The Flood Of 2016 (Part 2-The Crest And Week In Review)

Taking our mind off the flood at hand.  A few things happened over the weekend.

The Asian King Buffet has closed their doors.  I ate there a couple times in my trips to Dubuque and it was located near Moondog Music and Kennedy Mall.

The Chicago Cubs won their 100th game of the season, the first time since 1935 with a 12-2 blowout of Pittsburgh Monday Night.  Kris Bryant hit a Home Run and drove in his 100th RBI. Javier Baez hit a grand slam home run.  Kyle Hendricks continues to pitch great.

The Iowa Hawkeyes beat Rutgers 17-7 but looked sluggish throughout the game.  In the process they lost their best WR due to a broken foot in practice.  Despite winning, Iowa falls out of the Top 25 coaches poll and will not return.

Arizona State scored 31 points in the fourth quarter to come back and beat Cal in football 51-41 to start their season 4-0. The defense gave Davis Webb fits as he threw for 2 interceptions, one a pick six and fumbled at the end when ASU's defense got through to him. After Davis did throw a TD pass to bring Cal to 44-41, Cal's onside kick was then returned for a touchdown.  Game over.  Next up, a trip to Los Angeles to play the reeling USC team who lost to Utah 31-27.

Music passings: Buckwheat Zydeco, who gave Zydeco music some much needed popularity in the 1980s passed away Friday from lung cancer, he was 68....Jean Shepard, last of the hard core traditional country artists and had many hits for Capitol and later United Artists died Sunday at age 82.  Although she was married to Hawkshaw Hawkins, (who later died in that same plane crash that claimed him, Cowboy Copas and Pasty Cline), she was married for 50 years to current husband Benny Birchfield. She was a part of Grand Ole Opry and The Country Music Hall Of Fame for just as long too....Arnold Palmer is not a musician but he was one of the greatest golfers the world has ever known.  The King Of Golf died from heart failure, he was 87....Update on John D Loudermilk, word is now he too past from a heart attack last week. He was 82....Randy Duncan, star quarterback who helped Iowa win one of their two rose bowl victories in 1957 and 1959 passed away from brain cancer Tuesday. He was 79

Back to The Flood of 2016.

(photo: Karsin Leigh)

Tuesday:

The Cedar River crested at 21.97 feet at 11  AM today.  As you can tell, New Bo remained a lot drier than the folks on the right side of the Hesco Dam, (now called NO BO).  This has been typical of floods of the past (1929, 1961, 1993).

The owner of Tornados's Bar and Grill isn't too pleased of the actions of the city and he made that known during a KRNA interview.  He had a couple folks climb the Hesco Dam to give him some sump pumps to pump the water out, and the city wasn't too pleased with that and might file charges on that.  I hope not.  We're supposed to work together and trying to help one out, but this does reek of favoritism as the city tries to protect what they invested in bringing New Bo back to life.   While the river has crested, it will take a couple of days for it to go down and there's a possibility that the Cedar might invade from the storm drains below and the concern is ongoing pressure from the floodwaters that might weaken the earthen dams and Hesco Berms.   For Tornado's the sand bags seem to be helping keeping water out of the first floor, the basement is flooded for sure.

The Kickstand, a block away from Tornado's.

The other flooded area is in Time Check.  This is a photo not too far from Cooper's Mill/Best Western.

(photo: Lisa Stick  Wapsi River at Paris Iowa 9/27/16)


So far the Cedar River has not impeded my drive home on Hwy 30, but the river has filled up the flood plains and as well on hwy 13.  The farmers got lucky and got their crops harvested before the water seeped into their corn fields but west of the Cedar some farmer didn't get there in time. All the side roads of the Cedar, Cedar River Road, Ivanhoe Rd, Otis Rd, C St are closed due to water in the low lying areas of the road.   Over around Anamosa, the Wapsi continues to invade the golf course, and the back entrance to Stone City Access Park.  It's supposed to be cresting around 24 feet tomorrow.

Ruby's Pizzeria, my favorite pizza place in downtown Cedar Rapids has remained dry as well. They are next door to Cobble Hill winery/restaurant. Before the sand bags get put into place they put 2X4's up to level the sandbags.  This was taken last Thursday I do believe.

And the Wapsi River at Anamosa crested around 24 feet this afternoon.  So begins the slow returning of the river, still in flood stage but should be under 16 feet in time for Anamosa's annual Pumpkinfest this Saturday. Anamosa's crest of 22.76 feet is forth highest in history.

Wednesday

Photo: Nate Slaughter from inside of Tornados 9-27-16

They have started taking down HESCO barriers around the Linn Country Sheriff's building and flood clean up is beginning to start up river at Cedar Falls and Palo.  It looks like the swift heeding of warnings and sandbagging did help prevent the Cedar into being a major flood event.  It still remained the second highest crest ever but unlike the 2008 and 1993 floods quick action prevented more heartache outside of the usual water in the basement and seepage.  It also helped greatly that we didn't have the rains like we did in 2008 and with dry weather and windy days this too played a big role.  That said, The Paramount did cancel Grace Potter's show for Thursday Night.  There's really no way to even think about getting that show going, since the seats were removed Saturday.

(Photo: Kyle Dunn, entrance to Tornados 9-28-16)  Still looking dry due to sandbags holding back three feet of water

Despite what Ron Corbitt says about beating the river this time out, it's better to wait to see what happens. Victory can only be claimed if the storm drainage system doesn't failed and we still have at least two days to even claim victory.  The usual politician display of arrogance and smugness.  Credit must given to all that helped before and after the flood event.   Even the Anamosa folk managed to do things different from the 26.18 foot mess of 2008, building two earthen dams and drudge part of the Wapsipinicon which helped greatly.  Even Czech Village this time out didn't get flooded as bad. The Iowa Brewing Company only got some seepage in the basement area but that quickly dried out.  The guess is that the jams around the area will continue in another week or two at the latest.   It's not over, there's still plenty of water in Palo and the low lying areas but we won't have to worry about a 2008 repeat.  We can rest easy till the next flood comes.  Hopefully much later than this one.

