I posted this short little clip from the web series The League (no NOT that League) on Facebook this afternoon.
It shows Damon Betz as "Captain Hillbilly" throw Gordon Holmes as "The Blue Shadow" AKA Todd Britches through a table.
Since posting it, it has been suggested that since The Blue Shadow is masked, there's no proof that this is in fact Gordon Holmes.
Allow me to present: EXHIBIT A: The Blue Shadow -
Clearly Gordon's hair.
A clear shot of the cast of the League: Kerry McElrone, Gordon Holmes, and Jim Burns. The only "fakery" in this photo is Jim's mustache.
That is undoubtedly Gordon's hair.
But Kevin, the mask...and the shot is rather far away. That really could be a stunt double with "stunt hair."
What the fuck is stunt hair? EXHIBIT B: The Blue Shadow (Close up) -
Come on! Look at the hair!
This is closer...and THAT is Gordon's hair. That's also the cheap ass black jacket and tie I bought when we started the series back in 2008.
Still, it could be anyone with a wig...albeit a perfect wig. EXHIBIT C: Gordon Taping His Arm -
Also the Hair!
Literally go to the tape and compare! But the stunt double also would have had his arms taped up!
What kind of budget do you think we had on this shit?!?
EXHIBIT D: Gordon in the Ring -
PROOF! AND HAIR!
This is literally seconds before we shot the take of him going through the table! There's no denying this photo! Well...it's kind of blurry.
Are you fucking kidding me?!?
If you had a clear photo of him without the mask in wrestling outfit, maybe...
Like this:
EXHIBIT E: Mother F-ing Go-Ho!
Oh yeah...that's totally him. Who was it that suggested it wasn't actually Gordon, anyway? That would have been Belly 2 Belly episode writer, Gordon Holmes.
That was the day Vincente Padilla and the Philadelphia Phillies lost to Matt Clement and the Cubs...Oh, and my car got towed.
Joel Rickenbach, my partner in yelling at the Phillies, and I took in an afternoon game at the now defunct Veteran Stadium. We saw Bobby Abreu hit not one, but two triples scoring Ricky Ledee each time (admit it, if you've ever heard it before, Ricky Ledee was a name you never expect to hear again).
Joel and I sat in left field behind Pat Burrell. In between innings, a pretty blonde from the stands would talk to him. We'd later realize that pretty blonde was his (then) girlfriend, local soccer star Heather Mitts.
Jim Bunning was on hand to make a special guest appearance, but the Phillies offense wasn't. They lost 6-4.
Joel and I slowly walked back to my "secret parking spot" where I had been parking for free for many years. An old abandoned Supermarket parking lot. Not much of a secret as many other people parked there too. I presume they were also towed as well.
This forced Joel and I to take a taxi to Roxborough to get my car out of the impound. I forget the total cost of the taxi and impound, but I still maintain my years of free parking made up for it.
I now hightailed it down Rt. 76 to get Joel to his shift at Movies U Buy on time. As we were heading South, I waved in a car that was merging from an on ramp. The guy flew on to the road never waving or even acknowledging me. I became irate saying that him not waving was the same as cutting me off. Joel defended the guy...to an extent. That night I went home and started writing "The Wave."
Fast forward to the next Spring 2003 (I think). Somewhere footage exists of a few scenes showing a wildly different version of the short film starring myself, Jim Brett, and John Tatarelli Jr. The shoot ended up getting rained out. On top of which, Joel & I were not in love with the camera rig we were using at the time. We decided to scrap the whole thing...
Sabrina recently sent me these photos. I'm not sure if I forgot they existed or never knew in the first place (Sabrina took these photos)
...at least until the end of winter 2006. I had been hanging out with Jim Burns and Gordon Holmes through various City Theater shows. Julie & I were also getting ready to move into a house. Boxes were packed, but that wouldn't stop us from growing out some sweet facial hair and trying again.
This was late March. In fact it was Saturday March 25 & Sunday March 26. I know this because the South Park episode, The Return of Chef aired on Wednesday March 22, 2006. And the word "Jewbs," would become synonymous with this shoot...at least until a little graffiti appeared at our final location.
