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tabloidtoc · 4 years

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Globe, April 20

Cover: Kenny Rogers’ body is still on ice -- why his widow won’t bury him

Page 2: Up Front & Personal -- Sloppy Tyra Banks, Gary Busey grocery shopping in Beverly Hills, Brian Austin Green grabs meals to go

Page 3: Lisa Marie Presley is living large, puffy-faced Goldie Hawn hikes to her California home, Chris Pratt spring cleaning

Page 4: Bindi Irwin has another surprise in store after pulling off her secret Australia Zoo wedding to Chandler Powell -- she’s pregnant

Page 5: A bank has asked the LA Sheriff’s Office to force Tori Spelling to pay a $89,000 credit card debt and her money-bags mom Candy Spelling has once again refused to help, Patrick Stewart secretly married his third wife singer-songwriter Sunny Ozell in a Mexican restaurant in California with Ian McKellen officiating

Page 6: Catherine Zeta-Jones admits she’s a bitch and being polite to fans pushes her over the edge

Page 7: Spoiler Alert for Grey’s Anatomy -- Ellen Pompeo who has starred as Dr. Meredith Grey for 15 seasons will be killed off next season in a blockbuster story line

Page 8: Now that he’s moving to California rogue royal Prince Harry plans to turn his years as a stoner into a king’s ransom by launching a huge marijuana business empire -- Harry and wife Meghan Markle are slapping down $9 million for a 286- acre pot farm near Clear Lake in north central California to fuel their flashy new Hollywood lifestyle

Page 10: Jon Voight tells his daughter Angelina Jolie to back off of Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston

Page 11: Law & Order vet Elisabeth Rohm has called off her year-long engagement to California judge Jonathan Colby on good terms but the two have different priorities at this time, the handwritten lyrics to Hey Jude by Paul McCartney are set to sell for nearly $200,000 at a massive online Beatles auction

Page 12: Celebrity Buzz -- Conan O’Brien rides a bike through Brentwood, Ellen DeGeneres has been recently blasted as one of the meanest people alive, Amy Poehler is co-founder of the Upright Citizens Brigade in Hollywood and NYC and the comedy clubs and improv schools laid off most staff without notice or severance or health coverage and only after embarrassing press and online comments trashed the millionaire she finally will provide funds for a one-month extension to healthcare for the full-time benefit eligible staff, Little Big Town singer Kimberly Schlapman says she’s 100% sure her 12-year-old daughter Daisy was a heaven-sent miracle thanks to her deceased first husband Steven Roads, Woody Allen outcreeps himself by spilling in his memoir the details of bedding both sisters of his former muse and live-in girlfriend Diane Keaton, Ramona Singer of RHONYC did away with the housecleaners due to coronavirus and posted a picture of herself mopping in a sexy nightie

Page 13: Frumpy Kate Hudson, Sean Penn’s silver roots start to show, Maud Adams walks her dog, Kristen Stewart relies on the company of ghosts

Page 14: Seth Rogen has a new pastime: watching flick flops like Cats while flying high, Demi Lovato’s got something to sing about -- a brand new ripped boyfriend named Max Ehrich who loves showing off his astonishing pecs, Fashion Verdict -- Emily Blunt 5/10, Noomi Rapace 3/10, Christina Aguilera 2/10, Cardi B 4/10

Page 16: Rihanna vows to have up to four children in ten years with or without a man, Superman never carried an ounce of flab but his alter ego Dean Cain has piled on an unhealthy 50 pounds and is gobbling supersize portions of pizza and fast food to find comfort because of his nose-diving career

Page 17: Inked-up train wreck Aaron Carter declared himself single in a nude photo after his girlfriend Melanie Martin whose name was just tattooed on his face was collared for felony domestic violence

Page 19: 10 Things You Don’t Know About Scarlett Johansson, Luann de Lesseps confesses she’s still tippling even after her shameful drunken bust, stuck in lockdown Courteney Cox is binge-watching her sitcom Friends and was shocked to realize she can’t remember most of the series that made her rich and famous

