What's So Funny?
Russell Gayer, author speaker
Music from Little Pink
Those of you from the Baby Boomer generation may remember of an album entitled “Music From Big Pink” by The Band. It was recorded in the basement of a rental in West Saugerties, New York. The most popular track on this album was The Weight, which topped out at #63 on the American charts and #21 in the UK. This song’s popularity was partially due to its inclusion in the movie Easy Rider.
What you’re about to learn is the story of two lesser known musicians who attempted to emulate The Band’s success by recording their own album in a renovated outhouse near Stony Point, Virginia.
If you’re new to Friday Flash Fiction, the conductor of our orchestra of story weavers is Roberta Zimmerman Wisoff-Fields. If you’d like to participate in this exercise in madness, head over to her blog for step-by-step instructions. To view the FFF Hollywood Squares Authors Block click here.
Zeke and Virgil spent all morning mixing paint. Pink was hard to come by in their neck of the woods, but a tablespoon of fire-engine red in a gallon of white had rendered a such nauseating color that even the makers of Pepto Bismol were green with envy.
They slopped two coats on their new “studio” and broke for lunch.
“What does Levon mean when he sangs ‘take a load off Fanny?’” asked Zeke.
“Fanny means your butt, dumbass.” Virgil mumbled between mouthfuls of pinto beans and raw onion.
The boys listened to the playback of their first recording and flicked their Bics in enthusiastic approval.
A small cassette player was found miles from the explosion. Flatulence in A minor, written on the tape.
41 Comments on “Music from Little Pink”
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What's So Funny? 
What a funky story. :-). I like how tied everything Pepto Bismol, Fanny funny.
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Laughing all the out in Arizona, Russ.
janet
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all the way out…. Love the Pepto line
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Thanks, Janet. Enjoying some warm weather I hope.
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“Only” supposed to be in the 60’s today but into the low 70’s the next days. I think I can stand it! 🙂
janet
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“such nauseating color that even the makers of Pepto Bismol were green with envy.” Wow. Just wow. You have outdone yourself, my friend.
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Thanks, Danny. My original ending for that line was “blushing with pride,” but I thought green went better with nauseating.
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Oh, I can hear Miss Fanny chuckling 🙂
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Pinto beans and raw onion-deadly combination! Brilliant take on the prompt 😀
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Yep, that’ll make some real eye-burners, or in this cas, highly flamable fumes.
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That was explosively witty, Russell. A descendant of Zeke or Virgil was riding on my train when I was commuting to The Grind Thursday morning. The aroma they emitted was so noxious I nearly keeled over. I wish I could have sniffed Pepto just counterbalance the rank odor filling the train.
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I think that calls for a little Lame Adventure vengence. Load up on sweet potatoes and broccoli. I bet you can have Virgil Jr. gagging all the way to the next stop.
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LOL perhaps it should have been “Flatulence in A Major”. Russell, your imagination is as boundless as the ocean! Roberta would be proud of you 😀
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You’re probably right, Lyn. I’m sure they hit every note in the major scales, including some you’d never want to hear again.
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Pinto beans and raw onion…OMG! 🙂
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Dear Zeke,
I’m going to rock the Bean-O now. Explosively funny.
Shalom,
Roberta
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We were on the same track this week, only different rock groups. Personally I always thought Zeke and Virgil would be the new Beatles especially after I heard their “White Redneck” album, but …. go figure!
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That was one of my favorites too. Too bad they were a one-hit wonder.
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explosive story 🙂 very fanny. i liked your yucky description of the color too ^^
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Hey, I like pink just as much as the next guy. Just not that shade of pink.
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Oh dear, the poor lads!
That is a pretty nauseating colour, isn’t it?
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I was already laughing at your title. i don’t think you even needed a story this time. YOu could have had the worlds shortest Flash Fiction! Music From Little Pink says it all.
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OMG! Russell! There’s so much to love about this! I’m torn between “makers of Pepto Bismal were green with envy” or “flicked their bics in enthusiastic approval” Both equally brilliant, I’ve decided.
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Aw, thank you, Linda. That’s high praise from a gal with one of the funniest blogs in America.
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Ah shcuks! Thank you Russell!
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The boys should have ingested the original PB pink liquid instead of using a look-alike color to cover the walls–although, then there would have been no “hit” recording. A veritable masterpiece of creative thinking, Russell, suitable for a Caribbean Comfort Station.
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Well, we all need good reading material while visiting John.
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Hi Russell,
I bet you’d like this book about The Band called Music From Big Pink by John Niven. He was their drug dealer during the period you mention. It’s at the Fayetteville Public Library if you’d like to give it a read. Ron
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You bet, Ron. Thanks for the tip.
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Cleverly funny. Well done!
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Oh, I bet Rochelle is proud of you. You did some historical fiction here. Even the makers of Pepto Bismol were green with envy…perfect!
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Yes, as bad as I hate to, I actually did some research. I knew you younger readers would need some background on Big Pink before Little Pink would make sense.
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Thank you for calling me a younger reader! Yay!! You made my day.
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Russell – you amaze me! Very funny and we had 4 boys with me fixing red beans & rice many times, plus bean soup. I will wake up laughing tonight at your story – it IS funny! Thanks, Nan
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Explosive number. Careful what you eat.
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Ha.. That’s a band that took a lot of shit.
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You got that right!
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Got a bang out of this one! HaHa! But, honestly, wasn’t expecting that. Good one, Russell!
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Well, thank you for visiting and commenting, Lori. Hope to see you soon.
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Ha! That was a blast, Russell. I thought that was another rocket launch at Wallops Island.
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From the start I was scrutinizing your narrative for mistakes; calling the state of Virginia my home for the past 30 years has made me defensive. I’m gonna let the pinto beans with raw onion slide, figuring you had to cut out “and mustard” to trim it to 100. The rest seems plausibly accurate.
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