Peter Lebeck Chapter #1866

Hello Brothers, just a shorty for now. Grand Council starts tomorrow.If you'd like to Clamp with the PXL contingent look for us near the entrance to the fairgrounds. And don't forget that on Friday Night we will be hosting our traditional Kenny Young Memorial Spaghetti Feed. All ECV Member and their guests are welcome to come by at dinner time for a free helping of spaghetti, salad and bread courtesy of Peter Lebeck in honor of our late Cookie Emeritus, Kenny "Cookie" Young.

And if you are feeling guilty about dropping by empty handed then don't forget that it's B.Y.O.V - that is, "Bring Your Own Vino." So if you like to grease the camaraderie, bring a little something extra for the rest of us. Either way, we'll be happy to see you.

For those of us who aren't headed for Sonora this weekend, remember that the Brothers of the Rialto Fire Department are honoring our late XNGH Doc Charter on Saturday in Rialto. His Widder Marti has asked that everyone who can make it attend these services. Especially if you did not make it up to Wofford Heights last weekend, you really owe it to Doc and the chapter to show up. Do it for Marti. XNGH Timbo Gillespie will be eulogizing Doc on behalf of Peter Lebeck. For details and directions just seethe next post below.

If you are wondering where the usual happy talk following a doin's has gone, well the truth is that I've been really bummed as well as pretty busy. But never fear. When I get back from Sonora I'll likely be back to my sappy old self. In the meantime, don't' miss the pictures from the Spring doin's and from the Tri-Chapter. Just go to Peter's picture pages to hunt them down.

Back at you in a few days. -- MGM

There will be two memorial services for our departed Brother Dale "Doc" Charter, the first one being this coming Saturday, May 12th in Wofford Heights south of Kernville at the Elks Lodge at 6901 Wofford Heights Blvd, Wofford Heights, CA 93285. (760) 376-6564. This service starts at 11:00 a.m. and will host Dale's friends, neighbors and family. It is the easiest service to reach if you live in Kern County.

Dale's second memorial will be the following Saturday, May 19th in Rialto at the Sunrise Church, 2759 Ayala Drive, Rialto, CA 92377. (909) 875-5566. It will be hosted by the Rialto Firefighter's Association with a reception to follow at the nearby home of Dale's daughter Tricia. Dale was a Vietnam Veteran and retired as a crew chief and paramedic from the Rialto Fire Department. Honors will be in accord with these traditions. This service starts at 1:00 p.m.

Doc was very proud to have been a member of E Clampus Vitus, and he served as Noble Grand Humbug of Peter Lebeck chapter in 2009. While I realize that the Rialto service is the same weekend as Grand Council, Dale's Widder, Marti Charter has asked us to attend both memorials if we can, and to dress in our best Clamper Regalia. A representative from Peter Lebeck will be speaking at both services.

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Marti Says, "Thanks for all you love and support! I would really love to see you there. If you have more questions please call me at 805-709-7218 or 760-376-2196. Thank you all for caring! -- Marti"

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Use the links below to access Yahoo Maps for each location then click on "get directions" and type in your address.

--MGM, PXL NGH #51

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Peter Lebeck's 2012 Spring Clampout starts tomorrow but the Clampground opens today at noon. So pack up 'yer Jack, Jenny, Murgatroid or Elvis, and get your animal up to Inyokern for a good time and a firm erection! DWC (Dickhead Weather Central) is predicting some great weather with plenty of sunshine and daytime highs in the mid-70's to 80's, and nighttime lows of about 50 degrees.

The food will be great, with Chile Verde served Friday Night to keep you warm, and three more meals on Saturday including our famous Ribeye Dinner complete with all the fixin's.

And if that isn't enough abuse for you, make sure to make it to the Friday Night's CLONG SHOW -- a perfect time to display your talent (or lack of it), and a golden opportunity to show your PBC why paying the rub wasn't such a hot idea. And once he's finally earned that Redshirt, we'll even let our newly minted Brother buy raffle tickets fo Saturday Night's raffle, and go "Gazing with the Stars with Tom." That'll really teach him!

But seriously, Bro's, a PXL Clampout is some of the most fun you can have with your pants on. We're calling this one "Return to Walker Pass," in light of Sunday's planned rededication of our previously desecrated monument to Joseph Rutherford Walker, at the summit of Walker Pass. So won't you join us for this one? We're freeway close and we've got all the beans you can eat. Just click here or on Joe Walker's face to download the flyer.

--MGM, PXL NGH #51

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The Passing of Doc Charter. "It is with sadness that I must tell you that Dale passed away at 1:30 today. There will be a memorial service for him at the Elks Hall in Wofford Heights for those that may want to attend here and also a memorial service in Rialto that the fire department will be hosting for me. Dates are pending as to both. I will let you know when I know. If anyone wants to make a donation, please do so by sending something to San Joaquin Memorial Hospital's new Cancer Center.

"Dale was diagnosed 10 days ago, and it was so fast that it is hard to realize. It's all so surreal. I will let all of you know when the services are so you may attend if you so choose. -- Love in Jesus!     Marti"

Hello Cloggites, and welcome to the "Just before the spring doin's" Edition of the PXL CLOG. This is a particularly difficult CLOG to write because there is a good deal of sadness to discuss and not just the corny drivel I'm usually spewing about this time to get you to prepay and show up to our Spring Doin's. In fact it's damn hard.

It turns out that just last week our good friend and Brother, XNGH Dale "Doc" Charter was diagnosed with end stage pancreatic cancer and given 2 weeks to 2 months to live. After discussing the matter with his wife Marti, Doc decided against aggressive treatment and is now at home in hospice care. The Doc we know is still there, and can recognize his friends and family, but he has had three strokes just since last week and can no longer carry on a full conversation. If you would like to say goodbye to Doc, now would be the time because he will very soon be leaving us for to the Golden Hills.

Doc has a great love for Clampers and Clamping. He is one of the wisest men I have ever known, and there is not a single Brother among us who could not look to Doc for a friendly hand and a solid word of advice. Even after learning of his condition he still intended to make it to next week's doin's and planned to sponsor several PBCs. There's no way he will make it now except in spirit, and we will miss him.

