I could very easily turn this one into another prolonged whine fiesta, but will spare you guys. Nobody needs more of that shit in their lives. Right? Right. It goes counter to my nature, but I’m going to try not to complain today. We’ll see how it goes.
Next Saturday I’m going to a concert with the younger hooligan. Proving that I remain on the cutting edge, we’re going to see The Zombies, a group that originally formed in 1961. How’s that for fresh and new?
The touring band features four surviving members, including singer Colin Blunstone and keyboardist/songwriter Rod Argent. In 1967 they recorded an album called Odessey and Oracle that is one of my favorites. They’re doing a 50th Anniversary tour, where they play the entire album live. It’s one of those holy shit in a salad spinner! situations.
I heard those two guys on the Adam Carolla podcast a few months ago, when Adam and the gang were in London. They were talking about playing together again, and how well the shows were going. It seemed like a UK thing, and I assumed I’d never actually have the chance to see them. Now it’s going to happen, apparently, and they’ll be playing The Album. My nipples are exploding with delight.
One thing, though: Ticketmaster fees are now 33% of the total cost of the tickets?? Seriously? That’s something straight out of a shower stall on Riker’s Island, right there. But I said I wasn’t going to complain… Let’s move on.
Toney and I need a vacation, but it’s a difficult thing to manage. Both boys work, there’s not an enormous amount of money available, and only Toney and I deserve a trip. It sounds harsh, I know, but true.
So, Toney proposed separate trips. She said I should find a hotel on the ocean somewhere, take my laptop there for a few days in April or May, and try to jump start the book project I’ve been monkeying around with. And she’d go somewhere in October (she has a week off in October).
At first I dismissed the plan, ’cause it feels like something husbands and wives on the cusp of divorce would do. We’re not having any kind of marital problems, other than our kids are driving us crazy, and there’s a load of work stress, etc. The two of us are fine, and we’d like to travel together. But we can’t leave the two hooligans alone for days on end. We’d return to a big black spot in the grass, and nothing but a charred mound of Bud Light cans where our house used to be.
Have you ever done any solo traveling, while married or involved? I’m not talking about sex tourism to Singapore, or anything like that. I just mean normal, innocent travel. I didn’t like the sound of it, at first, but am starting to warm to the idea. God knows it would be great to extract myself from this chaos and stress for three or four days. And I really need to get the book back on track. I like the idea more with each passing hour. I’ve got my eye on this place, tentatively.
When we were in England we talked to a guy from Australia, while on a bus trip to Oxford and Stratford (I think). He was traveling alone, and had a wife back home. He said sometimes they travel together, but both enjoy taking “excursions” alone, as well. I thought that was weird, and was judging him and his unseen wife with gusto. I assumed they were some brand of eccentric, on the verge of marital collapse, or both. But maybe not? What are your thoughts on this one?
Also, what are your holy shit in a salad spinner! moments? You know, stuff you experienced that you never could’ve predicted? I have several in the music category: a Television reunion concert, seeing Queen at the height of their powers in Charleston, WV, hanging out with Paul Westerberg in a bowling alley in Atlanta, watching Nick Lowe perform four or five songs in the WEA Atlanta conference room(!) during the first month I worked there. There are more, but I’m getting tired and hungry.
I must also add Johnny Bench Night at Riverfront Stadium to the salad spinner list. It was the last game he played as catcher, and the day he hit the final home run of his career. That was pretty special, too. Do you have anything on this one? Please share in the comments.
And I’m going to call it day, my friends. I’m spent.
I’ll see you guys again soon.
Now playing in the bunker
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My holy shit in a salad spinner was seeing the Experience Hendrix tour a couple of years ago. All star roster of guitarists playing Hendrix. As far as solo travel, most of mine has been work related, but my wife has taken a few short ones by herself. It feels like a vacation for me as well when she goes.
I paid $8.50 to see Led Zeppelin in Cincinnati in 1977.
Been traveling solo, separate from my wife, for our entire marriage (27 yrs). We travel together as well, but we enjoy different things so when I want to do my own thing, I do. And so does she. Solo travel is great if you’re self motivated. You set your own agenda without having to worry about/wait for your travel partner. And this is key (and don’t underestimate this): Sole control of the car radio.
You need a nice place to go in VA for a few days, let me know. Check out Smith Mountain Lake – a family member owns a house there that has wiffy and all the comforts.
