Shrine de Gardner

Much thanks to Ed for doing a very cool thing by directing me to his local paper's write-up on the Ava Gardner Museum, located in Smithfield, North Carolina (the starlet's hometown).

"Two of the Lucky Ones"

Played primarily during the end credits of Zombieland, I thought this might be some mid-70s rock/country music or Eric Clapton I hadn't yet heard or something. I was wrong. It's The Droge & Summers Blend. Duh.


The Droge & Summers Blend

A ton of fun in Houston

The main carrot on the stick for me on this time traveling expedition primarily deep, deep into the farthest reaches of southern Houston was the neon sign pictured above. In a really good way, it was my Kurtz, if you will. Will you? I really couldn't tell whether or not the charming little motel was still open, but it looked like it was in good shape and possibly motor court style lodging at one time or another. Maybe now!

Rogue Wave does "Everyday"

I really like this re-working, re-imagining of Buddy Holly's song "Everyday." Talk about a cover version. It's practically a different song, but yet not. A bit jarring at first to fans of the original, Rogue Wave's redesign is pretty flippin' cool. I bet even ol' Buddy Holly himself would approve. It's on the soundtrack to a 2005 videogame I've never heard of, and I consider myself something of a videogame nerdingerster.

Speedy return to Gonzales (ahreeeba areeeba underle)

Art thou familiar....st with the "Come and Take It" battle flag? This occurred in Gonzales.

So, I went and took. And I didn't even need no stinkin' badgees. No, seriously.

Burning is tumbling

Well, looks like my Burning House picture was passed around at tumblr. Much obliged to whoever started it and those who re-tumbled.

Detour on the way to the city on the edge of forever

The A.V. Club has an appreciation/analyses of the writer Harlan Ellison, with accompanying photograph featured above. Of course Ellison is partly known for writing the very best script/screenplay for a Star Trek episode, "The City on the Edge of Forever." Three questions come to mind when I see that pic:

1. Is Shatner gettin' him some?
2. Where are Spock and Kirk's insignia??
3. Were Nimoy and Shatner actually that much bigger than Ellison? They look huge.

Neonopolis

...a.k.a. 25 neon signs part iv...

1.
Houston, Texas
I begin this episode of Neonopolis with a sign I drove by for many years without stopping. Part of the problem was the fairly intense traffic along Interstate 45/the Gulf Freeway. This Harmony Wedding Chapel is on a feeder road off of I45, and one of those times, I finally pulled over and got its weathered old neon sign.

Lounge mix for summer

Let's start with some Mancini, Monica Mancini, doing a very John Barry/James Bond take on her papa's song "Charade" (also the newest song, 2004, featured within this post):

Something about loss, preservation, and obscurity

The drive to McKinney, Texas, turned out to be a bit longer (30-40 minutes; Garmin usually shaves at least 15 minutes off the Google time) than either Google Maps or Garmin told me it would be, so I was sort of dreading the drive back before I'd even arrived. But once I got there, it seemed to have all been worth it. I had a list of thirteen items to locate, tag and bag, the majority being Victorian-style homes. But I became bored by the houses after the third or fourth, which worked out, because I was soon reminded that McKinney has a handful of great, vintage neon signs (gems, really). Besides, old signs are far more interesting than homes built 130-150 years ago...