Doc's home phone number is (760) 376-2196, if you would like to wish him well or inquire about visiting him. You sentiments and you company will be appreciated by Doc and Marti.

It's hard to be light-hearted after that but now for the rest of the story.

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Today, Friday April 20th, is the last day to postmark your prepay for the 2012 Peter Lebeck Spring Doin's in Inyokern, California, and qualify for the reduced, pre-pay rate. In fact, being as I'm the head sucker in charge for this shee-bang, so long as Donny finds your dust in our P.O.Box when he collects the mail on Monday AND you don't tell Dickhead, I'll honor the prepay rate for mail posted over the weekend.

And then just to be fair to those of you who can't tear yourselves away from your computers, I'll even leave the pre-pay rate up on the Paypal Portal until Sunday Night. But that's it! Everybody else pays an extra $10 at the door. Those big slabs of marbled Ribeyes we serve for Saturday dinner cost about $100 a piece and we take wasting food - especially the really good stuff - very seriously. Just check out the flyer.

And speaking of the good stuff. This isn't one of those Doin's where we can offer you palm trees, hula girls or froggy boys, but we can offer you some very, very good stuff to eat all weekend long, beginning on Friday night with Timbo and Smalls' "Pork Loin Chops in Chile Verde á la Mamma Mikee." Because what more could you expect from Medium Green Mike's Friday Night Mexican Dinner Clampstravaganza than a Chile Verde Combination to fire you up for what comes next?

Following Dinner you'll be invited to embarrass yourself among friends at the "CLONG SHOW." Bring a poem, a skit, a song or even just a funny joke or an interesting story. It's our way of encouraging camaraderie and absurdity among the Brethren. And if you brought a PBC, we'll definitely need at least a token contribution from your embryonic would-be Clamper. In fact to learn what they are in for from and what is required of them, make sure to visit the "details page" to download the PBC Handbook, sign-up and learn all about our Doin's.

Our Clampout does not officially start until Friday, but for those of you looking to head our way a day early the gates will open up on Thursday morning courtesy of our host, Bobby Daniels. We will have personnel on site but keep in mind that you are on your own until Friday. It's "BYOP" (bring your own potty) until the Honey Buckets get there on Thursday afternoon. Until then feel free to pee in the desert. Bring shade, water, food and firewood for your burn barrels. Feel free to stoke 'em if you've brought 'em, and don't forget to bring adult beverages for yourself and your fellow denizens of the desert if you're inclined to "nip the creature." We'll also be setting up in a "quiet side - party side" fashion, so choose your ground accordingly.

So what's the latest word from "Dickhead Weather Central?" Well so far we're expecting pleasant, spring-like weather with a chance of showers for Friday and Saturday. That in itself is pretty remarkable because Inyokern is one of the driest places on the planet and boasts an average of 355 days of sunshine a year.

But no worries. A few clouds never hurt anybody and we are so confident about the weather on this trip and the coming good times, that our Spring Doin's comes with Medium Green Mikee's "No Snow Guarantee." And come Saturday Night, assuming the clouds cooperate and your eyeballs can still focus, we'll even do a little star gazing with Hangman Tom Gray. Now many of you are still perplexed that despite our most friendly invitation to Clamp Okihi, those little green men never did show-up to our Fall Doin's. But no matter. We did attract plenty of Redshirts, and any of them intent on watching out for space aliens on this trip will not be denied a turn at the telescope.

And lastly (and this is not to rag on our Central Valley Brethren), several of us did make it up to 14th Annual Tri-Chapter, held this year at Baker Ranch near Oakhurst. It turned out to be a great time, and getting out was easy, but getting in turned into a real mud fest as you can see from the picture of Gene and Donny yucking it up in the rain. Much thanks to the Brothers who pulled us out of the mud no less than four times to get us into the Clampsite. You'll want to click on the picture of Gene and Don, above to get a better look.

As for the weather, well it pretty much only rained on Friday, and those snowflakes the size of biscuits only lasted a couple of hour before being washed away, but it was some of the funkiest spring "sunshine" I have ever seen -- especially given that we never got above 2500 feet. Sunday we left in shirt sleeves.

Anyway, I don't expect anything like snow up at Inyokern unless somebody wants to buy some and truck it in, but I'm starting not to like surprises. See you next weekend.

--MGM, PXL NGH #51

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Thanks to all who made it to the top of Walker Pass for Saturday's Roll-up your sleeves Clamping Event. We had a grand time, great weather and a most satisfactory lunch! As you can see, Hole lead the construction team in his very own version of "The Concrete of Zen." Much thanks also to Humbug Ray Fox and Brother Steve Branch of Platrix for coming up to help and for their chapter's substantial financial contribution towards refurbishing this joint erection from 1963. A new CLOG will be up soon. Make sure to check the Clampdown! Page to see the Walker Pass Slideshow. It's viewable in 1080p HD. Next stop, Easter and Tri-Chapter weekend. --MGM

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Saturday morning we'll be meeting up at the top of Walker Pass to refurbish the Walker Pass Monument. We'd love to have you join us in his endeavor. Redshirts and their PBCs are welcome as well as anyone who is interested in learning about E Clampus Vitus and would like to meet the Brothers. We're planning on meeting up on the pass at 8 a.m. so if you're headed our way make sure to dress warmly. Bring gloves and bring tools. We'll be providing lunch for everyone willing to help with construction so if you're game drop me a quick note at Humbug@ecv1866.org so I can make sure you get your fair share of Carne Asada, fixin's and liquid refreshment. You'll enjoy the camaraderie. Trust me on that.

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Hello Brothers welcome back to the PXL CLOG and Happy St. Patrick's Day! This is a short post mainly because what we've got to say here this week is slathered on a whole bunch of other pages, starting with our Spring Doin's set for April 27-29 at Inyokern in the Mojave Desert. On Sunday we'll be celebrating the resurrection of our Plaque up on Walker Pass, but before we get there we'll be having a whole weekend's worth of Clamper Fun including PXL's Friday Night "CLONG SHOW."

So check out our Humbug's Electronic Invitation Page, and from there move on to visit the Official Announcement Page to download the flyer, sign-up online, and even link to Paypal where your plastic is as good as your dust. You'll find information about our Doin's, Initiation, PBC Handbook, Plaquing, GC Rules and other serious stuff. So check it out!

