January 1, 2010
I'm always amazed at how much I've accomplished when I review the previous twelve months each year. This year numerous events felt like they'd happened LAST year. Of course, since much of my life was spent in the classroom (34 years teaching and 17 more as a student), last spring IS considered last year. So that feeling is understandable.
The most exciting event for me was a commercial. It will be broadcast, starting in late January, throughout Texas. It's a PSA for the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles (photos are at ). It was exciting just to get a callback and even more to be cast. It was filmed the week before Christmas about seventy miles northwest of Austin in Llano County near Packsaddle Mountain. I play a crazy man wearing a sandwich board. "The End is Near" is on the front and "When do you renew?" on the back. An eighteen-wheeler drives by and I spin around revealing the back. I'm the only actor in the spot, which is very cool. They filmed three other PSAs, which I expect will be aired in rotation.
The same week I had another unique experience: I was hired to be on the cover of a local band's (Anew Revolution) second album. The shoot was originally scheduled at one of the locations we used for the Just Z It trailer. When I arrived, there was no one there. I then discovered that permission to shoot there had fallen through; we shot instead at the location we had used in Z for our zombie guitar quartet. Jim Swift shot a KXAN news story on us there. I was photographed in a hospital gown, barefoot, in front of a building on Fourth Street (the temperature was in the 40s that morning by the time they got to my shot had warmed up enough). They will photoshop the album title "iamerica" onto the large piece of cardboard I'm holding. (photos at ).
Last summer I was in a short web video ad for the game Serious Sam HD.
I had a great role (as a dad) in a short film entitled Betta, which I hope to finally see in early 2010 (completion is long overdue). See it at
I play a shop owner in the local feature Altitude Falling which will get DVD distribution on completion in 2010. In "Wave to Life" I got to dress in an Uncle Sam outfit. I got to play a doctor, again in a delightful "sick" short, Lord of the Greens.
I played a small role in the Pompeii video that Liz Reeder shot for the singer Michelle Shocked. I got to play God (again) in a Doritos spec ad (for the Super Bowl competition).
It seems very unlikely I'll ever see the Nike video I was in a year ago, The 2008 Westwood College commercial I'm in is at .
When my dad died thirteen years ago, his inheritance went entirely to his widow. It was a very pleasant shock to learn that one of my uncles had left a nice sum of money to my cousins, my brother and myself after his widow's death last year. That check arrived this summer.
I had a major shock last summer: I was mugged while walking home from campus. Just after I crossed Airport at 46th, I noticed two young men standing on the sidewalk. One started walking next to me and asked for some money. I told him that I had none. He then demanded my iPod and grabbed for it, only getting the earbuds (the iPod stayed in my pocket; its battery was nearly dead and was replaced the next day,). I reached for the earbuds and he punched me two or three times, knocking me down. At his point his friend called him off and I got home safely. I had bruises on my forehead, left knee, the heel of my left palm and three fingers of my left hand. Half of the pinky's fingernail was broken off and there was a bruise on part of my upper lip. A month later the Statesman reported that a local gang had been attacking people in a similar manner downtown for several months. Several of the victims were seriously injured. I strongly suspect my attack was a training or initiation activity. The following morning I found my earbuds in the grass along with my cap.
I had two dead trees removed from my back yard. It was fun to watch the very efficient "monkeys" trim the branches. In December I had to replace all of the drainage pipes in the house. It was very expensive, but definitely needed. Just after that was finished I had a new toilet installed. After reading "The Big Necessity" I knew I wanted to get a Toto toilet. They are made in Japan and are the best in the world. Before the toilet could be installed I needed to have an electrician add a bathroom outlet (which very welcome anyway). The toilet (the washlet part) cleans my butt with water sprayed from a nozzle; the toilet seat is heated and never slams (it takes 25 seconds to close, though you can push it down quickly if necessary). There is also an energy saver mode. I'm thoroughly pleased with it and will be getting a $200 rebate from the city since it saves a lot of water. I chose not to spend more money to get the version which lifts the lid when you enter the bathroom and makes "noises" to hide any human bathroom sounds.
I was very interested in getting an HD radio, having heard promos for KUT-2 (all news 24/7, including lots of great BBC programs). I discovered they were very reasonable and bought one. All I had to do was plug it into my stereo receiver. A few days ago I also replaced my old fridge, long overdue and reducing my energy needs.
