Primus & My Car

My car died a couple weeks ago. I was driving home from Nicola's around 9:30 on I-94 & the engine just cut out. I paid $100 for the car a couple years ago so when I was then told it would be $2,000 to fix it, I had 2nd thoughts. I ended up selling it to a junk yard for $150, but I've since been carless. I've got a couple leads on cheap ones though, but in the mean time, Sara has been kind enough to share hers. What that means though is that I've been a driving fool lately. Yesterday, I took the kids to school, taught 2 classes, took Sara to work, taught another class, picked the kids up & took them to Stephanie's, taught another class, then took the car to Sara @ Nicola's. Every day has been like that recently. It's been crazy, but once I got to Nicola's it started raining AWESOME.

Pete picked me up & we headed to The Michigan Theater to see Primus. I have never been very familiar w/ their stuff, but I'd always been impressed by what I'd heard. Our seats were about 12 rows from the stage & almost dead center. They were amazing. Les Claypool is a badass! A mad, freak genius. My only concern is that I hadn't seen them before. Pete asked me last week if I was up for the show, & I need to take this time to thank him again for the ticket. We got there just in time to have a couple beers before the lights went down. They played for about an hour & 20 minutes before a short break which included 3 Popeye shorts. As the credits for the last one rolled, they came back on stage & played another hour & 20 minutes. After the encore, I walked over to Ashley's to meet up w/ Sara & enjoy a plate of nachos before home to bed. I'm kind of beat today, but the concert was amazing. I can't wait to see them again... as soon as possible.


Set 1
Southbound Pachyderm
Duchess and the Proverbial Mind Spread
Frizzle Fry
Those Damned Blue-Collar Tweekers
Over The Falls
Eleven
Bob
Jerry Was A Race Car Driver
Tommy the Cat

Set 2: Green Naugahyde
Prelude to a Crawl
Hennepin Crawler
Last Salmon Man
Eternal Consumption Engine
Tragedy's a' Comin'
Eyes of the Squirrel
Jilly's on Smack
Lee Van Cleef
Moron TV
Green Ranger
HOINFODAMAN
Extinction Burst
Salmon Men
Encore:
Harold of the Rocks
Wynona's Big Brown Beaver

R&R HoF

The list of the 2012 Rock n Roll Hall of fame nominees was released yesterday. I imagine most of you have already seen it, but since I didn't have time to post anything yesterday, I'm commenting right now. First off, I know many if you probably think the Hall is ridiculous, & pretty anti-Rock n Roll, but I've always been interested in it. I guess it's just my constant need for nostalgic crap. Whatever the reason, here's the list of nominees:
Beastie Boys
The Cure
Donovan
Eric B. & Rakim
Guns 'N Roses
Heart
Joan Jett and The Blackhearts
Freddie King
Laura Nyro
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Rufus with Chaka Khan
The Small Faces/The Faces
The Spinners
Donna Summer
War
In previous years, they've inducted 5-7 acts per year. I would imagine it'll be the same this year, which means Rufus w/ Chaka Khan will be out of luck. As will Donna Summer I would guess. I bet The Beastie Boys will get in before Eric B & Rakim; they're more famous after all. But for my money (which is negligible lately), I'd go w/ Rakim every day of the week. His influence on hip hop has been huge, & while the beasties have obviously sold more records, Eric B & Rakim are the better group... & there's no way the HoF will induct 2 hip hop groups the same year.

Of course, The Faces & War should go in... a nice argument could be made that they should be in already. Donovan will probably get in this year too... & Freddie King. As a way to ensure enough Motown representation, The Spinners will go in too, which leaves room for 1 more act... I would think it will be Heart, but GnR or the Chili Peppers could edge them out. I think I would prefer to see Guns n Roses make it, but Heart has been around a lot longer & have some sort of Seattle street cred... even though they kind of suck. I could also see Laura Nyro sneak in since she'd been nominated before, but I don't know who she is. Maybe I should, she can't be worse than Heart. I also don't see Joan Jett of The Cure making it yet... but some day, I'm sure.

Wiki Tag

Here's a fun little game I just invented (I know, I'm so prolific). It's kind of like the 7 degrees of Kevin Bacon game, but it's kind of different too. Now, I know I haven't been blogging much lately, but then again, I'm not really certain people have actually notice anyway. I am thinking about a couple bigger posts that will be coming soon (1 about Sartre & blogging, 1 about soccer, 1 about Whitman, & 1 things that have been going on lately). In the mean time, here's a little thing about my Wiki game.

It goes like this:
Go to the page about the band that performed the last song you heard & see how quickly you can follow the links to get to a page about the last movie you watched. In my case, the last song I heard was "Sultans of Swing" by Dire Straits & the movie I'm watching now is A Huey P. Newton Story. From Dire Straits I then went to Bob Dylan. From Dylan, I then went to the page for The March on Washington for Jobs & Freedom. From there, I then went to the page about Malcolm X. Getting to Huey P. Newton from Malcolm X seemed like an easy move since, according to Bobby Seale, they founded The Black Panther Party for Self Defense as a reaction to Malcolm X's assassination. However, the closest I could get from Malcolm X was the page about Black Power which easily went to the page about The Black Panther Party. Of course, getting to the page about Huey P. Newton from there was easy & then the page about the film was simple too.

