A Comparative Study of Weird Buildings...
...or, they don't build 'em like that anymore...

In this day and age, as far as buildings go, "continuity" is the word. For instance, if you see a Walgreens' Pharmacy in Portland, Oregon, it'll look just like the one in Oklahoma City, which looks just like the one in Helena, Montana, which looks just like the one in Dallas, Texas, which looks just like the Walgreens' right here in CDA. McDonalds has golden arches and similarly-built places to eat (I shudder to think of McDonalds' as a Restaurant), and all across the country, Motel 6 is "leavin' the light on for ya", even though its rooms are much more expensive than they used to be.

There are those who criticize the homogenization of our culture, in which everything looks the same. They will say that individuality is being sacrificed in the name of corporate identity, and that our respective environments, no matter where those environments are, are becoming increasingly bland, monotonous, as well as being dull, boring and omnipresent. And who am I to disagree? In a way, I appreciate the fact that I can find a Denny's Restaurant everywhere I go, and I do like McDonalds' sausage-eggs McMuffins, and I can get those anywhere I happen to be. But yes, individuality is going by the wayside, and that's sad, too.

Wayback when (and I do mean "wayback"), things were a lot different. People took time to build things. Buildings had much more uniqueness to them. It was a different time when things were done slower, and people could actually take TIME to plan out their floor plans. Cost-efficiency wasn't as big of a thing back then as now. After all, it's more expensive per-square-foot to build a unique building. We can't have that, rrrrright? Hence, all of the cookie-cutter store 'branches' we have today. Well, I have pix of three highly unusual (and dearly departed) buildings in this area. I've posted images of these two buildings before. And, you won't find a lot of buildings that look like the ones pictured below...



Here's a picture of the old Showboat Drive-In, which was located just west of Ramsey Road, along what is now the frontage road that leads to the neighborhoods by the Coeur d'Alene Public Golf Course. (Which isn't overpriced like the Rezzort Golf Course, but that's a whole 'nother subject, for another time.) This picture was taken a bit before my time, but you can see the individuality in this structure. Perhaps the owner might have been afraid that in the event of a sudden storm, his building would float away. But...an interesting building for sure.



Here's another grand old building, the "Fish Inn", which was located just north of the I-90/St. Maries interchange about 5 miles east of CDA. I became familiar with this building in the '80s, when a rock band I drummed for played here. By that time, the owners had added an outdoor deck which extended forth from the side of "The Fish" that you can't see here. In the land around "The Fish", were camping spaces, and even some cabins. Sadly, "The Fish" burned down at the turn of the '90's. Sort of an architectural "Fish Fry", ha ha...



This building is still standing, over there in Kellogg, Idaho, some 40 miles away from here. May I introduce you to "The Miners' Hat" drive-in. I have no idea when it ceased to be a drive-in; I do know that "Miners' Hat Realty" occupied this building in the late '70s, but since I don't get over to Kellogg a whole lot, I don't know what's in there now. But I'll bet this lil' ol' drive-in was a popular place to go, seeing as how Kellogg was a mining town. Definitely a unique building.
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Back in the early '60's, I remember seeing a (tavern?) that was located on East Sherman Avenue here in CDA, was it called (The Lighthouse)? And, it LOOKED like a lighthouse. But in all of the internet photo-searching I've done, I've never seen an image of it. And, in all the old residential neighborhoods around here, all the houses are different. How people can live in those cookie-cutter prefabricated newer neighborhoods is totally beyond me. No thanks...

Let's hear it for the La-Z-Boy...
...without it, the world would be a cruel place!!!

Ahhh, the La-Z-Boy. I managed to find a second-hand La-Z-Boy EZ chair (which also props up yer feet), and even though it looks kinda gamy, it's the most comfortable chair I've ever sat in. Archie Bunker may have had his own chair (which I guess now is positioned in the Smithsonian), but this chair, well, it's ME. Unkempt but comfortable. Aaaaah. Well, I was watching Catherine Crier on Court TV tonite, and she said that a La-Z-Boy recliner actually saved a guy's life. He was vegging out in his La-Z-Boy, when his wife tried to shoot him in the head, but she was a bad shot and the headrest actually absorbed the impact of the bullet. The message here? If you don't have a La-Z-Boy, STAY SINGLE. But get a La-Z-Boy anyway.

So why am I posting this? No particular reason, except that I found another great photo to satirize, courtesy of www.spokesmanreview.com/blogs/hbo. And here it is...



...yeah, crass and in bad taste, I know. But at least, I'm consistent!
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Watching football this year is a challenge. I got used to Monday Night Football being on ABC, after all. Well, this year it's on ESPN. Then, there's Sunday Night Football which USED to be on ESPN, only now, it's on NBC. That's hard to get used to, because my natural reaction is to dial in ABC for night-time football, and all of a sudden, I get confused; it's then I begin mashing my remote buttons until I remember it's on NBC. No wonder my remote's getting worn out. The volume button doesn't work that well anymore.

Anyway, I'm glad that Monday Night Football's still being broadcast. Former Quarterback Joe Theisman offers great color commentary, but what the heck is the smart-alecky and smarmy sportswriter Tony Kornheiser doing there? Seems like all he tries to do is make Theisman look bad. So, the main broadcaster (whose name escapes me) has to spend a lot of time refereeing things between Theisman and Kornheiser. Howard Cosell, I miss ya, buddy!
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Anyway, Monday Night Football is on as I type this. Seattle taking on Green Bay. So I must ask the question, "what am I doing typing this?"

I'm not sure if this is significant or meaningless...
Welcome, friends, to this blog's 500th posting!

I suppose it's an anniversary of sorts; even though I've slowed down in terms of "posting frequency", but in the thirteen months since October 2005, I've posted 500 times here in this blogsite! If you go waaay back in my archives, you'll see that at times, I was posting 2 or 3 times a day; if I'd kept THAT up, I'd have close to 800 posts by now. So what's the reason for my posting slowdown? Is it some kind of "maturity" process? After careful deliberation, my answer is "naaaah". Although, sometimes the constant negativity I seem to exemplify in my writings does get kinda old after a while.

Is it "burnout"? Not totally, although posting DOES take time, especially when you're as "retentive" as I am; every punctuation mark has to be JUST RIGHT, and even then, I won't have fully described something, or if I do, I'll refer to that something in an oblique way, and then I have to go back into "edit" mode and do some fancy rephrasing. Posting takes time. Sometimes I've spent over two hours on a post. BEFORE I begin the editing process. Even though this blog doesn't fulfill any real objective, I suppose that if I'm gonna hang my wash out on the line, I wanna make sure it's been laundered...so I edit, Edit, EDIT until I've gotten it right. And then I might read that posting a couple weeks later, and slap myself on the forehead because of something ELSE that maybe I shoulda changed or revised.

Does "life itself" interfere with my posting frequency? Just lately, yes. If you scroll down one posting, you'll see I posted something else only a few hours ago. I wouldn't be posting so soon, except that, I did want to note my 500th posting anniversary before I forgot. So now I've gotta come up with something intelligent when I don't really have anything to say. And that...is the hardest type of post to write. Or, like the TV news-guy once said, "I may not know what I'm TALKING about, but I SOUND like I do!" But since I've reduced blogging, I'm noticing I take a lot of evening naps in the ol' La-Z-boy; or there's time to listen to those CD's I recently bought, or perhaps time to dig into the Beatles collection a bit more. Gosh, I may even start going to BED before 2am! The world as we know it MUST be ending.
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Oh, the weather outside is frightful dept.: Looks like it's that time of year again. One word sums it up, and that word is "BRRRR!!!" The first meaningful snowfall of this year, down here at the 2100-or-thereabouts elevation happened yesterday, but I'll bet the ski bums are happy. Me, I was planning on being GONE by now, but the selling-my-house process has become a fairly convoluted procedure. Things are moving along. The appraiser's coming out Tuesday. Yep, I have a buyer. So Far, that is.