But before moving on make sure to read these two more quick notes. The renovation of our 1963 Walker Pass Monument Plaque is already underway, but most of the actual reconstruction will be done two weeks from now, Saturday March 31, 2012, starting at 8 a.m. All interested Brothers and their PBCs are invited to join our plucky work party at we gather at the top of Walker Pass to do the dirty deed. That means we'll also need tools, elbow grease and other stuff to get 'er done. We'd really appreciate your participation so if you are interested log-in to Peter's Board and following the "Monumental Work Party" thread on "PXL's 2012 Spring Doin's" Sub-board, and if you have no idea what the heck that means, just contact Brother Russ "Hole" Chapman at vngh@ecv1866.org to volunteer.

Lastly, don't forget to check out the lushy little Leprechauns in the jackass space above (you always knew we called it that for a reason). And once you're done with that make sure to friend us on FACEBOOK. Just click on the "like" button on the left had edge of the page.

Hey, that's three quick notes, isn't it? So who ever sed Clampers could count?

--MGM, PXL NGH #51

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Hello Cloggites and welcome back to another shamelessly scandalous edition of the PXL CLOG. As always It will be my most humble duty to explain all our most recent goings-on and to give you nothing but the 100% unvarnished truth, but on the other hand, if I didn't stick a whopper in there once in a while how the heck am I gonna keep you awake?

So here goes…first of all, I want to thank all of our friends and Brothers who joined us up in Kernville this past Presidents' Day Weekend for the Whiskey Flat Parade. We weren't a big group but as always we left a good impression. The ladies looked marvelous in their 19th Century Finest and had a great time teasing the crowd of some 30,000 visitors -- while the guys looked like a bunch of disorderly tom cats. As for me, I was a total failure at Cat Herding 101. XNGH Don Johnson would give me a history of how our walking group had been organized in the past. I'd start to bark orders for how the guys should line up. And right about then I'd lose total control as our chivalrous Redshirts stepped up to help some Widder with her "wardrobe malfunction."

But I shouldn't have worried too much. As it turns out we are well loved and respected up in Kernville. Last year we won first place in our category; and this year, the announcer in the reviewing stands said lots of nice things about our being a certified (or was that "certifiable?") hysterical society. The crowd kept snapping lots of pictures of the Widders, and they truly couldn't resist taking pictures of Doc who was carrying our new - very, very impressive -- Staff of Relief. Much thanks to Charles Topping for his work on the Staff. I even got an honorable mention of my own as I overheard a little boy ask, "Mommy, mommy, why does that man have a dead raccoon on his shoulder?"

I guess he'll just have to wait 'til he's 21 to find out. (No point in explaining it to him then, his mother would probably have had me arrested).

Anyway thanks again to XNGH Doc Charter and his Widder Marti for setting this up and hosting our little ECV Tribe both during and after the parade. And just in case you're wondering, that picture up above is of Doc and our VNGH Russ "Hole" Chapman discussing the facts of life down in Doc's man cave. I suspect that Hole still has a lot to learn.

Now for more "serious stuff…" While I was up celebrating at Doc's I was speaking to Jeannie Johnson and Marti Charter, who are asking to form a Peter Lebeck Widders' Auxiliary to help raise a little dust for the chapter. I personally think it's a great idea, and it's one more way to open up chapter participation - especially by our women.

We know Jeannie as someone dedicated to the cause as a she's a past Noble Grand Widder, and we know Marti to be dedicated 'cuz she puts up with Doc. Anyway these ladies point out that many of the wives of our newer members would like to have the opportunity to become more involved and would like to know how. Making crafts for sale at Grand Council is way, but another idea proposed by these two ladies is a family Clampweekend. Something not just for the Widders and Redshirts but for the entire family. Now to be fair to Doc, he's been talking about doing something like this for the last two years, and his proposal was for a Couples Doin's up at Camp Whitsett. The weather up in the pines forests above Kernville really is pleasant in August, but the road is treacherous for anyone with an RV. To solve that problem, Brother Hole and his Widder Cathy have volunteered the use of their place in Atascadero for a Mid-July Affair, but whether we can pull this off in 2012 really depends on how much interest there might be in a weekend family get-away.

Another more likely possibility is a "Widders' Day Out, Stateline Turn-around" set for a Saturday when the boys are out Clamping. I'm not sure how the ladies would get to Nevada but I'm assuming that they wouldn't have to walk.

Anyway if you are a Clamper Widder with an interest in forming the new Peter Lebeck Auxiliary, email Marti at Korneyville@yahoo.com or Jeannie at UCDoubleJ@aol.com. They've even set up a private Facebook page for the new PXLA. Email Jeannie to gain access. They'll be looking forward to your responses.

Planning for our Spring Doin's is underway, so set your watches for April 27-29, when we'll be camping in the Mojave Desert east of Walker Pass, near Inyokern. This is going to be a very special event for us, and we especially want to invite all the desert chapters within hailing distance of the intersection of State Highways 14 and 178, to join us as we rededicate our first monument, erected in 1963, to celebrate the designation of Walker Pass a as National Historic Landmark.

The back story goes like this: The Sierra Nevada range runs north and south for hundreds of miles along the eastern edge of California with very few places to cross into California's interior from the Great Basin. Back in 1834, when California was still part of Mexico, Joseph Walker was probing the southern part of the Sierras when he discovered a mountain pass between the Kern River Valley and the Mojave. To be fair, even Walker gave credit to the local Indians on this one, but Kit Carson while testifying before Congress called it "Walker's Pass," and it's been Walker Pass ever since.

I suppose they could have named it, the "Joe Convinced the Locals to Tell'im Where It Was Pass," but that's not quite as dramatic.

Anyway in 1963, the federal government's designation of Walker Pass in 1961 as a National Historic Landmark sparked the need for a commemoration, and this was where the Clampers fit right in. Back then Peter Lebeck was the brand new Kern County Chapter of E Clampus Vitus, and though we had been an official chapter for only two years, we had strong ties with Platrix #2, the Kern County Historical Society, Kern County Museum, and even the Bakersfield Californian; but even more importantly, we didn't yet have a plaque.

