Obtuse Oddball Observations...
I couldn't find one 'main' thing to post about, so I posted about several things...

I hope it's off the air: I haven't seen that ridiculous "Viva Viagra" commercial on TV lately...you know, the one where several really macho-looking chopper riders assemble in a weatherbeaten shack to sing about their individual cases of erectile dysfunction. They sing the song, then ride off into the sunset, leaving their musical instruments behind. So, when they were singing the song, were they waiting for the Viagra to kick in? No wonder they rode off so fast. They must have been really 'feeling the urge' if they left their guitars behind! There's a newer, slightly more tactful Viagra ad on the tube lately, although the words "Viva Viagra" do creep in at the very end. But at least I'm not embarrassed to watch it. Musicians singing about Viagra is about as plausible as George W. Bush attending a Mensa meeting.

Unfortunately, this one's on the air: I actually saw it the other night. A commercial for disposable diapers, and, yep, it's the one that uses a Beatles song. The little rugrat is crawling across the floor to the tune of "All You Need Is LUVS." Da-da-da-da-da....I suppose, next up will be an ad for Smucker's Jam using the tune of "Strawberry Fields Forever"? Or, how about a commercial for Coppertone Lotion, featuring "Here Comes The Sun"? I suppose if that happened, I'd survive though. I mean, in years past, I survived "Wisk" bleach commercials that annoyingly warbled, "RING AROUND THE COLLAR!!!" and those obnoxious commercials featuring the little girl who drawled, "IT'S 'SHAKE N' BAKE' AND AH HAYELPED!!!"

Another one of your rights in jeopardy: I just heard a report on Northwest Cable News that originated in Seattle, where they're trying to pass a statewide law prohibiting people from wearing HATS in banks. The line that a spokesman used was, "don't come into a bank trying to conceal your identity"...well, hmmm. Things have evidently gotten so bad out there that Mr. Innocent Blue-collar guy can't wear his hat into a bank anymore, lest he try to rob a bank, with the hat's brim concealing his facial features from the security cameras. Just another case where law-biding citizens become inconvenienced by increasing crime rates all over the world. I wear a hat just about all the time; I guess I must look like a career criminal. It is always sad when, in order to protect society, little everyday things (like wearing hats) get outlawed.

Still not out of the woods yet: I wrote about having the flu recently, and I've shaken most of my symptoms...but I think the ol' flu germs migrated to my digestive tract...I'm still having some dizzy spells and queasiness. "I'm so dizzy, my head is spinnin'", Tommy Roe once sang (in a #1 hit song from 1969)...and I'm just having to take it easy. I haven't driven anywhere in two weeks. I employed a cab driver to go get some groceries for me last week. Ackthptf. At this rate, I'll get well just before it's time to go see the doctor again. And if I don't get ill at the clinic, I'm sure the doctor bill will make me relapse. Actually, I'd like to find whoever gave me this flu in the first place, and COUGH in their FACE. I'll just have to remember to get a flu shot...and hope that the shot doesn't give ME the flu all over again.

They must have been reading my post: I came down hard on the Seattle Mariners in an earlier post, because basically they have been playing like a bumbling team trying their hardest to keep up with the other amateur teams in the Sandlot league. So what's happened since then? Well, they've won their last two games...although, last night, Mariners' starter Jeff Weaver walked in a couple of runs, and the M's were behind 5-0 by the time the SECOND inning was over. They won 8-7. Last time I checked, the job description for "baseball pitcher" specified that you must LIMIT the other team's run-producing ability, not ENHANCE it. I; glad the Mariners won, but too much come-from-behind baseball means a short season. Unless the players manage to find a fall amateur sandlot baseball league somewhere.

The strange recording saga of Kent LaVoie: "Huh?" "Who?" "Never heard of him". Well, you HAVE heard him; he's the guy who sang "Me and You and a Dog Named Boo" and "I Love You to Want Me." Mr. LaVoie is LOBO, and he's one of my favorite artists. He rocks a little, with a country flavor, sings in a hushed voice, and I've always been a big fan. But as with everything, time takes a toll; things change, people change, music changes, and people get left by the wayside. I did not know until a couple of years ago that he made a record in 1976...and he couldn't find anyone to put it out here in the States, and so it went unheard here for YEARS. However, it was picked up in Europe and in the Far East, would you believe. And now it's available on CD for a limited time, and it's nice to hear, because his music always was good; it's just that, I guess, in 1976, all of the record companies wanted disco, and Lobo's not a disco guy. Anyway, pictured below is his long-lost album...



I believe you can order this CD at http://www.fansoflobo.com/. This is a good CD, though a little too love-song-oriented for me; I think his masterpiece is his 1971 album, "Of A Simple Man". He plays a clean, crisp rhythm guitar, and writes about his travels on the road, and the characters he met along the way, and it's easy and breezy stuff to listen to.
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There. You have been informed, entertained, manipulated and cajoled within the confines of this post. Since I didn't have anything special to write about, well, this is "elementary blogging 101"; I think it turned out not too sophmorically...