Good afternoon. It is I Gigi the parti poodle here to introduce this week’s blog. As you may remember last week Artemis the Persian and I had crept downstairs and found we were face-to-face with a locked door. But because Bernard D. Bunny could not resist executing his Easter Bunny rock performance, he jumped up and opened the door with the power of his hind legs.

When the door blew open the three of us were stunned to see our kidnapped friends Madeline the British Shorthair and Edison the Manx inside. They looked distressed to say the least and they both had lost weight. Bernard offered them a carrot. They munched it down quickly despite being carnivores.

“Where is my sister?” Artemis asked.

“We don’t know,” Edison said.

“You don’t know?”

“We don’t know,” Madeline echoed.

Artemis sobbed a long sorrowful sob as I have never heard a cat sob before.

“There, there,” Bernard said patting her on the back with his paw. “There, there.”

“I overheard the kidnapper say something about a Persian cat,” Edison said.

Suddenly, everyone went silent and looked at him. When he didn’t answer I said, “Well? What did he say?”

“He said he wanted to take the Persian to market.”

“To market? What does he mean by take her to market?”

“I do not know what he means by take her to market. I only know he said he was planning to do it tonight.”

“Tonight?” Artemis said. “When did you hear him declare tonight?”

“Today.”

“Today?” Madeline said. “I never heard him say anything of the sort.”

“It was when he took us outside this morning. He got a phone call and I overheard it.”

“My goodness! I am so glad you did. I must have been preoccupied with something else, like being incarcerated.”

“We must set a plan in place,” I said.

“I concur,” Bernard said.

“But first we must get Edison and Madeline out and returned home safely. Let’s head back up the stairs.”

Artemis, Bernard, Edison, Madeline and I all stepped out of the room. I could hear both Edison and Madeline breathe a collective sigh of relief. We ascended the stairs one step at a time. When we reached the top step, we all looked around to make sure no one had come home. We then trotted over to the front door and Artemis, and I pushed the chair over so Bernard could hop up, turn the knob and let us out. But after devising a plan, we will be back to rescue Demeter. Until next week, I bid you adieu.

MY BOOKS

You can check out my books Chicane and all five installments of the Musicology book series Musicology: Volume One, Baby!, Musicology: Volume Two, Kid!, Musicology: Volume Three, Twist!, Musicology: Volume Four, Sweetie! and Musicology: The Epiquad on Amazon in Kindle and Paperback editions. You can also check out Musicology’s web site at www.musicologyrocks.com and vote for who you think will win Musicology!

STREAM OF THE WEEK: BILLY IDOL SHOULD BE DEAD (2026)-HULU

So, how does a normal middleclass clean cut English boy who wears glasses named William Broad become a drug addled major punk rock icon named Billy Idol? That is the story presented in this engrossing documentary by Jonas Åkerlund. I must say off top I have seen Billy Idol perform twice and he and his band put on an exhilarating show. The first time I saw them play, woman after woman stormed the stage and were escorted out of the concert by security. The second time was tamer in that way and still a great show. I hope he gets inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year.

The documentary starts in England with the dawn of punk rock. Born into a middle-class family, the young Mr. Broad started to observe the scene. At the time he was not a drinker, smoker, or drug taker. In 1976 he joined a band named Chelsea and the lead singer told him he should wear contacts instead of glasses and bleach his hair blonde. He took the advice and shortly thereafter he and a couple of other musicians left the group and formed the band Generation X. William Broad then changed his name to Billy Idol. He chose the name based on his chemistry teacher referring to him as “idle” on his report card. The band had hits like “Ready Steady Go” and “Dancing with Myself” and appeared on British television. During this time, he met dancer Perri Lister and the two started a long-term relationship. It was also during this time drugs started to hit the punk scene, and Idol became acquainted with heroine.

When he was only two years old, his father, an English salesman also named William, moved William, William’s mother Joan and his little sister Jane to New York where the family lived for four years before returning to England. Because he was familiar with the city, when Idol realized the punk scene in England was waning in 1981, he saw an opportunity to head back to where he had spent his early childhood and become a solo artist.

At that time a new phenomenon was about to take place called MTV and in 1982, Idol became one of the earliest artists to perform on it. He wrote the mega hit “White Wedding” and working with his new guitarist Steve Stevens. They came up with a concept for the video with his girlfriend Perri playing the bride, shot it in a few short days, it aired and the rest is history.

But success brought pressure, and pressure made the drinking, drugs worse. Idol’s paralleling success and harrowing drug and sex spiral play out in both interviews, footage and animation over the course of the film.