Fez #14 and Fez #1 will Fez up for another webcast this Friday morning. We'll be live from the Window Studio at the Coffee Zone in Jefferson City, Missouri. We're expecting a swarm of poorly dressed Americans, reeking of funnel cake. If you can't join us (or if you can) and would like send an audio or video shout out, send them to stevemays at gmail dot com. Be warned, Brother George and I going to keep doing the webcast thing until we get one right.
John Simpson found his way here while searching for Leopard skin fezzes. Lots of places in the States (?) but John doesn't want to risk having his new fezzes ripped off by U.S. custom snoops who will wear them while dancing naked at the annual Xmas party.
I was nosy enough to ask John why he needed the fezzes and he was kind enough to reply:
"The reason we need the fezzes is that myself and two friends started attending the The Rhythm Festival in Bedford , England - last year - our hat of choice was the Fez - this year we are looking to continue and further the tradition and are looking for the Leopard skin ones as our Dress' Fez."
Sounds like our kind of guy doesn't he? I share his plight here in hopes our UK members can point him in the right direction.
PS: I'm proud to report this blog ranks #3 in a Google search of "leopard skin fez."
Fez #14 proudly --and at some personal risk-- shares a souvenir from his younger days in Roswell, NM.
While on an outing with his Junior Woodchuck troop, he discovered the severed head of one of the aliens that crash landed near Roswell in the late 40's.
George has kept it on a closet shelf all these years because he really had no use for it. Until he received his OOTF fez. The mysteriously well-preserved head now holds a place of honor near the front door of his home... and his fez.
He says he came this close to selling the relic to a company called Skynet that pestered him for years to "name your price."
Speaking for The Order (and mankind), we're glad you didn't sell.
I've neglected keeping up the map showing where members are but took care of that today. Take a look when you have a moment and let me know how badly I missed your location. If you will send your address, I can put the pin on the money.
Oh yes, if you have a new OOTF fez, please send updated photo to stevemays@gmail.com
Take 2 on our Fezcast from the Coffee Zone went better than the first try a couple of weeks ago. A mysterious and annoying audio problem kept us from hitting our full stride but we'll get it figured out. (No, we don't expect you to give up any more Saturday mornings. We'll let you know when we decide to try this again. I'm thinking the high school cheerleader car wash.)
Tech note: Might take as much of a minute for the video to buffer. You should hear audio immediately. First segment runs 7 min, the second about 28 min. We kept recording for a bit after the Fezcast.
"Milwaukee based social group on the 1950s sitcom HAPPY DAYS/ABC/1974-84. The Leopard Lodge (No. 462) members included hardware store owner Howard Cunningham (Tom Bosley) who began as Leopard first class and eventually attained the rank of Grand Puba. The lodge hat was a leopard covered Fez with a red top and dangling black tassle. Neophytes were called Leopard Cubs. They started off with a plain beige fez beret and then had to earn their spots. The lodge held an annual event called the Poopa, Dooda Dance. Once Howard's son Richie asked Al Delvecchio (Al Molinaro), the owner of the local high school hangout, if he was going to the lodge dance? "No, I'm not allowed. I don't have enough spots yet. But someday, I'll be a Poopa, a Dooda, or even a Poopa, Dooda. I know its a dream," he sighed."
I'm still searching for a photo of the fez described above.
Thanks to David Brazeal (#4) for tracking down a photo and some info.
We had the lyrics. We had the sheet music. And now we have the song. And like all of our many past accomplishments, this one was a collaboration.
Brother Phil (#9) penned the lyrics last October. Brother Everett (#3) worked for months on end in a freezing garret, writing the music. And Everett's son, Everett the Younger (known to friends as Tom) brings the song to life in a rousing voice that makes me want to hoist a tankard.
UPDATE: I misread email. Tom did the engineering for the recording. The voice that doffed a thousand fezzes belongs to Dr. T. Everett Mobley himself. Now I have to hoist another tankard.
And we don't know why. Couldn't get sound working on site. Works like a charm here at smays.com HQ. Apologies to those got up early or stayed up late to watch.
Geeks that we are, we will NOT give up. We will get back up on this digital pony.
In October of last year, Phil Powell (#9) came up with lyrics for the Official Order of the Fez Song. But it's really not a song until we have music, and now --thanks to Dr. T. Everett Mobley (#3)-- we do. Almost. What we have is sheet music [Download.pdf] , so members who can read sheet music are already singing or humming the song.
But Dr. T. has semi-promised to record the song and maybe send us a midi file to post. My dream is to have every member record a vocal of the official song and send in the MP3 file, which we'll mix into the first performance of The Order of the Fez Chorale.
Those that can read Dr. T's music... let him know what you think of his effort.
Since a few of our members are uke players, I thought I'd post this just for them.
Speaking of songs, whatever came of the Order of the Fez song/anthem? Brother Phil wrote the lyrics but we never set them to music. We have several musicians on the order, I'd like to think one or more could record this for us. You know who you are.
And for newer members, here's the Secret Grip you've been asking about. The only other suggestion was something called the Reach Around and we never got a photo of that, so...
The Mid-Missouri Chapter of the Order of the Fez is planning to hold our first meeting next Saturday and --if everything comes together-- we'll webcast live from the Coffee Zone in Jefferson City. You'll find an embedded player here and we hope to be live from 9:30 a.m. till 10:00 a.m. Central Time.
If you'd like to participate, we'll have chat activated. To participate, you'll need to set up an account at uStream. Once we're live, click the little chat balloon in the bottom right corner of the player.
We have several members who live close enough to join us: Our two newest members, Tom Boman and George Kopp; and John Wells. Fezzes will be required.
