That Tim White
Monday, May 21st, 2007
Tim White came along a couple of years or so after I was hired at the Beavercreek Kroger in May of ’89. He was in the ‘next generation’ of the bagger elite. I was hesitant to include him in our ‘ranks’ – that of Jon, Larry, James, and me, mostly due to my own pigheadedness. But I soon learned that Tim was a very nice and funny guy, who in turn enjoyed my sense of humor. He liked the nicknames I came up with for the other employees and customers – and he really appreciated anything that could get Jon riled up. Jon never grew tired of saying how angry he was at “that Tim White!” Read the rest of this entry »
Ashleigh is now home safely napping so the worrying is over, but last night, Saturday, May 19, was her first prom. She went with her steady beau Derek “Carrot” Lovejoy. There was a minor hullabaloo while she got ready with Christi, Briana, Creed, as well as Christi’s parents Joy and Bob, over here to assist with Ashleigh’s hair and photo-snapping. Derek’s parents Dennis and Kellie came over as well to see the young couple off. 
I would have never guessed that when my friend Lance sent me home with his copy of The Smiths’ Louder Than Bombs cassette tape in 1988, that nineteen years later I would be shaking hands with the group’s lead singer. In fact, I would have been surprised at that prospect even one month ago. I wasn’t really even aware that Morrissey was touring. My ex-wife Lisa had bragged to me that she would be seeing him in San Diego – then my friend Robert Hill told me that Morrissey was coming to Columbus. On a whim, I googled “Morrissey Columbus” and several minutes later, I found myself purchasing front row seats to the show on May 18, 2007 from a ticket broker. 
We had packed a lot of activity into the last five days, so on Wednesday, February 14 – Valentine’s Day – Jimmy and I spent a leisurely day traveling to and fro around Culver City, the Silverlake area, Hollywood, and Los Angeles scouting a select group of Laurel and Hardy locations. It had always been my desire to actually be involved in the finding of a new location. So we literally spent some of the day driving up and down in an area where we had reason to believe that one of the Laurel and Hardy films were made. 
The name Hollywood ’80 had entered the common vernacular of most Sons of the Desert members – both to those who had been fortunate enough to actually attend it, as well as to those who had only heard tales of the legendary convention. So it was in deliberate reference to that Sons convention’s nickname that I named an article I did for Dante’s Info #13 as Hollywood ’95. This particular vacation to California was not a convention, but my third journey to the wild western state in a successful attempt to recapture the magic of Hollywood ’80.