By BEN OLSON/for The Herald — If you were lucky enough to have $10,000 sitting around in 1974, you could have bought the premiere American-made luxury car, a Cadillac Sedan de Ville. You would have had enough money left over to pay for all your gas, oil changes and tires for the next 4 years, as well.
If you had stuffed that 10K in your mattress and dug it out today, you could buy a 2013 Hyundai Elantra with 127,000 miles on it. In 1974, cars didn’t ever get to 127,000 miles.
If you drove your ‘74 Cadillac for 2 years and then put it in the garage for the next 48 years, you could sell it for about 3 times what you paid for it, somewhere in the $25,000 range. When you were driving the Caddy for those 2 years, gas was about 55 cents a gallon. Of course, big lead sled that it was, the car only went 11 miles on a gallon of gas.
If you want to drive a brand-spankin’ new Cadillac today, it’ll set you back 38K for the low-end XT-4 model. You can spend as much as $340,000 for the Cadillac Celestiq. Wait, that’s just the base price- the extras can take it well over 400K.
Or, go to your nearest bar and order a Cadillac for a lot less, but drink it slowly
Where am I going with all this in a music column? Absolutely nowhere. The numbers are all verifiable, though. You’ll have to come to your own conclusions. Wasn’t it me that said, in 1974, “when cigarettes get to a dollar a pack, I’m quitting”? By the way, I was finally able to afford that ‘74 Cadillac in 1992, although, by then, a little rust was showing on the rocker panels and behind the rear wheels.
(Reporters note: For quite a while, I wrote an entertainment column and second column on random ideas each week. Since my sabbatical to Wisconsin this last summer, I’ve had difficulty summoning the energy and ideas to write 2 articles a week. At the beginning of my entertainment column, I tend to muse about things I’ve been thinking about lately. If this kind of thing turns you off and you just want to find out where and when you can hear some live music, I’ll make it easy for you. Just scroll down the article until you reach the lone sentence, “and now, the live music in the Highway 58 corridor this week.” Got it
And now, the live music in the Highway 58 corridor this week:
It turns out that I just don’t have much to report on at all. Dustin down at the Dexter Lake Club doesn’t have anyone booked for Friday night, as of yet. John at the 3 Legged Crane will be having an empty stage this weekend. Jacqui at the Lion Mountain Bakery has been on vacation. She’ll be open by the weekend, but no word on whether Broken Horn will be back playing the 11 am to 1 pm shift this week. Willamette Pass Resort is still waiting for a big snowstorm to get open for the season.
Friday Art Walk continues in Uptown Oakridge
This Friday will be the First Friday Artwalk of 2024. The art shops in Uptown Oakridge will be in open house mode from 5 pm until 7pm. I’ll be on stage in an acoustic performance at the Cascade Artworks on 1st Street. What instrument I’ll be playing will be determined shortly before gametime.
New youth theater open house on Saturday
The Oakridge Youth Theater Program will be having an open house this Saturday, January 6, at the Lion Mountain Bakery. The event begins at 5 pm. This will be the inaugural event for the group. Stop by and find out more about the program and how you can be involved.
Karaoke fans can listen or join in every Wednesday night at the Logger’s Den on Highway 58 in Oakridge, Thursday nights at the Dexter Lake Club and Fridays at the Corner Bar in Uptown Oakridge.
Ben Olson photo Ben Olson, musician and Oakridge Resident, with his standup bass. Ben is a regular contributor, as well as the Entertainment Report’s columnist.
George Custer lives in Oakridge with his wife Sayre. George is a former smokejumper from his hometown of Cave Junction, a former captain in the U.S. Marine Corps. and ran a construction company in Southern California. George assumed the volunteer duties as the Editor of the Highway 58 Herald in 2022. He loves riding his Harley-Davidson motorcycle, building all things wood, and playing drums on the weekends in his office.
