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 Behind The Fan Club
 Ryan's banned public service announcement
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January 2, 2011 Just like a TGIF compilation episode, here comes Ryan's Year In Review! You know, for as busy as I was this past year, 2010 was actually a slower year for the Fan Club. In January I took two weeks to film some wonderful Ryanites and Ryanettes for the DVD, Behind The Fan Club, and that was a lot of fun. Every couple of years I have a weird moment where I say to myself, "Maybe I should just stop this whole silly, pink, retarded fan club of mine.... And then I go and do something like sticking a camera in front of some truly inspiring people and listen to them talk about me for hours on end. Most of February and March was spent editing the movie, but I did manage to put together an Anti-Drinking & Driving Public Service Announcement that was quickly hidden away from the public. I guess that just makes it a 'service announcement'. Behind The Fan Club was so much fun to do, even the tedious parts like editing. I fully understand now why most movies are made by entire teams of people, and not just one man with a vision. Still, I can take a certain amount of pride in watching the flick and knowing that I put that entire piece of work together myself. And really, it's always been that way for me in everything I do. Whether it be the website, my music, the 'Zines, the newsletters, comics... I'm a goddam one-man-show! A renaissance man who just so happens to have a pink cellphone. Summertime was busy too. Seems like I was everywhere at the same time. I finally moved out of my small apartment and into a big house. Glad I did too, 'cause I really needed the extra space. I let my wife Dana decorate the house however she wanted, so long as I could have the room in the basement as my Man-Cave. It's pretty cool. I have my Aerosmith posters on the walls down here, and some old Super Powers figures on display, and my vinyl collection is within an arm's reach. To all the guys out there, if you can make it happen you should have a Man-Cave in your house. I know for a fact that I'm the envy of at least three of my married friends. C'mon ladies, a man's gotta have some kind of haven where he can drink beer, listen to heavy metal, and watch porn in peace.
Every Sunday in the summer I played road hockey with my Road Hockey Gang. It's pretty much what I looked forward to all week long. Not much else makes me happier than running around in the sun with a stick and chasing down some goals and some hits. I've been playing with these guys for about four years now, and even though many of them have moved on and don't come out anymore, it's still more fun than anything else. This year I had a new pink stick. It didn't help me get any better though. After moving into the new house, Dana took some words of mine very literally, and brought home a puppy. You see, a couple years back I told her, "We can get a dog when we get a house." Sure enough, I came home to meet Harley. At first I downright hated her. Dogs smell. And that smell still hasn't gone away. She stinks. It's not a poopy smell, or a pee-pee smell... just a dog smell. After months of trying to bond, I finally can admit that I like Harley and enjoy her company (sometimes). Ozma does not like her at all.
Oh come on, what's wrong with the name "Chastity?" The rest of 2010 was spent putting together The Best of Ryan Fan Club, my greatest hits CD. Here's a shameless plug: buy it and get a free CD of B-Sides and rare songs too! Okay, enough of the shameless plugging... It was really important to me to put together a retrospective collection that spanned a little bit of everything I've done. It goes all the way back to "Raining In June" and "Rocky IV"... some of those songs haven't been available since they first came out in 2003. It's a neat mish-mash of all my silly styles, but also includes some nice love songs that actually aren't about farting and bumsex. Don't worry, there's more than enough retarded silly stuff on there. After a couple years of contemplation, I finally decided to share my Wedding Song with the world. It's the song I wrote for Dana at my wedding, and I even sang it to her after the dinner. Little did anyone know that I actually recorded it, but never wanted to share it until now. Don't get me wrong, I love making my silly music, but as I get older it's not all I want to be remembered for.
So what's next for 2011 you ask? I'm really looking forward to becoming a daddy. I'm sure I'll be spending lots of time with my mom and dad before the baby comes. If there's one thing I haven't been over the last few years is a good example of a family man, so that's a good place to start my re-education. Creatively, I plan on doing some more Adventures of Ryan comic stips, and some new music that'll hopefully be ready by late-summer. Just 'cause I'm in my "greatest hits years" doesn't mean I still don't have something to say. Until then, I'll probably continue to stay as pink as I possibly can. - Ryan |