Page 20: True Crime

Page 23: Former boxing champ Mike Tyson is dropping shocking confessions including having sex with fans, drug binges, psychedelic trips and being pen pals with England’s most vicious gangster

Page 24: Cover Story -- a furious family feud is exploding over late country great Kenny Rogers whose body is being kept on ice because his widow Wanda Rogers wants to hold a massive send-off that’s now banned by the coronavirus lockdown

Page 26: Health Report

Page 29: Eminem gushes that being able to raise kids is one of his greatest accomplishments, former steroids user and New York Mets catcher Paul Lo Duca is raging over how fellow cheater Alex Rodriguez has revived his image as an A-list celeb and is slamming the retired New York Yankees slugger as one of the fakest people out there, Alicia Keys felt manipulated and objectified by a sleazy photographer who made her open her shirt and yank down the top of her jeans when she was only 19

Page 30: Former teen sex slave Virginia Roberts Giuffre who claims she was pimped out to Britain’s Prince Andrew by pedophile Jeffrey Epstein is now charging the kinky billionaire and his mistress Ghislaine Maxwell pressured her to carry his child through surrogacy

Page 31: Steve Carell shockingly quit his hit show The Office at the peak of its popularity because he wasn’t feeling the love from showrunners

Page 32: Single mom-of-three Kourtney Kardashian is so lonely and desperate for love she’s stopped being set up by Hollywood pals and is casting her fishing net for a man online, a London collector of James Bond guns was robbed of five pistols used in 007 flicks worth a staggering $125,000, a sweaty towel that late NBA star Kobe Bryant tossed over his shoulders as he bid goodbye to basketball has shockingly sold for more than $33,000

Page 38: Real Life

Page 40: Daniel Craig is worth about $180 million thanks to playing James Bond but he’s got bad news for his kids -- he’s cutting them off without a cent because he finds inheritance distasteful -- he has a 28-year-old daughter from his first marriage to Fiona Loudon and a two-year-old daughter with current wife Rachel Weisz, busted in the college admissions cheating scandal Lori Loughlin and husband Mossimo Giannulli are accusing the prosecution of strong-arming its key witness to lie that they knew their payments were bribes and not donations to the university

Page 44: Straight Talk -- newly leaked video is yet more proof that desperate loser Kanye West is a filthy parasite who’s been trying to save his fizzling career by leeching onto superstar songbird Taylor Swift

Page 45: George Clooney is in hot water now that Nespresso the coffee giant he shills for on TV has admitted buying beans from farms that pay kids pennies for laboring in the fields, dumpy Drew Barrymore is hitting rock bottom again with her weight and is tired of blubbering in her closet over clothes that don’t fit and has vowed to give the extra weight the heave-ho before her new daytime talk show gets going

Page 47: Hollywood Flashback -- Psycho, Bizarre But True

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theyearoftheking · 4 years

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Book 5: The Stand

Bloggers note: if you’re looking for a complete plot summary and a list of all the characters in this epic tome, this is not the blog post for you. Proceed with caution.

Once upon a time, there was a precocious ten year-old, with divorced parents. One parent embraced her weirdness and didn’t pay attention to what books she was bringing home from the library; and the other parent was my dad... who constantly wondered (aloud) why I wasn’t like normal kids.

Being of slightly above-average intelligence, I saw this as an affront, and did subtle things just to piss him off. Subtle things “normal” children probs wouldn’t do. The summer I was ten, my dad had picked up a paperback copy of The Stand, and was raving to me about how good it was. I remember he was fixated on people falling dead in their bowls of Chunky soup.

“Sounds like a cool book, maybe I’ll read it,” I commented.

“This isn’t a book for children. You still haven’t read that copy of The Hobbit I gave you.”

Hold my beer, motherfucker. I’m here for it. And The Hobbit was boring af. I never got past all the singing.