I’m a fan of co-travelling with someone you like, but solo travelling holds appeal as well. It could re-charge you in ways you might not anticipate.
No salad spinner moments for me. Shame, that.
It amuses me that a band called The Zombies has living members.
I had forgotten how much I hated Ticketmaster. In my record store clerk days we justified it because they had to put computers, printers, and paper tickets in each store. 33% you must be kidding me! The only way to swallow that is likening it to a luxury tax. I’d rather give it to the Gov. than those shysters.
You are more than welcome to stay at Casa Reva Shane here in Myrtle Beach. Get in touch with Eugene Sims and he’ll vet me. I’ll sign a privacy contract as well.
No salad spinner moment here either. I was a lackadaisical Boss Jock.
not vet, vouch.
vetch? kvetch?
Vet also applies, as it could mean verifying or appraising someone or something.
It’s one of my favorite words.
I like vet too but I felt it was a too current a word for my need. Eugene can’t appraise me now but he knew me back when. Damn you Semantics!
I travel a lot for work. At this point in my life the last thing that sounds like a good time is to get on a plane and stay in a hotel somewhere. This works out well for my wife as she and her sister take an annual trip somewhere using my airline miles and hotel points. I use the rare vacation time to go fishing. This has worked well for years. In your case, I urge you to take a vacation together as the stories of the epic parties at your house in your absence will certainly be comedy gold.
They were actually finished as a band by the time Odessey and Oracle was released. Al Kooper was really the person that helped get the album released in America – and thus on its way to being a landmark album.
Salad Spinner moment that I shared with my son: Mariano Rivera’s final game at Yankee Stadium in 2013. Details of the event quoted from Wikipedia: “On September 22, 2013, a day that Mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg declared “Mariano Rivera Day”, the Yankees held a 50-minute pre-game tribute to Rivera at Yankee Stadium. In a ceremony attended by former teammates, Yankees staff, and members of Jackie Robinson’s family, Rivera’s uniform number 42 was retired by the team, making him the first active Yankee to receive that honor. Metallica performed “Enter Sandman” live as he walked onto the field during the festivities.” When I bought the tickets to the game, there was no indication that all of this was going to happen, so a big surprise indeed! Also, I just bought a ticket to go see Television play on May 26 in Las Vegas during Punk Rock Bowling. This is a trip that I will take alone, as my wife and I travel together as a family sometimes, and sometimes we take little getaway trips by ourselves. It works out pretty well for us.
My husband and I travel separately quite a bit. I know the place you have your eye on, The Shell on Long Beach Island. If you are going during the week and it is off season, it may be a hike to get food. Most of the restaurants are not open until the season is in full swing after Memorial Day.
My sister has a house near The Shell and I’ll be there for Easter. I can check it out and take photos and see what restaurants are open.
What about a few days in NYC? There is a site, I’ll find out but I think it is called Hotel rooms tonight. You get insane deals, you may have to move around..but my buddy stayed at the Algonquin last week for about $100 bucks. Plus you can walk everywhere..write in the Public Library on 42nd street. I’ll email you.
Salad Spinner moments:
Seeing the Dead Milkmen at Bethany or West Liberty College in a Frathouse basement.
Watching Poi Dog Pondering absolutely burn the Double Door (Chicago) down. 4 hours. No set breaks. All killer no filler.
Late night Chemical Method show while highly chemically altered. My shit was all up in that Salad Spinner til at least sunrise.
Seeing James McMurtry at a tiny club in Chicago and realizing all that killer guitar work was him on a ’53 tele.
I take two trips a year: family and motorcycle. Last few years it’s been concerts and motorcycles.
In 1999 I rode my brand new BMW from Chicago to California. Couch surfing with friends and blitzing the mountains. One of the best trips ever.
Do it. Worst’ll happen is you generate a lot of new material 🙂
I went to a Washington Wizards basketball game back in 2001. I know, big whoop. They’ve been bottom feeders for more than a quarter century. This was back when Michael Jordon was coaching and decided that the team sucked so bad that he had to actually start playing again in order to stop his head from exploding from the ass-hattery that he was seeing on the court. Anyway, the night before, he had a game where he got less than 20 points or something and the press was giving him a heap of crapola about how that was his worst game ever and how he was losing his dominance. Well, the next night, when I was in the stands, he played like it was game 6 in the 1993 NBA championship. His ego couldn’t take the beating he was getting in the press and he had to prove a point. He dropped 51 points that night, completely schooling guys 15+ years his junior. It was absolutely amazing. I had missed the whole “Jordan years” of basketball but I think that I can say that I saw Jordan play almost as well as any time in his prime…if only for one night.
