Desert Living Makes You Think of Sam Kinison Every Time

Between musical memories, Bob shares his recent journey with anxiety and the process of finding his way back to normal after struggling with unhelpful medications. His humorous take on medical appointment cards that accidentally read "F/U" (follow-up) offers a perfect example of finding laughter in everyday absurdities—especially when sharing the joke with receptionists who could use a smile in their stressful workday.

Chapters

• 0:00 Bob the Blade's 1988 Memories
• 2:16 Rhythm Corps Concert with Injured Singer
• 3:59 Doctor Appointments and Card Humor
• 7:05 Desert Life and Sam Kinison
• 10:15 Small Town Campground Experience
• 12:09 Hair Metal Bands and Danger Danger

Transcript

Blade: 0:00

Let us all find out what sparkling wisdom and insight the guy has to offer. Today. Here he is Bob the Blade. 1988 was just this great year it was, and if you think back on it, I bet you, if you count every year of your life, you could find something great in that year and you're going to end up saying it was a great year. I just know I've had a couple of bad years too, last three, for example, feeling better today After three years of but anyway, 1988,.

Blade: 0:34

The band we just heard was Rhythm Corps, banned out of 1988. And I listened to all their songs on that first album they had and we played this particular song, common Ground, fabulous song that everybody loved, one of those songs that everyone loved, you know, and you go back and you listen to the other tracks on the album. They're good too Solidarity, father's Footsteps. And when word got out to the band that we were playing their song, they're from Michigan, detroit, michigan. When word got out to the band that we were playing their song, they're from Michigan, detroit, michigan. When word got out to the band that we were playing their song a lot and people loved it in our town of Raleigh, north Carolina, they came and did a show for us at one of the clubs the brewery, of course and so they came and did a show, but the problem was the lead singer, michael Persch. Michael Persch had an accident. I don't know how it happened, but he was in a cast Lead singers in a cast and I saw him sitting in a chair. When we showed up I had to introduce them and he was sitting in a chair there, just sitting there smoking, and the rest of the band was tuning up and he was just sitting there smoking in a chair in the back of the brewery. You know, the club said, yeah, who knows if he's gonna even make it, if he's gonna make it on stage or not. You know, and it was big whispers all throughout the crowd of 100, 150 maybe, max at the brewery small place, is the lead singer even going to be here?

Blade: 2:05

And so you go up on stage and there's this formula when you introduce a band right which I was doing there's this particular formula to get the most out of it. Right, everybody's ready to go, they're ready for the band to play. And the formula is this First thing you do is say everybody ready to rock and they're yeah, are you ready to see the show of a lifetime tonight. And everybody's like, yeah, and getting louder and louder, and louder. Epic Records presents in your town, Raleigh, North Carolina, the one and only Rhythm Corps Fever pitch. Everybody's screaming and yelling, and yelling. And that's when you throw in your name and your station, I'm Bob the Blade, 106.1 RDU, and then even louder. That's how you do it, man. Take it from a pro. And so I'm worried.

Blade: 3:00

At that point the band comes running up on stage and there comes Mike Michael Persh in his cane and his crutch and his cast limping up on stage. And the crowd comes up and they pick him up and they lift him up on stage and he's standing there in his cast and he doesn't move much, boom, boom. And they go right into Father's Footsteps, song I loved, and then right into Solidarity, another song they did, and sure enough, towards the end of the show he was there Standing up, didn't move much with his broken leg, I found out later and they did that song, common Ground, which was the name of the album. I was so wowed at that point, man. Now, that is dedication. Have to have people lift you up on stage because you're in a cast. Never forget it. One of the greatest moments in rock that I've ever had brewery wow, what a club. That was so small, but you name it. They played there.

Blade: 3:59

You know, I was talking about how I feel better because I've been going through this anxiety and panic attacks thing for six months. You know, and it's because of the antidepressants. They put me in all these antidepressants and they made me feel worse. They just treated me really badly. I, you know they work for some people. It didn't work for me, just made me feel horrible. So I finally told myself I'm not doing any more antidepressants, I took myself off them and I felt better. I felt normal, back to normal, but still I had these, you know, these anxiety moments 20, 30, 40 more moments or so. I feel good now, you know, but anyway, I've got to follow up with my doctor tomorrow.

Blade: 4:38

You know, and I met with him last month or so, and they always do this when you go to any kind of a doctor here in the year of 2025, they give you these little cards, right, these little cards, you know, do you want a card for your appointment on it? Well, you know, you're going to remind me 15 times on an email and 15 times on a text message and you're going to call and leave 15 messages on the phone. You know I mean, why do you give out these little cards? Write out these little cards? But what cracks me up is every day, for the last 15 years probably, when you get these cards. I love them because they always tell me to F you Right, f you, f you, no, f you.

Blade: 5:25

And I get a laugh out of it every single time F you, is that any way to treat a patient, someone who's paying you probably thousands and thousands of dollars and maybe on their deathbed F you? Is that any respectful way to treat an alien individual such as myself? You have to bring it up to the young girls. You know, behind the desk. The older girls they don't, they're not going to find it funny, but the young girls do. They giggle. He, he, he. You know, I know, you know we didn't mean that that way. I'm like well, it says F you to me, f you. So the last time, this particular girl just grabs the card out of my hand and she starts writing, writing, writing, writing and gives me this Follow up Okay, now that's respectful, thank you very much. And then she underlines it. She got a laugh out of it which is great, because those girls do not get a lot of laughs. That behind a medical desk is a very stressful job. I got a laugh out of it too and walked out of there giggling F you, no, f you. That worked.

