Category Archives: Entertainment

Get your kicks

…on Route 66.

Remember that song? It winds from Chicago to L.A….

More importantly, do you remember traveling on Route 66? Having been raised near Chicago, I’ve been on it, I’m sure, but I don’t remember. It would have been in my childhood.

Anyway, as usual, I went a mile deep into a link forest and found the most wonderful sites about this historic roadway, and what it meant to American travelers from 1927 until the late 60s. According to Wikipedia, the highway was decommissioned (shut down and removed from US maps) in 1985, to make room for the interstate highway system. Recently, thanks to a huge effort by preservationists, Route 66 signs are beginning to appear not only on the roadway itself, but on maps as “Historic Route 66.” Nice.

The coolest thing about Route 66 is its nearly endless parade of fabulous vintage diners, gas stations, motels and museums that dot the landscape between Chicago and Los Angeles, where the road officially ends. Check this out – I want to stay in the Wig-Wam Motel, in Rialto, California (click on the picture for a larger view). Is that great or what?? There are pictures of the interiors as well – just 2 beds and a bathroom, with a little window air conditioner and small TV. $40 a night – can you beat it? Don’t think so. You can also bank on repeated sightings of Muffler Men. Eww.

The list of links to sites about Route 66 can keep you busy for hours. Too bad I have to finish a paper for class, and get ready to go to teacher inservice. Yippy.

And back for a minute to the song, “Route 66.” It was written by Bobby Troup – the older guy at the bottom of this photo. Remember him? He played Dr. Joe Early on the 1970s drama, Emergency. His wife (singer/actress Julie London) was on the show, too. She played nurse Dixie McCall. I was in love with Randolph Mantooth (top of the picture), who played EMT John Gage. Didn’t we all think he was completely dreamy? Didn’t you?

Ok, I’m way off the subject. Check out the Route 66 links – you’ll find some cool places & pictures.

Rat Fink, your travel concierge

Hey, Grandpa!

Your boys the Rolling Stones are in a movie!

I was on the BBC News site, and saw that director Martin Scorsese (Goodfellas, Casino, Gangs of New York, The Aviator) made a film about the Stones. Well, it’s about time someone did.

Mick Jagger has my basic respect, because he can still sing it. Every time I’ve heard/seen recent concert footage, most of the songs he sang were in the same key as he sang them in forty years ago. Their voices may still be in good shape, but cheese ‘n crackers, look at Keith Richards:

It’s been said that as we age, the face we’re left with is the one we’ve earned. Now I don’t claim that three decades of boozing, snorting, injecting, smoking and debauching would give anyone that “Gee, I feel like I’m not at my freshest today” feeling, but hey – the man looks a bit rough, and this photo was taken in 2002.

I guess I should give the guy a break, though. He and Jagger are both 65 years old and still rocking, so you have to hand it to them. Drummer Charlie Watts is 67.

They still consider themselves “the kids from the other side of the tracks,” compared to the Beatles, who were together only one fourth as long but have secured a more legendary status. And, apparently, that’s ok with Mick. He’s happy to be the bad boy, and probably laughed when writer Tom Wolfe said, “The Beatles want to hold your hand. The Rolling Stones want to burn down your town.”

Scorsese (pictured at right with Richards and Jagger) openly admits that the Stones influenced him bigtime in his teenage and early adult years, and that making the movie was a labor of love.

The Stones really didn’t do anything for me in the sixties, although I was a fan of their work in the seventies (“Beast of Burden,” “Miss You,” “Brown Sugar,” “Angie”).

Still, I think I must see this movie when it comes out next month, if for no other reason than to watch Jagger sing “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” for the 25,000th time without appearing to want to leap off a bridge.

Here’s the trailer:

Depressed.

If I were honest with myself, I would have known that Johnny – who, by the way, is on the cover of January 2008’s Rolling Stone – wouldn’t win the Oscar for Best Actor. He’s gone on record repeatedly over the years, saying he couldn’t care less about winning a statue that would sit in his den and get dusty.

But I’m still depressed.

Time to go to school. And I gotta git me some of them dynomite purple glasses…