Welcome to the Huntington Tri-State Time Machine, sponsored by Realty Exchange.

I'm your host WG Bunch. This is a podcast where my guests and I share our memories of the Huntington Tri-State Area. Huntington, West Virginia, Ashland, Kentucky, Chesapeake, Ohio. Nothing too serious, no political views, and no ulterior motives. We're just here to share our fun stories about this great area.

Whether you're a past resident or a current Tri-State resident, I think you're going to have fun with us.

So sit back and relax and welcome to The Huntington Tri-State Time Machine, sponsored by Realty Exchange.

Copyright 2024 Vanessa Hankins

This is the Huntington tri state time machine brought to you by realty exchange

>> Intro: This is the Huntington tri state time machine brought to you by realty exchange, the top performing real estate company in the Huntington, West Virginia tri state area. Each week, your host, w. G bunch, and his guests share memories and stories about the past, the present and the future of the Huntington tri state area. That's Huntington, West Virginia, Ashland, Kentucky, and the Chesapeake and Proctorville, Ohio areas. If you used to live here or you currently live here, you're going to catch yourself saying out loud, wow, I remember that. Now, here's WG.

>> Vanessa: Ritter, the ultimate guitar hero, right? So, ladies and gentlemen, you've met so many people from white gold's past, right? Uh, what do you call him? White gold. White gold.

>> Vanessa: That's what WG stands for.

>> Vanessa: WG stands for white gold. Uh, because of the hair, right? Ever since I knew him. White gold.

>> Vanessa: All right, which color of hair? It changed a lot when I go there.

>> Vanessa: Listen, we don't speak of the dead this way, right? Our friend, he hated when people. Yeah. Okay. So he did a little thing.

>> Vanessa: It's all right.

>> Vanessa: I have no hair. He was working it. All right.

>> Speaker D: Yeah, I was going to say we got some more friends from back in the day, right? Growing up at Meadows elementary and things. Paxton, were you at Meadows or where'd you go?

>> Vanessa: No comment.

>> Speaker D: Okay, never mind.

>> Vanessa: He might have been from the west end.

>> Vanessa: Oh, dear.

>> W.G.: All right, well, we got a few.

>> Speaker D: More people, um, from the childhood days, from the days past and things like that. Um, over here we've got, uh, Allison and we got Johnny and we've got Paxton.

>> Vanessa: And for listeners, you're not surprised by Allison. She's been a guest a few times.

>> Vanessa: Yes, absolutely.

>> Vanessa: Quite a few times.

>> Vanessa: Yeah.

>> Speaker D: One of the early stars.

>> Vanessa: Absolutely. So, Allison, um, for everyone at home, um, we'll just kind of jump into this the way we have been with the other guests.

WG and I were born three days apart, so we celebrated birthdays together

Um, when did you first meet WG? And with that, what was your favorite moment with him?

>> Speaker H: So, WG and I were born three days apart.

>> Vanessa: Oh, holy moly.

>> Speaker H: So I have known him my entire life. Um, we celebrated birthdays together. We had joint birthday parties. Uh, the fifth grade party was probably the most epic. We had a disco party in fifth grade, and Marathreta King was born three days before me. And so then I was in the middle, and then WG was three days later. So we had this huge disco party at the civic center in fifth grade, and he came in full John Travolta gear.

>> Vanessa: Yes, he did.

>> Speaker H: And it was, honestly epic. It's probably the best birthday party I've.

>> Vanessa: Ever had butterfly collars?

>> Speaker H: Yeah, it was all polyester. He had all the moves. It was hysterical.

>> Vanessa: Still down there in the basement.

>> Speaker H: I'm sure it is. I'm sure it's probably encased in some kind of. Anyway, but on the playground, when we were kids, we would play, um, the million dollar man. So he was Steve Austin, and I was Jamie Summers. And every year.

>> Vanessa: That's good casting.

>> Speaker H: Every year on our birthdays, he would leave a message for me on facebook. Dear Jamie, missing you, sending you all my love. Love, Steve. And then I would, three days later, dear Steve, I love you more than anything. Love, Jamie.

>> Vanessa: This is where it began.

>> Speaker H: We go back.

>> Vanessa: By the way. So I was in WG's basement yesterday. That sounds weird. I was in his basement. He still has his $6 million men figures.

>> Speaker H: I know we would do that.

