Yesterday I posted a handful of the enjoyable reports that friends and strangers have sent in regarding various aspects of rock and roll. I tend to think of my readers as being helpful, kind people, and I think the reports from the field really showed that off. You know, because the world needs more stories about Vince Neil's constant intoxication.
Anyway, it seems that helpful mail breeds helpful mail and I didn't even know until now. I posted yesterday's piece and wandered away from my computer for several hours. When I checked my email before bed, I had not one, but two more reader reports. One person weighed in with some more drunk Vince Neil stories (I am starting to think that everyone has at least one) and a bit of Fleetwood Mac info as well. (Corroborating the story that Stevie Nicks was probably drunk, but no concrete proof. Another helpful observation nonetheless.)
And then I read the second email. It is a question of grammar.
With regards to your latest posting A Little Help From My Friends, can I just clarify for my own sanity that when your roving reporter says, "Chubby looked horrible with a really bad dye job and some clothing that, well, quite frankly he shouldn't have had on," that they mean that Chubby should have had a *different* set of clothing on.
Y'know, as opposed to none at all.
(Insert piercing scream here.)
I do believe that the reporter thought that Chubby Checker should have selected a different outfit. The poor reader was just at the Hy-Vee, maybe trying to pick up some grapes or a gallon of milk, and had to deal with the presence of Chubby Checker in a bad outfit. I do not think that Chubby Checker in no outfit at all would have enhanced the experience at all.
I naturally assumed that the outfit Chubby Checker was wearing at the grocery store was the very same camel-colored, area-showcasing horror that scarred Joejung and me for life when we saw him in concert. In that case, I would understand the reader's wish for Chubby to be wearing something else. Some things, like the details of Mr. Checker's wardrobe, are better left unknown, although I wish I knew what product he was promoting at the store. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess it was Chubby Checker Steaks.