I must have been aware of the film's existence because I know I've looked @ Spike Lee filmographies over the last 10 years, but when it was on the other day & I set the DVR to record it, I didn't remember having heard of it. As it so happens, the film came out in 2001 & was directed by Spike Lee. It's fantastic. Check it out... & enjoy a nice game of Wiki Tag.

Neko & My Morning Jacket

Dig her beauty!For the 1st time since I saw Blues Traveler there 4 years ago (here's a review of that show, if you're interested... & I know you are) & only the 2nd time ever, I headed out to Meadowbrook last night for a concert. I went w/ Sara from Nicola's after the Arsenal v Udinese match (the Gunners won 1-0). Once there, we also got to hang w/ Laura which is always pretty awesome. I'd been wanting to see Neko Case for years, but I wasn't very familiar w/ My Morning Jacket. As it turns out, they kind of rock, but more on that after a few numbered thoughts:
1) Meadowbrook is pretty awesome. I need to go there more often. It's a lot closer than Pine knob & it's small & intamate.
2) Neko Case is awesome. She's smart, & beautiful, & interesting, & she has an amazing voice.
3) I wish Neko Case had been able to play a longer set.
4) Beer is better @ Meadowbrook than Pine Knob... & cheaper.
5) A thin blanket to sit on was a good idea, but a thinner one to keep us warm might have been a good idea.
6) I wish they didn't have the lights @ the top of the hill so we could have seen the stars better.

Neko played 6 or 7 songs. They came out & there were sound problems so they went back stage for another 10 minutes. When things were straightened out, she & her band rocked for a half hour or so. My Morning Jacket then came out & kind of blew us away. I'd been told by people on The Phil Zone that they might be the best live act since The Q. Well, that's a bit ridiculous, but they were definitely good. And the light show was absolutely stellar. They played for about 2 hours plus a 5 song encore (which included a duet w/ Neko on "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around"):
1. Victory Dance
2. Circuital
3. You Wanna Freak Out
4. Off The Record
5. I'm Amazed
6. Anytime
7. Lowdown
8. Wonderful (The Way I Feel)
9. Slow Slow Tune
10. Lay Low
11. Dondante
12. Gideon
13. Smokin From Shootin
14. (end of) Run Thru
15. First Light
16. Touch me I'm Going To Scream Pt.2
17. Touch me I'm Going To Scream Pt.1
18. War Begun
----------
19. Wordless Chorus
20. The Day Is Coming
21. Stop Draggin My Heart Around
22. Holdin On To Black Metal
23. One Big Holiday
They can definitely rock, & Jim James definitely has a touch of the Ronnie James Dio in his stage persona. They also clearly wear their influences on their sleeves, but unlike so many hippie bands, theirs seem a lot more varied. And they are kind of dark... like the darkest moments of a YEM jam blown out for 20 minutes, or some dark Pink Floyd stuff... plus The Faces & Kiss all wrapped into one weird ass thing. I gotta say, I dug them.
Dig his boots!

My Name is August West

I posted a bunch of videos on facebook to celebrate Jerry's b-day today, but this needs a special place here. It could very well be the perfect video for Jerry's b-day. Be sure to notice Bobby teaching the song to Pete Townshend in the background. Also notice Townshend jumping around like an 80s new-wave fool. Also, listen to Jerry's playing... fantastic!

& the Rest v the Prof & Mary Ann

When I put Isaiah to bed @ night, he always needs me to sing him a few songs. The problem w/ this is 2-fold. 1) I'm not very good @ singing... luckily, he doesn't know that. 2) My repertoire is pretty small. Going way back to when Solstice was a baby, my song choices have always included "City of New Orleans," "Tangled Up in Blue," Monkey & the Engineer," & "Ripple." That's really it... 4 options. Last spring, I decided to add "St. Stephen" & "Dark Star" to the mix, but as it turns out, "Dark Star" doesn't really work in that situation, & I always confuse the "St. Stephen" verses. Isaiah also enjoys a run-through of "Twinkle-Twinkle," "The Alphabet Song," or "Old McDonald." All of which are fine, but a tad on the boring side, so in a desperate move a few weeks ago, I added some old TV theme songs to the mix: "The Ballad of Jed Clampet," "The Good Ol' Boys," "The Brady Bunch," & "The Ballad of Gilligan's Isle."As it turns out, I have mixed feelings about "The Ballad of Gilligan's Isle." I always supported the the 2nd Season switch to include the Prof & Mary Ann as some sort of equality issue, but now that I've been singing it on a semi-regular basis, I understand the original lyrics. (Side note: a different song was used in the pilot episode, a song written by John Williams... yeah, that John Williams!) I guess it really comes down to the whole aesthetics vs politics debate. "& the rest" just fits better into the meter of the tune. As it stands, I've been switching back & forth from night to night (occasionally going w/ both). I'm really stuck here, & I think this is a much more interesting conundrum than the more traditional Ginger v Mary Ann debate. Although, for that one, I think I would resolve it the same way.

