The Strangest Things...

[Man in Black]

WARNING! Really long (but well written
and extremely entertaining) post ahead!!!!

I've never had any real desire to be famous, only successful, and I guess I was that. The strange thing is that I seem to have all these connections to the most random famous people. It does me no good, none of it is anything for me to brag about... none of it at all is anything I've done or accomplished.

The first one that comes to mind is that my Dad grew up with Richard Petty. Then Petty married one of our close cousins (I don't know them). But out of that I'm related to the King's son Kyle Petty (a racing star in his own right) and his family. I'm still waiting on free race tickets or something

Cousin The King?

The next thing and the one that nobody ever believes (and I don't really care) is that my Dad was an inventor. Like most inventors he was unsuccessful at it and should have worked harder to invent a device to get the wolf out from in front of our door. In the late 70's he crafted the coolest crossword puzzle you could ever hope to solve... that also lost plenty of cash.

Then he spent years developing a board game that required you to fit increasingly difficult and odd shapes into a limited space. It was simply called Shapes. He started Shapes around 1980 and had it functioning in a year or so... I know, I played it with him many times. It really worked! Our whole family had a blast playing it. He sent copies to Parker Brothers, Milton Bradley and any other gaming companies he could get addresses for. He got the same reply from every single one... that it was a great game but they had their own developers under contract and could not except outside work.

That's all good and everything but in 1984 a little video game came out for the original Nintendo that was almost an exact replication of Shapes. 23 years later it was ranked by EGM magazine as the greatest game of all time and had sold over 70 million copies. Today, 27 years later, it has sold 100 million copies on cell phones alone. I still like to call it Shapes... but the world calls it Tetris. What did I get out of this? A dejected Father who passed in 1994... and the only remaining old scraps of an original board game that I've kept the termites from eating for decades.

Tetris?

A lesser and funnier tidbit is that when my Mom and Dad were both really sick. Habitat for Humanity helped us remodel a house to live in. They gathered pieces and parts from the community. We wound up with the mail box of one of the 3 Stooges who retired nearby. Don't ask me which one because I can't remember now.

Stooge Got Mail?

Why did I put this post in the music section you might ask? Well read on into this rambling exercise in randomness to find out.

I could have put all this wackiness here because when my Mom lived and worked on a ranch in Florida where I was born, her best friend rode in and won many horse shows. Their hated (and I mean HATED) arch rival on horseback at nearly every show was legendary (not then) country singer Crystal Gayle... but that's certainly not why you have suffered through this far.

You just keep puttering around in horse $#%!
I'll make millions singing

It could have been because I married into a family of gifted musicians that includes an original American Idol finalist and Anacani of the Lawrence Welk Show... but that's just another odd link in my life, it's not the reason for this pointless thread.




And now to the... well... point... I guess. Last year I finally scored tickets to see two shows of my favorite band - Tears for Fears. I have been listening to these guys for nearly 30 years and absolutely love nearly every note they have ever produced. I'm not the kind of fan that will throw my underwear or flip out just because somebody famous talks to me. There's no point, they are just people. I am, however, the kind of fan that will push his way to the front of the stage in a standing room only situation with my favorite musicians playing. And I have been known to fight for an autograph or two because I am a collector.

Well, the band played, we screamed and I marked a line off my bucket list. We were ready to head home when we realized that the newest touring member of the band - Michael Wainwright - was meeting and greeting at the door. Since he wasn't one of the original members he wasn't getting much love and we (my wife, my sister and me) went over to talk with him.

Turns out he's a really nice, down to earth dude. We bought his solo album and he signed it for us. I left him with a handshake and told him to keep his head up because I was a lifetime fan and in my humble opinion he was every bit as vocally talented as Curt and Roland. (And I meant it too). You could see that meant a lot to him and I felt good about it.

I figured that would, as they say, be the end of that as we headed to their second concert in a week. This time we made a sign to take. We didn't make it for Tears for Fears we made it for Wainwright. Why not? His most recognized solo song is called Heart Shaped Man. It was written by Roland Orzabal the lead singer and song writer for Tears for Fears. So, we made a Heart Shaped Man sign.

Low and behold Wainwright was wandering around the crowd after the concert again. This time we just bumped into him with our sign. He flipped out and looked like he might be squeezing back tears. He grabbed us and hugged us (Marii a little more than me) and then took the poster and signed it. Then he made us pose for a picture holding it. In a moment of utter stupidity... I took the sign home with us instead of giving it to him. I didn't do it out of collector's greed... it was just an in the moment ignorance. He made me promise I'd scan it and send it to him on Facebook and at least I did that.

The Sign...

When I checked his Facebook page he had made our sign his profile picture and had raved about getting his first "Heart Shaped Man" sign made for him. Another fan pointed out my stupidity once again for not giving it to him... sigh... He even used all my pictures I took of him in his FB photo galleries which made me happiest of all.

While I really enjoyed the intimate contact I had with a temporary member of my favorite band, I figured that moment of social network fame would be the the icing on my cake. A few weeks ago I was proved wrong as I browsed Michael Wainwright's Youtube channel. A video caught my eye called The Making Of A Heart Shaped Man - Written by Roland Orzabal.

Of course I had to see it so I clicked, watched and enjoyed... right up until the end (that I almost clicked away from - finger pressing on the mouse button and all) when I was astounded to see my ugly mug in the video. Nobody will notice me because I'm standing beside my beautiful Marii holding the Heart Shaped Man sign that ends the video.

So what do I get out of this random link to the stars that blinked into my life. Well darn it, this time I actually enjoyed, no, cherish the experience. It's the closest I'm ever getting to being in a Tears for Fears video... and I'm left with the sign that I should have given to the Heart Shaped Man.




