Indianapolis, IN
Quoted from Jjsmooth:Define BFF..
Baywatch II the series starring Lou Ferrigno?
(Topic ID: 218677)
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Incredible Hulk, The
Gottlieb, 1979
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Awesome.
I, like all of us here, knew this experience would rule!
Looks like a gorgeous Hulk game also.
Quoted from Gryszzz:He's actually smiling playing his machine!
Everything else aside....very cool.
Glad this had a happy ending.
LTG : )
OK... The machine was inside the guest house when I got there, but I am guessing that he moved it in after it had sat outside awhile. The only real evidence was a softish and caved in boxtop (a reused Stern box), and a tiny bit of rust on the inside of one leg. Ed or whoever did a FANTASTIC job prepping this machine for shipping. Plastic, blankies, plastic, cardboard inserts for the legs, plastic, plastic. It coulda sat through those rains and been fine actually. Lou denied that it was outside the whole time, and if it had actually sat through those rains, the box would've been way mushier, and the machine was pristine, so...
He called me by name and shook my hand (I totally crushed it), and we went into the "guest house." It actually used to be "the best equipped gym on the west coast," but after surgeries on both knees and arthritis in his hands, he can't really pump iron like he used to, so now it's all full of brand new wood working equipment. Killer stuff: band saw, spindle sander, scroll saw, portable dust collector, jointer, planer, the whole nine... All with a killer view.
It took us forever to unpack the machine (see above), and while we did, we chatted about woodworking (i used to work at Ernie Ball back in the day, in the woodshop making guitars) and how beauty it is around here, and how he's done with SmellA and wants to buy a bigger house up here, but can't find one...
Thanks for keeping this experience entertaining to the end... glad the game was fine and looks like you had fun. Tell us more...
BTW: bicyclenut The hotdog hat worked like magic. He chuckled, and then went about bidness as though hotdog hats were normal. The only reason it's not in the pic is because it came off while I was leveling turtling the machine to jack it up in back. Speaking of that: Jeeezus you Texas boiz, that sucker was mighty floaty...
Onward:
He was actually kinda cute about trying to help with everything. He wanted to help hold stuff and tear off plastic (I had a knife) and crush the box flat (more on that later) and suchlike. Example: those old Gottliebs from then have that brace thing down the back of the head, and even after he held it in place for me to put those screws in the back, he also had to keep holding when I was putting head bolts in, even though I told him the screws in the back would hold it fine.
He did catch me in a noob mistake: I forgot to thread the power cord before I bolted the head on. D'oh! He got to hold again.
The whole time we chatted about how SmellA sux and how he's traveled all over the world, and no place is more bueno than here. He asked me about teaching and he wondered how I had the patience to teach 7th grade for 25 years. I told him that I was still a 7th grader mice elf 
He said that he thought I was going to be way younger (I'm 57) and asked if I was thinking about retirement. I laughed and told him that I had no intention of retiring, that I would just get myself into trouble and lapse into bad habits, and said, "You probly know how it is." He nodded and said, "Good for you."
The machine is PERFECT. I mean really. PERFECT. The playfield is glass. No really... glass. The cabinet is perfect. Metal cab protectors for the legs. Brand new everything, Pascal all-in-one. Unbelievable. We both just kept saying how gorgeous it was. Tasteful LEDing... NOTHING was left unpimped.
I told him to sign the apron for maximum resale value.
If I had remembered the beer, I know he would have sat and had one with me. I got the feeling he was happy to have someone to talk to.
He asked if I had a machine of my own, and I told him I currently have 17, and then we talked about the SLO Pinball and Music Emporium, and how I have a pinball/music studio. He said that he was Michael Jackson's personal trainer for years and that he (Lou) plays some guitar. He asked how often we play, and I said at least every Tuesday, and get this... he said it three times... he wants to come down and play pinball and mebbe some guitar at the studio.
We had a very nice conversation. It was actually fun. If I had had more stuff to sign, he woulda done it in a heartbeat. When I left, I asked him if he wanted me to shut it off, and he said he wanted to play it for awhile!
Quoted from LTG:Glad this had a happy ending.
LTG : )
Lou tipped him with a "Happy Ending"?
Awesome...and if he were to sell it, I hope he would consider you first? Sounds like you got the better side of Lou. Pinball can bring out the best in people, what a great hobby it is.
