right. There is that lull when you're a teenager where it's like, no, I'm not going to trick or treat now. I'm trying to get into Rutgers. What do you want from me? I'm not going to, what am I going to be boogie boogie boogie?

[00:17:06] Um, you know, they would come home and basically have their candy and watch television to them. Halloween was basically over at six, but not for me. It wasn't at least when I was a kid. So yeah, we're going all over the place. We had the parade. We school was done. We were trick or treat 15th street, 16th street, Ampere Parkway. And then it'd be about like five o'clock, six o'clock. We would trade candy bars. I don't know if you remember that.

[00:17:30] Oh yeah. Yeah. Like, what do you got? Yeah. I'll get the Twix. You give me the Kit Kat. I'll get the, you know, uh, nobody wanted the Malamars, you know, there was always some, some woman that would give bubble gum or pennies. You always got the old lady that would give you pennies. Nobody would want that. It was like, Oh God. Like what is this? Yeah. Get yourself a penny candy. What? It's 1987. There is no such thing. These don't exist anymore, man.

[00:17:55] Like, I think it was my son. Like, did you ever get a candied apple? I never got a candied apple. I never, you got one. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Instant disdain for that home. That's just instant disdain for those people. And all, and all this really is, is just, is you just paying tribute to neighborhood kids to not egg your house next year. That's all it really is. It's just, you're just saying, Hey kids, here's some candy. Please don't defile my home with, I don't remember 16th street getting crazy. No, no, no.

[00:18:25] No, no. Toilet paper. We remember that was always, there was always toilet paper, but nothing like eggs. Nothing. I never violent on. No. Yeah. No, nothing. I agree. My, my wife has a different recollection of, they didn't call it mischief night. They called it something else.

[00:18:40] Who was she night? No. She wasn't called mischief. It was called something else. I don't remember. There's boogie night. There's devil's night. There might be devil's night. It might be devil's night. And she has recollections of people like egging and stuff, but that not, not really in our neighborhood. That wasn't, that wasn't the thing.

[00:18:56] But anyway, so I just, it's just funny recollecting about it and thinking about how it is now because yeah, you have that just going back to that, your, your kids, they're, they're at the age or like, yeah, I'm not going to, I'm not going to do that right now. That's just not, but it'll come full circle and then they'll want to do it again when they get older.

[00:19:12] That's just how now with a new niece. I mean, my brother-in-law had a child and yeah. So she was Leah last year. I think she's coming this year to go trick or treating and you just, you live with it again. Right. So, so I keep veering.

[00:19:25] So I, it's six o'clock, seven o'clock by now as a child, Halloween is over. Um, my, I think my father would put on, you know, the great pumpkin, Charlie Brown, some sort of CBS special was on, um, Garfield Halloween.

[00:19:40] You know, we would watch it not over each other's houses. You'd be at your house. I'd be at my house, but then we would do, we would quote lines the next day, whether it was Garfield Halloween, babes and bullets, usually something Garfield.

[00:19:52] And then we would carve, um, we would carve the pumpkin. That was a big tradition. And, uh, my father would make a jack-o'-lantern. And when you're younger, it was just basically watching dad, you know, and, um, then the older we got, we would get more involved.

[00:20:05] We would draw the face. We would clean it out, carve the pumpkin by eight, nine o'clock. Um, mom would take the candy away. That's enough candy, Joseph. You know, you're going to get sick. Um, but yeah, that was, uh, that was rinse repeat Halloween for about six, seven years, a staple in my life. And it was, um, it was wonderful. I have no doubt to your point.

[00:20:26] What made it even more wonderful and technicolor and vibrant was that neighborhood bill. I, I, I truly, truly believe that. I think you'd agree.

[00:20:36] No, I agree. And it was, it was always fun to see what people dressed up as and what people went as. And again, just going to these different houses and neighborhoods, it was just a really fun experience. Do you remember, we talked a bit about the actual treats of trick-or-treating. Um, do you remember the homes that would give like the really good stuff, the really good stuff?

[00:20:58] Yeah. There's always the homes who always had like, there was one or two, you know, we, so we, I said this last time I did this with my brother. I'll do it again here. We would do two sets of trick-or-treating. We would do the neighborhood trick-or-treating with you. Like around four o'clock in the afternoon. We all got home from school.

[00:21:13] Correct. Yeah.

[00:21:14] We were at four o'clock, four to five where we were done by five. And then when we got older, we would actually troop up to West Orange where my grandfather lived and we would do the West Orange trick-or-treating because the West Orange trick-or-treating, that's where you got the good stuff because it was pure socioeconomics, pure, pure, just economics.

[00:21:34] We grew up in a very, I would say working class, uh, neighborhood, right?

[00:21:38] Blue collar. Absolutely.

[00:21:39] Larry blue collar area. We was very, uh, and everything was fine. I mean, you know, people did the best they could, but where my grandfather lived, people had more means and they were much more forthcoming with treats and such. So we would, we would go up to, uh, right by six o'clock or so we'd be at my grandfather's house and we would do like another hour trick-or-treating up there.

[00:21:59] Oh, that's awesome. That's cool.

[00:22:00] Yeah.

[00:22:01] I didn't know that.

[00:22:02] I remember that was when I was, when I was getting older, I would start to get over it as I got older because even though this is now the prime getting time for candy, I was, it was, you know, you're talking about these old costumes. They're all made out of basically burlap. I mean, there was those unbreathable fabric. It was basically like hardened petroleum. I don't know what these costumes were made out of flammable materials.

[00:22:25] They weren't. They weren't cotton, polyester, maybe a cheap, it's a really good point.

[00:22:30] I really wonder what they're made out of.

[00:22:32] Polyester, nothing breathable, these plastic masks, my face just sweating behind my glasses. I'm trying to pretend to be Pee Wee Herman with no joy in my heart.

[00:22:41] And my grandfather's house was in a neighborhood that was very hilly. All these hills going up and down the hills, just grifting for Snickers bars and Reese's peanut butter cuffs.

