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Venice beatniks, gambling ships off the Santa Monica Pier, Raymond Chandler stories, the Gidget phenomenon, Jim Rockford’s trailer, Jack, Janet, Chrissy, the Ropers, and Fletch too, have all shaped the cultural geography that defines the character of Billy McBride and the landscape of Goliath.
As I begin writing, it’s Sunday, Sept. 26, 2016, and Vin Scully is calling his last game at Dodger Stadium. It’s been a long goodbye between Vin and MLB all season long as the Dodgers go from city to city…
A plane touches down at LAX. Moments later, Jim Rockford is striding through the terminal with cagy purpose and the feigned nonchalance of a man who knows he’s being watched. Rockford finds a payphone and reports to his client, a Mr. Warner Jameson. Rockford informs Jameson that something “a little weird” happened back in Newark, and that Jim will fill him in later. But first he has to go home, shower and change. It’s pretty obvious from Jimbo’s body language that whatever happened in Jersey has left him feeling uneasy and unclean.
“It’s Laurie at the trailer park. A space opened up. Do you want me to save it, or are the cops going to let you stay where you are?” Interesting message, because Jim’s trailer, which has so far been…
*** Late afternoon sunlight glistens off the rain-splashed asphalt of the Bay City Motel parking lot. Jim Rockford’s Firebird pulls in accompanied by the breezy strains of a Price Is Right-showcase horn suite. In the brief moment it takes…
Preamble The reason I love Mad Men has nothing to do with the show’s soap opera aspects, but rather because of the unique way they presented the momentous decade of the 1960s. First they seduced us with vignettes showing what…
“This is Jim Rockford. At the tone leave your name and message. I’ll get back to you.” “Hey Rockford, very funny. I ain’t laughin’. You’re gonna get yours.” The fun of this message is not in its words, but in…
Vin Scully is a baseball institution. He’s been announcing Dodger games for 64 years. That’s not a typo. Vin Scully IS baseball. He’s as wholesomely American as apple pie, and he’s had the same clean-cut professional appearance since he started…
“This is Jim Rockford. At the tone leave your name and message. I’ll get back to you.” “Hey Jim, this is Louie down at the fish market. You gonna pick up these halibut, or what?” Sirens blare and flash across…
“This is Jim Rockford. At the tone leave your name and message. I’ll get back to you.” “Jim, it’s Norma at the market. It bounced. You want us to tear it up, send it back, or put it with the…