I think probably because of Valentine’s Day recently, I was reminded of this acquaintance of mine – a fellow I have never personally met but have been acquainted with online for, gawd, probably 13 or 14 years I guess. Old-timers to the Zone have heard this tale of woe before, but there’s new folks showin’ up lately so y’all old folks can just deal.

If you’re very much younger than me you’ve probably never heard of them – heck, lots of people my age and thereabouts have never either – but this very pleasant Canadian fellow Rich and I have been part of an online sect of proud but few, rabid and slightly crazed (but, you know, in a good way) followers of Australian band the Hoodoo Gurus since, jeez, WAY back. They’ve been one of my all-time fave bands since the mid-’80s and – after years of never being able to get any news ‘n stuff on these shores – when the Internet was still small and started getting much more global, I came across a guy who was running a (then rather tiny) mailing list of fans and things just grew from there. The list has evolved and the numbers have waxed and waned over the years, but there’s still a core group of “charter members” as such around that have been yakkin’ and knowin’ each other’s business for getting on close to 15 years now online together, I think – maybe not quite that long, but it’s close. As the boon of the Internet kept making the online planet smaller and smaller, the band and their management have often been a part of that too and have always been extremely gracious and hospitable towards us, hosted a good number of us as VIPs at some international gatherings of the masses Down Under not just once but twice, and nearly all of the longtimers have either personally met or otherwise become acquainted with and/or worked with someone or someones in the Gurus or related camps at this point in time. Anyhow, I love me some Replacements and some Paul Westerberg, but I really really REALLY love me some Gurus. (And you’re all going “Who?” and now I feel ancient. Sigh.)

But to back up a bit and give a little history here, the band has been ceasing to exist and then reuniting again a number of times over the years. They first called it quits in 1998, regrouped again a few years later and did a tour; disbanded again, got back together again; disbanded again, got back together for a totally different project and then went back into the studio and cut a brand new Hoodoo Gurus CD a couple of years ago; and so on and so forth. You get the picture.

Where that brings me to is what I should have posted on or around Valentine’s Day – my tribute to Rich. For well over a decade now, poor Rich has been in the unfortunate position of the state of his love life being inexplicably tied to whether or not the Gurus have gone back into the studio, reforming to go on tour, etc. Things would be going swimmingly for Rich and whatever lady friend he was with at the time, and then – BAM! – the next thing you knew, you’d hear the band was in the studio again cutting a new album (or, in later years, reforming to go on tour again) and he’d be minus a girlfriend again. A fiancee even once, I think.

I can’t even begin to count how many times this phenomenon occurred since, oh, probably 1993, 1994? And I think even before then, as I seem to recall him telling us this weirdness had been occurring throughout the ’80s as well, before we all knew him. Many, many times… and every single time another relationship went to hell in a handbasket, it would turn out that something major was up with the band.

In more recent times… the summer of 2000, when the Olympics were about to begin in Sydney: “So my love life has gone to hell. I guess that means that the Gurus are reforming for the Olympics then. I’ll bet they had their first practice last week….musta been, because that’s when all the crap started. The link continues…”

And just last year, about a year ago and this time on the heels of some major releases & reissues by the band: “Well, just to let all you oldtimers here know that the synchronicity continues between Gurus’ activity and my trials and tribulations with the opposite sex! After a while of relative calm and sanity, things have gone awry spectacularly. And I realized that the DVD and CD reissues all seem to be coming out at the same time…the legend continues. *rolls eyes*“

All that said, over the last several years when it comes to that despicable holiday of February 14th (which I hate anyway), I usually make a point of thinking of and raising a glass to good old poor cursed Rich and hoping that, maybe one day, the curse will be over. Or at least maybe when the band finally stops reuniting and going on tour and putting out more major releases, he’ll finally get a break. Much as I’d hate to see that happen finally and forever, I really think I would feel more positive and gracious towards the world in general if this super, very nice and funny guy could just get loose of this Hoodoo voodoo love curse… after all he’s been thru, he deserves it.

Onto other things… so, crap. Oh, the pressure. I guess I gotta work up the effort to really get into worthwhile and daily blogging again ‘cos a cursory be-bopping around my daily Web haunts the other day turned up the fact that Dan, whose blog I have been thoroughly enjoying for a long time now, was kind enough to recently give me a complimentary link back. Seriously, thanks, that was very nice of you and I really do appreciate it (I’m just pretend bitching to be dramatic, heh).

