Another One Gone Too Young (aka Not Growing up Catholic) ~ ThermionicEmissions
He was not exactly a household name in the guitar world but he was certainly destined to be one. Ted turned a penchant for homemade speakers into a full time business that employed ten people.
Go to any of the online spots where guitarists congregate and youll find Ted Weber stories. When I needed some advice on a speaker to replace one that just blew up, I got it from Ted. I purchased a Mini Mass after speaking to Ted in email.
For anyone wondering, the Mass is Teds series of ...
volume attenuation devices for guitar amps.
Ted would give you the time and benefit of his knowledge no matter who you were. I cant claim I have done anything more than email with him but he left a very good impression and I would definitely want to purchase from Ted whenever the opportunity arose.
Ted - throw some of those vaunted 12s of yours into Stevies amps, wouldja?
The story indicates that his family wants to continue in his shoes, which is a great tribute. They appear to be very Catholic people, as one can tell from the obituary.
Not having grown up Catholic (or Christian), I missed many of the things that people take for granted. One of them had to do with what Catholics do with bodies. I distinctly remember waking up to my clock radio when I was young, hearing about some person who had died, where they mentioned the funeral arrangements. Right after that, they always had a massive Christian burial.
Like I said, I didnt grow up Christian, so this was a complete mystery to me. I never knew what it meant, but I knew it couldnt mean what it sounded like. Did they bury a lot of them together to save space? Was there a group discount? Was there one really huge Christian?
It wasnt until I was well into my twenties that I finally saw mass of Christian burial printed in a newspaper, causing me to break into hysterics for the next few days
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I probably wrote about this earlier but Im apparently getting so old that I tend to repeat myself.
Im not big on funerals. Well, lets face it: most people arent big on funerals. When was the last time you described someone as putting the fun back in funeral?
As a result, I dont attend too many of them. I try not to attend too many of anything.
Wedding: a funeral where you can smell your own flowers.
Even fewer than the number of funerals I attended was the number of Catholic funerals (are you sensing a theme here?). I kinda got roped into attending one with my wife.
Keeping in mind the massive Christian burial incident, you have to picture the solemn Catholic procession into the funeral hall. There I am, in line (because Catholics apparently have to line up for everything), going past a table when some fellow offers me a piece of paper or perhaps a playing card.
It was at this point that all my training as well as my sense of propriety should have taken over. I should have been paying closer attention so I knew what I was supposed to do with the piece of paper or perhaps a playing card.
But since this was me and since my sense of propriety ran off with my scruples when I was twelve, I looked at the card and noticed it said Jesus on it. Since I also had no training up to this point, I turned around to my wife and uttered these famous words: Hey, look, Honey. Jesus trading cards! I got Jesus - you got Mary - lets collect the whole set!
It took a bit of coaxing to remove my wife from under the table but she eventually crawled out. And she had to admit that it was pretty funny.
Strangely enough, I dont get invited to too many funerals. Or weddings. I suppose it was a win-win for everyone.
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Mind you, they also stood in line after they got their trading cards (and I mean no disrespect whatsoever). This time it appeared that I would make it through unscathed and without opportunity for further comment.
It appeared they were in line to go near the casket. As I was getting to the front, someone handed me a rose.
I have to mention that I got a gold star for not saying `no thank you, I dont like flowers.
And then I observed one of the few things that could shut even me up: people were kissing the body.
It was at roughly this point I figured out where some multiples got an alter or two.
After that bit of fun was over, they lined up again. I hazarded a guess that everyone graduated from Catholic school, as they were lined up, plus they were lined up in size order. It had literally become subconscious: these people were well out of school.
We proceeded, en masse (sorry, had to), across the street, because we werent done yet. Across the street was a Catholic church. Somehow I knew this was going to be even more of an adventure and I begged my wife to let me sit in the car. I even went so far as to warn her what was going to happen when I got near the front doors and set off the antichrist detector. oh, the lights and sirens
But no, I got hauled in anyway. They mustve paid the priest to disable the alarm that day. It was the first time I have ever seen the genesis (sorry again) of one of rock and rolls greatest effects: the smoke machine. Unfortunately the Catholics seemed to be in the dark ages, as one guy had to carry the machine around manually, while it belched out smoke. It took a lot of the mystique out of it for me.
Strangely enough, I dont get invited to too many funerals. Or weddings. I suppose it was a win-win for everyone.
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