soundboard de cheevo

In the process of backtracking and then some, I provide this brief bit of incredible entertainment, sure to delight kids of the 1970s and 80s. Gotta love some youtube.com:

Mom, left, and my Aunt Claudia -- circa 1948. Thanksgiving Day marked my mother's birthday. She was born in Nashville at St. Thomas Hospital, the same hospital where I was born. She is the first born, her sister Claudia is 13 months younger -- Irish twins they are called. I sent the card, posted below, to Mom on her birthday. I also sent it to many of her friends and mine. None of my friends can believe Mom's rock star 1970s hair. Mom's friends seem to recall that everyone had wild hair and fashions around that time.

My gray cat has always acted like he was meant for the life of a celebrity. I think Britney probably chose him because he's fixed.

The idea started as a solution to a problem: how to get our friend into a club where she used to work, where she would not be recognized, but could still enjoy the skull-rattling sounds of the Melvins -- a show not to be missed in Birmingham last Tuesday. It was my idea to dress her as a man. Clare gave her the name of Lil' Frank and we all helped with the costume. When Clare said she had some fake moustaches I was hoping for something a little better than black felt that looked like it had been ripped off an elementary school bulletin board, but that's all we had to work with. Clare and I decided to get a room at the historic Redmont Hotel for the special occasion of our official reunion with Rebecca, bka Mort. The last time I remember the three of us being together was about 12 years ago at the bar of another local hotel, The Pickwick, but that's a story for another post. Mort moved to Minneapolis and fell off our radar for about a decade, but now she is back and still he...

- For the character of Lil' Frank, Mort chose moustache #4 -- the sheriff, or she-riff, as we called it.

- When the moustache was actually applied we laughed so hard we all all thought there was going to be a three-way flood.

- Before the five o'clock shadow -- not a woman, yet not quite a man.

- The key to the beard scruff was to really smear it in.

- The five o'clock shadow emergeth. - Lil' Frank is born.

- Lil Frank gets ready for a hot night on the town with an individual known only as "Lil' Frank's woman."

- Straight down from the penthouse at The Redmont Hotel.

- The dudes with the lighters had a much better idea of how to show respect for the band, unlike the dumbasses who got up on stage with the band, pissing them off and almost ending the show.

- Lil Frank don't mess around when it comes to ear protection.

- Damn, the Melvins shook the foundation of Bottletree. Even with earplugs it was a complete sound blast through the skull. - - - -

- Lil' Frank is also into ACDC. - - LF rocks the 'boks.

- - - - Lil' Frank says, "Hey baby, you think Taco Bell is still open?"

Clare as good bad, mad cop - - Clare as a housebound Halloween hag. - - Codi Jane McGrann, 11, enjoys the time-honored tradition of The Robot. - - No one could resist The Robot once we got into the heart of Beck's new album. - - Shake it like a white kid. - - This freak-a-zoid blacklight mask reminded me of a mixture of The Grinch and The Exorcist. - - Codi Jane as the freakish girl with no pupils. I propose Halloween become the new holiday we celebrate for two months. It's fun, cheap and without a bunch of religious and family guilt. As a kid I always felt sad the day after Christmas, as an adult it's the day after Halloween. A few weeks ago a I got together with my best friend Clare and our long time friends Peter Wilm and Paul and Carrie McGrann, who just bought a great rancher in Alabaster, 30 minutes south of Birmingham. Their older child Dylan makes us realize how much time has passed since he was born in 1993 as he is now taller than his dad, despite what his dad sa...

I wish Fall could last a month longer. This past week I was at Cheaha State Park, the highest point in the state and the leaves were electric. Being in a hurry to pack all the necessities, I sadly forgot my camera and had to rely on a disposible camera. On the last day we were there, I picked these leaves off the ground and scanned them in. There is no month better than October. That much is for sure.

