by Jim McAllister
A little bit of this, that, and the other thing or musings, miscellaneous ramblings or whatever...I was getting a haircut this morning at my friendly Supercuts haircut factory. By the way, do you know the difference between a Supercuts haircut and a $40 haircut? Answer: $27, but I digress. Anyway, Yvette, the girl cutting my hair and I were talking about great rock musicians and the cost of concerts now and years ago. In 1971 my wife and I saw Foghat at the Cowtown Ballroom in Kansas City for $3.00! Throughout the ‘70s we would see the best of the day for $10 to $15. Bands like The Electric Light Orchestra, 10cc, Eric Clapton, Frank Zappa, and many others. Today, secondary acts are getting $50 and higher, and acts like The Stones and Paul McCartney get $100 or more. No thanks, that’s ridiculous and I won’t pay it although I hear that Roger Waters is coming to Phoenix and doing a whole Pink Floyd show including the entire "Dark Side of the Moon" album. I might relent for that! I am so weak!...Those of you who are into the vintage movie scene probably know that director Vincent Sherman died this past week at 99. He directed a lot of the top stars in his day including Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart, and Claude Rains. Also recently deceased is character actor Arthur Franz. Right now you are saying, "Who’s he?" Unless you are a close follower of old films and the tube, you may not know Franz by name. He was a handsome guy who was on about every TV show there was in the ‘50s in addition to many movies. The name may not sound familiar, but if you saw him you would probably say, "Oh, that guy! I remember him!" Arthur Franz was 86...I watched "The lost Weekend" (1945) last night on TCM.. That movie still packs a punch. Ray Milland was not the first choice for the lead, and he didn’t consider himself capable of it either. But after Cary Grant and Jose Ferrer (Jose Ferrer?) turned it down, Milland gave it a shot and won the Best Actor Oscar for 1945...I like the BP ads on television. They are trying to make us believe that they are a bunch of Albert Schweitzers in dealing with energy. Notice also that they never mention that "BP" stands for British Petroleum. Could it be that since a lot of the UK is hostile towards us they don’t want to advertise that they are British?...Cadillac has sure changed their ads also. They used to appeal to the older set with very sedate advertising including country club scenes and soft music. Now they show the younger folks doing wheelies to the sound of rock music. It looks like an MTV video. It seems to be working, sales are up...The number one car on my "most disliked car" list continues to be the Cadillac Escalade. Coming in a close second is the Hummer. These two heaps illustrate what gluttony, greed, and waste are all about...Congratulations to Scottsdale, the embarrassment of "The Tuesday Night Book Club" is over. Much to our relief, CBS canceled this mess after two shows, so those bimbos will have to seek out something else to do with their lives. Thanks to all who didn’t watch this silliness; you renewed my faith in the taste of the American public...Flash! Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton hate each other! Does anyone care other than rags like PEOPLE? As talentless as Lohan is, at least she does work. Hilton is just a perpetual partier. By the way, don’t invite her and Robert Redford to the same party...Is it annoying to you to have to push "1" on the phone to hear English? This is the USA, right? This is supposed to be an English speaking country. Hopefully, English will never be demoted to "2" on the push button. I have no problem with LEGAL immigrants but when you move here, take a shot at English. That’s what we do here. Remember the old saying, "When in Rome,......". The same goes for the USA...
2 comments:
Hey Jim,
I like where your head seems to be orbiting. However, I am a bit jealous of the fact that you aparently have a lot of hair remaining on it to require the occasional haircut.
My last haircut, as best I can remember it, was about 1971. In paraphrase of MC in "Gigi", "Ah yes, I rememeber it well."
i noticed that you have a photo of the late Arthur Franz with one of my heartthrobs of the 50's and late 60's, Peggy Castle. The lady really turned me on, and i was quite saddened to hear of her death in 1973 of cirrhosis of the liver as reported on the IMDB(though in some chronicles she's listed as a suicide).
Yes, I too was a bit annoyed by those BP ads. Whenever they air, I think of the 11 CEO's of the tobacco companies before Congress, swearing that the never knew somking contributed to lung cancer - and still didn't believe it.
Speaking of music from the past: I still miss Elvis!
Saw Frankie Lane on the PBS 50's special. He had to be propped up and, clearly, he's on the way out, but he's still magnificant!
Allen
Hi there, Jim! ELO and Eric Clapton all in one post! I love Eric Clapton. I think I'd have to be weak and buy tickets for him.
I think we both have the same "Worse Car List". The Hummer is definitely number one on my list. Not only is it insane to drive (getting something like 9 miles to the gallon?) but it's plain ugly! Now, they are coming out with the smaller versions, H3, etc., still ugly. For some reason, the town of Naples LOVES Hummers. Of course, this is the town of the rich and some famous. What I'm doing here, is beyond me. We just happened to buy while pricing was still low. But I digress :) Some people just have too much money. I've actually seen three or four Hummer Limos here!
Loved the column, as usual.
Take care,
Julie
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