Seems to me while reading Trucker Kitty's blog of the past year we're watching a meltdown unfold. With her returning to China next month we'll won't be hearing much from her, which is a shame. But I don't know, she's been more depressed than ever this year. It's been like that since George Jones left us.
Imagine that, another hang up, more data lost, a typical summing up the parts here. I could write a War And Peace Kindle novel with all the stuff that has lost due to "application hung up" or Plug in container hung up messages and fucking Firefox if I want to continue messages. A fucking piss off if you ask me, so let's type this again for the 44th time. The ratings here suck, we might not make it to 2,000, so forthcoming blogs (if things work and that's a big IF) will be a ICON series of Iconic artists and bands, maybe a singles going steady theme and another bargain hunt in the forthcoming months.
The college basketball tourneys have started which leads to the NCAA's and we have a tale of two teams. The Hawkeye women almost managed to beat Nebraska if the mighty corn ladies didn't help gratuitous help from three dyke referees and shooting 36 times from the free throw line to the lady hawks 14. Really Nebraska needed no help from the refs as they dominated the boards something like 56 to 27 rebounding and outlasted the exhausted but still fighting Iowa team 72-65 who could have been the first team ever to win four games in this exhausting format. Good job ladies.
On the other side of the coin, the men's team *sigh*. A pattern of inconsistency has dogged this team from going one of the best Big ten teams to who the fuck are we today, the team that shows up and dominates from start to finish as they did as they blew out Michigan and outlasted Penn State the next game to a bad clown team that would play one half and not the other and outside of a ho hum victory over Purdue, managed to get their ass kicked all over the place by Wisconsin, Michigan State and last place Illinois on a last second shot to really make me wonder if they will do a one and out in the Big Ten championship next week and NCAA's a week later. Roy Devyn Marble at times shows up as the leader, then next game doesn't and this schizophrenic play has turned this year's team into a disappointment. They actually won more regular season games this year but had they kept their leads in other games, we could be talking about a 28 game winning season instead of 20. Hawkeyes fans, spoiled as they are, I know I'm one, should remember five years ago of the chaos and missing pieces left by former AD asshole John Bowlsby's ill advised telling Tom Davis to take a hike despite the NCAA appearances Iowa enjoyed in Dr. Tom's era and getting pretty boy Steve Alford for seven seasons of ups and downs (the 26 wins season Steve had in 2006, ended of course in a first round NCAA loss) and watching him leave suffering through 3 head scratching seasons of Todd Lickliter and Fran McCaffery taking over and rebuilding through 3 stepping stone years (ending with a NIT title loss but still a title game nonetheless), which promised better things for this year? Not exactly, the Hawkeyes have been sleepwalking though most of the second half of the season and if they don't get their shit together, rest assured social media nation will be hearing a lot of territorial bitchings we haven't seen since Alford high tailed it right out of town to the arms of loving New Mexico fans before he pissed them off and bolted to UCLA this year........................where Bruin fans have been bitching about how lousy his coaching has been all down to a 20 loss team Washington State Cougars sweeping UCLA for the first time since 1936. A 72-55 drubbing. If you think that's bad Bruin nation just wait till the NCAA's when Alford does his fine one and done choke job in the tourney's. To which the ghost of John Wooden will be turning in his grave and haunting the UCLA booster club till they either fire Alford or he skips town. Either way he wins.
The annual Gordon Forcee town meeting took place this year and at this time last year, the idiot was telling that changes were coming and most of printing was going north in the mist of a reorganizing plan that has been a laughing stock this season with the printing problems of Minnesota being evident in shoddy forms and the other boss idiot from there Hal bitching we didn't train them right. Sorry Hal, but you guys didn't ask me to join the Minnesota training fun and the guy we tried to train took a 3 month vacation in the Philippines. So once it's the rah rah report and the major deal is how Minnesota is going to cope with these new and exciting projects that we have coming in. It's not like I give a shit, I've been working in the old printing department last week to help them get through the backlog of things needed to be done (no need to thank me Gordon, a nice pay raise will do) and not getting my own projects at home done. With the onslaught of springtime and testing at schools going full tilt, I familiarize myself with the Cal Starr project one last time (before it goes away for good) and separating countless sheets of AID1 headers and listening to some CDs I brought to work but didn't bring enough and ran out of tunes. I won't get into great details of Gordon's speech and state of the company I'll give you my assessment of things to be, and we will be busy from now till June. And I also think that Minnesota will NOT be able to handle the volume of things coming in and this might come into play that they may have to either rethink of bring printing back down here, or add more space to their cramped Owatonna home. Of course there's this bullshit they call Hoshin, or another of those half assed rah rah things that supposed to build up company morale or company planning. It's misspelled of course, it's Horseshit and trying to stomach through this with the robotic Minnesota dingbats from the other plant takes a certain style and skill to get through. My Hoshin is planning another bargain hunt for the month and going to somewhere I haven't been in about a half year. I have two places on consideration. Guess which ones? But as for Gordon, I await the next town meeting just to say we told you so. And you're still a idiot. The bottom graphic dedicated with love to the Packaging boss who kept giving me dirty looks as I got drafted into the old printing area last week. It's called Sharing Resources, something you approved wholeheartedly last year. Be careful of what you wish for....
Buren Fowler, guitarist for Drivin' and Cryin' passed away. unknown cause of death. He played on Whisper Tames The Lion through Wrapped In Sky.