Dean Jerry Brown stands in front of the new University of Montana School of Journalism, Anderson Hall. Brown has been the dean for over eight years and has been raising the funds nessesary to erect the new building. photo by Tim Kupsick (This article about my dad and accompanying photo is reprinted without permission. It's good to live wild on occasion I say.) Dean Brown to step down in June By Ty HamptonJ-School Web Reporter Leaving behind an eight-year track record of graduating award-winning students, leading a sterling staff of professional educators and building a brand-new $11 million journalism school, dean Jerry Brown will resign in June 2007. “What I did was to build onto the solid foundation that was already here, and I hope the next dean can do the same,” Brown said. Carol Van Valkenburg, chair of the print department at the School of Journalism, describes the dean’s fund-raising efforts for the new building as Brown’s legacy. “He’s taken the absolute dream of a facult...

The Prince of 6th Ave. S is 16 months old. He walks, runs, falls, gets up and does it all again without any crying. He does talk, but reserves those moments for his parents mostly and compensates by pointing to anything and everything. We all went to see Chris Thile, mandolin player for Nickel Creek, last Sunday at Vulcan Park on a gorgeous fall day. - - Chris Thile, master mandolin man - - Friends Jennifer and Chance soak in the sun and sounds. - - Food containers win over outdoor concerts in Ben's world. - - Fall is good.

photo: Ruth Fremson/The New York Times Patti Smith, one of the first musicians to play at CBGB in the 1970’s, arrived for the last concert at the famed East Village club. I'm a bit behind the curve on this story I realize, but that doesn't make it any less important. A period was put on the sentence of a very important chapter in the history of modern music as CBGB closed this past week. The famed New York city nightclub, opened in 1973, was the cradle that many of the most important bands of my lifetime got started: Talking Heads, The Ramones, Television, Blondie, Patti Smith and Sonic Youth. I saw the club in person in 1995. It was closed that day so I couldn't see the famed stage. My friend Peter played their last fall with his Mobile childhood friends Pascal and Lauren Balthrop with their band. Like Birmingham's The Nick, the place didn't look like a lot from outside, but the history behind those doors is legendary. Looking back at film footage has always made m...

(Click on photo for a much-needed close-up view. I couldn't get the image any bigger.) I've gotta give it to buycostumes.com for providing some of the most original and hilarious Halloween costumes ever to be mass produced (in Taiwan I'm sure.) Most of these don't need any explaination, but I'm gonna put my two cents in anyway. A. Probably the most brilliant ladies costume -- a bun in the oven. Take that pregnant nun! B. The costume isn't as funny as the expression on that cat's face. I'm sure this owner will be found by the authorities ripped to shreads, along with the costume, on November 1. If looks could kill. C. Too bad the only thing that will be coming out of this Pez peep's mouth is beer burps. He could try to make it more interesting and dispense prescription pain pills, in fruity flavors of course. D. Kosher bones only for this duo, otherwise they might get furklempt. E. It's nice, the things you can count on in life -- death, taxes and...

I always wished my notebook doodles could come to life, kinda like that scene from "Better Off Dead," and now they can. Here's Freddie!

Ryan, like his great grandfather, my grandfather, loves Indian artifacts. He found a rock that looked much like a spear point and made his own spear and spontaneously broke into dance. I might have had a hard time getting him to sit and smile for the camera, but he did me one better ... way better.

My most recent trip was to Burlington, N.C. to see my first cousin, Laurie, and her family on their farm. Kaitlyn, age 4 - - - Laurie's amazing zinnias. I have never seen them this big. - - - Laurie's calico cat loves dog food. - - - Laurie displays this cats gorgeous markings and Groucho Marx mustache. - - - Evan, 2, admiring the bumper crop of zinnias. - - - As this picture illustrates, Kaitlyn is in a very intense horse phase. The first morning I was there I walked in her room to find her styling one of her stuffed horses manes while making the movie star scene in her pink glasses. - - - Even movie stars have to take naps sometimes. - - - Koi pond in a older Burlington neighborhood. - - -