In Search of the Perfect Body — 35 Years Ago

Thirty-Five Years Ago
Doctors will take into consideration the reasons for the surgery and the patient’s financial condition. Example: a starving actress who needs cosmetic surgery may be in a better situation for reduced fee than a wealthy executive. The scale below is therefore approximate, give or take a hundred or so.
Face lift without eyes, $1400
Nose job, $750
Chemical peel, $500-600
Breast implant (enlargement), $1100
Breast minimization, $1250 plus hospital
— “IN SEARCH OF THE PERFECT BODY,” E.J. Rackow, September 18, 1975

Thirty Years Ago
There are two fairly certain ways of becoming a rock legend. The quickest is to die while in the prime of an acclaimed career; the other is to develop a good reputation and then, without fanfare, fade into obscurity. The latter is what happened to Arthur Lee. In the late ’60s, Lee headed Love, a group now considered by most critics to be the very best of that period, though they were hardly regarded as such. They were known for three hit singles and for the fact that Lee, a black, sounded cannily like Mick Jagger.
— THIS WEEK'S CONCERTS, Steve Esmedina, September 18, 1980

Twenty-Five Years Ago
[Marian] Glass never rides the bus. “Why should I waste two hours for a 20-minute drive? My friends take me wherever I want to go,” she says, “I’m able to conserve mental energy and leave my mind free to concentrate on more important things than street signs and traffic. Years ago, living with a family in Greece, I was impressed to see the husband chauffeured to work every day. His wife said that an executive should always be driven so he can concentrate on making decisions. I’ve had too much to think about and too much to do to be bothered with the details of driving...Nixon didn’t drive, you know.”
— “IS THERE LIFE WITHOUT WHEELS?” Sue Garson, September 19, 1985

Twenty Years Ago
In the 1990 fiscal year, which ended on June 30, there were at least 281 incidents of raw sewage backing up — and sometimes gushing under pressure — into homes and apartments. In the 1989 fiscal year, it happened at least 230 times, according to the City’s risk management department. The City keeps a firm on contract to clean up the mess. Over the last two years, the cleanups have cost $935,455.74 and possibly two lives.
— CITY LIGHTS: “DEATH BY BACKUP?” Neal Matthews, September 20, 1990

Fifteen Years Ago
The Casbah has achieved an even higher national profile recently with MTV News’s repeated airing of a puffy feature on rising young pop-rock belter Alanis Morissette, filmed at the club.

Morissette’s handlers must be pleased, proving once again the viability of booking a whirlwind tour of too-small clubs that are regarded as hip dives (earning the artist some “street cred” and producing the perception of the budding star “paying dues”) as a way to build up the buzz on your breaking “commercial alternative” act.
— BLURT: “DO YOU WANT YOUR CTV?” David Stampone, September 14, 1995

Ten Years Ago
The blue- and white-robed men and women sitting behind the podium are not, as you first thought, choir members. They are mediums-in-training.... One by one they take the podium, call out to individuals around the sanctuary, and deliver messages from the dead.

“The dead aren’t truly dead, my dear. They’re more alive than we are. They’re just free from their bodies. We don’t talk with people who are dead. We talk with people who are free.”
— SHEEP AND GOATS: "FRATERNAL SPIRITUALIST," Abe Opincar, September 14, 2000

Five Years Ago
Life as an evacuee in the wake of Hurricane Katrina is strange. No routine, no certainty for the future, not much income, bills that still have to be paid...all the thoughts about what’s happened, what’s still happening at home, the ever-present drone of CNN and the other networks’ wall-to-wall coverage.... There are so many important “life” things to worry about, so many sad and tragic things to cry about, so many grotesque and macabre thoughts to avoid thinking...man, do I need a drink.
— “MAN, DO I NEED A DRINK,” Allen Boudreaux, September 15, 2005