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Author: Kim du Toit
Something Like That
SOTI:
And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to the range.
Absentee Parents
Many years ago, my boss came into my office and said:
“Ever hear of a band called Whitesnake?”
“Sure; plays hard rock, the lead singer is ex-Deep Purple’s David Coverdale, and so on. Why?”
“My daughter won two tickets to a Whitesnake concert in some competition, but I can’t face going with her because it’ll be too loud. Would you mind taking her?”
“Nope. Gimme the tickets.”
So I took his 14-year-old daughter to the concert, which was okay as concerts go, and then discovered that — surprise, surprise! — the tickets included backstage passes and a chance to meet the band. (I guess she’d forgotten to tell her dad about that little bonus.)
Anyway, all went well: Coverdale and I chatted awhile about Deep Purple and such, she got all the autographs, and that was that.
I was reminded of that occasion when I was reading a series of articles about how David Bowie is supposed to have bonked a couple of underage groupies (among many others) back in his early years, and more recently too.
…and in similar vein, how Led Zeppelin did same with some “baby groupies”, also back in the 1970s.
No shit.
Listen to me tell it: I played in a (vastly-less successful) rock band back in the 1970s, and even though we were never groupie-bait to the extent that the big guys were, there were plenty of opportunities to get up to (or more correctly, into ) mischief.
Which leads to my my main question:
WHERE WERE THESE GIRLS’ PARENTS?
How could they be so ignorant as to think that unaccompanied young girls were not going to get into trouble in the heady, loud and licentious atmosphere that was a rock concert? How could they allow their adolescent daughters to go by themselves or (worse still) only accompanied by their giggly friends? (For those still unclear on this aspect of parenting, let me explain: without the presence of parents, one kid can get up to mischief; two kids can get up to mischief-squared; and multiple kids will — not can — get into Hiroshima-scale trouble.) As Jimmy Page memorably said: “Everyone knows what they come for.” Groupies gonna groupie, as the modern idiom goes.
I’m not excusing the musicians for doing this stuff, but remember, most of these bands were (and still are) themselves only a few years older than the baby-groupies. Asking young musicians to behave with decorum in such circumstances is an exercise doomed to failure — as is expecting young girls to behave with restraint when coming face-to-face with their sweaty heroes in the excitement after the concert.
Let me get even more explicit. When a fresh-faced young girl presents herself to a whacked-out musician, don’t expect him to ask her for ID before he fucks her. And he is going to fuck her.
It’s just stupid for people to clutch their pearls and accuse these now-septuagenarians of statutory rape committed half a century ago. Leave them alone.
Young people are going to fuck up. What’s needed is responsible adult supervision — just as I provided to my boss’s daughter on that occasion. So if any of you are faced with a similar situation, either with yer kids or yer grandkids, act accordingly. Somebody has to be the grownup, and it might as well be you.
Overrated
Over at the PJ site, Chris Queen has a list of his 10 most overrated bands/musicians.
My take on his selections:
10. Imagine Dragons — never heard of them, nor a single one of their songs.
9. Nirvana — I liked Smells Like Teen Bullshit Spirit, but the rest was lame. As was most Seattle grunge.
8. Maroon 5 — never heard of them, nor a single one of their songs.
7. Michael Jackson — agree. Great performer, but most of his music was awful airweight pop. Compare MJ to a genuine musician of the time like Stevie Wonder…
6. Rolling Stones — world’s most successful garage band. Jagger’s pouting and preening was gay back in the 1960s, and it’s just embarrassing now.
5. The Doors — I don’t think they’re overrated. Jim Morrison, despite having a great voice, was just terrible: immature, unreliable, self-centered. But Densmore, Krieger and Manzarek were among the best musicians of the time, and for a three-piece band? Brilliant sound.
4. Bruce Springsteen — most overrated musician on the list. Like The Doors, the other musicians (his E Street Band) are brilliant, however.
3. Florida Georgia Line — never heard of them, nor a single one of their songs.
2. Green Day — posturing punks. Never understood the appeal. Ditto bands like R.E.M.
1. Creedence Clearwater Revival — I didn’t mind CCR, and I don’t think they’re overrated — certainly, they shouldn’t be at #1 on his Overrated Hate Parade. Not when there are bands around like U2 and soloists like Frank Sinatra.
Following Up On Stupid
Some time back I made fun of a dumb woman who rebelled against her strict Orthodox Jewish upbringing, and then got canned by her employer (an Orthodox Jewish school) when she shacked up with her boyfriend. Of course, she sued the school for restricting her right to be sinful or some nonsense.
Well, the court finally came to a decision — and they told her to shuddup.
An Orthodox Jewish Nursery has won an appeal over the sacking of a teacher after it was revealed that she was ‘living in sin’ with her partner.
The Gan Menachem Hendon nursery in north London has been cleared over religious discrimination over teacher Zelda De Groen who had worked for the nursery from 2012 until 2016.
Good for them.
Same Old Shit Under The Shiny Wrapping
Well, well, well… it appears that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the sparkly little CommieNewGirl from the Bronx, is pretty much the same as all the other dirty politicians now infesting Congress:
Her Wealthy Chief of Staff used a PAC to Pay Her Boyfriend
How?
Like other candidates, AOC paid Brand New Congress LLC for strategic consulting, in her case totaling $18,880.14. Unlike in the other cases, Brand New Congress PAC turned around and paid her boyfriend as a “marketing consultant”.
Indeed, while Brand New Congress PAC’s ten largest expenditures were paid to Brand New Congress LLC for “strategic consulting,” a sum that totaled $261,165.20 over the course of the campaign, its eleventh and twelfth largest expenditures were paid to Riley Roberts.
…
When AOC won, she then hired Chakrabarti, her strategist/patron, as her Chief of Staff. Taking money from a rich guy, trying to hide it by passing it through a PAC, and then giving her benefactor a government job.
That’s definitely unethical and potentially illegal. Chakrabarti may have made an illegal campaign contribution in excess of federal limits. Regardless, it raises questions about Chakrabarti’s hiring as AOC’s Chief of Staff after her election.
Oops.
Afterthought: as for the other CommieNewGirl, Kamala Harris? Her own father thinks she’s an asshole. Looks like the Socialist Class of 2020 isn’t faring too well.