All That Glitters Is Not Good

Oh, Gary.
Gary, Gary, Gary. What hath befallen thee?

I can remember when I was 9 years old, riding the long bus to school in Lyme, New Hampshire, feeling the chains crunch through the snow, and listening to our bus driver's Gary Glitter 8 track tape. It was the only one he had. Every day he'd ask -What do you guys want to listen to? -Gary Glitter, we'd mutter resignedly. He'd jam the cassette into the machine and off we'd go, straining up the snowy hills to the heavy, heavy sounds of Rock & Roll Part II.

I didn't like it that much; I hadn't heard any rock music until then, and it seemed to my ears, raised on a steady diet of classical and folk, like the ominous howls of a thousand hellspawned harpies, but it did make me nostalgic for those days recently, to hear what a schoolbus full of trouble Gary Glitter's been getting himself into.

The excuses are the worst part. Like the children tumble from a trapdoor onto the pillow beside him, and he's powerless to staunch the leak.

How hard can it possibly be to keep children out of your bed? Most grownups seem to manage it without even trying. The last time there was a kid in my bed it was me by myself, staring up at the ceiling and wondering if Elektra would ever date me, or if she was only interested in Daredevil, and even THAT felt weird...

I'm sure there are one or two legitimate reasons for middle aged single men to move to Thailand or Cambodia, even if they've been under investigation for kiddie porn already, but even if there are, that doesn't mean we should be expected to believe them.

That goes for you too, Arthur C. Clarke.

Comments

[dan g]

He's also admitted to showering with young girls, but insists he treated them "as a grandfather would."

Sure, a really bad, dirty grandfather...

[Arthur C. Clarke]

Hey. Easy, big fella. I don't even know Mr. Glitter.

Arthur C. Clarke

does anybody else think that gary glitter looks a bit like Fred Willard on a, perhaps, bad day?

[virgil]

No. No one does. What an awful thing to say. Shame on you for even suggesting it.

Shame.

Actually, you're right. Weird. I wonder if...nah. But now that I think about it, Fred Willard doesn't appear in all that many movies. What's he doing the rest of the time?

[sunnysider]

I am right, right? (yes, that was me - typepad wouldn't let me sign in before - bastards!) But I have to wonder, are you living under a rock virgil? Fred Willard is in a dozen movies a year. Like Christopher Walken - apparently all you have to do is ask and he'll be in your movie.