Another Book

The question is, how many books can you have on one subject?  I guess I still don't know the answer to that question as I just picked up Philip Norman's bio on John Lennon.  If there is one thing that there is no shortage of around here, it's books on the Beatles.  I'm not even going to count how many I have.  But I've read good things about this book and it actually has information that has never been written about before.  I know that's hard to believe, with as much written about the Beatles.  But already, just in the first fifty pages I've read stuff no one else ever mentioned.  Mostly about John's Father and his side of the family.  Normally John's Father is given short shift and the Lennon side of the family is rarely if at all mentioned.  Plus Mr. Norman is the writer of one of my favorite books on the Beatles already, Shout.  I'll let everyone know how the book is when I finish it.

Alex Chilton Dies

I was sitting in the waiting room while my friend Larry was in the back with the doctor and I was surfing the web on my phone when I saw that Alex Chilton had died.  Alex was the singer of the The Box Tops, who had the hit "The Letter" and than later went on to form the critically acclaimed group Big Star and afterwards put out a lot of solo stuff.

Second Column

I mentioned before that I was writing a column about comic books at a local comic shop's web page.  Just wanted to mention that the second column, about kids' comics is out there, actually almost at the end of the week, I just sent in the next column which should be going up anyday.   If you want you can check it out here.

No News Is Not Always Good News

I've had a migraine all day today so I haven't updated any of the writings.  I even called in to work and anyone that knows me knows I almost never call in to work.  Last time I didn't go to work I went to the hospital.  I wanted to write about how great the Eric Clapton show was but didn't get to that either.  But for a great review, one that I agree with (except for wanting to hear "Wonderful Tonight") go check out Vinnie's review at the Couch.  As always spot on.  I'm actually feeling better now, after having spent most of the day in bed trying to not think too loud as pretty much everything caused my head to hurt.

Tomorrow night I am off to see one of those performers that are my short list of artists that I have not seen yet, but want to.  Eric Clapton comes to New Orleans tomorrow night and it should be a great show.  Roger Daltrey of the Who opens for him, which is really nice.  I've seen the Who and am a big fan, so seeing Daltrey will be fun.  I'm eagerly waiting for Bond's report on his chance to see the show tonight, so I can know what to expect.

New Series

I was unfamiliar with this series until I saw commercials for the new movie based on the book.   I saw one of the books and the name of the writer looked familiar.  Rick Riordan was also the writer of a series of mystery books that I love.  I was wondering why I haven't seen a new book in the series for awhile.  It's because he was off writing kids' books.  The series is Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

The main character is 12 year old Percy Jackson.  He discovers that his dad is none other than the Greek God Poseidon.  Of course this puts him on a quest and his fate is part of a prophecy that could foretell doom for the Gods of Olympus when he turns 16.  There's five books in the series and each book brings him closer to his 16th year, until the final book he turns 16.  The Greeks Gods are given a more modern twist, Apollo drives a sports car, etc.

I'm on the fourth of the books now.  I picked up the first one about a week ago and enjoyed it.  I've been reading them since.  Now before anyone asks, no they're not Harry Potter, but than what is?  Harry Potter was the top as far as kids books go, but these are very good and held my interest as an adult, much the way the Potter books did.

I would definitely recommend them to anyone interested in a good adventure story.

The Funeral Possession

Someone filmed the Funeral Possession passing through the town.  Ten minutes it took of cars driving.  It was amazing the amount of people that turned out for JJ's Funeral.  Watch it and just be amazed at the amount of cars in the possession.

New Column

Just to let everyone know I am now writing a column of comment about comic books for one of the local comic stores in town.  They have a webpage where they feature the upcoming comics and stuff and now where they'll feature my new column.  The column is called "Don't Try This At Home" mainly cause I couldn't think of anything else to call it.  It'll be me talking about comic books, reviews, basically anything I feel like talking about that I can connect to comic books.  You can find the page here, than just look for the logo with my name on the right side of the page and click on it.  I'm going to try and do this on a weekly basis but we'll see how that goes.