I Googled "Coeur d'Alene Snow", and up popped this picture. So I assume it is a genuine Coeur d'Alene snowplow. Exciting, huh?

I read in the paper today that one of the local ski resorts has built a new chairlift, 300 feet further up the mountain. The extra altitude was added because of the warmer winters we've had over the last few decades. I was thinking about that...the article said the average winter temp rises a degree each year. So maybe that means that in 300 years, ski areas all over the place will begin to run out of "mountain". I can just see it now..."Mt. Everest Ski Tours". And its advertising slogan? That's easy..."The Last Place To Ski On Planet Earth". And of course, "Mt. Everest Ski Tours" will be a division of Hagadone Hospitality. Would you have it any other way?
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Musical meanderings dept.: This next section will prove exactly how "out of it" I actually am. I bought some CD's from a friend of mine a few weeks ago, and among those, I chose some NEWER MUSIC. I used to listen to all the groups back in the 70s and 80s, but I've lost touch, so I decided to try and get current again. So, this evening/morning, I've listened to CD's by groups I've never listened to; among them, Silverchair, Counting Crows, Blind Melon, The Iguanas and Chumbawamba. New, stuff, right? Well, to me it is, but actually it AIN'T...

The Silverchair album came out in 1995, eleven years ago. The Counting Crows CD was released in 1993, thirteen years ago. Blind Melon put forth their CD in 1992, fourteen years ago. The Iguanas, a sort of latin-rock band, issued their CD in 1994, twelve years ago. The Chumbawamba CD is the most current, having been issued in 1997, only NINE years ago. So, maybe I'm not as much of a "hep cat" as I thot. Meow. Oh well, the music is new to ME, anyway. Of course, I don't have a cell-phone, and I wouldn't know what to do with an Ipod, either.

The times are not only a-changin', they're zipping by faster than I can keep track of. By the way, the Chumbawamba CD ("Tubthumper" is the title) is most unusual, kinda quirky with a lot of cool effects. How about that...me liking Chumbawamba. I can just hear it now...today's kids are saying, "Chumba-WHO? They're OLD SCHOOL." Well, I have to remember that The Beatles' "Paperback Writer" IS a 40-year old song this year. Ack. I should know...I have the record. "What's a Record?", one of today's kids would probably ask me...
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Actually, I DID get a CD that came out THIS YEAR, 2006. Of course, it's by The Who...the group is down to two over-the-hill geezers and sidemen...and Roger Daltrey is sounding OLD. His vocal cords are becoming fossilized. And Pete Townshend can barely hear anymore. And he's bald. Both are future residents of the "Rock and Roll Rest Home". Wasn't it Townshend who wrote, "hope I die 'fore I get old"? Somewhere, some newspaper guy has written ol' Pete's obit in advance, just waiting to pounce on that lyric phrase!

ALL YOU NEED IS...CA$H...
...in order to keep buying re-hashed BEATLES music...

Well, the last time Beatles fans worldwide were "dinged" because a re-hashed Beatles Album had come out, was back in 2003, when the "Let It Be...Naked" album came out. Basically, it was a re-release of the 1970 "Let It Be" album, without all the strings and extra production that Phil Spector had heaped on "The Long And Winding Road", and other tracks on that album.

Well, now it's 2006, and there's more re-worked Beatles stuff out there. A while back, I began hearing rumors of a Las Vegas "Cirque de Soliel" production titled, "The Beatles...Love". Hmmm, I thot, so I began dialing in to Beatles websites, and found out that, indeed, a NEW BEATLES RECORD was coming out! Oh Boy! So I went and bought it. And what it is, is not only remixed Beatles music, it is re-CONFIGURED Beatles music. Imagine, if you will, the Beatles' song, "Drive My Car", with the words to one of their album tracks, "What You're Doing" coming in over the top, and the guitar solo in the middle is pulled from "Taxman", yet ANOTHER Beatles song. And all of a sudden, you're floating in some weird musical parallel universe...

I cannot help but feel that Apple Corporation (which administers all Beatle product), along with Yoko Ono and Paul McCartney, both of whom don't NEED any more money, are taking advantage of Beatles' fans worldwide, by selling the same stuff over and Over and OVER again, in endless re-packagings. See, I'm a collector, so I've bought every release. That means my "Beatles 1" album, that came out in 2001, has many of the same tracks as the 1976 "Rock And Roll Music" Beatles compilation, and the 1973 double-LPs, "1962-1966" and "1967-1970", both of which are collections of Beatles music. The same stuff, packaged and sequenced differently. And I've got all of those collections, plus MORE collections with the same songs! In addition to all of their original studio albums. Ah, such is the life of a collector...

Only, NOW, with "The Beatles...Love", the engineers are taking the ORIGINAL TAPES, and re-arranging the songs. John Lennon said, "Nothing is real, nothing to get hung about", and he was RIGHT. In short, all you need is a little bit of electronic trickery, and all of a sudden, nothing is the same! This first began happening in 1996, when the 3 "Beatles Anthology" albums came out. In addition to the 3 living Beatles taking John Lennon cassette tapes and recording new backing to 'em (a move that must have sent Lennon spinning in his grave), the "Anthology" albums featured more studio trickery. On those albums, you would hear the making of a Beatles' song "in progress"...so the 1st verse might be take 24, the second verse might be from take 32, with background harmonies added from track 56. In short, REALITY is being tampered with here. I bought all of the "Anthology" albums, but to this day, I can't help but feel that there was something shady about the whole deal, which continues with "The Beatles...Love", in which the original songs are changed into OTHER songs...

My reaction to "The Beatles...Love"? Well, for about the first 10 or 15 minutes, it was actually pretty interesting; the CD certainly lives up to its advertisement, "You've never heard Beatles' music like THIS before!"...but after a while, all of the re-worked music, with elements of other songs zooming in and out and up and down and all over the place turned into rock and roll OVERKILL, and I actually got physically tired listening to it. And I LOVE The Beatles! To me, tampering with Beatles' music is about like taking "The Star-Spangled Banner", and outfitting it with the lyrics to "Iron Man" or "Let's Go Get Stoned". Or, taking the Gideon Bible and filling it up with pages straight out of "Portnoy's Complaint".


This is the "Beatles...Love" album. Get your copy now and keep Paul McCartney out of the poorhouse!

Listen, if you're NOT a Beatles'collector, and you want all of their music, go out and buy their 10 original albums, released in British form (American and British Beatles albums had different song orders), plus the 2 CD's, "Past Masters", volumes 1 and 2. They're still available, for sale EVERYWHERE. There. That's ALL you need. Don't do what I've done, buying every packaging and re-packaging available.

I look back now, after collecting Beatles' stuff, and wonder, "what's the reason for all of these endless re-issues?", and I've come up with a tangible reason... I suppose Paul McCartney has to get those Beatles re-hashings out there for the public to buy, in addition to him promoting his OWN solo musical efforts, like some desperate newbie trying to market his first album, 'cos he stands to get forked OVER in a nasty divorce settlement. So, all Beatles fans will be paying for his marriage to Heather Mills. I sure wouldn't want Paul McCartney to have to live with a meager bank account of over $50 MILLION dollars, which is about what he'll have after Heather gets her half. I wouldn't want him to suffer, after all.
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I'm not done yet. I've got something ELSE to complain about. There is a new DVD by "The Cars", one of my favorite late '70s, early '80s groups...and the DVD also comes with a CD of concert performances, some of which are NOT on the DVD. So it's a pretty good value. Plus, we get to see a good band in action. They really had a lot of great music. A picture of the DVD/CD is below...



