Good Morning, Dave: Wed, 10/22/80, Cresco, Iowa

(The following is part 1 of 2, including the finale, on the final days of The David Letterman Show)

The opening alone is different.  The gentle sounds of Willie Nelson's "On the Road Again" plays while Dave says to his car-full of friends (we fanatics identify as Merrill Markoe, Rich Hall, and Wil Shriner) "Boy, what a good-looking day."

"Did you see that sign, David?" asks Rich, as Dave continues to take it all in.  We're back in the midwest, small-town living, just as Dave grew up with, and you can tell even in the comedy (and though it's for a TV show, a brief visit) he loves it.

Wil points out Black Angus cows which Dave replies "Wow, look at those dogs.  2-ton dogs."  Rich reads the letter that won the contest, which includes this point: "Small towns do exist, and we do enjoy ours.  We would like to share it with you and your audience."

"Now, when we get in this house, you gotta be very careful not to bust anything." Dave tells the crew.  A very high crane shot (one that would make Johnny LaRue proud) shows 2 cars (Dave's Crew, and Frank Owens and the rest of the David Letterman Symphony Orchestra) stop along a dirt road to a house.

Everyone rushes inside, and Dave stops to tell the viewers that we're in the lovely countryside of Eastern Iowa, just a couple of miles from Cresco.  These are the winners of the contest to host the show in their own home: The Goldsworthy family: Howard, Jane, and daughters Greta and Gina.  Beyond meeting the family and showing the sights of Cresco, Cloris Leachman and her daughter Dinah Englund are the guests, along with the rest of the gang.

After meeting the family, Howard Goldsworthy points out items which are not normally in their yard: all these people, a new electricity pole, and a production truck, which we can see bearing the original ESPN logo!

The camera very quickly pans along the yard to show the scenery while Dave asks them what life is like in Cresco.  Jane points out there are a lot of things to do, "sometimes more than the city."  Dave can't help but ask "Like what?" and she mentions card parties, snowmobiling in the winter, and the wonderful people.  Howard describes the 80 acres they have, which Dave follows up if there is anything special they'd like to do that day.  Howard replies "I'd like to eat that turkey cooking in there!"

As Dave enters the house we see some folks sitting in an adjacent room looking at a monitor - yes, it brought out everyone to the Goldsworthy home.  Dave moves to the living room, the band begins the theme, and away we go.

Just the mere set-up sends the show into a commercial break, and we see Frank playing the family's upright piano.  Going to break, we also have the running question to Cresco residents: Have you ever tried Winky's Cow Paste?  He asks one farmer who replies, as one would "I don't know if I ever have or not."

Jane's parents are in the front row as well, and the audience, if a bit bewildered by the whole thing, applauds as needed.

Cloris comes out from the kitchen to talk of life as a child in Iowa, and as both speak of the beautiful landscape, Dave remarks that they might just do the show here every day, which again sends the living room audience into great applause.  The sight of a TV show apparently interests the local wildlife as you might be able to see in the background:

Life was hard growing up in the country during the depression, so any way out of that, mentally or otherwise, helped Cloris cope.  Piano lessons and the like were just part of it, all leading to her entering Northwestern and her acting career.

Another Cresco local, this time a teen, is asked about Winky's Cow Paste.

He hasn't tried it before, so Dave asks if he'd like to try a can.  "I s'pose."

Dinah comes out with some prompting from Cloris, who Cloris claims is here so that she won't be alone.  Dinah, at the time was in her early teens, says she'd like to be a dancer.  Asked if they'll stay for the rest of the show, Cloris hopes so: she wants some of the dinner cooking in the kitchen.

Later in the show, Dave reminds the family they'll also receive a RCA video recorder and a television, leading us to a tour of the town.

Sheriff Gary Cleveland not only works in the jail, he lives there, too.  He considers living there "very comfortable" and he's not nervous while a prisoner is there as well.   As sheriffs go, Gary's responses are to the point.  Noticing a BBQ near the front, Dave asks if he ever has prisoners join him in a cook-out.  "No, sir."

Next, while looking through a park in town, Dave shows the various statues, including one, which...

Well, it defies description, especially since there IS no description.  He asks the locals if they know, but most of them don't, leading to more confusion.

A teen: "I think it's a bomb."
A farmer: "This is a water mine sitting on top of a coal cart."
A man:  "I don't know what that is."
A kid: "A statue."

Next to it, is the centennial time capsule.  Asking residents what's inside draws the same kind of response.  One local, however, does know there's a photo of her inside, from that centennial celebration, as she won the pancake race.

