Okay, guess it's been long enough...hate to keep my rabid fans on tinderhooks too long--makes 'em feisty! In
any case, there are several interesting (to me, anyway) developments over the last few weeks that bear discussion.
It's like its....like, 1976 all over again!!
So I was at Cal State, just minding my own bidness, when a fellow walks up to me and says, "I
remember you! From the Blair High Choir!" Now, naturally, my first instinct is to grab the nearest blunt object and quickly
but cleanly dispatch with anyone who conjurs up my past in such a terse fashion...but this time, I held back. Perhaps I should
let him live long enough to have his say. Turns out it is someone who trod the boards alongside your humble host
back in the day, whilst intoning Jim Coday's annual Blair Spring Show. Well, apparently there is a movement afoot to revive
the Spring Show (this time called Ovation rather than Kaleidoscope), this time utilizing various game members
of Blair High alumni, of which I, apparently am now one.
So the upshot is: I am singing in a handful of numbers, onstage, with dancing (gasp!). Yes, I know, it's been a very
long time (like, uhhh, 27 years??) but I think I'll pull through with something resembling aplomb. Or at least a
loquat. In any case, it's a trip. Poor Brutha Gy just about shat when I relayed the news to him. His exact words:
Holy socks, dood, you are really dipping into the trough of eternal weirdness!
Not 100% sure what that means, but I think his meaning is clear.
<<<<<<<<<On to other news>>>>>>>>
From the End of the World to your Town: The Hot Carls!
The last few weeks has seen your humble narrator gathering
with other sweaty 40-ish men in a Valley living room, taking
part in a timeless bonding ritual dating back to oh, 1955 or so: The Garage Band!
Well, to be precise, calling it a "band," per se, is handing it waaay too much credit. Mostly it's a a chance to see
exactly how much noise we can make before the neighbors complain. (Hey, they're not my neighbors!) But I have to
say that it is a lot of fun. Not to mention the first time I've played with other human beings with any regularity since being
in the Beef Sisters back in 1987-88. Imagine my happiness!
The Lord giveth, and the Lord stealeth back like a chiseling cheapskate.
The debut of Air America, highly anticipated by me and jillions of unhappy talkradio junkies, went off, well, a tad bumpily. While it has been a pleasure
to hear
some semi-intelligent chatter on AM radio, they haven't quite found their niche yet. Commercials interrupting
interviews out of nowhere, whole minutes of dead air, and only fair reception in LA during the daytime...all of which lead
me to believe that it's the local
affiliate that's screwing up and not the AirAmerica team itself. It's all moot,
anyway: today the station was
off the air in LA and (I understand) Chicago! All because of the turd who actually
owns those stations. They better get
that nonsense figured out and right quick!
The Generation Gap lives on....
Ever since the passing of my dad this past January, I have been included on all the mailing lists of
his old buddies. You know the kind: the ones you can always count on to send out the Darwin Awards (which look suspiciously
the same year after year), long lists of "Things That Aren't Around Anymore" (oh zzzzzzzzzzz!) and wonderfully specious diatribes
about anyone who isn't Republican (The internet's full of 'em---taking on all sides of the political spectrum!)...
Well, I took one to task this week: I received a long screed on how John Kerry's decoration during the Vietnam War was
made under highly dubious circumstances. It had been written, supposedly, by a retired Korean War-era Marine master seargeant
who somehow knew all about what had happened on the swampboat that Kerry commanded all those years ago. His diatribe, and
its refutation, can be seen at the great "Urban Legends" site
http://www.snopes.com/politics/kerry/service.asp . When I sent this along to my dad's buddy, he took it apart as a Democrat-sponsored site (it's not!) and offered this
interesting query:
How can we believe either the one you sent me or the one I forwarded on to you?
Well, this is an interesting point. It was, however, passed along from internet user to internet user as something that
someone, somewhere, accepts as fact.
And just because a "fact" is disputed doesn't make it automatically true.
I just love how people will swallow anything,without question, as long as it fits their ideology. I
perpetually question the things people say--especially people in the media---even if I generally agree with them.
I only tend to question those with differing viewpoints more.
Whew. Okay, diatribe over.