MY complaint is about the PACKAGING of this music set. What you're looking at here is the outer box, inside of which is a little hardback book, with Cars' lyrics and pictures. Inside the front and back covers of that little hardback book are little TIGHT SLOTS where you store your discs. ARE THEY KIDDING? That means, every time you slide the discs in and out of their respective storage places, they're liable to get SCRATCHED!!! Maybe this is a good way to sell more music, though. When your discs are too scratchy to play, you just go out and buy another DVD/CD set and start all over again. Me, I took a 2-CD plastic case and put both of the discs in that. THEN, I ripped the outer box (seen above) apart, and lined that plastic case with the box's artwork, so it looks like a more conventional DVD. So, I'm paying additional for artwork which I had to rip apart. Makes sense to me! After all, I gotta do my part to support capitalism and and corporate greed. "Greed is good", right? rrrrrright?
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Something about The Cars that I wasn't aware of until recently...one of their lead singers, Benjamin Orr, who played bass (you can hear him singing "Just What I Needed"), succumbed to cancer a few years ago. I'm always kinda sad when musicians I've admired pass on. Hopefully he's jamming in Rock and Roll Heaven, if there is such a place.

Clearing out the cobwebs...
A couple of old fotos I had laying around (and I do mean "OLD"!)

I'm still in the throes of deciding what I'm gonna do about this blog. It's been largely historical in nature, since I've lived in North Idaho since before the Wheel was invented, but soon I won't be here, so that aspect of this site will probably be an aspect no longer. I just don't know yet. I know that I'll always be checking in to various sites (including www.spokesmanreview.com/blogs/hbo) to find out what's happening 'round these parts.

So anyway, I've been saving area photos like a stark raving maniac for the last year; I've got hundreds of 'em. Including some I've never used yet; just couldn't think of a use for 'em, or perhaps I found better photos of more essential localities, so as a result some photos had to take a back seat. For some reason, I didn't delete them. And here's a couple of previously rejected photos. Hey, I never said this blog exemplified any kind of quality...

For this first photo, we'll go back to the year 1907...taken near Desmet, on the Coeur d'Alene Indian Reservation (or, the "rez", as it's lovingly referred to today)...this photo goes so far "wayback" that I may never be able to return to the present...



Looks bleak, doesn't it? No public telephones, no traffic jams, no radio stations, and in this shot its amazing how much North Idaho looks like Ethopia. Maybe it's no wonder that the first three letters of "Desmet" serve the same function for the word "Desolate". (A derivative?)
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I've posted this next photo before, taken from that rock outcropping up thar on the northwest face of Tubbs Hill, waaay above the trail where, on a clear day, you can see ATHOL. From that alone, an outsider could conclude that North Idaho is an ultra-exciting place...



This was taken around 1910, and as you can see, it's an actual mailed postcard that shows the portion of the Coeur d'Alene lake waterfront, upon which now sits the CDA Rezzort. And when THAT falls into the lake, I wonder what else will be built there. (It LEANS lakeward! I have reliable sources!)
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Finally, never let it be said I am not concerned about national events. For instance, just the other day, someone DID mistake George W. Bush for a turkey...



...and since the arrow hit him in the head, I betcha he didn't feel a thing. Gobble, gobble.
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Hope y'all had a happy Turkey Day. Try not to get killed while doing early Christmas shopping.

"Only The Strong Survive"...
This Jerry Butler song from 1968 is appropriate right about now!

Yep, the Holiday season is among us. Will YOU survive? After filling yourself full of hot dead bird meat, the HOLIDAY SHOPPING BEGINS! And of course, from here on in, annoying TV commercials from stores with oodles and gobs of stuff on sale who graciously invite you all to stop by and max out your charge cards. It can be a stressful time. You gotta get snow tires. You gotta get a new warm coat. You gotta try and provide gifts for your insatiable little brats who've got to have the newest thing.

You might find yourself waiting 48 hours in freezing cold in front of a Megalo-Mart, so that you can be the first shopper who lays hands on one of those goofy-looking subhuman dolls blessed with a cute fuzzy character, that not only cries and wets, but cries and wets at the same time. All over you. After all, all the other kids are gonna get one, right? It's been advertised to death everywhere. Just the thing for your spoiled-brat little daughter who just has to have everything.

Or, you might want to get for your little monster son, a G.I. Joe for modern times; not only does the G.I. Joe doll include fatigues, helmet and combat boots, he comes specially equipped with a nuclear bomb launcher (exploding bombs extra, of course) and instruments of torture strapped around his belt. Strange, the availability of all kinds of soldier dolls, yet I've never heard of a toy manufacturer making a miniaturized COFFIN to put the soldier in.

So, what kind of peachy-keen, novel, all-new form of entertainment lurks out there for YOU, the grownup, who's had to put up with Black Friday, Blue Saturday and Black-And-Blue Sunday? (That, of course, describes the first three post-Thanksgiving shopping days.) How about a NEW White-house game called, "WHICH ONE IS THE TURKEY?" (pictured below)



...anyway, have a Happy Thanksgiving, if at all possible. Eat hearty!

Meditations on a Sunday Morning...
There but for fortune, go you...or I...

Show me the prison, Show me the jail
Show me the young man, whose life has gone stale
And I'll show you a young man, with so many reasons why
And there but for fortune, go you...or I...

I had to be up fairly early this morning, so I went to McDonalds and indulged myself with a couple of sausage-egg Mcmuffins...mmm, good. I'd say this happened about 9:30 this morning. And that's when I saw a gentleman in the booths over near the wall, only a lot of people wouldn't call him a gentleman, perhaps...

Show me the whiskey, which stains on the floor
Show me the drunkard who stumbles out the door
And I'll show you a young man, with so many reasons why
And there but for fortune, go you...or I...

He had on an old dirty olive-green army-type jacket...he was unshaven with a full beard...both his jacket and jeans were in tatters...and he had a big bedroll full of who knows what on the other side of his booth. And he was obviously homeless, trying to come in from the cold, looking for a little bit of warmth. As I ate my McMuffins, I was thinking about giving him $5.00 to get something to eat, but he left before I could do that, and ambled on down the street, dwarfed by the bedroll he carried on his back, on a cold Sunday morning.

Show me the person, who no one cares for
Show me a person that can't care anymore
And I'll show you a person with so many reasons why
And there but for fortune, go you...or I...*

So I didn't have a chance to give this guy any money. I was in a position to do some good, but I didn't. I see a lot of these kind of people around; homeless, wandering, lost, living off the land, and I see more of them as the years go by. I often wonder, "where do they all come from?" And sometimes, I'm amazed that I didn't turn out that way. I realized then, that in spite of everything I've done wrong, and no matter how much I've been hurt, somehow I've managed to make it this far in life fairly well. And I was thankful.

Finally, I dedicate this next verse to countries around the world, those who are bombed and those who are doing the bombing...in addition to the ever-increasing, aimless, wandering segment of homeless people in our society, we are in the process of uprooting a nation in the middle east, all in the name of so-called 'democracy'...I hope we're doing Iraq a favor, but I'm not really sure anymore...

Show me a country, where the bombs had to fall
Show me the ruins of the buildings once so tall
And I'll show you a young land, with so many reasons why
And there, but for fortune...go you or I...you or I...
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Of course, there are people who have "summer homes" in addition to their "main" residences.
Those people are definitely NOT homeless. Perhaps 'luck' is involved, or perhaps a certain amount of 'divine intervention' helps to determine one's fate. There's a lot of cruelty and coldness which is an underlying component of our society that often goes unaddressed and/or unseen. For sure, there's a whole lotta people who are living on the edge, just barely able to stay alive.



