Five Oh One

The 5:01 Club is a club consisting of anyone who wants to drink at one minute past 5 pm on a Thursday. What a novel idea. I never had to have a club to accomplish such a mission. However, in my never ending quest for thrills, I attend the meeting when possible.

To say it is loose knit would be an understatement. There are no organizers, per se and no leader...but if there would be a leader the Timmeister might be the likely candidate. After all he did go to great expense to buy a toy ball and very skillfully with a magic marker write "5:01" on the side of it. That's president material.

Tim fashions himself to be a ladies man and for all practicable purposes he may be. He is often seen with young ladies hanging on his arm half his age and he does own a BMW. No one knows for certain what he is hiding under his hat.

He rarely travels without the protection of his barrister. James is a clever legal type who hails from Boston and is able to suppress his accent. James is available to review contracts and pick up the tab for his drinks. It quite possible that James is also the chauffeur of the BMW.

Heather, the barkeep at Gringos, is his finance.

A first timer to this august group was Julia. Julia is a camera shy science fiction writer who slings cups of joe during the day. At night she likes her Margaritas!

The 5:01 club picks a different secret location each Thursday. Yesterdays event was at Gringos in downtown Cedar Rapids.
At Gringos they have little funny grilled cheese sandwiches with a name that escapes me. It could have been in another language.

Brian & Sylvia

Brian is a motorhead. When he was young he had a 55 Plymouth. It had a fancy, custom paintjob and had the signature smoking woodpecker decals on the side.The "smoker" was on the fender behind the front wheelwell. There were flames on the hood...or bonnet, depending upon which side of the pond you originate. This infatuation with MOPARs would continue into adulthood.


Sylvia wore poodle skirts and roller skates. She used empty orange juice cans as hair rollers. She had stylish red glasses long before Sally Jesse Raphael thought about them. She had saddle shoes and a kerchief and she was way cool. To say she was the the school hottie would be an understatement.

They were sweethearts at Pasadena High School. Brian would pick up Sylvia in his 'peckermobile' and they would be off to the local A & W drive in for a soda and maybe smoke a fag or two. Brian was the football star and was head Bulldog. They were meant for each other.

Brian & Sylvia had a love child.
They were both still in high school
when the 'blessed event' was conceived. Getting married was really not in the cards. It was to be decreed that the child would be given up for adoption.

What does this have to do with Billy? That child was a fine looking young boy which was 'named' baby boy Benjamin....but he would very quickly be adopted by Ferdinand and Henrietta von Crippe and they would rename him "Otto".

So now you know the rest of the story.








Many years later, Billy would be on a "Make A Wish" trip to DisneyWorld and
Otto and Priscilla would run into into Brian & Sylvia at Space Mountain. It truly is a small world after all! You just can't make this stuff up.

Billy's Cousin from Germany sent a video

Otto Von Crippe has a brother, Heinrich who still lives in Germany. His son Gunther and his friend Rainer are practical jokers. They have a Japanese video camera (don't we all) and they like to set up jokes and make a tape. Gunther is the one with the banana.


Billy thought this one was hilarious. But you decide for yourself.