So somewhere around this time, a scheme was devised. The existing monument up on Walker Pass would be expanded using colored rocks, mortar, and Clamper Labor, and two plaques would be added: The official government plaque bearing the new national historic landmark designation and a second one by Peter Lebeck and Platrix, the Clamper Brothers who had worked together to augment the original monument.

The erection and the celebration were a success. In fact all was well until sometime before 2008, when the bronze Clamper plaque disappeared. My guess is that it just came loose since there are no tell-tale pry marks or other signs of vandalism where the plaque used to be.

Now if it were a matter of just replacing the plaque that would be no big deal as it's only about the size of a sheet of notebook paper, but the monument itself has suffered some serious deterioration. The portion that was added to display the plaques has held up pretty well, but the stairs appear to be a lost cause.

Check out the pictures I've embedded here in the CLOG. The one on the right was taken by me back in 2008. The stairs still looked to be in pretty good shape despite being over 45 years old. The Clamper Plaque was already missing by then so what you're seeing in its place is a digital simulation.

The picture on the left was taken just last week. No doubt the freezing temperatures at 5,200 feet and the encroaching vegetation have taken their toll on the stairs, but they also look like they were run over by a truck. The main part of the monument has also lost a stone from its face, so even the main part of the erection could use some tender loving care.

It appears that a work party is in order, most likely in March, but we are still assessing whether to do a full repair now or just tidy up a bit and put reconstruction of the stairs off until later in the year. April is out of the question because we have such a condensed calendar. We even had to change the date of our Spring Clampout from the weekend of April 13-15 so as to avoid conflicting with the Central Valley Tri-Chapter. Our original date had allowed us to avoid stepping on both Billy Holcomb and Platrix without going into May when the desert starts to heat-up. Our apologies to Platrix, but we ended up with our doin's on the same weekend as theirs, April 27-29, 2012.

That hardly means that we aren't inviting all of our Redshirted Brothers to join us for our first Clampout of the year. Peter Lebeck is not only a very friendly bunch of guys but we're also a great place to earn a redshirt. While our Brothers range from far and wide, we are especially looking to add members from the Bakersfield Area. So if you have a quality guy in mind - be he a Republican, Democrat or Sasquash -- toss him in the trunk and bring him along. Regardless of where he's from we'll definitely know what to do with him. In the meantime, keep an eye out for the flyer. We'll have it out soon, and don't forget that you can also get what you need off the PXL Website. You'll even be able to prepay using Paypal.

Now for a little administrative stuff. We continue to work on a revision of the Bylaws including a total revamp of our Board of Trustees currently known as the "Noble Grand Graybeards." As presently set-up the Graybeards are responsible for selecting the Humbug and certain officers, as well as acting as a court when it becomes necessary to discipline members. In contrast the Humbug and the officers run the day to day workings of the chapter.

At the last general meeting in Frazier Park, Tom Gray and I presented several options for reforming the Board of Graybeards, but there was a very strong consensus around the option of a seven man board comprised of the current Humbug, the three most recent ex-Humbugs, and the three Redshirts who would be elected from the membership at large. Redshirt positions would likely be for two year staggered terms, and any PXL Member in good standing could run for election including any ex-Humbug. The proposal that the Hawker and the Gold Dust Receiver be designated as ex officio members of the board was loudly rejected as posing a conflict of interest.

The plan would provide for stability while at the same time introduce a healthy dose of democracy to our board of directors. I was actually surprised that the idea of having an open election for board positions was so vocally supported by the Brothers given that we had had a non-elected board since our incorporation in 1980. Tom and I actually suggested putting restrictions on who could run, such as requiring sponsorship by a Graybeard, but the Brothers were adamant that if we were going to have an election we should open it up to everybody.

So what now you ask? Well first we need to finish up the new Bylaws and put them to a ratification vote at a General Membership Meeting. We'll also need to take a census of who we are as a chapter so that we have a clearer idea of who is eligible to run and who is eligible to vote. Under the current rules, to be a member of PXL requires that a Brother come in through the HOCO, but the truth is that we have plenty of members who came to us from other chapters. They just felt the camaraderie at Peter Lebeck and adopted #1866 as their home.

The best way to sort this out is to just phone everybody listed on our attendance roster and ask them a few questions going to the issue of membership. I've asked Tom Gray, who is our Clamps Rolestrix, to be in charge of this project, but he's going to need a bunch of phone tree volunteers. So please be generous and donate two or three evening of your time on behalf of the chapter.

Normally I'd say that the whole point of all this work is to get us ready for voting for the board by way of mail-in balloting, but if we get this task out of the way sooner rather than later we'll also be able to personally remind our Brothers that they really should make time to join us for our Spring Doin's and to bring their favorite PBC.

Other things we are working on…Our VNGH Russ "Hole" Chapman has begun work our chapter's operations manual to be titled, "How to Serve Clamper - a PXL Cookbook." The idea behind this potential best seller is to create a set of role descriptions and checklists that will give each officer a firm head's-up as to what he is expected to do and how to make the chapter function smoothly. Or as I put it to Hole, "We gotta make it so simple that even a Clamper can do it."

Anyway, what I am asking of anyone who has spent time in the chairs is to be prepared to share your experiences with Hole as he puts this thing together. The last thing we ever want to see happen again is for a guy to take on a new office and have no idea - or worse, get no help - about what he's supposed to do next. We have way better things to spend our time and energy on than reinventing the wheel. So 'nuf sed about that.

Our GNR Luis "Vaquero" Bouza is working on organizing our documents and correspondence so that they can be scanned and put "in the cloud" -- which is geek speak for backing up our important papers in an electronic form that will eventually be accessible over the web. The learning curve is steep on this one, but we'd like to create an on-line locker where members and officers can access our records using a set of security level passwords. We're hoping that Vaquero's degree in computer science and his experience selling cloud based products will be a big help to us on this very, very ambitious project.

So that's all for now, but if you're wondering about the band you're heard here playing "Whiskey in the Jar," it's an Irish pop fusion band named "Celtic Thunder." They're very entertaining and seeing as how I "borrowed" their song for a few weeks you really ought to consider ordering their music on line. Here's a Youtube link to their videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4H9OQ1MmH4&feature=related Peace out!

