Boomers on the Edge
Before smartphones. Before social media. Before anyone thought to record the evidence.
Boomers on the Edge is a weekly storytelling podcast where two lifelong friends revisit the wild, reckless, and often unbelievable adventures of their youth. Kenn and Ron trade stories from the 60s, 70s, and 80s — the mischief, the bad decisions, and the close calls that somehow didn’t kill them.
From gritty Detroit bars and summer days on the lake to high school locker rooms and blue-collar job sites, every episode blends sharp improv, vivid memories, and outrageous true tales.
It’s unfiltered nostalgia — raw, irreverent, and laugh-out-loud funny.
If you like your comedy honest, slightly inappropriate, and full of “there’s no way that really happened” moments… welcome to the edge.
Boomers on the Edge
Back to School Shopping and Manliness
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It’s old-school, back-to-school time on Boomers on the Edge as guest host Randy shares a hilarious childhood memory of 1970s fashion, family values, and a very different definition of manliness.
With a new school year approaching, Randy’s mom decides it’s time for a fashionable wardrobe update. She proudly picks out a matching pair of purple bell-bottom pants and a stylish wide-collar shirt—an outfit Randy isn't exactly thrilled to wear. Nevertheless, he survives the shopping trip and returns home with his new look in tow.
Back at the house, Randy finds his dad and great uncle changing the brakes on a car in the backyard. Eager to show off her son's fashionable new outfit, his mom suggests that Randy go change and model it for them. The reaction? Pure 1970s. Barely looking up from his work, Randy’s dad quips, “I didn’t see a sign that said girls allowed.” Randy’s mom is less than amused, while Randy quietly retreats to change into blue jeans and a T-shirt. When he returns, his dad smiles and says, “Hi Randy!”
The family certainly had its own unique view of 1970s manliness.
Randy follows up with another unforgettable story—this time about his grandfather attending one of Randy’s wrestling matches. So invested in his grandson's success, Grandpa climbed down from the stands during the match and began demonstrating how Randy could break his opponent’s arm. The referee promptly threw him out.
Boomers grew up with a very different set of expectations, rules, and life lessons than kids today. Join us for another wild, nostalgic, and laugh-out-loud tale from Boomers on the Edge!
- Boomer rating: Under the Edge.
https://www.boomersontheedge.com
boomers@boomersontheedge.com
Hey, and welcome to Ur's on the Edge. Some guys in their 60s who still think they're 60. Your hosts, Kat and Ron. And this week's guest host, my brother, Randy. Let's get started. Talking about going back to school. Yeah. So we're going to tell some stories that are more than just back to school, but the first school story that Randy's going to tell is uh about going back to school in uh you know shopping for clothes. Now yeah, in your in your family that was a big deal. Oh, it was. My mom would get very excited about, you know, and it was cool that she would do that. She wanted to make sure you guys were the fashion plates. So they'd take us to the store and we'd get to get, you know, new clothes and oh you always had the newest. I I did. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And we both did. Yeah. Not me and you, your brother and you. No. And uh you always had the nice new platform shoes. Yep. So you were styling the cool sweater vests.
SPEAKER_00The main thing I'm gonna say about this, though, is Randy's gonna tell some stories, not just my dad, but his dad and his even the uncles, they were all into being very manly. So Randy's gonna tell some tales about being a kid in that environment.
SPEAKER_02As Ronnie was saying, that it was back to school time, and my mom said she was gonna take me shopping, which I really didn't like at all. And my dad and my great uncle Paul were in the backyard and they're starting to do a brake job on an old Chevy truck, and I'm like, I should be out there helping those guys. And uh my dad kind of looked at me like, what are you doing? And my mom said, I'm taking him to the mall, and we're gonna go shopping for um school clothes for the upcoming season, you know. And I'm like, I had to go. So my dad looked at me like, good luck with that, you know. So I go shopping with my mom, and she's all happy because I get like these velour pants that were like purple or whatever, and they match they match this, match the uh it was like those remember those gramimals or whatever matching top, matching buttons. I look like an idiot. So she gets me these. As long as she was happy, I was happy. I just want to get out of here. Well, the grammar's in our era. I don't I don't know, but it was like that type of thing where everything had a match, you know, and I'm like, this looks stupid. So anyway, we go back to the house, and my mom, my she says, Oh, you can't go out there and work on those cars yet. I go, why? She goes, Well, you got to model your clothes for dad.
SPEAKER_00Because what was going on?