Many years ago, my thesis adviser introduced me to the BBC program, "My Word!" He sent me several dozen tapes of the program which I loved. In August I bought 30 My Word! programs (22 of which were new to me) and I also got 8 "My Music" programs (also by the My Word guys) from a company in England. I was able to get over 400 half-hour programs (as MP3s) for about $30. There were three other BBC programs: The Goon show (164 shows – Peter Sellers became famous in the UK thanks to this program), Round the Horne (71 shows), and Take It from Here (156 shows). I have finished listening to all of the Round the Horne, which I loved and am on the home stretch of the delightful Goon Shows - 9 shows left and will soon start on the Take It from Here shows. I also found 8 CDs of the wonderful Jean Shepherd (best known for the movie, The Christmas Story)
Once more I was able to attend almost all of John Pierson's wonderful master classes; highlights this year were Mike Judge, Tim McCanlies, Morgan Spurlock (who told me that he loved Z), Rick Linklater, and Harvey Weinstein (the latter via an abbreviated satellite link). At the McCanlies class, just after I asked him a question, I had to leave the room to perform a scene for a film next door. Luckily, I was able to return after and explain why I had seemed to disappear as he was answering my question.
Thanks to Evan Smith, I was able to attend almost all (except two) of his great Texas Monthly Talks public TV programs. (for the two I missed, I was filming my DMV spot during one and meeting Jon Scieska at the Texas Book Festival during the other) Highlights include Madeleine Albright, Buzz Aldrin, Morley Safer, Carl Hiassen, Mike Leach, Jeffrey Toobin, Sonny Rollins, Abraham Verghese, Billy Bob Thornton, Doug Brinkley, Jody Conradt, and Rick Linklater. I was able to get autographs and/or photos with all except Albright, who was rushed to her next event. At Rick's taping, Evan told Rick that I was usually in the front row and always had great questions and Rick (who I've known since the '80s) dubbed me Helen Thomas (the reporter who has covered every president since JFK) so I began my question to him, with her traditional "thank you Mr. President."
I screened "Z: a Zombie Musical" three more times: in Houston, Bastrop, and Austin. We had small (but very appreciative) audiences for all three. The next screening will be January 27, 2010 at 7:30 p.m. at Wake the Dead Coffee House in San Marcos.
I enjoyed some great theatrical events/lectures this year including Spamalot, Hal Holbrook (now 83, performing a fantastic Mark Twain Tonight), Iolanthe, Black Snow, Frost/Nixon, Laughter on the 23rd Floor, the Trash Project (city garbage trucks and sanitation workers performing!!), A Conversation With Edith Head (a one-woman play), Carol Burnett, Richard Garriott, the 3 Apollo 8 astronauts, astronaut Buzz Aldrin, astronaut Alan Bean, composer Stephen Sondheim, cartoonist Art Spiegelman, cartoonist R Crumb, and director John Waters' strange Christmas show.
Notable concerts include Andrew Bird, David Roth, the University of Missouri at KC wind ensemble, Gina Chavez (a former student), Shawn Phillips, Rufus Wainwright, Bela Fleck & Zakir Hussain & Edgar Meyer, the UT Symphony performing Beethoven's 9th, the American Horn Quartet, and Woody Allen & his New Orleans jazz band.
In the UMKC program notes, I saw a familiar name, Russell Patterson, my KC French horn teacher about fifty years ago. I asked the UMKC director about Russ and learned that he was still alive. I was able to get his phone number after the folks at UMKC checked with him and in May had a great chat with him. He founded the Kansas City Lyric Opera and ran it for 40 years, before retiring, and now lives in Massachusetts, where, in his 80s, he runs a summer music festival.
I attended three reunions this year. I was at the early-80s and '89 McCallum reunions, and saw a dozen or so former students. On Halloween I attended my 45th high school reunion in San Antonio. There were about 150 of the 870 in my graduating class. It was nice to see a few of the ones I remember (I was only at Jefferson one year.)
I connected with several dozen more former students, including Nancy Hamilton (one of my all-time best and favorite students, who is living in D.C.). Yvetta Hill attended the Body Art Ball where we had a great visit. I got a very interesting note from one, "you were my teacher at Lamar in 7th grade in 1987. not a good year for me, i got arrested and put in rehab at the oaks. but i do recall you as being a really good teacher. I remember you explaining pi to me. You had a poster of pi with about 1000 digits. And later in life it had relevance as i became a master carpenter house builder and use pi all the time. yah i remember ya. Ya im doin good. I'm a boat mechanic now for about 3 yrs and i'm starting my own business on the side doing custom snap-in boat carpet on the high-end yachts. 7th wasn't all bad, I finally defeated the bully I'd been running from for years right in front of everyone." The Lamar Facebook page I set up a year ago has gone from 366 a year ago to 992!! .
