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Philip Spiess
Dale: I suppose it means that, on the whole, the country is slowly but really going to pot.
Jerry: I don't suppose, by any chance, that it is the Imperial, Empirical, and Colonial Encyclopedia of Indigenous Flora and Fauna of the Great Barrier Reef, Described Species by Species by Certain Learned Scientific Authorities, British, American, and Australian (with Special Emendations by the late Prof. Diogenes Teufelsdrockh of the University of Weissnichtwo, the brothers Wilhelm and Alexander von Humboldt of Berlin, Profs. Louis Agassiz and Asa Gray of Harvard University in the United States, and Mr. Dunstan "Crocodile" Dundee, late of Brisbane, Australia), with Copious Notes on the Edibility of Said Species (If Taken Wisely) and with Artfully Designed Recipes for the Frugal Housewife and Hausfrau Appertaining Thereto (Fully Illustrated and Annotated by Various Artists and Scholars of Note in These Our Modern Times, such as are Presently Making Good Money by Adding Their Prestige to Superfluous Subscription Volumes such as This, and Including Aubrey Beardsley, Richard Dadd, and Thomas Henry Huxley) -- 19th-Century Oxford University Edition (1885), as Envisioned by Jules Verne?
Oh, and Jerry: I assume the song you're referring to is "I'll Never Smile Again." Ruth Lowe, pianist with the Ina Ray Hutton all-girl orchestra, was, as you may know, inspired to write this ballad on the death of her husband, Harold Cohen, only a few months after their marriage. Why do you ask (or is this a less-than-veiled reference to the recent Presidential election)?
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Doug, now that you mention it, we had the pleasure of partying seriously election night to celebrate the victory of legal marijuana in California. Our party was an island of exhilaration in an otherwise troubled sea of dismay around here. Outside, police helicopters hovered above anti-Trump demonstrators in front of Oakland City Hall (a preview of many to come). Inside, we were regaled by the dionysian antics of the Extra Action Marching Band (pictured above). So much more fun than watching returns on TV! We counted down to midnight, the hour when marijuana officially became legal, then we adjourned outside to smoke a joint on the sidewalk, in good humored civil disobedience of the new law that bans consumption in public places - a restriction that didn't exist previously. I went home and listened to Dylan: the Times They Are A-Changin'. My only question is, now that marijuana's legal here in California, why does it seem we've got so much more trouble to deal with? - Dale
