The bands that I play in never seem to draw anybody despite getting the word out. Social media, hand bills, word of mouth, all ended up having people interested but coming as empty seats but I know I am not the only one who has bands that can't draw flies if we had a mountain of cowpies around. I can count the people on one hand who went to the Williamsburg Blues Rox gig. Tho the gig with Kat Blue n No Limits did slightly better. But in the era of Covid and six feet apart, every show feels like playing in a morning after scene. The No Limit Band, was a fill in, Kat Blue losing her band through defection or indifference. Blues Rox suffers from a fate of uninspired performances and a rough go of improvisation. What the future holds is bleak, but I continue on, thinking we'll get somewhere. After all, The Jones County Fair has offered Blues Rox another slot for the free stage next year. Here's hoping we don't have to compete with another Kane Brown rhythm track blaring through our PA system again.
The news are not so much enlightening either. Haiti got hit with a 7.5 earthquake, we got two hurricanes Fred and Grace wrecking havoc and now the Taliban is ready to take over Kabul in the most endless and pointless war ever, the Afghan that started when W invaded this wasteland almost 20 years ago in September. You think that the Vietnam war would have taught our leaders not to invade a country that is meaningless, nothing was gained from Afghanistan, to which even the Russians wrote this off as a lost cause. The Taliban couldn't be stopped and even as the US tried to train the Afghan folk to defend their nation and democracy, that didn't stop the warlords and and trained soldiers to drop their guns and run. For this, W Bush is the second worst POTUS of all time, invading a country that was no win from the start, but the late war hawk and forever burning in hell with Hitler and the rest Donald Dumsfeld (Rumfeld) invaded anyway. And we have had 3 Presidents who had to deal with this mess, even the odious Trump decided to write this off and get the troops ready to come out. Joe Biden, who we are not that impressed is going have to get the troops out and let Afghans fight their own bloody war, to which they have been for thousands of years. The Taliban patiently waited for 2 decades and then made their move to which the end result of Afghans and warlords jumping to the other side. The fall of Kabul will be complete, get the troops out now. Meanwhile the keyboard warriors continue to sprout off about this failed war and blaming Biden and Trump for that matter for the failure of this war. Read your history they say, but make sure you go back to 2001 after 9/11 for which W Bush should be blamed for even invading this country and starting the endless war. The truth is there.
The continuing story of the free fall Cubbies as they can't beat the piece of shit Florida Marlins, pitchers can't get past the second inning without giving up a TD. In friday's 14-10 Marlins win, flash in the pan Azolay now 4-13, had a four run lead and gave it right back up before having a hamstring issue (or whiplash watching balls go out of the stadium) and Dan Winkler going through 6 batters and not getting an out. By the end of this inning it was 10 to 4 and tho the Cubs made a gallant comeback, they fell short. In this 10 games and counting losing streak, they had minor leads only to watch them vanish the next inning. Yesterday, Zac Brown Davies managed to pitch a rare quality start and got a 4-3 lead before Sergio Alcantana booted two balls and Miami won again. Seems as if the Cubs can't stand having a lead. But then again, they don't have a decent lineup, though Ortega have managed to get on base 18 straight games. Hapless Ian Happ is on pace to strike out 200 times, Mike Duffy has been shit since coming back off I.R. he's striking out more too. The new look Cubbies might make it to 100 this year, a far cry from the hope and false promise of May. Don't let the record fool you, the Cubs are the worst team. Doesn't help when their owner is more interested in helping right wing nut jobs run for office and Jed Hoyer trading players for used jock straps. BTW, Miami swept the Cubs. 11 straight losses and 11 more K's to go as well.
Not to be outdone, The Baltimore Orioles show the world why they suck and why the Spanos family suck. They too have lost 11 in a row. And a shoo in for 100 loses again.
Ratings for Record World are mixed but encouraging. The most read pieces remain either The Brains or My City Was Gone. Another head scratcher is a 2016 Davenport/Saloonatics blog that got 20 views. Even on a hot streak, Record World has never ventured past 1500 views per month. For all time views 2016 was the glory year. Usually the Singles Going Steady series is used for reference. Overall, with hardly any comments anymore, I'm just blogging to myself. And the phony baloney of the farewell Final Posting proves I never have gone away. Till The Brains issue their album or when I die, that will be the final posting. Not that anybody cares that much.
The County Music Hall Of Fame announced four more inductees in the 2021 class. The Judds who dominated country radio till Wyonna went solo, Ray Charles, who's inventive ways of country arrangements in the 60s was way overdue in CWHOF, Pete Drake, producer and steel guitar legend and the curious one of Eddie Bayers, the first drummer to be included, I'm surprised that Jerry Corrigan and F Murray Harman hasn't been there yet, but Bayers was first call drummer in the cowboy hat years. Congratulations, a better choice of performers than the Jann Wanner Hall Of Fame.
CD Finds
UB40-Labour Of Love
Black Stalin-Roots Rock Soca
Johnny Guitar Watson-3 Hours Past Midnight
Rick Estrin/The Nightcats-Contemporary
Goodwill Dubuque had lotsa CDs. Only problem was, they was lotsa CDs that were crap. The two finds were UB 40's breakthrough album, all reggae covers, to which Red Red Wine was the surprise hit. I never got on with this band, tho the 1980-83 did have some cool tunes. Black Stalin, is calypso with Jah reggae overtones, tho it goes on a bit longer than I would like. Old Crabb Christgau gave both albums an A minus. Perhaps I'll find the Geoffery Morgan album. For Black Stalin, Burn Dem is worth hearing. Rick Estrin and The Nightcats came through town Saturday and owned the festival, therefore I had to find their most recent album Contemporary, For Twenty bucks at the local show you could get the guys autograph it for you but since my resources went with that 35 holey Blue Oyster Cult T shirt, Moondog Music had the cd for 10.98. To which I had enough change to buy the Johnny Guitar Watson album of the Kent/Modern years. Moondog Music has begin to shrink their CD section, they are more focused on vinyl, but however, Moondog still has a decent selection of new CDs, they have been very very good on having a decent section of blues CD to which Contemporary was found and fairly cheap. But as consumer's taste are going for vinyl now, CD's are on the decline. But I tend to think that old will be new again.
