Well I hate to tell y'all this, but Lope 5-0 came and went with a small gathering, and plans for the monster bash have been shelved due to circumstances beyond my control. However, I will keep this web page up, it doesnt cost anything, and the man himself approves, like when he's in his cab he can tell his customers that he has his own web page.
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We're gathering Lope stories and gossip for the web page, so send something over if you have the time. Anything you want to see on this web site, let we know, we will try to put it up.
Problem is, most stories involve a combination of sex, drugs, rock n'roll, profanity and regurgitation. Until I get the OK to broadcast them, out of respect for the perpetrators I will read and study the anecdotes privately. Like the one about how Lope got the wooden folding chair. Or why the Briggs Avenue apartment was vacated so hurriedly, or the origin of the pie-in-the-face routine, or the truly classic spillway incident, where Joey DeB's lifesaving training really came in handy. Jim "Banana" Sugarman wrote: "Fred - Hi, too bad about the bash....I'll have to think about Lope stories and Crudd for the site. They all tend to involve police!" See what I'm sayin?
Thanks to Daphne for e-mailing the next two stories
After decades of systematically losing at the track, at this year's Belmont Stakes (that would be 2002) The Lope confirmed his genius by picking the highest priced winner in the history of that race. The Lope shouted in his horse, Sarava, at his local OTB, thereby confirming his genius in public. "I liked the horse," said The Lope. "How'd I do it? Any idiot can read the form."
One day, Lope was washing dishes at the Out-Of-It-House just because there wasn't a single one left to use (Ian McColl had decided to do the dishes earlier that month by flinging them one a time into the massive fireplace in the livingroom, making a pretty big dent in the available supply of kitchenware). And was using a white squeeze bottle of Ivory dishwashing detergent. Only later, days later in fact, did someone point out that the detergent had been finished long ago and the bottle refilled with motor oil. Disclaimer from Daphne: I think Lope was the perpetrator of this incident, though it's entirely possible it was the infamous Bob Kaplan
I think I first met him in 1968 when he worked in the Uptown Branch, a combination army surplus clothing boutique and head shop on Kingsbridge Road in the Bronx, that would not have been out of place in the East Village. Later on I joined the street tribe of "Psychedelic Greasers" and hung out with him at "The Fort", "The Caves", Ewen Park and the step street between Heath Avenue and Kingsbridge Terrace. Circa 1969 Hank and Chris became Lope and Zeke, the Crudd Brothers, two of the founding members of the original Proto-Punk-Grunge Band called "Total Crudd". They could have been the role model for Aykroyd and Belushi as the Blues Brothers.
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A little digression: Y'all are saying Total Crudd? Who are they? Punk didn't start until the mid 1970's. Grunge didn't start until the 1980's. That is not strictly true. There was a mythical urban garage band called Total Crudd, including Parker, Chris, Jim, Joey, and Ross Friedman, (who later went on to Dictator's fame) that developed grunge and/or punk to a high style as early as 1969.
As a matter of fact Ross lists Total Crudd on the discography page of the Dictator's website. Checked the search engines and found another reference to Crudd in a Punk Magazine reprint. Lope was a roadie for Crudd, and often worked the mixing board at concert dates and club gigs in the early 1970's. The band originated as part of a loose and changing mix of street people, and was WAY AHEAD of its time. The Crudd story is a little off topic for this page. Maybe later.
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Fast forward to 1971. I just turned 18 and inherited an apartment on Creston just below Fordham and 188 Street from Alice, of Peter and Alice, when she moved to Parker's basement. Late that year Lope became my roommate, I was working at the General Post Office on the swing shift and he was driving a cab at night. Memories of that period are sketchy. When I quit the P.O. to work construction I moved back home with my Mom, and Lope had his own pad. Later on he moved over a few blocks to Briggs, north of Fordham, near the Fenian Pub, before a few adventures, the Highland house, a couple of other apartments (the one on Morris next to the Jerome Avenue El was memorable for among other things, Mark "Rosey" Rosenthal) and his present place by Van Cortlandt Park.
Nostalgia: The dog in the pictures was named Scout. I don't remember where Lope got him, but in 1973, when he was still a puppy, Scout hung out at the Kerhonkson house with Bessie and Bear, that's the summer it was Joey DeB, Daphne, Lenny Levine and myself sharing the rent. The Dictators lived just down the road, and a lot of other people came and went until Sammy Cohen evicted us at the end of September. There was a flood of some type in the basement, which ruined Lope's collection of 1960's Marvel Comics. That was a sad dump run that day...
Lope has been a great jazz fan as long as I can remember, and I think it may have been as early as 1969 that Ray Mac and Artie the Hup came around, and we began going to Slugs jazz club on 3rd Street between Avenues C and D in Hup's fathers car. Hup's dad was a doctor, and even though the car was a Dodge Dart it had an MD license plate, and it seemed whenever he came by the Terrace, the police always stopped him. I think Hup had named the car, but I cant remember what it was. We used to call it simply, The Hupmobile. Burke called his '61 Comet "Potemkin".