System of Love EP by The Swimming Pool Q's- MP3 Album
Jeff Calder's 50th Birthday Memoirs > Robert Schmid (1) > Orange Freeze
Around the beginning of 1979, we (the Q's) were working our way up the
East coast. The morning after a show in Washington,DC, we decided to
eat breakfast at a Ho Jo's (Howard Johnson's to the dilettantes). This
choice was made primarily because Bob (Elsey) had an
uncontrollable hankering for the infamous Ho Jo orange freeze that
quickly spread to the whole group. We arrived and were seated after no
small wait. We were a rather unconventional
looking group of people to say the least. I believe Jeff was
sporting his Demetridon hairdo at the time and the rest of us
probably looked like the recipients of some vaudeville prop man's
throwaways. However, we were always unfailingly polite and very patient
people. The waitress proceeded to ignore us for ages. We were
finally allowed to order and waited for an eternity
for our food which arrived cold(our orange freezes were, at least,
excellent) . Her attitude was antagonistic despite our friendly
Southern demeanors. Jeff proposed revenge in the form of a feigned
heart attack at the cash register. We had gone to the front to settle
our bill when Jeff immediately clutched his chest and grimaced in
agony. After a moment of theatrical gesticulating, he fell to the floor
shattering the "Please wait to be seated" sign in the process.
Jeff now had the rapt attention of the entire restaurant and had
induced apoplexy on the management and staff. The bill was hastily
forgiven after we ministered to Jeff ("Please! Just give him some
air!") and denied the need for medical attention. Jeff quickly
arose like
Lazarus and fairly skipped out of the place with us all in tow.
-Robert Schmid