Here's an old picture of a summer home somewhere on CDA lake, from back in the '40s or '50s, and it's quite an idyllic place. I wonder if that structure is still standing today. If anyone can tell me where it's located, that would be great. There's lots of bays on the Lake, y'know. Obviously this picture doesn't have anything to do with the topic above, other than to provide a contrast between "having" and "not having". I thanked God that I've been provided for, over the years. Which is good, because my back isn't strong enough to carry a bedroll.
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I had no idea this posting would turn out so bleakly. I suppose posting is like life itself...totally unpredictable. The song featured here, "There But For Fortune", was written and recorded by folksinger Phil Ochs in the early '60s; later on, Joan Baez had a minor hit with it. I wrote the verse marked *.

Drove my Chevy to the Levy...
...but the levy was dry...

I remember, back in High School, when Don McLean's song "American Pie" came out, some high school classes assigned students the arduous task of taking apart the song in order to find deep, hidden, conceptual and intellectually cataclysmic insights. Unfortunately, I had no such assignment in my classes. I could never write a good term paper (didn't have the patience) but I think I coulda done myself proud. Actually, in spite of undoubtedly lofty conclusions reached by various students who DID get that assignment, "American Pie" is nothing more than a musical history of sorts...anyway, here, in no particular order, are some lyric quotes from the song and what they 'COULD' mean...

"Eight Miles High and falling fast" could allude to the Byrds, whose last big hit was a song called "Eight Miles High", and after that, even though they existed for a few years after that, their hitmaking days were largely over.

"Sergeants played a Marching Tune" was a cryptic reference to the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper" album, one of the first cases of deadly serious rock that one couldn't really dance to. Of course, you could probably jump out a 20th story window after listening to "A Day In The Life".

"The players tried to take the field, but the Marching Band refused to yield" Rock and Roll ceased to be party music and became much more Serious; many a goodtime rock and roller was overtaken by the Sgt. Pepper's "Marching Band". The kids all 'got up to dance' but they 'didn't have a chance'.

"Helter Skelter in summer swelter" was about that dreadful summer when Charlie Manson and his girl-gang did their thing. Charlie's rationale was that "Helter Skelter" was gonna be happening. All this from a Paul McCartney song that described an English Carnival Ride.

"I Met a girl who sang the Blues" reportedly was about Janis Joplin. "She just smiled and turned away"...turned away in passing, that is.

"Jack Flash sat on a candlestick" was a reference to the Rolling Stones' big 1968 hit. "Jumpin' Jack Flash, it's a gas, Gas, GAS..."

"No angel born in hell could break that Satan's spell" was a reference to the Stones' Altamont concert, in which the Hells' Angels served as a self-appointed security force, which resulted in a kid getting killed and a lot of concertgoers who got their heads bashed in.

"I saw Satan laughing with delight" could be about the Stones' song, "Sympathy for the devil".

"Fire is the devil's only friend" could have referred to "Fire", by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown; the opening line of the song is "I am the God of hell-fire, and I bring you FIRE". And, Jimi Hendrix had a song called "Fire", as well. Only, he just wanted to "stand next to it".

"With a pink carnation and a pickup truck"...the 'lonely teenage broncin' buck' in his pickup was wearing a flower previously referred to by Marty Robbins' late-50's hit ("A white sport coat and a Pink Carnation").

"But February made me shiver, with every paper I delivered" The 'bad news on (his) doorstep' was the deaths of Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper and Richie Valens (oh, Donna...). I felt like that when I heard John Lennon was killed, and 21 years later, with George Harrison's death.

"I can't remember if I cried when I read about his widowed bride" Shortly before that fatal last tour, Buddy Holly had just gotten married.

"The Father, Son and the Holy Ghost" may have referred to the three artists who perished on "The Day The Music Died" (see above) In another crash a couple years after that, three country musicians died in an airplane crash; Cowboy Copas, Hawkshaw Hawkins, and Patsy Cline.

"Did You Write the Book of Love" One of the later-50's biggest records was a little ditty by the Monotones, called "The Book of Love". I wonder-wonder-who-da-da-da-oooh (boom) WHO WROTE THE BOOK OF LOVE!?

"Drove my Chevy to the Levy": That Chevy could've been similar to the one featured below, on an old turn-of-the-60's Knudtsen Chevrolet Matchbook cover...



...and who knows, the "Levee" the Chevy was driven to, might have alluded to various School Bond elections here in Coeur d'Alene, which were unceremoniously turned down by area voters in the recent past! That would be an 'educated' guess...

I think I've got...
THE REAL-ESTATE BLOOZE...

I'm sure glad I don't make my living selling real-estate. Oh, yeah, it's supposed to be a lucrative profession around these parts, where everyone seems to want to move, but once you're "in it", you're "in it" and the job is never over. Hmmm, come to think of it, sorta like advertising sales, which I did, back in another lifetime.

"Well, we've got a good first offer, and then there's a nice lady who doesn't quite have the amount you want, so we'll put her in behind him", I was told last week. Okaaaay...Then, all of a sudden, that "first" seller backed out at the last minute, so now, another guy has offered the price I want, based upon a home inspection. So now, he's first, and I found out that the lady who was second pulled outta the deal, but don't worry, the Real Estate Lady tells me, "your property is on the MLS and we're looking for another offer." Whew.

And, every time someone comes by with a real estate agent, or a home inspector decides he wants to poke his nose into my place, I've gotta BE GONE. "It's best", the Real Estate Lady tells me. She's right, and of course, that's where she makes her money. Dealing with people so I don't have to. But I must ask, "how did the OTHER real estate agent, from a separate company, get my UNLISTED PHONE NUMBER?" HE woke me up at 9:30am on SUNDAY MORNING, wanting to show the place. So again, I had to be gone. I was looking forward to a full afternoon of football-watching. Bah Humbug.

So, I wrote me a little ditty called "The Real-Estate Blues". It's loosely based on the melody of "I Don't Know", a blues song sung by Jimmy Witherspoon, and later, the Blues Brothers. It goes like this...ah-one, ah-two, ah-three, ah-fo'...

"I found me a place I want to go, so I got a house to sell...
I got me a real-estate woman, who does the job so well...
She sez she can get me a good price, and get it in nothing flat...
But if all these buyers are 'round here, where the heck are they AT???
I got the REAL-ESTATE BLUES...people comin' round all the time
Yeah, these REAL-ESTATE BLUES...they just keep messin' wit'my mind."
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But hey, everyone's got problems, right? So, okay, okay, I'll quit feeling sorry for myself now. In that spirit, I'd like to end this post on an upbeat note...so here's a lil' photo-satire...


www.spokesmanreview.com/blogs/hbo is probably getting really tired of me doing this to their fotos.

See those monkeys? I felt like them, back when I was working summers in the Forest Service. After a day fighting fires, or doing more mundane things like digging holes for one boss, and then being told by another boss to fill the holes back up, I was ready for mental meltdown. That's a time of my life I NEVER want to re-visit. And so, another post (mercifully) ends.

Isn't it nice to know...
SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE...

I wrote something in my previous posting about how I hoped some things would not change around these parts. Even though I am leaving Coeur d'Alene soon, it is a beautiful place. Back in the '60s and '70s, I had such a fun time growing up here. This city was everything to me; really, it's been the only place for me for a lot of reasons. And it may be again in the future, but that's something I don't know yet. And, this summer, I again spent a lot of time down at City Park; it's just about the only place one can go without getting driven off beaches, it's one of the few places where you really can't stumble onto someone's private property. As you can tell, I really hate the whole Sanders' Beach situation, where the property owners are trying to take over the beach. But, that's out of my hands, and quite possibly, out of everyone elses' hands as well.

