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What's going on with the Unions? What new projects are underway, and what old ones approach completion? Catch up on all the latest news right here.

The Unions sponsors Memo Gidley Karting Clinic
December 5, 2000
The 2nd annual Memo Gidley Karting Clinic took place this past weekend at Ford Island in Hawaii, within earshot of the USS Missouri. Memo returned to the 50th State with his 125 cc shifter kart for two days of hands-on instruction with local karting enthusiasts. At the end of the festivities, there was enough time for yours truly to get his initial seat time in THE kart (albeit without shifting). Why Memo consented to this, we'll never understand...

The next "Flying Hawaiian"
November 13, 2000
We are proud to also have sponsored Hawaii's own karting star Ryan Gouveia this season, both in local competition with the Pacific Karting Club and on the mainland. After spending the past few seasons routinely decimating the competition in both the 80 and 125 cc classes, Ryan is moving to Las Vegas as a college freshman and new Birel factory kart driver. Last month he participated in CART's inaugural "Stars of Tomorrow" weekend and ran the marquee SKUSA Supernationals this past weekend, where he finished 26th in the S2 class.

Indianapolis 2000 revisited
May 31, 2000
Tony George and the IRL notwithstanding, we were proud to join the conglomerate of supporters helping to fund CART "Supersub" Memo Gidley's less-than-a-shoestring efforts at making his first Indy 500 field. With an uncompetitive year-old chassis, a single tired engine and severely limited finances, Memo could not hustle his way into the lineup, with a first turn accident on the opening lap of Pole Day qualifications putting the car out of its misery. It remained intact enough for us to do a photo shoot Friday before the 500 for the sake of all the individuals and companies who contributed to the effort, at which time the Unions decal finally made it onto the car. Next year...???

Rover appears in national game software magazine
December 7, 1998
The Holiday 1998 issue of Sierra InterAction magazine, a quarterly publication distributed to all registered owners of Sierra software, contains a special and unexpected surprise for Unions fans. The issue, which features Papyrus' three new racing simulation titles on one of two alternating covers, includes a screenshot of none other than Rover Jackson.

The screenshot is one of three which appears in a one-page retrospective article on earlier sim titles, and Rover is used to illustrate Papyrus IndyCar Racing 1. It is the same one found on this site depicting Rover and the Maxwell House Penske on the backstretch of Michigan International Speedway in 1995.

However, there is no caption identifying the driver, nor any credit given to where the screenshot originated. A follow-up letter to the editor went ignored by Sierra, denying Rover the proper fanfare he deserves.

Unions T-shirt reappears on "Austin Stories"
November 23, 1997
The Unions T-shirt made a prominent encore appearance on the eleventh episode of "Austin Stories," which premiered as the second half of an hour-long special showing of brand-new shows on MTV. This came with little fanfare and almost no advance warning, but Brad Pope made good on his earlier intentions and wore the shirt again - with even greater visibility than the first time around.

Pope wears the shirt throughout the bulk of the second segment, as he performs during an audition at a children's theater for the coveted role of Nopey, the Nay-Saying Turtle. Unlike Episode #103, which featured many closeups of the Rover logo, Episode #111 showed the entire shirt (including the Unions logo) at substantial length. Pope also repeatedly twirled around on stage, showing the deficiencies of a one-side only design.

In addition, the Unions unexpectedly received actual screen credit at the end of the show (something which did not occur in Episode #103). Among the list of corporate sponsors and benefactors, "THE UNIONS" earned billing after Power Computing, Ozarka Water, IKEA Furniture, and The Gap, but ahead of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry and Santa Fe Optical (an Austin small business).

Pope and the rest of the "Austin Stories" cast and crew await word from MTV shortly on whether or not the show will be renewed for a second season; at this time all signs look good.

"Austin Stories" premiere a critical and ratings success
Sept. 18, 1997
The reviews are in - both TV critics and mass audiences at large fell in love with the premiere episode of "Austin Stories," which garnered favorable reviews from tough sources like the "Chicago Tribune" and elsewhere. Among the results: B+ from Entertainment Weekly, B from People, and 3 1/2 stars (out of 4) from "USA Today." Despite the conveniently problematic "slacker comedy" label heaped upon it by "TV Guide" and others - a misnomer that should only serve to drive potential viewers of any intelligence away in droves - seemingly the only negative review came from the "Orlando Sentinel."

Reportedly the show also did well in viewer ratings - better than average for a prime time cable program receiving minimal publicity vs. any network show, at any rate.

All that without the Unions T-shirt...imagine how things will go NEXT week!