SPEAKER_02They were working in the backyard, they're in the backyard, and you know, uh, Uncle Great Uncle Paul and Dad, and they're working on this truck. Yeah, they got it jacked up and they're gonna do the front uh brake. Sounds like a daily thing, yeah. Well, yeah, it was like we're fixing cars all the time, and that's where I was supposed to be, according to my dad. And she goes, You gotta put those pants on and go out there. So I I don't know how I got out of this. Yeah, you were lucky. I didn't work a lot of times you were missing in action, which you were smart. He would always probably you're probably over at Kens's probably at that point. Yeah, so anyway, I put the stupid clothes on and I go in the backyard, and dad and Uncle Paul look at me.
SPEAKER_00Well, see, I didn't show as much interest in you as the cars, so I probably got out of it. Right.
SPEAKER_02And I he was expecting he thought I was gonna be out there helping on the car. I go out there, and at first, when I went out, nobody said like hi, Randy, or anything. They saw me in these clothes and because you're supposed to be showing off your new clothes, school clothes. Mom wanted me to show them off. So I go out there and and dad looks at me and he's didn't even say hi to me. He just looked me up and down. Then he looked, he was looking. We had a garage, and then there was the back of the house there, and in between was the truck. So I was walking from the house looking towards the garage, and he's at the garage looking towards the house. So then he looks at me and he says, He turns around and looks at the top of the garage and he says, I didn't see a sign that said, Girls allowed.
SPEAKER_01This is your dad.
SPEAKER_02My dad. Oh, because of my disgusting.
SPEAKER_00You weren't wearing a dress, wasn't it? Because they were my pants, right?
SPEAKER_02According to him, the way I looked were they like they were like I remember checkered, they were like velour or something. Really? It was and it didn't meet dad's criteria.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, with a nice matching ensemble sweater.
SPEAKER_02Oh, and mom was just so upset because he's like talking about me. So was mom standing there when she says she was so mad at him, and then so I said, Can I go and change now? And she goes, Yeah, go in the house and change. Because he's all like, get out here and help us. So then I go in the house and I put on that's a manly response. I go and I put on my most typical uniform, it's just jeans or whatever. With the grease stains or something on it. And boots, boots on, and I come out, and as soon as I have like my net regular uniform, Randy, yeah, I come out, and dad goes, Hey Randy, how you doing? Like they didn't even they didn't acknowledge me as Randy with the school clothes.
SPEAKER_01You'd probably go to jail for that today.
SPEAKER_02I'll probably go to jail. Yeah. So that's so that's how I was raised. It's like like you said earlier, Ronnie, it's like the guys in our family, like you had to be like that, you know. And I really didn't like those clothes anyway, the ones that mom made me put on.
SPEAKER_00But I did picture what you had. I would make her happy. I know. For some reason, when you tell the story, I always think you were wearing like the the the bell bottom. Oh, they're like plaid or something. Yeah, that's what I thought you were doing.
SPEAKER_02No, though I think that was a pair that you like. That's right. I think I did you did have a pair like that. You did, yeah. Anyway, um, so then I got to go back in there and so you're outside them working. I know you're actually starting to work again. I'm working, like working on the vehicle. And uh Uncle Paul, he's at the time, I don't know, he's 70 something years old, and he's a tough old guy. And the brake drums on that uh Chevy truck were pretty heavy. And then he said, Hey, pick those up and move them over here and go get the new the ones that we just got resurfaced at Murray's or whatever we went to, you know, and we're always over there. So then I I I go over there and I try to pick them up. I tried to pick both of them up. I couldn't even pick like one of them up at the moment because I was, as you referred to me, as seeing.
SPEAKER_00We hadn't toughened you up yet.
SPEAKER_02So Uncle Paul is very impatient because I can't get those brake drums up fast enough off the ground. He pushes me to the side and grabs both of them with one in each hand at over 70 years old.
SPEAKER_01I want to say one thing about your Uncle Paul. Yeah, he was an interesting character. Oh, yeah. And um, I thought it was very interesting. We went to visit him one time, Ron, you and I. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Well, you're talking about when he moved to our city.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah. And he was working on a motorcycle in the living room. Yes. So this guy, he was really, but there were some restains, like oil drips on the carpeting. Yeah. But you know, not nothing wrong with that. I don't know.