The Funeral

I've been back a couple days now from the funeral.

The funeral home quickly became filled with people coming to pay their last respects to JJ.  Jason and Claire did so well, they were holding up so good.  When I got there and greeted them I just went mute, I just didn't know what to say.  I just hugged Claire and wished I had the words to say.

The service was SRO.  So many people wanted to pay their respects to this young man.  I heard many a person say that they didn't even know the family, they just wanted to come pay their respects.  After the Chaplin gave the services he invited people that wished to speak about Jason to come forward.  JJ's brother went first and talked about his brother.  Throughout the day Parker did himself and his family proud.  He spoke wonderfully about the bond he had with JJ and what they meant to each other.  During the day I saw Parker talking to others, helping them with their grief, he showed what a fine young man he was becoming.

I made it through the service with just a little misting over.  I felt like I was cried out over JJ.  Afterwards the possession was to the cemetery.  The possession made its way through the town of Canton, passing the local shopping center, through the heart of the small town and passed the local high school.

On the way I found I still had plenty of tears for JJ.  Alongside the streets were gathered people, lots of people, all standing with flags or saluting or just standing out in the cold offering their respect.  The stores were closed so the people working could stand out front.  The high school was closed, all the students were in front.  As we drove down the street two hook an ladder trucks from the fire department were ahead of us, their ladders forming an arch we passed beneath with flags drapped from their heights.

I saw one little girl, she couldn't have been more than five or six standing next to her Mom, holding a small flag and waving it as we drove past.  I couldn't stop the tears as I drove, I kept wiping at my eyes and driving.  But I couldn't believe the amount of people on the streets.  So many people.

At the cemetery I heard the Chaplin (who was the Police Chaplin for the County) tell Claire that he was ready to start, but the people just seemed to keep coming.  He said he had never seen anything like this in his career.

I knew at the site, with the 21 gun salute and the folding of the flag I would get more emotional.  I did at my Dad's funeral when they fired the guns.  It was bitterly cold out there, but no one was in a rush to get it over with.

But finally I had to leave and head back to Louisiana.  

Leaving

I'm heading to Georgia this morning for JJ's funeral tomorrow.  Thanks to everyone that has commented and left good thoughts, it means a lot to JJ's parents.

TV News on Jason

Here's a video of the local news coverage of Jason.

For anyone wishing to leave condolences to the Family there is a page set up on Facebook here.

More on Jason

 Back when I was writing, those many years ago, one of my favorite things I created was the series "Lizards" that ran in the page of Fantagraphics Critter anthology comic.  I'm actually not too fond of the title Lizards, it was supposed to be called "Dragons" but somehow I ended up with Lizards.  Irregardless I think the stories I wrote in this series are some of the best things I've done.  For most of the kids in the series I took their names from the kids of friends.  Of course one of the kids in the series was named for Jason.  Instead of calling him JJ I called him Lil' Jason.  (I never got around to showing Big Jason in the series).  I thought I'd post one of the stories I did featuring Lil' Jason.  

Jason Estopinal

Families come in all sizes and shapes.  You don't even have to be related to be family.  That's how I think of Jason and Claire, two of my best friends in the world.  I wrote about them in this post when I was writing about what great friends I have.  I remember when their first son, Jason Junior was born.  And their second Parker.  So much of my life is made of memories of friends and the two of them share a wonderful part of it.

I don't even know how to write this.  On Monday their oldest son, JJ, was killed while serving on duty as a Marine in Afghanistan.  When I went to lunch I checked my email on my phone and saw an email forwarded from Claire and opened it.  It was a link to a newspaper article about the death of JJ.  I was stunned.  I didn't even realize I was crying until I felt the tears on my face.  


