Disclaimer:

Disclaimer: If you are easily offended by sheer honesty, or you think me having my own opinions is "being negative", then this is not the place for you, and I suggest you leave and head elsewhere. I call a spade a spade, and I don't sugarcoat anything.

Sunday, November 9, 2014

INXS Inspired Stories

As you all may know, I have a lot of stories on UMG Productions that I wrote. All my stories are either inspired by actual events that happened in my life, or someone's life that is close to me, or by special events that I was a witness to. For example, I have several stories inspired by Mount St. Helens. One of them even involves the men of INXS going to the mountain. The Johnston Ridge Observatory opened in May of 1997, the same year Michael died. But I still have him going there with the rest of the guys. He was still around when the observatory was completed and opened. But he had that Marlo Thomas hairdo. LOL! In the story, I made him look more like he did in the Full Moon, Dirty Hearts era, because that was my favorite look on him. Same thing with Timmy. There actually is a video, and I have a small clip of it, of Michael chasing a tornado! So he obviously had some fascination for things like that. He was very young in the video, I would say it must have been taken around 1985 or 86.

Anyway, I have several stories that in some way, were inspired by INXS, or my love for the band. INXS Goes to Mount St. Helens is just one. I am also rewriting that story and will re-release it soon. Hopefully by the 22nd this month. If not, soon after. I still have to work on some drawings of the guys for the story. I redid the cover pics and they look darn good, if I do say so myself! I asked Jon Farriss what he thinks of them and he hasn't responded to me. LOL! Maybe he doesn't like them. Well, they look better than the last set did I think. Cairo and I both worked on that story together. Well, he came up with some features in the story, and I worked on the rest, and the illustrations. This story does not, and is not meant to, display the true personalities of INXS. In fact, I got the idea to play on Jon a little bit in the story, him being the youngest member of the band. I am also the youngest in my family and got the same thing, so I played on that a bit in the story with Jon. Timmy, being one of the oldest band members, I made him the "alpha wolf" of the band. LOL!

I actually have several stories where I made caricatures of different public figures. The Twister has the most show up, including a meeting with a larger-than-life Jack Benny and Elvis Presley. There is also a story I did back in 1991, and I haven't decided if I want to put it on the site yet, but Roxette appears in the story. I still have a picture preview I did of that story from that year. I made them look pretty darn good too! So I think! I also did a story where Bin Ladin appears, I haven't put that one on the site yet. In the story, Katrina and Eva get lost at sea and find themselves stuck in Afghanistan. That's where they meet Bin Ladin, whose intent is only on "killing the American animals!" LOL! Then there is an old, OLD story, from 1984, where Caroline meets the Marx Brothers. But I need to hit my supervisor up for that story to see if it's good enough for the site.

Anyway, back to the subject. After Michael died in November of 1997, my stories were a bit more dark and sad for a while. Well, that kinda goes without saying, as I was sad Michael was gone. After he died, the first story I wrote was Gracie's Odyssey. And production on that story began just days after I got the news about Michael. The idea for the story was actually Cairo's, because he said he's never seen me so down before. The story was unplanned, unmediated, I didn't kick around ideas or anything for any length of time when I helped him write the story. I just put down what I felt at each moment. Cairo put them together, I did the pics, and we came up with an awesome story! It's one of my personal favorites. The only flaw with that story is I have 2 different endings for the same story. I thought up 2 different scenarios. In one version, which is the original version, Gracie's baby grows up in a small zoo in Australia, and is sold to go live in a home for wild animals in Toutle, WA. Incidentally, it is the exact same home Gracie lives in in the INXS Goes to Mount St. Helens story! LOL! How ironic!! But this story is older than the INXS story. By then, she is living in a zoo in New Zealand. In the original version, Gracie is not really reunited with her baby, who is all grown up when she sees him again.

Then there is the alternate ending, which I completed and perfected in 2012. But Davy (Gracie's baby) is still a baby when he is sold to Lisa and her father. He turns out to be Lisa's 15th year birthday gift. At one point while he is still little, he is reunited with his mother, but Lisa refuses to let Gracie have him back. Months later, Gracie tries to get him back again, this time without the help of her friends. Well, I won't give the ending away, so, check it out on UMG Productions. It's coined a masterpiece!! But the story was originally written based on my feelings about Michael.

Then there is also Hutchess: A Picture Diary. This story is also based on actual events that happened in the early summer months of 1998, when I got a cattle dog puppy and only had her for a week. I thought I would have her forever, but GOD had other plans for her. Anyways, INXS was mentioned a lot in this story, I even named the dog after Michael. And after she died, it was INXS that got me laughing and smiling again. Especially Michael and Timmy. They both had a good hand in making me feel like my old self again. The story will explain it all. It's easier with pics to help tell the story.

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