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2011 newsletter

It's hard to believe another year has passed. Most noteworthy events: Slacker 2011, Medicare and Mikhael Gorbachev.

I was in a play (Conversations While Dining Alone) for the third time since I've been in Austin. This one was written and directed by Ken Johnson. We filmed a November performance; one show earned a standing ovation. We perform the show seven more times in January, 2012 (!/events/205237586229139/). Version one is at . Version 2 act 1starts at
With links to the following monologue (music rights from youtube necessitated this work-around) act 2 . And the film version is at .

I was in several other films, mostly as an extra. I was in Andrew Bujalski's "Computer Chess" and Paul Bright's "Goliad Uprising". Each year the SXSW Film Festival opens each of its dozens of screening with a humorous short film (called a "bumper"). I got to be in two of the five bumpers. In May I was part of a Drink 'n' Drive Go to Jail press conference for the Texas Department of Public Safety portraying one of eleven "drunk drivers." We each held up a sign showing our lame excuse for our DWI conviction, all of us dressed in a prisoner's orange jumpsuit. (). We had to stand with our backs to the press for twenty minutes before the event started, and, as a result, I got to visit with the young woman next to me, Amber Calderon, the current Miss Austin. I was also part of a photo shoot for "Failed Superheroes" a book by Scott Allen Perry scheduled for a 2012 release. And I was in an episode for the ABC Family show "The Lying Game", scheduled to air in early 2012.

From 1986 to 1997 I attended 128 Austin City Limits tapings, but none since then. This year ACL moved to a new studio, and, with its much larger capacity, I was able to see eight tapings; the best of these were Steve Miller, Miranda Lambert, and Randy Newman (one of the all-time best). For information on tapings and a chance to see them, go to .

I attended two more great Will Wallace workshops this year. Will was in town preparing a feature film that Terrence Malick's producer, Edward Pressman, is producing. Its shoot is planned for 2012. I hope I'll be part of it and may have persuaded Will to cast Bob Hinkle, a new friend. I met Hinkle the same evening as Jeff Bridges' ACL taping. I passed up the taping to see Hinkle speak. I had recently read and loved his book ("Call Me Lucky"), one of the best books I read this year. Bob was hired to teach James Dean and Rock Hudson to "talk Texan" for the film "Giant" and was hired by Paul Newman to do the same in Hud. Bob also knew LBJ and told of his encounters with him. Bob now lives in the Austin area and I was able to arrange for him to introduce a screening of Hud in San Antonio shortly after I met him. I videotaped most of his talk (until my camera's memory card filled up) and you can view it at

In January I noticed what seemed to be another hernia (after hernia repair surgery the month before) and my surgeon agreed that it needed tending to. It turned out to be some fatty tissue sticking out; the surgeon operated again and pushed it back in, adding another net to prevent recurrence. My health has been good; my doctor was very pleased with my physical exam, telling me that my EKG was "perfect" and the lab results were great. I continue to walk a lot and for the first time ever walked 19 miles in one day, following it up by walking 20 miles two days later. In May I logged 400 miles for the first time and ended the year with six 400-mile months. Last year I logged 4282 miles and this year raised that to 4696 (an average of 12.8 miles a day). I was able to avoid driving 92% of the time, up from 82% last year and 73% the year before. As a result I only needed to fill the tank twice.

In April I screened Z: a Zombie Musical in San Antonio. I got to visit Bob Maxham, a good friend since 1972. When I drove by Brackenridge H.S., where I first taught (in 1968) I discovered a new campus. The screening went great with about a dozen folks showing up including Laura Juarez-Fierro, one of my best students that first year.

I saw some great concerts. One of the best was the St John's College Choir from Cambridge, England. They reminded me of when I was in the boys choir at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Kansas City. I saw Vicki Carr perform, but the highlight of the evening were the musicians who opened and then accompanied her: the Mariachi Sol de Mexico de Jose Hernandez, who were fantastic. Two of my favorite folk singers, Ken Gaines and Buddy Mondlock, performed great house concerts. Atash, a local world music band, was a real discovery and I got to see them perform twice.

Some notable people I saw (and in a few cases talked to) were Mikhael Gorbachev, Eric Holder (Attorney General), Bob Edwards (original host of All Things Considered), Andy Borowitz (hilarious - saw him at the Book Fest ( and ) as well as on Overheard), Stephen Breyers (Supreme Court) Anne Archer (with her husband, Terry Jastrow, whose credentials were amazing - TV producer of golf tournaments, the Olympics, the Kentucky Derby and much more), Nora Ephron, Robert Redford (along with Woodward & Bernstein for a great panel on All the President's Men), Donald Petrie (who directed Miss Congeniality in which I was an extra), Johnny Depp, Paul Giamatti, Jodie Foster, and Ben Sargent (the master cartoonist).