>> Vanessa: I have to believe that part of that is because of you, Allison.

>> Speaker H: Uh, well, I would like to think we. A very special relationship. We've known each other a very long time.

>> Vanessa: That's beautiful. Thank you for sharing it with us.

Michael says he was shocked by the loss of childhood friend Johnny Kenzer

>> Vanessa: Johnny Kenzer. Unfortunately, when this all started, um, when I say this all started, we were all obviously shocked by this loss. Uh, and while it's really easy to laugh and be jovial, this was a gut punch to many of us. Right? So the very first phone call I was asked to make, uh, Bill said, can you get a hold of Johnny Kinser? Uh, and I was like, of all the people, man, that you're going to ask me to call, you're going to ask me to call WG's best childhood friend of all time, Johnny Kenzer. Of all the people that can speak to the spirit and the goodness of this man, there's nobody, nobody in the world other than you that can speak to this soul. Uh, Johnny, what can you tell us about Michael? What can you tell us about WG?

>> Vanessa: So, first of all, I do go by John now, but the funny thing about. The funny thing about you calling me Johnny is so WG and I once went to some comic con or something. We were both collecting comic books. And of course, he was a star wars nerd or whatever. And we went up and we both registered, and the guy came back. He's like, okay, WG. And okay, Johnny Kins, because he thought my first name was Johnny Kins and my last name was Eric. As you can imagine, WG always called me Johnny Kins forever. He would never let it go. Yeah, please, let's let Johnny kins die. Uh, but on the name thing, there's this classic picture of WG and I at a southern conference basketball tournament in Asheville, North Carolina. And we literally got our picture in the paper. And, uh, the article was called before the Fray. I don't know what that meant, but I don't know.

>> W.G.: I just.

>> Vanessa: Random shit.

>> Vanessa: I remember stuff.

>> Vanessa: Uh, anyway, we're not on a network. Go crazy. Uh, Paxton's about ready to just let.

>> Vanessa: Loose, but we, uh.

>> Vanessa: I'm waiting on it.

>> Vanessa: Johnny Kins got, uh, a, uh, little reprieve because it was John Kenzer, and so ever he was Walt. And I'm like, I mean, I get maybe Johnny Kens out of Johnny Kenzie, but I still don't know how you got Walt out of.

>> Vanessa: That's fantastic, though.

>> Vanessa: What's up, mama Ken's?

WG had eclectic music that wasn't just kiss

So, Paxton, listen, uh, I've heard some felt you never felt preyed to the kiss. But listen, we know we have heard so many stories about you from all these years, but you never succumbed to the kiss, the fantasy, the casteria.

>> Vanessa: How did that happen?

>> Vanessa: I told you he was going to be blue. I told you we were going to have to.

>> Vanessa: Yeah, that's what we call podcast.

>> Vanessa: Listen, this ain't Joe Rogan, brother. Come on, we have a family show here. Uh, uh, WG tried. He didn't. He did. Come on. Tell me about this.

>> Vanessa: Uh, I think we met because of music, but not because of kiss. So a lot of people don't realize as well that he also had a lot of eclectic music at the time that wasn't just kiss. So he had a bunch of mean. We met in high school. He's one year younger than us.

>> Vanessa: Ah.

>> Vanessa: Than me and John. And I don't remember how I got into you. What's that?

>> Speaker H: Johnny can just.

>> Vanessa: Know. I just know that he had all these tapes. This is the tape era. And he had them in those bread crates from Heiners Bakery. And they were.

>> Vanessa: Heiner's was the bread company.

>> Vanessa: Can you smell it?

>> Vanessa: Right, it. Uh. But he was really into a lot of things that wouldn't kiss. Like the cure, the Smith Depeche, all the stuff that I still listen to, uh, the m. Smith. Just all this kind of eclectic stuff, too. That wasn't kiss. So you, uh. Too at the time. And he liked a lot of R B and Teddy Pendergrass and Luther.

>> Vanessa: Teddy Pendergrass.

>> Vanessa: You got what I need.

>> Vanessa: WG loved Teddy Pendergrass. Now, I wouldn't have saw that coming.

>> Vanessa: He would make these tapes that would now be considered like the Riz.

>> Vanessa: The Riz.

>> Vanessa: You keep dropping the Riz. Yeah, you guys with the Riz, your kids don't. Hey, your kids don't think you're cool. The Riz.