"Well, they give you a hard, dry pancake, and an iron frying pan, and in fact we ran down this park, and flipped it 3 times.  I was able to flip it 3 times and run the fastest.  As a prize, I received an electric can opener."

Dave next visits the Total Look Beauty Salon in Cresco, still around 35 years later.  The Total Look in Cresco today, as shown by owner Pam Burnikel, is a long, curly perm.  The model likes it: easier for the winter.

Finishing the tour, we visit Ellen Church Field, named after the first female flight attendant.  Wil comes out and talks about flying in there from Kansas City, where he made a video for NBC's pregame coverage of the World Series.  "I think you missed a lot of the activity because when I flew in, boy, 747's backed up."

We end the show with Cresco Stupid Pet Tricks.  We have a dog that's willing to be spun in the air. a poodle that can jump over a pole between his owner's legs:

...a 4 month-old goat walking through a hoop, and finally, a hog "doing a strip act" for its owners Matthew and Maria Ryan.  The pig escapes immediately, and then takes a wizz on the Goldsworthy's lawn.  Long ago, Matthew put the clip on YouTube, and thankfully, it's still around.  Screen captures will not do this any good:

Dave thanks the family once again for their help, and we close the show by walking around the streets of Cresco.  Ed Clark, the secretary of the chamber of commerce for Cresco, joins Dave for a walk down south Elm street.  Regular folks and dignitaries for the city are there, all excited to meet Dave.  Dave asks what's next for Cresco, and the president of the chamber of commerce states "We're hoping we can save the David Letterman show."  Dave glumly replies "Let's focus on something more realistic.  How about casino gambling?"

We finish with a look inside the car of Keith and Sherry (Sheri?) - newlyweds fresh from the church.  Dave asks where their off to, and they say they're going to Tower Club to drink some beer.

What a finish.

Afterwards:

In my quest for finding Dave morning shows, this for many years was the most elusive, with few details provided other than the town.  I finally was able to find a polite collector who had a copy - the quality wavered quite a bit, but no complaints here.

The participants:

In 1990, Wil was a guest on Late Night, and showed Dave a photo which was quickly snatched away.  "You might as well show it" Dave said as the audience egged him on.  Here's Wil's pic:

Earlier this year, on the occasion of Dave's retirement, the Des Moines Register caught up with Jane Goldsworthy.  It's not only a great look back in time, but fun to read their memories and thoughts 35 years later.  As Jane said, "It's nice as average Joes to have a little claim to fame."

(Tomorrow, the finale.  Thanks for reading.)

Good Morning, Dave: Fri, 10/17/80

We're down to just 1 full week left, and those angels on earth who had Betas laying around KNEW more had to be done to commemorate The David Letterman Show in its fading run.  But, as announcer Bill Wendell announces, we're taped today: Dave and the crew are on their way to Iowa to do the show from someone's home.  We'll see that episode next week.  In the meantime...

The shot dissolves to Dave as you see a giant sign reading "Don't Let David Letterman become Extinct.  KEEP HIM"  Maybe they thought he'd be embarrassed.

"Boy, do you look familiar!" says Dave, using what is clearly Thursday's audience who were bound and gagged.  Catherine Deneuve is the feature guest, which elicits "WOOOO!" from the audience, mostly the men.

After Catherine comes out she tells Dave "not so fast" since she regularly speaks French.  This changes the course of the interview immediately, and Dave starts with basic questions: the comparison between American and French women, her looks, and that she was married.  

Dave: One day, would you give up your world fame and become a married person again?

Catherine: Why not?  Is that an offer?

This sends the audience into "ooooo!" and applause - Dave can only react with...

In town to promote what would become an Oscar-nominated film, The Last Metro, her interview is cut short in the second segment as Frank begins to play the piano - when we return, she's off the set.

Next is an odd segment: Dave flying a TWA flight simulator.  Now, bearing in mind 1980 video and technology, it's tough to really tell what's happening beyond the two of them talking:

Dave: "I believe I'm ready for my complimentary cocktail."

While Dave and the pilot go through some of the standard checks, Dave laments "this takes the fun out of a trip."  In this simulation, two engines are up in flames, and they fly back to New York.  I don't mind saying they could have just flashed FILLING TIME on the screen and we'd feel the same.

Now we're back in studio for fun stuff: mail-order catalog orders.  Intriguing items such as an egg cuber

Dave: "That's it?!  Oh, come on."

