Dusty Hill, R.I.P.

One of the members of just about the GREATEST 'lil 'ol boogie-band to come out of the great state of Texas, has left us this past week! Mr. Dusty Hill, bassist for Z Z Top, passed away suddenly, on Tuesday, July 27th. 

If you dig on music nearly as much as the 'ol Loydster does, you've probably heard the somewhat shocking and sad news already. There's also DOZENS of obits and articles up about the guy, all over the web! From Rolling Stone, to the New York Times. So, I won't rehash or wear anybody out, that may be checking out this post, with (probably BETTER-written) facts that I cribbed from other sources!

Nope, what I'll do.... at THIS point in time anyway, is just say how REALLY sorry I am to hear about his passing. But--- also, how VERY happy he and those other two characters he played with-- for OVER 52 YEARS--- made me, over the years!---Especially during that ROUGH, lonely chunk of time I endured, serving in the Air Force! (I REALLY need to put up a post about these guys, in the not-too-distant future!) 

My thoughts and Prayers go out to Billy Gibbons and Frank beard! They probably feel like they've lost a BROTHER, no doubt! Let's end this post on an appropriately HAPPY note, though! (Like Billy, Frank--- and of course, Dusty-- would want us to do!) With the KILLER-live-version of one of my ALL-TIME favorite remakes, of a certain Elvis tune! (Featuring Dusty on vocals, of COURSE!)----

Loyd's BONUS video-clip!!--- # 40!!--- A condensed 'Bat-history'!

 

The Loydster's most FAVORITE fictional character, EVER? Well.... yep, most definitely!

Being the SHAMELESS 'Bat-fanatic' that I am, I'm ALWAYS on the look-out for cool YouTube content featuring (mostly classic versions of) The Caped Crusader! This weekend, I stumbled across yet another PRICELESS channel, that needless to say, is right up my alley!

Once again, I'm also amazed at the abilities and tech-know-how, of some of my fellow geek-a-zoids out there! From the 'Tell it Animated' channel, here's a short (around 3 1/2 minutes or so) history of the 'live-action' versions of the Gotham Guardian!----

If you got a kick-and-a-half out of that, (like I, of course did!) check out some of the other videos that have been posted up on the 'Tell it Animated' channel! The best ones I've checked out so far, include: 'Captain America', 'Hulk, 'Spider-man', 'Iron man', and 'Wonder Woman'. FUNNY stuff, but STILL filled with CRUNCHY-GEEKY-goodness!

A 'Dynamic Modeling Duo'! (OR--- It was a LOT of fun, while it lasted!)

 

Climb aboard the 'Loydster-time-travel-express', and take a little trip with me, to around 10 years ago. There was a little less gray in the 'ol whiskers back then. More important than that though--- my son, Mr. Wade, was still at the stage in his young life (he was around 12 or so, at the time)--- where hanging out and doing things with his dad was ok / didn't cramp his style!

That was also about the time he started showing a pretty keen interest in building model kits! So, being the shameless 'over-grown youngster' that I was (and STILL am, and will ALWAYS be!), I dove back into the kit-building along with the lad! 

I hadn't thrashed on any models in a few years by that time, so we tackled a couple of basic 'showroom-stock'-type kits first. The above-featured 'Vette and 'Stang, were our first two efforts. Since they turned out alright, we occasionally prowled the scale model section at Hobby Lobby stores, around the Tulsa area, looking for another project to dive off together into.

THEN--- it happened! In a case of PERFECT timing--- a kit was released that, up to that point, was LONG-desired and talked about, by 'Bat-fanatics' everywhere! (my son and I included!) I of course am referring to the '66 TV-series Batmobile! We stared at the kits there on the shelf in the store for a few minutes, hardly believing our eyes! 

After getting over our shock, we ended up snagging two kits. a more detailed 'glue-together' kit, (for us to work on together) and a 'snap-together' kit (that included Bats and Robin figures!)---for 'ol dad to tinker on later.

I recently stumbled across the pics below, of  Wade and I thrashing away on his 'scale-Bat-ride'. They made me smile, and sure brought back some good memories! Including how we had the little MP3 player I had at the time, hooked into the speakers up in the (now GONE, but not forgotten) 'man-cave'-- blasting away, with a WIDE variety of music! (Some oldies, classic rock, contemporary Christian stuff, even some movie soundtrack odds and ends sprinkled in here and there!) Fun times indeed!---

Wade doing the kinda tedious, but VERY necessary task, of CAREFULLY cutting out the decals!(There were TONS for this model! An INSANE amount, in fact!)

Dear 'ol dad himself, laying on one of the pin-stripe-decals---VERY carefully! Notice the tooth-pick I'm utilizing, to pull the decal into place! an old trick I learned way back in my teens!

The fully painted / decaled / detailed body (we laid a few coats of nice SHINY  GLOSS black onto the already 'molded-in-black' body, by the way!), ready to be mated-up with the chasis / interior-bucket.

Just for a few grins and giggles, we set the 'snap-kit' model's body, next to Wade's 'glue-kit' version (after paint, of  Course!)-- to see if anybody looking at the pic would see any differences. Well..... can YOU???

The finished 'Bat-ride'! Father and Son were pretty proud of this little number! Fully justified, I think!

The display-case-enclosed model, where it proudly took up residence in the boy's room for a number of years! Note the quote, from the early episodes of the TV show!



Well, now the boy's a young man. His model-building interest kind of tapered off, not long after we finished the Batmobile project. We started working on another 'showroom stock' kit (a '53 'Vette, if my memory's working right!), but it was never completed.

I have no hard feelings or bitterness about it though. (Despite my remarks, in the opening paragraphs of this post!) Kids grow up, go through changes, gain interest in some things, lose interest in others. It's just the way life works. AND--- like the title of this post says, it was SURE a LOT of fun while it lasted!

Oh, and Wade obviously shares a fondness for those memories of dad-and-son, thrashing away on the model kits too! How do I know? Because he STILL has ALL 3 of the kits we tinkered on together. Each one in it's own display case.

Guess those are 'FUN times indeed' in his memories too! 'Ol dad and his boy, sharing GEEKY-GOOFY-but-oh-so-COOL-times together!