Sara Hickman LONG eNewsLetter for June 5, 2003
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Hello, Super Pals of the Super Pal Universe!

PILLOWMAN! Yes, he's back! In eighteen more handmade
collectible, squeezeable dolls! Whoo-hoo! And he is
going fast! The price has inched up slightly...he is
now going for $37.50 because Hope, his seamstress, had
to up her ante a little bit. She said the legs are
hard to create...BUT, BOY oh BOY, do Pillowman's legs
look great, and they are ready for summer fun! Just
imagine...you and Pillowman at the beach, sunning
yourselves and sharing lengthy conversations about the
movies you've seen...
My friend, Chris Conti, even takes her Pillowman to
the ICE SKATING RINK with her! WOW! Where will you
take YOUR Pillowman this summer? Say, maybe we should
have another contest...send in photos of you and your
pillow pal somewhere unique, and whoever has the most
interesting photo will win...what would you like to
win? Let's put our thinking caps on!

This is going to be a LOOOOOOONNNNNG letter, so get
ready! Welcome, super pals!, to another happy time
together!

First some news from the Super Pal Universe! Ray
Benson of Asleep at the Wheel will be reading a story
I wrote for "Big Kid", the new kids cd. Also! Ruthie
Foster will be singing a duet with me. If you haven't
heard Ruthie, you haven't heard Ruthie! But you will!
Terri Hendrix and Lloyd Maines are also coming in to
help on a song...this will be wonderful! I love Terri. What
a good soul! And...cross your fingers, cross your
heart, but DO NOT cross your eyes!...I am hoping
Willie Nelson will say YES to a duet on the last song
of the cd, as well. Please oh please oh please oh
please. Help me pray/chant/cha cha cha until this
dream becomes a reality! Wouldn't it be super sweet?
Yes. Super sweet for children of all ages...

I also have a STAMP OF APPROVAL contest going on. If
you have a child you would like to enter in the
contest, send a SASE to me at
PMB 431
504 West 24th,
Austin, Tx 78705
...You'll receive an entry form in
which your child designs the "stamp" that gives their
approval...and it will appear on the cover of BIG KID,
if they win....They'll get their name, i.e. "Miss
La-La gives her STAMP OF APPROVAL!" and a free cd.

June 28th...looks like a performance at the gorgeous
STATE THEATRE in downtown AUSTIN, TX...with Guy
Forsyth and Will Taylor with Strings Attached. Tickets
are on sale through STAR TICKETS... (CALL 469-SHOW for Tickets)
there are only 300 seats in this little beauty, so my advice
would be to bring ALL OF YOUR RELATIVES! Hee hee.

I have decided to start promoting the FACT that people
need not only 8 glasses of water a day, but 8 hugs.
Please help start this movement TODAY. Think of what a
better place the world would be if EVERYONE felt
loved.
Take the time to go visit your local nursing home
today. Hug your neighbor. Hug your mother-in-law. Hug
your enemy. Hug your principal at school. Hug a game
show host. Hug yourself! If you see him, hug Leo
Buscaglia while you're at it! And tell him I send my
love!

Okey dokey artichokeys! Now, it's time to grab a snack
and settle in for...

THE TOP TWENTY MUSICAL MOMENTS
....Number 10 in our countdown (we're halfway there!!!)

This is the story of a young girl named Sara who was
plucked from obscurity and placed on a national
late-night show. The Tonight Show. The Tonight Show of
Long Ago when the host was a funny, silly white haired
man with an impish grin. Yes, back in The Days of
Carson...

Our story begins when Little Miss S arrives in the
Lost City of Angels via a stretch limo chock full of
friends and bandmates. As the group disembarks from
their land boat into a concrete covered lot, they
stare in reverence at an empty parking spot. (Say,
makes you want to break into a Joni Mitchell tune,
no?) Said spot sports a sign reading thus: JOHNNY
CARSON. Here is where a lean, clean Stingray machine
will soon zoom into place... but for now...our happy
campers can only sigh that they have actually been
chosen to nab a performance on our gentle chappie's
show.

