Retirement Is Good!
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I officially retired on July 28th, after 31+ years. I have been a long time listener to 93.7 KLBJ-FM and had many calls on air and prizes won. So in honor of my retirement, I treated myself to the Dudley and Bob 25th Anniversary Gala Saturday at the Paramount. I, of course, made a poster of some of the old memorabilia I have and wore the “oldest logo” tshirt (and got my picture taken by the station pr guys and others in the crowd). I wormed my way into the pre-party upstairs and when Bob Fonseca saw my poster he called it history. Dale Dudley then had me come up and I got my picture taken with him. I got to visit with Louis Black (the owner of the alternate newspaper here called The Chronicle, who told me he was retiring the week of 9/4), Turk Pipkin (humanitarian - The Nobelity Project - and actor - Sopranos), the former Chief of Police, Art Acevedo, who took over as Chief of Houston, Ed Mayberry!, Peggy Simmons and Loris Lowe (last 3 all DJ’s at one point, but Ed was the BIGGEST Beatles fan ever) and enjoyed an evening of comedy and music. While in the lobby I asked if Jim Ritts was around and the house manager who showed me to my seat remembered my seat and had Jim and his wife come by to visit. I got a free parking voucher out of it as some of you will remember the fiasco several years back when a client had gotten me on the list to attend Neal Degrasse Tyson and when Mike and I got to the theater there were no tickets. Jim didn’t fair too well with this longtime client and big shot in development and how upset he and his wife were, so Jim sent me a basket of goodies and a promise that when ND Tyson returned to Texas he would send me wherever it was, even if were to Houston or Dallas. Less than a year went by and lo and behold Jim being the stand up guy he is called and offered Mike and I tickets to see ND Tyson at The Long Center and I accepted. Music sounded great inside an historic theater (Paramount) - Scrappy Jud Newcomb led the orchestra of Johnny Goudie and Sean Crooks (son of Danny Crooks who ran the Steamboat back in the 80-90s) with appearances by Kacie Crowley, Kelly Willis and Bruce Robison, Benjamin Hotchkiss (who did an incredible Mick Jagger impression), CHARLIE SEXTON (who we represented back when he was 15 years old and got his first recording contract with Island Records), and Bob Schneider (oo la la). At the end all sang Born to Run for Bob (who is a huge BRUUUUUUUUUUUUCE fan). Felt good to laugh for a change. While leaving, I ran into Elizabeth Avellan (ex-wife of Robert Rodriguez/star of screen) and a filmmaker friend of hers and they dragged me to Speakeasy where the after party was and EA snuck me in as I didn’t have a wristband. First time for me to be in there and we hung out on the roof. Austin sure is a different place at night. Got home at 1:00 AM. So glad I went though.
The girls and I are headed to Kansas this Friday to see Mike’s mom. Have a rental Jeep SUV and going to split the drive so that we spend the night in OK somewhere, close to a casino
and get up Sat. and drive the rest of the way. Best part of it all is we will be right in the path of the Eclipse next Monday and looking forward to experiencing it. Of course I am going to drive into Lawrence and visit the Booth Athletic Facility and see the Rules of Basketball. Found a $25 off ticket from one of my many orders so will add to my KU swag. I am going to spend a day/night with our oldest friends who live out in the country and then we will leave on Thursday. Much cheaper to drive than fly and use someone else’s car.@Crimsonorblue22 Are you near the turnpike? PM me if you are. Would love to stop and see you.
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@RockChalkinTexas Congrats on retirement! & make sure you get eclipse glasses for the partial phase. They are expecting up to 700,000 visitors to this area for the whole thing. Major zoo on the highways. Probably the same in KS so allow plenty of time. We are expected to have up to 70% cloud cover and pop-up thunderstorms so it might be a big “nothingburger” here…
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That is one cool night to remember. Enjoy retirement.
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I’m Joining the club August 31.
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@RockChalkinTexas Welcome to the club. I joined midnight, Dec 31, 2010, and never looked back. I think about the old work place the 1st of every month when I look at my bank account.
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“spend the night in OK somewhere, close to a casino”
I had to laugh at this !! There is no place in Oklahoma that ISN’T close to a casino !!
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@RockChalkinTexas BIG CONGRATULATIONS
! My first Fidelity Investment check came September 2009 & just keep on coming like clockwork. Throw in SS & they pay 
me a helluva lot of money to stay home … OK, I can do that!! Until 2016 I still continued to log about 1000 hours yearly but health no longer permits . Getting my coffee 
️ now to walk down the hill to the lake as the trout 
patiently await their morning wooly buggers. Take really good 
care of yourself & keep the 
️ sunny side up!!
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@globaljaybird Careful you don’t wear yourself out walking back up the hill from where you feed the trout. Probably a small cooler with a 6-pak or a pint of CB would make the journey up the hill easier. You know, 50 ft and a bottle or some sips.
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@brooksmd When you were here the water was still very high from the flood So fishing then was mostly impossible on our property. That has all receded so the normal summer routine is the MO till hot weather fades. The SWPA generates so much power by releasing water from the bottom of the dam through the generators that the fish
eat really well & are tough to catch. Also when they sound the horns at the spillway the water 
level can change dramatically in a short period of time. think I caught 3-4 total last week. Fall & winter 
️ are prime time for trophies 
I’m told. February was PDG this year but March is when the rain came. That entirely screwed up the program till the middle of July.
Was talking to a neighbor at waters edge one day last week & a beautiful bald eagle 
landed about 
yards away on the south side of the lake right at eye level. Nice treat this time of year to see one at all. Was first time I had ever seen one that close. Last winter was common to spot them with the binoculars from the house 
up on the bluffs probably 1/2 mile or more away.
