posted 05-13-2000 05:56 PM            

There was Jim the old guy that would walk 5 miles to downtown to look through the trash for newspapers and hang-out at the record store...haven't seen him in years.

Anybody remember Tarzan Man, this guy would be all over uptown wearing a bikini swimsuit and no shoes in the winter time. He would do pushups and other calisthentics on cars and the bus stops.

The old witch who would sit at the bus stop by daytons, lunds and the uptown theater. If you said anything to her she would scream bloody murder.

The Charles Manson looking guy with the black trench coat and mountain bike. He would be downtown mostly and he smelled ripe.

A long time ago there was an old guy that would wear crazy outfits and push around this cart handing out pamplets about the evils of corporate america and subliminals.

And not really a freak but the women who waitressed at Embers and would talk about a 1,000 words a minute. whatwouldyoulike,okandyou?,finethankyou.

posted 05-13-2000 06:02 PM            

Who could forget the Birdman... RIP

There was the guy who walked around Lake of The Isles reciting weather reports from 1967

The tarzan guy was a good one... he reminds me of Rainbow... the one handed hippy who used to tempt us all with bags of food... One day at Hidden Beach, hanging with Mary Jane Mansfield, he came up and asked if we were "Hungy"... Mary Jane shot back "Yeah Hungy enough to eat your other fucking hand"

Whatever happened to the dude with elephantitis you used to be able to see riding the #6 bus?

posted 05-13-2000 06:03 PM         

How about the preacher who would stand in front of the IDS Tower and spit would fly out of his mouth. We loved to taunt him - punk girls were great ammo for him.

posted 05-17-2000 12:35 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Garage Woman:
What about Jingles the rhyming ex-cop at White Castle on East Lake Street? He hated if any guys swore in front of the ladies.

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You could really get him going by cussing in front of him. He had to say everything in rhyme, so even as he was yelling at you, it would rhyme. Swillmomgrel had a song devoted to him, "Jingles". Look for it on the back of the Bad Trip demo cassette if anyone has that kicking around. Eventually he lost his job at White Castle and started pushing a shopping cart collecting recycling, the Star-Trib did an article about him and his new job.

posted 07-02-2000 10:13 AM            

She leaned right in my face and screamed "Maybe you prefer JEWS!"

Then she booted me, HARD, in the shin and booked.

posted 07-02-2000 01:56 PM         

Her message all made sense about a year later when, being truly evil, I stole her bag. Yes, Satan girl stole a bag ladies bag and did not return it. I saw it sitting on seventh street in front of the Marriott. I knew it was hers. I had been watching her for years. I grabbed it and took it into the bathroom in the Radisson arcade. In one of the stalls I rifled through tons of napkins and shit, half eaten snack food, I'm talkin shit loads of kleenex etc. Then there were her notebooks and letters from her mother. I wanna say mommy lived in CA, but I can't remember.

To make a long story short, I called her name once and made friends with her. We hung out off and on for a couple years in the late 80's. She never let me buy her anything and would often buy me juice and shit.

I last saw her acouple years ago in the lobby of the DT Mpls public library in the middle of what looked like a serious discussion with an older woman and a guy. She had a haircut and only one layer of clothing. I didn't talk to her. I never told her I stole her bag - duh.

I was sitting in Coffman Union having lunch and Bird Man walks into the crowded room and yells "None of you exist!" The place was silent for about 30 seconds as he just stood there. Then he went flying off mumbling to himself. God I loved that guy. RIP Bird Man

posted 07-18-2000 12:28 PM            

"Everyone loves the Jer Bear!"

AND, don't forget about Chief Walks Alone, immortalized in the Cows song. When I worked at Franklin Nicollet Liquors years ago, he'd come in and give me artwork all the time.

posted 07-22-2000 11:04 AM            

Little known fact, Jer Bear has an amazing collection of mint quality 50's-60's Rock N Roll albums.

posted 09-17-2000 09:57 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Patrick_Toth:
I remember this guy who would hang around uptown in '83-'84 on his bike and after a while, actually started appearing at basement parties. He was always gigged up in bike attire, looking like he was about to race the Tour De France. No one that I knew ever talked to him and I never saw him talking to anyone but he showed up everywhere quite often.

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I think that bike guy's name was Wes, or something to that effect. He would occasionally buy beer for us to drink under the Henn/29th RR bridge (he'd always help himself to a few more than i thought was reasonable payment for his services, but he always struck me as a bit too psycho to argue with). One popular but unconfirmed story was that he'd had his head run over by a bus at some point in his interesting life. Years later I saw him on the news, being arrested for setting fire to Kenwood area garages. Hes still around and I occaisionally see him in Wedge area bars.

posted 09-18-2000 05:37 PM            

Did the story of having his head run over by a bus say that it took place at the corner of Lake and Hennepin?-This is where the psycho part comes in, He didn't like it one night that I told him to take a hike because he was bothering this other girl if my memory serves me right(he also had a tendency to hit on underage girls)I don't remember who started the fight I think I pushed him away and that made him madder then it esculated with him trying to push me in front of a bus(actually it was me that nearly got ran over). luckily the bus stopped and he just ran off and the bus driver jumped out started yelling at us.[/B][/QUOTE]

Yeah, that sounds about right. I guess I was inclined to believe the story. Mostly because he acted like I would expect a guy who'd gotten his head banged around a bit would act.

posted 09-17-2001 08:26 AM         

quote:

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Originally posted by cfred:
There was that guy named Roy Freedom (I think) that use to preach the gospel of working for free.

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I think you may be thinking of Ernest Mann.
He dropped out of the system ages ago and used to put out a newsletter called the little free press. Also self published a couple of books. One of them was called "I ROBOT" and has some of his impressions of the series of protests in 88? (the ones where RABL put a bowling ball through the recruiting office window). He was killed by his Grandson in Little Falls.
He was actually one of the sanest people i knew, and the only person I have ever met to actually live according to his beliefs.
http://www.cs.unca.edu/~edmiston/msrrt/1996/jun96.html#mann

posted 09-17-2001 11:17 AM            

Thanks for setting me straight about his name and supplying the links.

posted 09-17-2001 02:30 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by sonicfreak:
Jer Bear is still around. I see him downtown a lot. I don't know what happened to him. I used to always see people yell at him "hey Jer Bear!" and he would say "awwl-Righhht!" Now I never see him talking to anyone, he's just shuffling along or sitting on a bench in City Center or something.

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How bizarre to see that so many people remember this guy! He also used to hang at the bar in the Nankin. The UMN Daily did an article on him in the mid-80's too. I still see him all of the time. I think he delivers flower for one of the Skyway shops.

posted 08-03-2002 09:00 PM            

Oh christ I forgot all about pug faced jer bear. Yeah he delivered flowers from somewhere in one of the skyways or city center.
Actually, I remember sweet william from Silver Balls Arcade and then the arcade upstairs on old E'block, cant remember the name of that arcade...any help? It closed early 80's was mostly pinball and pool.

posted 10-19-2002 02:33 PM            

"We All Need A Butter And Wear It."