Happy Halloween!

From the Battalion!

Remember when an eye,nose 'n mouth constituted a jack o lantern!


Me and the Tankettes did this kitty per directions... Pretty cool!

Let's Party!


These cats look like The Spinal Tap of the 70s Cult scene!

Check this...Posted at the local "legal" robbers place of bidness...


May your goblins be merry and you're pumpkin be blight.

Count Tank-u-la
Out.

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Conan

Never saw the new film...heard it blows, but still love the Barbarian!



Check this shirt I bought!!!!!



Schenker in all his awesomeness
Sooo high/lowlight of this summer, no goddamn rain! And dryer was broke most of the summer so spent many a hot hot dry night drying clothes while the family slept! They have an ancient "Tekken" machine at our local laundry mat that almost made it worth hanging with the late night laundry mat mojados, semi homeless freaks n big mommas with their snotty kids out too late! I ruled as one of the chicks!!! This Americanized Chinese sticker warns parents to be leary of what their kids play! This must have been during the Tipper Gore PMRC days! Imagine what those idiots must think of lil Wayne,grand theft auto or Call of Duty!!!!!


...if you've gone... come back to ESG... if you stayed sorry for the lack of posts...I'll do better!


The Tank.

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Queen of the night...

Princess of the Dark...


I've always been enamored with the idea of the Witch, La Bruja!

I'm not talking about someone's neo-hippie-poser sister in white face burning incense talking about the Green man,mother goddess and lesbos,(although more research should probably be done on my part on this area so as not to be ignorant)...no I speak more of the idea of the Lady of the woods in league with Satan for reasons unknown, selfish and cunning.


We know now that for the most part witch persecutions and the mass killing of women (wise or ummm otherwise...) was the new religion in towns way of eliminating the competition and err smoking out the last remnants of pagan practices.


I don't mean to dwell on the ways n means, the social/cultural battles over the hearts and minds of the people and their faith how the subjugated were/are forced to give up all that they believe under the threat of death!! Nope this blog is about Kick Ass things like hot looking evil chicks conjuring demons to fornicate with! Sex majic ( with a "J")! Herbs n potions!


Black cats and cottages deep in the woods where shadows dance with flames and smoke tangles in the trees, owls call out to the orange moon and darkness pulls up a chair to snuggle with the lady in black, the country girl..chicks Dio wrote about!



Pop culture too has always been enthralled with the idea,not quite to the extent of the Vampire but close..Bewitched, Charmed countless novels, The Wizard of Oz, etc.

This cover probably has allot to do with my love of evil looking women!


Elizabeth Montgomery not evil looking not at all, but bewitching.. oh hell yea!!!and a Buick too!
What's not to like!?KICK ASS!!!


Anne Rice delved head on into the subject after the vampire chronicles even melding the wacky Mayfair clan into the wacky Chronicles world. Anyway I like the whole witch thang always have always will. I could have played Darren too.. The straight one, not the gay one!
Not that there's anything wrong with that...

Oh and of couse ESG would not be complete with out some Frank!

The Sea Witch...


Warrior stopped in his tracks. Boobs have that kinda power!


Borris can draw too! One of my faves!


Tank " not here to change to world, just make it kick ass a little more" out

Institutionalized!

"I went to your schools!"
"I went to your churches!"
"I went to your institutional
learning facilities!"

"Institutionalized"
Suicidal Tendencies 1983

In my opinion the album that made hardcore accessible to many metal-heads. A landmark album, smart, tight, crisp, culturally relevant, it still sounds KickAss! Mr.666 and I saw them in a warehouse in the desert for like a $6 cover and all the keg beer you could drink must have been '86? Dudes were skating plywood right in front of the stage and the mosh pit kicked up so much dust we hacked for a week... Good times!


On my recent sojourn home I drove around a bit and took some pictures of the places that molded me. Places that set me on my way, where I learned the three R's and (double RR's). Learned rules, broke rules, fell in love, out of love, hated, fought, partied, got sick, passed, failed, achieved and eventually got the hell out of!

Schools today look like shopping malls! Well lit with breezeways and food court style cafeterias; you can have pudding without eating your meat, hell you can get Sushi or browse the salad bar! Library's that make most public libraries seem like a Goodwill.

