( Sam McFadin aka  )

Ignore the stupid "Happy Days" crap in the vid -- it's a clip from Flash Cadillac and the Continental Kids' one-shot on the show. Today would have been its lead singer Sam McFadin's (Flash Cadillac) 56th birthday. He was a deeply talented (Rolling Stone magazine called him "the best classic rock vocalist ever"), very sweet man who was always kind to a sensitive, shy young girl. He was also a James Dean fan. I had two copies of a Dean poster (a foldout from "The James Dean Story") that were very rare and very valuable -- I paid them off with my chores money over two long years). It should tell you how much he meant to me that I gave one of them to Sammy. I was always so proud that he hung it on his wall. Every time I saw him backstage, he made a point of telling me it was still there.

RIP, old friend.

Happy Easter to anyone else who celebrates the thing. May the Bunny of Chocolate smile upon thee and thine.