Watching the seaplanes take off and land on the lake is one of life's little pleasures. As is, watching the birds play upon the wind, watching the sailboats glide soundlessly by, and as long as there isn't too much sidewalk noise resulting from skateboarders rolling past, hearing the sounds of a pickup basketball game, or people in casual conversation strolling by. The park is a feeding ground for life itself. And I've spent so much time there. It is a magical place. I hope that never changes. I'll come back to CDA every now and then, so I'll be checking the situation! And so, let me present a view that never changes. This was taken around 1910...



This is an old postcard picture of Coeur d'Alene Lake, with Tubbs hill at left. How many times I've gazed at this view and just let my mind wander, and it's a photo that is burned forever into my memory. And I hope this view never changes. What's the reason for being here if we don't have views like this? A perfect antidote to the neurotic workaday world, for sure.
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For those of you who have been so patient, I've included below the last 2 pages of an old magazine article on Coeur d'Alene that was published in 1906. I've seen a lot of old pictures of the area over the last year, and it appears some of those shots might have originated with this article, back when everything was in black and white...be sure and click on the pictures so you can read the type...


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Okay, I got THAT done and out of the way. The house is still in the process of getting sold. Somehow I've gotta keep the place straight enough for prospective buyers, yet I've gotta begin packing stuff now, so I'm striking a tenuous balance here. Or trying to, anyway. What a life...

...a cyber-housecleaning of sorts here...
A bombardment of IMAGES...

I got a whole bunch of local images in my e-mail today. Feast or Famine! I've griped before about how sometimes I can't find any images of the area to post. Sometimes the internet seems to run dry, but also, there's going on 500 posts in this blog over the last year and many of those also had area images featured. So, whenever I get more images in my e-mail, chances are, I've already seen those and posted those. Indeed, I've posted photos of the localities pictured below, but these pix offer a different view. So hopefully I'm not being too redundant here...first, the photos, then the descriptions...



Here's another view of the Shady Rest restaurant and motel, located east of CDA. The Ebay guy who I swiped this photo from wrote all over it so no one could swipe it. I employed some cut-out photoshopping in the middle of the picture. The road in front of the "Shady" runs along the hillside, and the highway ran over the lagoon, which emptied into CDA lake. When you boated up to the "Shady", you'd go through a corrugated tunnel, under the freeway, to get there. I know, because Dad and I went fishing once and he had me steer the boat under the hiway. (It was a small boat. That must be why everyone tells me I'm getting a "little dinghy".)



This here is the Portal Motel, which actually burned down at its 15th and Sherman location a few years back. It has since been rebuilt. But this is an example of a place that was around for quite a while that is now but a memory. Keep your hats on, folks, and stay out of the harsh climate, for, from the looks of things, especially in the downtown, the "winds" of change will be blowing all around.



The pictures are doing all the work for me here, and I LUV it! Finally, here's a Templins' Restaurant postcard I haven't seen before, all divvied up into 4 parts. Back when Sherman Avenue was "Hi-way 10". And, as the card says, Lake Coeur d'Alene is beautiful. Let's hope that's something that WON'T change around here.

And finally, to close out this thing (it's about time, huh?), here's another installment of "CDA History, 1906", as presented in a ten-page article I found on the net which is now in my computer files. I think this is installment 7, I think. So click yer mouse on it and ye, too, shalt be informeth...



Something that perked up my consciousness a bit here, is that this installment writes about an early fatcat named "Wm. Dollar". I believe that's who "Dollar Street" in CDA is named after. You can get to Dollar Avenue by going to Mullan Avenue; if my memory serves me right, it sits somewhere between 12th and 14th Street. Most all north-south streets here are numbered. I wonder how much Mr. Dollar had to bribe the city council for a street with his name on it.
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This was indeed installment #7 of this truly fantabulous CDA travel-log. There's more coming. In-between packing up and dealing with Real Estate people and their wishy-washy clientele, I'm sure I'll find more time to put stuff together. I wouldn't wanna let ya down, y'know...

A scene MARLON PERKINS never saw...
...out there in the Wild Kingdom...



So what does trhis little guy get in his pumpkin on Halloween (if anything can be crammed in there around his snout)? Blades of grass? Pieces of tree bark? Maybe he gets something really good, like a block of salt to lick!
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Not one of my better postings, but I had this foto laying around. I had to do SOMETHING with it!

A weekend "HI" to you blog-searchers...
The address has changed, the blog isn't any more intelligent than usual!
(oh yeah, a special "YO!!!" to all you Huckleberry Hounds out there...)

What a difference one letter makes dept.: I am in the anguished throes of trying to sell a house. Well, what with the market the way it is, not a lot of available small houses in the CDA area, I'm sure a buyer will come along. But, I'm finding that buying and/or selling a house is just a wee-bit more complicated than buying a can of green beans at Spencer's IGA. A lot more involved. You sign the dotted line when you're selling. You sign when you're accepting a price. You sign when someone pulls out of the deal. You sign to enlist the services of the agent. I've been signing so many things so fast, that I'd probably unknowingly sign my own death warrant in the flurry of paperwork.

I think it's ironic that the word "REALITY" is only one letter away from "REALTY". Because the two terms are mutually exclusive! But I learned a long time ago, when you deal with the public, anything can happen. A guy wanted to buy my place a coupla weeks ago. He's in California. He was gonna have a licensed building inspector take a look. The inspector never came around. My agent told me the deal was on, whether the inspection took place or not. So he waits until TODAY, the "day of closing", to back OUT of the offer. Sheesh. I think that's why our world is so screwed up. We depend on each other. And we are all IMPERFECT, some being moreso than others. What a deal...
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They come in "two's" dept.: Newsman Ed Bradley and actor Jack Palance gone within a day of each other. I admired them both. And it seems that whenever the old guys die off, the newer ones who take their place don't have as much charm or individuality. It's hard for me to watch the "Fox and Friends" news show in the early mornings, because basically, everyone on there looks like a young GEEK. At the same time, on MSNBC, one can see the "Imus In The Morning" program. Don Imus is OLD and GROUCHY and world-weary and he freely admits it. That's why I find his show refreshing. So think about it...old music vs. new music...old movies (and movie-stars) vs. new movies (and movie-stars)...old politicians vs. new politicians...is it just me, or is the world getting homogenized, covered over with a generic blanket of blandness? That's the feeling I get these days.
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Everything old is new again dept.: One of the fine young people from Huckleberries, Phil, has been sending me a bunch of new music. He knows I'm moving away, and one of his recent e-mail messages advised me not to be afraid to listen to newer music. All right, all right, I am stuck in my time warp, I must admit. Yes, there's good music out there these days. But it sounds so jaded, wan, depressing, and if it's not any of that, it's shallow, polished and overproduced. You want music that's gonna take you somewhere else? I listened to some freaky music the other night that ain't even ROCK. I listened to some mid-period John Coltrane JAZZ...and that stuff is WILD. I'm not even sure it IS music...his quartet played for 20 minutes at a time sometimes, and would do free-style, atonal, rhythmless musical torturings, with the saxophone hitting 150 notes per second as the piano and drums bash away in the background...true anarchy...true improvisation...true experimentation. Music like that is as close to 'totally human' as can be. If it is music, that is. But it is SOMETHING, for sure. Do I like it? I honestly DON'T KNOW!
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That's what I get for thinking dept.: The consistently cold and rainy weather we've been having lately has been doing a number on my old bones. The kneecaps wanna fall off when I get up out of the restaurant booth at Denny's. The lower back shouts at loud to me when I'm trying to get into my car, or out of it. It's like, every single move I used to take for granted is becoming a major foreign policy decision anymore. So, while I was out mailing bills off today, as I was walking up to the postal counter, I thought, "well, look at the bright side of having a bad back...I can't move fast enough to be in a hurry anymore." I kid you not; when I've been sitting in front of the computer for two or three hours and I stand up, it can take me at least a minute to get comfortable on my feet before I dare to step. Well, am I old enough to be a dirty old man yet?
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Yes, I know I've been slacking dept.: (Or, more CDA History!, 1906 style...) I promised everyone last week that I'd publish an installment-a-day of Coeur d'Alene history, courtesy of an old magazine I found on the net. Well, what with all the political stuff that I feld led to lambaste, I haven't lived up to that promise. So, right now, I'll present two, Two, TWO such pages fer yew all. Be sure and click on the news items so that you'll actually be able to read them. Here ya goes...



