Several years back I went to a Halloween party dressed as Groucho Marx, specifically as his character Quincy Adams Wagstaff, the eccentric and barmy president of Huxley College from the classic 1932 film “Horse Feathers.”  I wore the cap and gown, a pair of baggy trousers, an ill fitted shirt, worn leather shoes; I painted on the moustache and the eyebrows. I did it up right. When I arrived at the party I found myself milling around the bar looking for some whiskey. Nearby was a crowd in their late 20’s or early 30’s dressed to the absolute nines. I suspect “glamorous perfection"  (rented perfection?) was the concept behind their costumes, whatever it was, they hit it right. I sort of knew them from another party; I also knew they worked as grammar school teachers. I said hey and hello, they said hey and asked me about my costume.  

One of the saddest and most preposterous nights of my life, right at that moment I knew there wasn’t going to be enough whiskey or conversation or beautiful women to keep me at this shindig for long, or this pin-brained world. Soon I said my adieus and I wandered back home dazed, stunned by it all … and I wonder why I’m depressed sometimes!

Anyway, today, October 2nd, is the birthday to a comic cultural icon, and the inspiration behind those novelty glasses, Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx.  Happy 117th birthday Groucho!

This boggles my mind. The art of George Vlosich III is something astounding, something baffling; I don’t understand why he’s chosen this medium! The artist Paul Klee was once asked about how he draws. He said he simply takes a line for a walk. The line George Vlosich takes for a walk goes on one insanely long nutty jaunt. And when you consider that all it takes is a single inadvertent bump for his art to be toast …

Vlosich uses an Etch-A-Sketch, and yes, it’s the same exact rectangular, red plastic framed model toy many of us had as kids. Each Vlosich Etch-A-Sketch piece takes considerable pre-planning and will typically take between 40 to 60 hours of patience, focus and attention-to-detail to complete. Remember, to draw with an Etch-A-Sketch, there is one line and only one line all the time. There’s little room for error, you can’t erase a mistake.

Probably the best thing I ever drew on one of those things was some pathetically lopsided cat. Vlosich produces refined images and precise portraiture and has since he was a kid. He started drawing when he was about ten years old. By the age of 18 he was being commissioned by the Topps Trading Card Company to produce a series of Etch-A-Sketch drawings as special inserts for their 1998 Topps Baseball trading card collection. He continues working today, still using the Etch-A-Sketch and it’s 5 x 7 screen, but Vlosich has also expanded his art to include painting and illustration, and has set up a design company specializing in advertising and logo design, sports memorabilia and apparel. Plus, he has a line of greeting cards. So next year for Christmas … someone send me one. I’d be damned pleased!

Rory Storm and the Hurricanes will probably always be remembered as the band Ringo Starr left, jumping ship to join that other Liverpoolian band; The Beatles. Wise move on Mr. Starkey’s part! But at one time Rory Storm and the Hurricanes were one of the most popular bands in the region, once placing fourth in Mersey Beat’s (a weekly magazine documenting the Liverpool scene) poll of favorite bands. The Hurricane’s recorded output was small, three tracks on two compilations:  “This Is Mersey Beat Vol. 1 and Vol. 2,” and a couple of singles: Dr. Feelgood b/w I Can Tell on Oriole Records in 1963 and America b/w Since You Broke My Heart released in November of 1964 on Parlophone.

Oddly enough, America was produced by Brian Epstein, manager of The Beatles, in his one and only crack at playing record producer. By 1967 the Hurricanes were breaking up, due in part to an ever changing line-up and their decision not to go with the eternally shifting musical plat du jour. Storm later became a disc jockey, a peculiar occupational choice since he spoke with a stutter.

Unfortunately, Rory Storm’s other claim to fame is a dark and murky tale. It concerns the mysterious circumstances surrounding his death on September 28th 1972 and the speculation that he and his mother died in a suicide pact together.

After his father’s death, Rory Storm returned home suffering from a chest infection. Reportedly he had trouble sleeping and wound up combining alcohol with sleeping pills. The next morning he was found dead in the house along with his mother. However, autopsy reports show that Storm hadn’t taken enough sleeping pills to kill himself.