I don’t wanna bore any potential new visitors to death, from there nor anywhere else new. I know I used to be kinda funny, even when ranting and raving at length about any number of neuroses real or imagined – and used to post at least mildly interesting and entertaining stuff most of the time. I gotta admit I’m feeling very, very weird in this newly rejuvenated journaling mode; I have been so out of it the last few years, man. It’s really been a little more difficult getting back into the swing of things with this than I ever expected. My friends that are gone, they were my most loyal readers (and sometimes my worst critics, especially when I was on a hardcore rant/rave). Jeez, what fun those smartasses would have had with the ability to comment on every post… for that I guess I should be grateful, heh. But yeah, I’m still taking baby steps here, so bear with me. Lynnster’s slowly but surely getting her groove back, there’ll be some issue to take to task soon no doubt, and it’ll be like I never ever went away and was here bitching and griping and cracking inappropriate jokes all along… snicker.

There is a little bit of a common thread with some of the other folks’ blogs I do so enjoy, as Stevie Kane pointed out to me the other day after my having raved about Melissa’s newly reappeared and updated blog. Yep, got several former reality TV folks on my list of daily Web reads, and as many know, I used to be a huge reality TV junkie. I finally sorta outgrew the MTV stuff long about the season they were in Las Vegas, and cut the rest of my reality diet back over the last couple of years down to really just the Big Three – Survivor, Big Brother, The Amazing Race, and that’s about it. I’ve read plenty of many of those folks’ blogs and sites over the years, but what I have kept on board is really the cream of the crop. They’re linked because they are really great blogs or sites, not because they were once on this show or that show. Melissa has always been a great, great writer – as I so much as gushed below – and has kept me in stitches for years, as has Dan, and Dan’s become quite the fine journalist since those days, lots of cool interviews linked to from his site and stuff. He’s also funny and adorable and cute, and if I weren’t getting married or were a little younger, and he weren’t gay, I’d be ALL over that one. And should be on TV ALL the time – screw any major comedic television event of the last four decades, his running commentary during a certain RW-Miami episode was the single most hilarious event ever on TV EVER – as well as others pretty fun since, too. He’s a natural, and he’s hot! (giggle) And there’s some others I enjoy and have for some time – Colin’s site is usually a kick, and even tho I’ve never really been a Road Rules fan, Jake’s blog has always been a hoot (and I hope he’s not stopped forever, tho I can certainly sympathize with the need to take a long break), plus he’s got a lot of his very cool and really kickass photography work up on his site.

Anyway, it wasn’t really planned that way, it just kinda happened that way that some of the sites/blogs I’ve collected in my bookmarks over the years just happened to be some folks that are sort of known on the reality scene. And really, if you think of ALL those people that have been on those Bunim-Murray shows over the years, not to mention other reality shows before I cut back quite a bit on my viewing – and I’ve probably seen all their sites and blogs at least once, if they have them – and these are the ONLY ones I kept going back to day after day, for months and years… heck. Because they’re good; they’re great writers; they’re damned funny; and it’s a kick. And lots of other links I have collected to other blogs I have been reading every single day for months or years now, I found thru some of them. And others non-connected too. You know, it’s all like a big online literary bazaar… or something… anyway. (OK, “bazaar”? Where’d that come from? Sheesh…)

So anyhow, take a stroll thru my collection of links sometime and check some of these folks and some of the other sites out – lots to read, lots to see, lots to do, and lots to especially laugh over (sometimes cry over, but mostly laugh over). It’s a very eclectic and diverse (and in some cases probably semi-offensive but unbearably, side-splittingly funny) group over there and see what you can find that interests you. That’s what I did. Hell, I don’t watch TV at all anymore, really – maybe an hour a week. I read blogs. That may be worse, I dunno…?

More stuff to expound on this weekend… some serious, like some new revelations about Scot and HIV and AIDS, and Evan and drugs (nothing like being about to turn 40 to get one going down introspection lane)… and some not so serious and pretty darned funny, like some curious observations about the younger generation of my family. But I got planned projects to dive into right now, so off I go. And it’s not raining, and it’s not 2 degrees outside this weekend, so I am happy. Have a good weekend and talk soon…