Ron's Big Life Update - September 1994

(written September 8:)

Happy New Year, my butt! I was standing out in Times Square for three days before someone told me that the ball doesn't drop for the Jewish new year! Since when?? I guess I'm not gonna need these Jewish new year's resolutions...

Ron

(written September 9:)

Happy Labor Day! May none of us go into labor any time soon...

I'm sorry to say that you all missed the greatest party ever. Tucson has this thing called Downtown Saturday Night every other Saturday, and it's a big-ol' festival thing where you can walk around and buy chachkis and eat and listen to bands, etc. Well, the good folks at KXCI have participating in the last few of these, and this past Saturday, we put on Downtown Saturday Night Fever, featuring "Starskee Suave" and Ron "Boogiemonster" Gerber as hosts of the Disco Vortex! We were in full '70s regalia (I still can't fathom how people actually danced in platform shoes; I'm still limping this morning...) and we looked resplendent! Oy! We had about 80-100 people dancing in the streets to such timeless classics as "Ring My Bell", "Le Freak", "Play That Funky Music", and "Dancing Queen". It was a little surreal, but a lot of fun. Boogie On Reggae Woman...

In other news, don't see "Wyatt Earp". (Did I already tell you this?) It goes on and on and on for over three hours, and it was awful. I thought that the funniest part of the movie was his first wife, whose name was something weird, like Euwina (or something close to that). Euwina Earp? That's funny! But alas, the rest of the movie sucked rocks.

But you should rush out and see "Smile" (from 1974, on video). It's a fairly scathing commentary on society, from the point of view of the contestants in a teen beauty pageant. It's hilarious (Leonard Maltin called it one of the most underrated films of the '70s; I guess it didn't do very well when it came out). It's got Bruce Dern, and a teensy part by Melanie Griffith. Two thumbs up.

Have you bought the new Seal album yet? What are you waiting for?

Keep your feet in the ground, and your head in the sky. You pick 'em, we count 'em down.

Love and kisses,
Casey Kasem

(written September 15:)

HAPPY THURSDAY! And I suppose, HAPPY YOM KIPPUR! (Did I tell you how three years ago I had "Happy Yom Kippur" written on a cake that I brought to dinner?)

I saw a great Australian film last night. It was "Priscilla - Queen of The Desert", and was about three drag queens in the Australian desert, and was the funniest movie I've seen in a long time. It won Most Popular Film at some of the big worldwide film festivals (the names of which escape me), and deservedly so. The film is just opening nationwide, and is definitely worth shelling out $7 to see. A 10. Four stars. Two thumbs up. I laughed, I cried, I saved $7 because I had free passes. But I'd pay $7 to see it again.

All else pales in comparison to Priscilla, so I don't have much to report. Back to you, Maury.

Ron

(written September 19:)

Hi, all. Do any of you remember a problem with my wrists? I might have mentioned something to some of you, but I don't remember who. Anyway, I had them looked at and finally (after 7 years of on/off problems) had them diagnosed. The doctors said that I have teensy little growths on both of the wrist joints, like little bubbles of tissue. They're called "ganglions", and they're about the size of a contact lens. There's an easy surgical procedure to remove them, so I had the left wrist operated on this past Friday. The procedure was done under general anesthesia (a new experience for me), and now I have this HUGE bandage on my left arm; it looks like I'm wearing a boxing glove. I've learned how to do most of my daily activities with just my right hand, but tying shoelaces and putting on after-shave still give me a hard time. I get the huge bandage replaced with something smaller tomorrow, and then I get the stitches out a week from today. I'm thankful that my car has an automatic transmission! I get the right hand fixed in about two months; I should practice doing things with my left hand once it heals.

Oy! Such fun! Actually, the recovery isn't bad at all; I would just like some smaller bandages so I can quit wearing tank-tops (I'm hoping that my huge bandages will divert attention away from my scrawny shoulders!)

And that's what I did this weekend. Oh, and I also saw the Miss America Pageant. Now THAT'S quality entertainment...

No pain, no gain,
Ron