It’s Family Values With a Twist
The “Family Values Tour” will be coming to the Forum Oct. 9, featuring several bands.
Including one called Orgy.
AN OFFER GOOD ONLY IN FANTASYLAND: One of the latest Internet hoaxes is a letter purportedly from “Walt Disney Jr.,” which announces that Disney and Microsoft are seeking help on “an e-mail tracing program.”
Readers are asked to forward the message “to everyone you know and if it reaches 13,000 people, 1,300 of the people on the list will receive $5,000, and the rest will receive a free trip for two to Disney for one week.”
Barbara Mikkelson of the myth-busting San Fernando Valley Folklore Society points out that there is no Walt Disney Jr. nor is there any such project.
But, she adds, the folklore society’s Web site has received an unprecedented number of queries. She invites those interested “in tracking this hoax through its various mutations” to read about it at https://www.snopes.com/spoons/faxlore/billgate.htm
Another version of the hoax, by the way, involved a gift of free tennis shoes from Nike. I knew I should have waited for those shoes to arrive in the mail before throwing out my old pair.
SOMETHING FISHY HERE, TOO: After eight or 10 hours pounding away on a computer, what could be more fun than to go home and relax while gazing at--yes!--a fish PC (see photo). PenzArt of L.A. has designed Computank, a $350, 5 1/2-gallon aquarium for real fish. It consists of “a genuine IBM 486 computer monitor” along with a “UNIX 40 MB computer terminal base” and “actually pivots side-to-side and front to back.” At least the screen never freezes.
SOUTHLANDERS ON THE ROAD: C. Brian O’Gorman of Santa Barbara noticed that an Ensenada language school promises to teach useful things to say on weekends (see photo).
LIST OF THE DAY: Three showbiz performers who became real-life crime fighters:
* Ken Osmond, who played wise-guy Eddie Haskell on “Leave It to Beaver” became an LAPD officer and served for several years before retiring.
* Bobby Sherman, teen-idol singer of the ‘60s and ‘70s, is an LAPD reserve officer.
* Gary Coleman, star of the ‘70s TV show “Diff’rent Strokes,” is a security guard at Fox Hills Mall.
MYSTERIOUS L.A.: “Death in Paradise,” a colorful history of the L.A. County Coroner’s Department, investigates some of L.A.’s most famous murder cases. But what I found most interesting were some of the 19th century incidents that earned the not-so-heavenly City of Angels the nickname “Los Diablos.” Cases mentioned by authors Tony Blanche and Brad Schreiber involved such characters as:
* “Bass Viol” Charlie, who “died very suddenly while playing his favorite instrument at the La Polka Saloon.”
* Mayor Stephen Foster, who “scrambled atop a beer keg” to announce his resignation in 1855 so he could lead a lynching of a convicted killer, whose death sentence had been stayed by a court.
* Wealthy businessman Jacob Bell, who was killed in a duel over land that includes the present site of the L.A. Coliseum. His rival, a French immigrant, was later lynched. The dispute, by the way, did not involve the establishment of a pro football franchise.
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On a visit to the vet, I came upon “Hill’s Pet Fit Weight Loss Challenge.” A pet food company is offering a free round-trip to Hawaii, and a free one-week hotel stay, to the couples whose dog and cat have the most dramatic weight losses. Before and after photos are required. But what are the prizes for the two animals? Free boarding for that week in their masters’ “city of residence.” In other words, Fido and Lady: “Stay!”