The Proof!

Wainwright's picture of us





Wainwright with my Sister Carole





Wainwright singing lead with Roland on one
of my all time favorites (Woman in Chains)





The Heart Shaped Man

[Jason]

That was such a fun read. And mind-blowing!
The Shapes thieves ( ), Richard Petty, and how cool is that to be associated with Michael Wainwright and Tears For Fears?
Also, if it's eating at you that much (the sign), couldn't you attend another concert of his and be sure to give it to him?

Also, wow, Marii is very, very pretty.
I kind of want to boycott Tetris, now.

[Man in Black]

Thanks for the kind words... I had a blast writing that. I just banged it out last night when I wasn't feeling so good and it was fun. I had been planning to share the link to the video for a few weeks but kept procrastinating. I never meant for it to turn into a novel... but so be it.

You don't have to boycott Tetris... I still own a copy for my Nintendo DS. And believe it or not my Dad played it like crazy. He could not be beat... goes to figure. I'm sure his idea for that game wasn't the only person's thinking that went into Tetris, but our family will always believe they took something from his game. He was really smart at some things but had no business sense. He was just too nice sometimes. I'll try to dig out a piece of the game to scan sometime. The only thing I know where it is right now is one of the huge crossword puzzles though.

As for the Michael Wainwright sign. I will definitely be at his concert if he comes this way again. And most likely this time I'll take my time and actually paint him a decent sign instead of 5 minutes of art class ignorance with magic markers and a folded box.

Thanks again for reading the thing Jason. Everything I said in it was true, but it was all meant to be funny. None of that stuff bothers me or makes me feel special... it's just part of the strange connections we all have to life.

[Jason]

Yes, my Dad is the SAME way. Way too nice.
He usually goes out of his way to do the little things for people. BUT, we ARE in California, and people usually won't respond with equal courtesy. He told me a story a few years ago. He was at work (Delivering fuel) and noticed a group of kids asking random people for gas money, they were stuck at the station. One guy was in a hurry and told them that he's going to scan his card for them, but made them promise to only fill 10 dollars worth, because he, himself, was low on money. As observant as my Dad was, he was busy dropping fuel into the underground tanks. The kids pumped and drove away. Once he finished up, he decided for the hell of it to see if they held up to their word. Nope. I'm not sure the exact amount, but my Dad was certain they filled up the tank plum full.

He says he tries not to go out of his way for people, anymore. Not just because of the story, above, but because he'd rarely ever see an equal amount of courtesy or appreciation for anything he'd ever do for people. He told similar stories to a Church he attends, who preach about giving an extra effort for our fellow man. One of the pastors responded (I'll word it my own way, since I don't remember what was said, exactly) by asking him something along the lines of, "But even in that rare instance of appreciation, doesn't it make it feel worth it?" He agreed.

I also go out of my way for people, ALL the time. CONSTANTLY, and I don't know how I do it, given the responses I get. I guess it was just the way my parents brought me up.
I have no idea why this story came about, but I just decided to tell it. ;D

I have a blast making posts like that, as well. More recently, it was my Top Ranked! lists. It's always nice; taking the time out to write these things and having SOMEONE there to appreciation them, even if it's just the one person. *Points to you*

So, I'd also like to thank you for putting up with my stupid lists, and overly analytical posts and junk.

[Man in Black]

Well, I don't do it just to be nice (speaking of taking the time to read everyone's posts) I actually enjoy it. I always thought that's what message boards were for - a more in depth chat room.


As far as helping people out goes. I try to do that every opportunity I get, not for any thanks I'll get, but because it just seems like the right thing for me to do. If anybody asks me what I want in return I always make sure to tell them to pass it on and help out the next person they see in need. A lot of times when I've said that it seems to have a noticable effect on them. But who knows how many actually remember it when it counts.

[Jason]

That's how I am. It just feels like the right thing to do.

[Man in Black]

Okeedokey.... here is another strange and comical twist in my life that applies to this thread.

I don't know if any of you have heard of the Moonshiners show on the Discovery Channel, but the 2nd season premiere is tonight. One of the new stars featured is... my cousin. Not a far off distant cousin that doesn't know me, but a dude I grew up with. In fact, about 6 months ago he stopped and talked to me for about half an hour while I was waiting on David's bus. We tentatively planned a kayak fishing trip.

He runs a tree service in town and I've been procrastinating on calling him to get 2 bad oak trees in my yard... but the recent wind from Sandy has them worrying me more, so when I get him over I might get a few pictures of him - no I didn't take these they are from the newspaper.


Anyways... I'm not going off into long story mode. Watch the show... his name is Josh Owens, he'll be the one with the dog that rides the motorcycle with him. You'll get to see a bit of how us rednecks live around here.

Here's the link to the article in the local paper
(I worked there for 14 years) about Josh on the show


www.tryondailybulletin.com/2012/11/02/from-barneys-woods-to-hollywood-2/


Here's the link to the Moonshiners Show

www.dsc.discovery.com/moonshiners

[Jason]

I've heard of that show. I haven't seen it, though. I rarely watch TV. Generally just sports. I'll check it out, and the trailer was interesting. I've always been intrigued by that type of lifestyle. Maybe they could have a city boi like me on the show and your cousin and I can get into some wacky antics.

[Man in Black]

That would make for a good show! I'd be willing to be you and me could get into enough comical adventures for our own TV program ;D

I watched the show last night. The poor boy has the misfortune of resembling me somewhat. And he sounds so much like me and my family that I kept getting that weird feeling you get when you hear your own voice played back to you.

[Jason]

What does he do on the show?

Haha. I hate the sound of my voice.