--MGM, PXL NGH #51

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Just a quick reminder that Peter Lebeck marches in this coming Saturday's Whiskey Flat Parade in Kernville. You are most welcome to join us. for further details just read the post immediately below this one where you'll find times, directions, a map and a link to the official Whiskey Flats Website and Newspapaer. To contact our host, Doc Charter just give him a call at (760) 417-0599. See you there!

Happy Super Bowl fellow Cloggites and welcome back to the PXL CLOG. January has brought an auspicious start to the Peter Lebeck Clampyear, and the Brothers here at Peter Lebeck are on a roll. So to everyone who made it to last weekend's Widders' Ball, "Thank You!" We hope you had as good a time as we did. To everyone else, well, there's always next year. Or better yet, don't just sit there in your chonies and crying in your beer! Just pack your fine tooth comb, throw in a couple pair of your best red knickers and join the brothers of PXL as we head off across the Clampscape.

More on that in a moment but first, a recap. Last Saturday's Widders' Ball was one of our best on record, and we received a lot of kudos for this one. I can't remember the last time we outlasted the D.J. Chris from Travelin' Tunes had about 10 couples still on the dance floor when the music ran out, and our hospitality room closed down some time after one in the morning. Much thanks to "Vaquero," "Yeti," "Hole" and our other upcoming brothers for the way you all pitched in and managed this event. Graybeards "Sawdust" and "Doc" held up their end as XNGHs, while 2009 Grand Noble Widder Jeannie Johnson did the table center pieces. I also want to thank the Widders who pitched in during the day and kept our hospitality room neat and tidy. Janina Bouza put together those beautiful gift baskets for our raffle, and many other friends were generous with both gifts and time. The raffle went off so smoothly it was like Christmas on steroids.

Debbie Brandt was named 2011 Grand Noble Widder for her selfless contributions to the chapter as a professional accountant. She audited the PXL Books for 2010 and 2011 and is helping us set up a bookkeeping system that will standardize much of this work in the future. Debbie is married to our Hangman, Tom Gray, who is one lucky SOB.

Once again, the Widders who participated in our costume contest were the best of sports, and the men were as goofy as ever. We had the guys dancing especially hard to impress the ladies. All we can say is that we are absolutely certain that these Brothers made some kind of impression, but we won't say what kind - - Nuf'sed.

But the absolute highlight of the evening had to have been the Weenie Roast of our longtime Brother and benefactor, Gene "Dickhead" Duncker for his 22 years of his service to Peter Lebeck. If you didn't see it or simply want to see it again, his Widder Lumpy videoed the festivities and put them up on Youtube to Gene's eternal embarrassment. To relive the moment, just click on this link.

If I left anybody out, my apologies, but thank you, thank you, and thank you! I am SO PROUD of YOU GUYS. And whether I mentioned you individually or not, you really ought to be in pictures…which is why I've mounted more than 300 photos of this Doin's on Peter's Picture pages and have a created a slide show viewable in 1080p High Definition just go to the Clampdown Page to see it. Thanks to Alden Roberts for his shutter work. Dahr-leengs, you look MAH-vel-us!

Now on to other stuff….

On February 18, 2012, Peter Lebeck will be marching in Kernville's Whiskey Flat Days Parade. Once again, XNGH "Doc" Charter and his Widder Marti will host our intrepid little band of Redshirts and their lady guests. So please, come on up for this one, and dress Clamper-style to impress the crowd. Since we started doing this event three years ago, we've actually won two awards in the "Walking Group" Category. After the parade we'll be headed back into town for libations and eats.

For those unfamiliar with Whiskey Flat Days, it's a celebration that occurs in Kernville every year over Presidents' Days Weekend. This is Kern County's most popular themed winter festival, and it celebrates the early days of Old Kernville when it was known as "Whiskey Flat." As many as 50,000 people are expected in town for the weekend, so if you'd like to join us we encourage you to get there early. If you'd like to read more about this event, just click on Dufus's Nose to go to the official site where you can find a link to the Whiskey Flat Days Newspaper.

At 10:00 a.m. we will be meeting up at a watering hole called "The Hut," which is three blocks west of the staging area on Sierra Way. The Parade is supposed to start at 11:00 so we'll be heading out to our place in line at about 10:30. It is also a good idea to bring your cell phone. That way in case you miss us or The Hut isn't open, you can call Doc Charter at (760) 417-0599. Landlines are available at the local pubs.

To get to The Hut and the parade staging area, just follow the only road north into Kernville. It becomes Burlando Road as you approach town. Once in Kernville this street changes names a couple of times but continue to go straight. Follow it over the Kern River Bridge then park wherever you can find parking. The Hut will be on your right two blocks past the bridge. The staging area will be three blocks beyond that at Sierra Way.

February 10-11, 2012, this coming Friday and Saturday, Doc, Dickhead and Timbo will be headed up to the Annual LSD Bean Feed & Hawkers Faire in Auburn, California. The CARP Dinner is on Friday night starting at 6:00 p.m. at the Sizzler in Auburn. The trading, schmoozing and beaning begins on Saturday at 7:00 a.m., at the Gold Country Fair. For more details click here. If you are interested in joining them call Doc at (760) 417-0599. Lodging is available at the Easy 8 Motel.

The weekend of April 13-15, a bunch of us will be headed up to the Central Valley Tri-Chapter (location to be announced). We had originally picked this weekend for our own Spring Doin's but so many of us actually attend this event that we pushed our own date later into the calendar to avoid the conflict. Besides, when we do the Tri-Chapter we just get to hang out and don't have to work as hard. I personally am looking forward to meeting the Beluga Brothers and watching Brother Stinky's Studebaker Rides. We'd be doing Studebaker Rides at PXL but they work so much better when you can add water. We'll be posting the flyer on Peter's Board when it becomes available.

Two weeks later, April 27-29, we'll be headed to a flat spot in the Mojave Desert for our 2012 Spring Doin's. It won't be as pretty as our last event, but it will be a lot of fun. Back in 1963, PXL and Platrix were part of a ceremony recognizing Walker Pass as a National Historical Landmark. As part of that celebration, the Brothers of E Clampus Vitus created a colorful stone and mortar encasement for the existing monument on Walker Pass and added a joint plaque donated by the PXL and Platrix chapters of ECV. That plaque was our chapter's first erection, dedicated on October 19, 1963, about a month before the assassination of John F. Kennedy, a long, long time ago.

