Dan. In Lego Land.

Recently, Dan visited Lego Land. A co-worker (MF) told him it was a cool place to film.

Dan's Metal Memory of the Month: 8/07

Megadeth: One of the few metal bands that remained in my CD collection well past high school. Most of the metal I listened to in the '80s lacked holding power after I left Maine and discovered the music the rest of the country was enjoying. Most albums that the metal heavies produced post-1988 were woefully lame (Dio's Lock up the Wolves, Maiden's Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, Priest's Ram it Down and Whitesnake... oh, my... they were just bad, bad), but Megadeth remained a respectable thrash presence - even up to this day (United Abominations is quite good). Since their first drunken attempt in '85 after Mustaine's ousting from arch-enemy Metallica, each of their 11 full-length studio albums have gone either gold or platinum. More importantly, they've yet to disappoint their fans - new and old. From their start, I think they found a perfect combination of technical skill, hair band showmanship and political disdain. A definite no bullshit approach to speed metal. Sadly, I don't think I ever saw Megadeth in my youth... but I did listen to them religiously until 1993 - always a good shot of adrenaline on a bad day. Fortunately, a co-worker has recently supplied me with the CDs released over the past 14 years, including their latest release (which they've been promoting on tour with Sabbath's Heaven and Hell this year). That Dave Mustaine. Even after all those drugs, he just never ages.

...and then there was Zoe

It's been a busy summer for babies in our little circle. This weekend, we were pleased to have met the latest addition to our neighborhood stroller brigade: Baby Zoe! What a cutie. She was very patient with us rude newcomers, fondling her darling features while she tried to sleep and affectionately comparing her to a baby orangutan. As mom and dad fed tiny Zoe, we fed mom and dad!

The Bummer Line: Kansas City, Year 1

Earlier entries sum up my adolescent and teen years as a budding illustrator and hopeless head-banger, but once I reached 18, I promptly escaped my home state - accepting a scholarship from the furthest point west...

Unfortunately, I only got as far as a dorm room in Kansas City, Missouri (not Kansas). But, the Kansas City Art Institute had apparently detected some potential in my pinhole pics...

And a southern girl (via California) saw some potential in my long, metal locks! Go figure.

During the first semester, we drew and drew and drew and drew... it was like an art sweat shop. My first professor, Dean Snyder, gave us all-nighter assignments in and out of studio. Once, at the end of class at 6:00pm, he told us to have twelve 20X24" graphite drawings ready to be critiqued at 8:00am the next morning. Fortunately, he was kind enough to furnish us with a crate of bananas (you know, potassium) for the long night ahead.

Most of our days were spent in the tin can building known as Foundations. We all look so damn young in these early pix. Here's Ned, Ellen, Tim and Sean...

More youngin's: Michael, Tracey and Patrick outside of the Vanderslice building...

Troy and Malcolm in the dreaded KCAI cafeteria...

Bernie tolerates Dan's strange, short-lived transitional look (in my own defense, I did tire of pulling back my mop while in the grungy studio... the hair came off the next year).

When not in studio, I followed Tina (ODA) around off campus. (Check out those authentic Tennessee cowboy boots!)

She agreed to pose for lots and lots of pictures for various assignments. (They all ended up looking a lot like band photos on the backs of '80s LPs.) Here she is in one of her favorite places in KC: the cemetery.

Here she is with her favorite collection: jewelry.

T as a punk-rocker hobo in the KC "Bottoms." (There's that cross again - she made the one around her neck, recovering Catholic and all.)

Tracey, T and D (Oh, dear... is that a vest?) at our first party in our first apartment (goodbye dorm room, hello low rent - I think we paid like $150/month for this rickety but spacious 2+ bedroom!)

T on the very unstable porch of our Afton apartment, overlooking 43rd and Warwick Blvd - a hop skip from campus. (BTW: Stinky Town roaches ain't got nothin' on their Midwestern cousins. This place had a bunch of them. Also, on a slightly less gross level, "Cicada Killer" wasps lived under the porch... fascinating critters.)

I did manage to return to Maine during holidays. The first summer, I introduced T to the best dog in the land: Duke.

I also showed T some of my home state's finer attractions, like Old Orchard Beach - possibly the most unsavory of all local tourist traps. It's like Maine's own little Coney Island. At least I dressed appropriately \m/

Preferring beach with ocean and pebbles to "Beach" with head shops and cotton candy, T and I discovered a wonderful spot near Harpswell. About a 2-mile hike out from the road, we found a secluded beach with nesting Tern. We still go there whenever in Maine.

That summer of '89, T also showed me her home town turf - full of beautiful waterfalls and unmarked Confederate gravestones. Then, it was back to KC for our 2nd year on the prairie!