Leonard Nimoy's Retirment: Highly Illogical

Today Leonard Nimoy rocked the galaxy with his announcement that he was retiring from show-biz for good at age 79.

To quote Mr. Nimoy's beloved Mr. Spock, Rock Turtleneck finds this announcement Highly Illogical.


First of all, celebrities love nothing more than attention, regardless of how ancient they may be, and can stay out of even the dimmest reaches of the spotlight for minutes at a time at the most. The only celebrities I can think of who said they were retiring and actually did are Greta Garbo and Johnny Carson.

Secondly, as the above clip shows, Nimoy also had one of the most distinguished, remarkable musical careers of all time. And by distinguished and remarkable, I don't mean good. His magnum opus as a performer is without question, the highly illogical, deeply disturbing "Ballad of Bilbo Baggins."


While Mr. Spock had a way with whimsy, deep down, Nimoy's roots were in the coffeehouse singer-songwriter vein, as this haunting cover of Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now" so achingly demonstrates.


Nimoy's restless creativity always kept him up with the times, and he even got behind the camera to direct The Bangles' folk-rock gem "Goin' Down to Liverpool," wherein he even made a memorable cameo appearance. (By the way, does the fetching Susannah Hoffs ever look straight ahead?)


Mr. Nimoy, may you live long and prosper in retirement. TCB