[00:22:53] It was just, I remember being like, okay, this, remember getting to a certain age and I was probably 12 or 13 and being like, okay, I think this will be it for me. Like this is it.

[00:23:02] The greatest course.

[00:23:03] Yeah.

[00:23:03] But my brother and sister were much younger. They were five and six years younger. So they're prime trick-or-treats time. So I continue trick-or-treating long after I really wanted to.

[00:23:13] Oh, what a good older brother. This is such a heartwarming story.

[00:23:16] Oh, always. Anytime we went on vacations or trips, we'd go to Sesame Place, which was in Pennsylvania. They'd still be there actually. And I'm 14 years old at Sesame Place walking on the Big Bird Bridge.

[00:23:30] And I'm like, I don't want to be here. But my brother and sister, they're nine and 10, right? Or eight and nine.

[00:23:35] This is such a great man. I hope Lindsay and Bobby can hear this. What a great brother.

[00:23:40] Yeah. So I always skewed a lot younger anyway. And it wasn't a big sacrifice for me. I just learned to enjoy things that younger people liked. I always skewed that younger anyway. Even as I got older, I still skewed younger.

[00:23:55] We were the older brothers.

[00:23:57] Yeah.

[00:23:57] Yeah. So I was very natural for me to still be, you know, again, walking on the Big Bird Bridge or going trick-or-treating when I was 14, 15. That wasn't bizarre for me. And my son is having that same experience with his sister. My daughter is four. He's eight.

[00:24:13] And they play together all the time. And they have a hard time trying to figure out. And I explained to both of them, like, Gwen, you can't expect your brother, your big brother to play the four-year-old games. And Will, you can't expect Gwen to play eight-year-old games.

[00:24:28] So you guys got to figure it out. Like, what's the happy medium where you guys aren't just arguing and playing different games and just not connecting. But anyway, that's a side diversion. But yeah, no. So I was trick-or-treating until I was probably like 16, 17, 16, probably. Went to high school. Again, probably not active participants, still going around with them, you know, but definitely was still –

[00:24:51] But you were – yeah, you were there. You were with them. And it was more of a pseudo-parent, basically. Supervisor role. You just, you know – and of course, to your point, you made a great point there.

[00:25:03] It gave us an excuse, even as the older brother. You know, outside, we're trying to be tough and 14, going on 38. You know, we're too cool. We're too cool for this.

[00:25:14] But deep down, let's be honest, Bill, it gave us an opportunity to be younger than we were. So –

[00:25:20] Yes.

[00:25:21] Yeah, and especially in an era where all you want to do is be older, you know? Like, all you want to do is, you know, get your car and get older and go to college.

[00:25:29] Get out of here. Get out of this year.

[00:25:30] Get out of here. Yeah, get out of here. Like a Bruce Springsteen song. You still have that opportunity to enjoy the ritual of it, I think, is fun.

[00:25:46] Just wanted to take this opportunity to thank my wonderful patrons for their wonderful patronage.

[00:26:24] Go to patreon.com forward slash agamerlooksat4040. Check out the tiers, and if anything strikes your fancy, by all means, sign up today.

[00:26:34] And of course, happy Halloween.

[00:26:39] Did you get into any movies when you were – like, because that was something like HBO and Showtime, Cinemax, they were still relatively new.

[00:26:49] Right.

[00:26:50] And I don't know how your parents operated, but like, R-rating was strict in my household.

[00:26:56] Like, no.

[00:26:57] Yeah. You're not watching an R-rated movie, Joseph.

[00:26:59] No.

[00:26:59] You know, but I would remember, you know, sneaking downstairs because it's Halloween, right?

[00:27:06] So all of the cable channels had Freddy and Jason and, you know, Mike Myers and Chucky on a loop, seemingly.

[00:27:16] And for whatever reason, I remember the horror genre not just during Halloween.

[00:27:22] You might confirm this.

[00:27:23] I remember the horror genre being bigger in the 80s.

[00:27:26] Was it just me or do you recall that as well?

[00:27:28] No, it definitely was.

[00:27:29] Because I wasn't – I didn't have access to it.

[00:27:31] We didn't have cable.

[00:27:32] We didn't have HBO or any of that.

[00:27:33] So we didn't – we only had cable that – we didn't have any of the big channels.

[00:27:37] We had like Nickelodeon and stuff like that.

[00:27:39] But we – it was – TV stuff was very well controlled.

[00:27:43] So I didn't experience a lot of that as a kid.

[00:27:45] I had – the only stuff I experienced was the stuff my dad liked, which was – he wasn't a big horror person.

[00:27:51] He liked sci-fi.

[00:27:52] He was much more of a sci-fi person.

[00:27:54] So I was – I watched, you know, Robocop when I was way too young.

[00:27:57] I watched Total Recall when I was way too young.

[00:28:00] But not horror movies.

[00:28:01] Like I never – I never saw like a Freddy or a Jason movie until maybe I was like well into my 20s, well into it.

[00:28:07] Some of those now as I'm doing other podcasts with other people and we're watching horror movies.

[00:28:11] I'm like, yeah, I never watched this as a kid.

[00:28:13] It just wasn't available.

[00:28:14] So for me that was – it wasn't – horror wasn't a big part of the experience.

[00:28:18] That was definitely much more later down the road.

[00:28:20] But you're right though because horror in the 80s was a huge – that was a renaissance in the 80s.

[00:28:26] That's where you had – you got Freddy and Jason and Halloween and all those franchise – Chucky and –

[00:28:33] Yeah, Pinhead.

[00:28:34] You're right.

[00:28:35] It's a good point.

[00:28:36] Yeah.

[00:28:36] There was definitely a big renaissance with that in that era for sure.

[00:28:41] Yeah.

[00:28:42] And that was more when I – I mean this was like late.

[00:28:44] You know, I had a bedtime.