Gated Communities

This absolutely unoffensive and in no way problematic marriage pledge being signed by the GOP Presidential candidates got me thinking about the people who actually buy into this stuff. Safe and secure in secluded subdivisions behind walls and manicured berms, they have apparently convinced themselves that Black kids had it better under Slavery than under Obama & that (in a line lifted from Dan Quayle) divorce & single-parenthood may very well be the root of all evil. Well, after thinking on this for a few minutes, I decided that I shouldn't think on it any longer, but before I came to that conclusion, I was inspired to write a song... the 1st one since my last December's Holiday song, "All I Want for Christmas is a Shotgun." You may recall it, but even if you don't, it doesn't really matter. Here's the new one: think Arlo Guthrie doing Texas Swing. This could have gone on w/ verses about SUVs, large gas grills, & Christopher Cross, but I chose to end it after 3, Enjoy.

I wanna live in a gated community
Where everyone looks and acts just like me
We’re all safe behind our seasonal flags
There ain’t no Spics and there ain’t no fags
The men are strong and the women don’t nag
In a gated community

We’ll all be safe in our gated community
Where things are always exactly as they seem to be
We’re red blooded Americans
Our lawn’s maintained by the Mexicans
Our beer is from the Canadians
In our gated community

We’ll get to heaven from our gated community
It’s just a matter of time, don’t you see?
We like to party out on our yacht
We read best-sellers but we don’t read a lot
We only hit the most touristy spots
From our gated community

Skynyrd on the 4th

I've never been a big fan of the retro-rock extravaganza, but when I heard that Whitey & the 78s were opening for Skynyrd @ Pine Knob, it was just too cool to ignore. I didn't think I was actually gonna be able to go though, but then @ zero hour, Stacey came through w/ a sweet, sweet pair of free lawn tix. I met Liz & Dan @ my parents' place for some ribs & beans, then Dan & I were off to Clarkston. We picked up Bud Tall Boys from 7-11 & then started counting Stars-n-Bars... 38 by my count, including a Sharpee drawn fake tattoo on some douchebag's arm & a ridiculous full on flag pole on the tail gate of an old yellow pick-up.

We downed the Buds in the lot then headed in right as Whitey & the boys were starting "Bad News." They played for about 45 minutes... & in my humble opinion, they rocked it. I hope they're able to parley this into some other big stuff. When Skynyrd came out, I was a bit shocked by 2 things: 1) how many of their songs I actually knew & 2) how bad they are. I've never been a fan, but wow! We took off after about 45 minutes. We heard "What's Your Name," "Working for MCA," "Simple Man," & that one about "can't you smell that smell?" Apparently, the set-list had them closing w/ Sweet Home Alabama" & encoring w/ "Freebird," but there was no way we could make it that long.

As for the crowd? Good Lord! It was like the Secretary of State office on Meth. And so many of them were taking it sooo seriously. The "skanky-ass-ho" factor made the Springsteen show I went to last year look like Sunday School. They really came out of the woodwork to hear some Skynyrd. Ironically, Whitey played the Hell out of Pine Knob while the Skynyrd fans didn't really pay enough attention. I think they were able to appreciate them though. I definitely hope they were. Maybe they sold some CDs & swag too.

Dan in his Skynyrd costume


Rocking the Tall Boys


Whitey rocking out!
Skynyrd doing their schtick

"Dark Star"

If you've got an hour and a half to spare and want to spare it by learning about our favorite song, check out this video: an in depth analysis of "Dark Star." Some of you might feel that an hour and a half dedicated to "Dark Star" might be a little much, but there are those of us who have dedicated a lot more time than that to this tune over the years. This guy, Dave Frank, is a jazz performer and lecturer. He spends this episode focusing on the version from Live Dead... & it seems like a good one to pick. He's also got episodes about Bill Evans, Frank Zappa, The Marx Brothers, Charlie Parker, & Keith Jarrett if you feel the need to watch more. Then you can read "The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock" & submit a short essay comparing the lyrics of the songs to Eliot's phrasing in the poem. Enjoy!

Lady Gaga's Sax Player?

I've seen Bruce Springsteen twice: once during a solo acoustic performance @ an Obama rally & once w/ the E-Street Band @ the Palace when selling books for Nicola's about a year & a half ago. (Here's the old Visions of Ypsi post about that night to refresh your memory... & mine.) That night, the book on hand was Big Man by the big man, Clarence Clemons. I never got to meet him but his people were really nice... & the show was fantastic (if a little canned). Along w/ playing w/ Springsteen & appearing in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure & on an episode of Diff'rent Strokes, he plays on a couple songs on Gaga's newest album, apparently. However, I'm not certain that that's enough to have the MTV article about his stroke (he suffered a stroke yesterday) mention Gaga before Springsteen. That's ridiculous. Do their fans/readers really know so little about music that they need to open w/ Lady Gaga? Give me a break. Now, I've never been a huge E Street Band fan, but let's give respect where it's due.