The day goes on. Little Miss S is guided into make-up.
The make-up artist is from Germany. She discovers our
young artist is from Texas. The make-up lady says,
"Oh, beeg hair?" Our young friend says, "Excuse me?"
Make-up lady says, "You? You vant beeg hair?" Little
Miss S shakes her head and says, "No, thank you. No beeg
hair." The make-up lady pulls out orange juice cans
and proceeds to wrap strands of Little Miss S's
hair upon said cans as she hangs on for dear life, her
hair climbing up, uP, UP! Soon, while her hair is
growing, so are her lips. The make-up lady says,
"Nice. You have nice, beeg lips. I make them beeger."
Again, our heroine uses the word "no", but she has
come to realize she is in BACKWARDS LAND because "no"
seems to signify "yes, please make it beeger!" and
since no one gave Little Miss S the secret code word
for "no", she decides she will just scrape the goo
from her face immediately finishing the removal of the
giant cans from her hair.

THE GREEN ROOM: After diligently attempting to remove
the goo and flatten her abnormally larger hair, Little
Miss S retires to the green room. It is not green.
It is white, and the size of a walk-in closet, with
lots of hot lights and mirrors for circus clowns.
(Which is appropriate since this is how Little Miss S
is thinking she looks at the moment.)

THE REHEARSAL: Goes well. Band is great. Some
background: the song was chosen by the Tonight Show
Talent Co-ordinator (from here-to-fore known as TC).
The song is called "TOO FAST", which TC thought to be
very, very funny when he heard Little Miss S perform
it in a night club earlier in the year.

BACK IN THE GREEN ROOM: Little Miss S has changed into
her performance attire. People have arrived from The
Label. The Manager has arrived. Flowers have arrived.
Little Miss S receives her first Western Union
Telegram which states, "We don't eat flowers. We love
you.
Hugh and Millie." (Hint: Think of "Simply").

STILL IN THE GREEN ROOM, MOMENTS LATER: Everyone is
excited. Everyone is taking pictures. It is fifteen
minutes until showtime! Suddenly, TC enters the room.
There is an air of unease. The Manager looks
concerned.
Little Miss S thinks to herself, "Something is up. And
it's not just my hair." And, yes, something is up.
The TC has news. LATE BREAKING NEWS. The song can not
be sung. It is no longer funny. It seems a censor was
present and she has declared the song "TOO RACY."

"Too racy??" the singer cries.

"Yes," says the TC with flair. "It is not too fast, it
is too racy, so you must perform another song."

The singer is confused.
Panic sets in.

"But the band learned THAT song!" she says.

"I realize it is moments until show time," TC agrees.
"Therefore, you may perform the song, however, you
must re-write some of the words."

"WHAT?" cries the singer.

"Now, now..." says The Manager.

The Label is silent.

"Now, don't be upset," sympathizes the TC. "I know you
feel pressured. Therefore, I have taken it upon myself
to re-write the words for you."

The singer is silent.

The TC produces a piece of paper from behind his back.
Little Miss S is stunned to see scribblings across
the sheet. TC begins to read:

"Where you say "she dives into his pants", I thought
you could sing "she does a finger dance upon his
pants" or "unzips his pants". Would those work for
you?"

Little Miss S has turned green. Not from envy, but
because her little tummy is twisting up in knots.

"No. No. That will not work," she says.

"Why not?" asks the TC. "I think it is rather clever!"

The Label is starting to look concerned.

The Manager shifts his weight and looks at Little Miss
S as if to say, "Take the deal!"

"No. This makes no sense," says Little Miss S, the
singer. The singer who has worked all her life for
this very moment and is about to lose it to a maniacal
last minute wanna-be songwriter in charge of talent
for a major network show. "This makes no sense
whatsoever.
You want me to take an abstract line, "she dives into
his pants", which once made you laugh, and turn it
into something graphic like "she UNZIPS his pants"?
That's not funny!"

The TC is turning red. "Yes, it is!" he declares.

"No, it's not," responds Miss S, who is no longer
feeling little.

"Well, it's my way or perform another song," TC
growls.

"Fine," says Miss S. "I will do another song. I am not
changing the words to my song."