Just to piss him off, I read the book cover to cover, faster than he did. You know, like normal vindictive ten year-old girls do. I don’t have a lot of memories of my dad growing up, but I hold onto this one fast and tight, because I got mine in the end. I was like the Trashcan Man of the fifth grade set. Just with a worse haircut. See below.

Needless to say, my comprehension of The Stand almost thirty years later is a little bigger, wider, and deeper. It’s also colored by other epic “Good vs. Evil” reads (sigh, yes... even Tolkien); and King’s other works (mostly The Dark Tower). While at times this was not an easy book to read, I’m glad I powered through it. Ultimately, I feel rewarded I didn’t give up on page 872 like I had initially wanted to. I’m also glad I didn’t go with my gut instinct of reading the original released in in 1978, and then later on the uncut edition that was released in 1990. One reading of The Stand per year is more than enough, thank you. And besides, there’s fun pictures along the way! I mean, if I’m being honest, the book is mostly pictures with just a few words here and there to break it up. I’m absolutely kidding.

Let’s get into it, shall we?

First of all, I picked the worst fucking time to read this book. Coronavirus is probably going to kill the whole world, and I refuse to be one of the survivors like in The Stand. There’s not enough bourbon in Kentucky for me to survive that shit show. Additionally, my family is huge into board games, and we thought Pandemic might be a fun cooperative game to try. Spoiler: it’s awesome, we’re all hooked on it. I highly recommend it for your next game night. Maybe an End of the World/Pandemic theme?? You can all wear gloves and masks, eat shelf stable foods and bottled water, and play REM on repeat. Sounds... awesome.

But I digress. The Stand is your ultimate post-apocalyptic good versus evil showdown. A government employee with Captain Trips (the world ending virus) goes AWOL from his base, and takes a frantic road trip across the country with his family, where he manages to contaminate everyone he comes in contact with.

What is Captain Trips? Well, I’m so glad you asked! To hear a doctor explain it, “We’ve got a disease with several well-defined stages... but some people may skip a stage. Some people may backtrack a stage. Some people may do both. Some people stay in one stage for a relatively long time and others zoom though all four as if they were on a rocket-sled...”

The virus spreads (like viruses do), until there’s less than 15,000 people left in the country (rough estimate). The people still alive start having two types of dreams; either scary nightmares about The Walking Man, or peaceful dreams about Mother Abigail. Again... good versus evil. Guess who is who. If you need clarification, let me give you this one little quote about Randall Flagg, courtesy of Mother Abigail, “He’s the purest evil left in the world. The rest of the bad is a little evil. Shoplifters and sexfiends and people who like to use their fists. But he’ll call them. He’s started already. He’s getting them together a lot faster than we are. Before he’s ready to make his move, I guess he’ll have a lot more. Not just the evil ones that are like him, but the weak ones... the lonely ones... and the ones that have left God out of their hearts.”

And his followers?

“They were nice enough people and all, but there wasn’t much love in them. Because they were too busy being afraid. Love didn’t grow very well in a place where there was only fear, just as plants didn’t grow very well in a place where it was always dark.”

Yeah. I’m just going to leave that there for you to read and digest.

So, the remaining people from all over the country either ended up in Vegas with Flagg, or Boulder with Mother Abigail and The Free Zone; which is basically Bernie Sander’s Utopian dream.

God damn it! I swore I wasn’t going to get political and compare Donald Trump to Randall Fla-

Ok, so The Free Zone. Most of the people who come to Boulder, want to meet Mother Abigail Freemantle, the one hundred and eight year old black woman they’ve been dreaming about. She’s got a self-described case of the shine, and speaks stupid relevant truth to her followers, “I have harbored hate of the Lord in my heart. Every man or woman who loves Him, they hate Him too, because He’s a hard God, a jealous God, He Is, what He Is, and in this world He’s apt to repay service with pain while those who do evil ride over the roads in Cadillac cars. Even the joy of serving Him is a bitter joy. I do His will, but the human part o me has cursed Him in my heart.”

