Sunday, August 19, 2012

Ben Hamper: Welcome to the Jungle

It's always good to start a Sunday out with a little Ben Hamper:
"I was assigned to the Cab Shop, an area more commonly known to its inhabitants as the Jungle. Lifers had told me that on a scale from one to ten — with one representing midtown Pompeii and ten being then GM Chairman Roger Smith's summer home — the Jungle rates about a minus six. 
"It wasn't difficult to see how they had come up with the name for the place. Ropes, wires and assorted black rubber cables drooped down and entangled everything. Sparks shot out in all direction — bouncing in the aisles, flying into the rafters and even ricocheting off the natives' heads. The noise level was deafening. It was like some hideous unrelenting tape loop of trains having sex. I realized instantly that, as far as new homes go, the Jungle left a lot to be desired. Me Tarzan, you screwed."
              — Rivethead: Tales From the Assembly Line


2 comments:

  1. Dave Hays, former Sarvis Park neighborAugust 19, 2012 at 10:57 AM

    Thanks for the link. Ben's book is one of my all-time favorites. I wonder how he's doing these days.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Here's some info on Ben Hamper's radio show:

    http://www.flintexpats.com/2011/11/ben-hampers-blue-soul.html

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for commenting. I moderate comments, so it may take a while for your comment to appear. You might enjoy my book about Flint called "Teardown: Memoir of a Vanishing City," a Michigan Notable Book for 2014 and a finalist for the 33rd Annual Northern California Book Award for Creative NonFiction. Filmmaker Michael Moore described Teardown as "a brilliant chronicle of the Mad Maxization of a once-great American city." More information about Teardown is available at www.teardownbook.com.