Speaking of music (although this band hasn't suffered any strokes recently, knock on wood) Deep Space is playing @ the Crossroads Bar & Grill again this weekend. It would behoove y'all to come out & see them. My first Deep Space Six show was in March of 1996. Maybe yours should be in June of 2011... better late than never. We'll keep the Slayrides flowing for you. Oh, & in other non-stroke related music news, Dylan is playing Meadowbrook on August 7th... he only sounds like he had a stroke. Who's in?

Dylan Week Day 5: From Woodstock to Woking

Along w/ Dylan's 70th this week, we also have Levon Helm's 71st today. Here's his band doing a nice job on "I Shall Be Released" w/ Larry Campbell, Teresa Williams, & Warren Haynes:

Yesterday, saw the 53rd b-day of Woking's own Paul Weller. Here's his fantastic cover of "All Along the Watchtower:"

In other Woking news... 2 Woking related points in 1 post? Maybe, but we might actually get 3. Hold on to your hat, we're getting crazy... I started reading War of the Worlds the other day. I think I'm gonna teach it in my super-sweet sci/fi class next winter. It's fun... & the Martians land in Woking. I've seen the 1950s film many times (it's shit) & I watched the Tom Cruise/Spielberg version a couple weeks ago (it's not shit, but it can see the litter box from where it is), & yesterday I learned there's a crummy, Ed Woodesque version that came out a few years ago which is actually set in the original time period. I suppose I'll have to see that too.

I know what you're thinking though. You're thinking, "Hey, Woking is just outside of London; shouldn't there be some sort of soccer related aspect to this post?" Yep, there should. And here it is, the 3rd Woking related point in this post. When I was a kid, maybe 11 years old or so, my dad's friend who lives in Sault St. Marie & is connected to the Canadian Soccer Association, hosted a tour of a school team from Woking. They played some games in Northern Ontario & then came down to Petoskey to play the teams my dad was coaching. I remember it was over Father's Day weekend, & I remember we took them to Sleeping Bear Dunes in the belief that "Hey they came all this way, we best show them some weird shit." I remember it was super hot, I got some weird cut on my tongue, & that night there was an awesome Northern Lights which we watched over Harbor Springs from our deck. Those kids from Woking ended up going on to do something in the Football League. I don't remember exactly what it was, but I think it had to do w/ a strong Woking FC run in the FA Cup. For more specifics, you'd probably need to speak to my dad, but I have a sneaking suspicion that this is already more specific than you'd like. So much so, that I bet no one reads this far down to learn that the comment password for today is Surrey. I'll check the comments section later to see if anyone puts it there for an extra 10 comment points.

Deep Space Six on Kentucky Derby Day

After a pulled muscle kept me from playing anything resembling the beautiful game on Saturday afternoon, I watched Verlander's no-no & the Kentucky Derby w/ Aiden & my dad. I really don't have any feelings one way of the other in regards to horse-racing... other than the simple conviction that the horses are getting pushed harder than they should be & that it's kind of a silly sport. I do have a strong belief in the ridiculousness of the 2 hours of fluff pieces about the jockey's childhoods & so forth... not to mention stupid hats the women wear. Of course, I've been known to wear a stupid hat on occasion too & here's the album to prove it, so who am I to judge?

Afterwards, I went to see Deep Space @ The Crosstown Bar & Grill. I seem to have forgotten that I'm not 23 anymore, & drank the place dry. The Mexican Slayrides* were flowing... after a 25 oz Oberon, I had 3 Slayrides, a shot of Cuervo & PBR. For some reason about which I was too wasted to enquire, my bill only came to 16 bucks. In hind sight, I think I got a deal. Knowing full well that I had to work @ 8:30 on Sunday morning, I then saw fit to go to an after-party & drink more Oberon... (To quote my team-mate's father after he broke two cheek bones in two games in one week, "stupid is stupid & there's no pill for it.") Anyway, a good time was had by all... but like w/ my previous Deep Space post, I must admit that I can't remember the set-lists as well as I used to, so you'll have to forgive me when you realize that it's not ony incomplete but also not quite in the right order. I feel like the first set is pretty accurate, but the second set must be missing stuff.

Set I:
Feelin' Alright
Althea
Evangeline
Blow Away
Box of Rain
Speedway >
Truckin' >
Terrapin

Set II:
Bertha
Same Thing
Help >
Slipknot >
Cumberland Blues

Encore:
The Race is On >
Dead Flowers

* Put a shot of Captain Morgan's in a pint glass and then fill w/ one bottle of Negra Modelo... named after the pilot episode of The A-Team in the summer of 2007. It's a variant on the less-than-popular cocktail, the Boilermaker. Enjoy!

