BLOG ON THE RUN...
Stuck inside these four walls...blog inside forever...

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Well, that's what it feels like sometimes. I'm trying to change that. Today, I don't have a whole lotta time sitting here in front of the keyboard, but actually that's a good thing, because perhaps I won't get as long-winded as I usually do. So I'll just kinda plunge in here...

THE STUPOR BOWL: I heard on the radio just now that this year's Super Bowl, featuring New York in one corner and New England in the other corner, is supposed to be the most-watched Super Bowl ever. Although I imagine 75% percent of viewers will either take bathroom breaks or find some other good excuse to extricate themselves from the TV room when Paula Abdul sings...meaningless her, her meaningless image and meaningless music. She's said that she's gonna be so nervous performing at the Stupor Bowl, that she's taping her performance. So what's the difference? A lot of the Super Bowl entertainment is lip-synched anyway. The saving grace in all of this is that Tom Petty (with the Heartbreakers?) will furnish some of the music, which is a GOOD thing. Just think of it...a Stupor Bowl performer with some actual CREDENTIALS. I hope he does "Runnin' Down A Dream"...my idea of a Perfect Rock Song.

THINGS 'R' SHAKY IN CYBERSPACE...I heard that YAHOO (where my e-mail is, by the way) laid off over a thousand employees this week. And now I hear that Microsoft is making a bid to buy Yahoo...hold on, wait a minute, what's gonna happen to Yahoo? Will it get wiped out and absorbed into MSN? I have an MSN Hotmail account, but I like Yahoo's ways of doing things better. Gosh, think of it...MSN taking over Yahoo...that would be analogous to Starbucks' gobbling up Folgers' and Yuban... just goes to show that things in the cyber-world have a way of reflecting what happens in Real Life. Take it over. Hostile takedown! Knee to the groin! Slam him on the map. And the winner is....? I guess in the big bad world of business, the title of a Jerry Butler song from 1969 would fit here..."Only The Strong Survive"...

COFFEE IN THE LANGUAGE OF YOUR CHOICE: Brothers and sisters, let's all heave a collective sigh for Starbuck's, the coffee conglomerate who's house coffee always tastes like it's been strained through a basketball player's sweaty and smelly Nike hi-tops...Poor Starbucks, and I really feel sorry for them; their megalomanic profits haven't increased as much as they were expecting, which means the Board of Directors can only give themselves a $100,000 raise instead of a $500,000 raise. I'm thinking about buying a couple cans of Safeway Premium Roast and sending it to Starbucks'. Wait, that's what they use anyway, ha ha. Starbucks is gonna open fewer outlets here in the States, but they'll open more abroad. Also, Starbucks' is gonna close 100 "poorly performing" stores in the States. Gosh, first Yahoo on shaky ground, and now Starbucks...The World As We Know It must be ending....again...

TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE? I was interrupted while typing the previous paragraph by a phone solicitor representing Charter Communications, the outfit that handles my cable TV. He must have been calling from India or Pakistan or Siberia, because I could barely understand him. He called me so that I could SAVE MONEY. Immediately, I was suspicious, so I asked him, "Okay, Bub, what's the deal? No one wants me to SAVE money, right?" Well, he said things have gotten so competitive in the cable TV business that my prices are getting lowered so I won't switch to another cable provider. Okaaaaay, fine. A technician is gonna come by, install some sort of digital converter, and I'll be getting MORE channels for less money, for the six-month introductory period, and when my rates go back up, they'll still be cheaper than what I'm paying now. Now, if we could only get GASOLINE providers to operate with the same logic. Ah, but that can't happen, since most of our fuel comes from a few GREEDY mid-east gasoline manipulators. Anyway, a Cable-TV outfit calling to save me money...I must be going into cardiac arrest or something. Be still, my heart...

SEPARATED AT BIRTH? In the left margin of this blog, you'll see Beatles news on the "What Goes On" box; you can click on that and find out what's happening, although John and George don't seem to be making a whole lotta news these days. By the way, "What Goes On" is one of the more obscure Beatles songs; it was on the flip side of the "Nowhere Man" single, and allegedly contains some lyrics written by Ringo, as well as John and Paul. Anyway, Paul's been in the public eye a lot lately...his "Memory Almost Full" album has just crossed the million-seller threshold...which is great; that's how he's gonna pay for his divorce from HeatherYoko. A London Newspaper snapped a shot of Macca walking down the street...and then came up with this comparison...

At left, Paul McCartney ("Macca")...at right, the late great Roy Orbison, whose song, "You Got It" is playing on the radio right now as I type this...I've noticed throughout my life, when I think of a performer, within minutes I'll hear their music somewhere; must be some sorta cosmic thing. And it's happened AGAIN...I mentioned George earlier in this section, and right now, "What Is Life" by George is on the radio! This is just waaay too weird. But enjoyable. I think all of us have cosmic powers, but we're not smart enough to harness them in any positive way. Although, maybe if I grit my teeth and think REALLY hard about gasoline going down to $1.50 a gallon, perhaps it'll happen. I'll let you know how that one works out...
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Of course, the title for this post was inspired by McCartney's "Band On The Run" song, which will have been released 34 years ago this year. Side one of that album has one of the best song-to-song flows I've ever heard. That album contains a song called "Nineteen Hundred Eighty Five"...which was so far away at the time...and now, '1985' is 27 years ago. Maybe if I really really grit my teeth, I can get time to stop. It's worth a try!