"Magic Rocks" ("rocks" that are multiple colors that slowly leak in water), and the album "Sebastian Speaks" (a dog barking for 30 minutes - "Your watchdog on a disc!").  Dave reminds viewers to look for the album "Sebastian Takes a Dump" - and "Dump" gets edited out.  Considering the out of control laughter that comment brings, it's good NBC kept America safe.

Next is guest Earl Mindell, the author of "The Vitamin Bible" - and it's a topic that was heavy on the show.  Despite the comedy leanings, they knew they still had to include guests that were thought to be focused to the Daytime ("Housewives" - NBC's thinking) viewer.  The vitamin aspect was something that was reported to annoy Dave.  ("Have we had B-12 on yet?" he said in one meeting)

Earl shows Dave a small package of vitamins he takes each day while travelling, leading Dave, looking at the clear bag of pills to ask "Is this OK to buy on the street?"  After they talk about vitamins and using them to battle Depression, Dave seems to get serious and focused, asking on the specific differences in lifestyle with and without different vitamins.  

After the break, however, it seems as if Dave is just rattling of questions from the card.  Earl dutifully answers them, of course, but I can't say I blame him - Dave energy-wise, after doing 2 episodes in the morning, seems wiped out.

After saying goodbye, and again to fill time, we get an extended version of the credits.

Dave's own groupies are here: This girl wearing an "I Love David Letterman" T-shirt, and another wearing one that's black.  We can only guess if they had time to chat with their favorite TV star, but we hope so - there's only 1 week to go. Who knows of the future?  

Good Morning, Dave: Judgement Day

It was joked about, discussed, and wondered by fans for months.  Richard Dawson would make fun of it in his brief monologue before Family Feud.  Tom asked Dave during his visit.  And now, the hammer comes down.  Let Mike Drew of the Milwaukee Journal tell the tale.

A spokesman from NBC is quoted that the network is "seeking a time period more suitable to Letterman's talents."  In time, they did.  For the meantime, Dave's show will run through October 24th (ensuring they can do the show from someone's home) before it's replaced with the game shows Blockbusters and Las Vegas Gambit.

Other items of note to Journal readers: don't miss the story on Agent Orange on WITI-TV's news.  Also, apparently October 18th is "Sweetest Day," so visit your florist.

Now that the news is official, you're going to get an even looser tone in the show, as well as an emotional audience.  Look for another episode later this week.

Good Morning, Dave: Fri, 10/10/80, Floyd Stiles Day

As Dave referenced 2 weeks ago, it's Floyd Stiles Day.  Dave begins the show by reminding the audience: as a result of today's activities, the stock market, banks are closed, but most federal buildings are open.

A summary of the events on how this came to be: The Humansville Ledger on August 7th, in a column written by Lola Boswell, states that Floyd Stiles traveled to see Rusty Draper in Jackson Hole, WY.   This made Small Town News, and Dave called Floyd to ask him about it.  This lead to the Ledger writing another story about Floyd on September 4th, which made the front page:

"Stiles said Letterman told him the network would fly him and his wife to New York for a wonderful weekend."  This didn't occur, unfortunately, but since Floyd is a nice guy, Collins, MO is a great town, and as a salute to Small Town news, here he is.

Since it's Floyd Stiles Day, it's only appropriate that a mural of Floyd is today's background:

Dave and Floyd cover all the aspects that he wants to see in town, and then show Floyd to his very own section of the audience, complete with La-Z-Boy chair for Floyd.

(The sad thing is, at about this point I can see a lot of the housewives of America going "What in the world???")

Edwin Newman comes out early to discuss the baseball jargon by reporters during the playoffs: "Dumped," "Nosed-out" and so on.  Players don't get a hit, they get "good wood on the ball."  Edwin and Dave go over action shots and Edwin gives it a colorful background.  As we go to break we see Floyd and his wife now receiving soft drinks and potato chips to enjoy during the show.

Following Edwin is a surprise musical guest: the very artist Floyd went to see in Jackson Hole, Rusty Draper.  Rusty performs his hit "Night Life."

Dave follows this with the news that the home viewer contest winner will be announced on Monday.  The winner also receives an RCA TV with "accu-filter" You'll see clips of that episode here on the blog, too.

Next is guest Ray Linnen, a man who claims to have escaped death 22 times.  The first that he remembers was narrowly avoiding a car wreck as a child.  He continues on about dodging storms, fires in oil fields, all of which is starting to make Dave uncomfortable.  

