The Irony of David Halberstam's Death

Meet Pulitzer Prize-winning author and journalist David Halberstam. I read all 750 pages of his 1986 book, The Reckoning, and to this day it's still the longest tome I've ever indulged. A high school teacher suggested I read it, and I'm glad I did.

The Reckoning is a book about how the Japanese got a foot-hold on the automotive industry during the 1970's. You see, America was producing gas-guzzling vans, station wagons, and luxury sedans in the middle of an oil crisis. Along came a couple of little Japanese companies called Datsun and Nissan (Our Compact, Fuel-Effecient Cars Will Be The Death Of You™) and well, things snow-balled from there. Halberstam not only wrote about the history of the industry, but also penned dire predictions for the future of America's auto industry, and how it would succumb to the Japanese.

With the recent bankruptcy of GM (Filing For Chapter 11 Isn't As Bad As Chapter 13™) and American car manufacturers being in trouble all-around, The Reckoning has recently been cited by critics as a book that should have been titled The Warning, because nearly everything Halberstam predicted came true.

David Halberstam died in a multiple car collision in Menlo Park on April 23rd, 2007. I was sorry to hear of his death but... curiosity got the best of me, and I just had to find something out. I was actually surprised when I found what I was looking for online:

The three cars involved in the crash that took Halberstam's life?

A late model Infiniti, a Toyota Camry, and a Nissan Coupe. All Japanese cars.

I'm sure Mr. Halberstam is sitting on a cloud somewhere and shaking his finger at America while saying of his death, "Well, at least you can say I kinda saw it coming."

Irony is a funny thing and more often than not makes me smile. Granted, it's an acquired emotion but really folks, a wry smile is better than no smile at all. If you try to find the irony in things, you just might find yourself smiling more often.

Rest in peace Mr. David Halberstam.

FiN.

More irony. Hear what Katie Couric has to say about David Halberstam's death.

Watch CBS Videos Online

Ticket Stubbage

Go ahead, click on the picture of tickets. Really, do it because you'll be able to read them. These aren't all of my tickets because a lot of them have faded and are difficult to read. 

Please note there's two Gordon Lightfoot tickets. I guess I kept my friend's ticket because I've only seen Gordon once. Trust me on that, as I swear on the watery graves of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

Near the center you'll see my 1983 Men At Work ticket. That was the first concert I ever saw and it was the band's North American debut. Years later I got Colin Hay to autograph the ticket but the pen ran out of ink so you can't really make out his signature. Next to it is a stub from a Ramones concert. I was in the pit and moshed. I think the whole band is dead now.

You'll also see a "Trilogy of Terror" ticket featuring Nashville bands Dessau and Jet Black Factory. Jet Black Factory didn't actually get to play that show however. The bass player and myself took a little drive thirty minutes before the gig and I plowed into a truck that decided to turn in front of me. The bass player's head shattered my windshield and he had to go to the hospital. I was wearing my seat belt. Boy, how the guys in the band were pissed at me that night!

There's a 1995 ticket from seeing Eddie Rabbitt (yes, two t's) with the Oak Ridge Boys. My friend's dad was Eddie's road manager and played fiddle in the band. I got to meet Eddie and he gave me one of his Ovation guitar picks. Eddie's dead now too.

So is Michael Hutchence. By the date on my INXS ticket I can tell you I saw Michael perform only a few months before he auto-erotically self-asphyxiated.

There's a Steve Earle, Keb Mo, Jackson Browne ticket in there but I only went to see Steve Earle and luckily, he was the show's opener. I ran into him afterwards in the casino and had a nice conversation with him considering he's turned into an asshole. Here's a quick story about Steve:

My friend Mark use to be a bartender at the Gold Rush in Nashville. He would shoot-up heroin with Steve Earle back in the day. One night Mark was at a concert at The Cannery and he ran into Steve.

"Good to see you Steve," Mark said, "I notice you're wearing the same clothes you had on last night."

"I was in fucking New York City last night Mark, how the hell do you know what I was wearing?"

"Dude," Mark said, "You performed on 'Late Night With David Letterman.'"

True story.

The best (large venue) shows I've seen were The Chemical Brothers, Midnight Oil, and Rusted Root.

The loudest shows were Oasis, Live and Smashing Pumpkins.

The most fun show was seeing Mojo Nixon with Skid Roper & The Toad Lickers. 

The shows I attended with a twisted arm but turned out surprisingly great were AC/DC, Duran Duran, and Morrissey. If you look at my Morrissey ticket (bottom center) you'll see Ticketmaster misspelled his name.

The show I'm most ashamed of is Super Diamond. They're a not-so-great Neil Diamond tribute band. Neil Diamond's ticket stub is somewhere in there too.

I'm glad I've saved my ticket stubs. Without them I wouldn't be able to tell you I've seen U2 three times (I've killed a lot of brain cells with copious amounts of alcohol).

When I flip through my stack of tickets, I get all nostalgic and whatnot. It's like looking at a photo album but with the images in your head. The best part, the part that makes me smile, is knowing my collection of ticket stubs will always be growing and will never be complete.

FiN.