Their facades inviting, like Macy's or a fancy hotel with manicured landscapes. Teachers with Love and Logic, positive reinforcement, no dark sarcasm in these classrooms! I wont even start on the sports facilities,suffice it to say Jerry Jones would be envious! You get the point.

So as I drove around my old stomping grounds, I of course was drawn to my old schools and hangouts, some have changed, hell some are gone. The Dairy Cup has been gone since the early 90s! Others are just like they were..

My first taste of institutional learning was at St. Joseph's Catholic Elementary! An ancient red brick building made with narrow halls, wooded floors, plaster, stucco and granite! I only went for kindergarten but wore the white button down and navy pants, girls in the pleated plaid skirts and white blouses, just like The Wall or a strip club near you. Nuns were sweet kind women
(they are only cruel if you're a standup comedian) my teacher wasn't a nun at all but a lovely young women, the second women I ever loved, after my mom.

Here is St. Joes in authoritative repose, built to last. Looks like a no bs kinda place hu?


Next on my list was Crockett Elementary were I spent 8 glorious years! I walked two whole blocks up hill both ways! I was one of a handfull of kids who did not speak spanish and the first few weeks were sketchy but kids roll with chit and so it wasnt long that I had a dedicated posse of fellow Longhorns. The main bldg. remains unchanged as if in a vacuum or time capsule, a monument to the 1920s, austere ,serious yellowish brick with gothic archways of smooth white granite like concrete, a place to learn, plain and simple.
Sadly much has changed on the outside, there are virtually no trees in the park directly across from the once tiny staff parking lot. And the fields of gravel where I once had flag football and wiffleball glory are covered in asphalt and yellow strips.... The b-ball courts remain the same though. I honed my ball skills for hours on blacktop so hot it literally melted your Chuck Taylor soles and burnt your feet, but so deep was my addiction to "the sport of the streets" and the only "shooting, stealing and running" I ever did was on those courts.
I often played to nightfall until my old man would come looking for me with a flash light!


This is as close as I could get to the front, a summertime lock down is in place mustn't have the empty lot used during the summer when not a soul is around! Jeez.

Last but certainly not least Austin H.S. were I took my skills. The first time I ever shot a basketball indoors was my freshmen year!
Glass backboards, level wood floor (the varsity gym had this freaky rubber floor)! I thought I'd reached the big time, but seems I wasn't the only ball player in central EP and I had to make the team the old fashion way by killing free throws! See for me one of the great things about basketball is it can be a solo game almost therapeutic, sinking jump shot after jump shot, free-throw after free-throw. Thinking and shooting, muscle memory in action. I had a routine were I wouldn't leave the court until I sank ten free throws in a row this paid off and got me a spot on the team! Anyway like all of us HS had it trials and tribulations mostly it was easy, my cavalier attitude and heavy use of err organic substances helped me avoid any awkward John Hughes moments. Besides I had Led Zeppelin, Judas Priest and Black Sabbath,along with a steady girl and friends made HS fairly fun, not glory days or any crap like that but bearable. The changes at AHS are remarkable but the tower and front archway remains unchanged it seems to say leave happiness and fun at the door this shit is serious! It was and wasn't, is and isn't.


I may have learned even more valuable life lessons in this alley,it is right across from school but light years from her reach, a literal stones throw from my Grandmother's house but a comet's journey away from family...Things better left unsaid but unforgotten.


So schools may look different today and most weren't built before WW2 but one thing that hasn't changed is that summer ends, school begins...doesn't matter I'll probably get hit by a car anyways...

The "obscure reference-a-nator" Tank
Out!
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You CAN go home again...

I had an opportunity to go back to where I grew up, back to the E.P. (El Paso, Tx)...with the three Fs awaiting my arrival, family, friends and food! My stay was brief but my mind and body took in much!