I remember when JJ was born, Claire wasn't going to let me feel awkward around the baby.  I wasn't use to babies, to me they were little people that others took care of.  Claire wasn't going to have any of that, the first time I saw them she pushed JJ at me and told me to hold on to him.  She made sure that I was comfortable with him.  One of my favorite pictures of me (and I generally hate pictures of myself) is of me holding JJ at one of the many BBQ/crawfish boils we would have.  Before I realized it I was babysitting JJ.  I can still remember when we'd all get together as a group and all the grown ups would be sitting around talking and I'd be running around the back yard with JJ.  


I don't even know why I'm writing this right now.  To be honest it hurts to just sit here and put these words down.  It hurts to remember him.  But all I can do is write.  That's all I have is words, however inadequate they are.  


Jason and Claire ended up moving to Atlanta so I didn't see them as much.  A few of us made a point of going every year to visit.  Than after awhile that stopped.  It seemed there were always too many things to do.   Than even the phone calls dwindled down.  It wasn't that we still didn't think of ourselves as the same friends. Life just has a way of making things difficult.  Last summer I talked to Claire and I had the best intentions of driving up to Atlanta and seeing them.  I would probably not be able to see JJ, he has joined the Marines and was finishing up Boot Camp that summer.   But I got sick, my Mom had surgery and again life just threw up too many roadblocks for me to make the visit.  

One of my favorite pictures.  I don't know how old JJ was, but he couldn't have been very old.

This picture was probably at Six Flags in Atlanta.  I just love that smile.

Me and JJ riding Splash Mountain. Notice how he's trying to hide behind me and let me get most of the water.

Didn't work.

Another trip to Atlanta.  This was at Stone Mountain.  That's Claire, JJ and his brother Parker and to their right my friend Sal and me kneeling in the front.

JJ and me riding away.

JJ with his brother Parker.

Jason as a Marine.

All my memories of JJ are as him as a child.  Even his name, his name is Jason, but when he was little everyone called him JJ and that's still how I think of him.  But he wasn't a child anymore, he was a man.  I wish I had been able to know him as a man.  He was 21, the same age as my niece.  I know he was a good man, he couldn't have been less.  And he would have continued to grow and become an even better man.

I left work today.  I thought I'd go back in but as I walked towards the door I knew that I wasn't going to be able to stay.  I told Krista, asking her to come outside to talk to her, and barely able to get the words out.  Saying the words made it too real.

So here I sit, trying to find words that can make some sort of sense of all of it.  I like to think of myself as a writer, but I can't find the words.  I try to think of some quote or passage, something that might make take the edge off some.  I like to think that I'm this fountain of knowledge when it comes to music and when I try to think of a song to download on this page I come up empty.

When I remember JJ I'll always remember the smiles and the laughter.

Happy Mardi Gras!

I had to work.

Rockford Again

I read somewhere that they are making a new version of The Rockford Files for TV.  I'm sorry, there will only be one Jim Rockford and that's James Garner.  Are there no new ideas out there, that the networks have to keep going back and dusting off old television shows.  I've also heard that there's a new Hawaii Five-0 in the makings too.  Why try and re-do Rockford, use all that energy into creating something new.

LOST

I know I'm running late with this week's edition of LOST.  I've come to a conclusion that I'm kind of surprised by:  I'm not that interested in Kate.  I've realized that the Kate centered shows are some of my least favorite.  Coming from the high of last week's episode this one was something of a let down.  Reactions?  Thoughts?

Five Years

This Friday will mark the fifth year that I've been blogging on this site.  Wow....five years, I'll write more about it as that day comes.

The Night of the Saint's Win

I didn't get to watch the Big Game.  I was working.  I work at a sporting goods and outdoors store.  We are a major source of Saints products: shirts, hats, pennants, etc.  Since they've won the NFC championship we've been selling a lot of Saints stuff.  If the Saints win we were going to open right after the game and start selling Superbowl championship product.  The merchandise was there, we couldn't open it until the end of the game.  If the Saints lost than it all went back.

