soundboard de cheevo

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. - - -

This mean mean rooster had to be sequestered. He attacks everyone and everything in his way. - - - Kaitlyn with the family's #1 favorite hen, Benjie. - - - Laurie's horse, Pie, is like a giant dog. He begs for food and likes to be scratched behind the ears. - - - Captain Ryan, as I called him, is in a major pirate phase. Being a farm boy pirate, he is chewing on a piece of straw. Ryan is 7. - - - Evan loves tractors. - - - Big cousin love on the last day of the trip.

The lack of blogging isn't because there hasn't been anything going on, just the opposite. My latest adventures have included a very quick, but wonderful road trip to Athens, Ga., my sister's old college town, where I spent a good bit of time myself in the mid- to late nineties visiting her (among other things). Clare and I drove over from Atlanta two weeks ago to see the excellent Aimee Mann at a new club called The Melting Point. The theater has been excellently designed where there are no bad seats in the house and the small size of the place really makes the performances feel very intimate. I was expected to have to fight through a crowd like I've done before at Athens clubs like the 40-watt , but this was a sit down place. They served food, excellent draft beer and had an great sound system. For Birmingham folk, the place is like a smaller version of Workplay with a beautiful bleached brick exterior as the building is in a refurbished warehouse called Athens Stea...