[00:28:46] You know, 9.30, 10 o'clock.

[00:28:48] 10.30 if it was like something special.

[00:28:50] But we would go to bed and yeah, everybody would go to bed together in my house all the night.

[00:28:55] I remember that.

[00:28:56] I remember sneaking downstairs and catching something and then being terrified.

[00:29:01] Do you have a specific memory of something?

[00:29:04] Like one particular movie you saw one Halloween night when no one else was watching?

[00:29:11] Oh, yeah.

[00:29:11] Creepshow.

[00:29:12] I mean to this –

[00:29:13] Creepshow.

[00:29:14] Let's go.

[00:29:16] Yeah.

[00:29:17] Oh, yes.

[00:29:18] Bill, to this day I'm a fan of the franchise based on what you're saying, based on that experience.

[00:29:25] I was – it was either 87 or 88.

[00:29:30] Yeah.

[00:29:30] We were done with Halloween and I think it was bedtime and we had to go upstairs and my parents had a television in their bedroom.

[00:29:38] And I think dad was downstairs in the basement probably watching TV.

[00:29:43] Because you're right when you mention your dad and sci-fi.

[00:29:45] Television was very big.

[00:29:47] They weren't video gamers, the baby boomers.

[00:29:49] So when they had free time, they would have wanted to watch a movie.

[00:29:52] To them that was like big.

[00:29:54] Like, you know, I'm watching a movie.

[00:29:56] I'm watching – they still came from the silver screen movie theaters.

[00:29:59] Like to them it was like, yeah, I'm watching a movie in my house.

[00:30:03] So I think he was in the basement.

[00:30:05] Mom was probably washing dishes.

[00:30:07] And, yeah, I snuck into – I think we turned on HBO, me and my brother, who was basically an infant, two, three.

[00:30:17] And, yeah, and Creepshow is on.

[00:30:19] And Creepshow now as an adult when you watch it, it's the most over-the-top, cheesy – it's basically funny.

[00:30:26] It's not even scary.

[00:30:27] It's a funny movie.

[00:30:29] As an adult, let me preface.

[00:30:31] Right.

[00:30:31] But when you're seven years old, that scared the – that scared the S out of me, Bill.

[00:30:37] I was – yeah, that was – that movie stayed with you for a while.

[00:30:41] Even like when I was older, 13, 14, I had PTSD for being seven watching it.

[00:30:48] Leslie Nielsen in an underrated role in that third story as the maniacal –

[00:30:55] He's the scorned lover, yeah.

[00:30:57] Ted Danson, another great actor.

[00:31:00] Oh, yeah, the first one, please.

[00:31:02] Ed Harris.

[00:31:03] Yep.

[00:31:03] Stephen King, who portrays the farmer.

[00:31:06] The meteor comes down and he touches it and it grows all over and spreads all over his body.

[00:31:11] For those that don't know, it's Creepshow's – it pays homage to the scary magazines of the 1940s and 1950s, you know, growing up in that era, 60s, which is why Stephen King and Cesar Romero – you know, they all did the movie.

[00:31:27] And they grew up in that age.

[00:31:29] So by the time they were in their 30s and 40s, which is when they made Creepshow, they kind of – they wanted to make an homage to it.

[00:31:37] Interestingly enough, I searched for the Creepshow magazine.

[00:31:40] I drove my father crazy after that for years.

[00:31:44] This is before the internet.

[00:31:45] Don't forget.

[00:31:46] And he would try to reason with me, you know, Joseph, I'm telling you, I don't think this magazine exists.

[00:31:52] I think it was just for the movie.

[00:31:53] It's not real.

[00:31:58] There was no way to search to see if it was real.

[00:32:01] But when you're a kid, you're like, oh, this is so cool.

[00:32:04] Look at this comic.

[00:32:06] You know, I got to get it.

[00:32:07] I got to find a way to get it.

[00:32:09] But it was outrageous for sure.

[00:32:13] I do a podcast called Games My Mom Found with my good friend Mike Dalberton.

[00:32:19] And one of the regular guests on that show is Kenneth Sanity.

[00:32:21] And he's a huge horror fan, huge horror connoisseur.

[00:32:26] And he cites Creepshow as his favorite movie of all time.

[00:32:29] Of all time.

[00:32:30] And he has Creepshow memorabilia, tattoos.

[00:32:35] So I watched Creepshow for the very first time last year.

[00:32:38] And I thought it was amazing.

[00:32:40] I thought this is so, so wonderful and good.

[00:32:43] So if you want to check out that episode, I'll link it in the show notes below.

[00:32:46] I don't remember.

[00:32:47] It was from last year.

[00:32:48] Just go to Games My Mom Found and search Creepshow.

[00:32:50] You'll find me talking about it with Mr. Sanity and Mr. Mike Dalberton.

[00:32:55] But anyway.

[00:32:55] Incidentally, now they finally made a Creepshow comic.

[00:32:58] So it's 40 years too late.

[00:33:01] And just last week, because I'm in the midst of doing a Spooktober with Mr. Mike Dalberton as well on his show.

[00:33:07] And I watched Trick or Treat, which is kind of like this generation's Creepshow.

[00:33:13] Yes.

[00:33:13] Pale comparison.

[00:33:15] Pale comparison.

[00:33:16] Not even close.

[00:33:17] Correct.

[00:33:17] Not even close.

[00:33:20] They had one in the 80s called, I don't know if you remember this, Tales from the Dark Side.

[00:33:24] Yeah.

[00:33:25] And that was very scary.

[00:33:27] I remember I would just get the credits of that and be spooked.

[00:33:29] It was like, and really nothing in retrospect.

[00:33:32] Camera and a car just panning the forest, I believe.

[00:33:36] But it was the accompaniment music.

[00:33:38] And, you know, when you're a child, that's all you need is scary music.

[00:33:42] You could have a cereal box next to scary music.

[00:33:45] That's it.

[00:33:46] Like, you know, it was very, very scary.

