Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

One lie, alone, tears the fabric of reality.

Since we are repeating ourselves, let me just say fuck that.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Not rolling over. fuck you, make me.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Roe is not about choice. It is about freedom.

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

This really is a full service blog.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

If you voted for Trump, you don’t get to speak about ethics, morals, or rule of law.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

The snowflake in chief appeared visibly frustrated when questioned by a reporter about egg prices.

The words do not have to be perfect.

Text STOP to opt out of updates on war plans.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it is not glory.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

Let me file that under fuck it.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / Ahh, the Innocence and Stupidity of Youth

Ahh, the Innocence and Stupidity of Youth

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Here’s one you are going to love. This is me in either 1987 or 88 or 89 at the age of 17-19, when I lived outside Poughkeepsie, NY, in Verbank, and worked as a roadie for a sound and light group (Smavsco) as one of the monkeys who climbed the stacks when I wasn’t a busboy at a really nice restaurant in Millbrook (Allyn’s). This was the same summer that Todd Rundgren called me an asshole at Woodstock at a July 4th celebration where we ran the sound and lighting. At any rate, this was at the Clearwater Great Hudson River Revival (we did the sound and lighting there), and it was either 1987, 88, or 89. Here I am, in all my hippy love days GD concert going glory, weaving a friendship bracelet with my buddy Jason Adams:

mecirca1988

You know how much I must love you to post this one.

Reader Interactions

120Comments

  4. 4.

    guachi

    I may have had long hair and a goatee as a college freshman, but I never sunk so low as to weave a friendship bracelet.lol.

    I still find it strange that you aren’t that much older than me. You SEEM older as you were in the first Gulf War and I didn’t join the Navy until I was 27 in 2001 and got to go to Iraq in 2009. Yay!

  8. 8.

    Anne Laurie

    Check the thread you just stepped on — your second-least-favorite lawyer is jeering at your sartorial choices.

  9. 9.

    Steeplejack

    Embiggening the picture actually leads to significant embiggening. Kudos, sir. Apparently my all-caps e-mail was not in vain.

  12. 12.

    muddy

    @Fluke bucket: Back in the days when there were only 2 kinds, filter or no filter. I smoked the ones with the filter because I didn’t like the bits getting in my mouth. My bf smoked no filters because he said the filter fibers were what really caused cancer. Now there are about 15 kinds of Camels, not that I smoke cigs anymore.

  14. 14.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    that Todd Rundgren called me an asshole at Woodstock

    A brush with fame!

    Were you a bandana’d little Reaganite in ’88?

  21. 21.

    mainmati

    My first (formal) job was as a busboy at Poli’s Restaurant in Pittsburgh, famous for its seafood and I personally served bread and water to Roberto Clemente (then known as “Bob”) my boyhood hero. Still one of the high points of my young life.

  22. 22.

    YellowJournalism

    The last time I wove a friendship bracelet was fifth grade.

    Who was the bracelet for?

  26. 26.

    Punchy

    I say this very heterosexually, but either your shorts have a odd fold or you have the biggest wang this side of Dirk Diggler.

  27. 27.

    oldster

    I bet back then, your limbs and joints didn’t even hurt at the end of the day.

    I can’t believe how young you were in ’87.

  31. 31.

    ruemara

    I’m sorry, at first glance I thought those were pants. apologies. Also, I’m a female and I’ve never woven a friendship bracelet. …Really, JC.

  32. 32.

    Genine

    I’m pretty sure Elmer’s School Glue has more color than your legs did.

    Adorbs, though.

  35. 35.

    Violet

    @SatanicPanic: Watching rugby matches this past weekend we noticed that apparently mullets are coming back in style. This was international level rugby, so not just a bunch of local yahoos. First mullets I’ve seen in awhile. Young guys, too–maybe 22 or 23 years old.

  36. 36.

    Juju

    Your legs, in that picture, are almost as white as my legs are, and have always been. Pasty white legged people untie.

    Todd Rundgren called you an a$$hole? That’s quite impressive. The best I can do is being told to buzz off by Peter Graves when I was visiting the Smithsonian.

  40. 40.

    SatanicPanic

    @Violet: I must confess that this year I finally gained the courage to rock the mullet I had been talking about doing for around 15 years. More of euro-hipster mullet, but it’s SFLB so I think it qualifies.

  41. 41.

    fuckwit

    This is pretty cool. You’re a very complex man. You went from hippie, to soldier, to college professor, from Deadhead to neocon to Democrat, there’s just a lot of range there.

  43. 43.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @Violet: Good God I thought I was the only one.

    At one time Mr. Q. was a driver for a local Air Express (or something similar) and he delivered a package of cds (I think) to Todd Rundgren in Woodstock. Todd himself answered the door. Mr. Q, surprised, said “you’re Todd Rundgren.” The reply was “I know that.”