...okay, that's one...here's the second...



I think there's three more pages to go. You'll be able to scroll thru them, print them out, and you'll have your own little magazine for a lot cheaper than what the Ebay merchant I stole this from woulda charged ya. What a deal. Who says nothing is free anymore? (oh wait...you've gotta pay for a printer, ink, paper...ack ack aaaaack...)

POST-ELECTION PHOTOS...
...THEY DON'T WANT YOU TO SEE!

It's over. It's f-i-n-a-l-l-y over. The mid-term elections. We weren't even electing a Prezzident this time around, yet it was a hard-fought and ugly time for candidates and voters alike. One politician who got defeated (I can't remember who) actually was quoted as saying he was gonna get out of politics. Democrats pretty much cleaned house...and senate...I'd say that, regarding the Prezzident, the honeymoon is definitely over. A Democrat congress and a Republican President? That's never a good scene. Makes me wonder if Mr. Bush is gonna have to buy himself a case of veto pens...

I saw a political cartoon today in which a donkey-Democrat hunter had bagged a Republican elephant. The hunter looks up and wonders, "now what?" And who knows? Is it going to be a case of "Tug of war", with Dems at one end of the rope and the Prezzident at the other? Especially since the Vice President has such a bad heart, he couldn't help out Mr. Bush. Anyway, here are some mementos of this past '08 election...the photos they don't want you to see...

The first photo here deals with our Prezzident. He should be glad HE wasn't a candidate this year. But, he'll be revelling in all his lame-duck glory for the next coupla years...



As far as BILL CLINTON, I'm not sure what the rules are. I know that Prezzidents can only hold office for two terms, but can a former Prezzident return and run again? If not, well, chalk this next photo up to wishful thinking...



As far as the '08 Prezzidential elections, there may be one semi-serious prospect out there. I'm talking about Senator Joseph Lieberman. He ran as an INDEPENDENT this year, and got re-elected. That must be the motto of this campaign season: "Anything but a Republican!"


These fotos were lifted from the covert files of www.spokesmanreview.com/blogs/hbo .

So it's over. Now the fun begins. It's anyone's guess who all is gonna resign because they no longer have a supposed "mandate" to keep doing what they're doing. Let's just hope George W. Bush stays in good health until his term ends. The concept of "Prezzident Cheney" is just too hard to handle.
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...at the houses of Parliament...everyone's talking 'bout the President...we all chipped in for a bag of cement... (Paul McCartney & Wings, "Junior's Farm", 1974)

New Title, Same old Blog!
But I'm still pulling ideas out of thin air...

"Atmospheric Ruminations"...well, my Dad always did say that I have my "head in the clouds." So, I decided to take that observation to the extreme, and as such, for many years now, I've mentally operated in the upper reaches of the atmosphere. Right now, this blog's pretty-much continuing "as is", although in the future, it will probably become less "area-specific" and more observational. And look at all the subject matter I have to choose from...the Doe-headed politicians, the cross-eyed Congress, all of the dumb news I read in the newspaper, and if I get tired of all of that stuff, I can always talk about music, TV, personal observations, or whatever. So anyway, if you got to this blog through a link, well, thanks for re-linking. And if you've stumbled onto this blog, well, hi to you, too.
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One such dumb news item I read in the paper today also is rather tragic. A foreigner, who was an "illegal" in the U.S. recently murdered a lady neighbor of his; they lived in an apartment building, and she told him to quit making so much noise. So, he killed her, made the crime scene look like she committed suicide by hanging, but...he left a sneaker imprint in her bathtub! He was later asked why he did it...he said he'd hit her, knocked her out, so he ended her life. He was afraid that if she'd lived, she would've told on him, and he would've been kicked out of the country. Well, now, he's gonna get his wish...permanent U.S. Citizenship...behind bars, that is. Be careful what you wish for, I guess.
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Anyway, I am, with this blog posting, halfway through my 10-part series of "Coeur d'Alene, 1906". I've been featuring, over the last few days, pages of an old article I found on the internet. You can scroll down thru my blog and find all of the other entries, print them out, and voila, you will be a historian. So anyway, here 'tis...



...interesting line at the end of the article...claims for suitable land on the CDA Indian Reservation could be valued as high as $15,000! After all, as the article says, "there's no bad land" there. I'd say, "the times, they changed a lot!"
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This post was written on the day after the '06 elections, and guess what...controversial defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld is outta a job. President Bush said he deliberately misled the press on this matter, because allegedly he didn't want to have it come up during an election. Yeah, rrrright. I guess Bush didn't want to appear weaker than he already is. And, a talking head on the TV news said that Rumsfeld's removal was in the works, and Rumsfeld was gonna lose his job anyway, had the election results been better, but ol' Rummy woulda hung onto his job longer. Let's see...deception and conjecture. Both elements are included in this paragraph, and both are integral parts of this pathetic Bush administration.
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I think I'd better stop now...this blogspot site is trying to disconnect me. It's a conspiracy! I will not be muzzled! Free speech! ....mmmmgmmmph....!!!

Can you SWIM, Mr. Prezzident?
...quick! Someone toss him a LIFE RAFT!

Yesterday's elections weren't pretty, AT ALL. Many pundits are referring to this event as a sort of referendum on Prezzident Bush, the Republican Party, and most of all, the war in Iraq, which as of last nite, 42% of the American public DISAPPROVES of. No timetable. No real objective. "Defeat the terrorists" appears to be the goal, but terrorists are everywhere, as 9/11 proved. And the situation over there stands to be WORSE if we withdraw troops now, than if we had never gone there TO BEGIN WITH.

Republicans everywhere lost bids for election or re-election. His own party members, some of them anyway, didn't want their Prezzident to come out and campaign for them. George W. Bush campaigning for someone would be akin to having to "walk the plank" on an old pirate ship. Oh...speaking of ships...


...once again, www.spokesmanreview.com/blogs/hbo provides me with foto fodder...

...I think his expression says it all here. I suppose he can take comfort in the fact that he doesn't actually have to LISTEN to anyone, since he's a lame duck. All the same, though, here, he looks like he wishes he were somewhere else. DOING anything else. Even walking the plank. Mr. Prezzident, step right up...
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...yes, I've still got more "CDA 1906" articles to post, but right now I'm having too much fun with all this political stuff. And I'm not even a political person!

To all my BERRY-PICKIN' FRIENDS...
And anyone else who stops by this site on a regular basis...

As you know, I am moving away soon. I've had great fun with you all, both on this blogsite, as well as on another website I've been contributing to on a frequent basis. For privacy reasons, I've changed my blog-posting NAME. I am now "someone named Dave". (You'll see that name at the end of all these blog entries. I'll still visit that 'other' blog from time to time as well. )

I am glad I was able to do things this way; for all of my North Idaho readers, as well as around the world (ha ha), this blog will remain visible. And I can now write about where I am going to while maintaining my own personal security. (It's a long story.) So, different name, same old blog. By keeping this blog active, I can go back into the ol' archives and see all the dumb stuff I've written.

