. I was honored and fortunate to have worked with Buddy over the years during my tenure at The Home Shopping Network. He was indeed a special individual. I met Buddy through his wife, Debbie, who was a V.P. at Home Shopping. Buddy would visit our post-production facility (then called Telemation) often, and would brighten up the work day with his visits. When needed, Buddy would step in as Sound Designer when Telemation's was on vacation or out sick. But that was only a small part of Buddy's legendary career as a musician, audio engineer, and sound designer.
As stated in your memorial, he was a member of both The Tropics and White Witch, two heralded local bands that gained national notoriety. Buddy was also one of Florida's leading sound designers and engineers, working on everything from Tom Petty concert sound checks to local car commercials. I'm sure some of us Tampa Bay old timers recall those (Tom Stimus, T. Buff, Dayton Andrews, etc.). During Buddy's memorial service last Wednesday, his friends and family recalled those sessions, back in the days when audio tape had to be manually spliced and taped back together again. Buddy was a master audio editor, and one of the fastest in the business. In recent years, Buddy and Debbie ran a Tropic Sound Studio, a facility specializing in Christian music recording. Buddy was also a proud father; he had two sons: Ted (who is a friend of my wife's) and Clayton.
Buddy died of cancer, but I'm not sure which type.
The number of people who attended Buddy's service was astonishing. Buddy was a natural leader and a man of great character; the way he lived his live was inspiring to all that knew him. I'm sure he was content to know that so very many people were touched by knowing him and wished to bid him a final farewell.
- Andy Lalino
Andy, thanks so much for such a heart-felt tribute. Obviously, Buddy's passing hit his close friends, family and colleagues the hardest. His young age (55) just adds to the tragedy. He will be sorely missed.---Nolan
Nolan,
Re: The Oscars. (Our diatribes listed last issue.---Nolan) While everyone's caught up in the Michael Moore politics, a few items
appear to have gone unnoticed. First, on Moore's rant - it only goes to
show that they can lower the microphone, but you can't shut off the
Mike.
"Well, I'm glad they cut back on all the glitz," host Steve Martin
deadpanned. "That'll show them." Indeed, as the ratings fell by over 30%
because...hmm...NO ONE CARES!!! There's a freaking war going on.
Sean Connery looked like he came off the set of another "Highlander"
sequel or, better yet, he robbed Jerry Seinfeld of the "puffy shirt."
This is Bond for the love of Pete!
How about Jack Nicholson responding to a jab with a "bird" of his own.
Very sneaky Jack.
Does anyone else feel odd about giving an award to Roman Polanski? I
mean, there is a warrant out for his arrest.
Lastly, just punishment for Jennifer Garner. We saw that crappy
"Daredevil" movie and you have to present awards with Mickey Mouse. A
Mickey with a voice problem. BAM! How's that taste?
Gotta love the Oscars!
Brandon [Jones]
Brandon@CLIPSproductions.com
I put the Roman Polanski award in the same category as the "John Landis award for best accidental decapitations during filming", in that yes, we're horrified, but the show must--and did--go on. (Landis was exhonerated, at least, and can still live in this country.)
Say, Robert Blake isn't set up to shoot anything this year is he? HAHA--ahhhh, double-entendre morbid humor, forgive me....---N
Nolan,
I would like to give a hearty "Welcome aboard" to Mad Matt as well. My wife and I collect female action figures, (200+ in our collection) everyone from anime, TV, movies, etc., so we'll be interested in his take on the biz. Our museum accepts 6-packs for admission (hehe).
Looking forward to your column,
Richard and Janet Sousa
Nolan,
I am a teen in the south Tampa area and I used to come on your site all the
time to see what is going on in the area w/ the local band and film scene,
but to be honest your site.................suxxx!
That was, of course, until I came on here the other day and to my surprise you
had a new addition---so I checked it out much like I do all of your other new
things, and I have to say that because of this new addition I will be
visiting your site more often! So I just want to say that, thanx to "Plastic
People", you salvaged a viewer! Thanxxx.........ok maybe not.
Hey Nolan, it's
Sam (Plastic People's kid)! Anyway I thought I would make my dad feel special
and I am abusing baby-sleeping time, love your site, thanks for screwing
up my head for many years alongside of my father.
Lots of love to ya!
Sam (Symantha Cerrato Savinon)
Hey kiddo, thanks for writing, glad to have your old man on board. Keep him in line for me, it's the least he deserves for screwing up your head all these years. As far as the site formerly sucking, but better now due to a correcting influence.....uh-oh, do I sense another potential young "Tirade" author in the offing, only this time a (gulp) female?
Readers: in an earlier edition of PCR, I misspelled Symantha's name as "Samantha". Although she signs her mail "Sam", I forget she spells the full version with a "Y". Woopsy...!---Nolan
Nolan,
Just checked out the new PCR. I am looking forward to the new articles on collectible toys.
I hope, given his age, that Matt will give ample coverage to the vintage lines of toys that I
collect and far prefer to anything modern. Unfortunately the modern lines tend to get all the
attention these days because they are so readily available to less decerning collectors.
Even as excellently crafted as they are, I find it hard to believe something like, say, the
McFarlane Spawn line will be anywhere near as collectible 20 years from now as the Mego lines
from the 70's are today (20 years after their prime). Let's face it, toys like the Mego lines
were never designed to be collectible, and to me that is at least half of what MAKES them
collectible.
ED Tucker
Jax, FL
Ha, ha, firing away right out of the gate, that's my boy ED! I couldn't agree more, in fact, what got Matt and I started gabbing 20+ years ago (besides heavy metal) was GI Joe stuff from the '60s (plus Major Matt Mason, Hot Wheels, etc.). While I don't know exactly what Matt plans to write about week to week, I do think we're on the same wavelength. (I don't want to steal his thunder, but I think he's with you on MacFarlane.)
That being said, altho I agree with you that latter-day offerings of and for the super-hero/anime/movie spin-off/blister-pack mania set will ever accrue the sentimental value that old lunchboxes, spaceships, and submarines built-for-two did for us (how can they?), there is a market of impressionable young people whose only accessibility--or inspiration--
was after Star Wars (that's a major fan date calendar division, similar to B.C. and A.D.). Matt is extremely well-versed on that era too.
I want to remind EVERYONE that this is an open forum, and we all welcome your input on all topics 24/7. I've already received a peck of emails just on the mere announcement of the Plastic People column. This promises to elicit a whole new realm of response towards us in the future
as a different branch of fandom is finally being addressed here. I realize people collect toys for a variety of personal reasons.
Final thought--the more I've thought about it the bigger the concept becomes. (The success, the failures, the hits & misses of all eras. And the frauds. Remember, it was just a few years ago you could custom-order a gen-u-wine, full-scale, Lost in Space talking Robot for $7000-$12,000! Just thought I'd throw that in...)---Nolan
To send an email to Letters to the Editor write to: Crazedfanboy1@aol.com. Any emails sent to this address will be assumed intended for publication unless you specifically instruct me not to. I can and do respond privately, if that is your preference. Frequently, it's both ways.---Nolan
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