The Time I Saw Ol' Bocephus

USA's Playing House:
The Bocephus Disguise

     According to Urban Dictionary: Bocephus is a common nickname for Hank Williams Jr. Hank got the nickname from his famous father, who looked in the cradle and just called him "Bocephus." Bocephus is a common phrase airbrushed on 1984 Ford F-150s.

     I won tickets to attend the third day of a three-day country music festival in upstate New York. It happened to be on Father's day, so I got my trusty pop to be my plus one. We were hoping to arrive early afternoon after a family lunch and we would catch acts like Thompson Square and Thomas Rhett. The first two days of the festival had amazing headliner acts like Brad Paisley, Dierks Bentley, and our Sunday night juggernaut, ol' Bochphus.

View from the top of the ski slope.

     A long story short, we ended op getting very lost. My GPS on the phone was picking up signals beyond 1x data,  I think guidance was likely from spaceships. When we arrived, we were able to park nearby the camping area, outside of the ski resort t for no additional fee. Other told us they had paid $30.00-$50.00 to park their cars there. The staff managed to find two more bracelets to admit us in, and into the breach we went. Thank god for real bathrooms! We were also relieved to find there was still some beer.

Ol' Junior. 

     Just in time for the last set, we struggled to make a list of songs we knew from Hank Jr. We came up with the Monday Night Football Theme and the original version of "I Fought the Law." We were treated to renditions of songs by his father and Jerry Lee Lewis, we we were very much out of sync with the rest of the crowd. There were so many mud-stricken people there, dirty and drunk from three long days of partying, and covered in terrible sunburn. Halfway into the set, dad asked I wanted to head home, and I couldn't have been happier to head back to civilization.  I can safely say I would never have enjoyed Woodstock.

Girl Meets 21st Century

     In 1993, I began watching a sitcom that would become one of the most treasured shows of all time for kids growing up in the 90's. Rarely have I met someone who does not acknowledge that Boy Meets World changed the cultural landscape. Unlike the oddball last-ditch season of Saved By the Bell: The College Years, this show followed kids really growing up from middle school through the first year of college, (and some milestones like Shawn's losing a parent, getting married, and Cory's parents midlife crisis baby) ending with them going out to the world. Cory Matthews (Ben Savage) and his wife Topanga (Danielle Fishel) now live in New York City with their two kids, pre-teen dreamer Riley and too-cute kindergartner Auggie.
   
     The new focus of the sequel show Girl Meets World is daughter Riley (Rowan Blanchard) and her journey into adulthood with with pals Maya, Lucas and Farkle. Maya Hart serves as Riley's own Shawn Hunter, a misguided attention-seeking kid of a single parent that gets kindness and guidance from the Matthews family. I hope to see Shawn unveiled as Maya's long-absent father, or on a more reasonable plot, see him mentor the kid. Maya definitely has some issues to overcome and I know she will eventually open up. We see Farkle Minkus is the son of Topanga's old rival Stewart Minkus (future guest star Lee Norris), a know-it-all. The girls befriend new kid from Texas, Lucas Friar, and Riley is in love with him from first glance. As Coy and Topanga struggle to let go with their oldest, Cory takes on the role of Mr. Feeny, teaching all of the kids at John Quincy Adams Middle school (sounds like John Adams High in Philadelphia?) more than just history, but lessons for life.

     The show is on Disney, so I'm not sure what to expect. I grabbed a bunch of friends and some beers to watch last night's first episode, followed promptly by a screening of the first episode of Boy Meets World. The clothes seem a little unrealistic for your average kid, and all of the girls (and mom Topanga) have extension-laden hair. Cory's son Auggie reminds me of Cory's little sister Morgan, and we know the cute Morgan got re-cast from about age 5 to age ten in one season hiatus, so we'll see how that goes. The plot lines for the upcoming season seem more millennial-comedic than real-life based, but there could be some hidden emotional depth to the show.

FINAL: Favorite Moment 
There was a great cameo at the end of the episode by Mr. Feeny, who appears as a subway poster urging kids to stay in school.