Note: My brother Arlo died 18 years ago today. His Celebration of Life at the Mateel Center in Redway was "epic". He had SO many friends and loved ones.
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| Arlo at Heartwood |
Early Years
Arlo and I were close when we were kids, even closer than Laurie & I were - Laurie was only 11 months younger than me and we always had that sibling rivalry aspect to our relationship. My brother and I had many of the same interests, especially with electronics and putting on plays in our back yard with a stage we built ourselves.
We would stage little shows for the neighborhood kids, charging a dime for admission, and a nickel for lemonade. We also served popcorn occasionally. Arlo was the script-writer for the majority of our plays and scenarios, though we also got to do a little improv. My best friend Leda remembers attending a few of our plays, and actually thought that they were entertaining. Arlo & I played the characters of "Sporty and Lynn Nelson", which Arlo wrote and directed. I went along with it all, interjecting a few additions to the script, which Arlo would only accept if they were "in character". My brother was a character himself, a true individual, which sometimes got him in trouble with the local toughs. Laurie & I would often find ourselves rushing off to help our brother out, when he was outnumbered by the bullies. Arlo later told me that it wasn't great for his ego that his sisters saved him a lot of the time!
Arlo loved to sing, and would often solo for school programs. His favorite song to sing at the time was: "Blue Moon", which he sung in a high-pitched voice. He was braver than I was, since I insisted on being part of at least a duo when I sang. Arlo was made fun of when he took the stage, singing in his high-pitched voice. The coolest thing about him, though, is that he didn't care. He was often bullied for being "different".
He seemed an easy target for the local gangs. Our sister Laurie and I would go after them, beating them up. Arlo told me many years later that we were doing him "no favors" - it just made it look worse that he was being defended by his sisters.
Arlo loved to listen to late-night radio, long after the rest of us had gone to bed. He enjoyed messing with electronics. One memory that stands out is when he was about 10, and I asked him to test some Christmas lights for me. When he plugged them in, a huge spray of sparks flew out of the socket, sending my brother reeling back with several loud shrieks. Sparks flew another time, when one of the kids lit a cone firework on the stove to bring back outside (we had run out of matches!), and it went off prematurely in the kitchen. The floor had a black hole in the tile from then on.
I have all of my high school yearbooks; bought them myself, saved up my allowances for them. My Senior year was the most important, and I lugged that green book around, to amass as many signatures as possible. Arlo (who was a Sophomore at the same high school) asked to sign my yearbook, so I gave it to him to sign. He had to take it with him, because we were enroute to classes. Later that day, Arlo told me that he couldn't find my yearbook. It was the last week of school, so we looked frantically, but never found it. Arlo worked in the "Annual" class, so he said that he could get me another one. On the last day of school, Arlo gave me a yearbook that was damaged, and said: "BAD COPY" on the front, because there were no good copies left.
I wanted my book with signatures! Most of the people who signed it had left school already. But there was nothing I could do (strangling Arlo wouldn't bring my book back), so I swallowed, thanked him, and took the book. To this day, there is only one signature in that book - Arlo's. I wouldn't trade that signature for any others in the world.
I also still have the little stuffed shark that Arlo won for me in a high school carnival; he pitched ping-pong balls into fish-bowls for it. I asked him why he was giving it to me. "Hell, I don't want it!" he replied.
Brotherly love is a strange and wonderful thing. Arlo always sent me funny cards for my birthday and other occasions. One year, I got a real flowery Mother's Day card from Arlo. On the envelope was Arlo's usual greeting: "To a Real Mother...From her Soul Brother". Inside the card were saccharine sentiments about the preciousness of having a sister such as me. Brought a tear to my eye. Then I read Arlo's signature: "Don't look at me - I didn't write the damned thing!"
My first husband Perry writes:
"Just remembering some funny Arlo stories.
The time your father threw us out of the house, and we decide to spend the night in the shed. We asked Arlo to throw down a couple of blankets and pillows, and he proceeded to throw just about everything you owned out of the window. Went on for about an hour. Then there was the New Year's Eve when Arlo set every single alarm clock in the house to go off at midnight And the time he kept asking, about the Neil Young song: "Did he REALLY shoot his baby? Did he REALLY shoot his baby?"; There was also the time we were first watching Dark Star, and Arlo was there. In the movie, Talby is describing the Phoenix Asteroids. He says:"They only come around once every 3.8 trillion years!" And Arlo says, without missing a heartbeat, totally serious "How do they know??" Gave us all a big laugh, as I recall. Just thought I would share those with you."
Arlo's interests in electronics led him to become a board certified electrician. He served all of Humboldt County (and beyond). His website was called" "Watts Happening" to advertise his business.He was excited about the possibilities of the internet, especially for artists. It was the most positive take on what was considered the new frontier, when he wrote: "This site is a companion to my radio program, RANDOM AXXES, aired weekly on our local community radio station, KMUD. The idea behind this web site is a simple one: to put the listener directly in touch with the artist(s). If there's something you heard on my show, something you like from a band you've never heard of, you can visit this site, find the song list for the show in question, and follow the link to that band's web site, or one of the web sites dedicated to that band (Often a fan site will be better than the 'official' site). Whenever possible, I encourage you, the listener, to buy direct from the artist. An ever-increasing number of musicians are taking to the Web, releasing albums old and new through their own independent labels, thus bypassing the corporate record companies, commercial hype, and other barriers. I see this as one of the highest possible uses for the Internet; Grass-Roots Cyberdistribution. Music by, and for, the people. That's the idea. Or maybe it's only Rock And Roll...Arlo Hagler"
There was music and the station - which didn't pay in money - and then, there was his "day job", as an electrician. Below: A screenshot of Arlo's "Watt's Happening" website, which he created himself, leading with a line by Hunter Thompson, "Electricity is neutral. It doesn't want to kill you, but it will if you give it the chance."
When Arlo started out, his Garberville studio was barely the size of a broom closet, filled to the max with cassette tapes and records. I took a pic of him during his show, as we were already anticipating the move to a larger studio in Redway. This was a dream of his since we were kids,
building superheterodyne receivers from scratch, on breadboards (I can
still smell the soldering fluid burning on the components), and then
listening to XERB radio in Tijuana with Wolfman Jack's scream "XERB" in
his gravelly delivery.
There was music and the station - which didn't pay in money - and then, there was his "day job", as an electrician.
After he died, a stage was named after him at the Kate Wolf Festivals: "The Arlo Hagler Stage". When Arlo was an adult, he performed for appreciative audiences. Below: Arlo performing in Humboldt County. He worked at the music festivals for many years.
Arlo helped my family & me move years ago. We loaded up his truck before he told me that he truck wasn't running well. I guess this should not have surprised me (knowing Hagler cars), but I wish that he had told me sooner! I asked him what we should do, after several attempts to start the car failed. "Well, it will start if I can roll it down a hill...." We looked around. No hills. "Where are the hills?" Arlo asked. "None close by that I can see!" We got a neighbor to jump-start the thing, then shoved off. Soon after we got going, we heard something fall off the truck, and crash to the ground. But all we lost was that full-length mirror, got everything else arrived intact.
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| Arlo with Mark |
Arlo features in some of my other blogs, which can be found in these links:
