WHOLE FOODS:

Your observations don't apply only to the rich.  We have a total breakdown of civil society - especially in Los Angeles.   It's all 'me first.'   No effort for the common good.

I recently broke a bone in my foot.  When I went to my office Downtown,  I took the subway.  As I hobbled onto the train with a boot and a cane, the handicapped seats were usually occupied by people on their phones pretending not to notice the huge boot.  I could see them glance up.   Only a handful of times was I offered a seat.    This started a general observation.  Those in handicapped seats normally did not give them up to those in need.  

So - to compliment your e-mail - here is a list of common behaviors that I find to be outside of normal civility.

The Purse Digger - c'mon, you know you're going to be needing your wallet at the checkout.  Get it out before.  

The 'Oh-Hi' People - don't block the aisle talking to your friend.  I've been glared at for moving other peoples carts.

Do You Have Parents? - Kids running around at risk of getting run over by a shopping cart.

Elevator/Subway Car Etiquette - Let people OFF before you barrel in!

'Oh-Hi' Person in a Queue  - Long line of folks waiting for something.  Friend comes up to say 'oh-hi.'  Before long, they're in the line in front of everyone else who was waiting. 

Picky Folks at a Salad Bar - I once was behind someone choosing individual croutons.  'nuff said.  

Gate Lice and Baggage Claim - We all know of gate lice.  I'm also bothered by those who crowd baggage claim.  Step back and step forward when you see your bag.  

The Fake Breakdown - double parking is now ok if you have your emergency flashers on.  I try to be a good sam and ask if could call AAA for them.  I've been called an a*hole for trying to help.  

Stop Sign Scofflaws -  There's a four way stop near my house.   Accidents happen, two cars go at one turn, cars breeze through.   Put a few traffic cops there and it would make a difference in balancing the city budget.  

Parking Spot Vultures  -  holding up a whole row just to get a spot a few spaces closer.  This is experienced so often at Costco that I'll purposely park at the far end and walk.  

Talking at Movies or Concerts  - I don't want to hear about your opinion on a restaurant  or spa during a music performance.    There's a lobby for that if you're bored or have no attention span. 

Thanks for presenting an opportunity for me to release my inner Larry David.  

Scott Wirtz
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You hit my pet peeve....people who get to the front of the line then look at the menu like they've never experienced anything like it before. WTF you're at Coffee Bean. 

Michael Rosenblatt
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Bob, you are so old!!
In Italy, and France, people bring their dogs everywhere. You get used to it…

Bill Siddons
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"California family accused of playing 'black' in White community":

https://share.newsbreak.com/cv106c9l

The Real Gregory Beasley

P.S. So now you can begin to understand how people of color expirence 90% of whites they encounter...everywhere
...not just Whole Foods 
_________________________________

Oh Yeah. But the guy who brought his pitbull with metal spiked collar and just roamed around Trader Joe’s - 

The check- out guy told me there’s a law protecting every “therapy pet”. 
Really? Like this pit bull was a comfort animal? I don’t think so.

And I’m a dog-lover and dog owner but I don’t bring my dog inside any stores, or anywhere he might potentially cause a problem for other humans. 

(Btw, I worked at WF during the pandemic. They treat their employees like sh*t. And now that it’s corporate, (owned by Amazon), they got rid of homeopathic remedies by the dozen. I guess the Amazon people don’t understand what organic really means, other than organic profits.)

- Roberta Donnay 
_________________________________

when i went to see "a complete unknown", a woman got behind me on line with her "support" animal in her bag. being as i have no compunction about such things, i asked her if she seriously was taking her pet into the theater (meanwhile the dog was barking at dogs that walked by). every person on line who had been cooing over the dog, gave me a look like "how dare you". seriously? when we got to the ticket office, i asked her what movie she was going to see and of course she was in for the dylan movie. i told the guy to refund my money. sent an email to the laemmle management, who offered to give me free passes in stead. i didn't take them. that wasn't the point "if dogs run free, then why not (me)"...indeed.

dari silverman
_________________________________

I live in Minneapolis and a couple years ago my family went to Scottsdale for a vacation and could not believe how many people were out in public, in Target, shopping malls and other stores with their dogs.

We do take our medium sized dog to Home Depot or Lowes, because they say you can bring your dog there - i generally keep her in the cart as we move down the aisles, but would never think of bringing her to a grocery store or mall.

People have gotten ridiculous with their expectations and selfishness with their pets

Phil Borken
Minneapolis, MN
_________________________________

I live in Palm Beach County and routinely encounter plenty of self-entitled a*sholes — many with their doggies in inappropriate places. 

I like dogs and have no issues with them. It's the dumbass owners who can't go to a f*ckin' store or restaurant without 'em. That's the problem!

As for Wholey Foods, when I buy cold cuts there (rarely), I try to get the store-packaged stuff and avoid the lines. The fish is good too but this is insanely great! 

