Indeed, the past year has flown by, and I cannot
believe we’re already in the fourth quarter of 2017. They say life is what
happens to us when we are making other plans. In my constant state of cluelessness, I
walked into a dollar store in Huntsville the other day and was overwhelmed by sea
of orange and black Halloween paraphernalia. I’m so out of touch that I keep
track of my seasons by what holiday debris they’re selling at the dollar store.
My sorry decoration, which adorns our front porch, is a scarecrow-like thing I
fashioned out of some of my old clothing, stuffed with dead leaves, and featuring
an orange plastic jack-o-lantern as the head (you guessed it, from the dollar
store). Go ahead, hang up your variegated corn on the front door, or your fine
mesh, hand-sewn ghosts and goblins, or your ghouls, witches, and skeletons. You
can go to whatever creative lengths you choose to advertise your Halloween
enthusiasm, but for me, nothing is as creepy and disturbing as a grotesquely
deformed scarecrow, topped with an orange, plastic, dollar store jack-o-lantern.
Very early last Thursday morning, as I drove and
Shauna slept, we headed home from her most recent MRI in Toronto, and I turned
on 640 AM to listen to some talk radio. I was rewarded with an episode of
George Noory’s Coast to Coast show. Coast To Coast used to be
hosted by the inimitable Art Bell (and I understand still is, on occasion). Bell
has a great radio voice, and he used to broadcast this very popular radio show out
of his home in Pahrump, Nevada (not far from Area 57). Shauna and I used to
listen to hours of Art Bell in the car, on our way out to or back from Banff,
and we found his shows entertaining. There’s nothing like a good radio show to
make a long drive go by faster. Much of the subject matter on Coast To Coast involves conspiracy theories, UFO sitings, or so-called authorities on the paranormal,
so you know there are going to be a few crackpots involved. Last Thursday
morning, Noory had on a guy named Paul Guercio, who is a self-proclaimed forecaster
of the future. Guercio has developed a computer software called “Merlin” which
in some way facilitates predictions of future events. A lot of these guys are End of Days
prophets of doom, and Guercio was certainly vociferous about the political
changes taking place in the world. As I drove through the moonless darkness of
Orillia at 2AM, I wondered if every generation has had its Chicken Little prophets. Admittedly,
things look bad right now. Trump and Kim Jung make-me-ill are vying for the “infantile
bully of the sandbox” award, and we live in the age of too-much-information, constantly reminded that we will all be S.O.L. when the planet heats up a
few more degrees. Still, has not every generation since the dawn of man had its
tribulations? I’ll wager things looked even more dismal to the victims suffering under
Hitler’s insanity.
My friend and fellow songwriter Doug McLean had a CD
release concert last weekend in Huntsville, joined by many other local
musicians, and I was able to persuade Shauna to attend. It was a struggle for
Shauna, but she was happy to have been out in public for the first time in a
long time. We still have no answers about her ill health, but life goes on. As I said: Carpe Diem.
- Written by Jamie Oppenheimer c
2017 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No comments:
Post a Comment