Reminders of the easy childhood, the sheer luck of an adventurous,rebellious teenager and finally the restless young adult that yearned to break the bonds of familiarity and set out to be the man I am today are still everywhere. A dichotomy existence within the city that embeds itself within anyone who has spent time there. A mellow and restlessness, a calm but anxiousness! Perhaps it's the high altitude or the urban legend about lithium in the water causing a feeling of calm. But there's an almost tangible tension too, I don't know I want to say a sense of apprehension. This easy and yet restlessness stay with me during my entire stay! Why I had to leave the safety and sanctuary of my home town almost 20 years ago was reenforced, why it was so hard to leave and the homesickness I eventually got over also reawakened! This was not the first trip back the EP nor will it be the last but in my short stay it may have been the most thought provoking. Change can be glacier like in Sun City, for every new bldg. or Wall-f'n-greens, a home with the 4th or 5th generation of a family living in it has not changed appearance since the 40s! More dichotomy more ying and yang, it rained one night, I had to travel 600 miles to the high desert to see my first significant rainfall in 5 months!

El Paso is well known for it's Mexican food I love it, it's what I grew up on but one non-Mex EP favorite can stand toe to toe with any pizza on the planet! The House of Pizza is run by a Greek American has been in operation since the mid seventies and has been on my family's table ever since! Both my sisters worked there in high school same bldg. same pizza, awesome!

Truly heavenly pizza! Funny how the Guadalupe does not seem out of place in EP... Anywhere else there would be a pissed somebody! Anyway...where was I .. Oh yea... Pizza so good you'll have visions! The pizza is immaculate ! I could go on and on...





Alas H o P was closed as they are every year in July, so the owner and family can recharge.. in where else Greece! I settled for Casa pizza, a family spin off and comparably good pizza! If HoP is virgin and visions then Casa is ummm..Ganesha and disappearing milk!





Note the pachyderm-deity appears to be spreading sauce on a pizza! Very interesting!






Like any central EP boy I was also raised on a steady diet of Kiki's; what once was a bar that dabbled in food transformed into a very well respected and nationally recognized dinning establishment that serves beer! Great tex-Mex! Sublime Salsa you could not serve in Austin or Dallas is so hot but so damn good! O crap I want a plate of renenos and enchiladas right now!!!! Real rellenos made with hatch long greens filled with asadero cheese and lightly breaded! No meat or cheddar or the dull and incorrect plobano pepper used so often east of Ft Stockton!
Before...





About 15 minutes, two Tecates and a Corona later!






Turns out this was just the warm up! An hour later and I was sitting in front of a home made plate of another mexican fav...

Chicharones mmmm spicy hot soft and tender with world class rice and beans!





Courtesy of Mr. 666's better half Ms. Eve La Evil ! Talk about the package, the franchise! She cooks, takes care of the hellions and most of all takes care of my brother!





Evil and tats way before every lame ass wannabe saw Miami ink and made em cliche!
Here is the mans stable of Riches..these are road warriors note the Orange and Marshall cabinets! Serious is as serious does!





Long live the True Metal King and his Queen!
Thanks for the hospitality! Jams, catching up and beer till 4 in the morning for 3 straight week day nights! That's El Paso in da summertime!





Hey hey look at the A! It rained soon after, the smell after rain in the desert mountains is like nowhere else! A torrent of memories floods the mind when it rains...memories of distant summer rains, little league, drum practice, slurpees , space invaders, Physical Graffiti, Masters of Reality, Highway to Hell and Killers! Skateboarding, my purple schwin with metal flake banana seat and mini ape hangers! My firsts..first Camaro, first doobies, first beers and first kisses...it is that powerful. I jumped these stairs on my skateboard one summer they're like 5 feet high! I fell right off on the landing, must have been about 12! Still I was the king of the 7-11 stairs for about a week until Ernie jumped and stuck the landing he was always a monster skater!
That cheesy rail wasn't there back thirty some years ago...






A trip back home would not be complete without The mother's milk EP fast foods ( drum roll)...
Chico's Tacos!!! If you don't get it you don't get it, it's ok you had to have grown up on em..ditched fourth period to walk all the way to the nearest location or crammed 10 people into someones car to make it back before lunch was over! 1 in the morning buzzing hard the ultimate drunk food or post concert munchies, mad dogging with the vatos drooling over your girl or are they staring at your double order with extra cheese!?! "Que trice whey get your own fucker!"
The way too loud jukebox playing Vicente Fernandez one minute, then not loud enough jukebox playing "Rock you like a Hurricane" or "Wang Go Tango" the next!
What is it? Well it ain't taco bell, it's a rolled taco or flauta filled with a ground meat of sorts with a piping hot purée of tomato based liquid, chiles and spices poured over them (3 is a single order,6 a double) topped with copious amounts of finely shredded cheese (most say leftover govt. cheese) it melts on contact transforming the taco and liquid into a thick cheesy paper boat of awesomeness that words fail to, fail to...oh shit they fail damn it! Put some of the signature jalapeño salsa on em and you are straight living man this is last meal shit,death row would be worth it just to tell "the man" "I want two double orders with extra cheese, fries and an orange fanta..." You'd die in peace!