Double Chocolate Sandwich Cremes

https://www.amazon.com/365-WFM-Chocolate-Sandwich-Creme/dp/B08PHKPJ1X?th=1

Richard Pachter
_________________________________

I figured the dog lovers would tell you not to be a hater. Guess what? Dogs roll in sh*t. But I supposed theirs don't, of course not, and my kids didn't pick their noses. Did that dude really spell your name wrong?

Susan Schreider
_________________________________

Black people are still focused on the fact that you can have a whole ROW of cut carrots, celery, watermelon, and grapes off the stem, and charge 10x more for them and white people don’t blink.

The dog and bouncing balls is invisible to us.

Michael Aiken
_________________________________

Yep, pretty good rant Bob.  Of course what can often happen at Whole Foods is happening everywhere. This is the class distinction — or at least the perceived class distinction — that led to Donald Trump being in the White House.  Dang rich folks…

The political argument is no longer left vs right, it’s up vs down.  And as Paul Simon would say, “one man’s ceiling is another man’s floor”.

Take care, 

Dave Dalzell
_________________________________

The Robot Dog is real and will soon be a thing. The RD will serve many roles, and connected to the internet, many functions.

The estimated average cost of maintaining a dog is $1,400.00 to $5,300.00. Your RD will be delivered, preprogrammed, and easily updated. Yes, they will have many of the 'dog' physical and physiological features.

No poop, no pee, no disease, the rest is programmable. Alexa enabled and search engine capable. 

Thank you,

Gary Hunter, CCIM
Receiver I Turnaround Management
_________________________________

Entitled jerks? Nothing worse than cyclists.

Tom Gribbin
_________________________________

I appreciate all the people saying 'it's the people not the dogs' 
I don't understand how any human can not 'like' animals... 
....the behaviour of some and their owners yes, but the actual animals? 
Thank God I'm not American 

Tina Kidman from NZ
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Bob, I thought it was just me! In addition to all the insufferable pretentiousness, I’m so tired of dodging the Amazon shoppers with those carts. They never seem to acknowledge they are about to roll over me as I feebly try to pick out produce. Ugh! 

Jen Rothman

P.S. Oh and another thing - who designed the pathetically small self checkout stations that force me to juggle groceries, put bags on the floor while i attempt to buzz them through. Each visit invariably slows me down because i have to get the one attendant to unlock the register…and that one attendant is often stuck with another customer in the same predicament. Efficient it it not!
_________________________________

People that actually shop in the supermarket (as opposed to ordering online and having it delivered at a convenient time when you are home to accept it) are almost as sad as the people that actually go to the movie theater in 2025. This planet will be so much better off once the boomers are gone.

Noah K Lesser
_________________________________

:D :D :D 
loved this, Bob
spot on!  hope you feel better after writing about it

theory is this ubiquitous dog ownership (rich or vagrant) is transference
attention folks need to invest in themselves, they transfer to this needy devoted creature

despite the reputation, didnt find much dog sh*t in Paris
SF however is landmine central 
f*king disgusting
what can one do?
neighbors try to publicly shame on Nextdoor, but most folks arent on there

Whole Foods in the Castro is pretty chill btw
Pacific Heights? another story:  rude

regardless, Whole Foods selection has plummeted since Amazon took over, so now mostly shop Trader Joes and Chinatown

thanks for sharing —Joel Messerer in SF
_________________________________

Subject: Concerned for you.

Clearly your rant on dogs was a clear cry out for help. I'd say a dog would certainly help you and could provide you with much needed therapy. Just my professional opinion. Better than pills, alcohol or a therapist. Actually better than people in general

Sherry Wasserman
_________________________________

Holy sh*t, how many of your readers have reading comprehension issues!? A few understand the theme, like the guy who blames Reagan, and the comment about living in a society. 
The people who relate better to dogs than people, they’re adherents to the self-absorption doctrine, but too self-absorbed to know it. 
At least the ones who advocate moving away from others have some self-awareness.  

Thanks- and sorry so many can’t understand the theme instead of the examples. 

Pete Boser
_________________________________
_________________________________

RON DELSENER:

Bob: The true hero in this story Is Frank Barsalona. It was his brilliance, class and style that created most of the 'Sillerman' buyouts. Wolf & Rissmiller in L.A., Don Law in Boston, Larry Magid in Philly, Jack Boyle in D.C., etc. 
 
The common denominator is NICE GUY! They all had to pass the Barsalona and Barbara Skydel test. A very high bar. They saved Poco for me when Richie left. Bless them both. 

As ever,

John Hartmann
_________________________________

I was in college, trying to figure out a summer job in New York City. My cousin, who was a booking agent, arranged for me to have an interview with Ron to see if there was something for me during the summer music festival that he produced.

I remember walking into his office to see him sitting behind his desk with a gigantic oil painting portrait of him looming over the room. 

I told him about all my hopes and dreams for being in the music business and he said "why would you want to do that?  You should really go find a much better career for yourself." 

At the time, I wasn't sure if he was being mean or helpful, but in retrospect there is a lot of wisdom to what he said.

