On Gasoline, Animal People, and Bands that didn’t make it but were supposed to

Back in the 1980s, we had parts of the country that if you ran out of gas, you can die. Another car won’t come along for hours and the heat can reach fatal levels.

Yes, no joke. They even occasionally used it as a trope in movies.

I learned from driving across those parts of the country to never, ever let my car go under a quarter tank of gas.

To this day, I’ve kept that habit. And yesterday, it paid off.

Yesterday, we had an event. Over the weekend, I got down near a quarter tank and out of habit, I filled it up. Yesterday and today? The gas lines are a quarter mile long and probably an hour wait.

No joke. They’re blocking traffic right now on some roads.

Did I have to buy gas? Nope! I can drive by them and think “bummer. Sucks for them.”

Be prepared, my friends. Apply this mindset to other aspects of your life as well. Not just getting gas.

On Animal People

There’s an old saying to watch how someone treats animals before you consider dating them seriously.

Whereas that sounds like great advice, it’s not always accurate. I personally know two narcissists (one extreme narcissist whose narcissism will lead to her premature death. Yes, no joke) and a sociopath who are damn good with animals.

Now look, I love animals too.

Well, some. Dogs, yes. Cats? Not so much.

I don’t dislike cats. I just don’t get them.

My buddy A’s cat for some reason thought I was the coolest guy in the world and I have no idea why. Then I’ve been scratched by cats for no reason. So I don’t get cats. I have no idea what to do around them so I kind of avoid them. Except for A’s cat. I love that cat.

Dogs though, I’m totally a dog guy. And dogs know it. They immediately think to themselves “I like that guy!”

Just the other day, I was running and a 100+ pound boxer ran up to me and was like “hey dude, how’s it going?” The dog was off leash and the owner came up a minute later and profusely apologized to me. I told him it was all good. I’m just that way with dogs.

That doesn’t affect how I feel about humans though. Some humans I love dearly. Some humans I want to strangle. Depends on the person.

And more importantly, what I’m getting at is that you’ll meet some folks who are wonderful animal people but are terrible people people. So it’s not always a good sign for a potential mate.

Now if someone is clearly abusive towards animals, then yeah, that’s a huge red flag.

You’ve probably never heard of Lone Justice

Great name for a band too. They’re one of those 80s bands that drew a music industry bidding war and amounted to absolutely nothing.

Geffen ended up signing them. Then they put out two albums and fizzled out.

I’m actually a fan of Maria McKee, the former lead singer. Yeah, you probably never heard of her either.

She’s a dang good lyricist too. Was super cute in the 80s.

But after the band broke up, she went solo, had a hit outside the USA, a really long career, but never really made it big.

Off the top of your head, you can probably think of one or two bands that met a similar fate. Were supposed to be the next big thing. Fizzled out. Amounted to nothing.

That’s one cool thing about the internet. I could find out whatever happened to Lone Justice and sure enough, an interview with Maria McKee.

She said that the music industry kept trying to push them in a million different directions. Which meant that the band had no direction.

Their second album sounded nothing like their first. Their first had all this energy. And their second? It sounded overproduced. Then they broke up.


I personally got so frustrated with the music industry that I just said “screw it” and produced my own. I play guitar, piano, synths, background vocals, and I orchestrate.

For lead vocals, bass guitar, drums, and strings, I hire session musicians.

Hear Princess for the Night for free and if you like it, buy the EP. Only $5 – [product id = 1749]

2 comments

  1. Forgot to mention, bands, like the one you mentioned, that didnt earn enough on the road werent going to find anyway to make another album (or tour unless they had damn good friends).

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