Thunderbolt

This week I offered to create a mix tape, of sorts, for one of my favorite blogs, Py Korry (see link to the right). The sit does some great writing about life and music and the guy who owns the house, Ted, was involved with the Bloggers For A Cure. He also did the interview of me for a radio broadcast a couple months back. The music I selected for Ted was based on some of the drummers from the '80's that inspired me and made me want to rock out. You may not have heard of these guys, but you’ve heard their music, that's for sure. I miss being able to walk down into my parents' basement and wail on the drums anytime of the day (and, when my folks were away, certain early morning hours, much to the chagrin of the neighbors). Drumming was more than just a chore for me. Drumming became the first way I felt like I could communicate passionately through art. Although I began trying to imitate Neil Peart (along with every other drummer my age), I soon started listening to...

I've been busy working on a script, which is a good thing. Although it takes me away from the blog, it means I've broken through the crippling writer's block that shut me down for a couple of months. Anyway, I saw "Knocked Up" last Friday and loved it. Immediately after the movie, I wrote this review. Of all the tings I expected from Judd Apatow’s wonderful movie, “Knocked Up”, the one thing I did not see coming was the emotional honesty at the core of the film. Between all of the dick jokes and the hundreds of times the work “fuck” is used (to comic genius effect), this really is a movie about people connecting and a movie about love. Not just the love between man and woman (and the complexities of love), but also love between friends and love between a parent and their child. In many ways, the film reminded me of Apatow’s classic series, “Freaks and Geeks” (for which he was the producer, writer and occasional director). The humor tempered the pathos in su...

Each and every time I hear the opening guitar strumming of The Pretenders’ “Back on the Chain Gang”; I am filled with happiness, sorrow, love and regret. Then the acoustic guitar (only truly featured in the beginning of the song) joins in, and finally the lead guitar melody, the drums and a wonderful bass part propel me through my past. When asked what my favorite songs of all time would be, I know that this song would be ranked in the top 5. Initially released as a single in 1982, I remember the song fondly for its bouncy video featuring the members of the band leaping in the air. Since we didn’t have cable television my entire childhood (my parents reluctantly got it in the 90’s), I first saw the video in the basement of a kid named Thom Theiss. Thom and I were in 7th grade together and were pretty tight during that year. By the time The Pretenders album, “Learning to Crawl”, was released in 1983, I had fallen out with Thom and his group of friends. It wasn’t so much we had a ...

Yesterday was my parents’' 45th wedding anniversary. In this day and age, that number seems monumental. I failed to call them, which is ludicrous because of all the days in the year, this would seem the most important. If they'd never gotten married, you wouldn't be reading this blog because good old' Scott wouldn't exist. Plain and simple. I know from my few conversations with them about it that my parents had a rough go of it early in their relationship. My grandfather Lamb actually broke them up at one point. But their love was too strong and they found their way back into each other’s lives. After they were engaged, my dad was never in favor with my grandfather. I admire my mom for sticking up for the man she loved, even though her father disapproved. My father graduated and got his first job in Georgia while my mom completed nursing school at the University of Miami. Each weekend, he would drive back down to Florida to see her. Can you imagine? That t...

My father wasn't an easy man to love growing up. I was an emotional kid and I didn't quite get why he wasn't overly affectionate with all of his children. Making matters worse, for me, was that he always seemed to associate better with complete strangers or his students or his fellow teachers. Why couldn't he take the time to talk to me about what book I was reading? I'm sure he would have loved "The Black Cauldron" or "The Great Brain" if he had given them a try. When I reached high school, he and I seemed to reach a level of understanding and we started to get along. I'm not sure what happened, perhaps he had mellowed, or perhaps because I wasn't a rebel rouser like my brother and I wasn't angry all of the time like my sister, it was easier for him to communicate with me. I think some of the things I went through in life and imagine that my dad began to see some of his mortality and he began to realize that he couldn't p...

3:40 pm I've started reading Michael J. Fox's memoir, "Lucky Man". Long a MJF fan (I even liked "Life With Mikey"), I have been inspired by his battle with Parkinson's disease (and who hasn't) and his will to keep fighting. What I have found refreshing, so far, about his book is that he pulls no punches, about himself or the film industry. It takes a brave man to admit he made some shitty films. Most actors are not willing to do so for fear that they'll never work again. Then again, I guess he is not so concerned about that next acting role anymore. What also has come through in the book is his love for his wife and children. If I ever did take up Steve's suggestion and decided to write some sort of memoir, I would most definitely use this book as a model. I have to read it fast, though. I promised Sophie we would both read "Charlotte's Web" this summer. She wants to start this weekend (!). I don't think she unders...

2:32 pm I was just about to go off on hearing some obscure Georgia Satellites song twice ion the same week. But my iTunes followed it up with a fantastic Petty live cut, which of course only brings to mind my drunken wander through the fields of Blossom Music Center with Steve and Phil and the Petty, Satellites, DEL FUEGOS show in 1987. The summer gods are smiling on me,

1:00 hour Just watched the best episode of "Life On Mars" yet. If you haven't seen this BBC produced show, you must check it out. The second season will start sometime this summer on BBC America. Great great show. And this one, episode 5 of the second season, is brilliant!

