Welcome to the newest window to the world of Bop City! I’m Honey Sunshine, the Park’s Director of Internal Operations, and I’ll be using this page to bring you the latest developments in Bop City, Arrandem, and Harmonie, as well as comments on topics of interest to all of us Boppers! For this inaugural edition I want to introduce myself and tell you how I came to be associated with the Rockinest Place on Earth.

As if my name weren’t a giveaway, my parents were rather free-spirited. My earliest memories are of following Gold and Glass around the country in a caravan with like-minded travelers, often making our way along by trading with farmers or setting up art and craft fairs. We weren’t always welcomed by the communities through which we passed but my family maintained their positive view of people and loved the life they lived. Today my father lives in Galveston and spends most of his days fishing. We lost my mother in 1994, but we spread her ashes on the beach there and I feel her near me every day. She had wanted to name me Sunshine Peace; Daddy wanted Saigon Honey. They compromised, and when I was 13 I dropped my last name (Goffinet) and embraced my flowerchildhood.

Painful as it was, I left my parents’ itinerant lifestyle and settled for a while in Hampton, Vermont. I lived on a farm with my aunt and uncle but I missed the road. Hampton was the home of the Harlequin Travelling Circus and I joined the troupe doing advance work. I climbed the marketing ladder with the circus and other organizations until I was working as the Managing Director at Avalon when the great Sam Bop decided to step down from his position here at the Park. I was fortunate enough to have Jesse Aron’s recommendation and, having worked within the Park for years already, I was selected as Bop City’s new administrator. I have tried to remain as true to Sam’s methods as possible and my goal is to lead the Park to levels of greatness in fields unimaginable when the Park was founded. In Spring 2011 the 3D virtual concert experience Wildstock will open on the site of the historic Minstrel Village in modern Caliland. The ongoing prosperity of Arrendem and residential community Harmonie are priorities for me, as is the expansion in physical and virtual resources at Zimmerman University. Bop City has recently launched its own music-production operation, Sam’s Jams, encompassing r&d, recording, pressing, distribution both physical and electronic—every aspect of sharing music with people. In a move I believe Sam would have appreciated, the label launched with and has maintained a priority for recording pioneers and favorites of Sam’s, often including quotes from the founder in the liner notes of new releases. Sam’s devotion to American music is our guide in managing the label, and we hope it shows.

I never had the honor of meeting Sam, but I have worked closely with Angel Black and hundreds of Sam’s friends, confidantes, and advisors and am committed to upholding and continuing his dream as best I can. I know that music was the most important thing in Sam’s life, and Bop City stands for all those who feel the same.