Jeff, I have been reading your stuff ever since the Deadwood FPM blow-up you had. I don’t think I have missed over five reports in all of the years since then. Sorry I never comment, but I do have some sweet WSVR shirts and hats. So to your point: is it weird to travel without your wife? From all of the positive responses I have seen, I suppose it isn’t. My wife and I did everything together for nearly 10-years. Now, we’ve been divorced for almost two. I considered her my best friend and maybe I smothered her. But I just had no interest in doing anything without her. Now I do everything without her. And it sucks. If you really feel secure in your marriage, you’re lucky. And maybe you should see some stuff on your own. Whatever you do, don’t end up like me.
The other year I saw Public Image Limited in Baltimore, which was a great show, but the surprise was meeting John Waters at the bar. That was cool.
In about 1980 I saw Talking Heads when they were touring in support of Remain in Light, with Psychedelic Furs as the opening act. It was only years afterward that I realized it was a Salad Spinner experience.
“meeting John Waters at the bar” is a Salad Spinner moment for me right now. WOW!
Don’t know what the Sea Shell is like this time of year, probably like most of the rest of LBI, kinda ghost-townish. But in the summer, incredible! Perfect combination of seashore and party resort. For a salad spinner experience, got tickets for game 7 of the 1986 World Series. The odds of getting to game 7 became pretty steep but Mets made it and I was there. One of only two championships in team history, pretty cool. And that same night the Giants were playing Redskins on Monday night football with both teams battling for first place. When leaving the stadium I found a van full of guys watching the football game on a TV. They asked if I wanted a beer, so, duh, of course I accepted and watched the 4th quarter of that game as well. Little did I know that three months later they would win their first title as well.
January 1983: Warren Zevon solo acoustic in San Francisco. Never got to see him again before he died.
May 1995: With my daughter at Camden Yards…lifelong Cleveland fan watching the Indians play the O’s. Mussina takes a perfect game to the 9th inning. She was just starting to get her baseball chops, and in the sixth I said to her: “Look at the scoreboard. Cleveland may win 100 game this year…but what Mussina is doing now in front of us is a once in a lifetime event..and we want him to succeed.” Her favorite player, Sandy Alomar, broke it up in the top of the 9th.
I grew up playing catcher when Johnny Bench was at his peak and got to see him play in person a few times. Best catcher ever. Period.
I saw Warren Zevon on his last tour, front row. Amazing show, especially considering he was going through chemo at the time. Jill Sobule opened and he came out and sang a duet with her on “I Kissed a Girl.” The only song he missed was Chimes of Freedom, which he was doing in the encore of that tour at every show. He looked tired so I guess that’s why he finished early. Still one of my great concert experiences.
I once got a free ticket to a Megadeth show for buying a Friday ticket to the AZ State fair. I didn’t even know it was an option until I got to the fair.
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Mrs. Cycle and I stopped taking vacations together about 3 years into our now on 13 year marriage. All she ever wanted to do was go to Disney World or go to a spa resort and sleep the entire time. Disney is the worst place on Earth and I can sleep at home for nearly free. We have been going on separate trips since then. Even big trips. She went to London and Paris with a friend of her’s. I’ve driven cross country and spent a few weeks on the Hudson bay alone. She hates adventures. I hate spending money on not doing anything. This way we both get what we want. If she went to the Hudson Bay with be she would have been miserable the entire frigid time. If I went to Disney every fucking year I’d be on the news. We are doing a trans-European tour together this year and it will be the first vacation together in a decade. I look forward to her ruining it with wanting to sleep all day and shop for shoes online at night. It’s gonna be a thrill a minute.
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And don’t worry about the lack of sex while on vacation alone. You’ll get so deep into the strange world of internet porn by the middle of day two that you be afraid to close your eyes at night.
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When traveling alone you can also make up a bunch of bullshit stories about stuff that only happened in part. I swear that fish was as big as my leg.
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You just reminded me of a similar experience I had back in the early 1970s. I went to the county fair in North Florida, and ended up seeing Johnny Cash perform in a little tent with about 50 other individuals. He was a surprise guest of his brother: Tommy Cash.