The Body Art Ball was great this year, with much more body art this time; it was at ACL Live, allowing the artists less restrictions. This year Austin hosted a "cow parade" and I had great fun taking photos of about seventy "art cows" which were auctioned off by Jay Leno for the Dell Children's Hospital. (photos start at )


Once again I was able to attend every taping of Overheard with Evan Smith. Of the thirty-three programs taped this year the most memorable were Bill Moyers, Jim Lehrer, Garrison Keillor (got a photo with him, but it's badly out of focus), Andy Borowitz, Juan Williams, Julian Bond, Robert Kennedy Jr., Harry Shearer (This is Spinal Tap, The Simpsons - a real thrill to meet him), Calvin Trillin (he went to the same H.S. as I did, in K.C.), Cenac Wyatt (The Daily Show), Chely Wright (who greeted me by name, a real surprise - she'd been told about me before the taping) and Bill Paxton. The shows are invariably interesting and some were brilliant. They are all available online at www.klru.org/overheard/ and the Q&As after are also at that URL (I'm in some of those). If you're in Austin and interested in knowing about upcoming tapings, let me know (/g/UpcomingOverheards). The program is now carried in numerous markets around the nation on PBS stations.

Once again I was able attend most of John Pearson's fantastic master classes. Highlights were Jay Duplass (who I met on one of his films a few years ago and discovered during filming of "Slacker 2011", that I had met his wife ten years ago on a film - Jay cast me for his segment in that film (), which was the 20th anniversary remake of Rick Linklater's first film "Slacker"); Rick Linklater, whose session was made even better with the screening of his wonderful next feature film, "Bernie"; Morgan Spurlock ("Supersize Me") and Art Linson (producer of Car Wash, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Melvin & Howard, Fight Club - both of his books are great)

I added a few autographs to my collection: Fannie Flagg, Chely Wright, Bill Paxton, Anne Archer, Calvin Trillin, Harry Shearer, Donald Petrie, Bob Hinkle, Juan Williams, Bob Edwards, and Andy Borowitz.

We had some unusual weather this year: one inch of snow in February and the hottest summer ever with ninety 100-degree days (the old record was sixty-nine) and an all-time record high for Austin of 112! I found that I was able to get along just fine without using my AC at home; my fans kept me sufficiently cool. The average temperature for the year was one degree above the previous record (2006).

I saw thirty-four plays this year. The Miracle Worker was a real delight, moving me to tears. Laughter on the 23rd Floor (Neil Simon) was great fun. FDR wasn't strong as a play, but it was great to see Ed Asner on stage. Ann was a wonderful play about Ann Richards. A second delightful play about an Austin legend was Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-ass Wit of Molly Ivins. The Servant of Two Masters was hilarious and reminded me of the time I saw it in college in the late '60s; the lady seated behind me back then told me that she enjoyed the play more due to my pleasure (and she was the university president's mom). I'd seen Hair three times before, but this was one of the best productions. The Shakespeare Improv Company (from Chicago) created Hamlet Gets a New Lease on Life; it was fascinating to watch and enjoy because they were creating the play as we watched.

I only had three photo sessions this year, but two of them were great: Kimber Reed's was one of the best ever (). Jennifer Ekeh was in the play (Conversations While Dining Alone) with me and her session was also fantastic (). Hope to have another session with both in 2012.

For the fifth consecutive year I read 365 books. Some of the best: Call Me Lucky by Bob Hinkle; Winner Take All Politics by Jacob Hacker & Paul Pierson (excellent book explaining how our political systems have deteriorated - highly recommended by Bill Moyers); Strange Piece Of Paradise by Terri Jentz (the victim of a brutal attack returns years later to investigate the truth about the crime and find the man who attacked her); To Live and Perish Forever by Nicholas Schmidle (great book on Pakistan); In the Place of Justice by Wilbert Rideau (a black man, sentenced to death three times due to his race, spent decades in Louisiana prisons before being released); The Elephant to Hollywood by Michael Caine (a second volume of his autobiography); The Last Boy by Jane Leavy (Mickey Mantle - my hero when I was a kid); Zeitoun by Dave Eggers (a man goes thru hell during Katrina); The Mascot by Mark Kurzem (a Jewish boy becomes the mascot of Nazi troops in WW II); Deadly Spin by Wendell Potter (health care); Cyber War by Richard A. Clarke (the new face of 21st century war); A Class Divided by William Peters (if you teach, this is required reading - an Iowa teacher's life-changing lesson on tolerance - great DVD is also worthwhile); Nothing to Fear by Adam Cohen (FDR's 1st 100 days); Charlatan by Pope Brock (a fake doctor in the early 20th century whose "work" killed dozens); Mentor by Tom Grimes (autobiography); An Unreasonable Woman by Diane Wilson (an east Texas woman fights the polluters); Agent Zigzag by Ben Macintyre (an English thief becomes a double agent and earns awards from both Brits and the Germans); Operation Mincemeat by Ben Macintrye (the true story of The Man Who Never Was); The Prize by Daniel Yergin (history of the oil biz - his sequel (on all forms of energy) "The Quest" is also great); The Fear by Peter Godwin (life in Zimbabwe - yet another great Godwin book on his homeland); The Magicians by Lev Grossman (wonderful book - if you liked Harry Potter, read this - I pick up its sequel this week); Journey from the Land of No (autobiography of a Jewish girl who grew up in Iran in the 1970s - her Assassins of the Turquoise Palace is a compelling book on killers sent to Germany by Tehran); At Home: A Short History Of Private Life by Bill Bryson (fascinating book on origins - I read nine more books by Bryson and all are great), and Then Everything Changed by Jeff Greenfield (alternate presidential history).