A Classy Weekend

Yesterday, my mom & I took Aiden & Solstice to the Detroit Symphony. They do a free family show about once a month. It was fantastic. I'd never seen them before, & wow... they know their shit. I shouldn't be so surprised, but I'd never see any orchestras before other than student ones. They performed for about an hour which was perfect for the kids. Next time, we'll have to plan ahead & get tix to a museum too... & maybe some Lafayette Coney Island in between. Nothing says classy like chili cheese fries. Anyway, between each piece, the conductor, Leonard Slatkin, talked to the kids about the subsequent piece, explaining what it was about & why they chose to do it. Here's what they played:
Overture to Candide - Leonard Berstein
Summon the Heroes - John Williams
"Hoe Down" from Rodeo - Aaron Copeland
Rhapsody in Blue - George Gershwin (featuring Michel Camilo on piano)
Tropical Jam - Michel Camilo
The Imperial March (Darth Vader's Theme) - John Williams
Then today, while Dan & I were classing it up w/ staches for our 1st Verde FC match, My mom took Solstice to see The Magic Flute at the Detroit Opera House. She says she loved it. I'm so glad she got to go. I think she's looking forward to doing that kind of stuff more often. Verde, on the other hand, lost 3-0 @ home to Brighton today. Their first goal was due to a ridiculous defensive break down, their second was clearly offsides, & their 3rd was right @ the end on a counter attack while we were all pushed up trying to score. Plus, we had to deal w/ the wind which was harder for us than them because we demand a more beautiful style of quick passing... very much like a symphony, now that I think about it. They just play sloppily. (we play them again in a couple weeks in a cup match & would love to see you all out there supporting your local team.) So w/ these things in mind, we'll call it a draw. And that's some classy logic.

Spring, Soccer, the Symphony, & Silly Accents

With final exams nearly finished, it's time to look ahead to ze coming months... months to be filled w/ Verderiffic good times. I updated the team site so you can all follow our progress and plan your Dimanche afternoon outing. Get your Vuvuzelas and come support your local team. As always, replica kits are available for ze low price of just $30.00. Order yours today. If that's too much of a commitment, you can always just join our brand-spanking-new Facebook Group. Our first match is this Sunday at 11:00 in Canton. Come on out! Tomorrow afternoon, Stephanie & I are taking Aiden & Solstice to the DSO Young People's Concert. It should be a great time. Afterwards, Solstice will be staying w/ my parent s so she & ma mere can go the The Magic Flute (but not this version) on Sunday... it's quite a classy weekend for us.

Finaly, while taking the kids to school today, Solstice was speaking w/ her fake English accent. She loves it. I told her she had to use it all w/ her friends & teachers & everyone. I hope she's still doing it, but I doubt it. We then decided that Aiden should go through the day w/ a "hillbilly" accent, which he was doing pretty well, & then they demanded I use an elderly French accent. I'm alright when it comes to certain accents, but my French one is pretty basic. Adding extreme, toothless old age was tough. One or the other I could have done, but I can't bring them together well. They then decided it should be Spanish instead... that didn't go over any better. I went back to elderly French so you need to go back to the top & reread zis w/ a sily accent you see... while I fart in your general direction... as I said, quite a classy weekend.

Gettin' Older... Everybody's Gonna Wanna Doze

Stephanie & I first saw Deep Space Six in the spring of 1996. They were playing @ some bar in Novi that was called The Library Pub or some such thing. If I remember correctly, they had a lot of books around. Not good books, necessarily, not the kind of books one would actually want to read, I'm sure they were garage sale rejects & romance novels from library sales. None-the-less, it's a good thing we went because, as you know, we went on to see them a couple more times over the last 15 years.

Back in college though, when we were seeing them along w/ all sorts of other bands all the time, we could get totally wasted, go to the show & I would be able to recite the entire set-list in order the next morning. Perhaps I was just more concerned w/ that kind of thing then, but that's just something I could never do these days. I'm afraid it's an age thing. Maybe it's a concentration thing, but it scares me a bit. I remember coming home from Phish shows, Blues Traveler shows, even whole festivals & reconstructing the entire show from song to song.

Deep Space Six played a new bar on Cross Street last night (more about the bar in a minute), but my ability to remember the songs, not to mention the order, just isn't here anymore. Here's my take on the setlist:
Set I
Queen Jane
Catfish John
We Can Run
Black Peter
It Hurts Me Too
??????????
Set II
China>
Rider
Uncle John's
Eyes of the World

There was a Mighty Quinn in there somewhere & they must have played other stuff too. It's not that it was unimpressive or anything like that. In fact, over the last 15 years, they've gotten a lot better. They were really tight last night, but some of the songs are just gone from my memory. perhaps they didn't play as many because they had an opening act (Jim's other band, F.U.B.A.R, who was really fun & played 60's pop covers), but there had to be more than 4 in the second set. Maybe someday things will start coming back to me again, but I guess this can help me to live in the moment. I suppose I should pick up a Thich Nhat Han book tomorrow while I'm @ Nicola's so I can start honing my "in-the-moment spirit. Nah. I can't see that happening.

As far as the bar goes. It's nice to have another place for live music, but it was a little odd. It's really compact & there isn't much on tap. It seems like they're going to have to decide if they want to be a live-music bar or a frat bar because trying both @ the same time doesn't seem to be working. It's new though, & I'm sure they'll settle into a more consistent atmosphere. I just hope that when it happens, I'll be able to remember it.