I only shot 3 photo sessions this year, but the one with Anna Fugate was one of the best I've ever shot
()
My health has been good, though I suspect the three days I was stuck at home in bed last summer was a brief case of swine flu. I continue to walk a lot, and finished the year with a new high of 4126 miles, averaging 11.3 miles a day and setting a new personal record of 19 miles in one day. This was 400 miles more than last year and twice that of 2002. I avoided driving my car 73% of the year.
I was able to get a photo with and/or autograph for Danny DeVito, Chris Kraft (the Apollo capcom), C J Box, Eugene Cernan (the last astronaut to walk on the moon), Darrell Royal, Stewart Stern (screenwriter for Rebel Without a Cause) Tom Skerritt, Ron Howard, Jon Scieska, Oscar Casares, Barbara Ehrenreich, Diane Keaton, John Waters, Alan Bean (astronaut), Gerald Posner (one of my all-time favorite authors - his "Case Closed" is the definitive book on the JFK assassination), Cheryl Hines, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Billy Bob Thornton, Buzz Aldrin, Barbara Kopple, Gwen Ifill, Zooey Deschanel, Kathryn Bigelow, and Jason Reitman. Bigelow and Reitman's films are likely to get Oscar nominations for best picture as well as best director.
The movies I enjoyed the most were I've Loved You So Long, Trimpin The Sound of Invention, Me & Orson Welles, The Yes Men Fix The World, The Hurt Locker, Over The Hills & Far Away (possibly renamed The Horse Boy), Harvard Defeats Yale 29-29, Ponyo, King Lear (the amazing Russian version), Earthwork, Automorphosis, Up in the Air, Adrift in Tokyo, and One Peace at a Time. Garbage Dreams, Burma VJ, and The Cove all made the short list for Oscar documentary nominations.
I read 365 books again this year; most of the best of these are non-fiction. Albion's Seed by David Hackett Fischer (the best American history book I've ever read - highly recommended - a cultural history of America), Infidel by Ayaan Hirst Ali (a Somali exile's incredible autobiography; also on my all-time best list - helps make sense of the insanity in Somalia), The Film Club by David Gilmour (a dad requires his drop-out son to watch movies), In The Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz by Michela Wrong (Mobutu & the Congo), Confessions by Kang Zhengguo (great book on life in China), Out Of Mao's Shadow by Philip Pan (21st century China), The Big Necessity by Rose George (on sanitation - not a very sexy subject, but fascinating & a great book), Bottlemania by Elizabeth Royte (how bottled water got to be so big and its consequences), Hello I Must Be Going by Charlotte Chandler (Groucho Marx), Bury Me Standing by Isabel Fonseca (about gypsies), Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks (Sacks' usual fascinating material, music this time), Our Daily Meds by Melody Petersen (superb book on the pharma industry) and two novels: Censoring An Iranian Love Story by Ahahriar Mandanipour and Doghead by Morten Ramsland. The grand total is now 7241, passing the 7000 mark this year.
My Honda hybrid contains to perform wonderfully. I did need to have the main battery replaced, a $2000 item, but it was still under warranty, so no charge. I only had to fill the tank five times this year, with all my walking and bus riding, and I averaged 54.3 mpg this year bringing the overall average to up 51.1. I actually went 100 days this fall between fill-ups.
Early in the year I recorded a Sonic ID for KUT-FM; these are little Austin stories by KUT listeners which are usually broadcast with the station ID. Mine was about the time in the late 70s when I was listening to their broadcast of the Donovan album, H M S Donovan. The station had a weaker signal back then, and when it started to fade (near the South Congress exit of I-35) I stopped to listen to the rest of the album.
I discovered two art-related websites that I really love this year. David Levine, who died this week, is probably the greatest caricaturist of the 20th century, and about 2500 of his caricatures can be found at . Most major editorial cartoonists' work can be found, updated daily, at
I'm very thankful to have enjoyed such a great year when so many were suffering from the weak economy and hope that everyone has a wonderful 2010 and that I get to see some of my friends that I've been unable to for too long.
