Other Scenes

Current rash of skyjacking is nothing new, merely a new outbreak of the age-‘old custom of piracy in the newest uncontrolled medium: the air. Diverting planes to Cuba is kid stuff. Wait until international pirates see the potential for just taking planes (as long as they can land on territory they control). Then, sooner or later somebody will think of sitting up there in a long-range bomber with a nuclear missile aboard.

Tokyo’s Seibu department store has opened a counter where you can take virtually anything to be canned on the spot, with or without a label on it. Most popular items are candy, handkerchiefs, even an occasional letter. Charge is 400. If you’re planning a trip to Japan, Boye de Mente’s Afterhour Guide ($1 from Japan Airlines, P.O. Box 2721, SF, Calif. 94126) is not only pocket-sized and comprehensive but full of midget maps in Japanese to show the cab driver...

After a one-year lapse, John Wilcock’s Japan On $5-$10 a Day (Frommer, $2.50) will be back in the bookstores soon.

UNDERGROUND ETC: No psychedelic/lovemagazines left? Try Gandalf’s Garden (50 cents from Dartrey Terrace, Chelsea, London S.W. 10)...

Extracting pure mescaline from peyote and acid from morning glory seeds are among recipes in The Marijuana Consumers’ and Dealers’ Guide, available at most headshops.

Other Scenes banned from Gem’s Spa, NYC’s major purveyor of underground papers, for its “orgy” pic of Jimi Hendrix.

Italy’s most beautiful magazine, and a UPS member, is Fernando Sottsass’ Pianeta Freco ($2 from 14 Via Manzoni Milano 20121)...

‘Survival-techniques’ literature is always fascinating and one day may be invaluable. Send a quarter for Ocean Living (Box 17463, Los Angeles 90017) and Preform (Box 5116, Santa Monica, Calif. 90405).

“IN-PLACES: The St. Adrian Company next to the raunchy Broadway Central Hotel on lower Broadway by 4^th, has become the new off-beat for in-Gotham an updated version of the old Cedar Tavern” (from Harry Smith’s monthly The Newsletter, 5 Beekman Street, NYC. 10038).

Time Inc. has a standing offer to match any $500 contributions (presumably by staffers) to colleges, universities or graduate schools. Now if its writers can only be persuaded to donate to Free Universities...

In a story on spiraling Broadway ticket prices, Backstage points out that seats to hit shows are a “status symbol” and good shows that aren’t “fashionable” can’t sell even at a buck or two a ticket...

TV commercials with smell added? Could be the next gimmick to add to your set. When will the manufacturers get out of their box and transmit wall-sized pictures?

Paul Maag says more than 200 Americans have died of “immunizing” smallpox shots in the past few years. It’s not generally known but you can refuse to be vaccinated to enter or leave the country: health officers try to bully people but apparently can’t legally force vaccination...

“A store security man is easy to spot. They all have a certain look and a certain mode of operation. You get to know who they are” (anonymous prisoner interviewed in jail about shoplifting by Women’s Wear Daily)...

After you buy your sitar the next thing you’ll need is Oak Publications’ The Sitar Book ($2.95).

One of America’s most colorless papers is NY’s Daily Column, filled with such has-beens as Winchell, Jack O’Brien, etc., etc. It started with more than 300,000 daily circulation about a year ago and now, says The Gallagher Report, is down to one sixth of that...

When FDR died his professional White House staff numbered 37, operating on a budget of $200,000. Now there are several hundred on full time staff there and the annual payroll’s $3 million...

Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, whose Hollywood house is listed on the tour of movie stars’ homes, planted a sign on the lawn to discourage visitors: “Please,” the sign reads, “they have moved (signed) The Piersons”...

Guardian’s Pandora nominates Richard Watts (NY Post drama critic as “one of the five leading assholes in the country.” Agreed. In fact place him among the top three.

“It’s amazing what you run into on the road. These chicks are ready for anything. They’ll give head without thinking about it, anyplace: backstage in the dressing room, out in the street, anyplace, any time. I think pop music has done more for oral intercourse than anything else that has ever happened, and vice versa.

“And it’s good for the girls. Eventually most of them are going to get married to regular workers--office workers, factory workers, just regular guys. These guys are lucky to be getting girls like these, girls who have attained some level of sexual adventurousness. It’s good for the whole country. These guys will be happier, they’ll do their jobs better and the economy will reflect it.” (Frank Zappa on groupies in the current issue of Rolling Stone.)