"Austin Stories" premiere date set - Pope receives shirts
July 14, 1997

After a brief delay, MTV has released some firm milestones for the much-ballyhooed show. Filming is officially scheduled for a Wednesday, July 23 commencement (not July 21 as reported in the newspapers) in the Austin area, with the series premiere slated for Wednesday, September 10 at 9:30 pm Eastern.

Show creator and co-star Brad Pope received his wardrobe of Unions multicolored silkscreened T-shirts earlier in the month. "I like the Unions shirt," Pope raves. "People are already asking me about it."

Fellow Unions fan Matt Bearden has landed a regular supporting role in the show, so a new Unions shirt might be in his television future as well.

For more general information on "Austin Stories," read the introductory articleand feature story published by the Austin American-Statesman.

The Unions on MTV...maybe!!!
April 26, 1997

The renowned cable network which brought you music videos, Beavis & Butthead, and Jenny McCarthy (OK, so two out of three ain't bad) may well soon bring you another landmark innovation: the Unions in their nationwide television debut.

This is not a joke.

Thanks to the efforts of longtime Unions fan Brad Pope (aka "Chip, the Wonder Boy"), the Unions may play a pivotal fashion role in Pope's forthcoming series "Austin Stories," which MTV has committed to for thirteen episodes.

Based in Austin, TX, home to the Unions' worldwide headquarters for 5 1/2 years (and also where B&B and "King of the Hill" creator Mike Judge calls home), "Austin Stories" is, in Pope's words, "not like 'Seinfeld.' It's kind of a cross between something like 'Reality Bites' and 'Larry Sanders' - it's real low-key."

Pope's pet project began about four years ago with his initial attempt at selling a pilot to MTV. "It started off like a glorified VJ segment - 2 minutes between videos...now it's going to be MTV's first sitcom."

Pope and company filmed the pilot in December, and this time it proved the charm. Filming of the actual episodes is scheduled to commence in mid-June, with the premiere slated for July, though these timetables may be held back due to delays in hiring a head writer.

So where do the Unions fit into the scheme of things? Pope, a participant in several Unions Seminars, is the proud owner of an original Unions silkscreened T-shirt and has long harbored a fantasy of wearing it on the air, doing exactly so for at least one earlier pilot. At one point he had the shirt ready to go for filming the opening montage, but MTV nixed the idea of him wearing anything with "slogans" for that.

For the momentous occasion, a brand new, multicolored silkscreened shirt is in the design stages. It will be dark blue and feature the Rover logo prominently, with the home page URL on top and the Unions logo below. This will show up better on camera, whereas the original white shirt might not have enough contrast before the cameras to survive a wardrobe cut.

Pope, who will go by his stage name for the show, shares the stage with two fellow comedic thespians. Which one is he?

"My character is the geek who wears the Unions shirt."

"Austin Stories" will not make Pope rich, but it should be a huge step up for this former comedy defensive driving school instructor. The same applies to the Unions,except for the comedy defensive driving school part.

Pat Williams interviews man behind "Rex Morgan, M.D."
"After 48 years of hanky-panky, she's finally gonna make an honest man out of him." That's the lead UMC member Patrick Williams pondered about using for his biggest newspaper article to date, but decorum prevailed.

Williams, interning as a reporter and writer for the Erie Morning News in Erie, PA, had the opportunity of a lifetime this summer when asked to interview Woody Wilson, the cartoonist responsible for the current incarnation of the venerable comic strip "Rex Morgan, M.D." The media blitz revolved around the wedding of the good doctor and his longtime girlfriend June, depicted in the strip's August 3 installment.

In the interview, arranged by the syndicate and conducted over the phone to Wilson's home in the Bahamas, Wilson (who began writing the strip upon the death of creator Dr. Nicholas Dallis in 1991) discussed various topics concerning Dr. Morgan. "The trend these days is for shorter strips," Wilson noted, in stark contrast to how the strip has always operated as a serial or "continuity" strip. This fact has helped erode the strip's following over recent decades.

"He's doing his best to keep the strip current and updated," Williams says. "There's the impression that it's...only for retired people...he's trying to get away from that."

Rex is NOT a superhero," Wilson insisted, open to change but not a radical amount. He "wants to make (Rex & June) more like Nick and Nora Charles" from the Thin Man stories.

Wilson reads, and still draws inspiration from, classic strips like "Pogo," "Prince Valiant," "Apartment 3-G," "L'il Abner," "Mike Nomad," "Steve Canyon," and "Terry & the Pirates." Among newer titles, his favorites include "Dilbert," "Beetle Bailey," and "Hagar the Horrible" - "There's usually at least a smile in one of thesem," Wilson admits.

