Update

There’s been so much happening I haven’t had time to post. I’m going to try to put together a detailed account of the Wax Theatricks reunion show. It’s been a mind blower. We’ve all moved on musically but we’ll never outgrow what we were going for.

I did want to mention a few things I’ve learned while blogging.

It’s easy to hurt people’s feelings with your memories when you make them public. My friends are so colorful that they really do have a lot of baggage.

I mentioned I was at a friend’s house talking about another friend when we were teenagers. As is the case in so my of my teenage memories, drugs were involved. Her employer Googled her name, and although I said absolutely nothing about her and it’s been over 30 years, she was guilty by association. She was almost fired.

We’ve all been told nothing’s secret on line but this kind of behavior from employers is totally unacceptable.

I deleted a lot of inferences in my posts but I’ve discovered they still hang in the search engines.

To my friends who have asked me to remove their names, I have, but it may take a while to show up in the search engines. I’ve Googled your names and all appears to be well.

I love you guys and never wanted anyone to be hurt. Let’s face it, you are very colorful people with a very interesting story.

I’ll try my best to let you tell it.

Shakespeare

St. Louis is lucky enough to have Shakespeare for free in Forest Pak every year. To make it more easily understood, they sometimes change the play’s setting.

Much Ado About Nothing was set in the American Old West, The Merry Wives of Windsor was set in the 20s, and this year, The Taming of the Shrew was set in the 50s.

I think it actually helps.

Valerie, my kids and I have seen all but the first couple of years. My kids have never had a problem understanding them, with the exception of all the innuendo and double entendre.

I had seen a local production of “Shrew” several years ago and don’t remember the oral sex and homo- sexual references, but every time I see a Shakespeare play I find something new.

I couldn’t help but think about all the “kiss me Kate” scenes originally being performed by an all male cast. I don’t think it freaked anyone out back then.

Not to mention Shakespeare’s most passionate sonnets were written to a man.

One year there was a sudden torrential downpour that’s become the stuff of legend. We cowered under a tree with 20 other people hoping lightning wouldn’t hit. Chloe cried as she shivered. I wished I could have. We had no clothing or umbrellas to protect us. I thought The Tempest would have been a more appropriate play that year.

Valerie noticed our buddy Dave Black was one of the musicians this year. He must have been pre-recorded. There was no band.

After the play it was announced from the stage there would be a party at the top of the hill with live music. I thought maybe Dave would be there.

He wasn’t, but to my surprise, our drummer, Benet was. He had to cancel rehearsals this weekend for paying gigs. Man is he spread thin! Talk about “the hardest working man in show business”.

Retirement?

My buddy Tracey has always loved the Rocky Mountains. He finally moved there. After this year's storms he said, “I’ve had enough of this nature crap!”

Most of my friends have followed their dreams away from St. Louis but I just can’t seem to find a better permanent place. I love the mountains and I love the desert. I love rivers and I love oceans. Everywhere is a nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there.

All I’ve ever wanted was a small place to plant my studio.

Valerie and I have been thinking about places you could live comfortably on a Social Security check. There’s supposedly a place in the mountains of Ecuador where it’s 70 degrees every day of the year. You can live in a beautiful villa and meet all expenses for $1,100.00 a month. There are a lot of U.S. expat artists there. Sounds good, doesn’t it?

Valerie and I like to sit on our back porch and listen to music. We’re on the second floor totally surrounded by trees. It feels like we’re in the canopy of a rain forest.

Almost every night I catch myself saying, “I wish I was twenty.” It’s not a longing for youth or beauty and I have plenty of energy. I just want more time. I still have a lot of projects rolling around in my head, but I have to pick goals that are within reach. It’s maddening!

I’ve been a private contractor most of my life. That means I’ve worked for people who found a legal way to not pay for health care, sick days, or vacation time but they still push you around like they’re your boss.

I’ve always dealt with my own taxes and unemployment insurance. Try collecting unemployment insurance when you’re self employed.

I have worked for the legitimate man enough to collect Social Security. I think I’m just young enough that it won’t be available for me.

I can’t understand people who want to privatize Social Security. If we had when Bush was pushing for it, we would have all been wiped out. At least we would all been in it together. That would have made it less painful, I guess.

Retirement is probably a thing of the past. My dreams are going to have to start bringing in money, because, like sharks, we have to keep moving or we die.

Love what you do and you’ll never work a day in your life.

A few years ago Valerie and I went to a small airport outside of Cleveland. I hadn't gone skydiving in Ohio yet and she wanted to go to the Rock Hall of Fame. My one retirement goal is to do a blue highway tour in a rented RV and jump in the states I haven't hit yet. (so to speak) This photo looks like what I imagine retirement must be like.

Bob and Ollie

I'm not posting a new story this week.

I've removed some of my story about Ollie Matheus because it's causing a great deal of pain for someone in my comments section. Ollie was a truly unique person but had flaws. The bigger the personality, the bigger the flaws sometimes. Ollie told me some of the things I posted, but so have others.

I can't really see what's so offensive about my Burkhardt post. I love him too. I love both of them!

I agree that people find these posts because they're Googling Bob and Ollie, not because they're trying to find some nobody named doggie, David Udell.

I'm not quite sure where the person responding got the idea I was calling Ollie yellow. I put him out of an airplane when he was 60 and he was in poor condition. He wanted to try everything.

If you want to set me straight on everything, my email is dudell2005@yahoo.com.

I will be happy to print a retraction.

As for the Soulard code, you have to be kidding!

Why I Love Nurses

I learned the hard way that the most important part of healing is human contact.

When I was in my early twenties, I needed a root canal.

I’m sure I didn’t have insurance, but in those days a person could actually afford to pay a doctor.

I was living in the city, but for some reason my dentist was in Kirkwood. My girlfriend Lora had to go with me because drugs would be necessary and I wouldn’t be able to drive.

I should have known something would go wrong; my doctor’s name was Hugh R. Dunn (no kidding).

The procedure to remove the nerve in my bad tooth went well and Lora drove me home.

A week later we went back for the follow up. Dr. Dunn took a long needle he called a probe and poked it into the hole in my tooth.

The whole world spun into a violent torrent of super heated gasses. As my mind raged I could just make out a woman’s face.

Her arms caressed my head. She held smelling salts to my nose, put a cold compress on my forehead and whispered, “Don’t go under.” Her beauty was the only thing I could hang onto. I think I fell in love with her.

As it turned out, I’m an anatomical freak. I have two sets of nerves in my teeth. The doc’s needle hit an exposed one.

The nurse, using every means at her disposal, kept me from going under. She really cared and it meant everything to me. I realized that was the job description. It gave me a great respect for the profession. I would go so far to say that nurses and the human contact they provide are more important than doctors when it comes to healing.

Pic of me helping Lora convalesce.