    There’s a very sweet story about the last time Mr. Q saw him in concert, but I don’t want to Toddjack the thread about Cole’s pasty skinned youth.

  44. 44.

    Comrade Mary

    You were already wearing one friendship bracelet, and you were making ANOTHER? You must be one of those “extroverts” I keep reading about.

    Sweet pic, John. I especially appreciate the base layer of freckles on your hands and forearms.

  45. 45.

    pokeyblow

    Iggy Pop stole Todd Rundgren’s girlfriend once. I think Todd called Iggy an asshole too.

  47. 47.

    ranchandsyrup

    @Violet: The style-mullet rears its head every few years.

    @SatanicPanic: you’re prolly right about that. I admit I have mullet envy here. I had a pretty sweet mullet back in those years but not the curls. A non-ironic straight mullet is exponentially more whiskey tango than just having a mullet.

  54. 54.

    Redshirt

    @? Martin: Actually, upon closer inspection, what I thought was smoke is actually the bottom of someones rucksack. Go hippy!

    So, there’s no smoke at all, and this is just a wholesome pick of a future conservative weaving a Reagan Bracelet.

  55. 55.

    MattR

    @burnspbesq: Been enjoying it all week. I like the new stuff and appreciate their improved songwriting and musicianship but IMO nothing will ever top the rawness of Pablo Honey. (And The Bends and OK Computer are probably my second and third favorite albums). I have no idea how I never saw them live back then. Pretty sure I was home from school on June 1, 1995. Inexcusable.

  56. 56.

    tofubo

    goin to ohio the 13th and 14th, gonna do a walk about to some old man’s cave and swim about in a cedar like falls one of those two days, you should come and join us

  63. 63.

    Yatsuno

    @Comrade Mary: It is impossible to manage after a point. Plus it’s summer and really really warm (the folks saying it’s hot are just being bitchy) so I had to do something. It grows like wildfire though so it’ll be a nice floppy curly mop again in no time.

  69. 69.

    Comrade Mary

    @Yatsuno:

    It grows like wildfire though so it’ll be a nice floppy curly mop again in no time.

    Yeah, Le Guy has the same issue. I’m sure you look nice cropped (a teeny bit of length? a hint of curl?), and fall will bring the floppy again, I’m sure.

  71. 71.

    janeform

    @MattR: Yup — a song or two. This Punch Brothers cover is awesome.

    ETA: Thanks for the photo John Cole. Hard to be believe you were a Reaganite looking like that.

  74. 74.

    muddy

    @ranchandsyrup: Eek, ICP! My kid went to a concert of theirs with his friends in the 90s. I had attended the Marilyn Manson one out of curiosity, I didn’t have issues with it, I just wanted to check it out. Wasn’t up for the clowns. Give me a fucking nightmare.

    My brush with Phish fame was selling mushrooms to them in the 80’s at Nectar’s. Or one of them, or I don’t know. I didn’t pay much attention at the time. Later when they were known I remembered them from Nectar’s. Which was mostly cocaine ridden at the time, kind of a different head.

  75. 75.

    ? Martin

    @Violet: Yeah, Cole and I are the same age and played soccer up through college. Never had a mullet.

    The only universal hairstyle in soccer is the women’s ponytail. And thank god, because it’s my favorite hairstyle.

  76. 76.

    Yatsuno

    @Comrade Mary:

    a teeny bit of length?

    Always. I leave the high and tights to the NYD. :) There’s just enough wave on top to play with and style if I choose to.

  80. 80.

    MattR

    @? Martin: I thought the Easy Star All Starts stayed much truer to the original on Radiodread than they did on their first cover album, Dub Side of the Moon. I am not too familiar with their later covers of Sgt Pepper and Thriller.

    @janeform: Nice. I like that. Gonna have to dig into the Punch Brothers. Always looking for new music to listen to while I work.

  81. 81.

    Yatsuno

    Watching a cute guy make a fool of himself so his buddy can get a good grade is all kinds of levels of awesome.

    @Comrade Mary: I’m just happy that at my age they still need to use thinning shears on me. Plus I do have the gray that runs in my family but it blends into my hair colour.

  85. 85.

    trollhattan

    @andrew long:

    Hell, we can start calling Cole “Leroy” because for all I know, that could be his actual nym.

    And Leroy with a mullet kinda go together, like leopard-print seat covers in a Datsun B210.

  92. 92.

    Violet

    @Lolis: What’s with all these people saying Cole doesn’t look like a Republican? He looks like plenty of Republicans looked in the late 80’s. Don’t let the stoner look fool you.

  93. 93.

    dance around in your bones

    You look like such a sweetie, Cole. I totally would have done you except I would have been old enough to be yo mama.

    Last time I made a ‘friendship bracelet’ was in summer camp, only we called them lanyards (or as I just learned from Wikipedia ‘Scoubidou”) – hahahaha – that’s irony. They’re made out of plastic so not very comfortable except for wearing around your neck with a whistle or whatever.