>> Vanessa: So he had these tapes, know, the fucking playboy, and it had Teddy Pendergrass. It had Luther Vandross. It had, um.

>> Vanessa: But if you said any of those names, too, just like Joe, did he immediately go into one of their songs like it was Lou Ross?

>> Vanessa: Oh, no, he liked swinging Lou raw.

>> Vanessa: He did love m. Groovy people shooting. I mean, that was actually for.

>> Vanessa: You'd almost do this performance for, like, the Teddy Pendergrass called. Um.

>> Vanessa: Listen, I'm going to stop you right there, because this is very wG. You're going to get lost in the weeds about a fourth Teddy Pendergrass album that nobody ever heard. We could not honor our man any better than you making a reference to a Teddy Pendergrass album that nobody has ever heard. Everybody, really quickly. Here's a WG and the Teddy Pendergrass album that nobody ever heard. Really quickly, guys. Uh, I'm going to put this on you. We've been doing this in different forms. Uh, and obviously we have to get to so many other people that want to talk. I'm going to lay it. So we've been doing three to five words about WG. I'm going to get you guys with the bonus round. Right? I want one word. Give me one word. We're going to start with Allison. One word that describes w. Okay. No, we're going to start with Paxton. See what I did? Uh, reverse. It's game show time. Right? Game show time. We're going to start.

Paxon is a very complex man. There's so many layers. Even to every joke, right?

Paxon. One word. Entertaining.

>> Vanessa: Entertaining.

>> Speaker D: And you can't repeat a word.

>> Vanessa: But just so you know, we've heard entertaining many times. Well, that's okay. Yeah. He didn't know.

>> Vanessa: Thank you.

>> Vanessa: All right, but what I'm going to call. Give me another one. It's not hard.

>> Vanessa: Come back to it.

>> Vanessa: Yeah. All right.

>> Vanessa: John.

>> Vanessa: Johnny. Johnny. Kenny.

>> Vanessa: Loud.

>> Speaker H: Loud.

>> Vanessa: Everything. Like, not loud in a bad way, but he was loud.

>> Vanessa: All right, Alison, one word.

>> Speaker H: I'm going to say complex.

>> Vanessa: Um.

>> Vanessa: Actually, you win the round. You win the round, because, listen, anybody knows WG. Bunch knows. This is a very complex man. There's so many layers. Listen. Even to every joke, right? Every joke had layers. Thank you guys, for stopping in really quickly.

WG: My favorite drive in movie story is don't mind my

While we're talking about complex, let's, uh, go to a moment. Talk about a complex joke. Let's go to a moment between you and WG on the show last year that maybe, um, a lot of people didn't understand at the moment, but they'll get now.

>> Vanessa: They'll get it now. All right, let's do it. Roll it. 270.

>> W.G.: My favorite drive in movie story is don't mind my. Can't believe it.

>> Vanessa: Um, you better not throw this girl under the bus.

>> W.G.: How do you know that it's going to be that kind of a story?

>> Vanessa: I'm assuming that you're embarrassed over there. I can see the facial expressions.

>> W.G.: Uh, yeah, we had a very lovely time. God, no. I'm not going to be able to get out of this.

>> Vanessa: Um.

>> Vanessa: It's a very m gentlemanly term.

>> W.G.: I did every. Yes, I was a perfect gentleman.

>> Vanessa: Yes.

>> W.G.: That's exactly what I was. I really was. And, um, the movies are over. I take her. She lived on the south side of Huntington. If you've ever been to the south side, you know, they have the sidewalks that are parallel to the avenue or the street or whatever.

>> Vanessa: My mother in law and my sister in law both live on the south side. All the houses kind of, like, run together.

>> W.G.: I feel like, uh, wow, I've gotten.

>> Vanessa: Lost a few times, even going to my husband's aunt's house.

>> W.G.: You're leading me right into the story perfectly. And then they've got the sidewalks that go up to the houses, and the movies are over. And I take her home, and I find a nice. I do remember it, um, might have been a full moon, bright moon and all that. Get out of the car.

>> Vanessa: An impactful moment for you to remember how bright the moon was.

>> W.G.: Like I said, I can't remember to file my taxes, but I remember to do. I remember these stupid things in my head for some reason?

>> Vanessa: Twiniet m moment.

>> W.G.: Yes, exactly. Yes. Life changing. Um, but I get out, and I go around the car, open her door. She doesn't get out.

