a bit of HanksterZ stuff

11:53 pm - It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Well, the whole nation seems to be having some cold storms. And, being just over 6200 feet up in Southern California, it meant my house has been getting a decent serving of snow.

Here are some pics I shot as of yesterday:

11:51 am - Photo Taken From Livingroom Deck A Little While Ago

I took this picture at 9:45 am, about two hours ago.

Needless to say, I love these frequent island-in-heaven views: above the clouds, and under beautifully clear blue skies.

My thoughts and best wishes are with those being terrorized in Mumbai, India, and elsewhere.

Peace to all.

06:22 pm - Truth In Advertizing

Just a couple of hours ago, after I took a shower, Jason's lady Teresa, took some quick pics of me after I let Jeepers The Cat back in. And, no, I am not naked. I was wearing jeans and sneakers.

Teresa picked the picture she thought I should post here.

Having just had my 62nd birthday last month, it is obvious I am aging no matter how cute I try to look.

Oh well.

I'm still very much alive and enjoying it.

02:30 pm - As the young concert promoter/rock journalist...

Earlier today, I began using a computer that had been offline for ages. And to my delight, an email download resulted in my receiving some emails sent from France, where a dear friend, Chandler Keeler, moved to not too long ago. In one were two pics that Chandler shot of me shortly after I came out of a shower. Since my facial hair was seasonal back then, the no-mustache tells me these were most likely shot in early Summer 1971.

For your amusement, here they are:

( Click Here To See The Other )

01:08 pm - All right already, it wasn't that big of a shake...

Yes, I felt the 5.4 Chino Hills earthquake over here in my Tehachapi area home. But, really, unless you lived in Chino, it was no big shake even though it was also felt in the Kern County Planning Department in Bakersfield, down south in San Diego and a bit in Vegas too.

Tall buildings swayed a bit for seconds. Cell phone systems immediately got very busy. Some stuff fell off shelves in the Chino area. Yes, it "could have been a lot worse." But, it wasn't. There was no major damage or injuries except for a broken water main and a ground radar system getting knocked out. A bunch of wine bottles broke upon falling in some store. Ok?

Still, seriously, CNN interrupted reporting the indictments handed against Alaska's powerful Senator Ted "Bridge To Nowhere/Big Oil Friend" Stevens to cover this with multiple straight rehashing for over two hours now.

Dudes! This only deserves a quick "A low level 5.4 earthquake shook Southern California today with no major injuries or damage. Lower level after shocks have, of course, since been felt by some in the quake's immediate area."

Now, please. Please. Oh, please. ~ Can we get off the continuous "reporting" of this and get back to more important news.

If we are going to keep talking shake, I want a smooth vanilla milk shake.

This didn't even make my dogs bark, nor did it disturb Jeepers' nap.

Speaking of Jeepers, here he is this past Saturday afternoon. For a 15-year-old, he still acts like a kitten.

06:53 am - New Day

10:31 pm - It's Amazing What Outsiders Come Up With...

Upon deciding to check out the 60's rock group I am a member of here, I encountered a link to http://antispamnow.livejournal.com/ where a "theory" of the murder of Jim Morrison was offered. I quickly realized I needed to reply, and posted this there:

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I'm not really responding to "goldenrod21" as much as I am placing this as close to the top as I can because of the importance of clarifications I'd like to quickly make here. To further draw attention, I am inserting a pic of Jim seldom seem since I published it in 1968:



There's no information here identifying whom its author "antispamnow" is, but I find the handle rather curious and (in amusement of sorts) I wonder if he was a spammer previously. I also strongly suspect that his credentials are as simple as that he may be a younger fan who has read a lot of books and has an inclination to get very creatively imaginative. No offense meant, but his forte here is more akin to fiction than investigative reporting.

However, early on, the fallacy of this "theory" is nakedly exposed with the declaration that "It’s not very difficult to notice that all these versions sound different, which means that none of the above never actually took place." That's really quite a leap. Ever seen Akira Kurosawa's movie "Roshomon"? Different recollections do not invalidate the fact that there may indeed be some collective truths.

More importantly, I wasn't there. But there are some contradictory facts which I am very aware of:

1) Only in recent years have I heard of Jim's death having been "kept secret" for several days. I have no idea what the source of this misinfo is, but I know that on July 4, 1971, I already had heard of it. After our concert of Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention / Uproar at the Centre Paul Sauve in Montreal on that Sunday night, Frank and I stayed up all night discussing all sorts of things, including the irony that when I promoted him in Western Canada the previous September, Jimi Hendrix died then, and now my friend Jim was gone. The news of Jim's death was not delivered to me by The Doors office, which was closed until the following day. It had to have been on the news.