Quoted from swillie:Awesome...and if he were to sell it, I hope he would consider you first? Sounds like you got the better side of Lou. Pinball can bring out the best in people, what a great hobby it is.
LOL. A great hobby and also a toxic one where Lou was on a Pinside skewer previous to this post.
Quoted from Gryszzz:You worked at Ernie Ball?
6 1/2 years. I made volume pedals, wound guitar strings, and then when Ernie bought MusicMan, I moved to the woodshop. I made guitar and bass body and neck blanks, ran the big bandsaw before they got NCC, installed frets, made jigs, all kinda stuff. Oh the stories I could tell... I helped make several custom 5 string guitars for Keef Richards for his open G stylie. Eddie Van Halen used to come into the shop with Ernie's son, so coked up he was pointing at the big bandsaw asking me what I was doing, as I was cutting out neck blanks.
My guess is Ted tipped him off on pinside hating him. He wants to be at more pinball shows so he decided to go back to acting tonight. So I guess he can act nice even though he is an ass
Quoted from Jjsmooth:Define BFF
Also, we hugged it out before I left...
Congrats.
Glad it worked out... and that machine was a beaut when it was on the TPF floor.
Glad it's got a new home.. and the new owner seems to appreciate it.
Now... I wanna know if he'll answer your future invite to play pinball and drink beer.
Quoted from fireball2:Also, we hugged it out before I left...
Mark , thanks for sharing this story. Pretty cool deal.
Who are we kidding, someone tipped Lou off about the Pinside thread, so he was all nicey nicey. Still a great story, hate to see this Pinside saga come to an end.
This is like a Naked and Afraid episode where both partners hit it off and their primitive survival rating (psr) go way up at the end.
Great story, glad it worked out so well for you and him! He’s probably a lot less stressed and more relaxed in an an environment he’s comfortable with. Didn’t know he is a fellow woodworker, wonder what he builds.
Quoted from RCA1:I think he's prolly f`n right.
Glad to hear that I was wrong!
Very cool experience.
Quoted from thedarkknight77:Who are we kidding, someone tipped Lou off about the Pinside thread, so he was all nicey nicey. Still a great story, hate to see this Pinside saga come to an end.
Or when he isn't working he is actually a nice person. I know the guy got dumped on a lot in the last few threads and I'm not saying he didn't deserve some of it. At the same time I couldn't even imagine being famous and having to constantly sign things.
In the end it doesn't really matter, Fireball got a cool story out of it that he was kind enough to share with the rest of us, and Lou got an awesome pinball machine.
I didn't vote until this morning (but I did it before advancing past page 1 where I left off last night). hooray! I picked the right answer 
glad to see that this not only worked out for both of you, but that you had a great experience to share with us (and a fantastic pinball story now
thanks for the updates and the photos and I'm glad everything worked out in the end
I have the feeling that lou, like a lot of celebrities, did ok back in the day but now kind of has to "suck it up" and listen to all of his [fans] that want to be best buds at every signing. I think neal peart (rush drummer) had it right when he wrote the lyrics for 'limelight' on the 'moving pictures' album with "I can't pretend a stranger is long-awaited friend".
it all depends on their mood and whether or not they want to open up to whomever their engaged with and the fans should respect that of them
then again, they wipe their own asses so I could never see myself idolizing them to begin with
What an AWESOME ending! You know what I think I love the most about this? Firball2's attitude throughout the whole thing. SO many people piled on going on and on about how Lou is this and that and he decided that despite all of the negativity he said he would do something and followed through with it, reserved judgement until he made his own opinion, and stayed very positive about the whole thing and kept the attitude that it would hopefully be a fun ride, which it turned out to be. We could all learn a thing or two from Mark.
Other tidbits:
He had a couple of huge posters of Arnold in his prime, and we talked about arnie's heart surgeries and Lou's physical issues, and you could tell he had some regrets about those days.
You can see in the background of the bff pic a giant Hulk bust made out of styrofoam. Very cool, custom made for him. So we talked about his Hulk memorabilia, and he says he has the largest collection in the world. He wants to start selling a bunch of it off because it's taking up too much room.
I talked loud and repeated myself when I thought he didn't quite catch what I was saying. Remember, I spend my whole day talking loud and repeating myself. The only times I really had to repeat were when I kept talking with my head in the backbox and stuff like that.
I swear, it was best case scenario from start to finish. I'ma go out there again for some two player action on that machine. Words cannot describe that playfield.
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