I know the timing sucks for some of you. Brothers Nelson and Hobbit will still be deep in REM sleep and our UK fezzers will be down the local pub, hoisting a pint (God, but I love the way they talk! We can't we get more audio email from the lads?)
We'll talk a little about the Order... maybe read the blog postings for each member and answer questions from the customers here at the Coffee Zone ("No, we will NOT shut the fuck up!")
From Tom Boman's Petition of Worthiness:
"It is with great personal pleasure I request membership in your sacred organization. As I write this, the haunting sounds of Steely Dan’s “The Fez” is floating from my speakers (cut 5 from the album The Royal Scam).
I have always felt the need to “check off” certain things from my Life List. Being a member of a secret, underground, don’t-call-us-we’ll-call-you, what are you lookin’ at, happy go lucky group of like-minded individuals who all believe different things is on the list.
If allowed to be a Fez wearing member of this fraternity, I pledge to uphold all the rules and pageantry it deserves. Unless, of course, not upholding all the rules and pageantry is the direction you’d rather go. I look forward to your decision.
PS: Does tassel length factor into the decision?"
"Sacred organization?" Perhaps Tom thinks he is applying for the priesthood, where they don't wear cool hats until you reach the very top of the organization.
His reference to "this fraternity" hints at rush week keggers with drunken co-eds "soul kissing" for their My Space photo page. Sorry, Tom. OOTF is hardly a fraternity.
Not only does Tom have the requisite fez, he looks damned good in it. If we ever have an OOTF harem, I think Tom would make a damn fine eunuch.
As for tassel length, I'm not even sure a tassel is required. But in the OOTF, size does not matter.
Close observers will note that Tom opted for the ears-tucked-inside-the-fez style, something we have not seen before. And did anyone count the number of times Tom stroked his tassel? I lost track.
Shall we all give our newest member some comment love?
PS: Tom is Director of Operations for Learfield Sports and works in the same building with smays (#1) and lives in Columbia, MO.
Tommy Cooper is a famous British magician. And he wore a fez. Way before being British and wearing a fez was cool.
"He made an art form of getting magic tricks wrong. However, despite his purported inability to perform conjuring tricks, he was in reality an accomplished magician and member of The Magic Circle. Famed for his red fez, his appearance was large and lumbering at 6ft 3ins." Here's the rest of his Wikipedia entry.
I don't know diddly about Tommy Cooper but trust that Brother Phil (#9) and Brother James (#10) can enlighten us (they being fez-wearing Brits, too).
Anthony Hopkins (Is it Sir Anthony?) was on hand for a recent ceremony in Tommy's home town and AH can wear the living shite out of a fez! [Thanks, Brother Bob, aka Fez #2]
Thanks to Brother Bob (#2) for pointing us to this chilling example of fez fashion. These guys are Moslem Croat soldiers.
The SS insignia on the fez and collar patches feature a hand grasping a Turkish scimitar (with the inscription: "Resist and We Will Cut Off Your Moolah!")
During the annual Fall Festival Parade, they drive tiny Panzar tanks that shoot candy from the turret cannon.
BTW... how long has it been since YOU contributed to OrderoftheFez.com? Hmm?
We put the final touches on the new Temple of the Order of the Fez (TOOF) today. In as much as we don't have dues or a building fund, we did a make-over on an empty Butler Building south of town. We'll try to post some interior photos in coming days.
This still is from the 1932 film classic, Tarzan the Ape Man. The actor getting squished by the giant ape was not credited as far as I can tell. The only lines he had were, "Paysay! Paysay!" and "Aaaaiiieeeee!" His last as it turned out.
The headgear does seem to have the shape of a fez but then, that could have been the result of getting ape-handled. A couple of times I was sure I saw a tassel but couldn't find a still that showed it. I pulled a three minute clip from the film that you might enjoy.
I hesitate bringing this up because the OOTF is not about the "hot new thing" on the web. But I have recently gotten addicted to Twitter. If you know what it is you don't need an explanation. If you don't... I can't explain it. But this short video does a pretty good job.
Truly, this is one of those things you have to experience to get. And it's difficult to experience until some of your friends are using the tool. And several members of our order are: David Brazeal, Jamie Nelson, George Kopp (newest member) and me.
If any other members are tweeting, let me know. It's an easy way to keep up with what what your fellow fezzers are up to.
"To the potentate, officers, and nobles of the Order of the Fez:
I hereby declare my request for membership in the Order of the Fez. I have long wanted to be a member of an organization with such noble causes, strong works, and dedicated leadership. I realize that becoming a member brings with it a serious dedication to those principles that the organization holds so dear.
If found to be worthy, I hereby acknowledge that I will wear proudly the symbol of membership and conform to all the bylaws, and directions hereby declared through it's membership.
I would appreciate due diligence to this application such that I may be able to obtain an official member number in order to order a 'Order of the Fez' Fez.
Submitted with all the feeling and respect worthy of the order.
George Kopp
Mr. Kopp has obviously confused the Order of the Fez with the Kiwanis or Jaycees or some similar civic club but let's not tell him until we get his first dues check. Welcome Brother Kopp.
A comic strip called Get Fuzzy by Darby Conley seems to have captured the spirit of The Order of the Fez. I'm not sure I quite get the strip (first time I've seen it) but then I'm not sure I get the OOTF, so...
Here's a link to the full strip. [Thanks, Matthew]
I've had several prospective members ask if they have to take the next number in sequence (#14) or should new members be allowed to pick a number? I submit this question to you, the current members of the order. We'll let majority rule but only if all members vote.
PS: I'm going to start nagging you for your essay on fezorocity. You know who you are.