Blade: 6:47

Sam Kinison, would you please tell everybody where I live and where this show emanates from.

Sam Kinison: 6:52

Understand that you live in a fucking desert. Do you see this? This is sand. Nothing grows out here, nothing's gonna grow out here!!

Blade: 7:02

And it makes me laugh when I live in the desert, because I think of Sam Kinison Every time something desert-y happens.

Blade: 7:09

Like the other day I ran across this snake slithering across the common area and he was beautiful, you know. And I found him later in the afternoon on my porch Excuse me, my ver porch, excuse me, my veranda on my veranda, just kind of slithering around very slowly, and I watched and watched and watched till he disappeared into a bush somewhere. You know, stuff like that happens constantly. Sometimes you see these little scorpions, you know. They're just kind of walking across the concrete porch, you know, and some people find them in their houses not that often, but they do, you know, and some people find them in their houses Not that often, but they do. You know snakes and haboobs everywhere. It's like I can't see anything.

Blade: 7:44

When you're in the car you have to stop. You know there are dust, storms, you know, and these monsoons that you, I mean, don't get in a car on a monsoon and don't park it in a gully because it'll float away. I mean all these wacky things that happen here in the desert. And when things like that happen, I just laugh and think of Sam Kinison. What do you want? You live in the fucking desert. Then this picture of this guy in a trench coat, 280 pounds, yelling at me and I'm laughing at him as he's yelling at me. That's how the guy makes a living. Bless the man.

Blade: 8:25

He got into a head-on collision and died in 1992 Is that right, poppy 1992. I never can get years right. And in 1992, and he was on a trip somewhere to do a show with his brother and his dog Russo, and he gets into this head on collision with a 17 year old kid who's driving a truck and he somehow manages to get himself out of the car and he's sitting on the road with his backup against his car and he's looking up to the heavens. And I say the heavens, because he was a minister or preacher or one of those at one time. So he's looking up at the heavens hey, I don't want to die now. He says, I know I don't want to die now, I'm not ready to die. And then he pauses 10 or 15 seconds. He's still looking up and he says okay, okay, okay, okay. And then he dies and his brother's telling everybody the story Bill Kennison and so it's incredibly sad, but it's incredibly beautiful. Sad and beautiful is the way I take it.

Blade: 9:41

But every time something desert-y happens out here, I think of Sam Kinison and I say to myself you live in the fucking desert and I laugh To this day. I'm getting a laugh out of that guy and as a comedian, that's what you want. When people think about you, you want them to laugh. Congratulations, sam Kinison. You're a success and I know I'm not the only one. You're just driving through town the other day and I love it because I always find something that's funny or interesting.

Blade: 10:13

It's a small town that has barely enough of everything you know it does. It's got you know hell. We've got you know a campground. That's like the only fun thing to do of any kind of recreation in this town. It's a campground. I saw the sign the other day for the first time Camping Campground. Okay, cool, let's go take a look, you know.

Blade: 10:35

So I drove through and you go underneath this ranch iron ranch, rusted out. You know bars and says something I don't know, indian, and you're driving through and you go, okay, is that how campgrounds are around here? Look at that pile. Don't tell me there's not a family buried in that pile. Grandpa, on this one Campground driving around, there's no connections anywhere. Hey man, I'm used to campgrounds with swimming pools, you know, overlooking lakes, you know pool tables, foosball bars, you know. And connections, sewage, that kind of campground. You know United States of America KOA campground none of that here. Sand, dirt, dust, scorpions, spiders, snakes that's what this campground is. You just bring your little pop-up trailer and you pop it up and you spend the night and you look at the beautiful stars. Maybe they won't charge you, maybe they will. Five bucks, cool. You know truckers, yeah, every now and then. Is that a? I think I'm looking at that. See, there's a few people here now. See, looks like an old Chevy in the distance. And then you just kind of drive out and you Nothing. That's our campground.

Blade: 12:09

It's sometimes called hair metal. We call it big hair Film covers, though it's big hair and they're wearing their sister's clothing. Who is the best big hair band? No, those brain cells died a long time ago, and the last list I saw was a band entitled Danger Danger. We played them a little bit in RDU. You know Danger Boy, of course played it. You know Mr Mark Ar course played it. You know Mr Mark Arson, mr Big Hair, of course he would play Danger Danger.

Blade: 12:43

I was looking at some of their songs that I had forgotten all about, like Bang Bang, naughty, naughty. When she's good, she's good, when she's bad, she's good, when she's bad, she's better. That's brilliant. Now that, give it to them. That one is brilliant, but there's nothing that tops the song. I slipped her the big one, the one, the one that Danger Danger should be known for. I slipped her the big one, ladies, and I slipped her the big one, ladies and gentlemen. I slipped her the big one. Okay, this concludes the Blade video podcast. All Blade content can be found at BobTheBladecom. We will see you next time. So, baby, if you're ready to play, let's get naughty, naughty, dirty, dirty.