rock on amigo!!
- Skinny 12-26-2000 5:22 am


Hey dude,
Back from Sanantone. Me and mom stayed at the Marriott (i think).A great concrete chunk right on the river walk. It took its architectural cues from the 4 story parking garage across the street (the only thing separating us from being front row center to THE ALAMO) A huge formless cement structure (the hotel not the Alamo), U shaped actually, framing a 10 story indoor atrium with the western side baffled to cut the usually HOT Texas sun. We watched the movie Percilla Queen of the Desert which was (IMHO) super funny and reminded me of the Pyramid on ave A during it's golden years of the 80's. Christmas eve we went to a fake English pub and luck being on our side, it was Karioki night. A 5' X 5' chick with an operational Christmas light necklace do'n Cher's "Do You Believe" was murder and received thunderous applause. I got a good bit of reading in, a childhood bio of Truman Capote. But the real stunner was a book that had been sitting on the shelf in my Mom's house for as many years as I am. Mom's Dad was Miles, he had two brothers, Sam (his twin) and "Big Charlie". Their Dad was Charlie "The Judge" and they were all from Danville Ky. Big Charlie taught Law at Washington and Lee U. in Viginia. and wrote one book, "The Iron Baby Angel". It was set in Danville in 1909 and focused on all the "loafers" (real names ! like : Mr. Either-One, the barber) hanging around town at the time. He wrote it during wwII while stationed in Guam, assigned to judge military trials. His wife horded legal pads to mail to him and he wrote it all in long hand in between his daily bottles of Whisky. It was intended to record the local Danville color and lore as stories he wanted to pass on to his two sons, "John" and "Charlie Boy". Charlie Boy (Charles McDowell) would go on to be the Washington correspondent for a Virginia news paper but would gain real fame and family honor as a 20 year regular on PBS's Washington Week in Review. He also wrote several books and is now retired. Unfortunately my Mom's got the only copy she knows of and it cannot be found on alibrus.com. Perhaps I will borrow her copy and transcribe it here, well not Here but over at "Bill" in small installments. It has a library of congress number but no isbn number. godday.

-b


- bill 12-29-2000 9:23 pm [2 comments]





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