Labor Day weekend, work schedule woes, and in one case a death in the family, have slowed down our assault on fandom assembled this week. Many of us are running roughly a day behind, I know I am, but rest assured we are working diligently to get caught up. I apologize for any inconvenience this causes.
Hurricane Gustav
We in Tampa are mighty grateful this storm bypassed us altogether, and are thankful the lower category storm's landfall near New Orleans resulted in only a fraction of the damage caused by Katrina three years ago. The government, having learned its bitter lesson, was much more attentive to evacuation procedures, and the levees, buttressed since Katrina, held up. Gustav turned out to be be much more of a rain event than anything and of this writing has still not totally disapaited. We're still watching Hurricane Hanna out in the Atlantic, however...
Sad Passings Don LaFontaine, 68."In a world where both of our cars were totally underwater..." said LaFontaine, as the "movie announcer guy" in a television commerical, spoofing his own signature tagline that opened countless movie trailers. With a husky basso profundo, LaFontaine, a voice actor, was hired as a virtual good-luck charm by Hollywood producers for 20 years to add drama to previews and coming attractions.
Jerry Reed, 71, country music star, probably best known to movie fans as Cledus in Smoky and the Bandit, and responsible for its catchy theme song, died of complications from emphysema. I enjoyed many Reed songs hits, including When You're Hot, You're Hot and Amos Moses.
Mike Smith adds more to the history of these illustrious men's careers in this week's Rant.
RNC
Its schedule modified due to Gustav, the Republican National Convention marched on. Fred Thompson's speech I heard only a part of, but he showed quite a sense of humor. I'm not a Republican, but if any of my Repub colleagues wants to write a review of the RNC, send it to me and I'll include it here.
Communications between me and our newest and youngest PCR members has apparently ceased. No more Music Emporium columns are expected, and development on the Youth Nation Interactive section has been discontinued.
Update, 9-5-08: Finally got an email from Jake Tipton. He wishes to express his regret that things didn't turn out as planned, but the boys' back-to-school obligations, not surprisingly, turned out to be the culprit in discouraging extra "homework" for PCR. I thanked him and Bobby for what they were able to do so far, encouraged them to keep school their first priority, and reminded him the door will always remain open for all of them here at Crazed Fanboy.
Please consider making a donation to help support Crazed Fanboy! Click on the "donate" link below and give whatever you can. I sincerely thank you for any and all consideration.---Nolan
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