SPEAKER_00His wife is gonna go right to heaven because for sure. Because I can't understand how she could put up with the things that he did. She's a good woman. Yeah. I mean, not to go off on an Uncle Paul tangent too big, but his old house that he lived in, well, we can say where it was. It was in Highland, Highland Park. He had this barn that was full of vehicles, and it was like when you opened the door, if they had a barn find now, they they would have had a they would have been all over the internet. When you opened the door, there was literally a body of a Studebaker hanging from the ceiling, and that was just one of the many, and there were uh rows and rows of he had built like I'll call them bookcases, but they were holding engines and motorcycle parts, and and outside were packard engines and stamping pieces for stamping machines from factories, and and and so anyway, that was uh he was an interesting character.
SPEAKER_02He was so he pushes past me with the brake drums, and for an older guy, I mean he's super strong still, yeah. And then he's installing them and really wouldn't let me move do much there because I let him down because I couldn't even lift the brake drums.
SPEAKER_01Like you know, first of all, you wore those clothes.
SPEAKER_02I had the clothes in his mind, probably, and then he saw that he saw that my arms were my arms weren't what they should have been at the time, so he's pretty upset with me, you know. Like this kid's nothing so at the time. But actually, he was he was a great guy to me. But so a couple years went by and I worked out like crazy, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you well back then the the vehicles weren't that good, so because I was beating on you and you had to figure out a way to not get beat up.
SPEAKER_02So it's like a couple years later, it's like we're doing the brake drums on that same truck again because the cars are always falling apart.
SPEAKER_00So quality job.
SPEAKER_02This time, same vehicle, same brake drums. Uncle Paul, my dad, in the backyard, and he goes to grab the brake drums this time to work on, and I pushed him aside and I lifted the brake drums up, and I was like, here they are. And then he smiled like like I made it into manhood because now I'm picking up brake drums with one hand. You had elevated.
SPEAKER_00And he probably felt like he had something to do with making you into a man. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So now you talked earlier. Uh so Uncle Paul had there were four other brothers, and grand our grandpa was one of them. So now I had asked my grandpa to come see me wrestle for years and play in football.
SPEAKER_00This is another manly story.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah. And uh he never came to see me play football. No, he never came to see me wrestle. And this one time he agreed he's gonna come, and it was only because it was convenient for him. And he's that kind of guy. It's like it wasn't for me, it was for him that he was in the area. So anyway, I'm like, oh, he's gonna come see me wrestle, and I'm gonna give 200 like I do when you guys used to come watch him like wrestle way above my ability.
SPEAKER_01Kelly Randy.
SPEAKER_02Yes, yes. So anyway, grandpa's up in the stands. The guy is beating me. It's like three to one. Uh in between the period, I I uh broke my nose and they were stuffing my nose with cotton, and I'm bleeding all over the place. And grandpa comes down from the stands and he goes, What kind of sport is this? And he grabs my arm. They're working on my nose. He grabs my arm and he shows me how to hyperextend and break the guy's elbow. And he goes, Just do this and break the guy's arm and get finish this guy off. And the coach goes, Who's this? I go, It's my grandpa. And and then he goes, Sir, you're gonna have to leave. You he's you know, they're working on me, fix fixing my nose. And my grandpa goes, still he's showing me on my arm how to bend the guy's arm and break it.
SPEAKER_00And he thinks that's just fine.
SPEAKER_02The coach goes, You're gonna have to get off the mat. And dad was there, and then he's like coming over there to his dad, my grandpa. He's like, You hey, you gotta get out. You can't be over here breaking his. We never did that, Ron. No, you guys never came out of standing. I could hear you yelling, but anyway, grandpa comes right on the mat, on the edge of the mat, and he's telling me how to break the guy's arm. So they're like, sir, you can't be. And so he goes, What kind of pansy sport is this? And he just he walks out of the gymnasium and he left. He wouldn't even watch the rest of the match because I I you're supposed to break the guy's arm. He he said, There's some. I said there's rules, you know. Yeah, yeah, there's rules. He later he just said, This is stupid. You should have broke his arm, and that's how it is. So yeah, that's so that's how tough man. Maybe with the giving away, not I'm not saying that's right, but that was the expectation.
SPEAKER_00It's like you you just you know there's another episode of uh uh we'll play of you uh describing him taking you on many adventures. I don't know what we call it, bad grandpa or something, but it's it's not uh it's uh it's unbelievable.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, he wasn't your uh typical grandpa that would take you for ice cream, which he never did take me for ice cream.
SPEAKER_01No, no, never, never. But he did help mold you into a man, the man that you are today.
SPEAKER_00That's true. Thanks for listening. All right. Hey, thanks for joining us here on Boomers on the Edge. We hope you'll join us again. And until then, have a great time. Thank you.