Awhile back - no one seems to know exactly when - our little plaque disappeared. The goal for our fall doin's will be to replace our missing marker. We hope you'll set time aside to join us for this important and meaningful erection.

Lastly I want to thank everybody for their support. For the last seven years I've been helping out with the PXL website. Most of what you see here is my work. It's not perfect, and it's no longer all that modern; but hopefully it continues to serve the purposes for which it was intended.

For years now I've been looking to the Humbug to make sure that what I posted here wasn't out of line with how he wanted PXL to be represented. Usually I got it right, on occasion I got it wrong, but it was usually just me and another guy sorting out how we wanted to present the public face of Peter Lebeck to our Brothers of E Clampus Vitus.

Now I find myself in the position of actually being the Humbug. It feels a little weird, and a little lonely, though I suppose I always have the option of talking to myself. But as I look to the officers that we have coming up and to our active Graybeards, I realize that our chapter has come a long way since Steve Born started experimenting with a few webpages in 2005. For one, the membership has gotten a bit younger. For another they have also gotten much more tech savvy. But most of all, regardless of their ages, they have plenty of energy and lots of new ideas about where our chapter should go next.

So as the duties of Humbug get thicker, I'm sure I'll be able to rely on my Brothers from another mother to fill-in here on the ol' PXL CLOG. We have plenty to look forward to my friends.

And, oh yeah - wish me luck.

--MGM

BOGUS

BOGUS

It was a great time! Thanks again to all who made our event a success. A new CLOG will be up soon, but in the meantime enjoy the photos. You can access the Youtube slideshow by clicking on the Clampdown! link. You can expand it to fit your screen and you can even watch it in 1080p HD if you have a fast broadband connection. You'll also find the pictures posted in a more traditional fashion on Peter's Picture Pages by tomorrow. Enjoy!

Hello, Cloggites, and welcome back to this Widders' Ball version of the PXL CLOG. We're all set for this weekend's Widders' Ball and Demotion Dinner, and if you haven't RSVP'd by now, then you are probably out of luck. I say "probably" because we still do have a handful of seats left though you may find yourself in the bleachers for this one. We are expecting over 70 for Saturday's Soirée, so if you're just expecting to drop by and cruise under the RADAR you'd best contact Timbo at timbodid@yahoo.com to make sure that you can still get in. If you've already pre-paid and lost your flyer, you can still get it here. Just click on the little flyer on the right.

Dickhead Weather Central reports that climate conditions for Saturday afternoon's reception at our Hospitality Suite should be quite moderate, with temperature predicted to be in the mid-60's. You may want to bring a sweater, but no houses are expected to fall on anyone's sister. In any event there will be plenty of complimentary snacks and libations to keep you warm.

If you are wondering what Louie, Big Al and I are doing in that picture overhead with the nice lady with the feathers in her hair, it's mostly blushing, I think. Actually we're shamelessly trying to remind you that Saturday's Dinner Dance is an excuse to be nice to the woman you love, and that showing off your finest period attire is gently encouraged. (At least that's what we told our Widders. It's something government officials call "plausible deniability.")

Anyway you'll most certainly want to dress casually for our hospitality room, but you'll also want to dress up nicely for dinner. Your Widder will appreciate it. If you've never been to one of our Widders' Balls you'll want to check out the video slide show on our Clampdown Page. We're a friendly bunch, and our greatest desire is to make you feel at home.

Now here's what we have planned for Saturday Evening…

Dinner will be your choice from the buffet complete with a little mood music. Then of course they'll be after dinner business. We'll have to throw the old bums out and drag the new bums in. We'll be handing out awards to our top supporters. We'll be celebrating the "Widder of the Year," and we'll be having our usual costume contests. We'll also be conducting a raffle, and once that's over - y'all 'll get to dance: Light on the country, nix on the hip hop, a little line dancing, a little contemporary, a touch of soul … and a lot of romance.

In keeping with our dubious sense of taste, the men's dress contest will be as rowdy as ever, so ladies, cheer them on! But the Widders' Contest will be more gentile. We want every lady in costume to participate without having to feel like she's wandered into a meat market. And once again we'll have costume awards for Period, Saloon Girl, and Absurd.

We also promise to keep the raffle short. As usual we'll be accepting donation in kind to the raffle pot, so don't forget to bring a gift; but this year we'll be dividing the prizes into groups. Buy as many tickets as you'd like and then divide them up amongst the various prizes.

So don't forget to join us for a most Satisfactory time as we celebrate the women in our lives, this Saturday, January 28th, at the Peter Lebeck Widders' Ball in Bakersfield. See you there!

--MGM

BOGUS

BOGUS

Before you move on to read the latest (and greatest) CLOG, we just want to remind you that there is a General Membership Meeting scheduled for this coming Saturday, Januaury 21st, at 10:00 a.m., at Flintstone's Pizza, 6032 Frazier Mountain Park Rd, Frazier Park, CA 93225; located 6.4 miles west of the Frazier Park exit on Interstate 5. Then the following Saturday, January 28th, we'll be gathering in Bakersfield for our 51st Annual Widders' Ball. If you haven't signed up and you intend to come please go to our Paypal Page and RSVP using our BIG ENVELOPE, just click here. You don't have to use Paypal to prepay but you do need to RSVP/ASAP because we need to give the hotel a count by next Friday for this prepay only event. As always you can mail your dust to, "Peter Lebeck #1866, P.O.Box 384, Bakersfield, CA 93302.

Happy New Year, Brothers, and welcome back to the PXL CLOG! The latest edition of Peter's Procs, the invitation to the Widders' Ball and the announcement about our January 21st Annual Membership Meeting have all gone out, and if you haven't received our mailer yet, rest assured that it will arrive shortly to all who are on our mailing list. So please open it and take a few minutes to read it, because we really would like to see you in 2012 at one or more of our events. We enjoy visiting with our friends just as much as we enjoy making new ones because we take pride in being one of the friendliest chapters in all of ECV. And how the heck are we gonna do all those good things if you don't drop by and visit, huh?

