As part of yesterday’s discussion, tim offered lyrics by Loudon Wainwright III to a song called Plane, Too, from his second album, Album 2.

There was a hipster on the plane
There was a sailor, too
Big business man on the plane
Stewardess, too
I saw a movie on the plane
Grand Canyon, too
Earphone music on the plane
Time magazine, too

Airplane food was on the plane
Airplane coffee, too
Airplane booze was on the plane
Tea and milk was, too

Reclining seats were on the plane
Seatbelts, too
“No Smoking” sign was on the plane
In French and English, too
Hostess button on the plane
Ventilator, too
Vomit bag was on the plane
Oxygen, too

There was a bathroom on the plane
A flushing toilet, too
There was a mirror on the plane
Me, too

Wainwright’s Album 2 was released in 1971. The big airplane news in the early 70’s was the introduction of the still impressive Boeing 747, the first of which was named the Juan T. Trippe (after the Boeing CEO), commissioned in October 1970.

That once proud jet, a marvel in its day, is now an empty hulk, rusting by a roadside in South Korea. I’m not permitted to post a photo of it here but you can see it by following this link to a website called airliners.net, where there is a gallery of photos taken of the same plane in different places all over the world through it’s working life. The aircraft is a superstar, fallen on hard times.

The big concept was to operate the fuselage as a restaurant, thinking that people might find it charming to eat on a plane. But no one who has ever eaten anything on a plane could possibly think it would be fun or worthwhile to climb into an aircraft to receive a meal of any kind. The airlines created a reality too stark to overcome, and this marketing idea flopped.

Though apparently the notion still has some lift in Germany, where this unique dining experience awaits.

Please fasten your seatbelt and share your most memorable (for whatever reason) restaurant stories.

Teenagers live such anguished lives. Here’s the latest quandary from perennial sophomore Bubby Spamden.

Hey Mr. C.,

I was talking to my friend Doug about music yesterday and he said we should form a band. Not just the two of us, but us and a few other people. I said that sounded cool even though I don’t know how to play any kind of instrument and am not a very good singer, but he said that’s all right you don’t have to be a good singer to be in a band.

What you have to have is a good name with enough attitude that people will remember it. He said a good name for our band would be “The Flaming Sacks of Poop”, because it’s something shocking that you can picture and it’s real hard to forget. At first you might even want to stomp on it to make it go away but then, if you think for even a moment, you realize you’d better not. So it’s got a special appeal for the brainy audience too.

I said I did not want to be known as “A Flaming Sack of Poop”, and was thinking that a better name would be “The Kings of Seduction”, because that sounds smooth and classy.

He said “Kings of Seduction” is the kind of name people forget as soon as they hear it. They’d be left wondering if we were in charge of Seduction or Romance or Chocolates, whereas “Flaming Sacks of Poop” is the kind of name that creates a lasting memory.

We decided to let the new members of the band figure it out, so we invited Brandon and Heather to join us and we told them what the name choices were. Brandon liked the “Flaming Sacks of Poop”, and Heather was for “Kings of Seduction”, even though she is more Queen-like, personally. That didn’t really accomplish anything.

So then Doug said let’s find a middle ground just like the president did on the rich people tax and call our band “The Kings of Poop”. But then Heather said what about “The Flaming Sacks of Seduction”? This went on for a while. Compromise is hard.

Now it looks like our group is going to be called “Dung Love Combustion”, which I really hate. But unless I agree I guess our careers will never get started, and this may be my only chance to be in a band – ever. Because I still don’t know how to play anything.

Should I go along with a decision that feels ridiculous, or stand my ground?

Your rockin’ pal,
Bubby

I told Bubby he should address a more fundamental question. Can a non-musical person make a meaningful contribution to a band? Making a compromise to get the band up and running may turn out to be a mistake if the result is bad music and embarrassment. Perhaps the time spent arguing over a name could’ve been put to better use studying the guitar.

But learning things is also difficult, and inventing names is fun!

What’s the best band name you ever heard? Or would like to hear?

Recently, while going through some family papers that had been collected by my late brother, I discovered a 1902 newspaper account of a relative who died after being hit by a train. The headline read:

GROUND BENEATH CARS
Sad Death of Lola Irving Leonard

It tells the story of an 18-year-old high school senior in Yonkers, New York who was on her way home after school one rainy December afternoon. Apparently she slipped and fell while trying to board a train and the wheels of the last car ran over her legs. After an emergency amputation and four and a half hours of suffering, she passed away.

The “unfortunate girl”, as the article described her, was my great grandmother’s sister, but this was not a story I grew up with. In fact, the only “Lola Leonard” I knew of was not my great grand-aunt, but my grandmother, born in 1905, just a few years after the train station tragedy. Clearly she was named for her mother’s lost sibling. You’d think such a story would become family legend, but the episode might have been too painful pass along. I literally heard it for the first time a few weeks ago. I’m glad someone decided to save the article, and that I had a chance to see the yellowed newsprint before it crumbled away to nothing.

All of that came to mind yesterday when I spotted a You Tube video which has since traveled around the world several million times. If you haven’t seen it yet you should take a look, especially if you admire courage and like happy endings. Spoiler Alert – A man in Madrid falls off a station platform on to some railroad tracks and another man pulls him out of the way at the last possible moment.

I’ll be interested to read the complete story when someone manages to tell it. Some accounts have said the man who fell on the rails was drunk. That’s possible. Being drunk would certainly explain what happened, though there are other ways to topple off a platform.

Another account said the off duty policeman who performed the rescue ran to the spot where he jumped down on the tracks to help. Maybe so, but he seems awfully relaxed as he approaches the scene. Maybe he’s not relaxed, but exhausted, or scared. Another story claimed the rescuer’s name was “Angel”. Perhaps it was. If not, it’s possible his name will be “Angel” by the time the Hallmark TV special is filmed.

If you watch the video, note the reaction of the people in the station. Clearly they are concerned. Man on the tracks! They want to save him and they try to flag down the onrushing train. Some turn away at the last moment because they can’t bear to watch what they fear is about to happen. I understand all of that completely. I think we’d all like to be the strong person of action who moves quickly and decisively in a moment of crisis, but if I was put in the same situation I’m pretty sure I would be one of the well-meaning people who stayed on the platform, and not the hero who faced the danger.

A salute to the Spanish policeman for his physical courage!

And in the lesser category of linguistic feats, I commend one of the commentators following this story in the online edition of London’s Daily Mail.

A typographically challenged reader named Jeremy remarked about the hero:
“And he was so clam doing it!”

To which another reader named “K” responded:
“It would be difficult to accuse that bloke of being shellfish.”

What a brave bit of wordplay. My hero!

What’s the most courageous thing you’ve ever seen?