#919: Robert Grass

RECORD STORE TALES #919: Robert Grass

During the summer of 1988, we were lucky to have some cottage visits with the Szabo family.  They had been friends for years.  Robert Szabo is now a successful guitar player/singer/songwriter.  Back then he was a neighbour from school, but his younger siblings Steve and Michelle were also good friends.  They came to visit us at our cottage, and then we went to go and visit them at their place in Grand Bend.  A much busier beach town.

When they came to visit us, we treated them to a backyard barbecue and some fun and amusements.  Steven and Michelle came; Rob was busy elsewhere.  We busted out the games and, as usual, improvised.  We played a drawing game based on the TV show Win, Lose or Draw.  You had to draw sketches and people guessed the words you were trying to draw.  We used coloured markers and went to town on good ol’ lined paper.

We were having a great time but after a few rounds, people were guessing too easily.  I decided to throw a curve ball and pick something to draw that would be harder to guess.  A musical artist but an obvious one that people associated with me.  I chose “Robert Plant”, because I thought it was a recognizable enough name, but not an obvious pick.  Young kids in 1988 were not all familiar with Robert Plant, but some of us were.

Two words.  First word!

I drew Steven and Michelle’s family, with Robert as the tallest.  They successfully guessed “Robert” as the first word.  I hoped this wasn’t too easy.

Second word.  I grabbed a green marker and started drawing plants.  They were having trouble guessing the second word.  Shrubs, weeds, and….

“ROBERT GRASS!” yelled my sister Kathryn, seemingly in victory.

I laughed.  “Who the hell is Robert Grass?” I asked.

“I don’t know!” she answered.

A logical answer I suppose since I did draw some grass with my plants.  After much laughter and giggling, they eventually got the correct guy, Robert Plant, which made a lot more sense than Robert Grass.  And within a year or so, my sister even owned Now and Zen on cassette!  That more than made up for her wrong guess.

 

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25 comments

  2. I once knew a guy who’s first name was Denver and once asked someone at my high school one day if they’d seen him. The response I got was “Denver [dude’s last name]?”. Note that he was the only Denver I knew of at the school, so I snarkily responded with ‘No, Denver Colorado”. The response I got was “Don’t know him”.

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    1. LOL how many Denvers can there be at one school! Good story Kopp. Reminds me of that scene in Forrest Gump, with all the soldiers that had the name of cities but they weren’t the cities they were from.

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      1. It was a last name related story so I thought it was relevant. I wanted to give the readers more bang for their buck, or actually, more entertainment for their time.

        And I wouldn’t know the scene because I’ve never seen the movie, nor do I ever plan to.

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  7. back in the 80’s I took American popular music history class. Back then I was somewhat familiar with Motown and thought I knew at least something of the popular music history. Well, either I was wrong or the artists covered were not so popular. Those classes were strange, not once was there any sign of joy or anything to close to feeling how amazing and powerful music at best is and always has been. I wonder if most of the artists/bands covered in that class would be any more familiar to me now.

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