We had the game on the radio so we could listen.  We had a store full of associates standing around waiting for the outcome.  Before the game was over, once it started to look pretty good for a Saints' win we had people start lining up outside the store.  By the time the game was over we probably had a few hundred people waiting. As the game ended we started opening boxes and putting the product out on the tables.  Every register was manned and we had people behind all the tables getting the shirts and hats out.  I was in charge, making sure everything was ready.  We had police there to help control the crowd.

The plan was to let twenty people in at a time, once the first twenty was in and moving along we would let another twenty in, and so on.  Once the tables were packed with the shirts and hats I gave the signal to the police office to start with the first twenty.  By now the line was all the way down the strip mall and around the side.  We had to have over a thousand people in line.  The parking lot was parked, all you saw on the road was headlights headed towards us.  Horns were blaring, car alarms were going off, people were screaming and all you could hear was "Who Dat!!!!"  The fire department came with an engine with lights and horns blaring, parking out front of the store.

Everything went smooth.  People poured through the store, buying shirts and hats and moving through the registers with no problems.  Everyone was cheering and yelling as they came through.  It was as close to a party you can have while still working.

43 years in the making.  There was a lot of emotion that night.  The people here love their Saints and have stood behind this team through a lot of bad years, so it was great to see all that loyalty finally being rewarded. Within three hours we were sold out of everything Superbowl related and we still have hundreds of people outside.

I have to admit I was a little nervous about having to go out there and face that crowd.  Some of those people had been standing in line for hours.  One of the firemen came in and volunteered to go inform the crowd through the fire trucks' speakers.  The police officer at the door told the people that had waited so patiently and were now at the door to be let in that sadly they were going to be turned away, we had no more product.  After thousands of hats, shirts, pennants, license plate holders, magnets we were out.

This was crucial point, even the police officers were a little worried.  What would this crowd of hundreds do after standing outside, drinking and partying, waiting for Saints product that they were now told was not here. New Orleans did me proud.  They turned away with no problem.  Of course there was some grumbling, a few people could be heard that this wasn't fair, but the majority, the vast majority of the people understand and went off cheering and chanting for their Saints.  They knew we'd have more product the next morning and even more important than to be the first to get that shirt or hat I think they just wanted to be out with fellow fans to celebrate after the win.

So for me I've been seeing the win from a slightly different perspective.  I haven't even had a chance to see the local news to see how the rest of the city has reacted.  The next day I was back again, with another big crowd, but nowhere near the size of the previous night, and lines of people with the shirts and hats we received again.

I heard from someone that when the Saints came home today from the airport that the streets were lined for miles around the airport with fans.  I'm off Tuesday so I'm looking to be able to watch some news and see what's been happening otherwise with the Saints.

Who Dat Picked the Saints?

Before the game a lot of celebrities are polled to see who they thought would win.  The majority picked the Colts, mainly due to Peyton.  Just thought I'd share two picks with everyone.  I always knew I liked Valerie and Ms. Jett is one of my favorite rockers.

VALERIE BERTINELLI Actress

New Orleans, 24-21. With those two quarterbacks, there has to be some scoring because they are both brilliant. The Saints have a deep offense and the defense is so good, they will hold them back. It will be a great game no matter what ... especially when the Saints win.

JOAN JETT Rock star

New Orleans, 45-33.

Two Scary Words - President Palin

I admit that I find the words President Palin to be just about the two scariest words I can think of.  She is saying that running is on her mind.  Fred Kaplan from Slate explains why those two words should be scary.

Let's be clear on why those words should terrify anyone with a thinking brain. Palin is someone who has clearly never seriously thought through any issue of national importance on her own. She's excellent at reciting a raucous speech, but she can't improvise a coherent sentence, which usually reflects an inability to form a coherent idea. (At Nashville, she even had to scribble her five-word legislative agenda on her palm, andglanced down at it during the Q&A.) She is deluded enough to believe (or at least to saySunday morning on Fox News) that her brief, aborted stint as Alaska's governor gave her more executive experience than President Obama has even now. She believes that the country should elect leaders, including presumably herself, who seek solutions in "divine intervention."