No "before shot" cuz I dove right in! Mr 666 y la familia went one night it was like old times! So you see EP is were I learned to love live and eat! Still got a big soft spot for her! It's still home yet still the place I had leave in order to see what was over the mountain!

El Tank out.

p.s. Found a treasure of magazines at my moms house, Cream, Hit Parader, Circus...late 70s early 80s I swear every cover is Priest or Blondie! We'll be bringing those to ESG soon!

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Kicking it....

So things get a little crazy, life becomes a cycle of work , sleep repeat. We can lose sense of self, family and even time.

Summer's Eternal Glow seems to be fading...then you catch a break, a chance is taken and life is shoehorned back into perspective! What can have such a dramatic affect as to alter one's entire outlook on life and it's entire meaning!?!

A whole bunch of different shit!...

...but for me it was a simple yet seldom used adjective-proper-noun, a word that can conjure images! One half of the word,in my mind,offers images of little girls dressed in Victorian dresses chasing fairies along the Thames!
"Mary come now darling and drink your tea"!

I guess we can blame King for the creepy factor in Victorian era twins! Well that and the fact that they are damn creepy!
Proof!


But the other part of the word can bring much darker images maybe blood soaked sheets in a run down brothel in Whitechapel...
Dang!


Dude invented Overkill!!
Still technically unsolved, the puto would have been busted in an hour with today's forensics. Imagine the physical evidence left behind.

But the two words together combine to create only one image...a highball filled with tomato juice , vodka , olive , cherry tomato and a less than desirable celery stalk! Yes the one thing that pulled summer from the brink of bummer is none other than..."Bloody Mary"!

Highball by Solo..but did the trick!


I've had a few along the road to middle age usually a whim, a guaranteed hangover cure with a breakfast of migas or chorizo and eggs! But on this occasion it was poolside at a fairly swanky staycation site in San Antonio.

Mrs. Tank too felt as though our summer was wasting away. Now don't get me wrong, we've taken the kids swimming allot, checked out a couple of "family" films, done our best to make memories, but nothing vacationey. So a destination was found a couple of days off coincided and next thing you know I'm poolside, it's early like noon ( real early for me)!

Yeah it's that big!


Waitress ask if she can get me anything... Nah I'm good, had lunch,was feeling good, but then I overhear the old dude a few pool chairs away answer the same question I was asked, and like a pro-drinker without hesitation he says, "Bloody Mary". "Damn that sounds good! " "Should I it's probably a 8 dollar glass of v8.." "Ill wait", then the words we all want our hear from the at home supervisor. "Go for it" I did. It came. I sipped, I crunched and chugged and all that is good flooded back.. I had two more!

Tank cannot live by BMs alone howz about a couple of complementary DosXXezz!


So there you have it. Life is not a cycle of work/sleep repeat. It's a cycle of fun/ family and the occasional 8 dollar drink poolside! Work cuz you have to but don't forget to live while your at it!

Tanned Tank out!
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" I must study politics and war...

... that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain."
-- John Adams

While we still study war and politics we study it as a pre-rec to the other pursuits of modern learning. US history 1, you plod through John Smith and the pilgrims, view the decline of relations with the mother country and finally as rare a feat as ever has happened in the existence of mankind happens! Strong willed men and women with much to lose and only a glimpse of an unclear future to fight and die for, that they did what they did?! Stand up to the empire of Britain at the height of her power, is simply beyond comprehension!


John Adams


General George Washington


Join or Die was originally published by Ben Franklin in get this...1754! The seeds were sown way back for revolt. And here we are at 235 years young truly a beacon of light, the symbol of freedom and liberty, not perfect but huddled masses have been lined up to come here since before '76 so we must be doing something right!

Happy Birthday United States of America! Long may you live...



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