In 1961, I attended many of the AAA Tacoma Giants baseball games (50 cents to get in, 25 cents for a hot dog and 25 cents for a coke). I had heard of Satchel Paige, but didn’t know much about him. He was on the mound for the Portland Beavers in an early summer game. Satch had very good speed and excellent control that night (his 1961 ERA was 2.88).
The next year, I bought his bio when it was published (Maybe I’ll Pitch Forever). Turns out he was 54 when I saw him strike out Tom Haller, Many Mota and Dusty Rhodes and go six innings without giving up a run.
I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Willie Mays play in Candlestick and on the road, of spending a year watching Juan Marichal and Gaylord Perry pitch every four days, seeing Randy Johnson throw a 1-hitter, and seeing Ken Griffey (Jr and Sr) hit home runs, but that evening with Mr. Paige is what lingers.
He had names for his various pitches (jump ball, bee ball, woobly ball, whipsy-dipsy-do, hurry-up ball, nothin’ ball, bat dodger, and lots of others), but they were all fastballs. He just refused to stop throwing the hard stuff, whatever his age.
He pitched his last professional game five years later, just 16 days short of his 60th birthday.
I’m now older than that, and, inspired by Satch, I do what I can to keep throwing the hard stuff.
John
I saw the Giants play the Cubs at Wrigley (day game) in the late 1980’s. Andre Dawson threw a runner out from right field on a hard hit, one hop base hit. No diamond vision/instant replays in those days so we all sat and looked at each other like “did we just see that?”. Incredible arm.
I have been married for 28 years and I have taken many separate vacations. Usually once a year I meet high school friends for a long weekend. The wife usually takes a trip with one of her 4 sisters.
My advice. Never admit it was great. Talk about what you missed about her and the chore it was to deal with everything by yourself. Otherwise you will never be able to take another solo trip again. She has to think she had a better time than you.
Woah my salad spinner was 1989 meeting and hanging out with Charlie Watts at the Blue Note in NYC. He was playing there with his band the Charlie Watts quintet. If you’re a rolling stones fan, Charlie wrote a book in the sixties called Ode to a high flying g bird which was about Charlie Parker. Fast forward to 1989 and he wrote an album to accompany his written work. We went to the first set and the ladies room was located right next to the dressing room. After the set I grabbed my cousin and we raced back upstairs and got smashed into a room with the band. People were swarming around Charlie and he turned to us and told us to wait. Holy shit. He came back about a half hour later and asked if we were the girls who wanted his autograph. He was so gracious I could have wept. Got his autograph and pictures. Yes. The Goldman drummer for the rolling stones!!!
I have 2 Rolling Stones stories, both Ronnie Wood. I have peed next to him at a urinal in a club in London, and also been to his house (he wasn’t there). The 2 aren’t connected. I think his ex-wife owns that house now.
Salad spinner: August 22, 1976. Springfield (MA) Civic Center. My friend and I walk up to the box office because we are curious about this new phenom named Bruce Springsteen. Bought two tickets a couple of rows above the main floor, halfway back from the stage, for $3.50 a pop.
Four songs in, the entire audience is within 50 feet of the stage, and he is going for it. 3.5 hours of mayhem, including a nod to James Brown where two guys in white coats come out and lift him onto a stretcher, start to carry him off stage, then he jumps off and plays three more songs. Must have happened three times.
He had just shaved his beard and was wearing a jacket with jeans, clearly maturing and strutting his stuff. Overloaded with confidence, and the band all had new suits and Panama hats. By the time they got to Rosalita, the audience was completely spent and so was he. I read years later that he was touring to make money because he was suing his former manager for the rights to his songs – he was forbidden to record during this time (almost 2 years) so the brief tours were extremely necessary.
That night changed the way I listened to music, and the whole experience is still fresh, although I was only 15 at the time.
Last September I took my 11 year old son to Gillette Stadium to see the last show of his 2016 River tour. He played 4 hours 2 minutes, 33 songs total, with 6 songs off the first album and 5 from the second. A real treat for the older fans, and a great introduction for my son. A highlight was opening with NYC Serenade with a 6 piece string backup, and then doing Sandy solo on the electric guitar. Goosebumps through the whole song. Also a very funny rap to introduce Growin’ Up, which he said was “my autobiography before I wrote my autobiography.” Two great shows almost exactly (by 3 weeks) 40 years apart.
