RECORD STORE TALES #1108: Oojaboojagan

Creative relationships are something I have always craved in my life.  In these pages, we’ve shared the stories of the legendary Bob Schipper, my childhood friend with whom I created so many adventures, games, characters and art.  Our media was written, it was drawn, it was recorded to audio and even video.  Any way we could create, we did.  We made music videos, documentary style videos, comic books, audio skits and so much more.  When childhood came to its inevitable end, a hole in my life broke open.  I had no creative partner anymore, and I still craved to express myself with someone.  As many friends came into my life, I failed to find someone who wanted to sit down and write or record.

In 2023 I met a new friend named Jex Russell.  We “officially” became friends on social media on February 5 2023.  Even though there’s quite an age difference between us, we get along well and have great creative chemistry.  Although distance defies us, we have managed to make some fun videos together, and have also collaborated with the written word.  He reminds me a lot of Bob Schipper.  Like Bob, we’ve invented some of our own gibberish.

Bob Schipper example:  when we were kids, around 1983, Bob created a character named Ooja.  Ooja was a monster we had to defeat.  In our winter adventures, a giant snowbank worked as an Ooja monster we could pummel.  That kept us going for an afternoon.  I found out later on that the name Ooja was based on the Ouija board that Bob found in his basement.  It once belonged to his older brother or sister.  He didn’t know how it was pronounced, so he called it “Ooja”.  That became a word for us to use.

Jex Russell example:  upon our first works together, Jex began co-hosting episodes of Grab A Stack of Rock with me.  On his first real co-hosting gig, he was on his way to his parents’ place to stream from their house that weekend.  He sent me updates via videos of his travels that day.  Passing theough Haute-Aboujagane, New Brunswick, I had a giggle at the name of the place.  It sounded funny to me.  I sent a message back to Jex:  “What was that place called, Oojaboojagan or something??”

Jex found my mangling of Haute-Aboujagane to be funny in return, and suddenly, we had our own word:  “Oojaboojagan”.

You may have heard us use this word before if you’ve been paying attention.  Once again, I twisted it around and gave it a new meaning.  I started calling Jex “my Oojaboojgan”, meaning “brother” or “friend”.  Now, he’s my oojaboojagan.  A creative partner that I value for friendship and the ability to collaborate with my scattershot mind.

Check Jex out at Jexcalibur.wordpress.com, and tell him that Oojaboojagan sent you!  You’ll be seeing more of our creative uniqueness in 2024.