Anyway if you've not on our list or have simply fallen off the sick jackass, you can still download a version of the January 2012 Mailer by clicking on the little picture of the Widders' Ball Announcement to your right. Our Clamp Crier, Gene "Dickhead" Duncker has done a fine job with Peter's Procs explaining where we've been over the last year. Between that and past posts on the CLOG you should be able to tell just how chaotic the recent past has been for PXL, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Personally I believe that over the last year we have become much stronger as an ECV Chapter than we've been for a long, long time. But we have also been undergoing a lot of changes. Some longtime members have asked me to explain what it all means. So what I want to do in this post is to go over with you a few of our most recent developments, and to explain where we are going as a chapter, and why. Hopefully by the time I'm done -- whether you agree with me or not - you will understand what we are trying to accomplish and where PXL fits into the modern version of E Clampus Vitus.

So let's go from front to back, starting with our upcoming Widder's Ball. Come January 28, 2012, yours truly and my slate of Redshirted Bucketeers will be installed as PXL's Officers for 6017. That means that Peter Lebeck will have the only "Green" Humbug of any shade in all of Clamperdom.

Or as Humbug Timbo Gillespie would say, "We highly recommend capping your holiday season and laying in a base for Super Bowl weekend by attending PXL's Widder's Ball and Throw the Bums Out soirée. This festive and suitably raucous bacchanal takes place on Saturday January 28th at the Best Western Crystal Palace in Bakersfield. It is conveniently located just off the freeway, right next door to the famous Buck Owen's Crystal Palace and the famed Bakersfield Arch. We'll be opening our Hospitality suite at 2:00, replete with grand libations, great snacks, and a rotating slide show of recent PXL adventures and tomfoolery. Following that, we'll have dinner and dancing complete with a no-host bar. The special room rate includes a breakfast the next day. And, for ease of sending in your rub, we have established the ability for you to pay using PayPal. So for all of the salacious details, click here!"

But before we let Timbo off the hook for the second year in a row, I caution you not to think of this as a change of administrations so much as a continuation of the work that Tim and I both believe needs to be completed in order to operate PXL in a solid business-like manner.

Back in mid-2011, when the guy who had been appointed Humbug quit in the middle of his term, having left us with a whole lot of stuff undone, it seemed logical to some to "elevate" the Vice Humbug (me) to Humbug for the rest of the 2011 Clampyear. But as I told the Graybeards then, I never considered myself the best choice for the task. The chapter had to have someone who already had the chops to drive the chapter out of the quagmire quickly, and as far as I was concerned that was our most recent Humbug and Clampatrairch, Timbo Gillespie.

The Graybeards met at the end of June and in the presence of the General Membership they elected Tim Humbug #50 by acclamation. This turned out to be a great decision because with Timbo at the helm we avoided what could have been a sour ending to our 50th Anniversary Year. Instead our Fall Clampout turned out to be one of the best we've ever had.

The Graybeards and the membership also lent their support to our efforts to reform the way Peter Lebeck operates. The July 2010 Leona Valley Fire, where the chapter had lost its entire Hawker Store and nearly all of its records, caused us to consider whether PXL needed to do more to protect its status as a tax exempt charitable corporation. After all, our corporate status protects individual members from being sued for things done in the name of the chapter.

We also looked at our bylaws and found that some of these rules were still quite good (like the timing of state mandated meetings, requiring corporate minutes and the production of an annual audit), while others no longer reflected how our chapter functioned (like provisions for two vice humbugs and no provision for a Hawker Store). Some rules actually discouraged active, responsible management of the chapter (like board members appointed for life without any obligation to attend board meetings); but even worse, some rules had been so badly misunderstood that few members had any idea who was supposed to be in charge of managing Peter Lebeck.

To his credit, Tim established himself as a strong executive officer and set out to fix this stuff, and I believe we have a slate of incoming officers equally committed to completing this work. But if you want to know why this is important, just consider it a matter of self-preservation: If we can't get our act together, we'll have failed despite being the guardians of Kern County, one of the largest Clamper protectorates in all of California. As far as I'm concerned, that's just not gonna happen. The Brothers of PXL are a solid, friendly group of guys, and we have a lot of potential. All we have to do is sort this mess out.

And that just happens to be the hot topic for our upcoming "Annual Corporate Meeting" on January 21, 2012, at 10:00 a.m., at Flintstone's Pizza in Frazier Park. This is a meeting that you do not want to miss. Following our annual reports, we will be discussing potential changes to the PXL Articles and Bylaws and the various options available to us for the restructuring of the Board of Graybeards, establishing membership rights in Peter Lebeck, normalizing our business model and other important topics that must be considered before a new set of bylaws is submitted to the membership for ratification. If you consider yourself a member of Peter Lebeck, either because you came in at PXL or because you have adopted us as your home chapter, then you want to attend this meeting and be heard.

I also want to highlight for a moment another reason you will want to attend this meeting: This is your chance to volunteer. Tim and I recognized that part of modernizing our chapter was giving as many brothers as possible a chance to step-up and pitch-in in a more formal way. Some of you would like to go "up the chairs" someday, but being somebody's buddy hardly seems like a fair way for the Redshirts in charge to pick a future Humbug. So with that in mind we added a few new officers and expanded a few roles to do some of the things that we had often relied on more senior members to do informally. Some of these slots are new, while others are now "managerial" and create opportunities for others to pitch in for a few hours and be noticed without having to dedicate an entire weekend's doin's to helping out.

For example our Clamps Hostrix (formally the "bartender"), is now our official master of ceremonies and time keeper, but will need several volunteers to host the bar for a few hours during every doin's, something that can be a lot of fun and a way to meet the other brothers. Our Hawker is looking for Hawk-Tackles (assistant Hawkers) to accompany him to outside Clampouts even if it's just for one or two events a year. Our Clamps Rolestrix is looking for volunteers willing spread the word about PXL at other doin's, and to phone current members in order to flush potential PBC out of the bush. Our Clamps Thespian is looking for closet Shakespearian types who want to perform the HOCO. Our Hangman is looking for Vigilantes. And our ClampChef is always looking for people who won't eat him for lunch. All of these are good things to do. It's a way to get involved, get noticed, and if you like it, you may even want to do more.

