Attacked by an Evil Traffic Cone

           

            When I set out for my bike ride on the Thursday evening of June 16th, I started noticing that my brakes were squeaking. I assume that means that my brake pads are getting down to the metal. Get one repair done and the need for another pops up! I’m tempted to say that it happens every time but that’s really not true. I’m usually good for quite a while after getting something fixed. I’ll have to wait till next week when I have a little money from work.

            At Bay and Bloor there was a counter tenor busking.

            I had stopped at the light at Castlefrank behind another cyclist of about my age. Beside him was a guy on a classic motorcycle that was lined along the edges with large chrome studs. The cyclist said, “Nice bike!” The biker asked, “Wanna race? It’s a fair race! Two wheels against two wheels!” The cyclist answered, “Maybe if you give me a century head start!”

            I finished exploring all the streets west of Donlands and south of the bridge.

            On the way home along Queen, as I was weaving around the road construction cones, my second right finger was attacked by one of them and started to bleed.

            I finished listening to most of the Marc Bolan discography, plus the six episodes of his short-lived 1977 television show. The show apparently was scheduled to shoot another season but Bolan died before that could happen. Other than the fact that he showcased a handful of really good bands, including his pal, David Bowie, it was a horrible show. It was not live, yet every song was followed by the same canned applause and the same clip of a cartoon audience applauding. Bolan and T-Rex got to play four songs in every half hour show, which is gross overexposure for the host. A song at the beginning and at the end would have been all right. His performances involved way too much posing and they rarely showed his hands during the lead guitar instrumentals. He also often featured the same recent releases on different shows, which was another case of overkill, considering his body of work. There was a dance troupe called Heart Throb, consisting of four very cute young women that were well synchronized but not fantastic dancers.

            Of all the acts featured in the first show, I was most impressed with The Jam, playing “All Around the World”. They were very high energy and one could really see the influence of the The Who.

            Nothing really impressed me about show number two, but the third one had a new group called “The Boomtown Rats”. I had only seen the video for “I Don’t Like Mondays” but I had never actually seen them performing a song. “Looking After Number One” was really dynamic, but there was a stupid split screen that showed Heart Throb doing their little dance to the song.

            The sixth show had the only really good introduction to a band. It showed Bolan standing and dressed all in pink satin while holding and smelling a flower. He said, “Here’s a new group called Generation X that has a lead singer named Billy Idol who is supposed to be as pretty as me. We’ll see.” Generation X did “Your Generation”.

            The last song was David Bowie singing “Heroes” and that was followed by Bowie playing guitar and jamming with Bolan and T-Rex. Just as they were about to sing, Bolan tripped over a microphone cord and the finals shot of the series is of David Bowie laughing.