When I heard that Paul McCartney’s two-volume book set called The Lyrics would explain the origins of every song he ever wrote, I went onto Amazon to see how much it cost. $99.00! I’m a fan, but that’s kind of crazy.
Then I saw the book The Lyrics featured in the monthly Costco magazine. I figured it would be cheaper. On my last Costco run of 2021 last week (not), I couldn’t find the book. I knew it was green and fat. There was another Beatles’ lyrics book for $20.00 on the shelves. Nice try, Costco.
I bought my huge cart of food and pushed it over to Merchandise pick-up to see what was what. The helpful employee let me know that 27 copies were ordered, set to arrive on December 16th.
Yesterday was the 16th. I called Costco, and the woman answering the phone said the books were in stock. I went to Costco and checked out the book display. No fat green book. I went to the Merchandise pick-up window again, and the guy told me the books had not arrived yet but that Livermore already got theirs and had two copies left.
“That’s pretty far,” I said. “How about Seaside? Do they have any copies?”
I was planning to run down to Monterey to clean up my yard after the big rain last weekend. This weekend is the only free time before Christmas, when I will have company for ten days.
“Sand City?” the guy asked. “They have seven copies, and they sold five copies last week and one copy this week.”
Five years ago, I found out about Seaside when Margo and I went to its 60th birthday party. The Sun Kings were playing there one Saturday afternoon in October. We love the Sun Kings. Even though I’d already rented out my beach house to friends, I had to see my Beatles cover band. I worked a deal with the friend renters. Margo and I would sleep in the living room while the two couples got the bedrooms. After all, it was my house. Why pay all that money and then not get to use it? I certainly wasn’t making much in rental fees.
Margo and I went to the birthday party and saw the animal show with exotic animals by a woman in an Aussie hat. She brought out an iguana, a snake, and other more forgettable animals.
Then the ballet folklorico for kids was next. Hundreds (yes, hundreds counting their family members) of Latinx kids came decked out in their Day of the Dead clothing and performed a half dozen songs as they twirled in their colorful skirts and their made-up skeleton faces. I was mesmerized by the whole performance.
Then the Sun Kings! The Latinx families hightailed it out of the park, and there were just 40 of us left – old hippies, the guitar players’ wives, Margo and me (this is the same band that gets a crowd of 1200 at a summer gig in Alamo). We drank our wine and danced on the side at our private Sun Kings concert. It was weird – no one else danced. I wondered who was responsible for booking a Beatles’ cover band for a Hispanic community.
Anyway, I scored The Lyrics. Only $59.99. The first time around the book display I didn’t see it. Someone had put Sherlock Holmes on top. But then I saw a stack of green. They still had six copies left.
Five now. If you want to make the drive.
FIRST DATE, WORST DATE EVER! 