R.I.P., Ray Bradbury...

...if ya ever wondered who one of Hu's fave writers is, well, now ya know...

Ray Bradbury dead at 91

Bradbury developed his plots in such a fluid manner, and could throw in a 'plot twist' at the most inopportune, but interesting times (well, that's the def of a 'twist', right?)... he often blended the 'mundane' of everyday life into his 'ultimately surreal, yet feasible to an extent' underlying themes of his science fiction novels and short stories....although using the 'science fiction' moniker was more than a bit of a misnomer for his writings, and unfortunately may repel many readers from his writings...which is a shame.

If you've never read one of his, please check one out...I think most of you younger ones have 'Fahrenheit 451' as pretty much 'required reading', which hopefully didn't dampen your experience. If so...try it again...or some of his other great works... 'The Martian Chronicles' is one of my faves...and yes, while it IS one of his more overt 'sci-fi' themes, it still has some great imagery, and an overriding theme all can take something from...

As for me, I'll just say, 'Thanks, Ray'...you showed me the power of the written word, and what can be accomplished with it...

Huey and Mrs. Huey...

...are headed to the Van Halen concert! We bought tix for the August 8th show in Birmingham, Alabama... she kinda 'owes me one', after I went to the Kenny G concert with her a few years back (which WAS a lot better show than I thought it would be....but still NOT VH...) This will be my 4th VH show - I saw the 1984 tour, the 5150 tour, and the 'Right Now' tour... if that means anything to you at ALL.

Now...for those who are not familiar with the 'nuances' of a Van Halen concert, yes, it is loud, brash, a bit bawdy, and a bit 'potty-mouthed' in spots, but overall, it's a VERY energetic experience, quite unlike anything else...  of course, the dudes are not quite as young as they used to be, but, they're still sounding pretty good. In fact, here's a (long) video of King Edward doing his 'solo', which is generally the 'centerpiece' of a VH concert...dude can still slap a heap of notes together at once, no?

...well, another interesting aspect of this concert will be the audience, which will generally be a bunch of dudes in their mid-40s who drug their wives along with them... but that's cool, since generally the WORST part of a typical concert is the goofballs in the crowd that are usually drunk, high, and/or mentally irregular to begin with (extra points for whoever knows where that phrase came from) - hopefully folks this time around will be a lot more 'mellow'...

Until next time...

Hu (a.k.a. Huey Halen)
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Santana Fans...

...what's the deal with this video? Sounds like the dudes were a bit 'off' on this particular night...

...actually, this is a video where somebody did a audio 'dub-over' of the awesome Santana with their garage band, with pretty hilarious results...every time I watch this, it cracks me up...maybe it's just me, I don't know...a lot of folks I show it to aren't too impressed...maybe if they saw the 'real' performance first (which I have no idea what the true song they are performing is).  Anyway, I love the part where the little keyboard dude starts playing 'The Final Countdown'...classic.

Hope all y'all are doing well, and have a great weekend! ...more weirdness to follow...
Until then...
Hu
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RIP, Dick Clark...

...the eternal 'MC' of Rock and Roll.  I remember as a kid waking up early watching cartoons all morning (REAL cartoons, like Bugs Bunny, Pink Panther, and Scooby-Doo) - then around noon, American Bandstand would come on... This was about the only place you could see a group or singer without going to a concert... and even tho they were 'lip-synching', it was still cool to see the performances. And the dancing stuff was pretty cool, too... although I dug Soul Train just as much. :-)

anyway, Thanks to DC for all the great stuff he produced over the years for our entertainment... hoppin and a boppin...

Hu
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Just an observation...

...is it more than just a coincidence that the sinking of the Titanic and U.S. Income Tax filing deadline is on the same day of April 15th? Just wondering...

Hope everyone had a great weekend...as much as you can in April... hang in there a few more weeks, y'all...May is on the way!!!

Hu
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Friday the 13th? In APRIL?? REALLY???

...dang, y'all... let's just all sleep in tomorrow and reconvene on Saturday...  ...April and I just DON'T get along...

Well, regarding this blog...I am 'streamlining' this operation right cheer and now... as you may have noticed, I've 'deleted' the 'feature' stuff on the left-hand side... not that those ideas will TOTALLY disappear, it's just that the format regarding all of that was WAY too...'structured'...which a 'free-form blog' does not relish in... but yeah, every now and then I'll throw out some favorite lyrics, and goofy thoughts, movie scenes, etc... and I'll keep the 'pages archive' set up for posterity.

OK - well, guess everyone has Titanic on their mind, for good reason...folks have been pretty fascinated by that tragic tale ever since it happened a century ago...

I remember when I was, oh, 9-10 years of age, I was pretty big into building scale models... I assembled the Titanic, and it was really quite cool (although I painted the hull red, for some weird reason...still looked pretty cool...and I guess by the looks of it above, I was at least half-right...) well, wouldn't ya know it, it pretty much met the same fate as its actual inspiration, as my grandma was cleaning the mantle it was displayed on, and it ultimately ended up at the bottom of the proverbial ocean (hardwood floor, that is...) Oh, well - no known casualties in that event, at least...  Here's the wiki page on Titanic, which is really quite informative:

Titanic Wiki page...just the facts, pleez...

My little girl is gonzo over Titanic - the movie... she and my wife went to go see the 3-D version a week or so ago, and loved it... it's a good movie - saw it twice in its' 'original run'...but I would have liked to have seen a bit more 'backstory' on the actual building of the thing...decisions made, and how it was slapped out so quick... I saw a documentary on it a few days ago, and they said at least eight workers died in the process of construction... OSHA, can you hear me?

Well, OK - not a bad little post, I guess... I'm going to try and get something over here at least every few days, if not EVERY day... but it's gonna be free-form, y'all... not that that's really any different than anything else on the web, but... hey, it sounds...RIGHT, y'know?

Later, folks...

Hu
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...not to get too deep on y'all or anything, but...

...just remember, our big ol' sun...

...is somebody else's infinitesimal star...

...this just popped in my head driving home today...know not why...but figured I'd share it with y'all... maybe it gives perspective to someone out there... but more likely, it's a bunch of cockamamie jive... but at the very least an interesting thought.



Y'all have a great weekend... oh, BTW, a new MEMBER! Thanks, GF11 for joining up! I'm gonna get moving on this blog soon... NOT at the expense of G-ology, of course... where the 'Twenty Million Sweethearts' review will be, early next week...

Oh, another BTW...for anyone out there following the NCAA Basketball tourney...congrats to #15 seeds Norfolk State and Lehigh, each of whom knocked off a #2 seed today!  Cool to see the 'dawgs' get some good times every once and awhile...

Later on, My followers... (man, THAT sounds a bit weird...)

Hu
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