Carry on. Nothing has changed. I'm still right here...inside your monitor. If you listen REAL close, you'll hear me tapping on the glass...tap, tap, tap........okay, now, back to our regularly scheduled program, already in progress...

It's about TIME...
Somethin's happening, but you don't know what it is, do you, MR. BUSH?
(apologies to Bob Dylan there...)

Well, another election day has come and gone. I've been watching a gang of talking heads on MSNBC, and from them I've gathered that this time around, Democrats have won the House, and the Republicans are in danger of losing the Senate. Sort of a semi-backlash against all things Republican. Indeed, some Republican candidates haven't WANTED Prezzident Bush to come campaign for them! Talk about guilt-by-association! Can it be that I'm not that far off the mark?

I am severely disenchanted with the entire political process...as an example, tonite, Harold Ford, a young up-and-comer, lost his election bid in the State of Tennessee, to his opponent, who ran an ad with alleged racist overtones. Mr. Ford is black, you see. Tennessee is in the South. You do the math. Stuff like this is just awful. And, as a backdrop that won't just go away, over 40% of Americans DISAPPROVE of the Iraq War. Are you LISTENING, Mr. Prezzident? I didn't think so...


Now, don't let your dentures fall out over this. It's a fake cover.

Whatever happens in the next two years, you've gotta figure that the Democrats are lickin' their chops right about now. I DO know that I saw the current issue of TIME Magazine at the library today, and the cover photo shows George W. Bush walking OFF the cover. TIME's way of saying that this administration and its policies are on the WAY OUT, perhaps? I'm not kidding when I say that magazine cover was highly unusual and eye-catching. I couldn't believe it when I saw it!

So will we see sudden and dramatic change due to the outcome of this year's mid-terms? Probably not, knowing the way things happen with all things Governmental. But I'll guarantee ya that Democrats are circling around the Prezzidency like vultures in the Mojave desert. Hint to all Democrats out there: remember three words when you go to the '08 convention: ANYBODY BUT HILLARY! Or we might have ANOTHER 8 years of Republican-isms. And as the last six years have shown...those just don't work anymore.
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As a matter of fact, if you're gonna be making political contributions, send 'em to ME! No, I don't plan on running for any kind of office, but then again, any policies I might have won't hurt you or this country!

Politics, Schmolitics...yadda, yadda, yadda...
Tomorrow's the end of it all...until next time they want somethin'...

My TV remote gets a lot of use these days. The word "Mute" is just about worn-off. Well, what did you expect with all of the political ads out there? I've taken to having to use a different finger to press "mute". The print of my usual mute-button finger has just about worn off. I'm not kidding, I'd really confuse a crime lab if they had to fingerprint me for something. (Yeah, I know, too much 'Court TV' and 'CSI'...)

So if your index finger is feeling tired from "mute overuse", use your middle finger to press mute. This actually accomplishes two valuable objectives: you can "mute" the commercial and "flip it off" at the same time! (Aside: Why did the worm take Judo? It wanted to FLIP THE BIRD.) Or, you could tune into the "O" channel for "Sex Talk" with Sue Johnson, that gross old lady who talks about all kinds of things that I don't wanna hear about from someone who looks like someone's great- Great-GRANDMA! Ack, Ack, Ack, Aaaaaaaaaaaaaackthptf!!! I accidentally stumbled onto that program once when I was channel-surfing. She began demonstrating how to use some weird plastic invention, and I was runnin' for cover in no time! Her show has advertisers, but I don't think any politicians would go NEAR that channel. Hope not, anyway...although some probably secretly do...

Okay, back to my subject (sorry I go so easily off-topic)...I have stepped into the voters' booth in years past, and no matter how much I'd read up on the issues going in, I still felt like I didn't know everything I needed to know. And I thot, "gee, if I'm this ignorant, and I've read up on the issues, how many other voters are like ME? And, how fast can our country be going downhill?" Actually, fast enough that if our nation was a vehicle, an officer could write it a speeding ticket. That is, if the cop could catch up to a vehicle breaking the sound barrier...

If you have had thoughts about running for political office, though...well, there's a great commercial where an actor posing as a Politician is LITERALLY giving the voters a song and dance routine..."Vote for me", he purrs, as his winning smile blinds the ignorant masses. (It's a message saying, "don't be fooled by the image"). Still, I'm sure there's folks like me who are still ignorant AFTER reading up on the issues. So you gotta have the smile. I remember seeing former Idaho Governor Dirk Kempthorne at the University of Idaho back when I was a student. He had a moustache then, he was Prezz of the Student body, and even then he had that handshake and winning smile. Maybe Politicians are just BORN? Could that be?

Next, if you're thinking about running for office, another requirement is that you live in a bubble from day ONE. Since, one day you'll be open for all kinds of public scrutiny, you can't do anything wrong, ever. No interns! No "lust in your heart"! No bad 3rd-grade report cards. No sidestepping scholastic issues with "cliff notes"! No skipping school, not even one day. But you can't be too perfect, though. The media will think that "you're too good to be true" and will try to dig up dirt on you. They'll say you're some kinda freak 'cos your record is so GOOD! So make sure you have a couple of vices everyone can be comfortable with. You know, like playing the saxophone in nightclubs, or perhaps going on hunting excursions. If you do the latter, make sure you don't kill any baby seals or anyone in your hunting party, tho. A no-no!

FINALLY, as Andre Agassi, the tennis player, once said in a TV commercial back when he was a longhaired tennis bum, "Image is Everything". I think it was a Canon cameras commercial. Where do you go to really convey an image? TV, of course. We, who watch the tube while munching away on Potato Chips and Ding Dongs can see YOU in action, how you look, how you move, how you sound. Some of us even listen to what you SAY. Imagine that! So, here is a primer on how to make TV Commercials, positive OR negative...



(click on the picture to enlarge) An analysis was made once during the Super Bowl, and it was found that there was a heckuva lotta toilet-flushing going on during the commercials. So, make sure you air a 'TV spot' every 15 minutes, because sooner or later, someone will be too tired to get up offa the couch to use the "throne" or get more potato chips or Ding Dongs. Now, go out there and win one for the gipper!!! And, GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!

Blogger's Note: My series of 1906 Coeur d'Alene article magazine pages continues below, but first you've gotta slog away and try to get thru all this stuff that you see here...you can do it, I've got faith in ya...
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Have you ever been...
PUT IN YOUR PLACE???
Well, I was...

It happened either Thursday or Friday night while I was shopping at ye olde grocery store. It was evidently the late shift, and things were pretty relaxed, so after making my purchase, I was talking to two of the employees who were operating checkstands, and we ended up talking about old music, and I told them I was really into the Beatles, and how mad I was at the way John Lennon's life was taken. Well, the young man behind one checkstand said, "Well, I wasn't even ALIVE then, but I sure like their music." Afterwards, I hauled my old dilapidated body out to my car and drove away. What else could I do?

Anyway, it's strange, the way things work out sometimes. After typing all the above, I realized I had this REALLY COOL picture of The Beatles, as they might have appeared in their sixties, as drawn by an artist some 20 or 30 years ago. From left to right, you can see John, Ringo, Paul and George. They all had artistic differences. They couldn't "work it out".

Actually, Paul's looking pretty good these days, and Ringo seems to be doing okay, too, in spite of the fact he's had some medical problems down through the years. Of course, in George's case, he passed away from cancer "All Those Years Ago" (a George song), and it would still be interesting if John were still alive. One can only "imagine". It's a cliched thot, but their music lives on.