Top 5 Animals

I checked REM's Murmur out of the library today & noticed a sweet pic of llamas in the liner notes. Could it be that I've never actually looked @ the liner notes of that album before? I suppose, but it seems unlikely. None-the-less, it's a great picture. couldn't find a copy of it on-line though, so I just took one. It's obviously blurry & has bad lighting, but you get the picture:For those of you who don't know this, llamas are my #1 favorite animal. I've been a fan of them since the early 90's, & over the last 20 or so years I've met a few. It's always been a dream of mine to live somewhere where I could have some. Alas, chickens & bees are what are allowed here. Someday we'll move & get some llamas. They'll always be #1 in my book.

What's #2 you ask? Stick w/ me & you'll get all 5.
2) Hippo: The most deadly of the giant beasts of Africa. The hippo kills more people every year than either the lion or the Elephant. They're pretty sweet.
3) Owl: This is a newer addition to the top 5. It was really Isaiah's fascination w/ them that in turn led to my own interest. They're super cool.
4) Elephant: Though not as deadly as the hippo, elephants are pretty awesome. They have trucks! To paraphrase Pinter Ranawat's father, "I mean, trunks! Please!" (How did I not know about the connect between that episode of Seinfeld & the Harold Pinter play of the same name?) There must be other animals w/ trunks, but none as cool as the elephant.
5) Chicken: Having acquired 4 this past summer, I've developed a love for them... even though they're dumber than a box or rocks. They've been producing well all winter too. I'd read that they might lay less if they're too cold, so I guess we've done a good job of keeping them warm enough.

With owl & chicken entering the top 5, I suppose it'd be a good thing to explain which ones have since left the top 5. Those would be the platypus & the manatee. They're still in the overall top 10 though, along w/ alligators, polar bears, & moose... or mooses depending who you ask.

The Rise of the Machines...

... or, if you prefer the binary code,

0101001001101001011100110110010100100000011011110110011000100000011101000110100001100101001000000110110101100001011000110110100001101001011011100110010101110011


We have not 1, not 2, but 3 tech stories to bring you today. None of them signals the growth or power of SkyNet or even the eventual development of Cyberdyne Systems. Neither even suggests HAL 9000, but we best be wary. On Jeopardy this evening, a 3 part contest will begin between Ken Jennings, Brad Rutter (the 2 winningest contestants), & a computer named Watson. An obvious homage to the Holmes stories, this will give Jennings & Rutter plenty of opportunities to reference A Study in Scarlett.

What is the novel in which Holmes & Watson meet?

Here's a fun little BBC article for you to peruse if you're in to that kind of thing... & I know you are. Apparently, the toughest thing, as we all assumed it would be, for the computer to do is understand the nuances of the language. When a computer beat Kasparov in a 6 game chess match (cue the clip from Wargames) in 1997, people said it was down to the mathematics of the game. They claimed that any computer that was programmed properly could beat a human. Of course, we all know that the computer Mikhail plays on Lost may actually cheat, but that's a whole different issue. Tonight we get to see if the computer can adjust to the language & actually beat people in a contest that isn't as mathematical as chess. I don't know if I'll actually watch, but if I do, you can count on a follow-up in post afterwards.

In other tech news, we get to reference Deep Ellum, Texas. If you go down there, put not only your money, but also your old 8-tracks in your shoes because there's a man down there who'll give a man the blues... oh sweet mama, my 8-track's got them Deep Ellum blues. Bucks Burnett, the man in question, has recently opened the first 8-Track museum. And if there's 1 thing the world needed, it was an 8-Track Museum. There are plenty of articles about this situation, but this 1 was written by a guy named Steve Guttenberg so obviously, that's the 1 you're getting here.In tech issue part the third, Dylan performed an interesting rendition of "Maggie's Farm" @ the Grammys last night. "They say 'Sing while you slave & I just get bored.'" On the positive side, this seems like a fitting comment in the face of the music industry. On the other hand, his voice is getting even rougher. This is where we get the tech part. He sounds kind of like a gruff robot w/ limited vocal abilities. I still loved it, & his body language was fantastic. He's even dancing a bit. Perhaps some day the music industry will create a robot that can write like him. That'll be a nice change of pace from the drivel those robots are writing now. Here's the video for your viewing pleasure.

CDs vs MP3s

I'm curious as to how many of you still buy CDs. W/ the ease of things like I-Tunes, I know most of you are probably downloading a lot more than you buy on disc, but I just can't get myself to do that. The idea of paying for an MP3 drives me nuts. The compression is so noticeable to me. I could see paying for a SHN or a FLAC, but MP3s sound so thin and tinny. Then again, the sites that have SHNs and FLACs are usually free live files so while the quality is there, it's harder to find a studio album that way. This only leaves us w/ the traditional CD format... which is fine w/ me. I still dig the packaging & the liner notes so I suppose I'll keep buying them. I'm definitely not buying like I used to though. I remember in high school, getting a new tape or 2 every couple weeks. However, over the last 12 months, I've bought 16 CDs, 2 of which are from local bands, 4 were from garage sales, & another 1 was a discount CD for only a couple bucks @ K-Mart. This leaves us w/ 9 over a 12 month period. It still seems like a lot, but for the most part, they're really good. Here's a quick overview of the stuff I've bought in a roughly chronological order.

