David Gilmour + Uncle Earl + Love

Hi Sweet Baby,

I am just getting situated after returning from the David Gilmour concert at The Hollywood Bowl. He played three hours to a sold out crowd. I think I am out of superlatives for this one. I've seen a lot of concerts, and the Pulse show by Pink Floyd in 1994 was probably my favorite, but tonight was right up there. It was not all that much different from a Pink Floyd show, in fact, and it had some of the incredible lighting effects PF shows were known for, especially on the Pulse tour.

I could write a lot about it, but I am kinda stunned right now, in a quiet way. His music has had quite an effect on me, and on millions of people for a very long time. To think that he just turned 70 a couple weeks ago, and can still play like that, and also be part of a show like that, and tour with it, is really amazing.

Just before I left for the show I learned, via my brother on FB, that my "Uncle" Earl Hamner had died. He was 92 and had been ill so it was not a shock. Earl was not really my Uncle, but my Dad would call certain people, like Earl or Rod Serling, my "Uncles" maybe because my siblings and I did not have any actual Uncles, or any relatives at all. So Dad's friends became "Uncle" So-And-So.

Dad and Mom knew Uncle Earl from when they all worked at WLW radio in Cincinnati in the late 1940s. Rod Serling worked there too, for a short time. He went on to create "The Twilight Zone". Earl Hamner came to Los Angeles in 1954 or thereabouts, a little while after my parents moved here, and my Dad was the one who picked him up from the airport when he got here. I'm not sure if "Uncle" Rod had already arrived in L.A., but anyhow, ultimately, all the old gang from WLW ended up in Los Angeles.

Earl was a writer like Rod Serling, and ended up writing several of the best "Twilight Zone" episodes for Rod. Then in 1970, he had his big break with "The Waltons", which was a huge hit, a #1 show for several years running. "The Waltons" was a wholesome show about a different time in America, and would never get made now for those reasons. It was really about Uncle Earl's family when he was a child. He was the character of "John Boy", which was a very famous TV character in the 70s. The show won several Emmys and made Uncle Earl some serious money, though I don't think he made a killing off it like people do now.

Because of the kind of show it was, and because of the way America has changed, Earl did not have the kind of lasting name recognition that someone like Rod has had, perhaps because Rod created a sci-fi show based on philosophical allegories, topics a little more timeless. But people who were around then remember how big "The Waltons" was, at the height of it's popularity. It was huge, almost for a decade.

I even drove my sister Vickie to an audition for a small part on the show, in 1979. I remember it because it was the day Sid Vicious died. What a thing to recall, right? But it shows how the world had changed. The convergence of The Waltons and Punk Rock.

I have a couple of great Uncle Earl stories that I am debating whether to post on his son's FB, or maybe I'll just write about 'em here when I am not as tired as tonight. They are just one or two paragraphs each, but they come from a couple day trips with Uncle Earl that have become lifetime memories.

At any rate, I am excited to see your photo this morn, with the band and crew from your video. I knew you were working on something, and I am also glad to see you have another show tomorrow night.

I will write more tomorrow, and after tomorrow afternoon I have a week off. Many sleep ins will ensue!

For now, I will see you in the morn. I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)