A-Bombs, No more Virgins in New York and stuff

1. This is interesting.

Saw a story in the news today – you wonder if the man described is either very very luck or someone you don’t want anywhere near you.

The story goes that in 1945 a Japanese businessman was in Hiroshima – on August 6, 1945 – the day the bomb dropped and he ended up with bad burns on his back – but as he could still move and with the city swamped with the bodies of the dead, the dying, and the wounded – they patched him up as best he could and sent him home.

To Nagasaki – he arrived there August 9th 1945 – just in time for the other A-Bomb being dropped. He also survived that.

No word if he ended up on the Andrea Doria when it sank , but lord a man has got to wonder what is next? There is no word on what the gentleman did with the rest of his life – he’s 93 per the report but hell and damn you have to think any sudden flash of light was going to make him dive for cover.

Or maybe not – maybe he figured hell if two a-bombs didn’t kill me what do I have to worry about? And he did make 93.

2. No More Virgins in New York.

Well that was a stupid post title but – as of 3/31/09 the two Virgin Mega stores (one at Time Square and the one at 14th Street Union Square) will be closed for good – victims of the bad economy and the changing nature of the music business- in that other than at shows and the like, nobody buys CDs anymore – (well that’s not quite true but even the top selling cd’s numbers pale compared to what they used to be – ).

I find it sad – yeah the mega store was a pretty appalling garish place but hell it was in the middle of Times Square – subtlety would have been useless there. – and in the day it had a very very good import section – I got Ian Hunter’s Artful Dodger, All of the Good Ones are Taken and Overnight Angels there – (Artful Dodger was very good pointing towards his current more active stance writing and playing, the other two well – there was a reason he withdrew for a while) – along with such obscurities as John’s Children (64-65 era British Who Style R&B – never quite got it on record – on stage it was white suits and riots) and early Shonen Knife records – their sheer size meant they could carry obscure stuff like that.

Well there are lot of reasons that business model failed – I-Pods and MP3’s cut demand for actually CDs – Record Company greed and need to match Financial companies 20% return led to self destructive policy – the rise of the Internet and currently the horrible economy.

Still I’m going to miss it – I’ve always enjoyed tooling about record stores – the off chance of finding something new and interesting or just odd always propelled me and I’m one of those who if I like someone I need to get everything – I’ve spent a lot of time doing that.- In Tower records, HMV Stores, and Virgin, the local record store in my home town that eventually started to dread my approach It was when I asked for the Ian Dury and the Blockhead’s album – the owner sputtered “you know you’re the only one that asks for this shit” ah memories . – it’s just well sad they are all gone – there is still J&R Music World but how long will that remain afloat? Cruising Amazon just isn’t’ the same.

I also will miss their Video selection -

Yeah it’s old man nostalgia but – what with them tearing down Shea and now this – the wheel of time’s grinding is sounding very loud in my ears.

The two phrases that come to mind as I think about this say a bit more about me than I’m comfortable with but in the interests of accuracy they are

One
-“Sic Transit Gloria Mundy” – Thus pass all the treasures (glories) of the world

And Two:

“They’re moving Father’s grave to build a Sewer” an old English Music Hall song done by the Clancy Brothers on one of their later albums.

3. Random Neural firings

Now we need to keep the folks that wrecked AIR and most of the economy because that is so complicated but the government boots the head of GM out and replaces him with the man who drove Home Depot into the ground? I’m confused.

Saw Girl Guerilla Leader – on of the series of Japanese films called ‘pinky violence’ which featured girls in gangs fighting each other and Yakuza gangs. It seemed like there was a rule that women had to fight every few minutes – or at least take off their tops – there wasn’t much of a story – and there was some creepy stuff – the Japanese really like to tie women up in extremely elaborate knots and use an awful lot of rope – it’s moments like that when a film tilts you oh that’s not right factor you are grateful for the ff button.

The best moment was near the end were the head of the girl gang has planted a bomb in the Yakuza’s boss’s car – and for once instead of being treated to an up-close multi camera shot of the explosion, you watched the car fade into the distance getting smaller and smaller – with cuts back to the girl gang leader who planted the bomb, then the car turned a corner and then you heard soft “whoomp” and a plume of smoke appeared. Considering the over the top nature of the rest of the film made it a very effective moment.

The band meantime has scattered to the winds for the first weeks of spring no big drama - it’s just spring – people want to just go outside and not be cold for a while – we do have a gig on May 2nd which will give us time to do new stuff to add – more sickness guaranteed.

Peace Love No More Virgins