I want to talk about our upcoming officers, but before I do that I want to address PXL's place in modern Clamperdom.

I know that having an "organization" and having people in charge often doesn't go down well with some of our Brothers. I've heard red shirts complain about the way they have been prevented by the Board of Proctors from engaging in the style of dirty initiations to which they had grown accustomed. And over the last several years we have even had several breakaway chapters cite their independence by way of the ritual. After all, doesn't it say that "all members are officers" and "all officers are of equal indignity?"

But the truth is that while I believe first and foremost that we should always try to accept each other as equals and as brothers, "no matter what," E Clampus Vitus Redivivus has never stood for the kind of anarchy idolized by the renegade chapters. That's because from the beginning the revivers of E Clampus Vitus saw its mission very differently from that of the Clampers of old from whom the ritual derives.

While we idealize doing what we do for the "Widders and the Orphans," and want to believe that the Clampers of the Gold Rush provided for the needy, the truth is that there were few widders and orphans in the mining camps. Such places were comprised mostly of men, and life was often short and brutal. The redshirts who lived in these places were often here today and gone tomorrow, off chasing that next elusive lucky strike. If the ritual meant anything, it most often meant temporary relief from a hard life and a chance to create a sense of camaraderie.

The Redivivus -- the modern version of E Clampus Vitus -- was begun by a bunch of academics and history buffs, mostly associated with the University of California at Berkeley. And by saying "academics," I don't mean to disparage these men. Guys like Carl Wheat, G. Ezra Dane, Leon Whitsell, Al Shumate, Herbert Bolton and Edgar Jessup, just to name a few, are our benefactors, our most honored Redshirts and our Brothers. They loved a good joke and a strong drink, and would have been at home at any of our doin's. The lore of E Clampus Vitus was an attraction for them because they loved history and saw the value in reviving and linking themselves to the most whimsical fraternal order ever invented.

Eventually it was their camaraderie - with the help of Adam Lee Moore - that brought E Clampus Vitus back from the edge of extinction and turned it into a robust civic organization dedicated to teaching the public about local history. We may not be the Masons, the Elks, the Odd Fellows or the Westerners, but we are unique.

So what does that mean for us? Well first and foremost it means that if we're not plaquing, we're not Clamping, and at PXL we should try for at least one, maybe two, well researched monuments a year. At the same time I don't believe we should ever abandon the ideal of helping the widders and orphans or doing some other kind of charitable work that benefits our community. By doing both of these things we honor our members traveling the Golden Hills and honor the spirit of Clamperdom. Best of all, between these two ideals there is room for everyone who wants to be a Clamper.

While I would love us to have the help of multiple historians to guide our work here at PXL, you don't need to be a historian to be a member. On the other hand, if we expect to carry out our obligation to help educate the public about history, we need to foster a love of history in ourselves. It's something to think about and something to work on.

Over the years I've heard too many discouraging comments coming from our own members, things like, "PXL is just a bunch of blue collar types. You can't expect us to be interested in history and most of us just want to party." "Just as long as we can get together and put on a good Clampout you shouldn't worry if nobody wants to do anything else." We're too spread out to have regular meetings." And the one that really jerks my chain -- "We've always done it that way."

So what do I really think? Glad you asked. I think it's all B--- S---. Celebration will always be part of our Clamping Traditions and we're never going to give that up, but if Clamping is worth doing, then these problems are worth solving. We've already started using teleconferencing to get our officers together for long distance meetings, which is a first step towards getting rid of the "we've always done it that way" excuse.

As for Blue Collar? Hell, I love Peter Lebeck. Guys that put on airs are best advised to leave them at home when they come to one of our doin's, because if they do, there is no friendlier place in all of Clamperdom than PXL. But the word that best describes Peter Lebeck isn't "blue collar," it's "egalitarian," or as Timbo Likes to say, we've got a chapter with room for everything from "Brain Surgeons to Drain Surgeons," and no matter what you end up calling us we are one big friendly bunch of broadly talented guys.

Me, personally, I PBC'ed at Peter Lebeck in 1992, and was sponsored by Dickhead when we worked together in Lancaster. I graduated from UCLA Law in 1985, but before that had earned my journeyman's card as a Toolmaker in 1979.

And truth be known our incoming officers are a no less experienced and eclectic bunch. VNGH-to-be Russ Chapman is a talented electrician who likes to stick his fingers in light sockets when he's not busy keeping the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant from glowing in the dark. Incoming GNR and Clamps Thespian Luis Bouza is a Sales Manager at AT&T Mobility with a degree in Computer Science from CSLA. Our Rolestrix and Hangman to be, Tom Gray, is an attorney who graduated from UCLA Law, but is also a skilled mechanic who maintained his own auto shop while working his way through law school. We also know our new GDR and constant Clamp Crier, Gene "Dickhead" Duncker, to be a public defender, but did you know that he was also a policeman, and that in his spare time he works for his Widder Lumpy breeding horses and mucking out stalls?

Our New Hawker, Doc Charter, is a retired fireman and managing paramedic with great people skills. Hawk Tackle Don Johnson is a highly skilled loadmaster. Hawk Tackle Jim Bailey manages a business-class Hilton in Bakersfield. Clamps Hostrix Kevin Oviatt is a technician who repairs those humongous Xerox Machines that seat six. Clamps Sous Chef Joe Rivera is working towards becoming an electrical contractor, and Damnfool Doorkeeper, Ron Moen, is in real estate.

And Clampatriarch Timbo Gillespie? He's a safe cracker. Well actually he owns his own security firm. He's a locksmith, certified welder, graduate of Southern Illinois University, and was last seen drilling open a safe on Storage Wars - which I guess would make him PXL's only TV Star.

So guess what? There is no one on this list who is afraid of getting his hands dirty, and they have all the talents we need to make our chapter grow. They'll need your input, but these guys will be taking our chapter where it needs to go and planning for the future. Wish them luck, and lend them a hand.

So Brothers, I look forward to the coming year, and you should too. In the spring we'll be Clamping in the desert and we're expecting to replace our missing plaque up on Walker Pass. We are also working on a new erection for the fall, so stay tuned.

See you at the General Meeting and at the Widders' Ball. Wish me luck.

--MGM

BOGUS

BOGUS