A Letter I Received in 1998 - Who Sent it?

I want to share this letter not because I’m trying to toot my own horn or boast about something, I am sharing this letter because I’d like to thank the author.  

I never saved anything in the 1990’s and for some reason I saved this letter.  It made me feel so good to read what this person wrote, I’ve always tried to do be the guy he talks about in the note, that’s who I attempt to be as a man.  Have I succeeded 100% of the time, no way, but I can say with all honesty that I try, especially now more than ever.

To the man or woman who wrote this, thank you so much.  I have never stopped appreciating your words.

Sincerely,

Ted Stryker

imagedcats, 

Charles Ramsey, “Dead Giveaway”, and Making a Hit Record

“Dead Giveaway” is pure perfection.

Have you not listened to The Gregory Brothers brilliant production to the voice of Cleveland hero Charles Ramsey?  Dead Giveaway!

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This team is brilliant, all of their production is amazing but this song is liquid gold.  They made this song in 24 hours yet “pop stars” take a year to make a record and have 10 writers and 3 producers.

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You see, in most pop songs it does NOT matter what you sing about, it’s the beat and the ever so hard to create musical hook.  

What is it that will get a song to be top 10 in any genre?  You need a great catchy singable and hummable hook.  That is so hard to create, there is NO formula,  ask River Cuomo from Weezer about that. 

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Now, “Dead Giveaway”, please do not underestimate the BRILLIANT production in this “song”.  The lyrics are original, the song has a great verse, a great chorus, and another great verse that is catchy as hell!  THAT’S WHY WE LOVE IT.  

In “Dead Giveaway”, Charles Ramsey is the musical star (Rihanna) and The Gregory Brothers are the producers (Rick Rubin)

My point is, with the right look, energy, animated personality, sexiness and timing, all you need is a great catchy hook, great production, and you too can have a hit record. It’s a lot easier said than done.  Happy music making.

Stryker Picked Up Woody Harrelson Hitchhiking

The title of this blog is exactly what happened.

This is how it went down.

I am 94% sure it was 1997, 6% chance it was in 1996.  I was driving the first new car I ever had, it was a ford explorer, dark green.  My best friend Larry was the passenger and we were headed north on Fairfax.  I was not working at KROQ yet.

So we got off the 10 freeway at Fairfax and were heading towards the Hollywood area to eat some food.  The weather was not great, it was cold for LA and sprinkling.  We crossed Venice, Pico, Olympic, Wilshire and now we’re about 1/4 of a mile from the Grove which is at Fairfax and 3rd.

Traffic is bad so we’re only going about 8mph, as we’re crawling along Fairfax, I spot a man and woman with their thumbs out about 30 yards ahead of my lovely Explorer.  I said out loud to Larry…..”What the hell are these people doing hitchhiking as a couple?” Larry just shook is head with a confused look.  ”I’m picking them up” I said.  ”You’re doing what!!!!?????” Larry shouted at me.  Here’s me and Larry back in the day.

Remember, it’s raining out, it’s an ugly night, and I felt bad for these two.  As we pulled up, I lowered Larry’s passenger window and shouted at the two hitchhikes to get in.  The man and woman got in the back and all I could see were shapes of heads and the sounds of their voices.

“Thank you so much for picking us up, this is such a nice thing” the man said.

“No problem at all, where do you need to go?” I asked.

Just at that point, as I was looking in my rearview mirror talking to the couple, the streetlight hit perfectly on the face of the man I was speaking to.  Holy crap I picked up Woody Harrelson, what the hell is Woody Harrelson doing hitchhiking?

“We ran out of gas, can you take us to a gas station, we’ll fill up a canister, and you can drive us back to our car.”

So here we are, me, Larry, Woody, and a girl Woody was with and we’re going to get gas.  About 4 minutes into our ride I see a gas station and pull in.  This is when Woody says, “Sorry man, we can’t get gas here.”  I asked why not and he had two words for me………”Exxon Valdez”.  We could not go to the Exxon station because of the oil spill.  This just meant more time to hangout with Woody in my car and talk about life, karma, LA, music, the oil spill and the ocean.

Seven more minutes in the car and we found a gas station, Woody did not have a red gas canister, luckily the station did.  So he fills up the red gas holder and we’re all back in the car driving back towards the Grove.  We’re all chit chatting about life when Woody tells me that good things are coming my way for this deed.  He says two or three times that it was so nice of us to stop.  Hearing Woody talking about karma and energy actually meant something to me because I knew he really believes in that stuff, and so do I to a certain extent.

As we were 20 seconds from dropping him and his girl off at their car, I got a bit sad that this adventure was coming to an end.  I did an illegal U Turn, pulled over, and dropped them off at the exact spot I picked them up.

