I had to buy it. I had a coupon to use at Borders and it was on my way home, and I bought it! It's 547 pages, not counting the index, and I can't wait to read every juicy word.
I'm surprised he can remember all the stuff that's in there. Bill Wyman published his memoirs "A Stone Alone" in 1997, and it's lengthy, but he kept a diary through the years. I remember the story about how Mick Jagger wanted to "borrow" the journals and Bill said no, because it was going to be his own book. Sorry Mick! There's been so many books written about the Stones, and lots of books with pictures, but this is the one I think will be the juciest. I'll let you know.
I have to say that this Mother's Day weekend was one of the best ever. I've had wonderful Mother's Day celebrations where we had my moms and grandma (one mom, and all grandmas now enjoying French Roast coffee in heaven) on hand to have dinner with us, or bar-b-cue, or whatever, and those memories are wonderful. This year however, it was all about me, and I must say, it was SPLENDID!  This is not always the case for my birthday which is in December. I am now  moving my birthday to the same day as Mother's Day so it's just easier for everyone involved, and usually it's better weather. That's a plus.
Even with some lingering health issues that came over me last week, this was a kick ass, Mother Lovin' weekend. My brother and his beautiful wife sent me flowers. It was so unexpected and sweet that I blubbered all over the petals as I was arranging them in my favorite vase. Marty took me to the Frank Lloyd Wright house at the Oregon Garden on Saturday afternoon. I've been there before, but never inside because of private functions or whatever going on at the same time that I wanted a tour.  I also went to Powell's with my friend Chris who also adores books. We in Portland truly are blessed to have Powell's Book City. I'm glad I only allowed for 90 minutes there or I would have gone way over budget. So many books, so little time.
I was also treated to a trip to the store to pick out some flowers and potting soil. I love gardening, but can't do the crazy stuff like pulling out stumps like I used to do. Hernias! Pffft. What a thing. Anyway, it was cool to just point and choose and come home and plant, creating instant beauty around the house.
Then to top it off, George Thorogood played the Roseland on Mother's Day night and I went to the show with my son, Alec.  We have this long standing tradition of seeing George Thorogood together. From the time he was in second grade and we saw GT rock the LB Day Amphitheater, dropping "F" bombs that Alec would no doubt bring back to his Little League team, and rocking us like crazy...to the time we saw GT&theD's open for ZZ Top at the Rose Garden trying not to watch the couple who needed to get a room in front of us...to the VERY MEMORABLE 2010 Mother's Day show at the Roseland...it was a blast each time. The fun part of this last Sunday is that we got to go backstage and meet with George.Â
George Thorogood knows how to enter a room...with great presence and rock attitude! He also has wonderful wisdoms that he passes along when you meet him or interview him. This time it was a book recomendation. "The Tender Bar" by J.R. Moehringer. He told my son to read it. It was about a boy becoming a man and how his mom was there for him. George said his mother-in-law gave it to him, and every man should read it.Â
Other wisdoms from the evening include tips for everyone meeting a rock star which I will now pass along so that you don't embarrass yourself when finding yourself backstage with a legend.
1. Do not ask to have body parts signed. While some guys will really enjoy this, and I myself have autographed limbs of muscular men, it's sort of strange. Also usually messy.Â
2. Do not interrupt the rock star when they are telling a story or talking to someone else. We are there to see them. They are allowing us to come into THEIR space before (or after) a show, and if you are too drunk or obnoxious you will then drool your bad karma all over the rest of us who are attempting to be interested and interesting. Also do not yell. They have a night's worth of loud music to deal with.
3. Don't grab the rock star's ass after they have agreed to a hug. In fact don't ASK for a hug. If the star wants to hug you, they will. Most times shaking hands is cool enough. Sometimes they will take a picture with you. Other times they will even allow autographs as well. Don't be selling that on e-bay and making it worse for us who try to get these rare items signed so we can raise funds for charity. That is karma that you will have a hard time getting rid of. I'll pray for you.
4. Take a photograph in your mind of the moment and the people in the room. Some people have met so many celebrities that it is no longer a big thrill. I have yet to get to that point. My heart starts beating faster, I know my face flushes, and I'm just so happy to be in the room with someone I admire. It's rich and wonderful. Enjoy it.Â
5. Don't be too cool for the room, be just cool enough.  Show your appreciation.  You know what I mean. If you don't, then don't go backstage.
