Trying to Get Back to the Place of the Beginning . . .

Wow, this photo was taken 20 years ago (I can't be this old, can I?) Don't answer that question . . . .

My daughter is getting ready for her first real "hot" date - you know that "MoonLighting" date, where you don't like the boy/girl but so totally have the hots for him/her . . . and (0f course, I'm so totally trying to plan ahead . . . if you get in the pool do you have the bikini ready that you want him to see you in? Do you think he'll want a steak? Do you want me to disappear in my office/bedroom? )

And in the middle of some tough Dad/Daughter issues, she laughed (she has her mother's laugh) and said "You are such a good Dad!"

I think that on my deathbed I'll remember that moment. It was so simple, and heart-felt, and profound!

Oh, and before you think I'm the Dad passing out condoms at the Lake Dallas Teen parties . . . my daughter (whom I trust so much) wants me to drop by periodically, check up on the happy couple, and otherwise make the young man in question a bit . . . shall we say . . . nervous . . . (She's so her mother's daughter)......

New Hotel Abandon Robes - Arriving This Week . . .

I wanted this to be a surprise for when the Hotel reopens on May 17th, but those of you who know me well, know I can't keep a surprise secret for very long. Here are photos of the front and the back of the robes, showing the back of the robe for Jessica (my second "Princess Daughter). Regular patrons will receive their own personalized robe, and infrequent guests may use one of our celebrity robes (Bette, Bernadette, Marilyn, Fabio, Elvis, & Ozzy).

You've Got To See John's Pool Shots!

Go to his blog at http://john-don-update.blogspot.com/ to see how the pool is progressing. It's looking amazing AND his living wall plants survived the winter! And just between us, John, not many of us were betting on that when we visited in February!

Legacy - Deb's CD - In the Final Stages . . . .

Well here's the current state of disarray in my home office, with over 100 cd's ready to have the back insert stuffed in (the most painstakingly boring part of creating a cd package, by the way). I have about 50 done and about 50 more to go. Still need to listen (on a quiet, calm, reflective day to come) to make certain that the final tracks are all "right" and that Deb's ghost won't suddenly appear and exact revenge on my poor, well-meaning soul for sending something out into the world that she would be unhappy with. As I have told many of you before, as I have been working through this process, I find myself strangely sympathetic with poor Yoko Ono, except you won't find me stuffing these cds with extra tracks of me singing off-key, thankfully!

Words To Live By . . . . .

From the Cowardice that shrinks from New Truths;
From the Laziness that is content with Half-Truths;
From the Arrogance that thinks it knows All Truths;
O God of Truth, Deliver Us.

Ho! Guildenstern! . . .or "What's My Line?"

I Am Quoted in Compliance Weekly

Follow this link to an article on going private transactions, in which I am quoted (and they even used a picture!):

http://www.complianceweek.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=article.viewArticle&article_ID=4030

New Music Alert! New Music Alert!

I have sad, sad news to report, friends of the Hotel. The days of flipping through the albums/cds in the music store and finding your way to new music, reading the backs of the albums, evaluating the "blurbs" from critics that they sticker (always over the name of the artist or the tracklist, you know) are going the way of the Drive-In-Movie. Flipping through records and being drawn to album covers is a dying experience. Borders is basically dismantling their music section, and when I asked "Are you cutting out your CD section or just moving it?" the clerk responded, "You can always order on Borders.com!" I wanted to say, if I'd wanted to order online, I would have stayed at home! Which is to the point, where's the touch, and feel, and look of just taking your time and hoping you'll discover something rather than go online and find what you already want! Maybe, I'm weird, but finding something new has always been the most fun of going in to a music store.

I found Mary Gauthier just by looking, and thankfully having the cash on hand to take a chance on a new artist just because of the album cover and the "sticker-blurb" describing her music. I can't believe I would have been drawn to her in any other way, and I know it sounds silly, but my life is better because I have her music in it, and Eliza Gilkyson's and Idgy Vaughns, most of them I discovered quite accidentally.

Yesterday , I took a chance on a group called MGMT, and I have just put it on my iPod and watched their first video . . . Time to Pretend, which you can see on YouTube! through this link

http://208.65.153.238/watch?v=XVnRzEjpUmE

It's not the second coming of the Beatles, but it reminded me of the first time I heard The Scissor Sisters . . . something new and upbeat, and electric, and derivative of the music of my youth and yet still fresh and new and fun. (By the way, does anyone else think that the fun has been missing in pop music for a while?) This cut will be on the next sampler, by the way, and I've found so much new music in the past two weeks, we may see an early edition of the Summer Sampler (not to be confused with the 2 Disc Summer Blow Out Spectacular, which will be handed out at the Memorial Day Extravaganza, this year).

Anyway, I have work to do around the Hotel this morning, and then I am planning solo pool time with my iPod and my new music.

New Music . . . and Old Friends - - My Favorite Combination.

I love you all!

The Proprietor

Paulie, Do You Remember This "Blast From the Past"?

Paul, this one's "yours" bud . . .

Our Girl, Laura!

Happy Birthday, to our favorite Red-Headed Blonde! How do we love you, we can't even count the ways! Who else could have given us the wonderful terms of art such as as "blicker" and "gig-a-goove""? Remember that we all love you and look forward (with great eagerness) to the next time we can play "Password" with you . . . or better yet, "Think Like Laura" !!!!

- The Proprietor