Take Him to the Bridge...

Merry Christmas, James Brown is dead. I'm a big fan of JB and will sorely miss him. I'll spare you the cliche's of legend, myth and "true American original". Love him or not, you got to recognize the huge cultural impact that he has had in this country and the world, if anything as a sample source for a million rappers and Eddie Murphy's career. I saw him once in concert, back in 1984 at the Scope arena in downtown Norfolk, Va. I got front row seats and it is one of my favorite concerts of all time. JB did it all that night, the camel walk, the splits, shrugged off the cape a few times and sweated gallons. At the end of the show, the audience rushed the stage and I was right there with them, one of the few white faces in a sea of middle-aged black folks. I got to shake his hand. So, here's a great clip of the man. Enjoy.

   

  JB, thanks' for getting up and doin' your thang. You will be missed brother. zahdah, OK HW

Happy Holidays

My wife, Janet Shaughnessy did our card this year.
Hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday season.

OK HW

November Hiking Report

Things were looking tough for me going into November on the hiking front. My laziness had left me with 149 miles to hike in the last 61 days of the year, so it was time to crank it up a notch or three and pound some sand. Despite all the turkey and football on the tube, I managed to drag myself out and knock down 77 miles to put me at 528 for the year. As of December 1, I had a mere 72 miles to go to hit the goal, I say "had" as I've been chewing hard on that number and it is a good bit smaller now. Some people think it's weird that I do this, that I set a hiking goal and that's o.k. they think what they want. Setting a hard number keeps me honest and motivates my butt to get out and do this thing that keeps my body, mind and soul right. Hiking, art, film, creativity, all of it is connected. If you are an artist or writer and find you're blocked, burned out or just plain disgusted, then lace up your boots and get out into the world. You'll be glad you did.

OK HW

P.S. Hello Claire!

The Happy Wire

photo courtesy of Master Builder Films copyright 2006

More "Happy Walter" news. Zoje, the director, has finished the film and has been submitted to the following film festivals: Sundance, SXSW (Austin, TX), Birds Eye View Film Festival (London), Silver Lake Film Festival (Los Angeles), and The World of Comedy International Film Festival (Toronto). Best of luck (sorry, couldn't resist Z) to Zoje and I'll be anxious to hear which festivals have the intelligence and fine taste to program this little gem. Would you like to get a little sneak peak of the flick? Well now you can, as the first two clips have been posted on The Master Builder Films web site.

Clip One is a brief introduction to Happy Walter. Note; yours truly created the magazine covers that trace Happy's career.

Clip Two is a chase sequence. Who is chasing whom and why? Well, that's where the drama part comes in. Watch the clip and decide for yourself.

More news as it becomes less available...

OK HW

October Hiking Report

34 miles, that's it, that's all I managed. Now, I could bore you with various excuses and reasons why I put up such lame numbers for the month, but I won't 'cause it doesn't matter. What does matter is I have 149 miles left to hike this year if I want to make my goal of 600 miles. 149 miles in about 54 days. Time to strap on the boots and pound some turf.

OK HW

The Obligatory My-Laptop-Died Post

After years of faithful service, my little old iBook's hard drive went senile, then kaput. Luckily (guess it wasn't luck, I did pay for it) I had the AppleCare Protection and so they fixed it up in no time flat, so here I am back at it. Besides replacing the hard drive, the technician also loaded Tiger (I was using Panther) and swapped out my aging battery with a better, longer-life one, so thank you repair person.

Much has been happening since my last post A MONTH AND A HALF AGO. Man, how did that happen? I'm amazed to see this old blog continues to get hits despite my long neglect and I must admit I'd probably drop the sucker if absolutely no one were reading it, so thanks' to those few folks who check in regularly to see if I'm still alive.

No new news on Happy Walter. I finished up the last of the graphics I needed to do for Zoje and she's busy getting the PR campaign together and entering festivals. Probably won't be any news for awhile until the festivals start to respond. It should be interesting.

Working on a Halloween project with my pal, Sam Hundley. Every year Sam goes all out decking his yard and front porch out with a themed display to amuse the adults and thrill the kids (or is it the other way around?). This year we're working on an alien autopsy thing. Photos soon.

Finally, I just returned from a trip south to Mississippi to visit my Dad on his birthday, then onto New Orleans for a few days hanging with my buddy Lord Nelson. For those into NFL football, turn green with envy because I got to see that killer Saints vs. Eagles game in the SuperDome, my first live game. There was a lot of love all over that soggy town after the Saints kicked that winning field goal with three seconds left. Yes, yes, a fine time it was.

So, that's me, how you doing?

OK HW