Ad Hudler's Blog, page 34

A surreal evening

Another report from Girlfriend Weekend in Jefferson, TX: Not only did I play Anal-Retentive Cowboy Ken in the Barbie and Ken Fashion Show, but I also participated in the improv Barbie and Ken play in which I portrayed Candy Cane, a stripper. All that came off was my belt. Honest.

Afterwards, a crazy dance to some raucous music. Observation: When a lot of women get together and party on a weekend in costume, things get pretty wild. I am still picking money out of my clothes.

Craziest dance: With...

Report from Jefferson, Texas

I'm at the Beauty and the Book (world's only hair salon/book store) Girlfriend Weekend. I and two other male authors were invited to join the all-female cast, and I am already having a hoot: Time to dish about last night's dinner, in which authors worked as waiters at a banquet of book lovers:

Mary Kay Andrews writes great books, but boy oh boy is she clumsy with a tray of dishes. Keep that girl out of the kitchen.

Pat Conroy is one of the nicest uber-successful writers I've met. Last night he ...

Hey, you look just like ...

Okay, I am already seeing a pattern here in Music City: Everywhere I go I see female sales clerks, waitresses, etc. who look and sound like country music stars. There was the redhead at the shoe store in Green Hills Mall who looked and sounded just like Reba Mcentire. And there's Cathy at Downtown Cleaners (Since 1946) just outside our condo tower on Church Street; she looks and sounds so much like Loretta Lynn, I found myself flirting with her just so she'd keep talking.

I'm realizing, throug...

Old Country vs. New Country

I grew up in a small town on the High Plains of eastern Colorado where we had just one radio station; KNAB played country-western, period, and because I had no other option I rebelled against it as a teenager.

As an adult in the process of moving to Nashville, I've been re-examining country ... and here's what I've decided: I don't like the new country at all*; it sounds too much like the pop music from the 70s. Oddly, I've discovered that I do like the country I grew up with: Loretta Lynn, Jo...

A note on baldness

When a haircut means getting out the razor you know you have a different haircare routine than most. I need to shave today (I call it the "full egg:" face AND scalp).

But I must say: I'm having trouble mustering up the courage today -- and I know why. It's 36 degrees outside in Fort Myers, Florida. And, well, when the weather's that cold, it's counter-intuitive to shave any hair from your body.

Sometimes I miss my hair. I had very nice hair years ago. Recently, my wife's executive assistant, se...

Frigid on Coconut Drive

Okay, as I write this it's 34 degrees outside, which would be just fine in, say, Flint or Rapid City but this is supposed to be the subtropics. I have even started wearing my flannel p.j's from Target, the ones with the little trains and trucks on them. (Yes, they do make those in adult sizes.)

Still, I've been colder. Once, we lived in a highrise in downtown St. Paul, Minnesota during January. I remember the weather forecaster saying on the nightly news, "Now, remember that exposed human fles...

Snapshot from the Past: 1985

A Florida scene: Girl named Donna in a blue Trans-Am, putting on mascara during stop at red light...wearing a red fake-satin jacket. Bruce Springsteen playing on cassette tape player in car. Plans on going to Bennigan's after work with the girls she works with in the office at Gulf Coast Dermatology. Hates her mauve smock she has to wear at work. Just broke up with a boyfriend named Mike who works in the stereo section of Circuit City. Donna's girlfriends rented a limo for her birthday last w...

Girlfriends' Weekend

When I presented at a book festival in Atlanta this past year I was lucky to meet a celebrity of sorts that I'd heard much about: Kathy "Kat" Patrick. Kat owns the world's only bookstore/beauty salon, located in the little town of Jefferson, Texas. Over the years she's become the hair stylist of choice for southern female authors and also has created a network of book clubs so vast that she's been featured on Oprah and in The New York Times. She's also very funny.

In Atlanta, she said, after w...

What to do with bored houseguests

So after Bobby I's drinking binge (see previous post), I decided he needed some structure in his day ... some tasks that would give him self-esteem and a sense of purpose. I wondered what Linc Menner, the protagonist in my novel "Househusband," would have done in such a situation ... and acted accordingly.


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Alas ... my shallow houseguest did not like the smell of my dish soap. These pouty teenagers!

Houseguest from Hell

Problem with one of the boys who crashed our Christmas ... the ones I told you about in my last blog: Bobby I and Bobby II.

Well, Bobby II accidentally got thrown out with all the Christmas-present trash. And Bobby I? Let's just say I woke up yesterday morning to find him in this position on the living-room floor: [image error]
Yes...he found the Gray Goose and partayed himself into oblivion.