Havasu's Gone Hollywood

Shay and I were talking about the presence that our town has had on tv lately, with the Pirahna movie being filmed here and the show about two people I went to high school with: "Raising Sextuplets" on the WE channel.
He said, "Geez, Havasu's gone hollywood!"
I said, "It's no big deal, they've been filming stuff here for years, it just hasn't gotten that much attention."

Well then he asked me specifically which movies have been filmed in Havasu. It started in the 80's with the "Terror At London Bridge" with the HOFF. Also there was another Made For TV movie I think was called "Million Dollar Mystery." Then that resulted in "Hard Target" which is a soft-core porn. From that a whole slew of soft-core porn was filmed. I didn't tell Shay about those. They of course evolved into hard-core porn. Meanwhile, in 1987, Mtv came for a summer special that lasted a week or so.

There's some Girls Gone Wild footage from here. Mtv did a season or two of their Spring Break here. That was the year I turned 21 and boy did it make that year fun. Tony Hawk filmed a show under the London Bridge. There was a show on Mtv that kind of resembled that "Cheaters" thing on Court tv, and they filmed a couple of shows here. I think it was called "Busted" or something of that nature.

And of course who could forget the series from TruTV last year, originally called "Party Police." I worked as a production assistant on that one. The name was changed to "Party Heat." But it aired to fantastic ratings. Who can resist a show that only has people partying out on the water? Genius.

Most recently there's been some shows for the Fox Sports Channel filmed here because of the boat races. A show called "Smash Labs" did some segments here. The Nitro Circus made a stop here to do some stunts at the London Bridge this past month. The X Games have been here, that was a few years ago.
Shay and I turned the tv on this afternoon and an old "Ripley's Believe It Or Not" from 2003 was on. They featured Tony Castro, a barefoot skiier who was attempting to barefoot ski while driving the boat himself. He was on Lake Havasu.

So, to answer Shay's question, "Havasu's gone Hollywood a long time ago."

While Brandy and R.J. was here, we heard a rumor that Richard Dreyfus took part in Karaoke at a local dive bar every Thursday. It was quite tempting to take the girls there to see if they could have a celebrity moment. But I'm sure it was just a rumor. He's in town for the Pirahna movie, as well as Ving Rames and Elizabeth Shue. I think I'll head up to the film lot that's up the street tonight to see if I can get any photos....

The New Old Me, And Friends

Twenty-two years later, and it's if we hadn't missed one day. Although, we have many stories to tell each other.
Brandy and R.J. landed in Phoenix on Wednesday, and I proudly showed them the Great State of Arizona.

They saw an abandoned pueblo house....



They boated on beautiful Lake Havasu...with R.J. driving for a little while...



They saw the Topock Gorge Wildlife Refuge...



They hand-fed birds some Funyuns...



Watched some burros, who apparently mistook us for the Discovery Channel...



And had a close encounter with some gorgeous Big Horned Sheep....







Oh, and don't forgot the quick view of Route 66, from the water.



I think Brandy wanted to stick around and see if the guys from "Cars" would drive by.

We spent Thursday evening having a nice dinner and then soaking our tired bones in the jacuzzi. Aaaaaahhhh.... And of course more stories.

Not bad, for a visit that lasted about 36 hours!

We have agreed to attempt a yearly reunion, every June. We're thinking Colorado next year.

What The......????

See that wet stuff on my car? I'm posting this so maybe someone could tell me what it is. What is THAT????

The headline in our paper today proclaimed the "monsoon season" is here early this year. For you Midwesterners, it's the time of summer when the remnants of weather down in the Gulf Region make their way to Arizona. It's usually thunder, lightning, and wind. But we got sprinkles today. Sprinkles of foreign stuff.

But a quick check of the Weather Channel confirmed what I feared: we're heading into 110 degrees for the next week. R.J. and Brandy, I WARNED YOU!!!!!!

Still No Camera

I have to do a little extra rump shaking in order to get the camera I want. That'll take some time. Until then, I'm using Steve's camera (and he says he WISHES he could give it to me but his boss paid for it...)

Steve's camera is actually the same model as mine but a little bit better. It takes HD video (whaaa?????) and the megapixels are a little better. People have asked, "Why do you need so many megapixels?" But they get their answer when they see the posters we've made from our photos.

Next week, besides the Clapton thing, we are showing some trucks at a HUGE show in Vegas. This will bring notoriety as well as great satisfaction to Steve's boss who has spent untold THOUSANDS on these trucks. But, the show organizers have a rule: One show truck per entrant. That means I have one registered to me, Steve has one, and his boss has one. The one assigned to me is Sneeky Pete. I've posted photos before but here's a reminder...



I am giddy with excitement because this is the first time Sneeky's been shown at such a large venue, and it's going to cause quite a stir at this show. And Sneeky has a REALLY good chance of getting a trophy. So you know who will be recognized? Me. And you know how much of my hard earned dollars have been spent on Sneeky? None. Too funny.

I have to be present, and sober for judging. I've decided to adopt a different "persona" for that portion of the show. I just haven't figured out who I want to be yet. My first instinct is to become my friend Jessi, who has immortalized the attitude of "I do what I want!" I think it would be funny. The judges probably wouldn't.

Mike (Steve's boss) is showing the truck that he's been restoring for several years. It is a 1979 Peterbilt that would normally be worth about $20,000, at the most. He has dumped so much money into it that right now it would have a price tag of about half a million. Ouch. But man is it pretty. And huge. It includes a motorcycle lift and garage, and we tried it out for the first time this weekend.





Interesting, huh?

I Spilled

Steve and I sat at the computer this morning, trying to think of a summer vacation to take the kids. We were looking at activities in Vegas, when Steve came across a link advertising the Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood concert tour. He looked at it and said, "Aww, that would be a cool concert to see."

So I said, "Really..."

Then I gave him his Father's Day present. A card with two Clapton concert tickets. He didn't jump for joy, but I've actually never seen Steve jump for anything...(pesky legs) but he was truly surprised and happy. Never mind that it was a whole WEEK before Father's Day. But I just couldn't keep it a secret anymore. And the timing was perfect. He was looking at concert ticket prices for the summer. So, the Shawnster did good.

He was suddenly inspired. He said more than once, "Man, I NEVER thought Clapton would be a concert I'd get to go to..." and then he started googling other classic rock concerts. Yep, now he's got his heart set on seeing Santana in September.

A room in Vegas and two show tickets comes to $580.00. I think I'll let him save up for that one. Clapton nearly killed me.