I’m not religious, but that hit hard. And it shows you the clear difference between Randall Flagg, and Mother Abigail.

Later on, Mother Abigail also hits us over the head, and explains to us why this book is titled, The Stand: “But he is in Las Vegas, and you must go there, and it is there that you will make your stand. You will go, and you will not falter, because you have the Everlasting Arm of the Lord God of Hosts to lean on. Yes. With God’s help you will stand.”

Spoiler: it doesn’t quite go according to her plan. Very few are left standing at the end.

So, The Free Zone. People come together, dispose of dead bodies, get electricity turned back on again, clear the roads of abandoned cars, and form a de-facto government. While lots of characters come and go (die. They die.) throughout the book, there are a few mainstays in The Free Zone: Franny, Harold, Stu, Larry, Nick, Tom, Nadine, and Lucy. But again... good versus evil. While most of the residents of The Free Zone are good, Flagg is able to whisper in the ears of some members, mostly Harold and Nadine, who end up defecting and making the trip to Vegas.

While socialist utopia is succeeding in Boulder, Flagg is ruling with fear of crucifixion in Vegas. His henchmen include Lloyd, and The Trashcan Man. Oh, Trashy... maybe one of King’s most iconic characters. He’s a bit of a firebug (understatement of the century), and really goes out in a blaze of glory (ha. Pun intended).

In fact, the two heroes of this book are Trashcan Man, thanks to his epic nuclear disaster; and simple-minded Tom Cullen, who is able to infiltrate Flagg’s inner circle, and successfully make it out, rescuing Stu Redman, who is dying in the desert with a broken leg and a horrible infection along the way. Tom Cullen is the character you root for. But Trashy is the character you’re always curious about. He’s like that rebel guy you dated in high school for ten minutes, and now stalk on Facebook, because you want to see what shady shit he’s up to twenty years later.

This is the biggest oversimplification I think I’ve ever written. The onus is on you to just pick up the damn book and read it yourself. Do it soon, because you might not have a lot of time left, what with Coronavirus breathing it’s death fumes down our necks.

For those still keeping track, we have TWO Wisconsin references in The Stand. The first was on page five, set in a gas station in East Texas, “...had covered himself with glory as a quarterback of the regional high school team, had gone on to Texas A&M with an athletic scholarship, and had played for ten years with the Green Bay Packers...”

I can’t help but feel Steve is a closeted Packers fan. He lives in Maine, so I know he’s contractually obligated to be a Patriots fan (gag), but come on... homeboy loves him some green and yellow.

The second reference comes from our friend Trashcan Man, while trying to find a walking route of possible destruction. “He had planned to get over to the west side of Gary, near the confusion of interchanges leading various roads towards Chicago or Milwaukee...”

Question... does Gary, Indiana still smell in a post-apocalyptic world? Asking for a friend.

We also start getting the Dark Tower references fast and heavy. I didn’t make note every time Steve referenced wolves, crows, or wheels; because we’d be up over a million references now. And Randall Flagg himself is straight out of The Tower. So that’s fun. And we have our first “ka” reference: “And it came to him with a dreamy, testicle-shriveling certainty that this was the dark man, his soul, his ka somehow projected into this rain-drenched, grinning crow that was looking at him...”

‘Tis ka, bitches.

Total Wisconsin Mentions: 8

Dark Tower References: 4

Book Grade: A-

Rebecca’s Definitive Ranking of Stephen King Books

The Shining

The Stand

‘Salem’s Lot

Carrie

Night Shift

Next up is The Dead Zone, which I must have watched a million times as a kid, because my mom was obsessed with it, but I’ve never actually read the book. So this should be fun! I mean... who doesn’t love reading a book and imagining Christopher Walken without his cowbell as the main character?

Long Days and Pleasant Nights, Rebecca

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newagesispage · 4 years

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FEBRUARY 2020

PAGE RIB

*****

Just as we said good bye to 2019, 75 of The Rolling Stones outtakes and such were released for a minute on You tube. The thinking seems to be that the tracks which could be found under 69RSTRAX were ‘released’ before public domain sets in.