The script was pulled out of mothballs, a few extra "fucks" were added, and we were ready to go!
On the 1st day of shooting:
Gordon:
This script has the eff word in it a lot.
Kevin:
Too much?
Gordon:
Maybe we should pull back a bit.
Kevin:
Good call.
We didn't. In fact, we added WAAAAY more eff words!
Gordon getting a "fuck" count between takes.
And off we went!
1st day of shooting with our fearless director.
Second day of shooting, was windy as hell. Also you can see that cast is also crew...and apparently trying to "mic" Jim's butt.
Last shot of the film! (I made that up, this was the 2nd day though)
Overall, I enjoy the piece. It might not be the greatest thing we've done, but we were still learning what the hell we were doing. Plus, the shoot itself gave us great, and sometimes embarrassing, memories like Gordon, Jim, and I going out in public with our mustaches since we were in the middle of a 2 day shoot.
As previously mentioned, while on the parking garage we encounter some graffiti that would become an inside joke to me, Joel, Jim, and Gordon for the rest of ours lives. And I'm now sharing it with you. It'll mean nothing to you, nor should it. But when the phrase "Cold Titties!" pops in my head, it stirs up a joyousness that only this picture can truly capture:
I am extremely grateful for the time spent filming and generally screwing around with Joel, Jim, and Gordon on this and many other projects.
I can not believe it's been 10 years since we embarked on this weird adventure. And I'm fairly certain I can speak for Jim & Gordon when I say that we miss the hell out of our friend Joel, but no one misses those mustaches!
Saturday April 11th marked the 9th annual "Logan's Heroes" benefit. Logan's Heroes is a benefit held yearly by my brother Brian and sister-in-law Vicki, in honor of their son Logan (my nephew), who was born and passed away in 2005.
There are many things to appreciate about the event, but one of the things I have cherished year after year, is not just my buddy Gordon coming out to support the cause, but the fact that he never wins anything in the raffles! It might paint me as a bit of an asshole, but it (not so) secretly would make me extremely happy. It had gotten so bad, he would write "Gordon Regan" on his tickets, thinking either the name would bring him luck, or that "the fix was in" and the surname would help alleviate that. Personally, I think it's falsifying a document, and is probably against the law (I have notified the proper authorities).
Gordon, BEFORE a name was called.
Gordon, AFTER a name was called (not his - Streak still intact)
9 years in, I'm sorry to say, the streak has been broken. And mightily! Not only was the name "Gordon Holmes" read aloud. It was read TWICE! And to make matters worse, Gordon's own fiancée would also walk out a winner (I can assure you, NOT because she's his fiancée...but because her name was also called out in the raffle).
Look how smug he looks, with all his loot!
THREE things! This can't be!
What did I walk away with? Nothing! Zip! NADA! ZERO!!! I mean, sure I won a set of Flyers beer glasses. However, we gave them to our friend Jimmy who is a huge Flyers fan. NOT because I am a nice guy, but because as my beautiful wife said, "We have no more room in our cabinets." So off we went, empty handed. I put my daughter into her car seat and my wife got in our car. Just then I noticed a young couple had parked at the meter in front of us. Since I already gave away my only winning of the night, I was in a kindhearted mood. "Hey, did you want my meter? I have like another hour on it," I said to the guy. "Oh, I just paid," he said turning and looking at me. "HOLY FUCKING SHIT! IT'S BRADLEY COOPER!!!" I thought loudly. "Oh, man! That's too bad," a pretty woman said as she exited the driver side of the car. "It was only about an hour," I consoled her. "Every little bit helps, right?" she asked through an adorable Russian accent "Yep," I said. "Also, Limitless was a supremely underrated movie!" I didn't say. Off they walked to enjoy the nightlife in Bam Margera's town as I got in the car and turned to my wife saying, "That was totally fucking Bradley Cooper, right???" (We curse a lot) "I don't fucking think so." (I might be paraphrasing what Julie said) ******************************************** So that's the end of the story, I may or may not have met Bradley Cooper. I didn't take home any winnings from the raffle. Gordon finally broke the streak I had hoped would continue forever. Jimmy got my glass. I curse a lot. THE END,,, ...until this story came out today!!!
