IVIV (12): 195-197

[kelber at mindspring.com]

p. 195:

"the CII computer up in Sacramento" 

What's CII?

Council of International Investigators?

http://www.cii2.org/index.shtml

or something to do with this (see posting by PHM re: CII number)?

http://www.calccw.com/Forums/general-ccw-discussion/3560-ca-ccw-permit.html

Sparky: a nickname for an electrician.  Also, the character Radar O'Reilly was always communicating with in M*A*S*H.

p.196:  Denis is freaked because members of The Boards have broken into his house, ostensibly looking for the photos he took at their house.

" ... they are supposed to be freaks, a freak surfadelic band, that's their public image, and freaks don't rip off other freaks, and most of all if they take your food, freaks share it.  Didn't you see that movie?  There's this actual 'Code of the Freaks' --"

Cute joke about Freaks (1932), which I've always been too squeamish to watch.  But Denis' comment strikes me as one of the most poignant moments in the book.  Denis' indignation captures the outright sadness people felt when they realized the vague, half-baked promises of the '60s weren’t gonna pan out.  Manson's shadow looms again  -- he looked and acted like a freak, like "one of us" (to quote the movie), but turned out to be the exact opposite -- Free Hate, not Free Love. The Boards act like zombies and pigs instead of surfer dudes.  If we're assuming them to be, in part, an analog of the Beach Boys, there's another whiff of Manson, since one or more of the Beach Boys rubbed shoulders with Manson.  Denis has every right to be upset.

General Tso's Broccoli:  the Hippie version of General Tso's Chicken.  One more case where TRP edges toward anachronism.  Szechuan cuisine was around in the early '70s, but Cantonese cuisine (with its Chow Mein and Chop Suey designed for bland American tastes) was dominant.    General Tso's was marketed in Szechuan restaurants, but it was another "Chinese" dish, designed for American tastes.  It's hard to believe that "General Tso's" anything would have entered the general parlance.  Not impossible, but a stretch.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Tso's_Chicken

LK