Jon Ginoli
Returns
Nearly 8 Years Employment

ME:  Hi Jon.  So what music was playing in your house when you were a kid?

JG: My parents didn't really have records but they always had the radio on. 

To pop stations?

Yeah, and when I turned 6 my parents moved to a new house out in the suburbs in a new development where there weren't any other kids around, so I made friends with the radio.  So from the time I was 5 until I was 10, which is roughly 1965-1970, I absorbed Top 40 radio like a sponge.  Pretty good timing, huh?

Totally, you lucked out.  What was the first song/record that really got you into music? 

Um I remember being really blown away by "Reflections" by the Supremes and "Monday Monday" by the Mamas and the Papas.  Oh and "Windy" by the Association.


What's the first show you went to?

The first real concert I went to was one of the worst concerts I have ever been to because when I was 14 I went to see Jimmy Buffett in Peoria.

Gross.

Peoria got very few concerts back then.

Who took you?

I went by myself.  He had a song on the radio that I liked.  When I heard other songs I thought , "Oh, this isn't very good."

Smart kid.

But the second concert was Bob Seger and that was a big step up.

One of my all time favorites, Miss Dolly Parton, is also one shrewd business lady!
After shopping around for a new record label, she has decided to instead start her own record label:
Dolly Records!  Her first album for the label will be released in February!


AND the most exciting part is that she will be touring in March!!!!  PLEASE Dolly, stop somewhere in the Bay Area.  We are tragically ignored by Miss Parton for reasons I do not understand.  Clearly, there are soooooooo many fans here.......

...as she hopefully noticed when she played the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival a few years back. Thousands came out and packed the field just to catch a glimpse of and a tune from Dolly.



I had the honor of attending and, as I have mentioned before in this blog, I was brought to tears, and no, it had nothing to do with her blinding turquoise ice skating type dress.

Although the spectacle of it certainly did add to the experience.
I am ready for a full set in an indoor venue. BRING IT DOLLY!

By creating her own record label, Miss Parton stands to make much, much more dough and have much, much more freedom to create whatever she pleases than if someone else had control of her record(s).

Let me just tell you, until you have seen one of your dear friends erupt from a volcano wearing nothing but a body stocking and strategically placed sequins, you haven't really been thrilled.

I was treated to such a glorious sight on Saturday night at Midnight Mass' Showgirls screening.
Good Lord, the event was delicious and horrifying at the same time, much like the film.

Showgirls is pretty fascinating. Isn't it obvious that while Gina Gershon realizes the movie is pure camp and revels in it, Elizabeth Berkley has absolutely no idea what's going on and just thinks she's killing it?  Crazy, huh?

I just can scarcely believe a movie like this got made in the last 15 years, movie making being as difficult as it is.  Someone out there clearly thought it was a great idea though!  And thank goodness they did.

I don't think there is a person alive over 20 years of age who doesn't know this movie's plot:  a young woman arrives in Vegas with a dream of becoming a Showgirl. She'll do anything to achieve this goal, as we see during the film.  Oh, it's good.  It's real good.

At Midnight Mass during the pre-show we were treated to some reenactments of scenes from the film, one of which was the scene where Nomi (Berkley) and Cristal (Gershon) bond over their love of....yes, dog food....and during which Martini, as Nomi, actually ATE dog food on stage! Yikes. There were many more moments of horror throughout the pre-show, during which tampons were thrown on the audience and audience members were willingly assaulted by a freakish posse of lap dancers.

Etta James has been hospitalized.

She is having some kind of complications from abdominal surgery she had last month. 

She's 69 years old, which still sounds young to me! 

Miss Etta James indisputably has one of the great voices of all time.   Here she is performing "Only Time Will Tell."



I just learned that Etta lived in San Francisco in the 50s.  Pretty awesome to imagine her here, kicking around our city. 

She's still a touring artist and apparently had to cancel dates due to her hospitalization.  Hopefully she'll be back out on the road before long.