Ray claims to have never thought about it until a reporter overheard him talking about it to someone on a plane, and now that it's getting press, he is still going through life the same way. Amazingly, as Ray finishes the interview, he gets up to leave and yet again cheats death: a "500 lb" bag of who knows what falls where he was sitting seconds ago.

The Stlies' present Dave with a homemade t-shirt, and a paperweight.  The "Floyd Stiles Symphony Orchestra" begins to play "Fame" and we finish the episode with Dave introducing Floyd to the people of New York along 6th Avenue.

On the whole, about 90% of NYC residents were willing to meet Floyd and, lest we forget, talk on camera.  Even to those from a small town, never doubt the friends you'll encounter in New York.

Good Morning, Dave: Mon, 10/6/80

We're getting in to rough-quality Beta love here, but our feature guest is Bill Murray, so I shall do my best to share the gold.  I can't confirm this just yet, but I believe this to be Bill's first appearance on a Dave-hosted talk show.

The audience isn't letting this cancellation go without a fight:

If your audience takes the time to make a banner they'd hang at a stadium for a TV taping, I'd like to think the future is safe.  It makes Dave smile and laugh...

Monday is "bad phone call" day, where Dave will make a phone call an audience member wouldn't want to make for one reason or another.  He decides on a recent college graduate whose Father, Charles Lafurno, does not know that he's on the hook to a bank for a loan for college: $7,000.  

Dave makes the call and asks for the father.  "Uh, Dave?"  Guess this isn't a surprise.

Dave: "You knew nothing about this loan for $7,000?"

Dad: "Oh my god."

Other item just added: the loan is due TOMORROW.  Everyone but the Father laughs.

We return from commercial to Bill.

Bill: "I'm in a real ugly mood.  I've been drinking all night long.  I haven't slept, and I had a gyro at 3:30 in the morning."

Bill's ire is actually at Phil Donahue, and his popularity, lamenting that Dave has to take part-time jobs due to his own show's performance.  "I've got some information that I think and hope will damage this man's career.  I'm not sure of this, but there's a very real possibility, that Phil Donahue is seeing my Grandmother."

After the commercial, Bill concedes to take questions from the audience.  One, on a good interest rate for a home loan, is agreed on at 22%!  None of these questions are regarding the entertainment field, which makes this all the more gold.  The final question is tough, coming from Alex Jullian of Toronto.

"I'd like to know how you feel about strip mining, and what are the viable alternatives."

Bill: "It's kind of a John Anderson question."  Could we get more 1980?  As a gentle reminder, all those asking questions receive a can of Winky's Cow Paste, "The Finest Name in Cow Paste":

Dave's next guest is the author of "Sound Sleep," Dr....uh...

Dr. Regestein is still at Harvard all these years later, and is still practicing as well.  As he's covering those who suffer insomnia, he says that there's no solid number of those who drink themselves to sleep.  "Legions of people who take their nightly brandy to seek unconsciousness."  This leads to some happy responses from the audience.

The show wraps up completely on schedule, which allows Dave to thank everyone involved, and get more shots of the crowd:

Good Morning, Dave: Wed, 10/1/80

Over the years as I've searched for more Morning Dave episodes, I've found that nearly all of the surviving tapes cover the end (or near end) of his run.  There was a sneaking suspicion that a show of this kind may never be on TV again, so the effort to record for history's sake was well worth the effort.

Today's Beta transfer might not be pristine, but what the fuck do you want, it's 35 years old!

The applause this morning seems to last extra long, which in hindsight I took to mean (and possibly fear) as "don't cancel this show!"  Mary Stuart from Search for Tomorrow is the lead guest, as well as a survivalist Tom Brown, who is introduced as someone who "spent 14 months nude in New Jersey.  (Laughs)  I know you're saying sure, we've all done a little of that."

The plan in prep for today's show was for a courtroom sketch artist to draw different segments of the show.  But the person backed out at the last minute, so Dave heads to the audience to find a replacement.  Dave impresses that the drawings don't have to be great ("It won't be" she claims) but Dave won't take no for an answer at this point, and she's selected.

Barbara Jean Lloyd is now seated near the stage and almost laments that now she'd better pay attention to the show.  All Dave can do is laugh.

Mary Stuart covers her career on the show and tells how glad she is that the show isn't live as it was in the old days.  "David, you're too young to remember live television."  Dave looks around nervously to tell her that, indeed, the show she's on NOW is live.  "Nobody told me!"

