Ni-i-i-ine. Bet you were waiting for that final nine. 867-5309. Jenny’s number.

We were watching a show where “one-hit” wonders sing their signature tunes then, later in the show, a cover of a current hit. Kinda like “I Was An American Idol.” So the 867-5309 guy gets up and sings about Jenny and the number on the wall. Frankly he stunk. His cover of the recent song was painful. Then they show flashbacks from his apex 80’s interspersed with his current job as computer coder.

COMPUTER CODER??? Like here was a guy who did a song that still gets played on some radio stations–my 13-year-old knows the phone number–and we see him trying to climb out of his Dilbert cubicle back to rock and roll. I don’t know to laugh or cry.

Reminds me that fame is fleeting. A few years back, a friend left a nice job to take on a job with national significance. You know, riding on Air Force one and all. You wonder what someone does after a job like that. But it is an exhausting role that can’t be sustained for a career. There must be a next step.

At least if you are a has-been, you once were. The real question is, what’s next? Me, I haven’t peaked, yet.