*****

Check out Somebody up there likes me, a doc about the life of Ronnie Wood.

*****

Bill Wyman has a new book out set for release on Feb, 29 called Stones: From the Inside

*****

The film, The Burnt Orange Heresy looks great and will open on March 6.

*****

Steve Martin has been talking about next year’s Hulu series he did with Martin Short, Only murders in the building. I thought it was a bit but apparently it is real and I can’t wait!!

*****

I loved Samantha Bee’s take on ghost sex: Spook softly and carry a big dick. Too funny!

*****

Bill Maher just bought a new place in Avalon on Santa Catalina Island for a mil. The area boasts hardly any cars as most people get around on foot or by golf cart.

*****

Stephen Colbert’s executive producer Tom Purcell came up with the idea years ago for a home makeover show that does a re-do on murder houses. Someone else came along and thought it again because now we have Murder House Flip.

*****

Abby Huntsman has left the View.

*****

The Oscar noms are out with Joker leading the pack. There is Leo and Joaquin for actor and Hanks, Hopkins, Pacino, Pesci and Pitt for supporting. That is the TOUGH category. For actress there is Cynthia Erivo and Renee Z. Kathy Bates is up for supporting. Johansson is up for 2. For films, they love Ford V Ferrari, The Irishman, Jo Jo Rabbit, Marriage Story, Joker, Little Women, 1017, Parasite and Once upon a time in Hollywood.

*****

Dave Chappelle, Marianne Williamson and Donald Glover are helping to raise $ for Andrew Yang.

*****

The last season of Criminal Minds is officially underway and I was so fucking glad that Dorian Harewood was there for the final shows. Woo Hoo!!

*****

Neil Young and John Oliver are now American citizens

*****

Interrogation is a new tv series that looks promising.

*****

Wes Anderson’s new film, French Dispatch that he wrote with Hugo Guinness, Jason Schwartzman and Roman Coppola will be out on July 24. The production features Benecio del Toro, Adrien Brody, Tilda Swinton, Frances McDormand and Bill Murray.

*****

The Russell Simmons doc about his incidents with women has lost its executive producer, Oprah.

*****

John Stewart has written and directed a new film, Irresistible starring Steve Carell and Chris Cooper.

*****

I am so sick of the multiple pens it takes to sign the documents when they sign something into law etc. You are wasting our money signing a letter at a time, politicians just so U can give some crap as a keepsake. Let’s have a real signature! I don’t think the average person would be allowed to sign official papers that way.

*****

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has decided on their new inductees: Depeche Mode, The Doobie Brothers, T Rex, Whitney Houston, Notorious B.I.G., Nine inch nails and the Ahmet Ertegun award will go to manager Irving Azoff along with journalist and manager Jon Landau.

*****

Julian Castro is out, Marianne Williamson is out, Cory Booker is out.** Sanders got the endorsement of Nevada’s largest teacher’s union and the black caucus.** Bloomberg says he will use his $ for whoever is the democratic candidate. He is also running an anti-gun ad during the Super Bowl.

*****

I wish Rep. Doug Collins would stop talking.

*****

Ken Jennings was the big Jeopardy winner in the showdown.

*****

Diego the tortoise has had so much sex that he saved his species. There were only a few of them left and now there are about 2,000.

*****

The Tokyo 2020 Olympics will be here July 24.

*****

Warren and Bernie got into it after the January debate. They sort of called each other liars.

*****

Hillary Clinton is the first female chancellor of Queens University.** The Justice department inquiry into Hillary has finally ended. They found nothing.

