Bo Diddley - Road Runner '72

Wembley 1972 with Mick intro.

Detroit Fought Back?

The North American International Auto Show / Detroit Auto Show comes to town in January, so here we are.

Looking around parking lots lately, I'm seeing a lot of squat blobby things in gray scale -- a cross between Moon Rovers and Humvees, quite a dispiriting style but fitting for the last year of the Bush regime during its "War on Terror."

Back in 1970, Detroit supposedly began "fighting back" against international competitors with cars like the American Motors Corporation (AMC) Gremlin -- junky little comedies on wheels. Gremlins were everywhere in the seventies, coming in handy during repeated "energy crises."


Let's not forget the AMC Pacer (1975-1980), a mini-flying saucer on wheels. Fun to ride in as a kid -- my parents rented one briefly while the regular car was being repaired, if memory serves.


Today's real auto story is the new Tata Nano, unveiled yesterday at the New Delhi Auto Expo. The car costs $2,500 and gets 47 miles to the gallon! If a future variant of this Indian city car sells in Europe and the Americas, watch out!

AMC, meanwhile, was in 1987 absorbed by Chrysler, which retained its remnants as JeepEagle.

Today's Rune: Movement.

Gary Numan - Cars

1979 -- yeah, man!

Hail to the Chief!

Dick Nixon's birthday. Is this guy for real? Mobil is ExxonMobil these days, and gas is well over $3.00 per gallon.


Presents for President Nixon from The King, and "credentials." There's a whole film roll of this 1970 meeting, courtesy of the National Archives.

Excerpt from a memo summarizing what happened:

Presley immediately began showing the President his law enforcement paraphernalia including badges from police departments in California, Colorado and Tennessee. Presley indicated that he had been playing Las Vegas and the President indicated that he was aware of how difficult it is to perform in Las Vegas. . .

Presley indicated that he thought the Beatles had been a real force for anti-American spirit. He said that the Beatles came to this country, made their money, and then returned to England where they promoted an anti-American theme. The President nodded in agreement and expressed some surprise. The President then indicated that those who use drugs are also those in the vanguard of anti-American protest. Violence, drug usage, dissent, protest all seemed to merge in generally the same group of young people . . .

At the conclusion of the meeting, Presley again told the President how much he supported him, and then, in a surprising, spontaneous gesture, put his left arm around the President and hugged him . . .

[Bud Krogh, The White House, The President’s File, “Meeting with Elvis Presley, Monday, December 21, 1970, 12:30 p.m.," US National Archives]


Dick Nixon as Dick Tracy or Original Gangsta . . . with Prescott Bush, George's Daddy and G.W.'s grandfather. Who's Dick's Daddy here?

The Trickster with -- good God, it's John McCain, now Republican cannon fodder in USA Election 2008! Yes, Virginia, it's a strange world we're living in . . .

Today's Rune: Standstill.

Mojo Nixon: Elvis Is Everywhere!

Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper, Bo-Day-Shus!!! (1987)

Loving the Alien

Today is, of course, The King's birthday, may he RIP in Graceland, USA, eternal flame burning bright.

Back in 1970, Elvis had a sudden hunk'o'burning love for Tricky Dick Nixon -- he sent him this note (no joke: original in the US National Archives) that inspired a pistol-bearing White House liaison:

[Undated, December 1970]

Dear Mr. President:

First, I would like to introduce myself. I am Elvis Presley and admire you and have great respect for your office. I talked to Vice President Agnew in Palm Springs three weeks ago and expressed my concern for our country. The drug culture, the hippie elements, the SDS, Black Panthers, etc. do not consider me as their enemy or as they call it the establishment. I call it American and I love it. Sir, I can and will be of any service that I can to help the country out. I have no concerns or motives other than helping the country out. So I wish not to be given a title or an appointed position. I can and will do more good if I were made a Federal Agent at Large and I will help out by doing it my way through my communications with people of all ages. First and foremost, I am an entertainer, but all I need is the Federal credentials. I am on this plane with Senator George Murphy and we have been discussing the problems that our country is faced with.


Sir, I am staying at the Washington Hotel, Room: 505-506-507. I have two men who work with me by the name of Jerry Schilling and Sonny West. I am registered under the name of Jon Burrows. I will be here for as long as it takes to get the credentials of a Federal Agent. I have done an in-depth study of drug abuse and Communist brainwashing techniques and I am right in the middle of the whole thing where I can and will do the most good.