[00:33:48] And then in the 90s, they had their own, what was it?

[00:33:51] Tales from the Crypt.

[00:33:52] I know that was very big.

[00:33:53] Yep.

[00:33:53] That's the one I remember.

[00:33:54] Yeah.

[00:33:55] Do you remember that one?

[00:33:55] Yeah.

[00:33:56] That was a big one.

[00:33:56] They had the Crypt Keeper, which was some fictional animatronic that was your host.

[00:34:02] It was like Vincent Price or something.

[00:34:05] But no, that was outrageous to me as a kid.

[00:34:09] I remember, like you said, Horror Renaissance was huge.

[00:34:13] I remember Thriller.

[00:34:15] Thriller came out in the 80s.

[00:34:17] I mean, that was, that still holds up today when you watch Thriller.

[00:34:22] Thriller's great.

[00:34:22] When you think that came out in our generation when we were kids, it's just unbelievable.

[00:34:27] Really.

[00:34:28] Nothing, there was nothing like that before, and it's time.

[00:34:30] What about you?

[00:34:31] Do you have a movie or a show that sticks out in your mind as a kid?

[00:34:36] I, again, when it came to scary stuff in our house, we really didn't have a lot of it.

[00:34:42] We just weren't surrounded by it.

[00:34:44] You mentioned the specials.

[00:34:45] I remember the Charlie Brown Halloween, Great Pumpkin.

[00:34:48] I remember Garfield Halloween, Heathcliff Halloween.

[00:34:52] We watched a lot of specials.

[00:34:54] We saw it all.

[00:34:55] We were there.

[00:34:57] So it was really more specials than anything else.

[00:35:00] We really didn't have a lot of, I wasn't very movie literate until I was, until I had

[00:35:04] a TFT in the Tucker Family Theater, remember?

[00:35:08] Oh my God, do I remember that?

[00:35:09] That's when I really became movie literate.

[00:35:11] So I really did have a lot of those growing up.

[00:35:13] It was much more specials for me than anything else.

[00:35:16] Do you remember, Joey?

[00:35:18] I brought this up on the last episode I did a couple years ago with Bobby, so I'll bring

[00:35:21] it up with you as well.

[00:35:22] Do you remember UNICEF boxes?

[00:35:24] Oh yeah.

[00:35:25] Remember the walk around shilling for UNICEF?

[00:35:28] They would give us, yeah, shilling.

[00:35:32] That's good.

[00:35:33] It's much more charitable than that.

[00:35:35] I shouldn't put it that bluntly, but I mean, let's be honest.

[00:35:38] Well done.

[00:35:39] Mrs. Clark championed them.

[00:35:41] She was big on them.

[00:35:42] I remember her elevator speech, basically, in the classroom, like, take it with you.

[00:35:49] You're going out anyway.

[00:35:51] You're going out anyway, everybody.

[00:35:52] You're going out just, you know, all you got to do after you say trick or treat, just

[00:35:56] donate to UNICEF.

[00:35:57] That was big.

[00:35:58] The school had all different types of programs that they would work with.

[00:36:03] Book it was one for Pizza Hut.

[00:36:06] Anyway, I don't want to veer off your question.

[00:36:08] Yes, I remember UNICEF and Carteret really, they really championed those.

[00:36:15] We would get the box.

[00:36:16] It was a box that you had to basically build.

[00:36:19] When you got the box, it looked like a sheet of paper.

[00:36:22] You're right.

[00:36:24] Yeah.

[00:36:24] It wasn't three-dimensional, those that don't know.

[00:36:27] So then you would build it like you would construct this box and, you know, there was perforated

[00:36:32] holes to punch out for where the coins would go.

[00:36:36] And no, that was a big deal.

[00:36:38] You were supposed to.

[00:36:39] Your teachers instructed you.

[00:36:41] Bill, you really jogged so many memories asking that.

[00:36:44] Thank you so much.

[00:36:45] Well done.

[00:36:46] Your teachers would instruct you or your guidance counselor, whomever, would say, take this with

[00:36:50] you when you go trick-or-treating and, you know, and just ask if people want to donate

[00:36:56] to UNICEF.

[00:36:57] And if they put a coin in or a quarter in and then you'd bring it to school the next day.

[00:37:01] And I forget whom would collect them all, all the boxes.

[00:37:05] What does it stand for?

[00:37:06] Do you know what the acronym stands for?

[00:37:08] No.

[00:37:10] I'm putting you on the spot right now.

[00:37:11] Or you can edit this or you can.

[00:37:14] Yeah.

[00:37:15] Yeah.

[00:37:16] I could be.

[00:37:16] Yes, I do, Joey.

[00:37:17] I could be a responsible broadcaster.

[00:37:20] I could be a responsible podcaster and be like, of course I do, Joey.

[00:37:24] Ahem.

[00:37:25] But here's the problem.

[00:37:26] I just looked up UNICEF and it's just, oh, the United Nations Children's Fund.

[00:37:32] But that doesn't, but that doesn't match.

[00:37:35] Where's the I?

[00:37:37] It doesn't spell UNICEF.

[00:37:38] International.

[00:37:39] Maybe international.

[00:37:40] Yeah.

[00:37:40] I don't think it's, I don't think it's an acronym.

[00:37:46] It's United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund.

[00:37:51] Maybe.

[00:37:52] You make a good point.

[00:37:54] That's my guess.

[00:37:54] But maybe it isn't an acronym.

[00:37:56] Maybe you're right.

[00:37:56] Listen, Google AI has not revealed what the acronym actually stands for.

[00:38:00] It just says United Nations Children's Fund, also known as UNICEF.

[00:38:05] So, yeah.

[00:38:08] I think that's your answer.

[00:38:10] There you go.

[00:38:13] Did you do those?

[00:38:14] Did you do those?

[00:38:15] Oh, God.

[00:38:16] Totally.

[00:38:17] Yeah.

[00:38:17] And we had to wrap them around our neck.

