I Want One of These:

Pammy and I went to the open house for a new police station in our neighborhood, and they had a line of cop cars dating all the way back to the 1920s. That is where I first encountered the Ford Model A:



So if you're reading this, and you live in a part of the world where old coots keep this sort of thing hidden away in a barn, let me know if you see one for sale!

Okay, Mom ...

I'll update my blog. Sheesh.

Here are a couple of photos Andy Rhodes shared with me:

These are costume photos from Rumpelstiltskin Revised, aka "The Play that Kept Us From Transferring to a Different School" -- no joke! We were looking at transferring to UALR or Arkansas Tech when Al Partridge started telling us about his children's play for what would be my Sophomore year in college (remember, Pam was technically a year ahead of me after taking classes at what used to be called GCCC.)

You may notice that Andy made leg warmers out of that flannel shirt's sleeves! Quite a creative guy, that Andy Rhodes.

Mssrs. Snapper & Buddy

During the run of Pin-Up Girls, on Saturday nights we ran a burlesque show after the play. The girls of The High Jinks Burlesque performed the numbers onstage that they were "performing" off-stage during the play. A good time was had by all.

I hosted these shindigs, and pressed my good friend Phil Kelly into service as my foil and to pick-up the girls' clothes after they stripped out of them. This quickly evolved, and the comedy duo of Mr. Snapper (that's me) and Mr. Buddy (that's Phil) was born!

(That's "song and dance, comedy and variety acts" in my horrid French.)

Lili Von Schtupp, co-producer of the Monday Night Tease; co-host of the Burlesque Podcast; and the brains, brawn and good-looks behind Burlesque 411 asked Mr. Buddy and me if we would host one of her shows. We said "yes," because you don't tell Lili Von Schtupp "no." It looked something like this:

(Forgive me for not going into a specific description of our act. We're still new at this, and our well of material is not very deep. Don't worry: Once we've come up with a long laundry list of songs and bits, I'll be posting video, audio, etc. I believe that there comes a time when you want to give away free samples of milk, so they know the cow is worth buying. That time comes when you have enough milk on your hands, you ... I'm just going to stop at "enough milk on your hands.")

Chris Beyond, the other host of the Burlesque Podcast, co-producer of the Monday Night Tease, and powerhouse photographer invited Mr. Buddy and Me to open the first night of Burlesqueland, the Disney-themed, three day burlesque extravaganza. That looked something like this:

On the third day of Burlesquland, we went to Disneyland, where Mr. Buddy embarrased both of us:

First, I'm already married. Second, the passage of Proposition 8 would prevent us from getting married anyway. Third, I'm just not that into you, Mr. Buddy.

Good news for you! If you missed The High Jinks Burlesque last year, you can see it in all of its enhanced glory next Monday night! (I say "enhanced" because we're adding two wonderful dancers to our line-up, and one of the gals is doing a second number!)

Ukuleles will be strummed! Prat-falls will be executed! Clothes will come off!

My Commute

I started a new day job, and live closer to work now than I have in years! I can actually hop a bus, or ride my bike to work.

It's a downhill ride to work, which means uphill home. I'm not in terrific shape, and the ride home kills me. I will typically take the bus rather than bike for this reason. But I tried something new yesterday:

Bike and bus. I can ride the bike to work, and let the bus take me uphill at the end of the day.

I'm not crazy about LA's public transpotation. We're too spread out for it to be efficient at long distances. Going across town, it can easily take twice as long to get anywhere than by car. Sometimes even longer. Adding the bike into the mix means a quicker way to and from bus stops, metro stations, etc., which cuts down the transit time significantly.