Surely, every adult harbors a memory of a cherished toy from the holiday season. Here are two from the local rocker and whiskey distiller, Tommy Brunett:
The GI Joe astronaut, with a glow-in-the-dark Gemini capsule, came in a close second.
But unchallenged at No. 1:
“The one that changed the game was Evel Knievel wind-up toy, and it could jump over stuff,” Brunett says. “And there was this little grinder thing on the side that let ’er rip, and it would always land. It would hit a wall and it would turn back at you.”
Brunett’s long-lost love is the Evel Knievel Stunt Cycle. It’s pretty much as Brunett remembers, according to the packaging. “The Amazing Wind-Up and Go Action Toy Launcher for Ultimate Jumps, Crashes, Flips and More… Jumps Anywhere from 3 to 10 Feet.”
It’s that “more” that causes concern among parents.
“I wanted to be, like every other kid, I wanted to be Evel Knievel or an astronaut when I was little,” Brunett says. “Yeah, I got grounded for jumping off the house on my bike when my parents weren’t home. The neighbors told them about it. I stacked the bed mattresses up and I jumped off the garage with my bike and let it fly, and I charged kids to come over and watch it.”
Having survived his childhood, yet still showing that early flair for marketing, the next challenge is “Iron Smoke’s Home for the Holidays Christmas Party & Toy Drive.”
The music starts at 8 p.m. Friday with a 50-minute set by Watkins & the Rapiers, “which is a globally known and respected Christmas show,” Brunett says, cackling. In actuality, Watkins & the Rapiers is a treasure that we keep to ourselves. The Rochester band has written – in addition to its usual unusual, out-of-season repertoire – 100 Christmas songs for your December pleasure.
They’re followed by a parade of locals barking out Christmas classics. Brian Lindsay, Bobby Henrie & The Goners and a lot of names that might be unfamiliar, but only because they’ve been separated from their bandmates for this night. Tyler Norton from the M-80s, Rob Smith from Junkyard Fieldtrip.
“They’re just people I like and enjoy listening to,” Brunett says.
“Ne’er-do-wells and scoundrels,” he adds, handing out one of his usual terms of endearment.
“Eddie Nebula always delivers. He calls me and goes, ‘How many dancers can we fit onstage?’ He usually has a go-go dancer or two.”
The Tommy Brunett Band will be in the midst of this. His guitarist Greg Hassett, who’s serving as musical director for the event, will do “Home for the Holidays.” Brunett will add his seasonal original, a sentimental, overserved celebration, “The Tree’s Lit Up, And So Are We.”
The band will also do a song Brunett first heard played by Bill Kirchen. Brunett asked the dieselbilly guitar slinger about it after the show. It was an old Red Simpson song, “Truckin’ Trees for Christmas,” featuring a trucker who decorates his cab with Christmas lights and a little tree on the dashboard, “’cause I think the truck likes Christmas too.”
“Everybody’s picking great songs, and everybody’s really excited about it,” Brunett says.
Also Friday, an ugly sweater contest has a $100 prize for the winner. Or is that the loser? Hundreds of snowballs will be turned loose, for people to “act on their own judgment,” Brunett says. Snowballs made of fabric. “They’re soft enough, if they hit you, they’re not going to put you out,” Brunett says. “I think.”
He thinks. Evidently, Brunett hasn’t tested out on himself a snowball blow to the cranium.
“We’re just thinking about doing something right before Christmas Eve,” Brunett says. A primer for the holidays. “When everybody’s coming into town, and they don’t have a lot going on.”
What is Christmas without toys? That GI Joe Space Capsule once coveted by Little Tommy, originally selling for $15 in 1969, is now available on the internet for $575, “in excellent shape and appears un-played with.”
And that Evel Knievel Stunt Cycle? Vintage versions are out there for a couple of hundred bucks. A British edition – in an unopened box – is available for $2,400. Those of you who invested in “Trump digital trading cards” may want a piece of that action.
On Friday, the toy drive is the point. Admission is $10, “and please bring a cool toy to donate to the Pirate Toy Fund,” Brunett says of the local nonprofit group that collects toys appropriate for kids ages 8 to 13 years. Kids whose Christmas need a little boost.
“It’s not for little rich boys,” Brunett says. “It’s for people who need ’em.”
