Mall Recall

Yesterday I stepped back in time to the 80s and 90s, when giant indoor shopping malls were destinations that were for more than just shopping. We went there to meet friends, eat at the food court, see movies, entertain ourselves and our kids. Our local indoor mall closed over 6 years ago, so I took my 15-year-old daughter and her friend to the Yorktown Mall about 40 minutes from our house. Sure, some consider me a hero for doing that, like my wife who texted me this …

Well, I can’t argue with the first part of the text. As for the second part, I do need soap. I found these interesting scents in a mall store …

I don’t remember mall soap like that in the 80s and 90s. I was trying to decide which soap fit me best when my eyes wandered over to an old concert poster reproduction which stopped me in my tracks. I had to find a store manager to discuss this atrocity …

Fleetwood Mac was not headlining any show in 1970 over CSN&Y or even Rare Earth. The Mac was a band just starting its transition from a blues band to the pop sensation it would eventually become in the middle of that decade. 3 of the 5 members shown in the poster’s picture were not even with Fleetwood Mac in 1970.

I explained all this to my daughter who acted like she didn’t care. I am sure it was eating her up inside as she held back her tears and bravely continued shopping for clothes.

And Eric Clapton on the concert bill? Pffft! In November of 1970, he was touring with Derek and the Dominos.

Clapton would not have appeared solo on this fabricated concert bill. I had to speak to a store manager to explain how that concert poster they were displaying violated the Federal Trade Commission’s truth-in-advertising laws. I should know. I am a low level government official from another township.

Sadly, my daughter forbade me from even looking in the direction of the manager. I am sure she suspected that if I caught the eye of the manager, my governmental aura would have drawn the manager to me. My daughter distracted me by directing me to a pair of socks that seemed to fit my feng shui perfectly and would go well with my brown suit.

Sadly, her gambit worked and that abomination of a concert poster remains in the mall selling a twisted musical fake news history to all who encounter it … until my next mall visit.