I am glad to help just so long as it is kept very private. You can have your staff or whomever call me anytime today, tonight, or tomorrow. I was nominated this coming year one of America’s Ten Most Outstanding Young Men. That will be in January 18 in my home town of Memphis, Tennessee. I am sending you the short autobiography about myself so you can better understand this approach. I would love to meet you just to say hello if you’re not too busy.

Respectfully,

Elvis Presley

P.S. I believe that you, Sir, were one of the Top Ten Outstanding Men of America Also.

I have a personal gift for you which I would like to present to you and you can accept it or I will keep it for you until you can take it.

[The meeting took place on December 21, 1970; also in attendance, taking notes -- and in the photos with President and King -- was Watergate co-conspirator and subsequent convict, Bud Krogh]


Happy birthday also to David Bowie! Must be hard to live in the shadow of The King, but he does have the distinct advantage of still being alive. He turned 61 today.

Rune: The Self.

Cool for Cats

So 2008 starts off with fireworks in every direction, from a new frenzy of violence in the war zones to a riot of celebrity antics. And tomorrow, the New Hampshire primary.

Hepcats will notice similarities between the latest Iran-U.S. patrol boat "incident" in the Persian Gulf and the Tonkin Gulf "incident" in 1964 -- the flimsy pretext for the U.S.-Vietnam War. It would seem unlikely at this time, however, that the U.S. will begin bombing Iran today or tomorrow or anytime soon, if at all. Oil already hovers at $100/barrel anyway, no need for the barons to abruptly get even greedier.

Meanwhile, cooler cats will not be overly absorbed by the American primaries. Give it another month, though, and take closer notice, once certain mousy secondary candidates are shaken out of the race. The Clinton campaign should learn from Michael Dukakis' mistakes of 1988 -- don't overly tout "experience," but stick rather to the issues and other matters. Dukakis, some will remember, claimed, "this election isn't about ideology, it's about competence." Then he had the unfortunate tank moment (much like Howard Dean's "rant moment"), becoming a figure of fun forever after. Clinton deserves better. Obama and Edwards are fine by me, too.


Meanwhile, Sarko, President of the French Republic, is raising eyebrows and ire at home with his personal antics. Having just divorced Cécilia María Sara Isabel Ciganer-Albéniz Sarkozy last October, he may be planning to marry Carla Bruni / Tedeschi (pictured above) this February. As for Cécilia the ex-, she recently announced plans to publish a memoir about her marriage to Sarko, much to his irritation (he already had an earlier memoir destroyed by the publisher -- don't ask and he won't tell). Perhaps they all sit around listening to Ms. Bruni's latest album, No Promises (sales in excess of 100,000 copies), plotting their next moves on the chess board. Plenty more from the Pharaoh of France to come, no doubt.

Today's Rune: Breakthrough.

Squeeze - Up the Junction (Top of the Pops)

I remember well ;)

Up The Junction

I was glad on returning to Detroit yesterday that my car only had an inch of slushy snow to scrape off. The flight out of Greensboro was dodgy. There was no power at the airport, no heat, and the automatic entrances didn't open. The security detail seemed baffled but occasional flights came and went anyway. A Northwest flight from Detroit, a fifty seater, arrived but no passengers came out. The skybridge wasn't working. Wireless didn't pick up. With about forty other tired people -- including a Japanese woman about three feet tall -- I clambered down a fire escape and up into the empty plane like it was the last one out of Saigon.

Once on board, the captain, referring to himself in the third person, announced: "Captain James and his lovely flight attendant Sarah welcome you on your journey to Detroit." Were we ready for a flight into The Twilight Zone?

My seat was in the last row on one side. To get there I had to pass through the tiny first class section, its sole occupant an imperious business man with thinning white hair. He looked like a dirty dog -- with a lot of money.

I buckled in and noticed by the time we took off . . . only row 13 was empty.

On landing at Metro, the co-pilot admitted they'd been flying for four days straight and this was their last flight before time off.

Glad to have arrived safely and everything intact. Not ready to go back to work yet, but tomorrow is another day. Maybe they'll be an Amish Air Force attack and I won't have to go. Ha!


Birthday: Capucine (Germaine Lefebvre, 1931-1990). Cool, sophisticated, eventually jumped out a window to her death at 59.


Today's Rune: Partnership. Yesterday's: The Mystery Rune.

Ciao, Detroit!