Crying for Argentina and dead folks

Well boy did they just pop off this week. First Ed McMann genial smiling guy at the end of Johnny Carson’s Sofa all those years. He would laugh and say Hiyo from time to time and chortle when Carson would say things like ‘Wrong Water buffalo Breath”. All in all not that bad a gig – there some kind of Star Search thing and those big Publisher’s clearing house checks that he would force on terrified villagers as well but mostly he was Johnny’s bud.

Thinking about the Tonight Show when Carson was on I am remembering it as just a lot looser than either of the current shows – guests would often just be on the show to be on the show – nowadays it’s all about plugging something you’re doing – there was that as well but a lot of the time they just talked. Johnny could listen very well and ask the right question – it’s a hard skill – which I didn’t appreciate because he made it look so easy.

And that is Ed’s fate I guess – I start writing about him and sidetrack right to Johnny Carson. Sorry Ed.

Mean time the woman for whom my generation were damn near commanded to feel lust for and buy that poster passed away as well after a long illness.

I’m probably un-American in saying this but well blondes have never really done it for me personally – I’m not sure why they just didn’t – also I remember disliking Charlie’s Angels mostly because of what everybody else liked – the jiggle stuff. And to show just how out of step I was I liked Kate Jackson she seemed to have a brain in her head – unlike the other two..

No of course it wasn’t true but American TV and (and probably still) prefers very good looking women to be dumb – smart and beautiful is just too much – witness Diana Rigg’s horrible US sitcom. Not a single writer had the slightest idea what to do with her.

But Fara wasn’t content to be an air head and worked on being an actor – then had massive ups and downs and then because fate can be cruel – got cancer that took her away inch by painfully inch.

And then Michael Jackson dropped dead.

And while Fara death is sad because it was really too soon – MJ had been a dead man walking for years – a trainwreck of a life that made Elvis’ last years seem sane calm and measured. Not a huge fan of the music although I recognize the quality. There was a time when he was inescapable but that time was gone.

It’s interesting he always seemed proudest that Thriller was the best selling album in history – but as the years dragged by Thriller became an albatross that he kept chasing – to sell more than that. It killed his art.

Lost in all the Shuffle was the passing Sky Saxon lead singer of the early garage band The Seeds.

Meantime- in what should come as no surprise; it turns out that yes Mr. Sanford the Governor of South Carolina did pay for a trip to his mistress with state money. Which means he’s done. He may flail about here and there but he’s on borrowed time as governor of South Carolina.

Which frankly after his absurd grandstanding about not taking federal funds even for unemployment insurance strikes me as having the grim grind of the karma wheel. Which can be hard to believe in when Dick Cheney isn’t being struck by lightning every day but no matter – leave him to heaven.

The one thing that struck me here – after Amada at Pandagon pointed it out was that this was not your typically cynical use power and money to get some nookie political scandal this guy fell in love with this woman, madly franticly probably for the first time in his life he was carried away by passion. It doesn’t really excuse his actions but it adds a note of humanity to what happened – this was not Switzer’s order a woman like you order delivery pizza which is one of the appeals of using expensive hookers – this was something else.

It’s sad really – I’m guess he and his wife’s life had been lived with the idea of control of meeting obligations of repressing emotions even as a youngster and when this volcano of emotion hit, he was totally incapable of rational thought – I haven’t looked at the emails no need.. The ancient Romans thought romantic love was a form of madness and locked folks away for it. Sanford would have been a candidate.

It does argue for that if you are going to fall in love with a woman you shouldn’t (I let you define just what that means) it’s better to do this when you are young so the damage it does to your life is limited. Which in the nature of full disclosure is what happened to me I fell like a crazy person for someone and she (oddly enough) fell for me too – the resultant disaster almost killed me but I was young and I manged to recover - well mostly. So I have a bit of understanding for this guy. He’s still a rotter but it’s the second circle of hell – not good but not so bad either.

Peace, Love, Buffeted by Winds