[00:38:20] It was very, very Charles Dickens, alms for the poor.

[00:38:23] Like, yeah.

[00:38:24] Very Dicksonian.

[00:38:25] Like, okay, please, sir, could I have a farthing for the homeless people?

[00:38:30] For the, it was, it was a very, very strange.

[00:38:35] Very Oliver Twist.

[00:38:36] Oh.

[00:38:40] I remember that.

[00:38:42] What was the process of acquiring the Halloween costume when you were a kid?

[00:38:46] Did your parents make them or were they store-bought?

[00:38:50] A couple.

[00:38:51] A couple my parents made.

[00:38:53] My mother made a couple.

[00:38:55] Those were hard times.

[00:38:58] Bill, you know, Bill said it earlier.

[00:38:59] We were a blue-collar family, both our families.

[00:39:02] We had five kids combined.

[00:39:05] Both our fathers worked blue-collar.

[00:39:07] Our mothers did not.

[00:39:09] They were stay-at-home moms.

[00:39:11] Yeah.

[00:39:12] Yeah.

[00:39:12] My mother's an Italian immigrant and we lived in a duplex.

[00:39:16] So, yeah, sometimes those were hard.

[00:39:18] Those were hard times.

[00:39:19] And, you know, now looking back as an adult, you remember, you know, okay, the time she

[00:39:25] made the Spider-Man costume, that must have been, that must have been a harder fiscal year

[00:39:30] than others.

[00:39:31] But, yeah, sometimes they would make it.

[00:39:33] I think my grandmother made a costume one time, 84, 85, 86.

[00:39:37] By 87, by the heart of when we were talking, my formative years, as you put them, my real,

[00:39:43] you know, vivid memories of my childhood, 87, 88, 89, those three years, I was buying them.

[00:39:49] But there was no, I don't recall any specific store, any designated store like there is now,

[00:39:56] like Party City.

[00:39:57] I think my mother and father would just go to, it's probably my mother, not my father.

[00:40:03] She would go to Bambergers or Caldor or, you know, one of those department stores.

[00:40:07] They would have it.

[00:40:08] I remember I would walk with her and, yeah, I remember some sort of a department store.

[00:40:13] I think it was Bambergers.

[00:40:14] And there was a section that they would ward off and there was the Halloween costumes.

[00:40:19] And, of course, as a child, it's, you know, you're keeping up with the Joneses.

[00:40:25] Like, you know, you know how David did.

[00:40:27] Yeah.

[00:40:28] He's going to be Freddie.

[00:40:29] He's going to be, it was trying to always be older, like Bill said, trying to always be

[00:40:32] edgy.

[00:40:34] And my mother was not that.

[00:40:36] She was conservative.

[00:40:37] So it couldn't be too gory.

[00:40:38] You know, it couldn't be too scary.

[00:40:41] You know, what about Steven?

[00:40:42] I'm my younger brother, Joseph.

[00:40:43] You'll scare him.

[00:40:44] So I'm always dancing on the line of, you know, what I could and couldn't be.

[00:40:49] I had my father in my corner.

[00:40:51] But with your father, it was more his generation of horror.

[00:40:56] Right.

[00:40:57] It wasn't Pinhead.

[00:41:01] No one's going as Pinhead.

[00:41:02] Right.

[00:41:03] It was the mummy.

[00:41:05] It was Frankenstein.

[00:41:07] Yes.

[00:41:07] It was Dracula.

[00:41:08] You know, it was, you know, why don't you be this?

[00:41:11] You know, so it was like, as long as I had dad on my side, he would do a good job coercing.

[00:41:15] That's why I was Dracula a couple of times, because at least it was like, okay, this is

[00:41:19] something edgier.

[00:41:20] This is something like, okay, I could, I could be, I could be this and, and still keep my

[00:41:25] cool card with the kids in Carteret.

[00:41:27] Right.

[00:41:27] Right.

[00:41:28] What about you?

[00:41:29] Did my mom, mom, mom made them for you?

[00:41:31] We very, we had a mix.

[00:41:34] We would normally buy our stuff.

[00:41:36] We would, we would normally go to, I think it was part, think party city was a thing at

[00:41:42] that time.

[00:41:43] I seem to remember if not.

[00:41:45] Yeah.

[00:41:46] I, maybe like Caldor or Bradley's or one of those, like, you know, like Kmart would, would

[00:41:53] have costumes, like small department stores have, have costumes.

[00:41:57] We would just go get one, one couple of years in a row.

[00:41:59] So I went as a football player because my uncle had a set of shoulder pads and a helmet

[00:42:06] and a jet jersey.

[00:42:08] Yes.

[00:42:08] And I would, that, that, and just to save some money for about two years in a row, I

[00:42:12] think two or three, I went as a football player because he had, I had this stuff.

[00:42:18] So there were a few costumes like that, but for the most part, they were, they were just

[00:42:22] like purchased.

[00:42:23] Hey, we're going to go here.

[00:42:24] We're going to buy the Batman.

[00:42:26] I remember Batman was one year.

[00:42:27] I had a Batman costume, which was cool.

[00:42:28] 89.

[00:42:29] Yeah.

[00:42:29] That's when Batman.

[00:42:31] I had the, yeah, I had the 89 Batman costume and yes, I was rocking that for sure.

[00:42:36] That was, I do remember any kid.

[00:42:38] That was the year that Batman took over the world.

[00:42:41] Do you remember that?

[00:42:41] You couldn't go to church and not see a Batman logo.

[00:42:44] It was ridiculous.

[00:42:46] Everywhere.

[00:42:46] You could, yeah, you couldn't escape it.

[00:42:49] Yeah.

[00:42:50] Could not escape it.

[00:42:51] Do you remember trick or treating us also in the elements?

[00:42:56] Because here in Texas, it's hot always.

[00:42:59] And my children don't understand what it's like.

