Farrell McNulty

I grew up on the south side of Chicago, in an Irish Catholic community, which mostly influenced the character of Jimmy Quinn. My ill-at-ease, awkward feelings of attending mass every week also played a part in how Jimmy and Bruce felt when they were attending services at this church of theirs. When I read "Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up" a long time ago, I thought something was a bit amiss. I thought it was a bit too light, that it didn't reflect any thoughts or reactions I had growing up in the same atmosphere, which, trust me, wasn't my idea. As a child, you really can't choose the religion or neighbors or teachers that had been foisted upon you.

In childhood. Back then my favorite thing about school was when we wrote compositions. Sometimes I would try to write something light It was sort of foisted upon Catholic schoolchildren to write cute, light material which was considerably different from some of the tv shows and albums I was gleefully exposed to - such as Monty Python, Mary Hartman, Maude, George Carlin, Lenny Bruce, Cheech & Chong, etc.