My wife and I travel together when we both want to see something. Going to Idaho together in April for instance, to see my granddaughter’s boyfriend graduate from lineman’s school. And to look at places to retire along with my daughter and son-in-law and a woman I work with. We also travel separately at times, although most of mine is for work or to attend conventions I am required to attend. Hers on the other hand are not work related. A couple years ago I accidently won $6k in a lottery, and the wife and the aforementioned woman I work with took a week long cruise to Mexico on half the money. I had the week off, and was happy to stay home with the dog, living on store bought fried chicken and salad. And this spring the Mrs. is trying to talk the same friend into accompanying her to New York City to visit the wife’s daughter and her 3 year old. While I like the daughter, and would like to see her, if I never see the skyline of that insufferable ant colony again I can honestly say I’ll die a happy man.
On the salad spinner moments the WHO concert sometime in the 70’s in the Capitol Center in Maryland. Lasers were a pretty new thing concertwise then. And halfway through the show, when the place was appropriately smoky and the acid was coming on strong, red and green lasers suddenly blazing away had quite an impact on my wound up brain. J.J. Cale in a small theater in Fresno CA a couple years before he died was something I’ll never forget. As was the John Mayall show at the same place early this year.
“I had the week off, and was happy to stay home with the dog, living on store bought fried chicken and salad”
This is a man who knows how to live.
I think I’ve lost track of what a salad spinner moment is. If I’m going to see Springsteen or the Who or Warren Zevon or the Talking Heads or Johnny Bench on his night, I’m going to expect to be blown away, because all of these folks are talented and well-known for putting on a hell of a show.
If that’s what salad spinner means, I’ll include Hendrix with Noel and Mitch, Dylan, Mose Allison, The Sonics, Jackson Browne (yeah, I know, but he sang and played well), Joni Mitchell, and a dozen or two other big name act shows.
If not, there was a husband/wife keyboard/vocal duo at the BWI Howard Johnson’s in 1981 who played and sang “Scotch and Soda” better than anybody I’ve ever heard, with all the vocal and keyboard fills perfect and the jazz-style 1 3/4 beat rest just preceding “. . . and still be on the wagon.” Perfect. Unexpected. Too talented for HoJo’s and too broke to turn down the gig. Spin the salad.
John
Salad spinner?… meeting Jerry West and him telling me he couldnt possibly be my father. I met my real father ten years ago, and he died in December. Awesome man, but always wished Jerry West would have been my father. Mom “dated” him.
Seperate vacations? When my wife told me she was having an affair after twenty years together, I lived homeless for two weeks in my car, listened to sirius xm, what I wanted, ate what I wanted and still went to work seven days a week. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Now living in a spare bedroom in my house as the divorce proceedings have begun. We took a twenty year anniversary vacation to Boone NC for four days and biker week at Myrtle Beach for four days in May. Great trip but the Child Bride never seemed happy with it all. Im losing my mind right now. Walked thru tornado warnings a couple nights ago to step in front of the next bus or truck that came by on US 41. Got there and turned around. Not doing that to my 13 year old daughter, who lost her brother in August. Seperate vacations are good. Just dont live in your car for it.
I remember a Salad Spinner moment! Was at a golf tournament, GGO, waiting on my date who had to pee. I was sitting on a fru-fru bench in the clubhouse when a very tall, red faced, and drunk man walked up. “My don’t you look lonely” and Mclean Stevenson sits down next to me.
Oh here’s a salad spinner moment!
I forgot about this until I saw Revashanes’ post.
I was at the House of Blues in new Orleans. I walked in the bathroom and there was a line for the two urinals. Some guy was fighting and alligator in the one toilet.
Some long blonde haired hippy was in front of me. He finished his wiz and I stepped up to the plate. next to me a black dude with notably long think dreads.
Me and the black dude walked out together. As i made my way back to position in front of the stage, he made his way onto the stage.
Then Jerry Cantrell walked out. “Hey, I recognize the back of that guys head.”
I peed on Jerry Cantrell’s pee. And I peed with Adam Stanger, the bass player from Comes With the Fall. How awesome is that!?
This was right after Layne Staley died.
This is why women need penises. I could be urinating next to somebody famous but the damned stall blocks my view every time.
Hey, Clue, it’s a package deal. If you take the penis, you gotta take the testosterone that goes with it. In men, especially young men, testosterone acts as a neurotransmitter, enabling the penis to do the thinking the brain can’t when confronted by a shapely woman. It only lowers IQ by 20 or 30 points, so you might still be OK, but for most of us men that deficit can reduce us from “barely functional” to “Republican”. But we do make friends at urinals.
