- From the “Eye on the Economy” Department: It appears another economic indicator is demonstrating that our economy is slow. No, it isn’t the paucity of Matzah supplies, or the fact that Costco is limiting rice purchases. No, there are fewer people getting Lasik Surgery — in fact, 17% fewer folks are having their eyes repaired. Could it be the reports that the surgery sometimes makes things works? Economists don’t think so. Rather, it is the fact that this type of expensive surgery isn’t covered by most insurances. In fact, doctors and analysts said a wide range of elective medical procedures, including breast implants and skin treatments like Botox injections, are also being affected.
- From the “Is There An Echo In Here?” Department: Turning from the eyes to the ears. Capitol records is saying the recording quality at its iconic round building is at risk from neighboring construction. Specifically at risk are eight concrete chambers, built 30 feet underground, that vary in shape to give different sounds. A speaker pipes music into one end of each chamber and a microphone picks up the reverberation at the other end. Capitol claims these are one-of-a-kind, below-ground echo chambers, used for high-end recordings, that will be damaged by pile-driving and excavation for a three-level, 242 space underground garage supporting 93 condominiums, and 13,442 square feet of commercial and office space next to the building. These echo chambers were designed by guitarist Les Paul and have been used by recording artists ranging from Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin to Chris Botti, Natalie Cole — who just finished an album there — and Brian Wilson, who used them last week. The developer’s position? A lawyer representing the developer said “digital signal processing and other digital audio recording techniques can simulate almost every echo chamber effect”.
- From the “It Stinks!” Department: From the eyes, to the ears, and now to the nose. Critics are claiming there’s a big stink in London. No, it isn’t the odor of manure drifting over from the continent. Rather, it is the new musical version of “Gone With The Wind”, which has been universally panned. “Frankly, it’s hard to give a damn about this Wind”, said the headline in the Daily Express. The show was directed by Trevor Nunn, and written by U.S. writer Margaret Martin, who condensed it to 3½ hours of stage time. The article notes a 1970 musical, “Scarlett,” which opened in Tokyo in 1970 and came to London in 1972. This musical was in Los Angeles at the LACLO in August 1973 (no, I didn’t see it, but my folks did and I may still have the Performing Arts). It closed November 1973 in San Francisco and never made it to Broadway. In case you are curious, that version featured music and lyrics by Harold Rome, was directed by Joe Layton with book by Horton Foote, and stared Lesley Ann Warren and Pernell Roberts. The new version featured music and lyrics by Margaret Martin (who also did the book), and starred Jill Paice and Darius Danesh. Lastly, I’ll note that the last successful stage production of GWTW was a nine-hour 1966 version written by Kazuo Kikuta and presented in Tokyo, and that David Selznick had toyed with the idea of a musical GWTW in 1959.
- From the “That Recipe Looks Familiar” Department: Moving now to taste. Those that visited the John McCain website may have marvelled at the excellent cooking skills of his wife, Cindy. The problem is: her posted recipes were cribbed from the Food Network. Of course, she’s not the first to be hit by lifted recipes. Just ask Jerry Steinfeld.
- From the “You Touched What?” Department: And of course, no article would be complete without an article about touching and assholes. No, I’m not referring to the fallout from the Open Source Boob Project. Nope, this has to do with a different type of asshole. A jury in New York has decided that a hospital did nothing wrong when it tried to examine the rectum of a construction worker who had been hit on the head by a falling wooden beam. According to the lawyer, the plaintiff was injured while working at a construction site in midtown Manhattan on May 20, 2003. He received eight stitches for a cut over his eyebrow at the hospital, but denied emergency room staffers’ request to examine his rectum. Doctors told him the exam could help determine whether the accident caused spinal damage. When he resisted, staffers held him down while he begged, “Please don’t do that.” He hit a doctor while flailing around, so the staffers gave him a powerful sedative and performed the rectal exam. The exam was never completed, but according to the lawyer, when the plaintiff woke up, he was handcuffed to a bed and had an oxygen tube down his throat and lubricant in his rectum (which, of course, is better than vice-versa). The lawyer said his client is unemployed and has been unable to hold a job since the accident.
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