  95. 95.

    AHH onna Droid

    @ruemara: Fuck it, I wore friendship bracelets. They were a fashion statement, okay? Okay, so we made them in camp.

  96. 96.

    AHH onna Droid

    @dance around in your bones: You’re thinking of w what wecalled ‘gimp’ which was plastic and only fit for key chains. Similar knots. what Cole is wearing is made from embroidery floss. The knots are typically more elaborate, too.

  103. 103.

    MattR

    @Violet: I thought the consensus was that John was still smokin’ ;)

    After careful consideration, I think I have to choose God’s twitter feed over Jesus’s. How had I never seen either of those before tonight? I am definitely getting old and out of touch.

    (EDIT: I thought God’s choice for the only person he follows was a nice touch)

  105. 105.

    Yatsuno

    @MikeJ: Todd can see the future, where we’ve all called him an asshole at one time or another.

    Meet-up: July 13th at Pike Brewery. I need to get an FPer to pick this up as my e-mail has gone completely ungestuppt. No time yet but possibly 8ish unless our guest objects. I will try to get buoyant verdant spheroids.

  106. 106.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    How weird. I just assumed that you had been this rah rah super straight right-wing youth who became a Bush war blogger, and only after that made the slow shift to the dirty hippie side. Just goes to show what I know.

    Well you know the old expression: if a man’s not liberal when he’s young he has no heart, and if he’s not conservative when he’s a little older he has no brain, and if he’s not liberal again a little after that he has no powers of perception, and if he’s not an anarchist when he’s a little older than that he has no books by David Graeber, and if he’s not a crypto-chronosynclastic infundibulist next he has no space ship….

  107. 107.

    Jewish Steel

    @Yatsuno:

    @MikeJ:

    Sure, artsy type. Very sensitive. I can see it.

    My SIL is in Snoqualmie for a couple of weeks. I was just telling her to go the pho place on Aurora where you get the delicious french cream puffs. I miss it.

  108. 108.

    MikeJ

    @Yatsuno:

    Meet-up: July 13th at Pike Brewery.

    We will soon see if Democrats can actually organize a piss-up in a brewery.

  109. 109.

    matt Q

    Holy crap! I was a litter-picker at the 88 revival! I’ve still got the neon pink & green staff shirt from the festival in a drawer somewhere.

  110. 110.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @Jewish Steel: I saw Todd perform once in my life in NYC around 1990, and his stage banter consisted in large part of him calling Paul Simon, Lorne Michaels, and a string of others similar names. Not making a judgment on whether he was right or wrong, it was just pretty striking.

  111. 111.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    Ah, yes, I remember the pictures of my friends in my hippy days. Eventually the Post Office took them all down.

  112. 112.

    dance around in your bones

    @AHH onna Droid:

    You’re thinking of w what wecalled ‘gimp’ which was plastic and only fit for key chains. Similar knots. what Cole is wearing is made from embroidery floss. The knots are typically more elaborate, too.

    I have done tablet/card weaving, knitting, crochet, quilting, finger weaving (which is similar to what Cole is talking about) and numerous other fiber arts. I think I know what he was talking about (was just getting some mild snark in there).\

    Never heard the term gimp before, so thanks for that! We just made those stupid lanyards.

  113. 113.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)

    @muddy: Gah. I thought I was joking, but that sentence just clicked with an idea I had kicking around. “Now We’re All Old Together”. So much for getting a lesson plan done tomorrow.

  114. 114.

    Jamey

    Admit it, JGC, you’re proud of this pic and the stories involved. (Frankly, you have a right to be.)

  116. 116.

    gogol's wife

    Two nights ago I started thinking about a college friend, who was in our group that traveled all through Eastern Europe (camping! first and last time in my life) between junior and senior years. When I got up in the morning I googled him and discovered that he had died of a sudden heart attack in fall 2011. The last line of his obituary was “His favorite band was the Grateful Dead.” That made me so sad. Just that line brought back so many memories of 8-track tapes while crossing the Carpathians in a VW bus. Youth never comes back, does it?

  117. 117.

    The Pale Scot

    @NotMax:

    Friend of mine inherited a ’55 Thunderbird from his mother which had original-equipment leopard print upholstery.

    I was driving up i-95 in FL a couple of years ago and passed a ’63 T-bird with original plates and a bit on the rough side (no restoration). the driver was a women in her 60’s dressed to nines with elaborate nails and ‘doo. All I could think was that’s her baby.

  119. 119.

    Kofu

    It’s a beautiful thing! And it’s been your redemption, too, in a “regression to the mean” kind of way.

  120. 120.

    Angela

    I love it when you post stuff like this pic, Cole. It helps soften me toward my sons, who are finding their own way too.

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