I met Jason at the Movies the other night. He came up to me with an eager smile to see that I was sporting the Flying Skate Hoodie. He asked if I knew how cool I was for wearing Crazy Robertson gear and complimented my attire. He mentioned he had done an Essay for class on The Crazy Robertson, particularly John Jermien.
Thanks Jason for sending this to The Crazy Robertson headquarters. I hope you dont mind us sharing this with the world. It was nice meeting you and we give you an A+ for effort. Top 8 status Jason!
Read Jason's Essay Below:As you walk down Robertson Boulevard, you pass a variety of people and places.Within 4.1 miles you pass through all three economic classes: low class, middleclass and high class. As you walk north and pass the busy cross street BurtonWay, Robertson begins to get smaller in size. Two lanes become one; tallapartment buildings overpower the small (in size) stores; and, traffic alwaysgets cramped and tangled throughout the next intersection. However, as the hipclothing stores fade into the street, a single man stands out.A 57 year old man, named John Jermien grabs any onlooker’s attention, by hischoreographed dancing moves on his roller skates. But John doesn’t look likeevery other weird person on the street. From his retro, brown roller skates, hisoutfit includes black skin-tight pants, a black upper-shirt that one can’treally determine if it even qualifies as a shirt, glasses and an all blackvisor. His hair comes out of the top of the visor and falls around his head, butwithout covering his face. Just like one of those Los Angeles montage videosthat you would see Pink’s Hot Dogs, In-N-Out Burgers and the entrance sign tothe Santa Monica Pier, you would most likely see John dancing doing one of hisroutines.In the past 30 years, if anyone traveled down Robertson Blvd. between BeverlyBlvd. and Burton Way, John Jermien (a.k.a. The Crazy Robertson) would be seen.Normally one would find his boom box playing behind him as he danced andchoreographed himself, saying quietly, “And one- and two- and three- andfour.” I always compared his dancing to the kind of dancing Madonna or someother female vocalist would make, always turning his arms out towards the streetthat he danced to.John Jermien fascinated me, and I wanted to find out if other people felt thesame way, so I decided to walk down Robbertson Blvd. and stop in the four storeshe usually dances around. On one side of the street laid a big, dark greybuilding and on the other, two cafés. Anytime I saw John he stood in front ofthe grey building which held an antique furniture store and a fancy carpet andpillow store, Y&B Bolour. I made my first stop at Y&B Bolour, whichdidn’t help me too much. After I asked my first question to the owner, he saidwith an Israeli accent, to schedule an appointment and repeated those words. Theman understood English, however he claimed that if I wanted to talk about John,I must call before so they could prepare. The man stayed short with me and triedto direct me out of the dimmly-lit store, but he did mention that he, as well ashis employees, didn’t mind John.I moved on to the furniture store next door. The woman that greeted me to a bigstore lacking of customers, displayed very sweet emotions, however when Ibrought up the Crazy Robertson, she gave me a look and a sigh as to say, “Oh,him…” The woman then explained to me that at many occasions her boss had tocall the police. “He was screaming profanities and braking bottles,” shesaid, but then adding that these days John doesn’t come around until around5:00 pm. Later on after talking with all the stores, no one confirmed thedisturbance John made in front of this store. The two cafés across the streetfrom the dark grey building, didn’t provide me with any new information, otherthan the owner of Michael Richard, a sweet French woman, has seen John for 25years in the neighborhood. She also said that John had Schizophrenia, whichcould explain part of his condition. However I’ll leave the reasoning alone;the mystery itself interests me.Today John has what some would consider a substantial group of fans. On theinternet, he uses Myspace.com to tell his history and what life decisions hemade. Along with a detailed description of his life, John posts posters made byother fans, and even promotes a small clothing line created by fans. With 764friends on Myspace, he shows a small portion of his inner style.To the people that don't live in Los Angeles, John is just a crazy personon Robertson. However he stands as another iconic city figure that only localswill ever understand.
Here is a little inspirational Obama video for all you Obey Stencil lovers...