John
There’s also the larger paycheck and walking across dark parking lots without fear of being raped aspect, but I certainly couldn’t afford losing any more IQ points at this age.
Hey John, from Republicans everywhere………. “Eat my corn studded shit!”
(I hope you accept this playful comment with the same humorous grace with which I accepted yours.)
Only three…
Gotta be careful after the Oxford comma ruling, Qweezy.
No problem. More Republicans out here than Democrats. Not sure what the Trump count is, and not sure I want to know. In any case, I accept all comments, embrace grace, and am sorry to hear about the corn.
And just in case Kellyanne is still in the solar system, I’m staying the hell away from my microwave.
best,
John
When I was a kid, riding in the car with my dad, if a skunk smell floated by he would say “Republican”. He’d say it like stating a fact. I picked up the habit and now my daughter has made it a family tradition. BTW, Hubster is a Republican and we’ve made it 28 yrs. See, we can get along.
I can peacefully coexist with Republicans, but the ones that have morphed into Repugnantcans are a challenge. Do unto others, folks.
Salad Spinner: Seeing pre-multiple-Grammy-Awards Alison Krauss at a small club in Michigan. She was the opening act for a bluegrass band called Hot Rize, and may have been all of 18. Her stage presence and between-song banter was awkward, but when she sang for the first time I swear there was an audible gasp in the room. After her set was over, a guy behind me said “She’s gonna go far…”
I’ve been lucky enough to see Alison Krauss once, on tour with Ralph Stanley and Gillian Welch. The whole show was amazing.
This is incredibly nerdy but for the past 7 years my son & I have gone to theatrical showings of MST3K. We went to the live show Cinematic Titanic. But about 4 years ago or so Joel Hodgson (Joel from MST3K) was trying out his live one man show Riffing Myself and he tested it at the Colonial Theater in Phoenixville
and we didn’t even pay for it it was the opening act to a MST3K movie.
Tons and tons of salad-spinner moments related to music, a few of which happened when I worked as an intern at UMG. The guy in the office behind my cubicle, Rob, had just signed The Killers and The Bravery and was playing unreleased mixes of their singles nonstop. It was heavenly. We interns took calls and messages from artists all day long, but most of the artists who called were rappers and hip-hop artists unfamiliar to me, and because of my tinnitus I usually misheard their names and had to ask them several times who they were. I’m sure they loved that!
Also from the music category was the time I had basically won a front-row ticket to see Duran Duran through a fan club lottery. Thrill of a lifetime! Other stuff: met the Goo Goo Dolls in a Taco Bell after a show; got to hang with some other fans on the tour bus of one of my fave indie bands for private acoustic shows; had dinner next to one-hit wonder Semisonic at an Atlanta restaurant after my ex- dragged me to their concert years ago; and recently had a ticket to a small fan get-together in the rehearsal studio of my favorite indie band, where they played their new album for us, months ahead of the release date. I’m still pinching myself after that experience, wondering when I’ll wake up from the glorious dream!
I was like a lightning rod for crappy female pop artist sightings when I spent the summer working for my aunt and uncle in SoCal in 2002. One time my aunt and I unwittingly entered a store called Red Balls behind Britney Spears and her body guard. The store workers mistakenly thought we were part of her entourage and let us in, while blocking others from entering. I laugh about it now, but at the time it felt a tad surreal. During that same summer, my cousin and I also walked past J-Lo sitting on a bench in La Jolla, doing not much of anything but looking pretty in air-brushed makeup and her signature floppy hat.
My college roommate in Nashville brought home sketchy women all the time, one of whom is a now well-known country artist who is the daughter of another very well-known country artist. They were skanky as heck and doing drugs in our spare room, and he and I got into a huge fight about it afterward. Ah, the good old days.
There was my $8 ticket to see ELP in 1979. But I expected (and got) a great show. Emerson with his modular Moogs; rotating stage; the whole nine. Awesome show, but not exactly a Salad Spinner.
More of a Salad Spinner was the time I went to see Olu Dara, and the opening act was Vector – a jazz band I’d never heard of, and I actually liked them better than the main event. They covered some Ornette Coleman tunes! What’s not to like?
We love the things we love for what they are:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ROwVrF0Ceg
John
I don’t agree with every word of this piece, but the guy makes some useful points about Mr. Berry and his work, particularly his writing.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/03/18/10-reasons-to-love-chuck-berry.html
John