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Thursday, February 21, 2019

The Writer's Life 2/21 - Monkee Business & Big Bucks

RIP Peter Halsten Thorkelson, 77, aka Peter Tork. Raised in Connecticut, he hit the Greenwich Village music scene in the early sixties and befriended Stephen Stills, who was rejected for a part in The Monkees TV show. Stills recommended Tork to the producers, and the rest, as the cliché goes, is history. The series shot 58 episodes in two seasons. It was good clean fun. Although the group members were excoriated for a lack of talent, Tork actually was proficient at piano, bass and guitar. The distinctive piano opening of Day Dream Believer is his creation. The band cut six albums, four rising to number one. After he left, he stayed in the business, making seven albums with two other bands. He was, of course, part of the reunion tours. He also did some acting. There are 15 titles until his name at IMDb, which omits his appearances on the zany Uncle Floyd Show on UHF back in the day. He also contributed to several film soundtracks. He directed one episode of the TV show: Monkees Mind Their Manor, which aired in 1968. Well done, sir. Thank you. (Facts also from Wiki)

 
There's a lot of good stuff in today's NY Post: Jersey officials have proposed a 42% tax on an ounce of marijuana, far more than levies against beer, wine or hard liquor in the Garden State. I know the politicians' motivation is greed, but it makes one wonder if they have friends in the illegal trade that they want to keep in business. Why pay such a fee when an unlicensed dealer figures to offer the stuff for far less?... Two of the most vocal opponents of the NYC Amazon deal have been proponents of subsidies for the film, TV and theater industries, and receive donations from them. Makes one wonder if their opposition was based on not getting any cash from Bezos' behemoth. In case you're wondering, neither pol was AOC, who hasn't been around long enough to cash in on kickbacks... The latest liberal icon to suffer the wrath of the left is tennis legend Martina Navratilova, who wrote a piece for the Times of London in which she cited the unfair advantage transgenders competing as women have. She equated it to cheating... Red Billy, NYC's limousine Marxist mayor and alleged champion of the environment, has increased the city's vehicle fleet by 21% since 2013, when nanny Bloomberg ruled the roost... Uh-oh - murders in the Big Apple are up 55% so far in 2019. May it be just a blip and not a sign of a return of the bad old days... Scientists are working to infect insects with genetic mutations that may one day wipe out malaria.

 Actors who land a significant role in a successful TV series have struck the mother-lode. If wise, they may be financially stable for decades, if not life. I'd bet the potential loss of that revenue stream is what motivated the guy who perpetrated the bias attack hoax. It's almost always "Follow the money."

Freshman Zion Williamson has been awesome for Duke this season. He figures to be a one and done player headed to the NBA after a single college season. Last night he suffered a knee sprain when his sneaker came apart. Yahoo Sports posted this inane headline: "Zion's Injury Could Be Bad for Nike." Boo-hoo. The company has done a lot to corrupt what is supposed to be an amateur endeavor. I was shaking my head when I read that people are debating whether Williamson should return to the lineup when his injury heals. He probably shouldn't, as he has millions coming his way, which might disappear if he is injured severely. That is the cold reality of big time sports, and also shows that major college basketball is, to a great degree, a fraud.

My thanks to the woman who bought a pictionary for her grand-daughter, and to the mom who purchased two novels in L.J. Smith's Vampire Diaries series for her daughter; and to Bad News Billy, who overcompensated me for a collector's edition of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein; and to the woman who selected a paperback romance as I was packing up; and to the sweet elderly woman who donated a book in Russian and blew me a kiss when I alerted her of her van's arrival.
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