My Memories Of George Carlin @ "The Cellar" In Fort Worth, Texas 1959

First off, I met George Carlin with my Mom and Step-Father back in 1959 when I was 11. I have always lived in Dallas but after my Mom and Dad divorced, she married this guy from Fort Worth.... and we moved there for a couple of years. My Step-Dad was a close personal friend at the time of one of the owners of Fort Worth's major TV station KTVT - Channel 11. He had friends at KXOL-1360 AM where George was a DJ. When I googled this I found the following.... because I couldn't remember the radio station.

Long before the infamous seven words, George Carlin honed his comedy as a Fort Worth radio personality in 1959.

See Full Article

Anyway..... there was a club called The Cellar which was kind of a beatnik / pre-Hippy club. There was also one that eventually started in Dallas across the street from the old KLIF 1190 radio station. The Fort Worth Cellar is where I first met George Carlin with my parents and their friends. He was such a sweet, wonderful guy and was absolutely a genius. Although George was only in Fort Worth for a few months before he left for Hollywood, he went to several media parties that I accompanied my Mom and Step-Father and had several opportunities to talk with him. He was 12 years older than me and I really viewed him at the time as a big brother figure.

What is funny.... is that when I had my rock band from 1965 to 1967, we actually played at The Cellar a few times in Fort Worth. In fact, one of the last gigs we played in Fort Worth is when the Fort Worth Police Department escorted us out of town (long story).

Sometime in the mid 70's, my wife at the time and I went to Las Vegas and went to a George Carlin show. I sent him a note and told him of our history together. He invited us back stage after the show and we had an opportunity to attend an after show party with him. Occasionally over the next 35 years, whenever we went to Las Vegas we would try and insure that we would be there when George was also playing. It didn't always happen, but I was fortunate enough to see him a few more times over that period of time and had the honor of his company as we both aged.

He was a classy guy with a big heart and I will miss him very much.

Dave

[edit on 6/25/2008 by Dave Rabbit]

reply to post by Dave Rabbit


he was my dad's favorite

they had a very similar sense of humor - and perspective on the world

so, I grew up watching him

he was still one of the funniest guys around - and most insightful - right up to the end

the news that he was gone really hit me -

you were lucky to have known him

He was a brilliant man with a quick wit. Here are some of his quips:

1. When cheese gets it's picture taken, what does it say?
2. When someone asks you, A penny for your thoughts, and you put your two cents in, what happens to the other penny?
3. If lawyers are disbarred and clergymen defrocked, doesn't it follow that electricians can be delighted, musicians denoted?
4. I thought about how mothers feed their babies with tiny little spoons and forks so I wondered, what do Chinese mothers use? Toothpicks?
5. If a pig loses its voice, is it disgruntled?
6. Is a vegetarian permitted to eat animal crackers?
7. What if there were no hypothetical questions?
8. Frisbeetarianism is the belief that when you die, your soul goes up on the roof and gets stuck.
9. Some national parks have long waiting lists for camping reservations. When you have to wait a year to sleep next to a tree, something is wrong.
10. Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish, and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day.

11. Before they invented drawing boards, what did they go back to?
12. Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday.
13. Why do croutons come in airtight packages? It's just stale bread to begin with.
14. Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?
15. If the #2 pencil is the most popular, why is it still #2?
16. Electricity is really just organized lightning.
17. Women like silent men, they think they're listening.
18. "I am" is reportedly the shortest sentence in the English language. Could it be that "I do" is the longest sentence?
19. Men are from Earth, women are from Earth. Deal with it.
20. If all the world is a stage, where is the audience sitting?

21. Well, if crime fighters fight crime and fire fighters fight fire, what do freedom fighters fight? They never mention that part to us, do they?
22. Honesty may be the best policy, but it's important to remember that apparently, by elimination, dishonesty is the second-best policy.
23. I recently went to a new doctor and noticed he was located in something called the Professional Building. I felt better right away.
24. Why is the man (or woman) who invests all your money called a broker?
25. There's no present. There's only the immediate future and the recent past.
26. As a matter of principle, I never attend the first annual anything.
27. The very existence of flame-throwers proves that some time, somewhere, someone said to themselves, You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I'm just not close enough to get the job done.
28. Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
29. I think it's the duty of the comedian to find out where the line is drawn and cross it deliberately.
30. The only good thing ever to come out of religion was the music.