*****

The Golden Globes had some very deserving winners like Succession, Brian Cox, Laura Dern, Olivia Coleman, Patricia Arquette and Joaquin Phoenix. Tarantino was honored for his writing. I think the best dressed were numerous this year. There was hardly a wrong choice except for J Lo, Thomasin Mckenzie, Ryan Seacrest and Beyonce. I loved Joey King, Michelle Pfeifer, Kaitlin Deaver, Rose Leslie, Cate Blanchett, Ellen and Portia, Phoebe Waller- Bridge, Cynthia Erivo, Eddie Murphy and Paige Butcher, Brad and Leo, Zoe Kravitz, Helen Mirren, Annabelle Wallis, Lisa Lu, Bill Hader, Kerry Washington, Lisa Bonet, Colin Jost and Scarlett Johansson, Patricia Arquette and Nicole Ansari-Cox.

*****

The SAG award also had some very well dressed which included Reese Witherspoon, Michelle Williams, Lupita Nyongo, Zoey Kravitz, Millie Bobbie Brown the Schitts Creek cast and Patricia Arquette. Christina Applegate was a bit too old school but she rocked it. The people on the SAG carpet were very chatty. Parasite was named best cast. Other winners included Zellweger, Joaquin, Sam Rockwell, The Crown, Laura Dern and Dinklage. I have not seen The Morning Show but I was a bit shocked to see Jennifer Aniston win over Jody Comer, Helena Bonham Carter, Olivia Coleman or Elizabeth Moss. This was an award from her fellow actors so I suppose they wanted to send her some love. Her ex Brad Pitt won as well and went on and on about himself.

*****

The Grammys were pretty somber with a lot of ballads and the sadness of the death of Kobe Bryant that day. Aerosmith refused to let drummer Joey Kramer play with them and many found the performance a mess. A wonderful moment was Tanya Tucker and Brandi Carlile with their song that went on to win best country song. Tanya Tucker won best country album. Other winners included Billir Eilish, Lizzo, Elvis Costello and the imposters, Gary Clark Jr., Nipsey Hussle and John Legend, Willie Nelson, Michelle Obama and Dave Chappelle. I had no love for the fashion of Ariana Grande or Rosalia. My best dressed were Lizzo, Camila Cabello, Elle Mai, Jameela Jamill, Billy Porter, Bebe Rexha and Alessandria Ambrosia.

*****

Roman Polanski’s An Officer and a spy captured the most noms at France’s Cesar awards.

*****

What IS Iran’s cyber capability? Give us details when it comes to Trump’s act of aggression against Iran. Wasn’t he supposed to get us out of the Middle East?** Our own government has concluded that withholding aid to Ukraine was illegal even though half the Senate does not seem to care.

*****

Dori Miller is the first person who was not a President to have an aircraft carrier named after him. The African American hero was at first not recognized for his bravery but FDR changed that. Construction will be completed in about 8 years.

*****

Gustav Klempt’s missing Portrait of a Lady was found in a hole in the wall of a house. It had not been seen since 1997.

*****

Kathy Griffin got married on New Year’s Eve to her long time love, Randy Bick with Lily Tomlin officiating.

*****

Venture capitalist Imaad Zuberi pled guilty to obstruction of justice for impeding a Federal investigation into the inaugural fraud.

*****

Eric Swalwell has said that everybody will want the Trump trial in the future wherein the person on trial gets to make the rules. It will be a thing. Who needs witnesses?

*****

So there is a story that many Puerto Rican’s have had to move to the continental U.S. (mostly Fla.) because of the lack of help they have received from the current administration. Now, they can only vote in primaries in Puerto Rico but when they settle in other places they can actually VOTE for President. Lesson: Help Others!

*****

A Federal court just affirmed an injunction preventing the Trump administration from discharging air force members living with HIV. It is hard to keep up on all the despicable things this administration is doing.** Scary Clown 45 thinks he is responsible for low cancer rates. They have been steadily going down anyway. He wants a 4.9 bil cut in medical research, 897 mil cut in National cancer institute and a 763 mil cut for the CDC. Luckily it didn’t happen.

*****

Apparently before the impeachment trial began, Trump’s legal team gave thousands of dollars in contributions to Moscow Mitch, Lindsey Graham and Ted Cruz. What a sad time for this country. KEEP INVESTIGATING ANYWAY.

