Magic, Mick Jagger, and Cults
Hi,
I’m David Wahl.
You might know me as @zoomar on Twitter.
Originally when I thought of doing a newsletter it was going to be called Cult of Absurdity because I wanted to start a cult as a side hustle. Some of you signed up for that and I appreciate it. But, instead of becoming a dark manipulative guru who works his way into your psyche, I decided that it would be better to do Baffling Cyclops.
So, it has morphed into a podcast where my wife Pepper and I talk about things we’re obsessed with. (Which includes cults.) You can subscribe on all the various services like Apple or Pocketcasts.
If you just want to listen in this email, I put it up on YouTube so I could embed it on SubStack.
This episode is based around a post I wrote about serving Mick Jagger when I worked in a Seattle toy store and the magical moment I shared with him. In the newsletter, I’m going to feature a few things we mention in the episode to help the story along.
Here’s an excerpt from the post:
When I moved to Seattle in the mid-’90s, two months AC (After Cobain), I worked downtown at a large boutique toy store. It was an impressive place, two floors, multiple rooms and secret passages full of toy overstock that extended out under the street. To get the job I had to talk to a stuffed gorilla and endure the humiliation of being referred to as one the “Elves” that worked there. Even the break room had a sign that said, “Elf Break Room.” Being 6′ 5″ tall and called an elf added an extra schmear of humiliation on the bagel of hopelessness that was my life at the time.
Gilbert the Gorilla
This is a publicity photo from a newspaper ad from the early 1980s featuring the stuffed gorilla that I had to converse with to get a job.
Märklin train in a briefcase
The train set that Harry Anderson did not seem to want.
Willoughby Weekbok
The diapered lion that Pepper impersonated for big bucks.
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