I have been a very lucky guy over the past 14-15 years, of course there have been some downs, but overall, I have been a very fortunate and lucky person and I am very grateful for that.  Could my luck/fortune be attributed to the Woody Harrelson hitchhiking incident?  I believe it does.  Thank you Woody for being my passenger.  See you around.

Ted Stryker

Cloris Leachman Picks up Stryker Hitchhiking

Cloris Leachman picked me up hitchhiking.

Where do I start?  How about with this, Cloris Leachman is an Academy Award winner and 8 time Emmy winner. I know her best from Young Frankenstein, High Anxiety, The Facts of Life (she replaced Mrs. Garrett) and as the lady that picked me up when I was sticking out my thumb.

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It was 1986 and I had just hopped off the #2 RTD bus with my Sims E skateboard in hand.  I got off the bus at the very scary intersection of Sunset Blvd. and Mandeville Canyon.  RTD was the former name of the public bus system in the Los Angeles area.  I rode that damn bus everywhere, to school, to basketball practice, to Westwood to see movies, and to my friends houses in different parts of LA.

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So this particular day I was off to the house of Kevin Fisher.  What a good dude he is, his family always welcomed people in their home with open arms and lots of food.  They lived about two miles above Sunset Blvd, there are NO sidewalks and it’s a very windy road.

So I’m off the bus, I’m heading up the canyon, wearing Stubbies shorts and a Sideout T-shirt, it’s getting dark, and frankly I was getting a bit nervous about cars running me over.  

After about 1/2 a mile I said to myself  ”There is no way a bad person is gonna get me”, the odds of a kidnapper cruising Mandeville Canyon at the exact time I needed a ride were less than 2%.  I liked my odds of not getting abducted, so I stuck my somewhat tiny thumb out and hoped someone in the very safe 310 would pick me up and drive me to Kevin’s house full of capri suns and twinkies.

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A VW bug drove by, no luck, a green jaguar drove by, nothing, car after car, no luck!  What’s wrong with these people, don’t they see a young teen in need of help?  I was starting to lose hope when out of nowhere, a beautiful Mercedes starts honking and flashing the bright lights at me.  Could this be?  Am I really getting a ride?  Did hitchhiking really work?

Oh no, what have I done, my heart started racing so fast as I walked toward the waiting Mercedes, my mind was only playing out the worst possible scenarios……luckily for me, as the passenger window rolled down, I saw the sweetest face with the most soothing voice.

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“What are you doing hitchhiking, where are you trying to get to?” she said.  ”Get in this car now, I’m taking you to your friends house.”

Before I sat down, I had to clean off the passenger seat, it was filled with TV scripts and all of them said “The Facts of Life”.   I loved the Facts of Life, still do, I can sing the theme song, Tootie, Blair, Natalie, Joe, and of course Mrs Garrett, my girls!  Also, the addition of Mack Astin to the show made me smile. (Now I feel like Patrick Bateman with the  analyzing of The Facts of Life). Mack lived just around the corner from my family and he was and still is a great guy.  The other guy in the pic is famous too, hello George Clooney.  

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When she introduced herself as Cloris Leachman, I immediately knew who she was.  I asked her questions in such a rapid fire manner, I don’t even think she fully answered any of them.  She asked me to never hitchhike again and to be careful.  I told her I would not do it again, I hate to say this, but I have not lived up to my promise to Cloris,  I hitchhiked 7 years ago at Coachella, a very nice couple from Madison, Wisconsin picked me up and drove me to the IHop on 111.

I have not seen Cloris Leachman since that day in 1986.  I am so grateful that she picked me up, got me to my friends house safely, and had genuine concern for my well being.  I was just a kid on a skateboard and she reached out to help.  Thank you Cloris very much!  Hope today is a great day for you, happy birthday, you truly are a star!

Depeche Mode at The Troubadour - April 26, 2013

This was an experience that will never happen again, KROQ presenting Depeche Mode at The Troubadour.  

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Depeche Mode not only sounded perfect, they looked great and looked like they were having fun.  After all these years, I love that KROQ still has a relationship with the band.

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I could tell everyone inside The Troubadour knew how special a night it was.  We were all lucky to be there.  

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I got a lot of tweets saying we could possibly be brothers.  I accept that as a giant compliment.  So we took this picture 20 minutes after the show next door to The Troubadour.  Dave Gahan was gracious and friendly, thank you Dave.

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We ran into the great Tony Kanal from No Doubt.  That’s Kat, Dave the King Of Mexico and Fung from KROQ.    I also saw at the show Mr. Davey Havok from AFI.  100% Davey was the BEST dressed.