Number 9, Number 9...

Random stuff...

"It was 40 years ago today, Sgt. Pepper told the band to no longer play..."

Well, bad rephrasing of Beatles lyrics, but it's been that long since the Fab Four broke apart. And today is a big time day for fans of this Group That Never Seems to Go Away. All their albums have been remastered and are being reissued once again on CD, either individually or in this big honkin' box set. I figure 09-09-09 was picked as the date to tie in with that block of noise that is a particular cut on The White Album (number 9....).



Also EA/MTV Games' Rock Band has its Beatles edition released today. Rock Band and Guitar Hero (by Activision) of course are the two competitors in the Living Room Rock Star Sweepstakes. Guitar Hero 5 came out about a week ago.

It's all funny to me, because rock 'n' roll itself may be dead, after a 50-year run as the dominant music of youth. Music has been so fragmented into multiple types, that any games or album re-releases or popular music themed restaurants 'n' T-shirt stands seem to be Baby Boomer tactics to keep their music alive and to recruit their children and grandchildren. It seems to be working, too, 'cause Guitar Hero already hit $1 billion in revenues by January 2008. Rock Band hit $1 billion in 2008 but profits for both games have dropped as the recession continues in the U.S. Rock Band was predicted to lose $400 million for EA in 2009.

The Beatles are expected to top the charts with their remastered package, a fact not surprisingly marked by media in their home country, such as this article.

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This special date, 09-09-09, is also a media and new release day for my Least Favorite Company, Apple Inc. They have an event going on 10 a.m. PDT or 1 p.m. my time (Eastern Daylight). They're supposed announce some new iPods and iTunes 9. They probably still don't have The Beatles on iTunes, though, because the event's theme is "It's only rock 'n' roll, but we like it," a redoing of a Rolling Stones favorite.

Yesterday I stumbled across yet another goofball pursuit of Mac fans while trolling the net. This one is taking pictures of Steve Jobs' Mercedes Benz, which doesn' t have any license plates and is often parked in a handicapped space, even though he has no disability that I know of, though he did have a liver transplant and probably is still healing up even as he returned to work at the Fruit Co. Thing is, "Jobso" has been parking in handicapped spaces since the 1980s, when he was in his 20s and in robust health. And the guy can't park a $150,000 Benz worth a damn, as seen below in an image by brianamerige. The car is a Mercedes SL55 AMG.



Just for the hell of it, I am also posting a picture of my car. This is how the other half lives -- no frills, just basic wheels! The lot is at the store where I work, which is old, pockmarked asphalt and not some sleek northern California computer headquarters. My car is a 2002 Chevrolet Malibu, which was a year old when I bought it from a dealer in Sterling Heights, Michigan. It has the proper Michigan license plate, with up-to-date year tag. (California requires plates front and back, but Michigan just the back plate.)



If my car were in excellent condition, the Kelley Blue Book retail value would be about $4,900. Since part of the front bumper is broken in half (because I once accidentally drove over a concrete parking barrier in front of space), and there is a weird circular scratch on the trunk lid, I don't think I could get that much. But two things -- I try to park as straight as possible, and I never park in handicapped spaces anywhere. Around Detroit you will get ticketed for that if you don't have the permit, and since I don't know any judges or have millions to pay off tickets, and am not an arrogant Silicon Valley dickweed, I just use the regular spaces.