12:20 My iTunes has been randomly playing awesomeness all day. I'm afraid to stop it. Here is a picture of the piñata I made for Jake's birthday this year. For those of you without a clue, that's supposed to be Robin (of Batman and Robin). He is in his anime, Teen Titans form. The piñata was made out of paper mache and took three weeks to complete. Julie thought I was nuts. She liked it, and Jake LOVED it, but all that effort for something that was going to be beat to shit by a bunch of scream 5 year olds seemed a little extreme. The body was made from a shopping bag. The arms from toilet paper tubes. The hands were small brown bags I cut into the shape of gloves. The legs were construction paper and the feet small boxes. The head was a balloon. Jake still has the head sitting on his dresser.

11:00-ISH Received a stellar email from Steve this morning in response to last night's post. The man is the best friend a person could ask for. What he said encouraged me and knocked me out of the state I was in last night. Gracias, mi amigo. Right now I'm at work. I'm taking this moment while Billt Bragg sings a cover of "Mansion On the Hill" to take a breath and enjoy how lucky I am to have an awesome wife like Julie and great kids like Sophie and Jake. I'm so looking forward to our vacation to Ohio in July. I really don't care whether I see many people. It's just good to be with her family. That said, I really want to see Elliott and Mrs. Brookshire. I have that videotape of the first movie I tried to shoot (thanks to my pal, Phil) and I believe I shyould only watch it with them. I'd love to see Sally. Need to see Denman. Of course, I'll see Bobby. Maybe we can arrange something with a few of the Blue House guys. Not likely, bu...

10:00 am in the big city. Woke up this morning and went for my daily walk. I'm determined not to have heart surgery some day. Of course, that fear will be with me until the day they wheel me into surgery. So, I guess I should say that I'm determined to have as strong a heart as Dad did when he had his surgery. That, and I would love to shed that jiggling around my waistline. For those of you in the know... it's my gut. I even began lifting weights this morning. I don't have a weight bench, so I took an old plank of wood, sawed it in half and placed it between two chairs on the patio. It is a total Dave Lamb construction, but it works. I decided I'd take the late train this morning since I was unsure whether I'd make the early one after all of my activities. Turns out I could have made it. Who knew? With the extra time, I decided to do something fun. I balanced the checkbook. I'm surprised I didn't wake up Julie and Jake with my heavy sighing....

This is the part where I question what I'm doing. This is the part where I try and find inspiration and wonder if I should be writing this script at all. This is the part where I force myself through the first draft because I don't have anything to show after a god damn year and this was supposed to be an easy assignment. This is the part where I question whether I have any talent at all and cry myself to sleep. This is the part where you tell me to get my act together and finish the fucker because you need to sell a script. I get through the day and the pit of self doubt sits in my stomach. I'm avoiding sitting down to write because I'm afraid. Instead of writing for myself, I'm trying to write to please someone else and this isn't working. If I could just get to that place of not caring. Meanwhile, the minutes tick away. Aloha

I have some great news. After only a week posted on the iklipz website, "King's Highway" was chosen as the "Film of the Week". Above is a screen capture of the banner as it appears when you first log on to the iklipz website. I have also posted production pictures from the film and the first page of the press kit. That page really gives you an idea of the craziness we went through trying to get the movie done. If you haven't already, check it out. You can click on the link to the right, or go to this web address: http://www.iklipz.com/KingsHighway Groovy!

Okay, so I have this killer headache and the thought of pounding away on my keyboard is not too thrilling (and believe me, it sounds like I'm typing on the old Royal typewriter Julie's Mom gave me). If you read my last post, you know that I'm not too inspired. Really, Malchus? That's the best you could come up with to describe the CF Walk this year? Still, I had to tell this story. Tonight, as I was snuggling Sophie at bedtime, I was biting my tongue, literally counting the minutes because of the throbbing in my head. I hate to admit it, but it's true. We talked about her day, like we usually do at bedtime. This is her last week of school, for the year and it's basically a week of playing (games, etc). I can barely remember wasting away those last few days of elementary school before the summer began. Anyway, Sophie begins to tell me that there was a baseball game today. I could hear some disappointment in her voice. I knew she wishes she could have pl...

The walk on Saturday was a great success. Team Jacob raised $20,000 this year. That's pretty damn incredible. Our friend, Pam Adlon, went out and raised over $8000 on her own, and those good folks from the Bloggers For A Cure contributed close to $2000. The Valencia walk had recorded $94000 the day of the walk, but more money will taper in over the course of the weeks. Hopefully that figure will rise up to $100K by the end of the month. That's a lot of money, my friends, and that money will be well spent. Thank you to all of you who were able to make a donation and to those of you who wanted to but couldn't this year. Don't worry, you're all still on our list. Expect a letter next year. The walk itself was fun. The weather was really pleasant this year, so it wasn't too hot. And with over 200 walkers, there was a lot of exposure for the walk. I wasn't too emotional. I kind of stuck with our family and watched out for Jake and Sophie. It was so ni...