If you’re of a certain age and have lived in the metro long enough, YHC bets you remember Mr. Bingle. Or McKenzie’s. You were drawn to the K&B purple and shopped with those cheap plastic carts. You “fought the uglies” as you passed the LAS Enterprises billboard heading east on I-10 to Orleans parish. Maybe you were old enough to watch Dr. Morgus and Chopsley on WGNO or were lucky enough to be in the studio audience of Popeye and Pals. If not, YHC hopes you were blessed and was able to see Al’s Christmas lights (or marveled at his toy collection as you passed Causeway Blvd.), or took your life in your own hands by jumping from trampoline to trampoline at the park on Veteran’s blvd, which was not far from the shark at Puglia’s that perseveres to this day. How long can he live out of the water? At least 30 years.
Just as important, you probably remember Rosenberg’s address. Or how much it cost for Frankie and Johnnie to exclaim “let her have it!”.
Where’s the point you ask? Some things just stick. Certain memories are etched in our brains and elicit the warm fuzzies. Nostalgia. The good times.
One of the things that YHC inexplicably remembers was in the 80s and 90s the local car dealerships were in on the taglines and gingles. Price Leblanc leaned into Y’at culture with their “Dahlin’” campaign. I hear Metairie Bank was big into auto loans and ended with a “Beep Beep”. I believe it was Banner Ford that paid millions for a rubber duck to exclaim “Cheap cheap!” But I know for a fact that local celeb (and “most interesting man in Louisiana”) Ronnie Lamarque and his dealerships has a campaign called “Bridging the Gap”, with a catchy little “We’re bridging the gap, ooooooh ooooooh” gingle. For those keeping track, this was after he owned Preakness and Belmont-winning thoroughbred Risen Star, but before his ex-wife took a hit out on him.
That gingle was running through my head as we sweat in the mid 70s temps and headed in the general direction of a bridge.
Warmup – all IC, 10x
– SSHs
– Toe touches
– Mummy kicks
– Air presses
– Hillbillies
– Grass grabbers
– Self love
Thang
Mosey to the bridge off Jackson Ave., stopping every block or so for 5 8-count bodybuilders, then adding 10 monkey humpers, and then 15 LMCs, and finally 20 SMCs (1 is 1).
Once we reached the bridge, it was cross the bridge in varying fashion, with 10 merkins and 10 crunchy frogs after every crossing.
Crossing the bridge, we did:
– sprints
– Bear crawl
– Lunges (2x)
– Side shuffles (2x)
– Carioca
Mosey back to start, with more 8CBB’s, Monkey Humpers, LMCs and SMCs thrown in, and we arrived back just in time for The COT, Name-o-Rama, and prayer to close us out.
Excellent conversation today as always. Thanks for joining and reading.
SYITG