2) Perhaps it's different in other parts of the world, but I know of no Christian customs that call for burial on the third day nor that a church service is required to have an open coffin.

3) Bill Siddons may have been young, but he was of a generation which deplored both dishonesty and corrupted authority. I can't see him having been manipulated by any French officials into any conspiracy covering up any murder of Jim,

4) Jim's death was a shock to all of us. He had basically freed himself from the trap of having become a rock sex symbol and had gone to Paris excited with the artistic freedoms he now had at hand. Pamela had every right to refer to him as a writer. During his last year of life, it was clear to me that Jim's interests had moved beyond the trappings of just being a rock star. His last night in Los Angeles he told me how much he was looking forward to writing and doing more literary styled recordings and film-making as well.

Suicide was certainly out of the question. Despite the depictions of Jim as a drunkard towards the end in Oliver Stone's movie, he was sober, reflective and very observant with bigger ambitions whenever we were in contact. Yes, we shared some beers, grass and another substance which he had turned me on to, but I never saw the extraordinary out-of-it Jim of legend.

The outright speculations of Jim having been shot to death is no more than that. Speculations, from one who wasn't there and has no foundation that can support this.

Yes, I have my own suspicions of what killed Jim, but they are only that, suspicions, despite my good reasons for suspecting what I do.

"antispamnow" should apply himself to either facts or fiction that does not corrupt facts.

Please excuse any typos, I have written this straight-on late at night.

My best wishes to all,
Hank Zevallos

03:25 pm - Love the Music, but this ain't no Spice Girls girl power

Whoa ~ this should be fair warning that you just don't mess with today's modern young ladies.

08:12 pm - TrustFlow results for hanksterz

Yes, I need a haircut. But what about this thin mustache that some friends are encouraging me to keep going?



Ah, now I understand how my friendship was found by reddeliciousx7
That's a cool thing, considering I've been in somewhat of a funk of blues for some time now.

I tried out TrustFlow II for LiveJournal. The following people not on the friends list for hanksterz are close by:

• roarfire, tala_nituna (400 - 450)
• irishrose83, iris_ablaze, marykae (450 - 500)
• dk_leathers (500 - 550)

Created by ciphergoth; hosted by LShift.

TrustFlow II: Who is closest to your friends list?

03:37 pm - I wasn't the only one to cry Friday...

My niece Laura was born January 22, 1981, to my sister Lillian and her loving husband, Gene. On January 18, 2003, in a full Naval ceremony at the North Island Naval Base on Coronado Island off San Diego, she happily married Jeff Mankey.

She was always a joy to be around, and I know of no one whom met her that wasn't positively affected.

I last spoke with Laura during the family Christmas Eve gathering at my sister Maria's home. Unable to make the event myself because a friend needed my car for his job, Laura was happy to hear my voice on the phone and went away from the noisy activities so she could have a quality conversation with me. She spoke not only of how she would soon be deployed as a helicopter pilot off Kuwait for rescue missions, but of her excitement in both soon being together again with her submarine-based husband, Lt. Jeff Mankey, and the possibility she had to become an astronaut as well.

She was excited when I commented she could be continuing a family aerospace tradition begun when my father had helped develop the SR-71 Blackbird, which many consider the first actual spaceship (it secretly flew higher than the news-making orbiter flights of its days). When I asked her to please be careful because we all loved her so much, she assured me she knew what she was doing and fully appreciated the love she knew was there for her. She also promised that she and Jeff would take up my offer to visit my mountain home where she might be able to relax above clouds.

Two Fridays ago, on the forth day after her 26th birthday, the USS Bonhomme Richard, to which she had been assigned, received an unexpected single quick "May Day" from her helicopter. Then it was suddenly gone into the water. The sole survivor found sadly died upon reaching the ship. Laura and the two other crew members have not been found. After an extensive search, the U.S. Navy classified all as deceased because of the unlikelihood they could survive in the cold water for so many days.

It is now speculated that Laura and her two missing mates are strapped to their seats 3600 feet under water near San Clemente Island.

Stunned by this loss, which involved a new MH60S version of the otherwise familiar Night Hawk helicopter, the ship's Captain (and other Naval officers) have assured me they want to bring Laura and the helicopter up. An investigation is under way to determine what caused this first crash of a new MH60S Night Hawk.

Our family was very touched to see, hear and feel the love and respect that Laura had from those who knew her in the Navy. It was also easy to see why she loved being a part of the Navy family.

Your posts in the previous entry have also comforted us during the shock and distress we felt. We truly thank you for having opened your hearts.

Click the link below for more.