SHOWTIME AND OVERTURE
In the Beginning...it all started on a wee, speck-island town across the bay from San Francisco, called Alameda...'twas 1968 and...
top of page
"Close, but no Cigar"
The Cookin' Mama Story
By Tommy Thompson
Search
Tommy Thompson
Jul 10, 20203 min
1st Movement: Tommy & Vince
Like all high school kids, at least of that time period, I had to have some kind of day job in order to earn spendin’ cash….
159 views
Tommy Thompson
Jul 3, 20203 min
2nd Movement: Tommy, Vince & Larry
"You can learn a lot by just watching.”
-- Yogi Berra
115 views
Tommy Thompson
Jun 26, 20209 min
3rd Movement: Tommy, Vince & Lou
It was now sometime near the beginning of 1969 when ol’ Vince n’ I decided it was time to put out the feelers to Lou...
127 views
Tommy Thompson
Jun 19, 202020 min
4th Movement: Glenda
Glenda Plant was in my high school graduating class of ’69. She was tall, gorgeous, kind, sexy, intelligent, voluptuous, loving...
219 views
Tommy Thompson
Jun 12, 20201 min
1st Interlude: "Chronology"
Lest y’all think that these 3 episodes with Glenda have been constructed by your humble narrator in a manner in which...
58 views
Tommy Thompson
Jun 5, 20206 min
4th Movement: "Deck the Halls"
After the previously a’feared fireworks in Connor’s office had fizzled out, and we were released back into the general population...
105 views
Tommy Thompson
May 29, 20203 min
2nd Interlude: "Glenda Finale"
“Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgement ye judge, ye shall be judged..."
95 views
Tommy Thompson
May 22, 20202 min
5th Movement: Tommy, Vince, & Lou
We were back to Square Three: Tommy, Vince, and Lou…though, truth be told, I went by “Tom” back then…Geez, what was I thinking?...
93 views
Tommy Thompson
May 15, 20208 min
5th Movement: "Louie the Lip"
“Welcome to St. Elizabeth’s High School, the happenin’ place to be on a Friday night."
147 views
Tommy Thompson
May 12, 20207 min
3rd Interlude: "Tommy & Religion"
"Every day people are straying away from the church and going back to God” -- Lenny Bruce
66 views
Tommy Thompson
May 8, 20204 min
5th Movement: "The Anniversary Game"
So, by far, up to this point at least, the biggest professional “feather in our cap,” came in September of ’69, about 3 weeks into the...
111 views
Tommy Thompson
May 1, 202016 min
4th Interlude: "Pat - In His Own Words" Pt. 1
I was born in Alameda, California - it was my first home - and lived there until I was about 16, then moved to Oakland in the Rockridge...
186 views
Tommy Thompson
Apr 24, 202014 min
6th Movement: Pat, Tommy, Vince, Lou
I first met Pat Thrall one late-afternoon in the summer of '69 right after Cookin’ Mama had just finished an early-afternoon gig at the...
153 views
Tommy Thompson
Apr 17, 20208 min
6th Movement: "Rockwell"
Pat and his younger brother Preston (to whom I have already briefly alluded earlier in this tawdry tale, and about whom...
88 views
Tommy Thompson
Apr 10, 20205 min
5th Interlude: "St. Mary's"
Also, by this point in time (very late-1969), I had begun my freshman year at St. Mary’s College in Moraga. Got in there....
64 views
Tommy Thompson
Apr 3, 20205 min
6th Movement: "Kathy"
"If your ship doesn't come in, swim out to it." - Jonathan Winters
90 views
Tommy Thompson
Mar 27, 20203 min
6th Movement:"Sons of Champlin"
Pat called me the next day and told me about this band that he'd heard the night before at Winterland called: "The Sons of Champlin"......
63 views
Tommy Thompson
Mar 20, 20205 min
6th Interlude: "Paul - In His Own Words" Pt. 1
Life is strange sometimes. Especially when you are young and adrift in your own confusion. I had been told what I could do, what I...
94 views
Tommy Thompson
Mar 13, 202011 min
7th Interlude: "Tommy Meets Paul"
Paul Hahn was one year ahead of me at Alameda High. He graduated in ’68. Me in ’69. And although I didn’t know him personally until his...
102 views
The Story Continues...
Coming Soon
Suzanne Somers & “The James Gang”
bottom of page