6. Do not make your boyfriend/girlfriend jealous by being too gushy all over rock star. Again, not cool.
7. If you won a prize like an electric guitar signed by the artist, and if you are awesome as this guy, listener David Gilroy, not only will the artist sign the guitar, he will play a couple of tunes on it so that you can SEE that it was played by rock royalty. Our KGON listeners rock!Â
George Thorogood always gives the audience his best, which was advice he got from the one and only Joe DiMaggio, the Yankee Clipper. Yes, that's how incredibly cool George is, he got advice from Joe DiMaggio.Â
I'm lucky enough to have interviewed George Thorogood a couple of times.
Here's a link to the most recent one.Here's a link to one from the past.
May all future Mother's Day events be as wonderful as this one was. Oh, and to top it all off, my son took me to see "Iron Man 2" last night. LOVED IT! We enjoy that kind of movie. Plus, it has music from Queen, The Clash and the MIGHTY AC/DC in it. We were talking about the movie on the way home, and thought that George's "Bad to the Bone" would have worked in the movie as well. It's been in a lot of movies, and works every time.
Hope you had a good weekend too.
For days now, I've had the song "Cherry Bomb" running through my brain. "Hello Daddy. Hello Mom. I'm your ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-cherry bomb!" Over and over again. The funny thing is that I'm not at all tired of it. Usually when something gets stuck in my head like that, I want to scream. Not this time. I rather like the song.
The reason that song is stuck in my head is because of the movie "The Runaways" and the Portland premiere at the Hollywood Theater on Monday night. It was also a benefit for the Rock 'n' Roll Camp for Girls which is an amazing organization. What cool women AND men are involved with the camp. It is all about empowering young girls to believe in themselves, their creativity, their power, and teaches them team building and other life skills...all while rockin' out! There certainly was nothing like this around in 1975 when The Runaways were getting a girl rock band together. That was the same year I started working in radio. Yeah, it was a man's world in both cases.
The movie shows rock in all it's most disgusting ugliness. This is not a movie for kids. It shows the abuse of power, drugs, sex, and pulls no punches at all. It also is pretty truthful about how alienated teenagers are. Even if they are the most popular or beautiful person at school, there's a certain amount of feeling like an absolute outcast that everyone goes through. I'm pretty sure about that. Follow up at your high school reunions and ask questions. If people are willing to let their true self show, you'll find that probably everyone went through something awful, and had no idea how to deal with it when they were in high school. I can think of only one person at my high school who most likely escaped that feeling, and he truly was the coolest dude on the planet. Even at the reunions, he was still "that guy" who was at ease with himself and everyone around him. Not the rest of us. We were all full of angst and our heads were ready to explode. And so it was with The Runaways too.
Back to the movie. The Hollywood Theater was sold out for the premiere. Cherie Currie was there, and looked even more amazing than she did when she was in the band. I congratulated her on her book "Neon Angel" and asked if it was hard to tell the story. She said it was harder to take out the co-author Tony O'neill because he was trying to have it be a very British and proper book, and she wanted the book to have her voice. She succeeded. The book definately has Cherie's voice. The movie follows the book pretty close, but it does take creative license with several scenes.Â
I found the seat that I wanted way before they let in the crowd, on the aisle and in the back so if I needed to leave I could without disrupting anything. When the lights went down, there was a seat next to me that wasn't taken. This was a sold out show, so I figured it wouldn't last. A woman wandered in late and was looking around, spotted the seat next to me and asked if it was taken. I said "not at all" and she sat down. When she settled in and found room for her backpack, the previews were off and the feature began. She was...a talker. One of those people who in a theater, alone, will talk to the film. Comment on things. Gasp with horror at things. Now, I'm all for laughing during a movie, and there were funny scenes. But there were also very uncomfortable scenes, and she also made it very obvious how she felt about each and every one of them. I have no idea what it is about me that attracts people like this to sit near me at movies and concerts. I'm a magnet. Seriously. I'd like it to stop.