Okaay....time for the main course. My little ten-part series of "Coeur d'Alene 1906: A Brief History". Wow, that title sounds really official, as if it was as boring as your average college course. Naaaaah, you won't be tested. No surprised unannounced pop-quizzes or anything like that. All you have to do, in fact, is click on the following magazine page to read it. Interesting stuff...



Towards the end of the article, the writer writes about a guy who wanted to started his own business, so he traveled around the country, visiting all kinds of capitalistic operations, and decided to open his own ground-breaking business in Coeur d'Alene, a SILK SHOP. That's actually kind of a ridiculous sounding until idea you realize that nowadays, CDA has a shop that sells nothing but GREEN OLIVES. And then you realize BOTH ideas are ridiculous!
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Although.....I do like a pungent sour green olive that makes my taste buds ossify. When I used to play drums in bars, I'd always steal a green olive from the bar...mmmmmph.....!!! Sour!!!

Signs of the Times...
Or, some messages are acceptable, while others are probably not...

HOT NEWS FLASH! North Idaho was blessed (or cursed) with the presence of Vice Presidential Henchman DICK CHENEY this week. He landed at the airport north of our town, and for his own safety, he didn't go anywhere...after all, real people might have seen him and we wouldn't want that to happen. Instead, in the AIRPLANE HANGAR of all places, he rallied 'round his Republican syncophants. Sorta like the Preacher preaching to people who are already saved. What GOOD is THAT gonna do?

Coinciding with Cheney's self-aggrandizing political grandstanding in front of his mindless devotees, there was another demonstration somewhere, but since this really isn't a news article, I don't know where it was or how many people showed up. But I gather that particular assemblage was enthusiastic, although their enthusiasm ran in an opposite direction from any verbage Cheney was laying on thick in the airplane hangar. Below is a picture of one vocal demonstrator, behind her sloganeering anti-campaign sign:



...however, we all know she wanted her sign to say THIS:


I suppose now they'll have an FBI file on me for defacing this www.spokesmanreview.com/blogs/hbo photo.

In closing, when it comes to politics anymore, I'm color blind. I just don't care. Which is obvious. Next Tuesday can't come soon enough for me. Of course, I keep wondering, "what if they gave an election and no one came?" Wouldn't that make for interesting news?

This isn't news to me!
It isn't...really, it isn't...and it shouldn't be to you either...

If you've stopped by this blog a lot, well, I suppose you need to actually get a life. That said, if you've stopped by this blog a lot, you've found that I like to take a photo, put a caption in it, and stick it in this blog for all to see. Especially political photos. A lot of them deserve comment. It's called the fine art of photo-satire. Or, in my case, just "photo-satire".

Well, there are times when no improvements are called for. Don't you think the artist who painted the Mona Lisa was tempted to add something else? Maybe he was, but he knew when to stop, and as a result, he created a piece of absolutely immortal artwork. The same could be said for Andy Warhol's "Can of Campbell's Soup" artwork. Really, what could one add? (other than, perhaps, the words, "low sodium"). Oh wait, all Campbell's soup is LOADED with it...

ANYWAY, I have found a photo of an elected government official which is basically 100% complete without me adding anything to it. Indeed, it is an effective portrayal of the turmoil and strife which is so prevalent in these modern times. Yes, we can all rally around the following image and be united in agreement, if only for a moment.

And, that photo is immediately below...



The purchase of an antiquated and almost obsolete desktop computer to go online with: $400 (and change). Seeing a photo like this: PRICELESS.

The one after 1909...
First, an old photo, then part 3 of "Cd'A 1906"...

The first snowfall of the year, at least at this elevation, happened today. Bah humbug. So, here I am, esconsced in my humble living quarters trying to stay warm. And a day like this...well, it's a good day for blogging.

This first photo takes us back to 1909. Actually, I've posted this picture before, but this time around, it's on an actual postcard which someone mailed to someone else way back when, so what you're about to see has a bit more historical authenticity than usual...



This view is from a location near where Independence Point is now. You can see Tubbs Hill in the background. From here, passengers could hop on a train to take them to Spokane and points westward. An old postcard that shows "life goes on"...
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Okay, okay, the moment you've all been waiting for...part 3 of the old piecemeal magazine article that I've been posting over the last coupla days. It features Coeur d'Alene, circa 1906. A century ago. A document of a long-ago age when things were vastly different. As I see it, you have two options you can exercise in reading this article: 1. You can focus REALLY HARD on this article until your eyeballs pop out, or, 2. You can click on the article so it getts bigger and more readable. So, here ya go...



Talk about serendipity...the photo I placed in the previous portion of this post was taken from about the same location as THIS photo, taken some 3 years earlier. (1906) You can see where the railroad tracks ended, and passengers would commute from rail to boat or vice versa. Another way you can tell the times have changed? The last paragraph here refers to the lumber industry, how it's the biggest thing going around here. We still have vestiges of the lumber industry 'round here, but it tain't what it used ta be! Part 4 will be delivered to your doorstep tomorrow. More old CDA history.
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You might wonder where I got the title for this post ("The one after 1909"). There's an old song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney in the late '50s; the song was removed from the mothballs and recorded for 1969's Beatle LP, "Let It Be". Only, the song's title was "The one after 909". So now ya know.

Part TWO of an exciting blog-series...
Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, circa 1906...
Just think...back before floating greens, condos, etc...

I know that you all are just hyper-salivating, on the edge of your seats after having been cut off mid-sentence after last night's hysterical...er, HISTORICAL posting. But it is kinda cool to read about the 100-years-ago version of the City on the Take...er, CITY BY THE LAKE...so without further adieu (whatever "adieu" is), here's installment two...have at it, readers...



Hope you liked that, dear readers. I think the objective in any kind of entertainment is "LEAVE 'EM WANTIN' MORE". Installment two shalt appeareth tomorrow. I think tomorrow's edition has two pictures, but I'm not sure. Cool, man!

BALD-HEADED BIRDS...
...in their dirty underwear...

That's an attention-grabbing header, ain't it?

I can draw a little bit, and I've made weak stabs at cartooning. My class notes in high school and college were always full of dumb drawings. Once in science class, I drew a picture of a salivating Venus Flytrap plant who'd bitten off a guy's arm. He's standing there with his chopped-off arm, and you can see the outline of that arm in stalk of the Venus Flytrap. Really sick, huh? Later on, when I began reading the paper every day, sometimes I'd see a photo of a politician or whatever, and draw in little thought-balloon captions, and leave the newspaper for other people in the restaurant to read. I often wonder what they thought. Obviously, this was back in the dark ages before computer. Dark ages indeed.

I think maybe I've tried to be too "topical" over the last year in this blog, trying to impress upon everyone that I know a lot, when all I've really been doing is trying unsuccessfully to prove that to myself. But, in other postings, I just wanted to be goofy and have fun. Let someone else debate important stuff. So, the friend of mine who showed me how to use my photoshop program kinda created a monster of Frankensteinian proportions...me. Heaven help us all. To that end, "Huckleberries Online" (www.spokesmanreview.com/blogs/hbo) has been a great source of some pretty strange photos. Photos which get the ol' imagination going. And I've satirized a lot of those fotos. Some turned out great, others I thot were quite sophmoric. The following photo-satire lies somewhere in-between those extremes. You might even think it's for the birds. Cheep, cheep.



Ever hear that song, "Tennessee Birdwalk"? These must be the "bald-headed birds in their dirty underwear". Chirp, Chirp.....are these Sparrows? Finches? I'm not sure, but they're not very glamorous-appearing. They could be referred to as "foul" fowl. Or not. Chirp, Chirp.