BEATLES AND KEY WEST

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There was a time…..Yes, the Beatles came to Key West…..By accident…..Not planned.

The year 1964. The Beatles were flying to Jacksonville to do a show. Hurricane Dora was on its way to Jacksonville, also. The Beatles plane was diverted to Key West.

The exact day, I am not certain. Today’s Key West Citizen suggests 9/9. I searched the internet a bit. I came up with 9/10 and 9/11 also. Some articles suggest the Beatles were here a couple of days. Others, merely overnight. One of the articles has them arriving around 3 in the morning.

I suspect the Beatles were in Key West more than 24 hours. They broke loose!

They were staying at was then the Key Wester Motel. Gone now, replaced by a Hyatt facility. The Beatles at some point found the Key Wester bar. They took their instruments and played and sang for hours. Word spread they were in town. Other musicians showed up after their work day ended and played with them.

The articles are consistent that the Beatles did a bit of drinking. They became inebriated. One of them is described as having made love to the toilet bowl. Something most of us have experienced on one occasion or another.

Whatever, the Beatles enjoyed Key West. The locals enjoyed the Beatles.

It was fortunate their plane bypassed Jacksonville. Dora hit Jacksonville hard. Five dead and over $2 million in damage.

I have not mentioned JJ in ages. A friend. Formerly a bartender at the Chart Room. JJ now bartends at the Galleon. JJ’s wife’s picture is in the Key West Citizen today. Ann Jonas. She is Citizen of the Day. The brief article mentions that she and JJ will be celebrating their fifth wedding anniversary this week. Congratulations! I only met Ann once. JJ obviously many times. He always spoke of Ann as if he were deeply in love. Obviously he was and is.

Turtles in the news again. Sharks, also. Our friends and foes in the sea.

There was a recent newspaper article concerning the two. A world wide study was completed. Apparently man has been killing off too many sharks. Sharks kill turtles. With fewer sharks, the turtle population has over grown.

Turtles eat seagrass. Sharks do not. Little fish live and eat in and off the seagrass. In some areas such as Bermuda, the seagrass is down to nothing. The turtles responsible. Scientists are trying to figure out a way to diminish the turtle population.

It does not appear there is a similar problem in Key West. Our seagrass is in full bloom. Our ocean conservation people are interested in protecting both sharks and turtles. We even have a Turtle Hospital in Marathon.

Since the study was world wide, does it have any validity as regards Key West and the rest of the Keys? I don’t know. Perhaps. I am sure some of our ocean people will be playing close attention to the situation over the next several years. In the meantime, there is no plan to kill a portion of the turtle population. I hope there never is.

Scotland votes soon re independence. The people will vote. They want to disconnect from the United Kingdom/England.

The southern states wanted to and did the same thing in the U.S. back in 1860-1. State legislatures voted to secede. Lincoln stood up to them. The Civil War occurred. You know the rest.

Re Scotland, the people are voting as opposed to their elected representatives. Does it make a difference? Will the Queen and Parliament stand by and permit the secession? It seems like everyone is waiting for the vote to take place before taking a public position on the issue.

My back problem has returned, though not as bad.

Because of my back, I have been late with certain of my writings. I did not do my KONK Life column which publishes tomorrow till Sunday. The article is titled Income Inequality.

My blog talk radio show is this evening. I did not get to preparation till yesterday. Spent all day working on tonight’s show. A significant portion will concern income inequality. The reason is there are so many interesting sidelights to the issue. Some pieces of information most of us might not have known.

Join me this evening. I guarantee you will enjoy the show. Nine my time. Tuesday Talk with Key West Lou.  www.blogtalkradio.com/key-west-lou.

Enjoy your day!

GOVERNMENT WASTE

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People want to know! They should know! Where their government is wasting taxpayer dollars.

I decided to talk a bit each week on my TV/internet show about tax dollar waste. Provide a few examples.

Yesterday was the first day of this new portion of the show. Besides the story I enjoy repeating about the U.S. Senate’s private barbershop which loses $500,000 a year, I threw in three other juicy morsels. One had to do with the House of Representatives approving a $2.6 million study to determine how to teach Chinese prostitutes to drink more responsibly on the job. A winner!

The House is the outfit that recently voted to cut $40 billion from the food stamp program.

Feed back following the show indicated the waste examples garnered the most interest. Easy to understand.

The Chart Room first last night. Emily bartending. I enjoy her company. Even more, her popcorn. The best!

Chatted with Peter and Sheila. Sheila will be off to the Mexico/Cancun area wednesday for a few days. Good for her!

Sean and Katherine came in. They have been traveling frequently of late. I told Sean enjoy it. When the first baby comes, it is all over! He laughed.

Met an interesting couple. Ian and Kaylin from Scotland. Actually, the Island of Erin. It is off the west coast of Scotland. Ian is a builder and his wife works with him in the office.

Scotland. He must play golf, I thought. I was wrong. Ian does not play golf, even though there are seven golf courses on his island.

Ian, Kaylin, and their family have visited Key West often over the years. They are Key Westers at heart.

I sat a while in the Pier House lobby. Reading the newspapers. A comfortable setting. I have done it several times lately.

The next stop was Don’s Place. Bocce partner Frankie was there. He looks good. You will recall he had a couple of heavy heart surgeries several months ago. Died on the table during one of them. He just returned from three weeks in Mexico. The trip did him good. He looked like the Frankie of old.

Chatted with two of the guys from the team we beat thursday night. Good people. We agreed the water soaked clay decided the match, not talent. It was throw the ball and hope it gets somewhere near the polina. In some instances, three feet was a victory. We were luckier than they were. They drank more Polish brandy than we did, also. A contributing factor to our victory. A planned one. Hershel deserves the credit. It was his idea.

Decided on Outback for dinner. No room at the inn. Including the bar. I figured at least a 1/2 hour wait. Not my cup of tea. Instead walked down to the Chinese restaurant nearby. A mistake.

I enjoy Chinese food on occasion. I ordered the wrong dish. I wanted orange chicken. I got screwed up and ordered lemon chicken. A disaster!

Lemon chicken consisted of thin slices of white meat buried in fat. The final product resembled small pancakes. A similar color, also.

Awful! I ate half the meal before giving up. The lemon chicken did not give up. I was uncomfortable till 4 this morning.

I am interested in seeing the new movie Gravity which opened this weekend. Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. Sandra is an astronaut who breaks way from the outside of her ship or something while fixing it in outer space. The story is about her floating around and what experiences she had. The big question being did she survive. The movie is in 3D. Has to be terrific! The reviews all say it is a winner.

Saturday evening is not the right time to go to the movies. Too many kids. I am going to shot for tomorrow night. Probably will invite Jenna to join me.

Syracuse/Clemson this afternoon at 3:30. On ABC or NBC. Hope the game is aired here in Key West.

Enjoy your day!