*****

A new immigrant prison just opened in Baldwin, Michigan, run by GEO, a for profit prison company.

*****

The wall is costing about 20 mil a mile and the 100 miles or so completed have mostly been repairs to existing structure. When G W Bush was in office the cost was about 4 mil a mile.** About 30 feet of the wall feel into Mexico due to high winds.

*****

Season 7 of Grace and Frankie will be the last.

*****

The White House streamed a sermon from the Holy City Church of God in Christ in Memphis. The event that VP Pence attended for the MLK holiday was led by a pastor who claimed that our gay friends were possessed by demons.

*****

Days alert: Loved Kristen’s call back to Rosemary’s baby again when talking about little Andy or Jenny. I can’t believe that in those same flashbacks we learned what a horrible Mother’s Day they had. How could so much go wrong in 1 day? ** Hooray, More Tony and Anna!! ** The heartbreak of John and Marlena and the evil of the brainwashed really harkens back to the heyday of Days.** I wish that the baby mix up story would bring Tate and Theresa back to town! It is time for she and Brady to get back together!

*****

Rudy has started a podcast.

*****

I am often not a fan of tradition (royal, religious or otherwise) but I admit it gave me great comfort to see the articles of impeachment walked carefully to the Senate chamber. We still have a little bit of order amidst all the chaos of the Trump era.

*****

The Astros are cheaters.

*****

The super bowl will be upon us on Feb.2 with Kansas City V San Francisco.

*****

6139 military vets committed suicide in 2019. R.I.P.

*****

R.I.P. victims of the Australian fires, Chris Tolkein, Neil Peart, David Olney , Terry Jones, Mr. Peanut , Jim Lehrer , victims of the Calabasas helicopter crash and Buck Henry.

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cheshiremoonblog · 6 years

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Craziness at CokoCon!

Whaddaweek …

We got going on time for the first leg of the trip. Oklahoma City. The drive through Iowa, Kansas and a bit of Oklahoma was kind of quiet. There were a few lovely vistas here and there, but mostly we were just enjoying being together.

Day two, things picked up. In western OK and the top of Texas you can see for miles and miles and miles. That makes thunderstorms even more amazing. Very high clouds, and enormous lightning strikes. It was breathtaking.

We stopped for lunch in Amarillo at The Big Texan Steak Ranch & Brewery. Yeah, it’s filled with western kitsch, but the food is amazing.

We moved on to Albuquerque for night two. The scenery got more and more interesting as we went along. Huge cliffs around us, just beautiful.

I do have to mention what became one of our favorite websites … whatismyelevation.com

I had some issues going over a couple of 7000s, so we kept close track, just to see where we were.

Day three we got going stupid early, and stopped at the Petrified Forest. The initial north part of the drive was a little daunting, it’s a long way down on one side, but it was worth every bit. gorgeous vistas in every direction. Lizzie posted a bunch of photos on her page.

We wanted to stop at the Meteor Crater as well, but I was having problems with my breathing, so it was time to go down.

And down we went, over to Flagstaff and … DOWN!!!

It was an 18 mile 6 degree downhill run. Pure terror. I will never do that again. We found a better way back up, but more on that later.

Lizzie got more and more emotional the closer we got to Phoenix. She was born in Tucson, and hadn’t been back since she was 6.

Thursday night was kind of a blur. We got loaded in, and went to bed kind stupid early.

Which led to getting up stupid early, Lizzie at 4, me at 5. We went out, played a little bit of music to greet the dawn, then off to breakfast, and then back to bed.

We wandered, chattered with people, got baby fixes. Edward Pulley showed me around the hotel a bit, more on him later.

Our first panel was the getting ready for your first performance workshop that started back at a Musecon, and has shown up here and there over the years.

There was a Jam Session that ended up being open filk pretty quickly. We played some songs, heard a lot of people we hadn’t heard before. It was wonderful.

