Jilly Boel and the Hassles
Today in For Better or For Worse, I tried to make it a day of keying off the word “hassle,” but I couldn’t quite get it to work out into anything funny, aside from having a lot of characters use the word. Ultimately, I was trying to work it around to have Becky and Howard visit my Billy Joel-like character, Jilly Boel, so I could mention that one of his old groups before he made it big was called The Hassles, but when it came right down to it, I realized it was far too obscure a reference to be funny. My sisters have loved Billy Joel ever since they were little, and so when I was a young lad, I took a particular delight in finding old recordings of him that they in their youth could not obtain. So, I have a fond memory of Billy Joel’s old group The Hassles. In any case, I thought it would be fun to introduce a character, who in real life is very similar to Becky, insomuch as Alexa Ray Joel (my version Jalexis Raye Boel) who is a young performer who writes virtually all of her own music, and is supported to a certain degree by her father, although as I understand it, Billy Joel is not managing her career.
I am sure Lynn Johnston means Becky to be more like the Duff girls with their career being managed by their mother, or like the Simpson girls being managed by their father, and presumably of a similar quality of music-making, but we will see that when we finally get to see the audience reaction to the Gym / Jam. My guess is that 4Evah&Eva thinks they sound like crud, while Uncle Phil thinks they sound good, is supposed to be an indication that they are actually good, but are humble about it. Then with Becky, she will actually be bad, but think she is good. So it will be a lesson in humility, is my guess. It’s hard to say, since April has already said in her monthly letter that Becky is a good performer. As for April’s Real Blog Becky, I prefer her to be associated with someone of a quality as Alexa Ray Joel, than Duffs or Simpsons. As for the contests of strength, my boy got to do Tug of War when he participated in the Boy Scout Camporee and it used to be an Olympic sport, a long time ago. So, I wanted to include it.
I am sure Lynn Johnston means Becky to be more like the Duff girls with their career being managed by their mother, or like the Simpson girls being managed by their father, and presumably of a similar quality of music-making, but we will see that when we finally get to see the audience reaction to the Gym / Jam. My guess is that 4Evah&Eva thinks they sound like crud, while Uncle Phil thinks they sound good, is supposed to be an indication that they are actually good, but are humble about it. Then with Becky, she will actually be bad, but think she is good. So it will be a lesson in humility, is my guess. It’s hard to say, since April has already said in her monthly letter that Becky is a good performer. As for April’s Real Blog Becky, I prefer her to be associated with someone of a quality as Alexa Ray Joel, than Duffs or Simpsons. As for the contests of strength, my boy got to do Tug of War when he participated in the Boy Scout Camporee and it used to be an Olympic sport, a long time ago. So, I wanted to include it.
posted by howard at 10:19 PM
7 Comments:
Thanks qnjones. You have been terrific today with your fabulous Liz story posts. It inspired me to write a little Howie / Becky story.
You both cracked me up! I'd completely lost track of Alexa Joel since she was a toddler--I didn't even realize she was writing and performing. But I found her MySpace page. :)
I had seen a lot of pictures of her and her 2 siblings lately, since I think Christie Brinkley got some big modeling job, and a number of the magazines in doctor's offices and that sort or place where I read those kinds of magazines, featured her as a 50-something woman who still looked hott. The pictures of Alexa with her other siblings are striking, because her other siblings picked up her mother's looks, whereas she clearly picked up her father's.
Yes, Alexa Ray's looks are a tad unfortunate because she got her father's bug-eyes. In other respects, I think she is a fairly pretty girl, who resembles her father a lot but his features have been made more attractive by Christie's less obvious genetic input. I mean, let's face it, Billy is homely.
I meant to say I thought your whole Jilly thing was hilarious, and I had no idea his old band was called The Hassles!
Christie has had some very good plastic surgery. Subtle. I think her Cover Girl contract got renewed, which is considered amazing because she has been their "face" for over 20 years. And she's 50+. That woman has a terrible track record of picking all the wrong men, though.
With Alexa Ray's looks, you know she has to go the "talent" route and not the "image" route of the Spears, Simpsons, or Duff girls. In the music business that is trickier these days. You very rarely see a homely young pop star. I touch music tangentially through choral singing, and from that I know women are much more attracted to musical performance as a profession than men. It is a lot easier for a homely, but talented, guy to make it, than a homely, but talented, girl. There is a lot less competition with pretty people.
As for Christie Brinkley's love life, all I can say is that she fulfills a lot of the stereotypes about blondes.
One thing that overcomes "homely" is nepotism. Tori Spelling, even with the nose job and the boob job, bears an unfortunate resemblance to her late father. But she works as an actress, and usually in parts that are supposed to be glamorous. She is also in US Weekly a lot. As is Nicole Richie, who is famous only because she has a rich daddy--I think she is extremely homely. The Demi Moore/Bruce Willis girls are extremely unfortunate-looking because they got a double dose of "strong jaw" genes, yet they are frequently in the rags with the young party crowd, and I bet at least one ends up an actress.
If Alexa Ray has even a modicum of talent, that and her rich daddy are enough for her to go far. Not that it wouldn't be smart, career-wise, to look into some plastic surgery.
I once saw a Lifetime Intimate portrait of Christie Brinkley, and I was stunned by how honest she was about her shambles of a love life. Four husbands, and one dead car-racing long-term boyfriend. The first husband was, IIRC, a philandering artist. The car racer was a bad boy. Billy Joel has long-standing temper and drinking problems that predate their marriage. That Taubman guy, the third husband, is a philandering pig who, according to Christie, doesn't care one bit about his son. And Peter Cook was a serial philanderer.
But the way Christie and her parents talked, it was like each one of these things was a totally isolated incident, totally unforseeable by Christie, who was innocent in the matter. It was very wide-eyed and naive. Only not in a put-on, acting kind of way. I think Christie genuinely doesn't get it.
(Okay, yeah, here I should admit that I'm addicted to "celebrity filth" myself, but I will defend myself by revealing that I also subscribe to Scientific American, The Economist, Harvard Magazine, and mental_floss. I need a little brain rot. Also, you need to know pop culture to do the New York Times Sunday Crossword. Does that sound defensive and intellectually snobbish enough? I hope so.)
Good points all, particularly about Christie Brinkley. I remember reading a Good Housekeeping story about her romance with Richard Taubman and how romantic and manly he was during their 1994 helicopter crash they survived. My sisters, huge Billy Joel fans, were furious and I remember one of them actually yelling at the magazine article for portraying Christie’s cheating on Billy as romantic. In particular I remember the helicopter crash, because ironically, my wife and I were attending a Billy Joel concert in Dallas, Texas about a few weeks after the crash, and people called to him during the concert to ask him how Christie was. The local paper had interviewed him and he made a comment about how his relationship with his wife would be better once his tour was done. He was so wrong.
Of course, as far as Richard Taubman is concerned, a little research of the details available on www.imdb.com for Christie Brinkley shows that the helicopter crash was March, 1994. She and Billy Joel were divorced 25 August 1994. She and Richard Taubman were married 22 December 1994, and Jack Paris Brinkley was born 2 June 1995, so presumably was conceived 9+ months earlier in August, 1994. It’s hard to believe that a woman would genuinely think a relationship would last that starts in this way. But I have known some women who have done extraordinarily stupid things for the sake of “love.”
When do you have time to read all those magazines?
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