At the end of the movie, Cherie Currie stayed for a Q & A with the audience. I'm so glad I stayed. She was honest, powerful, and had no problem being genuine. There were lots of questions about her past, the depiction of the drug use in the film (Cherie became a drug counsellor for youth after she cleaned up for a while) and the music.Â
"The Talker" next to me had questions. Two of them.  I can't remember what the first question was, but I certainly remember the second one. She said "The film shows a relationship between you and Joan Jett, so was there something going on there?" Cherie answered "Are you asking if I had sex with Joan?" Talker sort of stammered, "well, you know, I, um..." Cherie said again "Are you asking if I had sex with Joan? YES...I did. And she was really good!" Wild applause ripped through the theater at that point. Hilarious.Â
She also talked about Kim Fowley who I wrote about in a previous blog. What a scumbag! She has forgiven him for the things that he did, and I'm sure that's part of anyone's recovery. To forgive the person who did you wrong so you can move forward. But seriously, what a scumbag. If you read the book or see the movie and don't have this reaction, then you have no shame or empathy. He abused the girls in many ways and they had to finally sue him to get the money he made off them...20 years later.Â
Bottom line. The movie was great but gritty. Dakota Fanning and Kristin Stewart were amazing. The book "Neon Angels" is also a great read. It will shock you, or maybe not if you've been in the jaded business of rock 'n roll for any length of time.Â
I must also mention that the sister of the late Runaways drummer, Sandy West was at the movie too, and there's a scholarship in her name for the Rock 'n' Roll Camp for Girls. If your little girl wants to rock, be thankful that there were pioneers who are now watching out for the girls, and that they all don't have to go through all that to be stars.
"Hello world, I'm your wild girl. I'm your ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-cherry bomb!"
Indeed.
My email box here at work always has at LEAST 3 "new" ways to be healthy sent to me daily. Experts, doctors, personal trainers, dietitians, Oprah, Jenny, Dr.Phil, Richard Simmons, WW, cosmetic enhancements, blah, blah, blah...they all feed the industry that Americans spend BILLIONS of dollars on. I get these emails because I have a job on the radio and they are usually looking for an interview to spread the news about their theory of health and weight loss.  I usually ignore these because I have an issue with health gurus. I mean, who's right?Â
Just today I got one about an new book aimed at women, another one aimed at your spiritual connection with food, and one from "Mark's Daily Apple: Primal Living in the Modern World." I like this one. His name is Mark Sisson, and here's his theory in a nutshell: Â
"The "primal blueprint" for human wellness and longevity consists of eating and behaving like primitive man when conditions like obesity, cancer, diabetes, chronic fatigue were virtually unknown."
Sisson says there are Ten Primal Blueprint Laws - nutritional and lifestyle guidelines we in the 21st century should use to optimally transform and optimize our innate genetic potential for health.
"Many of these primal laws fly in the face of what we've been told," says Sisson, whose advice attacks conventional "wisdom" about what constitutes proper diet; Â
Eat as much meat and saturated animal fat as you want to (heaven!)
Don't worry about size of meals (I'm in love)
Eat when ever you feel like eating (YES, YES!)
Avoid long daily workouts at the gym (Pant, pant...) Â
"Your genes desperately want you to be healthy," says Sisson. "Your best chance for attaining optimum health and long life comes from properly managing those genes using the tried-and-true blueprint for living evolved over millions of years - "the Primal Blueprint."   Â
It does go on to say we shouldn't eat things that come in packages...like sliced bread, chips, pop, and although I haven't read the whole thing, I'm thinking beer is probably on the list too. There's also mention of how we should get some sun because we are depriving ourselves of vitamin D, which I agree with on a mental level. Too many months without sun does not make for a blooming and happy iris. Â
No health/diet plan that's out there is perfect, but this one is refreshing in it's outlook. Kind of like the play "Defending the Caveman" as we get back to what we are in a primal way. Hunters and gatherers.Â
I'm intrigued, but I don' t think I'll call for an interview. This is close enough.
