The Origins of the Ointment Project take us to Texas, 1951. Bill & Dixie Govette welcomed their first child, Mike, (Baby Brain Damage), into the stifling, cloying, infernal heat of the North Central Plains of Fort Worth.
Baby Brain Damage with his first and most personal playmate.
I was whisked away to California at 6 months of age in the back of a Chevrolet Station Wagon. I wailed away in the desert heat, no air conditioning, hot, irritable and helpless. My Mom changed my diaper in the car, but had no place to put the dirty ones. So my Dad threw the soiled cloth diaper out the window, inadvertantly creating the first disposable diaper. Not my proudest moment, but not my worst. Not by a long shot.
We settled in San Diego where soon thereafter, in 1952, Howard, (Baby Mad Dog), showed up.
Baby Mad Dog with an Elvis curl. Painfully cute, huh?
Mad Dog was a cute and charming baby, traits he would display his entire life. I taught him to throw soggy Cheerios at the wall, and when they stuck, we laughed! We then got in trouble, but hey, we were 3 and 4.
We were the closest of brothers and we argued, fought, laughed, played sang and got into trouble like brothers do.
Howard (Mad Dog) Govette and Mike (Brain Damage) Govette, as the original Blues Brothers, about age 4 and 5.
We grew up with Julie, our warm, lovely and sinister sister who ate chocolate chips while Howard and I were being spanked for doing the same. But we three kids loved each other the way kids do. Julie, aka Weird Wanda Fododio, was sucked into the OP vortex on numerous occasions, usually with hilarious results (see Party Breasts). She did manage to steer clear of our most obnoxious antics, opting out when we got too gooey or stupid.
Julie at age 4, before the OP became involved…
After piano, clarinet and accordian lessons, which I didn’t enjoy, I taught myself guitar. Mad Dog was inspired an dhe played along on coffee cans and pots. Finally we rented a snare drum and a cymbal so we could play properly. The first thing we learned was the intro to the song Love Potion #9 by the Searchers. We played that intro 50 times in a row, We were hooked! Of course the Beatles were just getting huge so we knew we could be just like them. So at Christmas, we asked for drums and a guitar.
Howard on his new red sparkle drum set and me with my new bright red Tiesco guitar with chrome pick guard. Santa delivered!
We practiced a lot, which meant strumming chords, playing beats and generally fooling around. This would change soon as we got into our first band, Thee In-Keepers.
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