Mayflys - Down & In: Super fun local stuff... & I'm thanked in the liner notes. But you knew that already.

Willie Nelson - Country Music: Ironically, it's really not country. It's more of a traditional folk/bluegrass album. It's really good.

Norah Jones - The Fall: I dig her. Stephanie really digs her.It's a good album.

Kris Kristofferson - Kristofferson: This is a pretty odd album. It's not the straight, 70s country I expected. He's even got stuff that sounds like it could have come from the Three Penny Opera.

Neko Case - Live from Austin TX: Not an odd album at all. This is pretty much what I expected... awesome. Her cover of "Buckets of Rain" is great, but the originals are fantastic too. You've probably already heard this though, so you already know this.

Gram Parsons - GP/Grievous Angel: This seems like something we should have had already. It's less glitzy & overproduced than his 2 albums w/ The Flying Burrito Brothers, but I still like The Byrds Sweetheart of the Rodeo more.

Emmylou Harris - Elite Hotel: This is a beautiful album. She's so freaking good.

Phish - Colorado 88: This is a fun 3 disc set from their first trip through Colorado. It's got the acidy circus music sound that they were having fun w/ back then, & it features most of their 1st 2 albums plus The Man Who Stepped into Yesterday stuff. If you're a Narnia/Harry Potter person, you probably need to to hear the Man Who Stepped stuff. You'd dig it.

Norman Blake & Tony Rice - Blake & Rice: This is some great folk & bluegrass. Tony Rice knows how to play!*

The Del McCoury Band - Del & the Boys: A pretty straight forward album. It's nothing too out of the ordinary for them, but the song selection & the playing are both stellar.*

The Flying Burrito Brothers - Close Encounters to the West Coast: This is awesome. A very underrated album. I really enjoy this one.*

Tex Williams & His Western Caravan - Vintage Collection: I'm not quite as into this as I expected. It's traditional Texas Swing, but definitely not as good as Bob Wills.*

Whitey Morgan & the 78s - Whitey Morgan & the 78s: Awesome. Check out the Wikipedia page I started about them (plus the pages about their albums). That's fun times. I think this semester, I'm gonna make one about either Ralph Mooney or Fred Newell. we'll see.

Merle Haggard - 16 Greatest Hits: On paper, this looks like it'd be fantastic... it ain't. I don't know if they're burned from MP3s or remastered w/ an 80s Casio SK1, but the music is horrid. His vocals are fine, but something just isn't right. I guess you get what you pay for from the K-Mart value bin.

Ryan Adams & the Cardinals - III/IV: It's good, but not as good as the other Cardinals stuff. It's clear why this wasn't released when it was first recorded. It's definitely no Cold Roses or Jacksonville City Nights.

Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives - Ghost Train; This is some quality country, & his band is super tight. I'd like to see his guitarist play w/ Phil some time. That'd be fun.

"We're Goin' to Wembley!"... & Maybe The Elbow Room

This is neither the "royal 'we,'" nor the "collective 'we,'" but rather the "quotatative 'we.'" This is only vaguely connected to the 25th anniversary of the Challenger disaster, but related none-the-less.As people were talking about it this week, it got me thinking about where I was when I heard about it: Mr. Harvey's 6th grade math class in Petoskey, MI. I wasn't the greatest student as a middle-schooler, believe it or not, but he was an alright guy... aside from his odd proclivity towards jamming Glenn Frey in class. I remember 1 day we had to listen to his new album, the 1 which was featured on Miami Vice w/ "Smuggler's Blues" & "You Belong to the City." WTF? Remember all the Christie McAuliffe jokes? I know they were horrible. In fact, even as a 6th grader, I knew they were a little inappropriate, but here's the 1 I just wrote. When I say "just," I mean while I was looking up how to spell her last name.

Q: Who's the only person who fell further than Christie McAuliffe in 1986?
A: Glen Frey... I mean really! What ever happened to him? One minute he's on top of the world w/ Miami Vice; the next minute he's begging Don Henley for an Eagles reunion.

Anyway, I didn't log in to take cheap shots @ The Eagles... that's too easy. I logged in to meander down 6th grade's memory lane. Other than the Challenger, the other things that stand out are WWF (we were in the heyday of Hulkamania), Garbage Pail Kids (these stupid stickers that combined the charm of Cabbage Patch Kids w/ the aesthetic of "What's grosser than gross?" jokes), & the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. As you remember, France knocked Brazil out in the 1/4 finals after a hard fought 120 minutes when the game finally went to penalties & Fernandes scored during the penalty kick shoot-out. of course, they ended up losing the 1/2 finals to Germany when the ref left his brain in the cab, causing France to go out 2 World Cups in a row against Germany in Semi-Final matches due to sub-par reffing.
In fact, & I know this will come as a shock, many of my Petoskey memories revolve around soccer...

... Which is how we can relate all of this to Wembley. The title of the post come from the chant often sung by fans of the winning team during the semi-finals of cup competitions in England seeing as the finals are held there. This only interests me because on Tuesday, those fans happened to be fans of Arsenal, which brings me to the point of this post: Jean asked why I hadn't written about this yet.