Headline from The Desert Sun on Tuesday December 8, 2009- "Record rainfall soaks desert. Â Power outages, street closures reported across Coachella Valley." Â Leave it to Oregonians to bring the rain on vacation. Â I thought I had packed well. Â The first sign that we were going to be missing things was when we were at the airport and discovered that we had the iPod dock, but not the iPod itself. Â Then I remembered that I had forgotten a stack of DVD's that I was going to bring. Â Oh yeah, and a sweatshirt. Â Hey, we were going to the desert where it's usually in the low 70's this time of year. Â How bad could it be? Â
"According to the National Weather Service, 1.12 inches of rain was recorded at the Palm Springs International Airport as of 8pm, surpassing the previous 1992 record of 0.90 inches on the same day. Â Monday's precipitation almost doubled the total amount of rain the valley has received all year." Â Did you get that? Â On one day it absolutely poured, and we were there. Â We were not only just there, we were out in it. Â Hey, just a little rain, let's go somewhere! Â Like shopping. Â We discovered very quickly that we also forgot to pack an umbrella. Â Being Northwest people, not a big deal. Â Being in the American Southwest, a very big deal since they also don't believe in rain gutters on their buildings. Â Going in and out of stores, we were soaked as the waterfalls poured off the tile roofs. Â Okay, enough of this we thought. Â Let's go back to the place where we were staying. Â
When it rains this much in the desert, there really isn't a lot of places for the water to go. Â That's why there are washout areas left vacant all over the place. Â Before it reaches the washouts, it floods the streets, where we were driving. Â In fact we had just gone down Ramon Road right before they closed it due to high water. Â It also snowed in the upper elevations, and then at night, the rain stopped, and the wind started blowing. Â That whistling, howling, blowing sound that you hear in scary movies about haunted houses. Â I put in ear plugs and went to sleep. Â
The next morning we woke up to sunshine, and snow on the mountains. Â It was beautiful. Â I resumed swimming for the rest of the vacation. Â Read three books. Â Lounged. Â Rented movies since I had forgot the ones I was going to bring along, and drove around the Coachella Valley in an amazing rented luxury car pretending I could actually afford to live there. Â I know, not very green, but boy, it was fun! Â
I think vacations are about pretending. Â Relaxing of course, but pretending is part of the experience for me. Â Wherever we go, I always get those local real estate pamphlets and look longingly at the pretty pictures of modestly huge estates (there is such a thing as too big...really) Â and pretend I've just won the lottery. Â I have a very fertile imagination. Â Not very original I know, but fertile. Â I also buy them mentally for friends and family. Â My fantasies are generous. Â Isn't that what drives us to buy the dollar ticket on the way out of the grocery store, or to the casino? Â The idea that it could happen. Â My dad says that the fantasy is worth the dollar a week. Â Investment companies tell you that the $52 per year invested and compounded would help when you're old and don't give a crap about going on vacation anymore. Â Thank you Suze Orman. Â Go bust someone else's bubble. Â
So, we're back now and missed the record cold here in the Portland area. Â For that I'm very grateful. Â And the rain is back, which is par for the course.
I adore reading, but the first part of the book must grab me. I will usually not slog through pages hoping that the plot gets better. I have done this before with mixed results.  The book I'm reading right now does not put me in that dilemma.
Around the KGON staff, we have a lot of book fanatics. It's wonderful. Every season is made for reading, but right now, in the fall, the vision of a fireplace, a beverage, and a book is just perfect. Add soup, and I'm there until I read the last page.Â
Gloria brought in a book that I just started yesterday and I can't think of anything else right now, except maybe college football this coming weekend. The book is titled "Highway 61 Resurfaced" by Bill Fitzhugh. If you like classic rock, radio, mystery, and a book that grabs you instantly, then pick it up and join me for a read. Gloria discovered this writer and is on a mission to spread the news. Turns out he used to be a radio DJ, so the parts of the book that deal with radio and music are right on the money. Thanks Glo! I need to go home and finish the book. Then start another one.
God, I love reading. Send me any and all book suggestions.
I
Like in the Kinks song...Â
"When ev'rybody's fast asleep, I start to creep.
Through the shadows of the moonlight, I walk my beat.
Better close your window tight:
I might come in for a bite,
Oh yeah. "
Â
I've got to stop watching "True Blood" so late at night. I was catching up and I like to watch episodes twice sometimes. I just can't get these vampires out of my head.Â
Â
I've always liked the vampire stories, read all the Ann Rice books, and now vampires are this crazy rage with teenagers. Pre-teens too from the book series that are out there. I enjoy the shape-shifters too. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, then move along.Â
Â
Actually I was up until after 1:00am and had to force myself to shut down the "monkey mind" that starts when I've stayed up too long. Then I got up at 5:00am. That's when the body clock goes off, and the cats want to eat and prowl. It's not really insomnia, it's just a REALLY active mind. Insomnia is what happens when you're trying to sleep and can't. I wasn't really trying.Â
Tonight though....ZZZZZZZZZZZ.
If you're a fan of dogs, or really beautiful fast cars, or the sport of racing, or just a fan of great books about life, then you should read "The Art of Racing in the Rain" by Seattle author Garth Stein.  One of my friends who lives in the Emerald city said that he actually came to their book club to discuss the book with them. One of the things she passed along to me was that he kept getting feedback from publishers that it shouldn't be written in the voice of the dog. That's exactly what makes this book so wonderful. As humans, having lost a lot of our primal instincts, it would have been much more in the head, instead of in the heart. You'll love Enzo. Great book. Fast read. Enjoy!