I saw many movies, as always. My favorites for the year: Blood Relation (an Israeli doc), The Descendants, Certified Copy (Kiarastomi), Sarah's Key (the book is also great), Being Elmo: A Puppeteer (Elmo (Kevin Clash) was present at the screening), The Concert, Bernie, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (The Swedish version is also great), Moneyball (great book too) and Building Hope (Turk Pipkin's inspirational doc on building a school in Kenya).

I made two especially notable purchases this year. When my iPod's battery died, I upgraded to a new iPod Nano, which is even smaller and extremely convenient. In January I bought 20 CDs of old radio shows with four hundred hours of material: the Spike Jones show, the Stan Freberg show, Bob & Ray, the Danny Kaye Show, Benny Goodman concerts, Beyond Our Ken (Kenneth Horne - BBC), Groucho Marx's You Bet Your Life, and My Word! I've ALMOST finished listening to all 400 hours of these shows and should finish this week. A BBC program, "My Word!" ran from 1956 to 1990; I was introduced to it about twenty years ago by my thesis adviser who sent me three dozen tapes of the program. Each program ended with Dennis Norden's and Frank Muir's very funny stories, beginning with a quote and ending with a pun on that quote. I now have about 200 of the shows and have found additional ones this year that I've been able to record from several NPR stations and ABC R in Australia all of which still broadcast the show weekly! I can provide a link to anyone interested in downloading any of the My Words.

I re-connected with over 400 former students on Facebook this year and have now connected with over 1400 of the 6000+ I taught. Got some very nice comments from some of them this year: "Hi Mr. Eggleston I passed my math and English test. I was so happy that I cried this is the first time I'm actually using my head I'm happy", "I wanted to say hello and thank you for being one of the few teachers who was able to get any math through to me. I still remember you saying if you remember nothing else, remember how to do proportions. It has served me well." "Oh my gosh you were like my favorite teacher ever lol" "Mr. Eggleston! It is truly a pleasure to hear from you. My entire life I have wanted to find you and just say 'I am VERY sorry for all the hell we kids gave you!' We were not fair to you. Yet, I bet you're the one teacher always remembered the fondest. I'll never forget our experiences on those old Apple computers. You made things fun. Just wish I had been a better student and taken full advantage of your teachings. Hope you are doing well. You're looking great! "Dan Eggleston I was excited that someone would have some kind of music playing in the classroom it got me relax and doing my work. Ur awesome teacher to have and also help keep us motivated to stay on task and rethink stuff thought.....Thanks :)" "Oh my goodness! What a blast from the past!! Some of my favorite memories of middle school were in your class! How on earth did you remember me? Thanks for all you've done to help so many children. You were an inspiration to me and now I teach kindergarten. Thank you! You are such a genius with the tech stuff. Your class was the only happiness I remember in middle school. Playing Oregon Trail and learning how computers didn't have feelings still makes me laugh. I hope you are doing well and that you've hopefully retired by now. I'm about to throw in the towel and I've only been at this 9 years. Then again, it is August and I say that every year at this time. lol!"

I got about TWO HUNDRED birthday wishes on my Facebook wall this year, the most ever. It was a real pleasure.

It's really strange to realize that I've reached 65; it's great to be on Medicare, which allowed me to lower my health care premiums somewhat. It also allowed to qualify for a half price bus pass, which I use often.

It's been a good year for me. I hope that 2011 will be a good one for everyone and that the economy shows major improvements and the politicians who are blocking progress will be retired at the polls.