Arsenal are going to the Carling Cup Finals at Wembley on 27 February, 2011. The main reason I hadn't mentioned this yet is because it's only the Carling Cup... & they're only playing Birmingham City. They should win so they'll probably lose 1-0 which will then spell the end of their strong run as they lose confidence, crash out of the FA Cup & barely qualify for Europe. All of those other competitions are more interesting... & more prestigious. That said, it's nice to see them back chasing a trophy since they haven't done this since they lost to Chelsea in the finals of the same tournament in 2007. They lost to Barcelona in the Champions League finals in 2006. The last thing they actually won was the FA Cup in 2005. Which reminds me, it's FA Cup 4th Round weekend so enjoy... & then come on out to The Elbow Room tonight for Deep Space Six!

The 15 Greatest Musicals

Last week, I discussed a couple of my favorite musicals. After a little criticism from my brother, I thought I should give you my list of the best musicals of all time... In reverse order, of course. (And we're only only including films that fall w/in the traditional definition of the musical, those in which the musical numbers actually advance the plot, rather than music based bio-pics in which the musical numbers are seperate performances, divorced from the narrative. Hence, no mention of La Bamba (1987) or Coal Miner's Daughter (1980))

15. West Side Story (1961):
I've always dug this one. It's got everything one wants, but it drags @ times so it's not further up the list.

14. Best little Whore House in Texas (1982):
A crap-ass movie, but it's got Renyolds, & Dolly Parton, & it takes place in a brothel. Barring those 3 points, it would never have made the list, but come on: props where props are due.

13. Kiss Me Kate (1953):
Taming of the Shrew is my fav of the comedies, so I was always going to love a musical based on it. Plus, when I was in 6th grade, I dated a girl named Kate & read a novelization. I can still picture the cover. (I had no idea it was based on Shakespeare back then though.)

12. School Daze (1988):
I must admit; I wasn't expecting the musical numbers when I watched it the first time. They work though. Plus it's set on against the backdrop of college protests in reference to divesting in South African Apartheid. Is there a better backdrop for a musical? I think not.

11. On the Town (1949):
I've never figured out if the homoerotic sub-text was intended, or if when one makes a musical w/ Sinatra & Gene Kelly about naval ship-mates on leave in NY it's just unavoidable. either way, the movie is a bit of a train wreck. Don't look away. You might miss something absolutely ridiculous.

10. Fiddler on the Roof (1971):
It's odd that Topal's 1st reference on the new blog isn't regarding Flash Gordon. We'll have to remedy that by a Flash Gordon rewatch this weekend. Isaiah seemed interested when he saw the DVD case the other day. Anyway... it's a fun movie w/ great songs. If I were a rich man, I'd buy all sorts of fancy Dijon ketchups.

9. Brigadoon (1954):
The framing device makes no sense @ all. that's OK though because it's set in the Scottish Highlands & it's really just an excuse to have men in kilts dance around & play up all of the basic Highlander stereotypes. Plus, there's the obligatory Gene Kelly homoerotics just like in On the Town. Awesome.

8. The Music Man (1962):
I love that this guy shows up, cons the town, bags the uptight librarian, & ends up the hero. Only in America!

7. The Wizard of Oz (1939):
There's no place like home, unless your home life kinda sucks. In which case, there are a lot of places like home. That's not the case for Dorothy Gale though. She kicks ass on 2 witches, helps out a bunch of weird-ass friends, & then wakes up in time for dinner.

6. Grease (1978):
I lived many years trying to hate this movie, but over the last 5 or 6 years, I've come around. It's fun as hell. Plus, Stockard Channing is fantastic.

5. Annie (1982):
This was the 1st film I saw in a theater w/o my parents. Petoskey's Gaslight Cinema was packed to the rafters. It may not be John Huston's best film, it may not even be his best film from the '80's, but it's awesome.

4. Mary Poppins (1964):
I love everything about this movie. It's hard done by missing out on a top-3 spot, but it'll be alright. The parents are great, Dick van Dyke is great. Julie Andrews is great. even the kids put in good performances.

3. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975):
It was on the other night, I fell asleep to the opening credits & woke up to the beginning of the floor show. While "Sweet Transvestite" is clearly the greatest moment of the film, the floor show is pretty cool too. Now describe your balls! "Heavy, black, & pendulous!" Brilliant.

2. The Sound of Music (1965):
The version of "Edelweiss" @ the end always brings a tear to my eye. He's singing about the love of his country to a group of Nazis who have just taken over. If only the rest of Austria was as opposed to the Anschluss as the van Trapp family.

1. Singing in the Rain (1952):
I know this is an obvious choice, but it's just so good. Every moment is great. If you haven't seen lately, give it a go this weekend. We'll have the big "Drifting into Deep Water Singing in the Rain rewatch." It'll be legendary.

Honorable Mention:
Best Busby Berkeley film:
42nd Street (1933)
Best Disney Animated film:
Peter Pan (1953), The Jungle Book (1967), Cinderella (1950)