You know you have truly arrived when you start getting messages from Kelvin Bacon.
If there isn’t a store-brand “Footloose” knockoff connected with this person, I’m going to be very disappointed.
Tag Archives: Eric Robert Nolan
I WANT TO BELIEVE.
So my eclipse viewing weather wasn’t ideal. I’m still happy that I inadvertently got a shot of this UFO.
Throwback Thursday: Opryland USA (1972-1997)!
My parents took me and my siblings to the “Opryland” amusement park in Nashville, TN around … 1981 or so; I would have been about nine years old. It was part of a family vacation that took us from Long Island, New York through two mountain ranges — I saw the Blue Ridge Mountains for the first time (though certainly not the last), and the Great Smoky Mountains. (That, by itself, seemed like traveling to fantastic new dimension to a young kid.)
But Opryland was a blast. I’m surprised I’ve never heard it mentioned by anyone I knew since I saw it over 40 years ago. (And I’ve been friends with quite a few Southerners.) The shot below is one of the few public domain photos I could find of the park itself (and it dates from the mid-1970’s).
My parents were excited about a stage show called “The Grand Ole Opry;” the theme of the amusement park was … historical country music, or something. That wasn’t of much interest to a kid, but I had a blast with rides like The Log Flume, the Skyride and those Tin Lizzie antique cars on the safety track. (Somewhere there’s a family photo of nine-year-old me happily “driving” one.)
As it turns out, there actually are a lot of people who remember Opryland if you look for them online. There’s an official Facebook page, with tons of photos and links, along with this documentary from Nashville Public Television.
The “Grand Ole Opry” lives on as a live stage performance series and a radio show, but Opryland closed in 1997. It really is missed by a lot of people. Take a look at some of the comments on the Facebook page — this place had a hell of a loyal fanbase.
Photo credit: Chris Faulkner, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Pal of mine drew my abstract (?) portrait.
And, as you can see, he captured me perfectly. (It’s all about the disquietude, people.) And all those angles can easily symbolize my infamous editorial slant.
Thanks, Jesse Rooney!!
My first unboxing video: “Exploding Bunny Poop!”
If you know me at all, then you know I am a fierce traditionalist where Easter is concerned. Hence my gratitude at receiving this important new product.
(Seriously, though, these are indeed the same thing as the “snaps” that we kids played with the 1980’s.)
Throwback Thursday: that one time an eclipse heralded a vampire apocalypse.
Seriously, if you’re a horror fan and you’ve somehow missed the television adaptation of Guillermo del Toro’s “The Strain” (2014-2017), then you don’t know what you’re missing.
Yes, I ran this joke two years ago.
Hey, how often do you have the opportunity to joke about an eclipse?
It was a briefclipse.
As any of my fellow Roanokers can attest, viewing conditions for the 2024 solar eclipse were not ideal. My perseverance did pay off, however … the clouds unexpectedly parted around 3 PM, near the height of the phenomenon.
And it was pretty damned trippy to watch.
The Piker Press publishes “Blue.”
The Piker Press featured my short poem “Blue” today; you can find it right here at the link.
As always, thanks to Managing Editor Sand Pilarski for selecting my work! 🙂
Eric Robert Nolan, Author 