Next, being a daytime show, it's time for some jogging tips, all labeled as a "public service announcement."  Items such as making your own shoes, cooking food inside pants while you run, and running alongside an accordion player (so you hear "the real thing") are included, but I must admit the tape is starting to get a little rough at this point.

Next is another audience member, Betty Brown, who is at the show because her daughter dragged her along.  Dave has a sample of foods from a Health Food store, and after some easy jokes at the absurdity of 1980 good living, they get to the meat of the segment: cooking freeze-dried egg product.

After the break with some typical commercials for Daytime, 1980, ("Some job - I'm standing all day, and now I've got hemmoroids!") we return to see the finished product.

Betty says "it tastes better than it looks."  The audience doesn't seemed interested in enjoying the freeze dried egg product.  Next, Tom Brown comes out for another visit.  (Tom's still at it in 2015)  Tom speaks of living in the woods of New Jersey to live off the land there, and most of his calm claims are met with stunned silence by the audience.

The other side of the break is Tom covering his job in tracking for missing or lost people in the woods, and to survive in such a situation, he and Dave do a demonstration.  After going over what plants are edible in the wild (and Tom's quick fact that the % of poisonous plants are high), Dave attempts to make fire using wood, a bow, and the side of his shoe.

The audience chants, and band plays along and...nothing.  A big "awwww!" from the audience.  After Edwin Newman's news update, we review the court sketches.  The glare and 35 years take much away from the artist's intention, but still, an accurate drawing.

Good Morning, Dave: Tue, 9/30/80

One of the earliest clips on YouTube of the morning show still exists all these years later.  Steve Martin is the lead guest, there to promote the special "All Commercials" (which is on Steve's box set from Shout Factory).

Items of note: We've got people sitting in the aisles, now.  There's a groundswell of fandom, no doubt.  And yes, that's John Tesh in the audience.

Dave also calls Floyd Stiles for a reason: in his small town paper in Collins, MO, it was reported that Dave had invited Floyd and his wife Zola Mae to visit the show in New York all expenses paid.  This was not true, but what the hell, let's make it happen.  They set the date of Friday, October 10th.  Floyd admits that he hasn't been to New York, but he wants to "look it over."  

And now, for a very relaxed Steve...

Part 2, with Steve out of bed:

Dave visits Tom: The Tomorrow Show, September 1980

As The David Letterman Show seemed to continue to gain creative steam and teeter on the brink of cancellation, Dave was featured as the lead guest on the new Tomorrow Show.  As part of Johnny Carson's new contract in 1980, the Tonight Show was cut back to 60 minutes.  NBC, not yet content to give that 30 minutes back to stations, stretched Tomorrow to 90 minutes, and added a studio audience (among other things).  This was week 2, and the early reviews from fans were not kind.  Nevertheless...

Tom welcomes everyone, acknowledges the applause, and then begins to read some of the viewer mail that has "poured in" (3 or 4 letters).  All uniformly negative.

If there was a thought that spending a few minutes seeing if the audience has any questions would break up that sentiment, he finds it's more of the same.  A man looking like a friendly serial killer asks if he misses the old format.

Tom: "I will tell you, it's uncomfortable here.  Audiences come to television shows to do 2 things: win a washing machine, or laugh uproariously, and we don't have that going on the whole time here."

After a 3rd question (making 2 of the 3 wanting a return of the old format) Tom figures it's best to move along...and maybe light up a new cigarette.

After the break, here's Dave, and the audience gives him a highly enthusiastic welcome.

Whether it's because of the new format, or the immediate audience feedback, the audience seems to be mostly made up of Dave's own staff.  Dave acknowledges this and considers this group a loyal one, and Tom states how he knew it was them: "I can tell, I see all the help wanted signs."

Since Tom brought it up, he mentions a recent New York Times story which stated that the future of his show is in jeopardy.  Could he address this issue?  Dave says that, as of a phone call with an executive today, the show has NOT been cancelled.  

This leads to a hearty round of applause, but an almost apprehensive smile by Dave at the response.  

Tom: "Probably means it's going to be picked up again."   

Dave: "I didn't say that, nor did the person I talked to say that."

After some more chat, Tom references that of the many bits Dave does in the building, one was a tour of Tom Snyder's dressing room.  In the bit, you see Tom's bartender, a piano player, singer, and tanning bed.

Even on a replay it gets laughs, but Tom wants to set the record straight of how things are at the new Tomorrow show, so they un-clip their microphones and go wandering through the 3rd floor.  Amidst the piles of studio equipment is a guy playing a grand piano.  Tom introduces him to Dave, who states the whole area reminds him of a Muncie cathouse.