Wilson answers all the e-mail his fans send and is, says Williams, "really excited about the idea of the Web. He thinks as soon as they figure out how to make it work," it will become the wave of the future for cartoonists. He also appeared quite responsive to Williams' plug of the Unions.

He seems like a nice guy who really loves what he does," Williams believes.

Williams wanted "to ask Wilson if June calls the good doctor 'T-Rex' in bed, or make a crack about a doctor's tools," but he knew Wilson would "slam the phone down if I did."

In the months since the interview, Williams has "covered shootings, stabbings, arson and two murders, which are all bigger stories than that," but there's always something special about one's first cartoonist.

Long Beach Grand Prix draws key Unions supporter
In conjunction with the 15th anniversary of Rover Jackson's first professional race, Unions Seminar producer Sean McKinley attended the 1996 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Indycar race on April 14. McKinley was highly enthusiastic about his very first Indycar event, even with just a general admission race day only ticket and no garage pass. He didn't actually run into Rover, though.

YAHOO!
After five months of waiting idly without response, some personal assistance from one of Yahoo's staff members paid off with finally getting the Unions Web Page URL listed there. It made its grand debut on the morning of April 9. For the first week, it appeared under the Entertainment/Comics/Comic Strips directory as initially requested but has since moved to a new category called Entertainment/Comics and Animation/Comic Strips. The request for a second optional URL under the Entertainment/Comics/Cartoonists directory has not been filled yet and may not happen at this point.

Unions Web Page counter hits the big 1K
On the morning of Monday, March 25, the home page counter, installed nearly three months after the page debuted, reached the illustrious 1000 hit mark. Of course, the counter is anything but foolproof as a measuring device for the number of accesses, but the following numbers from Joe DeVincentis should provide a broader picture.

As of March 24:
Wilma's http server has a total of 111,000 hits since it began operating on February 20, 1995 (Note that this includes all the icons, graphics, and other elements beyond just the html files). That's an average of about 270 hits a day, or about 11 an hour; this figure is deceptive since the server is a LOT busier now than it was in the beginning; the logs show almost 45,000 hits over the previous 40 days. Of these 111,000 hits, over 62,000 of them are on this website, and 34,000 of the 45,000 hits in the last 40 days are ours.

Unions get foot in the door at Unocal!
On February 9, Earl Ma met with a number of high-ranking executives in the Hawaii District office of Unocal, including the local Franchise Development Manager of 76 Products Company (the group which now controls Unocal's retail and marketing branches). The Unions met with a reasonably favorable response (far from any kind of dangerous cease-and-desist order), and while the idea of having Union and/or Rover serve as local advertising mascots did not get off the ground (there is an obscure local mascot, currently being revamped into something more "Hawaiian"), that does not mean they would not be worthy of consideration in the future.

There may even be a mention for the Unions in an upcoming issue of Unocal's employee magazine Seventy-Six, but nothing has formally developed as of yet. Stay tuned!

Unions Seminar videotapes now available
Austin Cable Television has finally returned the master tape of the Unions Seminar, so future broadcasts on other channels, possibly Olelo (Honolulu's primary public cable access station) is now possible. Acquisition of a second VCR will facilitate duplication of VHS tapes for anyone interested in obtaining a copy of the Seminar broadcast.

Unions Web Page found by search engines
At least three popular Web search engines can now locate pages found on this website. Digital Corporation's Alta Vista engine will retrieve many, if not all, pages including the home page. Lycos will locate URL's for the home page and select others. Infoseek, presumably working on the premise of x number of hits within a given time period, lists only the Indycar 2 page.

Unocal Buzz
Formal contact has been established with the Hawaii corporate office of Unocal. There isn't anything to report on at the moment, but the premise is an encouraging and highly promising one! More details will follow here as they develop.

Problems with Wilma server over New Year's weekend frustrates many
Sometime around Friday, December 29, Wilma crashed and remained offline for the next five days. With the new 1995 car set for Indycar 2 having been uploaded here the day before, many first-time visitors who tried the given URL got the dreaded "Document contains no data" error message instead. Once again, we apologize for the inconvenience.

Traffic in the following days picked up considerably, no doubt stimulated by those first-time visitors accessing the Indycar 2 page, downloading the car set, and making their way back to the home page. The visitor count grew from 119 on January 3 (soon after Wilma resumed operations) to 130 the following day and 155 on the 6th - all record leaps.

Diatribe: a monthly column on cartooning, comic strips, the media, and anything else relevant.