DIY, Big Cats, The Pointer Sisters and Arkansas.

Hey all….I’m in Fayetteville, Arkansas looking out a beautiful nighttime view of the city from the 13^th floor of the Radisson hotel. It’s majestic.

The last time I was in Arkansas was when Bomb played the DMZ in Little Rock in 1986. They tell me I had a good time, but I was so drunk, I don’t really know if I did or not.

But this time was GREAT!

I was flown out here to lecture at the college for two days (came Sunday night, am leaving tomorrow very early, Wednesday). Cynthia VanBibber arranged it all, and did a damn fine job with it. (A very cool film called "Headwaters", done by Cynthia VanBibber and Nick Lohanick is on the DVD that comes with $30 Film School, second edition.) Cynthia read the first edition of film school and e-mailed me about coming here six months ago.)

I did three events yesterday, and three today. Yesterday, I spoke at a TV journalism class at the University of Arkansas (early in the morning, on about three hours sleep.) It went well. Then I went back to my fabulous hotel room and napped. Then went to be interviewed by a great guy named Kyle Kellams on the local NPR affiliate, KUAF. (The show is called "OZARKS AT LARGE", and you can listen to it on the Web, this Friday, April 7, at http://www.kuaf.org at 7 PM east coast time (6 PM Arkansas time, 4 PM West coast time)

You need Winamp or iTunes to listen.)

It will also be up as a podcast some time after that.

Then I did a screening of DIY or DIE and a lecture after, at the college. It went great, and I met a lot of cool people.

Today I did a TV interview on a show called Ozarks Live on CAT (Community Access Television.) Again, it was great.

I had a cool surprise…..After I talked with the host (the very cool Maureen Mullen) about DIY or DIE and $30 Film School, she asked me about Kittyfeet.com and about how I love cats and used to volunteer at the San Francisco SPCA…..They used this to segue into the next guests, great people from Turpentine Creek, a big-cat animal rescue near here. They brought a BIG CAT!!!!!, a majestic wild beast from Africa, called a Serval.

http://www.turpentinecreek.org/

I really wish I’d known about this place and planned an extra day…they have over 100 wild cats (including tigers), run this great non-profit cat-saving service, and HAVE A BED AND BREAKFAST as a fundraiser. I REALLY wanna go stay with big cats some time!!!!!

I took lots of pictures of the wonderful beast, and they are included here. Also, the handler got lightly mauled (but he’s fine), seconds after the photo of the cat outside. Someone came out the door and moved too quickly and kitty got spooked.

More on Servals here (including the mind-blowing fact that people have cross-bred them with domestic cats!):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serval

So, as if all this wasn’t enough, after that I went and did a book signing at a wonderful book store called Nightbird Books, who are opening next week. The owner, Lisa (great lady!) opened early to do the signing.

Lisa had beautiful birds in a large cage in the middle of the room. Finches and doves, mostly. There’s photos of that here too.

Then another showing of DIY or DIE and another lecture, this time at town hall. Funny….I gave probably the most heartfelt speech I’ve ever given, and also the most confusing. I was probably still thinking about that big cat. Something about being that close to the mega-kitty just excited me for hours, to the point of clouding my mind. I’m back at the hotel now, and I’m still excited from it. I wonder if I’ll be able to sleep in time to get a decent amount of sleep. (I doubt it…I have to be up in five hours, and I’m not very tired.)

As if all THAT wasn’t enough, when I was walking back to the hotel (my new friends George and his wife Terae were going to give me a ride…but ran out of gas….fortunately it was only a few blocks, but it seemed very cool to end a DIY lecture junket with the DIY guy walking back to the hotel…..) I saw three very fancy ladies getting out of two limos and walking into the Radisson ahead of me. They disappeared into the elevators as I was walking in. I asked the desk clerk about it, he said, "Oh, that’s the Pointer Sisters."

I’m never star struck, but just thought it was pretty damn cool. Somehow it seemed a lot neater to me than if it had been some current mega-star. I mean, it’s the friggin’ POINTER SISTERS!!!! They put the RAD in Radisson!

Anyway, I had a blast and Arkansas is VERY VERY COOL.

And thanks again to Cynthia for making it all work out so well.

Click on the first photo below, and keep clicking on the "next" arrow to see all these great photos.

MWD.

(also, here's the details of my hellish trip home.)

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