The big moment: Tom's actual dressing room, which looks like the return counter at Macy's:

The above screen-grab looks like something out of underground video, yet it was broadcast coast to coast on NBC.  Wandering back, Tom invites Dave to visit anytime and take use of the facilities.  Dave, gamely going with Tom, can only thank him.  As they return to the set, Tom gives him a quick pep talk.

Tom: "In spite of all the nonsense that goes on in the background, stay with it.  Don't give up.  And stay with us in New York."

Dave: "I like being here.  Thank you very much."

They two seemed to get along well in Dave's 2nd visit to the show...if only the two of them knew how their professional lives would cross in the future...

Hillbilly blues way back on the ridge

Smile everyone, we're back!

(straightens tie, sucks in gut)

She just keeps going around, doesn't she?  Like a fine sazerac, we find the Old Gold getting better with age.  Or, at the least, it isn't vinegar.  Yet.

The freak party rages on, of course, and there have been some major league softballs toss'd in the direction of the Great White this past year (or 10, whatever).  We got a few Chick Fil A's.  You can find frosting on a stick if you look hard enough (every major outdoor gathering).  Finally found that quarterback for the next decade.  So, because of these and many more, you can see things are turning around.

That's all we can ask for, right?  To build up little victories as we stumble to the middle of the road?  I used to sit in front of a computer at work and write fictional back stories to a rap group from Edina.  I can't say it wasn't a blast.  We were wired into the main breaker then, circuits all popping regardless of life events.  Now things just take time.

If you really want to see the other side of that, get into Bukowski.  Specifically, The Captain is Out To Lunch.  Hey, did you like the horse track?  Have you ever gambled?  What about the worthiness of life?  Too much of that though, is like too much sazerac.  It burns the palate so the cheap stuff doesn't taste as good.

Ah hell, I'm off the tracks again.  I suppose we should pay homage to Old Bess and what she has done.  Well, personally, she saw spoutings from west of the Pacific for quite some time, then from right smack the christ in the middle of it.  I always liked to think of her as an empty chalkboard to just douse in theory of life.  Hell, most of it made no sense.  The stuff that was coherent was still a jumbled mess.  There are nuggets of truth, but they're buried in babble, from me anyway.  Hell though, that's the point, right?  We never said this was going to be easy.  "Well for breakfast today, I fired up the breakfast sandwich maker and I....... burrrrrrrrrrrrrrr".  Life isn't like that.  If you want meaning, you have to find it.  You can't camp out in front of someone's compound and hope they tell you what cards to play.  John Lennon just served that guy tea and biscuits.  Notice he did not allow him inside.

So, keep on.  Lord knows we're not going anywhere - in fact, we're just settling down for a long winter's nap.  (ed. note - by "nap", he means, a "season-long brandy and apple cider chugging contest")  In ten more years, we might not have moved the needle, but we damn sure will have done the revolutions.  And really, as we bang off the walls, name me a better place than the middle?

I'll see you there.

Ten Years of Gold

Ten years ago, the need for uncluttered thought and substance-addled prose ignited us enough to start this blog and run free. The volume has ebbed and flowed, and to be sure Trip is alone now, but it's worth celebrating the staying power and evolution.

Within this decade, we've reported from the front-lines of culture, good and bad, around the world.  Some thoughts have been clear (even with libations), others, well, less than so.  But that's the whole nature of this place.  Trip has even dipped into his old columns from the LA Reader newspaper, though it still has yet to be determined if that's to highlight changing times, or pure laziness.

When you're on the gold hunt, life can get in the way.  10 years will do that to you, and perhaps that's why the prose, while no doubt continuing to ignite Jake and Drew's brains, remains untapped.  Jake began to write over 5 years ago "Is Success Measured in Degrees?"  It's a question that can lead to an easy answer, but as this blog also speaks of the strife in Dealville, it's not a clear-cut answer.  Drew's last post a few years ago was of a Las Vegas hunt that seemed to appear like a Vietnam flashback.  There was pictures and documentation, but the sudden rush comes and goes on its own.  While those days aren't gone for anyone, days like THAT are, and it leaves the reader to decide if it's good, bad, or somewhere in-between.

And yet, the spirit lives on.  Maybe not in the same way, or as often as it used to, but there are moments.  We raise our glass and salute the 10th birthday.  Anytime those moments are detailed here, well, that's gold.