It’s Friday night, and we’re waiting to go to the airport to pick up Richard, who is coming home for a visit. Unfortunately, his flight has been delayed, so we’re biding our time for now.
Normally I would squawk about airlines and their comically frequent flight delays, but I’m too happy about Richard’s visit and the arrival of the weekend and I don’t want to ruin my mood. So I’m going to go in the opposite direction, dive into some truly vintage rock that takes me back to high school days, follow Joe Walsh’s suggestion, and get into the Rocky Mountain Way instead. After all, it is better than the way we had.
Why did I wake up to Billy Joel’s plaintive anthem to forthright relationships? I don’t have the slightest idea. It’s not one of my all-time favorite songs. I wasn’t humming it when I went to bed last night. My best guess is that I heard it at some point over the last week or so, and while I slept my brain was simply shuffling through its catalog of recent stimuli, trying to figure out what to remember and what to discard. It was just my good fortune to awaken when it was The Piano Man’s turn on the recently heard playlist.
Sgt. Pepper’s is generally viewed as one of the most influential albums ever recorded, and its lavish, beautiful cover fit perfectly with the music inside and the beginning of the Summer of Love. From the iconic front cover, with the Beatles surrounded by photos of famous people at a gravesite, to the lush and sparkling interior photo of the Beatles in the satin band uniforms (which is where the auctioned album is autographed), to the back cover of the song lyrics and a picture of the Beatles featuring Paul McCartney’s back, the Sgt. Pepper’s cover is a tantalizing treat for the senses. But $290,000?
The man uses a wheelchair, and the ride in question was “It’s a Small World.” The man, who suffers from panic attacks and high blood pressure, was stuck for a half hour after the ride broke down and non-disabled patrons got up and left. The story linked above notes — and this is, I think, the most crucial fact of all — that the “It’s a Small World” theme song played throughout the time the man was stranded. Oh, and did I mention that the man also had a full bladder?
It isn’t difficult for Sirius to program all Bach for a 24-hour period, because Johann Sebastian was astonishingly prolific. He wrote hymns, church music, concertos, cello suites, cantatas, and organ music, among other pieces. He also was an accomplished organist who also played the harpsichord, the violin, and the viola. His works helped to define the distinctive baroque style of music that prevailed in the early 1700s. Interestingly, Bach’s works apparently fell out of favor after his death, and his compositions did not become highly regarded until the early 1800s. Now, of course, he is generally regarded as one of the greatest composers in history, and his music is a staple of every classical radio station around the globe.
I don’t quite get how there can still be a hereditary monarchy, of sorts, in Great Britain, but the British people seem to like it and therefore it’s really none of my business. I’m not one of those Americans who finds the British royalty endlessly fascinating, either. I paid no attention to the Princess Diana controversies and don’t care about royal weddings or the other events that command media attention. Still, I commend Queen Elizabeth. She’s reigned since before I was born — which seems hard to believe — and during that time she has done her job, presided over the openings of Parliament, awarded medals, and performed the other tasks required of a modern-day monarch. She’s done it all without scandal and, apparently, with an appreciation for her role and the need to comport herself with dignity and discretion. And, of course, she’s been the subject of 
