Insider Column 29

An insider's look at Townsend...
Chapter Twenty-nine


March 14, 2002

I’m sitting at the kitchen table looking at the screen of my laptop wondering if I have an ounce of wit it my foggy and somewhat groggy pea brain that will allow me to write a reasonably witty column. I stayed up late the last three nights and I am rather tired. Saturday night Wendy and I had the opportunity to spend some time with a few of the Townsend fans. I have to say that the ordeal wore me out. The intent of the gathering was to have a brief meeting to talk with several of the fans, and some of the parents, that have been involved with Townsend from their "Pretty Boy" days. We were going to scheme about ways to help the guys reach their objective. Notice that I said we were going to talk about it. As it turned out, we didn’t talk about anything. I guess there were two primary reasons we didn’t accomplish the objectives that I set for the meeting. The big reason was that the guys showed up. The other reason is that there were far more fans at the "gathering" than I had planned on. I’m not complaining. I just failed to properly calculate the potential outcome. At first I was thinking that maybe 14 or 15 "Pretty Boy" fans would show up, and maybe a few parents. So, ya wanna know what happens when your mind plans on something for around 20 – 25 and 50 show up? Chaos, total chaos. Fortunately, Wendy is a better planner than I am. Besides, chaos can be lots of fun under the right circumstances.

It was nice being able to meet some young folks that I hadn’t had the opportunity to meet before. Unfortunately, I’m stuck with the dilemma of trying to figure out how to accomplish the objective that I had originally set for the gathering.

Saturday night Todd gave me a copy of the new CD. The cover is awesome. There are some great pictures in it. Even Todd looks good. If you haven’t ordered one, ya better hurry up and do so. There is a special surprise that will be sent to the first 1,000 fans ordering one. That’s Townsend’s and Spunout Records way of apologizing for the long delay in shipping.

By now you should have heard about Townsend’s performance scheduled for March 30th in Tracy. If you haven’t planned on attending, I think that you should seriously consider it. Townsend will have a couple of surprises for those fans in attendance. And I think that Amy has some limited addition Townsend stuff that she will be giving out. Wendy and I will be in attendance. If you go and you see us there, please take the time to say hi.

Wendy’s upstairs in the den working on the Townsend site. Last night she posted Joy’s All Access Column. I read it today (Tuesday). If you haven’t read it you should. It’s an outstanding column. I think that it’s time for me to start taking writing lessons from Joy. Joy is an extremely talented writer. Gee, I wish that I had her talent at that age. I am truly serious about that. If I had that kind of talent I probably wouldn’t be working for NASA. I have a question for Joy. Why were you working on your column from 11pm Saturday night until 6am Sunday morning?

Okay, I’ve decided to cave. Many of you have been quite insistent that I post part two of the Townsend Halloween story. Actually, some of you have been quite annoying. Part two of the story will be posted on Laurina’s Townsend Central site either this coming Friday or sometime the following week. If you did not like the first part, do not read the second part. I must say that my story is very tame compared to some of the Townsend stories that you can find posted on the Internet, but nonetheless, I recognize that it isn’t for everyone.

And now for the results on the hand contest. Again I must say that I’m happy that I was not the judge. My nature is to want everyone to win. We had a lot of wonderful stories submitted.

First place was awarded to Amy.

Second place was awarded Anonymous, who we found out after the decision was made that anonymous is Amber.

Our third place winner was Jen.

I also decided to award three honorable mentions. One went to the Taylor family, another to Laurina, and the last went to Jenna and her sister Michelle.

The honorable mentions were selected somewhat randomly. I am sure that many of you want to know what the contest prizes were. I’m not going to tell you what the first three winners will receive. I will leave that to the discretion of the prize recipients. Besides, I have yet to determine what Jen’s prize will be for third place. I did say that one of the prizes would be Todd’s soccer jersey. That went to Laurina; mostly because she actually wanted it and because it was not the type of material suitable for waxing cars. The other two groups of honorable mention recipients will each receive a limited addition reproduction of a drawing of the five Townsend guys. A totally unknown, mediocre Bay Area Artist rendered the drawing.

If you haven’t already submitted your email address to the Townsend News please do so. It will be well worth your effort. Who knows, you may even win two tickets to Townsend’s performance in Tracy.

Return To Insider Column Index