[00:43:01] Actually they do because we've gone to, my sister now lives like in central Jersey, almost

[00:43:07] closer to Pennsylvania than New York at this point.

[00:43:10] And she, we've been to her house for Halloween a couple of years.

[00:43:15] We'll actually go there as a family, make that our, like our yearly trip, you know, to, to the, to the neighborhood for that.

[00:43:20] And so we go around her neighborhood for trick or treats and it's actually cold.

[00:43:25] And my kids don't understand what it's like to be cold and wet and miserable walking around trick or treating.

[00:43:31] I remember one year I was Batman.

[00:43:33] I think it was the Batman year.

[00:43:34] And I remember it being rainy and cold and I'm dripping and this, and my, my, my cape is dragging on the ground and it's, it's swollen with water.

[00:43:47] So I'm just dragging this wet blanket around my neck.

[00:43:52] It's just the misery of doing this in the cold and the rain.

[00:43:56] Usually I talk about pleasant memories on this show, but I don't know why that just came to brain as well.

[00:44:02] So I remember, I remember 86, um, which was a terrible year for me.

[00:44:07] Um, it was the flood and, uh, that was something that was very vivid that sticks out in my head.

[00:44:13] You say, how can you remember that Joey at six years old?

[00:44:16] Let me tell you why, because Bill can attest to this.

[00:44:19] When 16th street would flood, it would get wet.

[00:44:22] Do you remember the flooding that 16th street would do you, do you recall that it would get wet?

[00:44:26] Yeah.

[00:44:27] Yeah.

[00:44:27] Yep.

[00:44:28] That was a tough year.

[00:44:29] I had transferred to Carter at an 87.

[00:44:31] So by 86, I didn't, I didn't have any friends in Demarest.

[00:44:35] I mean, none.

[00:44:35] I, so I, I, I, yeah, I, my mom knew I was miserable.

[00:44:39] Thank God they transferred me to Carter at for a variety of reasons.

[00:44:42] But yes, 86.

[00:44:43] I remember we didn't go trick or treating because the flood was just insane.

[00:44:48] The whole street flooded.

[00:44:49] And then by the nineties, um, I moved to Caldwell in 90 and those are, those are different memories.

[00:44:56] Those are like Bill said is the older brother.

[00:44:59] I'm also five years older than my youngest, my, my younger brother.

[00:45:03] Um, you know, you're kind of going and, and chaperoning for, for lack of a better term, you know, your brother.

[00:45:09] Still dressed up in 94, 95, but I'm 15 and yeah, I was probably a devil's hockey player.

[00:45:15] Like Bill said.

[00:45:17] Yeah.

[00:45:17] Yeah.

[00:45:17] Cool enough where I could just throw on a Jersey, be with my younger brother.

[00:45:21] But yes, to answer your question, I remember one Halloween in particular, I think it was 94, 95 where it poured.

[00:45:28] Poured.

[00:45:29] And just, and you're, and it's just, but you, but you have to troop on.

[00:45:33] Yes.

[00:45:33] You have to.

[00:45:34] You have to, my brother's 10 at the time.

[00:45:36] So he, he's at the heart of his, you know, Halloween neuroses.

[00:45:41] So like, I'm, I'm, I'm gonna, and yeah, my parents aren't going to truck it in, in torrential downpour in a deluge.

[00:45:47] So yeah, we'll go out and we'll take, we did a couple of streets.

[00:45:52] Um, I, I, it's funny.

[00:45:55] You mentioned the warmth.

[00:45:56] I, I forget that.

[00:45:58] I, so it's warm there now.

[00:46:00] Yeah.

[00:46:00] How, how, what is the weather particular, like normally I should say for Texas, what is Texas weather where you are during October and November?

[00:46:09] October.

[00:46:10] It can, it can really wildly vary right now.

[00:46:12] It's going to be a high of like 88 today, which is actually very hot even for Texas.

[00:46:17] Right now it's seventies would be, would be like the norm, like 78 would be the norm and lovely.

[00:46:24] Right.

[00:46:24] But there's been years, a couple of years ago we went and my son, they had like a hall, they had a Halloween little festival at his school when he was, when he was going to school.

[00:46:32] And it was two years ago and it, we were so hot.

[00:46:36] It was muggy.

[00:46:37] And he had on a full ninja costume, like full ninja costume.

[00:46:41] And he was just dying hair matted to his head.

[00:46:44] Like, it's just, it's not the crisp, cool fall crunching.

[00:46:47] You know, I picture like the crunching of fall leaves under my feet and the brisk, cool air hitting my face as I lifted my Pee Wee Herman mask so I can get some ventilation to my skin.

[00:46:58] None of that here.

[00:46:59] It's just hot.

[00:47:00] It's just still hot.

[00:47:02] That's all I get.

[00:47:03] But they're at school though.

[00:47:05] So what are the evenings?

[00:47:07] If the high.

[00:47:08] No evening.

[00:47:09] No evening.

[00:47:09] Evening.

[00:47:10] It'll still be 85, 86.

[00:47:11] It will.

[00:47:12] Okay.

[00:47:12] Yeah.

[00:47:12] Oh yeah.

[00:47:13] Okay.

[00:47:14] Interesting.

[00:47:15] Yeah.

[00:47:15] It's nothing different.

[00:47:16] It's great.

[00:47:17] One time it snowed.

[00:47:18] I, I, this is going back, not when I was a kid.

[00:47:21] This is going back when I, my kids, my kids, my kids, I'm talking about it.

[00:47:25] I think it was 2014, 2015.

[00:47:28] It was 2011.

[00:47:29] It was the year it snowed.

[00:47:30] I think it was 2011 or 2011.

[00:47:33] I go ahead and tell you a story, but I think I know this one well.

[00:47:36] It was snow.

[00:47:37] Yeah.

[00:47:37] It was, it was snow on the ground and my kids were really young, but like, I was like, this is crazy.

[00:47:42] I told my wife, it was, it was, I guess for no, 30s.