The TC leaves in a huff. The room, formerly full of
enthusiasm, feels like a deflated balloon in an oven.
Miss S feels embarrassed. She feels afraid. She feels
excited. She has no time to worry about her feelings,
she has to pick a song and teach it to the band with
only moments to spare!!!

"Brad!" she cries. "Can you chart out "Last Night Was
A Big Rain?"

Brad. Brad McLemore. A trusted friend and extremely
talented guitarist. Little Miss S has relied on Mr. M
so many times. Once again he is by her side to
perform. He has witnessed the exchange between TC and
Miss S, so he grabs a pen and some notebook paper and
sets to work. (Here we should all take a moment to say
a prayer of gratitude for Mr. M, this patient, humble
and talented person.)

Mr. M speeds out the door to deliver the news and the
music. Miss S is now charged with the power of anger
mixed with hope mixed with fear. She is led to her
spot behind a heavy, closed curtain. Upon a cue, the
curtain will open and she will be exposed to
bah-zillions of people she can not see. She is left
alone behind the curtain. She knows not what to feel.
Her guitar is in her hand, and before she can mentally
prepare, the curtain parts and the audience is
clapping and the lights! The lights are blinding! She
is walking forward, and reaching the microphone, hears
the band start to play. Her right hand strums along,
her left hand confident in creating the chords. She
stares directly into the camera and rips out the song
about rain...about flying around in the
darkness...about friendship and wanting to fit
in...about Johnny Cash and Kovacs, who she has never
really seen...She lets
her heartache and anger roll out of her body and she
feels taller than her hair. The camera never leaves
her face, totally ignoring her faithful friend, Brad,
over in the bandstand. Brad, who has traveled
thousands of miles so his family can see him, too,
perform on this late night show, and yet, not once do
they show sweet Brad or Denny the drummer or Randy
Jackson, the bassist. Oh, the tragedy of it all!

Back home in Texas, Miss S's boyfriend, Mr. S, turns
to the gathering of folks watching the performance and
says, "Ooh, she's MAD!"

The song ends. But not really. Miss S sends the cue,
but the band is jamming. They do not see the song has
ended. So, Miss S rallies and comes around for a
second ending, which she lands with a flourish across
the guitar. Still, the band plays on. Miss S concludes
that her life is now over and she is a fool with giant
hair and that she is looking forward to a new life working
at a Walgreens. Something quiet and easy with a
regular paycheck. Yes, that will be good, she is
thinking to herself. Finally, the band is finished.
The song ends.
Break to a commercial as the audience is whooping it
up. An exhausted Miss S is called over to the coveted
cushion next to Johnny, and as she approaches, an
amazing thing happens.

Johnny is singing her song. Johnny Carson is singing
to her..."Last night was a big rain..." and he is
smiling at her and tapping his legendary pencil on the
desk in time to her song.

There is peace. All is good. And, after all,
it's only show biz. Life will go on. Life will have
it's twists and turns, and a copy of this performance
will end up on a DVD years later, where Miss S will
think to herself, "My God, look at my HAIR!"

This newsletter is dedicated to our dear Jack and the
happy life he shared with us all...He was our yellow
tabby...you would have loved him, too.

Peace!
Sara

-----------------added by the MailingList WiseGuy-----------

AUSTIN, Texas --Half Price Books will present the Austin community’s
donations of more than 13,000 books to the Half Pint Library at Children’s
Hospital of
Austin during a dedication ceremony on Wednesday, June 11 at 10:30 a.m. in
the hospital’s second-floor lobby located at 1400 N. IH 35. Austin’s own
Sara
Hickman, who has served as Half Price Books’ ‘Reading Ambassador,’ will
perform for patients immediately following the dedication.

-----------------eNoted-------------------
Sara can be e-mailed at :
sara@...

Her website is:
http://www.sarahickman.com/
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Hey, check out GregD's fabulous websites for Sara Hickman:
Past Sara's eNewsLetters---> http://www.habu2.net/saramail.html
and
SaraMoments by GregD---> http://www.habu2.net/saramoments.html
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Mail cards and letters to Sara
(and money orders and checks, as well) to:

Sara Hickman
PMB #431
504 W. 24th Street
Austin TX 78705-5231
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