Our trip to visit family in Richmond was exhausting. We had to fly in and out at odd hours to take a direct flight. Then there was the cab ride from hell upon our return. It was the first time I’ve feared for my life while riding in a taxi. It’s an experience I hope to never repeat.

We attended the Richmond Folk Festival while in Virginia. It’s a free festival located not far from Dr A’s sister’s house in the hilliest part of the city. We saw two artists from the Gret Stet perform: Nathan & The Zydeco Cha Chas and Cyril Neville. Cyril is the only one of the Neville Brothers I’ve never met. I didn’t meet him in Richmond either. Oh well, what the hell.

The aforementioned terrifying cab ride inspired the selection of this week’s theme song. I genuinely thought we’d reached the Point Of No Return. 

We have two theme songs of that title. The first was written by Jim Babjak for 1994 album, A Date With The Smithereens. Jimmy is the band’s stellar lead guitarist and he shows his songwriting chops with this number.

Our second theme song was written by Thom Bell and Linda Creed in 1971 for The Stylistics.

I’m doing something different with our second act. The only segment contains an excerpt from the email I wrote to the local regulating agencies about:

The Cab Ride From Hell I usually keep my personal disputes off the blog. It can come off as small and petty. But what’s a bit of pettiness among friends?

This requires some exposition for those who have never taken a cab at Armstrong Airport. The cab stand is set up so you have to take the next cab in line. That policy often leads to bad experiences. I’m leery of taking Uber and Lyft from the airport because they’re notorious for price gouging whereas cabs have a set price.

The title of the email is DANGEROUS CAB & DRIVER.

“The driver drove way too fast and went the wrong way on Napoleon Avenue. Thar’s not the worst of it: I sat in a bucket seat that was loose. It swiveled every time there was a curve or bump in the road. At several points I banged against the door. I do not scare easily and I was terrified. Also the cab had motor issues and seemed on the verge of breaking down.

I told the cab driver about the seat and he said, “I fixed.” He did not. He also lied about speeding. I demanded he slow down and he claimed to be going 60 MPH. He was not until I insisted he slow down. All of this happened at night.

This cab SHOULD NOT BE ON THE ROAD and this driver should not be allowed to transport the public.”

I wrote that in the wee hours of Tuesday morning and my spell-checker warned of run on sentences and whatnot. It’s what happens when you’re scared shitless but I don’t:

I posted about the incident on Twitter but some minimized my near death experience as normal. If that was normal, the GOP is a normal political party.

The last word of our second act goes to Jethro Tull:

 We begin our third act with our favorite stolen feature.

Separated At Birth Blue Sky Edition: I’m not sure I should post this Gym Jordan-Steve Martin thingamabob since I’ve been told I resemble Steve Martin. I decided to throw caution to the wind and do it anyway:

I had to go the web capture route to post that. If Blue Sky is serious about replacing Twitter, they need to make these messages embeddable. FYI, my handle there is @adrastosno.bsky.social.

How about some Blue Sky noir?

Your Weekly Oscar: Are you ready to Cakewalk?

Have I told you lately how much I love Oscar Peterson?

Saturday GIF Horse: It’s Taxi time.

Did Iggy have the same driver Dr. A and I had?

Best Of SNL: Some seasonal humor from Chris Farley.

I love the image of Farley getting in David Spade’s face. I can’t stand that smug little fucker. Every time I see Spade, I want to hit him upside the head with one of his late sister-in-law’s handbags.

The Junk Drawer: I dug Jamie O’s piece about Poland yesterday but I have one quibble with it. He didn’t mention this guy:

That’s former Polish Prime Minister and European Union President Donald Tusk who led the center-left opposition to victory.

If Mr. Tusk’s name had been dropped this could have been the last word:

Let’s close down this virtual honky tonk with some more music.

Saturday Closer: This week a brand spanking new Tiny Desk Concert featuring the great Smokey Robinson.

That’s it for this week. The last word goes to the cast of Taxi: Andy Kaufman, Tony Danza, Christopher Lloyd, Marilu Henner, Judd Hirsch, and Danny DeVito.