[00:47:47] It must've been right.

[00:47:47] Freezing temp.

[00:47:48] Yeah.

[00:47:48] It must've been in the thirties for it to snow.

[00:47:50] Couldn't have been forties.

[00:47:50] It must've been in the thirties.

[00:47:52] Yeah.

[00:47:52] Yeah.

[00:47:52] I remember I said, this is a, this is crazy.

[00:47:56] She's like, well, we got to go out, you know, their kids.

[00:47:58] We don't want to, you know, gyp them of, I says, no, you're right.

[00:48:02] But I, you couldn't even see what their costumes were.

[00:48:05] They were wearing, they were wearing winter coats.

[00:48:08] We were literally, literally trick or treating with snow on the ground.

[00:48:11] Yeah.

[00:48:12] You're still here at the time that, yeah, you're right.

[00:48:14] Yeah.

[00:48:15] I was in New York.

[00:48:15] I was in New York because I remember wanting to go to the bars and drink heavily on Christmas,

[00:48:21] on Halloween.

[00:48:22] And I was dressed in a costume of some sort.

[00:48:25] I don't remember what I was going as.

[00:48:27] And I remember, I remember.

[00:48:28] You were district nine.

[00:48:30] I, I, I, that was the year, the year before that I did district nine.

[00:48:33] The year after was the year I might've gone as Hunter S Thompson again.

[00:48:38] And then I reached recycled that costume the next year when it was not snowing.

[00:48:43] I remember that I'm in Hunter S Thompson here.

[00:48:45] That might've been it because I probably, again, knowing me in that era, I probably went

[00:48:50] out at least three out of the five or six days of Halloween.

[00:48:54] There is, I'm sure I was out every night, but one of them, it was snowing.

[00:48:58] And I remember going to the, my, all my usual haunts and no one being there and being really

[00:49:03] disappointed.

[00:49:03] There was no one to drink with and party with because it was snowing and everyone with sense

[00:49:08] in their heads just said, no, we're going to stay home.

[00:49:11] So yeah, that was the, the, the, the, the slightly different bill in those, in that era.

[00:49:18] But there was single to preface, you know, if you're true one day, listen to this, that

[00:49:23] was there, you know, their father was single.

[00:49:25] They was single, single.

[00:49:27] He was living in late twenties.

[00:49:29] This is the prime of his life.

[00:49:30] So yeah, it was, uh, and he was always, and I could say this and I'm not just saying

[00:49:35] this cause he's on, he's on with me right now.

[00:49:38] He was always responsible.

[00:49:39] You're always responsible, Bill.

[00:49:40] Always.

[00:49:41] I appreciate that.

[00:49:42] I always knew.

[00:49:43] And my family always knew if I was with you, I was in good hands.

[00:49:47] Yeah.

[00:49:48] I stayed with this man one time for training in his apartment.

[00:49:51] This man cooked three meals.

[00:49:53] I got, I got three meals from this guy.

[00:49:56] Do you remember that?

[00:49:58] Seven o'clock in the morning, Joey breakfast is ready.

[00:50:00] Breakfast.

[00:50:00] I don't even know my wife and it was delicious.

[00:50:04] It was delicious.

[00:50:06] Amazing.

[00:50:07] I made you salmon and bread and everything else.

[00:50:10] I remember that.

[00:50:11] Everything.

[00:50:11] Yeah.

[00:50:12] Garlic bread.

[00:50:13] There was a side salad.

[00:50:14] There was a little dessert.

[00:50:16] It was amazing.

[00:50:17] The only time I got lost one time, it was, you lived on 47th street or it was some number.

[00:50:23] And I remember I left and all Bill said was, please don't navigate home.

[00:50:30] Don't navigate without me.

[00:50:31] I beg you.

[00:50:32] So what do I do?

[00:50:33] I navigate without him.

[00:50:35] I'm cool.

[00:50:36] I don't need Bill.

[00:50:37] I just, I got money in my pocket.

[00:50:39] I know how to handle a cab.

[00:50:41] Forget it.

[00:50:41] Yeah.

[00:50:42] Take me to 47th street.

[00:50:43] I, I, it was some number.

[00:50:45] I go and I'm like, Bill, I'm ringing your doorbell.

[00:50:49] You're not answering.

[00:50:49] You're like, where are you?

[00:50:51] I'm right here.

[00:50:52] I'm on 47th street.

[00:50:53] And that's when Bill told me there's another 47th street in upper Manhattan or in New York,

[00:50:59] Joey, the, the, the, the, the, I was on all the way on the other end.

[00:51:03] Do the story justice.

[00:51:04] I'm floundering.

[00:51:05] I know you're, no, it's, you're perfect.

[00:51:06] You almost got it perfectly right.

[00:51:08] It was 74th street.

[00:51:09] It was, I lived on East 74th all the way East.

[00:51:13] And mind you, I say East for those of you who know New York or not New York, you have

[00:51:17] like the upper East side is like known as the fanciest area of New York.

[00:51:21] I lived in the technical upper East side, but it was like all the way East, like 10 minutes

[00:51:25] from a subway first in New York.

[00:51:27] Like it was all the way well, well East feet dangling in the East river.

[00:51:32] So I told Joey, yeah, it's good.

[00:51:34] It was a seven East.

[00:51:35] I guess I may have not been clear and just said 74th.

[00:51:38] You had a 50, 50 shot.

[00:51:39] Cause there is a West 74th and an East 74th.

[00:51:42] That cab took you to like, to the, to the Jacob Javits center.

[00:51:46] Like he took it, it took you to the, all the way West.

[00:51:51] You were on the other side of the Island.

[00:51:53] Are you calling?

[00:51:54] I'm bringing your doorbell.

[00:51:56] I'm like, Joey, I'm, I'm, I'm waiting for you, but you soon, you soon got yourself

[00:52:01] or how did you get, did you just get another cab and hope?

[00:52:03] No, I said, Bill, you knew me by now.