>> Vanessa: What are you doing?

>> W.G.: I know.

>> Vanessa: Are we going somewhere else?

>> W.G.: Not a fun when you're 17. You're going, uh, I don't know. What, did I miss something? And she's, like, looking at me like she has never met me or something. She's, like, looking at me with crazy eyes. And I'm like, oh, my God, don't turn into a psycho. Oh, no. And I start walking up that sidewalk to go to the house. I turn around, she's still by my car, and she says, this is not where I live. And I'm, like, walking up, uh, I'm almost to the door.

>> Vanessa: Were you a player? Like, did you just go to that many girls'houses?

>> W.G.: No.

>> Vanessa: What is going on?

>> W.G.: Wg that is the problem is I wasn't. And I was like, why is she still standing by? I thought, did I forget to do something? She's like, this is not where I live. I was like, she goes, I live two blocks that way. And I was like, you do. And I. I just went, can't remember where. Obviously, I'm in the real estate business. And I remember just like, oh, um.

>> Vanessa: I never even thought of, like, houses being a blur for.

>> W.G.: Well, I wasn't. And I wasn't in the real estate business. Well, I felt like I was when I was 17, but, um, even just, like, a couple of months ago, I went to go show a house, and I was like, what avenue? And they're like, 11th. And I was like, okay, I'm on 9th. I don't know. And they're like, yeah, go that way. I was like, I'm an idiot.

>> Vanessa: I need locations. I'm like, do I go towards the park? Do I go towards the west end? Point me in the direction of Midway, Camden Corner, whatever. Point me in the direction.

>> W.G.: And this poor girl, she, uh, was like, no, I can get home from here. I was like, well, let me walk you home. No, I'll be fine. It was obviously a one and done date.

>> Vanessa: Oh, yeah, she was done very quickly.

>> W.G.: I couldn't believe.

>> Speaker H: I have a question.

>> W.G.: The icing on the cake is she said, this is so and so's house.

Johnny: WG was not the easiest kid on a babysitter

>> Vanessa: Johnny, listen, there's so many stories that you can share about WG. Just one more. One more before you go.

>> Vanessa: Yeah. So, um, WG was a force of nature, as we all know. And he was not the easiest kid on a babysitter. And there's a lot of babysitters that wouldn't, uh, watch him anymore. My sister was one of them. But there was a girl across the street that was a longtime babysitter. I think Bev had to pay, like Bev Garden, right? No, Bev is. So Bev had to pay extra than the going rate was for people to watch. Uh, anyway, so there's this one babysitter, and she had just had it with WG. He was just up to whatever he was doing, and so she had to figure out a way to get back at him. Back at him. Like, that's a babysitter. I know, that's horrible. But anyway, so she knew that WG was ultra competitive, and so she came up with this idea that he had a chance to set the record for drinking the most Kool aid. And so she made a couple gallons of Kool Aid, and she's like, wg, if you drink this amount of Kool Aid, you can be in the Guinness Book of world record. And WG, I can do it. I can totally do it. And she's like, all right, I'll see WG. Let's see if you can do it. And so he started drinking the Kool Aid, and he was like going and going. And he's like, oh, my stomach hurts. I don't feel. Woman was no, no, keep going. You have a chance. You can beat the WG. Kept drinking the red Kool aid till the point where he got so sick that he threw it all up. And his mom came home. The babies that are made me drink Kool aid. And she was like, what? A little, uh. I have no idea what he's talking about. Like, you know, WG, just a note.

>> Vanessa: A lot of your stories have to do with WG eating way too much. There's an Augustus bloop vibe to all these stories.

>> Vanessa: I think people needed hazard pay.

>> Vanessa: That's hilarious.

>> Vanessa: Thanks, gentlemen.

This podcast is brought to you by Realty exchange in Huntington, West Virginia

>> Intro: Johnny Kennedy, thanks for listening to the Huntington tri state time machine, brought to you by Realty exchange, the top performing real estate company in the Huntington, West Virginia tri state area. If you have a memory you would want WG to talk more about, just send him an email at memories@htstimemachine.com or post a comment on the Time machine Facebook group page. Did you like this episode? Be sure to share it with friends and family. You can find a link in the show notes that you can use to share it. And be sure to let realty exchange know that you like the podcast as well. Their contact information can be found in this episode's show notes.