Saturday 4 January 2014

Oh, Happy Days, and Bye Bye Phil

I sit at my 'pute, a film of moisture caressing my body not with the gentle touch of a lover, but the creepy clinginess of an obsessive nerd with cloying aftershave and buck teeth, and greasy hair, and a useless deodorant.  This nerd is probably a bit overweight, too.  The imagery which comes to my mind is not good, and it's all due to this oppressive heat.  The cicadas give their call, as my children nag to be taken to the pool.  I know we are being assailed by Summer at her most spiteful.

My children will not be taken to the pool today as I have worked this morning, and have been asked to do an afternoon run as well.  Between 'runs' I will prepare a pot of minestrone for their dinner, and then lie down for a while.  I have been showering and medicating people, helping them dress (and copped a fart right in the face from someone as I was pulling up their trousers from behind.  This was so not fun.  I should be relieved this person didn't 'follow through').

One of the musical greats, Phil Everly, left us yesterday.  Like many of my gen, I was introduced to the Everly Bros via 'Happy Days', when 'Bye-Bye Love' would be heard from the juke box as the local teens meandered into 'Arnolds'.  I used to enjoy the show, but of course it lost momentum and slowed right down to pretty much a standstill when the actors playing Richie and Ralph left.  The Joanie and Chachi were seen even less, and Marion's niece and nephew had to move in to the Cunningham residence to replenish the family dynamic.  News just in: this didn't work.  A few weeks ago, I sat in stunned horror watching what turned out to be the final ever episode of 'Happy Day's when Joanie and Chachi married.  Richie and Lori-Beth came to the wedding, and Richie had grown what would have to have been the gayest looking moustache EVER!  I watched the screen, thinking, 'Dude, get a leather biker's hat and some leather caps, and you're in business.'  The episode truly sucked all kinds of arse, especially at the end when Howard Cunningham turned to the screen, and thanked all the viewers for their loyalty over the years.  Yeah, you'd have to be a truly loyal viewer to have stayed after the show had been shark fodder for years.  Amusingly, it was this show that introduced the phrase 'jump the shark' into the vernacular of TV viewers throughout the Western world.  I would love to have seen The Malachi Brothers gate crash the wedding.  But you know what?  There was NO mention of the elusive Chuck Cunningham, the oldest son.  In that final ep, Howard talked about his two terrific children.  I have a theory: Howard and Marion Cunningham did away with their eldest sprog and buried him under the house.  Who's with me on this?

But back to the point: RIP, Phil.  Him and his brother Don were just the most sublime harmonists, weren't they?

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