Cow palace? I'd fit right in, but security will probably be extremely tight, and I don't think I'd enjoy that.

But this is supposed to be a positive thread, so I'll say I hope people are not treated by cows by security and they don't have to wait in long lines in bad weather unless they want to.

Something good about the R&RHoF? Justin's going to be there.

Maybe lots of people will see the Moodies on TV and fall in love with them; or as the case has been with many of us, they'll be inspired to be better somehow.

I knew better than to ask what I could Google, so I did. Then, I had to find out why it was called that, and that led me to, "Why, when people are starving, should money be spent on a 'palace for cows'?" We've been asking the same since 1935, according to Wikipedia. I've given our local leaders a hard time over their 10-fold economic multipliers they calculate for giving multimillion-multinationals corporate welfare. I even contacted the developers of INPLAN, the software they use to calculate them. The developers told people getting multipliers more than 2-ish were likely abusing the product, and yet the routine continues. Well, recently, the now former assistant county manager who used to handle those presentations admitted the community is not feeling all these returns they were promised.

The big entertainment box is another thing that disturbs me. We have so much spec development and open building plans. Then, people who make entertainment venues don't even furnish them but expect audiences to mosh. The economy is so out of balance, people can't finish what they start but have to sell it half-baked. Or, they buy a space, polish the concrete floors and turn it into a meditation room. The owner can appoint himself yogi and tell folks to bring their own yoga mats and help pay the rent. That's not an economy.

I can go on for hours, but if I do, I won't be doing the piddly, uneconomic stuff I get paid to do.

Oooh. Now, they've done it. MBT is offering cobalt blue glasses to commemorate the R&RHoF. Cobalt blue glass. It's so beautiful, I want to eat it. I could binge on cobalt blue. Put me on a tropical island with cobalt blue glass and Justin Hayward, and I would ask nothing more from life. You could even take away the island, and the glass ...............

It wouldn't be rock-and-roll without the ticket mysteries. I recall listening to a couple fans once saying people just don't know how to get tickets. I didn't bother to ask them how, since I considered myself a person.

At least you got a ticket. It sounds like the simulcast is based on the cruise concept of a party venue.

My problems are more like: Er disse koncerter rigtige eller ej? Skal jeg købe en flybillet eller vente til priserne er uden for rækkevidde?

(That was Google Translator.)

As I say several times a day anymore: Nothing works.

Was I complaining about something? A miracle happened and that is all null and void. Strange times, strange times.

I didn't even try. I may be an old fogey, a holdout, but I still prefer people to screens.

Letting the cat out, I'm trying to work out logistics for another venue, but there are so many buts is all. I don't know what it means that tickets are on sale and neither Justin nor Mike nor Julie are acknowledging the existence of eight of the shows on their web sites. Then, tickets don't seem to be going very fast, either. I can't quite understand why unless people don't know if the shows exist. Then, to get an airline ticket for a show that might not exist, I need to work with a cut-rate company with bad reviews. They may be perfectly good, but it is nerve-wracking. Visions flash before my eyes of taking a chunk of time off, blowing a chunk of money that could go to other shows, and sitting, a stranger in a foreign land, with no Justin show after all. I could wait, but then airfare will be $3000, and it might be too late to find a substitute here and who knows what-all.

$10,000! We could almost buy our own ship for that!

As I said before, in my life, people who want to give me awards normally want something in return. Do you remember those Who's Who books that went around? They'd send letters about how famous you were and wanting you to list yourself for a fee? All they were were a way to make money with little capital investment. That's the angle of flattery, which I consider a vice, for money.

Another reason people bestow awards is to be exclusive and grant access to their exclusivity - academies, for example. I don't like to play that kind of game, but if you're in the entertainment business and you have to stay in the good graces of promoters and record companies or go work as a secretary, chasing nitnoids everyday until you've no creative energy left, it would be in one's rational self-interest to play along. It's a catch-22, though.

Again, I personally avoid award ceremonies because I can't take myself that seriously, and I recall at least two plaques I refused to even touch because I didn't want to be a part of a Mickey-Mouse charade. (OK. I did gloat gloat when every department bestowed every award on me at my HS graduation, but I assumed it was because I was so sickly they felt sorry for me. There were smarter kids.) The work is its own reward.

On one hand, fans really love the band and working on getting them inducted is their way of showing it. So, I wouldn't want to kick any of them in the teeth by spurning their efforts. (I was going to type, "We all love imperfectly;" but then I thought about Justin and remembered to never say all.) On the other, I respect the rockers who see the emperor has no clothes. Justin's wise. I trust he'll say the right thing. He's got a good track record for not being manipulated and keeping his sights on something higher than self, at least that's how he comes across to me.

What, me ramble?