31. Religion convinced the world that there's an invisible man in the sky who watches everything you do. And there's 10 things he doesn't want you to do or else you'll go to a burning place with a lake of fire until the end of eternity. But he loves you! ...And he needs money! He's all powerful, but he can't handle money!
32. This is a little prayer dedicated to the separation of church and state. I guess if they are going to force those kids to pray in schools they might as well have a nice prayer like this: Our Father who art in heaven, and to the republic for which it stands, thy kingdom come, one nation indivisible as in heaven, give us this day as we forgive those who so proudly we hail. Crown thy good into temptation but deliver us from the twilight's last gleaming. Amen and Awomen.
33. Always do whatever's next.
34. At a formal dinner party, the person nearest death should always be seated closest to the bathroom.
35. Atheism is a non-prophet organization.
36. By and large, language is a tool for concealing the truth.
37. Death is caused by swallowing small amounts of saliva over a long period of time.
38. Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things.
39. Dusting is a good example of the futility of trying to put things right. As soon as you dust, the fact of your next dusting has already been established.
40. Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity.

41. I have as much authority as the Pope, I just don't have as many people who believe it.
42. I think it would be interesting if old people got anti-Alzheimer's disease where they slowly began to recover other people's lost memories.
43. I think people should be allowed to do anything they want. We haven't tried that for a while. Maybe this time it'll work.
44. I was thinking about how people seem to read the Bible a whole lot more as they get older; then it dawned on me - they're cramming for their final exam.
45. I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman, "Where's the self-help section?" She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose.
46. I would never want to be a member of a group whose symbol was a guy nailed to two pieces of wood.
47. I'm always relieved when someone is delivering a eulogy and I realize I'm listening to it.
48. I'm completely in favor of the separation of Church and State. My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death.
49. I'm not concerned about all hell breaking loose, but that a PART of hell will break loose... it'll be much harder to detect.
50. If God had intended us not to masturbate he would've made our arms shorter.

51. If it's true that our species is alone in the universe, then I'd have to say the universe aimed rather low and settled for very little.
52. If we could just find out who's in charge, we could kill him.
53. If you can't beat them, arrange to have them beaten.
54. In comic strips, the person on the right always speaks first.
55. Inside every cynical person, there is a disappointed idealist.
56. Just cause you got the monkey off your back doesn't mean the circus has left town.
57. May the forces of evil become confused on the way to your house.
58. Most people work just hard enough not to get fired and get paid just enough money not to quit.
59. Not only do I not know what's going on, I wouldn't know what to do about it if I did.
60. One can never know for sure what a deserted area looks like.

61. One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor.
62. People who say they don't care what people think are usually desperate to have people think they don't care what people think.
63. Religion is just mind control.
64. Some people see things that are and ask, Why? Some people dream of things that never were and ask, Why not? Some people have to go to work and don't have time for all that.
65. Standing ovations have become far too commonplace. What we need are ovations where the audience members all punch and kick one another.
66. The main reason Santa is so jolly is because he knows where all the bad girls live.
67. The other night I ate at a real nice family restaurant. Every table had an argument going.
68. The reason I talk to myself is that I'm the only one whose answers I accept.
69. The status quo sucks.
70. The very existence of flame-throwers proves that some time, somewhere, someone said to themselves, You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I'm just not close enough to get the job done.

71. There are nights when the wolves are silent and only the moon howls.
72. There's no present. There's only the immediate future and the recent past.
73. Think off-center.
74. Weather forecast for tonight: dark.
75. Well, if crime fighters fight crime and fire fighters fight fire, what do freedom fighters fight? They never mention that part to us, do they?
76. What does it mean to pre-board? Do you get on before you get on?
77. When someone is impatient and says, "I haven't got all day," I always wonder, How can that be? How can you not have all day?
78. When Thomas Edison worked late into the night on the electric light, he had to do it by gas lamp or candle. I'm sure it made the work seem that much more urgent.
79. When you step on the brakes your life is in your foot's hands.

80. When you're born you get a ticket to the freak show. When you're born in America, you get a front row seat.
81. You know an odd feeling? Sitting on the toilet eating a chocolate candy bar.
82. You know the good part about all those executions in Texas? Fewer Texans.

Dave, I did not know you were aDFW boy, from Ft Worth myself, although I currently reside in New Zealand.

The stories I listened to growing up about The Cellar..wow takes me back many years...

my mother was a hippie chick and my dad a pure Texas redneck...but oddly enough at least from the stories they told...they both enjoyed The Cellar...lotta infamous people/stories come out of that time and place...

thanks for that!

reply to post by deadbang


Yeah.... Dallas born, bred, schooled and retired. The only time I have ever been out of Dallas, other than trips, was my 4 years in the Air Force and my three tours in Nam. I have LOTS of stories of the Fort Worth Cellar which can NOT be posted on the boards here at ATS. One that I can tell however is one of the times my high school band played there. The Cellar was really a wonderful, intimate club atmosphere. Of course, you could cut the SMOKE with a knife it was so thick. (YES, all kinds of SMOKE) Anyway.... during our breaks they had a couple of Go Go Girls that would get up on these soap box looking things and dance to pre-recorded music. Well, this particular time, the girls decided to take their clothes off..... now, considering that The Cellar was NOT a Gentleman's Club thing, this was an extreme NO NO. So, we are in the back taking a break and all of the sudden we hear these whistles being blown. When we look around the corner, we see the Fort Worth Police Department taking the girls away with jackets draped around them. Well, at that stage we weren't sure if we were going back on, but after the owners and the officers conferred, they decided the girls did it on their own and did not close the club. We finished our set and that was it. Now keep in mind, this is one that I CAN TELL.

