News broke this morning that the actor passed away at age 65.
Photo credit: Georges Biard, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
All posts by Eric Robert Nolan
No, there was no escaped tiger running around Cave Spring yesterday.
That was an April Fool’s joke.
I’ve gotta hand it to you people — you’re sharp. There were verrrry few people who fell for my ruse this year. (You distinguished believers know who you are.)
Maybe I went too far in naming the fictional “Jowicker” zoological agency. Or maybe my citing of witness “April Flanagan” was a little too on the nose.
Oh, well. I can still reminisce with pride about last year’s gem of a hoax. That one actually worked a little too well — I spent days afterward clarifying for people that I had not joined a traveling dance company for middle-aged performers.
Congratulations to Eamon O’Leary and to Hikari!
I hope you will join me in congratulating Eamon O’Leary for being named Spillwords Press Author of the Month for March 2025. Mr. O’Leary’s wonderful essay, Chance a Change, appeared on March 4th. (And I do thank those of you who voted for me, by the way.)
Let’s also congratulate Hikari for being awarded for Post of the Month. Her poem “Prayer to the Sea” was published on March 15th.
Variant Cover to “Ragman” #1, Guillem March, 2017
Cover A. DC Comics.
Escaped tiger in southern Roanoke.
People, 2025 could not get any weirder than this. There is now an escaped tiger in the vicinity of Cave Spring/southern Roanoke. Check the local news. The radio station is doing better than TV in keeping up with the story, I think, even if there isn’t much detail yet.
Supposedly the animal escaped from its temporary enclosure on Mill Mountain — it was being transported by Jowicker Large Game Farm between Knoxville, TN and the Smithsonian National Zoological Park. It apparently a “juvenile,” which means it isn’t full-sized, but the news is saying it could easily kill a person. So don’t mess with it.
There is a Cave Spring resident, April Flanagan, who told the radio that she spotted the animal walking north alongside North Jefferson Street.
I will keep you posted when I learn more. Please be safe.
“The Fire of Rome,” Hubert Robert, 1785
Oil on canvas.
“Where My Books Go,” by William Butler Yeats
Cover to “Armageddon 2001” #2, Dan Jurgens, 1991
DC Comics.
Mark your calendars for David Walton’s “Closing Arguments” on April 4th in Roanoke!
“Closing Arguments” is a new play written by local playwright David Walton — and one of its stars is none other than my friend and fellow Mary Washington alumnus, the brilliant Russell Morgan.
So check it out! It opens on April 4th, 7:30 PM at 302 Campbell Avenue, SE in Roanoke. You cand find out more about the show (including ticketing information) right here.
