A group of us were leaving the restaurant one day after lunch when all of a sudden Lenny yells out “MINE! MINE!” and just about kills everybody stomping on a $10 bill that was lying on the ground. O.K., he saw it first, nobody was trying to take it away from him while he’s cackling like Mr. Hyde and holding his position from the enemy. He put it in his shirt pocket and had it hanging half out so everybody that came to the shop would see it.
A couple hours later he was sitting in his office in Hang Dog Mode chewing on his thumb nail and being glum. This went on for a couple hours ‘til I finally asked him “What’s up with you?” We were busy, the power hadn’t been turned off, he found money and got to show it off all afternoon, what could be better? “Damn”, he says, “my lucky day and all I got out of it was a lousy $10 bill! Why couldn’t it have been 100?” Geez, some people are never satisfied. He was in debt for many thousands of dollars, $100 wouldn’t have helped him out much. Mrs. Lenny got a winning lottery ticket soon after that. $5,000.00 and she wouldn’t let him have any of it. Ha! He spent a lot more than five grand on tickets afterwards trying to win again and beat out Mrs. L.
She spent it on traveling and shopping and such which drove him nuts. He was up in Utah screwing up some billboards (this was the trip where he changed the copy on three boards from “we’re giving 110%” to “10%”, and his excuse was “They must have given me bad art work”) and she met him up there and dragged him over to a Shakespeare Festival in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Lenny said he went for that sort of thing and talked every day about how much he loved listening to opera in the evenings. Rigoletto and Aida every night reading along in the program because he didn’t understand “Eye-Talian”. One day in the shop Dan was listening to the radio and Aida came on so he took it up to the office so Lenny could hear it, too. Lenny said “I just like the arias” and turned it off. He had a whole suitcase of cassette tapes in his truck - both kinds; all Country & Western - he had every Buck Owens and Merle Haggard tape made. All that old time twangy heartbreak stuff; “Mah baby done lef’ me an’ ah feel lak homemade shi-i-i-i-i-t”. Not one classical tape, let alone opera.
What Lenny had to say about Mike Jackson; “That guy charges five times more than anybody! Not really that good, either”.
Riiiiiiiiiiiight! Everybody’s a critic. Mike was probably given bad artwork, anyway.
One time I was working in Las Vegas and noticed my odometer read all 7s. I headed for the nearest casino, which was Sam’s Club, and found a quarter on the sidewalk. Well, YES! It must indeed be my lucky day! I donated a couple bucks to organized crime and when I left, there on the sidewalk was ANOTHER QUARTER! I picked it up and left with “my winnings”, and I feel quite happy about it, even to this day. (Rats!! Why couldn’t it have been a DOLLAR!?)
Posted by Arvil Shep' Shepherd (Member # 2030) on :
Mike, Another great "Lenny" story...don't forget to place me on the book list........
Do you have a photo or Carricature of Lenny to post ??? If not, Draw one ,or get in touch with John Deaton, and have him come up with one........
Shep'
Posted by cheryl nordby (Member # 1100) on :
hehehehehe!
I love these stories!! Posted by Raymond Chapman (Member # 361) on :
I think Lenny is right about that Mike Jackson guy. I've heard tell that it is his wife that has all the talent and does all the work.
Posted by Bruce Bowers (Member # 892) on :
Raymond,
That is just one of those "Urban Legends" that has been circulating for years...
Have a great one!
Posted by Joe Rees (Member # 211) on :
quote:Originally posted by Mike Languein: (Rats!! Why couldn’t it have been a DOLLAR!?)
Ah Mike, you got me. AGAIN. Great finish to another great "Lenny". And a characature, yes. You do realize, in all your character-izations of him, you give out zero clues to his appearance. Tall, bald, big nose, scrawny? I have my own mental image of him all formed, and he animates every new article you publish. In fact, I know my virtual Lenny so well, maybe I don't want to know if I'm wrong.
Posted by Mike Languein (Member # 319) on :
That's right, Joe - I remember 40 or 50 years ago a kid was asked which he liked better, TV or radio. He said; "Radio - the pictures are better."
Posted by GARY CULY (Member # 3130) on :
thanks for the stories mike...my favorite part of the day!!!!!
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