Saturday I got to talk about sound and lights with Gerry Tyra, who knows a lot more about it than I do. It was fun, and the audience seemed to dig it.

There were concerts from Jennifer Horning and Callie Hills, both of which were wonderful.

Then it was off to Meet The Guests. We got to hang out with Harry Turtledove, who was a hoot, Beth Cato, who was wonderful, and Steve Rude, who was, well, I don’t know. I got into a bit of fanboy squee there, I love his work on Nexus. Edward Pulley was the moderator, and kept things going on the rare occasions that we quit talking. There was a whole lot of laughter. Lizzie charmed the room. It was wonderful.

Then it was sound check, and our first show of two. I talked about this elsewhere but it deserves saying again. We don’t hit that sort of high in a show unless we get a lot of help from the audience. Thank you everyone for singing along, clapping along. Thank you to the two who came up to add some drums on Strength In Fire. The audience was so much of the reason why it as that good of a show. In the words of Marie Browning … it’s better when you help. We got stuff back to the room, went to the open filk for a little while, and then went back to the room and collapsed.

There was a bunch of stuff Sunday. Lizzie had a vocal workshop. After that was the Instrument Petting Zoo. We set up the gear for our show later that afternoon and let folks play with what they wanted. It was lovely.

The Two Gay Geeks had us up for for a fun and silly interview, which will show up sometime in the next few weeks. They have the best geeky “meet cute” story we have heard in a long time! tggeeks.com

Our show that afternoon was much more low key. The only thing plugged in was Lizzie’s violin. Her acoustic fiddle had broken a string earlier in the weekend, and we didn’t have extras. There is video that I am going to go through in the next week or so. Some of it should end up on FB or You Tube.

After that was Mark Horning’s concert. Cool stuff, some of which I knew, a lot of which I didn’t. Oh, and I have serious Baritone Guitar Lust (BGL) now.

We had a songwriting panel that ended up pretty esoteric, but was a lot of fun.

We escaped the hotel for a couple of hours and had dinner with a few of my old High School and College friends. Much laughter was had, scurrilous stories were told.

Lizzie had one final panel Monday morning. Our original plan was to take off after the Dead Dog Filk began, but we looked at travel time, and decided to leave as soon as we could get the van loaded after the panel. We didn’t want to pull into Albuquerque at 11.

There were final hugs. Final baby cuddles.

The trip back was lovely. We didn’t go back through Flagstaff. Instead we took 87 up through Payson, then over to Snowflake and up to Holbrook. There was one several mile area with a nasty drop off to our right, but only a bit, and it wasn’t bad. The funniest thing, it seems that there is a lot of camping done up that way. I’m guessing we saw 10+ miles of backed up traffic north of Payson. Miles and miles of bumper to bumper parking lot. I resisted the urge to wave at the other side of the road. Just as well, probably woulda gotten me in a bit of trouble.

The drive back was uneventful. Other than those first few hours, we took the same roads. Stayed at the same hotels (having a King rather than two doubles was nice at one, we refuse to sleep in separate beds). So it was quiet time with just the two of us, one of our favorite things. We got home to an intact house and clingy kitties.

We have so many people to thank. I will try to not forget anyone.

First of all, Valerie Ritchie for recommending us. Thank you for making a trip of a lifetime possible. We have had some marvelous adventures as a couple, this was one of the best!

Thank you Gary Swaty and the Phoenix Filk Circle for making it possible for us to be there!

Thank you Hal Astell & Mark Boniece for running such a great con. First year … amazing! It went so well.

Joseph Gaxiola and Edward Pulley for taking such good care of us through the weekend. We have got to hang out with you more!

And everyone who came to our shows, came to the workshops we were on, sang along, clapped along, and who just sat and talked to us and made us feel so welcome, so warm (ok, the weather may have had a bit to do with that).

We have had some wonderful adventures as a couple, as a band. This was one of the best.

Thank you everyone, so much.

p.s. If I forgot something, remind me and I’ll add it in. A lot happened through the weekend.

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