[00:52:06] I said, I'm stranded here.

[00:52:07] And if I try anything else, the wolves will eat me.

[00:52:11] I'm waiting.

[00:52:11] He said, wait there.

[00:52:13] He was so good about it.

[00:52:14] Wait there.

[00:52:15] Just, I have to wait another hour.

[00:52:17] I can't leave work early.

[00:52:18] I said, fine.

[00:52:19] He went all the way and got me.

[00:52:21] That's right.

[00:52:22] I did get you.

[00:52:23] I remember my hand and watching bill navigate through this is like, it's like Obi-Wan.

[00:52:28] It's especially from Jersey and bumping and get out of the way and New York and hot dogs

[00:52:34] and peanuts and clear the closing doors and all of the New York sounds.

[00:52:39] And you're like, and you're lost.

[00:52:41] You're from Jersey.

[00:52:42] You're like, this is free.

[00:52:43] This is nuts.

[00:52:44] And Bill was unfazed.

[00:52:46] He was completely just stoic.

[00:52:48] Just walk quick.

[00:52:49] Don't look at anybody in the eye.

[00:52:51] Follow me.

[00:52:52] And he got me there.

[00:52:53] And we got back two hours later, you know, it was a big hike, but it was, uh, it was unbelievable.

[00:53:00] I remember, I do now remember walking to meet you on West 74th street, not East West 74th.

[00:53:08] Yeah.

[00:53:09] Just laughing to myself.

[00:53:10] Like, I can't believe he did this.

[00:53:12] I can't believe he went to the wrong side of the Island.

[00:53:15] And I, yeah, I remember like, all right, let's go.

[00:53:17] And sure enough, leading you through the.

[00:53:20] You loved watching me just to laugh.

[00:53:22] I would go visit you and it was, you know, you would always say, sit calm.

[00:53:26] Yeah.

[00:53:27] Don't stick out like a short thumb.

[00:53:28] I think my first day there, I got an I heart and why you did.

[00:53:33] You came over, you came over to watch the, um, the Olympics.

[00:53:37] I think it was the Olympics.

[00:53:38] You came over to watch the Olympics USA, the Olympic gold medal game at my apartment.

[00:53:43] And you, you show up with an, I love New York shirt on.

[00:53:46] Like I saw this by the, by the board authority.

[00:53:49] I'm like, Oh my God.

[00:53:50] I just, I really give you credit now.

[00:53:57] Looking back at my unmedicated self.

[00:53:59] You were so patient.

[00:54:00] They're going to, your canonization.

[00:54:02] It's already in.

[00:54:03] It's, it's, you're going to be sated for those that don't know what that means.

[00:54:06] He's sated.

[00:54:08] Oh, that's funny.

[00:54:09] Oh, that's really funny.

[00:54:11] Uh, how did we get to that?

[00:54:12] But yeah, those are, those are the days, man.

[00:54:14] Uh, any last minute thoughts about a Halloween or just those, those days of, of running around

[00:54:20] the neighborhood, looking for candy, pretending to be someone you're not.

[00:54:24] Right.

[00:54:25] Cause that's really the end of the day.

[00:54:26] What it is.

[00:54:27] There's a, there's something really still very fun about that.

[00:54:29] Um, any other final thoughts about that?

[00:54:32] No, how much I loved it, how much it was just wonderful and such an organized chaos and,

[00:54:39] you know, concerns here and there that your parents would fill you.

[00:54:43] Watch the cars.

[00:54:44] Don't get hit by it.

[00:54:45] Don't get kidnapped.

[00:54:46] That was big in the eighties.

[00:54:47] Watch it.

[00:54:48] Make sure you check your, check your candy, check your candy.

[00:54:51] Thank you, Bill.

[00:54:52] Yeah.

[00:54:52] Needles and candy.

[00:54:53] I don't know what that is.

[00:54:55] Razor blades.

[00:54:56] Razor blades.

[00:54:57] Something, nothing, nothing crazy.

[00:54:59] Thank God ever happened to us.

[00:55:00] But just, just your whole world, at least for me, was, uh, was on three streets.

[00:55:07] I mean, literally, I mean, we've got, we got the candy at the corner store across from,

[00:55:11] from Carter red.

[00:55:13] Our whole world was literally on three streets and I, and you know what?

[00:55:17] I absolutely loved it.

[00:55:19] That's my closing.

[00:55:20] That's my closing comments.

[00:55:21] I wouldn't have traded my childhood, our childhood for anyone else's, um, in the world.

[00:55:29] Nope.

[00:55:30] A thousand percent.

[00:55:31] I, I a hundred percent agree.

[00:55:33] I wouldn't trade it for anything.

[00:55:35] A hundred percent agree.

[00:55:36] My friend, thank you so much for joining me on this rambling and wild expose.

[00:55:41] If you enjoyed this episode, there are a whole bunch more in the hopper that you can just go to

[00:55:46] right now and check out.

[00:55:47] So please do.

[00:55:48] If you want to hear my brother and I talking about the, our old days growing up in Jersey,

[00:55:53] uh, watching horror movies and going trick or treating.

[00:55:55] Uh, we, it's a very different episode than this.

[00:55:58] Actually.

[00:55:58] I thought we'd be repeating ourselves, but we really don't.

[00:56:00] So it's episode 50 something.

[00:56:02] I'll make sure I link it in the show notes below.

[00:56:04] Be sure to check that out as a companion piece to this episode.

[00:56:07] Uh, thanks as always to Kev and Pete Harney for doing all of the interview editing on the podcast.

[00:56:14] Thank you to my patrons for being exceptional patrons and you, Joey, as well.

[00:56:17] You recently joined the Patreon family.

[00:56:20] So thank you for that.

[00:56:21] And I want to thank you for listening to this edition of a gamer looks at 40.

[00:56:27] And until next time, just be kind to yourselves and each other.

[00:56:30] Have a good Halloween.

[00:56:31] All.