We've covered Dr. Gene Scott before. (Last day of the California trip.) Well, he passed away yesterday. And somehow I'm wondering if I'm the only one out my way who ever got to see this guy. I can see that California people knew about him (1|2|3|4), but my family had the big satellite dish (since we're still too far out for cable to reach), and so we were able to see this. He became this simultaneously quiet, menacing, and utterly riveting television experience, something completely alien to my existence. I was already immune to the televised evangelism, even at 11, but he was hypnotic, always seemingly about to explode. 24 hours a day, episode edited into episode to look like he never left his chair, and just kept going. It was something that couldn't be explained, certainly not to your friends at school. It was like a two-by-four to the head, an est seminar that you could flip between it and unscrambled Cinemax. For the first time I was sitting there watching TV, disbelieving that I was watching this, utterly enthralled by the absurdity. It was probably the first performance art I've ever seen, and it's still by far the best.

For whatever reason, this particular strain of madman is dying out, and right quick.