Daniel Savage
_________________________________

Ron Delsner knew my dad from when he was an agent at MCA back in the 60s. When I was co-managing Devo with Elliot Roberts, we played a date for Ron in New York. I remember walking around the house with him and he was straightening the sconces on the wall. I never forgot that because it taught me that every detail counts and he was a perfectionist and that’s why he was as successful as he was.

Bill Gerber
_________________________________

I wanted to add a quick Ron Delsener story. In the summer of 1980, I managed to obtain an "interview" with him through a family connection. He was the king of New York music promoters and I was a junior at Cornell in charge of our robust Concert Committee. My goal was to see if I could land a spot in his organization after graduating.

I recall him sitting behind a huge desk, a large portrait of him hanging on the wall behind that appeared to be by Andy Warhol, and my seat across from him being about a foot below the desk; there was an obvious power-play going on.

Anyway, he asked me several questions about myself and my ambitions regarding music promotion. The two final things he said to me were, "You can be a ticket taker at Central Park if you want" and "Learn how to type; it comes in handy."
 
I guess I didn't want to enter the business that badly that I'd start by taking tickets and, yes, I grew proficient at typing.

I must say, though, that living on Long Island in the seventies and eighties and having so many shows available in The City - I could go to the Garden almost every weekend and see a big name act - brings back fond memories of those times and Mr. Delsener's part in it.

Joanne Garroway
_________________________________

Unlike the social media blasts of today, If you grew up in NY (primarily in the 70’s and 80’s), there was the constant sound on your radio of an excitable, disembodied V.O. bellowing “Ron Delsener Presents!...(artist, band, etc)” to promote an endless number of shows that were happening in the NY Metro area.  

RD was at the forefront of great music from the undiscovered to the biggest artists of the day, from the superstars at Madison Square Garden, to the edgiest on the cusp of greatness at the Palladium, to Wollman Rink in Central Park where for a few bucks, you could see the likes of Led Zeppelin, The Beach Boys, Fleetwood Mac, Aerosmith, Bob Marley, the Talking Heads, and Blondie to name but a few. 

Ron’s early office on 67th Street was a bustle of activity and with his trusted sister Harriette and later the dearly departed Mitch Slater, that office pumped out and pumped up the greatest shows in NY.

There's no one like him and Bob, to your point about not seeing enough of who Ron is, the 90+ minute running time did the best it could to keep up with Ron’s energy and backstory.

I encountered it all as a punter growing up on Long Island, and during my days working at MTV, but I also grew up watching Ron’s rise to prominence from a family perspective.  From annual get togethers at the Delseners home in Queens, NY to family weddings, bar mitzvahs and (sadly) funerals over the years, we'd get a sense of his business life, but more importantly when he was there, he was “Relative Ron”: and not “Promoter Ron.”  
 
Punter and professional alike owe a debt of thanks for both Ron’s drive and instincts, along with props to that inner circle of groundbreaking pioneer promoters across the country, who represented that early foundation of the risks taken for the evolution of the business we know today.  

Respect, love and thanks “Uncle Ronnie”... 

Brian Diamond
_________________________________

? I missed the boat on emailing about this one but my very first job in my whole life was working at the Wollman Rink Central Park concerts 1978 -1980.

I had no idea who the promoter was... but if you look at those concert schedules from what is now 45 years ago? They are absolutely amazing. And I got to see all of them!

Dr. Pepper Summer Music Festival 1979 Setlists:

https://www.setlist.fm/festival/1979/dr-pepper-summer-music-festival-1979-3bd780a8.html

Can you even imagine a schedule this good anywhere now?   Every single night we would discover something we'd never known about before. Southside Johnny and Maria Muldaur and B.B. King and Dr, John and The Cars and the Babies and Utopia and it was every single night.   From in front of the front row, you could catch guitar pics and drumsticks, and Todd Rundgren would bust our chops.

They called us the Super Hawkers..... music lovers and kids just in high school. I had to forge my working papers to take the job. Eventually, we started to sneak in beer and hashish $10 a gram and I could buy a pound of it for about $500 bucks.  That's how I paid for my first Les Paul and a lot of nice dinners with my girlfriend. 16 years old and rocking up to Tavern on the Green and McMullens.  We had this giant pipe called the "piece pipe" (because it was pieces of a lot of other pipes) and we would pass it around with all the security guys before the show and they would look out for us. There was this gigantic man called the Sugar Bear. If you had a problem, he'd help out. But everyone was pretty cool. I don't think I ever had a single bad experience with anyone those summers and a lot of money changed hands - and I was skinny as a rail, and the only thing I had on my side was the love that was there.

Had a fake ID too, and we used to go out on third Avenue and drink this thing called "The Velvet Hammer" which was pretty much vodka and melted vanilla ice cream on 3rd Ave and 76th after the shows....

In the hot summer days, they would let us drink the warm diet Dr Pepper we didn't sell. I can still taste it. 45 years later. I haven't had a can since and I can taste it just by thinking about it.

It's like the lost city of Atlantis. Makes me cry just thinking about it being gone....

And Ron Delsner produced those shows.  Amazing.....

Matt Peyton


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