The few boutiques and franchises left are not enough to draw any critical mass of shoppers. There are officially no mom and pop stores left and I’d guess more than half the downtown premises are now vacant. I should plan for the possible demise of my own operation just in case. I barely made a profit this month.The president said we are emerging from an “era of instant gratification”. Funny, I don’t recall a moment of anything like that in my life. It would be no skin off me to see the middle class fall flat on their faces. That spells 85 million people whose joyride is over. Can they learn to live within their means? Maybe now isn’t a good time to mention it takes 45 years experience to get it right. I wouldn’t want to damage their unbridled sense of entitlement.
I now look forward to an evening with “The Sopranos”. Mike at the shop says you aren’t really hooked until you start dreaming them at night. Remember when aristocratic weddings were above the fold? I’ll bet we didn’t even know Sweden had a crown princess. Name’s Victoria, and a bottom of page 17 announcement verifies she’s been playing hide the salami with her personal trainer. At least he wasn’t a bouncer at the Stork and Meatball. I’ll see if I can find any pictures of the lovebirds. The first place I won’t look is in the royal family photo album, bwaaa-ha-ha-ha-ha. Imagine her profile on eHarmony a few years from now, “Full-figured 30-ish ex-princess with darling daughter seeks LTR . . .”
Toward evening, Arnel called about a promo Jim was doing at the Catholic festival on US 1. I biked over after work and ran into dozens of people I know including a lot of ex-students. I was wondering how Jim got such an unfocused song list, now I heard him and another guitarist play it. Twice. Arnel produced a pocket full of “Fair Dollars”, coupons used instead of cash worth a dollar each. Pat, Arnel’s top student, showed up with a cooler full of non-alchohol beers. It was a little cool and rainy but we hung out there until ten at night.Of course, we watched Jim’s stage presentation and since the Hippie was not around, everybody reached the same conclusion. Jim should not be working with another guitarist and he would have put on a better show as a soloist. The best show will be with me playing bass and no drummer (or a competent drum box).
Toward evening, Arnel called about a promo Jim was doing at the Catholic festival on US 1. I biked over after work and ran into dozens of people I know including a lot of ex-students. I was wondering how Jim got such an unfocused song list, now I heard him and another guitarist play it. Twice. Arnel produced a pocket full of “Fair Dollars”, coupons used instead of cash worth a dollar each. Pat, Arnel’s top student, showed up with a cooler full of non-alchohol beers. It was a little cool and rainy but we hung out there until ten at night.