Glad you enjoyed the trip down memory lane. Would love to hear from some others that lived in the Dallas/Fort Worth area during that period of time in the 60's.

Dave

reply to post by Dave Rabbit


I always heard George Carlin was sweet and decent. One of my pals was a roomservice waiter at the big hotel here in town and had a lovely story of Carlin's exquisite manners and intense tipping that had a flavor of like the Zen master tapping your head and transmitting joy and enlightenment. Recent story, about five years back too.
In fact, I like this whole genre of lore, where the little people and the service people and the grips confer about which movie stars are sweet and righteous and inspire love and loyalty, and which TV stars are slow-pay and no-pay and endless excuses why they stiff the contractors who rebuilt their deck with bad checks...if a star is sweet and true you can more confidently take their work to heart, seems like. Although mean bitter evildoers know things, too. Still...

reply to post by nine-eyed-eel


My time with George was as an 11 year old through possibly 55. Obviously, it's not like we hung out every day so that would be sheer speculation. however, the time I spent with him, he was exactly as I described.... a sweet, caring, loving and gentle person on planet earth. He questioned authority at the drop of a hat..... but so do we all here on ATS. Again, he may have been a different personality than what I observed personally.... but my experience is a Leopard is a Leopard..... if it has spots, it always has spots.

Thanks for your contribution to the thread.

Dave

Originally posted by Dave Rabbit
First off, I met George Carlin with my Mom and Step-Father back in 1959 when I was 11. I have always lived in Dallas but after my Mom and Dad divorced, she married this guy from Fort Worth.... and we moved there for a couple of years. My Step-Dad was a close personal friend at the time of one of the owners of Fort Worth's major TV station KTVT - Channel 11. He had friends at KXOL-1360 AM where George was a DJ. When I googled this I found the following.... because I couldn't remember the radio station.

Long before the infamous seven words, George Carlin honed his comedy as a Fort Worth radio personality in 1959.

See Full Article

Anyway..... there was a club called The Cellar which was kind of a beatnik / pre-Hippy club. There was also one that eventually started in Dallas across the street from the old KLIF 1190 radio station. The Fort Worth Cellar is where I first met George Carlin with my parents and their friends. He was such a sweet, wonderful guy and was absolutely a genius. Although George was only in Fort Worth for a few months before he left for Hollywood, he went to several media parties that I accompanied my Mom and Step-Father and had several opportunities to talk with him. He was 12 years older than me and I really viewed him at the time as a big brother figure.

What is funny.... is that when I had my rock band from 1965 to 1967, we actually played at The Cellar a few times in Fort Worth. In fact, one of the last gigs we played in Fort Worth is when the Fort Worth Police Department escorted us out of town (long story).

Sometime in the mid 70's, my wife at the time and I went to Las Vegas and went to a George Carlin show. I sent him a note and told him of our history together. He invited us back stage after the show and we had an opportunity to attend an after show party with him. Occasionally over the next 35 years, whenever we went to Las Vegas we would try and insure that we would be there when George was also playing. It didn't always happen, but I was fortunate enough to see him a few more times over that period of time and had the honor of his company as we both aged.

He was a classy guy with a big heart and I will miss him very much.

Dave

[edit on 6/25/2008 by Dave Rabbit]

Dude I hung @ the celler in 69/70/71---Diamond Hill thug

reply to post by MatrixProphet


Ho ho Thanks for them-along with Bill Hicks,George Carlin was one of the true enlightened freethinkers of our age-he also happened to be hilariously funny.
His version of the aristocrats joke is absolutely priceless:
Here he is talking about it:



[edit on 02/10/08 by karl 12]

I might be repeating myself....back when I worked for a Major Airline I was seated in First Class (don't remembger the city-pair) and noticed George Carlin over across the aisle.

As a fan, I was torn....I wanted to go say hello, but he looked as if he was in his own World, so I just did nothing.

My opinion is....it was respect for a celebritie's personal space, and privacy.

It's better to see someone's work than to attempt to put them on the spot, when they are 'off-stage'....and just being normal Human Beings, best they can, under the scrutiny of possibly rabid fans......