The Amazing Surfdog

I have a really good memory from about 18 years ago.

My sister, brother-in-law, and Dear Nephew had decided to get away for a weekend, and headed off to the beach one Friday. I generally loathe the beach, I don't even know why I was on the trip. Doesn't matter.

Anyway, on Saturday morning the four of us were walking along the beach, well, three were walking, one was toddling, Taytie was about two years old, and we heard someone yelling at my brother-in-law. We turned around and there was Stevie.

Stevie was one of the B-in-L's old running buddies. A joker if there ever was, my favorite story involving Stevie was when they were all kids and he was imitating James Brown and fell about six feet off one of the gang's porch and broke his arm. Anyway, Stevie had long since moved away, and here he was chasing us down the beach.

We all marveled at the sight of each other, then spent the day together. Stevie was there with a buddy of his, and they followed us back to our hotel, where we lazed by the pool the rest of the afternoon.

We were in lounge chairs, and we strapped Taytie into his water wings and put him in the baby pool. He was jumping around, the kid loved water even as an infant, and there were two other kids in the pool, obviously a brother and sister. The boy was about three, the girl was maybe five. And boy, was she a big sister. She was bossy. She was bossing her little brother all over that baby pool.

Trouble was, in short order she started bossing Taytie around the baby pool, splashing at him and telling him to go this edge or that. And we got just a little bit pissed.

So Stevie and his buddy went and sat on the edge of the baby pool, feet planted in the water. And there they were, Stevie, a tall, thin, scary-looking white guy, and his buddy, a short, beefy, scary-looking black guy, sitting at the edge of the pool, feet in the water, drinking beers from the can and smoking cigarettes. And that girl went back to bossing her brother, and Taytie splashed around in that pool like he was having the time of his life.

And my sister and I got a case of the helpless giggles till it hurt.

If you read my blog of Tuesday, you know that I'd had one of my favorite little movies, "Wind-Ups on Parade," yanked from You Tube because I'd used a piece of music they didn't like. It was Brian Setzer's version of "Sabre Dance."

Yesterday when I got home from work I noticed I had a comment on that blog, went to read it, and got quite a shock. You can read it too, if you like, but it was from a guy named Neil who was inquiring about my loss of video. He said he worked for Brian Setzer's record label and could help me get it reinstated if I wanted.

I had to rush off to band practice last night, but drove the entire way with my jaw still dropping, and when I got back I sent him an email saying basically, "Boy, would I," and he told me what he needed.

We swapped a few emails last night, then a few more today, and guess what? Yes, voila, bang-zoom, Mr Neil got my video reinstated and on You Tube once again. When he emailed me it was all done I replied, telling him he was like Superman swooping in to help the downtrodden.

Soon after that email from Neil, I got one from You Tube. They said simply, "The claim on your video "Wind-Ups on Parade" has been removed. Your video has been restored to its original state."

And now I know exactly how little Taytie felt, with the big guys behind him while he played.

That someone from a record company would take the time to work at helping Little Miss Nobody from Podunkville not only amazes me, it restores my faith in humankind. There are nice people out there.

So may I publicly thank Neil, and urge everyone to head over to Surfdog Records. Check out their stable of artists, then go buy one of their albums. They deserve the business.

Betland's Olympic Update:
* Why is it no surprise to me that while Barack Obama is doing all these classy things the week before his inauguration, the entire Bush administration is acting like rats deserting a sinking ship? (Oh, that's interesting. When I originally typed that, I actually typed "a sinking shit!" My fingers knew what my mind was thinking!)