The Drive By Truckers' English Oceans became the first 2014 new record bought and reviewed (see last week's playlist for review) but I do not forsee very many new releases this month. A lot of the new music sucks and since we're not around many record stores, I have fallen out of what's new and what's exciting. The SXSW festival in Austin is starting up but honestly, I have not paid attention to that either. I think there's a time in life that even myself has a limit in what to listen to and besides, I have plenty of music here to fall back to. It's just fun to discover something that I missed the first time. But if I work my way up to Madison or Moondog in Dubuque I'm sure that they or Strictly Discs or Mad City Music X will have something of value to take home. I don't hold much hope for Pawn America to have much for CDs anymore, last October's finds were shitty at best. CDs have become today's 8 tracks, hard to find except when you do find them, they're mostly shitty bands or shitty rappers of 5 or 10 years ago. Today's music has no lasting value despite what they tell you about The National or Arcade Fire or the flavor of the week. Bro Country is crap, worse than rap and the headache of the week is Cole Swindell's Chillin' It, yet another video that has a goofball in a baseball cap, lusting after a scantly clad cutie in a jeep. GAC seems to do that, show the same 10 videos of the same theme, beer, scantly clad women and horny guys with baseball caps on chasing them around and getting them. Swindell, once upon a time, Luke Bryan's merchandise guy, gets his own gig after making some Bro country inspired song that Bryan cowrote and Florida Georgia Line got a hit out of it. Enough said. Cole may considered next time not to wear a baseball cap with CS on it, yeah I know it's his name but I'm sure there's a few sarcastic motherfuckers out there would line those up with different names, me included. But that's the way the music rolls today. As refreshing as beer farts.
On that side note, here's a blog that keeps you up to date on the latest country stuff, both good, bad and bro. Somebody has to do it right? So trust Vickye. http://forthecountryrecord.com/
Vinyl Lovin:
Swinging Steaks-Southside Of The Sky (Capricorn 1993)
IMO, the 90s were the last truly good decade to discover new music and the Americana was still in its infancy, Uncle Tupelo the most known but they were imploding before our very eyes by the time The Steaks came into view. When Phil Walden was starting up Capricorn Records in the 90s he signed a few oddball bands along the way, 311 the best selling out of all bands Widespread Panic the best. The Swinging Steaks were one of the better bands, hailing from Boston and expressing a love for Gram Parsons and the Submarine Band...and of course The Rolling Stones with some Black Crowes thrown in for new music taste. But from what I have heard, that the majority of this album came from 1992 Suicide At The Wishing Well to which Gary Katz (Steely Dan, Root Boy Slim) produced and remixed some of the songs. At times a catchier Gear Daddies can be heard in Adelaide or Do Me A Favor, (Flying Burritos sounding song). It's all fine and dandy and when they catch fire on Right Through You, they even can out rock The Rolling Stones. A lost classic album to which I located a 50 cent copy at Pawn World in Kingman a few years ago.
Grade A-
1927...ish (Atlantic 1989)
Only claim to fame is the album jacket saying they won 2 Australian music awards including best new debut (..ish) and they have a sound not unlike INXS around the Kick period. The ballads suck but if they hit a rocking groove (The Mess, To Love Me) they hold my attention. Till they start doing more ballads and I lose interest.
Grade B-
Squeeze-Argybargy (A&M 1980)
I find them to be an acquired taste but this 1980 classic album is my go to when I want to hear Difford and Tilbrook with Jules Holland playing keyboards before leaving for a solo career and missing out on a big hit Tempted (Sung by Paul Carrack (ACE)) The only misstep on this album is a snoozer called Here Comes That Feeling but it has the hits Pulling Mussels (from a shell) and Another Nail In My Heart. Somehow I consider them to be the bridge to Rockpile to XTC to Elvis Costello when I put on this album. They're better than you think
Grade A-
Playlist
That'll Be The Day-The Crickets
Right Through You-Swinging Steaks
The Part Of Him-Drive By Truckers
Ain't She Sweet-Tony Sheridan And The Beat Brothers
Bootleg-Credence Clearwater Revival
What'll I Do-Johnny Tillotson
Doris Day-Sordid Humor
Huff N Puff-Parlet
Hostage Of Love-Razorlight
The Queen's Tattoos-Aztec Camera
Followup: The Iowa Hawkeyes lost to Northwestern in the first game of the Big Ten Tournament. The Purple Passion hit 11 3 point baskets in route to another lackluster performance by the Hawks although Roy Devyn Marble, in the final stages of his college career is going out in a blaze of glory. The logic thinking is that Iowa will be in the NCAA's to hopefully show up to play before doing the one and done that they have done so well in recent memory. But then again they caught fire last year in the NITs and made it to the Championship game. One could only hope to a disappointing season to which each and every team seems to shoot 50 percent or better from 3 point land on the Hawks' home court than the home team bouncing off the hoop like we have seen time and time again.
On a positive note the Lady Hawks will host the first two rounds in Iowa City on the 23 and 25 of this month. Good job ladies, I'm sure you could kick the men's ass around like every other team has the second half of the year.
2 comments:
Crabby -- I want to like Squeeze, but for me Argybargy is like a B album, and I LIKE "Pulling Mussels" and "Another Nail." The lyrics are clever and funny, and Jools's song on side 2 is pretty good, but they're missing something. It's all pretty average, and I've heard it dozens of times over the years.... When they add some sax on some of their later stuff it really makes a difference, like on "Hourglass." But they're still pretty good at one-shots like "Mussels" and "In Quintessence" and "Hourglass." ... Cheers!
There's a couple of turds on Argybargy but I think overall it's a album that I can pull out without reservations, although East Side Story is considered their classic. They remind me of Elvis Costello, can be good at times but wonder what the fuss is all about. Trading Jools Holland for Paul Carrack gave them their big hit but from I remember of East Side Story i didn't think much of. Perhaps I should revisit that album if i see a used copy in the future.
I think I got Frank for a dollar a few years ago and filed it away without playing it. Maybe I'll dig that up to see what I missed. ;)
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