I let out a ‘GASP’ unlike any gasp I’ve ever released before!! Why the gargantuan ‘gasp’?! I was checking my favourite Bruce Springsteen website, www.backstreets.com, for no reason in particular, when I saw the headline on the website: Its Bruce Springsteen week on American Idol! There was a photo of Bruce arm-in-arm with Paula Abdul, next to a smiling Randy and Simon….and another photo of Bruce playing guitar next to Idol finalist Chris Daughtry. Horrified, I continued reading the story….. Bruce Springsteen songs would be featured on this Wednesday’s ‘American Idol’, and there was a list of which Bruce songs the contestants would sing. My heart was in my throat!!! How could The Boss do this? Why would he do it!!!! He doesn’t need to do it!!! Uuughhhh…. Not since the Rolling Stones premiered their video for ‘Streets of Love’ on a daytime soap opera have I been so incensed at ‘marketing gone wrong’. Bruce Springsteen week on American Idol. It was enough to make me bawl like a baby. But then I saw the date on the top of the story. April 1st, 2006. April Fools Day. Sheesh. Fished in by my own fan site! Nice to know I can turn beet red even when I’m the only one home.
Speaking of April Fools Day, check out the website www.museumofhoaxes.com. They list the top 100 April Fools jokes of all time. Some of my favourites include ‘Smell-o-vision’, when the BBC tv network convinced tv viewers that new technology meant you could actually smell what you were watching on tv. There was also Burger King’s ‘left-handed Whopper’ commercial, causing left-handed people to rush to the fast food restaurant for a burger especially for them. And of course, what April Fools Day should pass without some mention of ‘killer bees’. They should arrive here any day now.
I love the month of April, the change of seasons, all that stuff, but wow….is it ever muddy at my place! I keep a Swiffer right by the door because every time my three dogs return from the yard, I have 12 paws dipped in mud, which translates into about 120 mud prints on my floor. Yes, I know I can ask all my dogs to ‘sit’ and ‘stay’ on the welcome mat, then I can take a rag and wipe all of their paws before they enter the house. The problem is, my dogs have no training in them whatsoever. I prefer to let them learn things on their own. For example, my dog Hudson has learned that if he pulls back the bedspread on the spare room bed, its much more comfortable to sleep under the covers. He taught himself that one.
Thank you to Luc Lemay, owner of John’s Street Sweepers, for giving JR the dream experience of a lifetime. A ride in a street sweeper. It really is all about the simple things in life, isn’t it?
I plan to get my bike out of the shed this week. It’s a tough bike, I know that because I have ridden it straight into a wooden fence at full speed, and its also survived a summersault into a roadway ditch. I can really see why helmets are now mandatory.
