I Do The Traffic Light Rock, Stop & Go All Of The Time

Is there anything more wasteful going on in Atlanta right now than these idiotic lights they are placing at all freeway ramps to regulate incoming traffic? Are there really that many wrecks with merging traffic to justify the expense? And do you really expect the great drivers of Atlanta to obey these lights when they have difficulty with those on surface streets? How long til we have redlight cameras on the ramps?  It makes no sense to have them on some ramps (eg, the entrance from Savoy Drive/North Peachtree in Chamblee where there’s both a short taper and a need to merge fast as the right lane forces you to exit onto Peachtree Industrial southbound if you don’t merge fast enough.) Some light placements are also odd. The one on the entrance onto 575 south from Barrett Parkway in Kennesaw is well up the ramp (it’s quite a long ramp) just before you merge with 575. So you are then forced to almost drag race from the greenlight to get up the speed to merge into 55+ MPH traffic. Stupid.

In other stuff, a couple of more passings to note. The first is that of any sort of record store at Perimeter Mall. I have many memories of lingering around the record emporiums at Perimeter but can no longer as the FYE there has now closed. I bought my first record at that mall in 1976 (Wings Over America) but not at Franklin Music but at Rich’s. (Penney’s used to sell albums there as well.) Franklin gave way to Record Bar to Camelot to FYE. At some point Turtle’s opened and then became a Blockbuster Music and then Warehouse Music. Now, no more. Though Paul Stanley and Grace Slick are both soon appearing at an art gallery there!

Also noted this week is the passing of the gifted comedienne Alice Ghostley from cancer at the age of 81. Alice has always sort of been under the radar even though she appeared in blockbuster movies like Grease and was a regular on the TV show Designing Women. I first encountered her when my family went to one of those Theater Of The Stars productions in 1975 or 1976 where she was appearing with Paul Lynde (a worthy foil) in something or another which may have been called Stop, Thief, Stop. Anyway, she was a damn funny lady and you should do yourself a favor and seek out something with her in it.

Went by 688 the other day to see the building is finally being used (not torn down, thank goodness) as a medical clinic. So the place where all those musicians used all sorts of illicit drugs is now doling them out legitimately. and the place where I saw Chris Wood stick a hypodermic needle in his head now regularly features folks using those same type needles correctly.

Finally, here’s one from YouTube featuring a Today show report from the day after the Sex Pistols’ Great Southeast Music Hall appearance  with Jack Perkins, Jane Pauley and Tom Brokaw all taking their shots at the band :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoO591pGkjA

Haven’t confirmed it with Stan Satin, but I think Chris Wood is one of the punks lingering outside.