A Sunny Summer Day, North Beach, 1996. Fast Forward…

You know him as the Epic Beard Man. I know him as “Vietnam Tom.” And I’ve my own lovely story about him that I’d like to share.

In 1996, my dear friend Angus Oblong & I rented a booth at the North Beach Festival in Washington Square Park to sell our respective self-published books (mine being a spoof of God-awful poetry, “Come Fly With Me Nude“). On most sunny days, Tom would march around the periphery of the park, shirtless, loudly going off on anarchistic diatribes. On that day, he bought one of my books and marched his usual march, reading from it. Loudly, of course. It was great publicity.

Thank you, Tom.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQJFv9SMSMQ&feature=video_response[/youtube]