Last Update:

The weekend looks promising.  The downtown bridges will open and Rumors continues on with the Popcorn Jam and The Paramount Theater will host their first show on Sunday, Celtic Thunder. This is the final update, the Cedar River is now under 16 feet, major flood stage, it should be back in its banks come Monday and we can finally put the Flood of 2016 to rest.  This time out, CR won out.  Thankfully it didn't rain at all during the week and that was the telling point.  Had this been during May or June, the story would be different. And with things drying down, I basically went to Madison for the last big bargain hunt of the year.  But that will be saved for the next installment of Record World.

The Flood Of 2016 (Part 1 Watching The River Flow)

If you haven't heard or seen the news, you might not know that our area is once again at the mercy of a raging river, that will be coming through town around 23 to 24 feet of muddy water.  The past couple weeks the Cedar Valley has gotten hit with 15 to 20 inches of rain for this month, an ungodly amount of rain.  Just like in 2008 we have had a stalled front throwing many many monsoon storms, but this time more centered in around southern Minnesota and north eastern Iowa.

(photo: KWWL-Cedar Falls 9-24-16)

(Photo: KWWL- 4th Street Bridge at Waterloo 9-24-16)

Unlike the 2008 flood, which Cedar Rapids got socked with 10 inches of rain to go with the upper rivers runoff which gave us the EPIC SURGE of 31.3 feet, we managed to not get hit too hard, but we did get three inches of rain here.  I seen the ditch culverts fill up and seeing a raging creek going through the back yard but thankfully the basement stayed dry.  Of course we got it waterproof, 8,000 dollars of peace and mind and so far so good.   But I don't live in the floodplain which is New Bo, a place where I do spend lots of time in that area.     Still, with the announcements of the impending flood, people in this town banded together, and started sandbagging places, putting up Nesco dams of whatever they are called, and moving things out of harms' way.  In 2008 The Paramount lost their pipe organ, to which it got repaired and put in place but volunteers have moved the pipe organ into a more safe place.    Right now Cedar Rapids downtown, you can only use the 380 bridge to get through town.  Better safe than sorry.

(Photo: Big Show Farm via Twitter)

Even the farmers are hurrying up their harvest in flood plains.  This afternoon I seen at least 5 harvesters and tractors cleaning up the corn and soybeans over by US 30 and the Sewage Treatment Plant and on the way home tonight, there was still a few of them on the other side of the highway completing their harvest.  Everybody is heeding warnings.  Fellow musicians helping others move their gear and stuff out of the basements in the floodplain areas of Time Check and New Bo.   You cannot escape the wrath of the Red Cedar, it was here before anybody was around and best to minimize the damage by heeding the warnings and picking things up before the flood arrives.

Photo: Cale Henderson

Photo:Edwin Montgomery (Updated late Sunday night)

Like Tornadoes Pub and Kick Stand, The Mad Modern Art Galley across from Tornado's Pub is on the outside of the NESCO wall that was put in place in the middle of 16th Avenue.  It's a frustrating sight seeing the owner of the place having to rely on a few sand bags and hoping that the river won't be too bad, but even with 23 foot crest, it will be the second highest crest of the river ever.  And the first time we have ever had a major flood of this sort ever in the fall.

Needless to say, the river has risen a couple feet today.  The walking trails at the Nature Center are now underwater in low areas and both Prairie Creek and Indian Creek are taking in Cedar River runoff.   This blog will chronicle the happenings as they happen.  The calm before the storm so to speak.      However, while they're trying to save New Bo, the core of engineers decided to keep the folks who own Tornado's Pub and Grill out of the makeshift Nesco Dam, as well as Kickstand and a couple buildings being remodeled.  The Art Gallery, Antique store across the street, they managed to get everything out of the building into storage before the NESCO dam was built.  Updates to come next few days, till the river crest and things slowly return back to normal.  Grace Potter is supposed to be playing at The Paramount on the 29th, two days after the flood crest. The Fab Four Beatles Tribute Band had to be postponed till next month.   But this will be a blog in progress.

Photo: Tracy Bell  Wapsipinicon River over 150 in Independence 9-25-16

Sunday:  River continues to rise to 13 feet in CR.  The Wapsi to the east has flooded out Littleton and Independence despite the efforts of sandbaggers trying to save houses in Littleton.  30 miles downriver, Lou Lou's in Olin, a camping ground is already beginning to flood.  River is supposed to crest around 24.5 feet in Anamosa on Wednesday.

Palo 9-26-16   Photo from KCRG. 

Vinton 9-26-16 From Ann and Larry via KWWL.  The Cedar has crested up there.

(photo: Ted Reilly  I-380 leading into downtown CR 9-26-16)

Photo: Red Bull Printing 9-26-16

Monday:  The Cedar continues to creep closer and closer to town.  Only 380 is the open bridge across the Cedar and during rush hour it's been wall to wall traffic.  Roads to the Nature Center are now under water and good thing that the farmers managed to clear their harvest on 13/151.  That area is now under water.  The river is beginning to flood on the lower streets in Czech Village and New Bo.  Meanwhile the Wapsipinicon River is now at 20 feet at Shaw Rd outside of Anamosa.  Which means getting into town via E-34 will not be possible.  Road leading to Matsell's now under water.  Buffalo Creek, taking the Wapsi runoff is now flooding the fields to the N and E of Anamosa.

Jenee Ryan's Photo of the Wapsi slowly taking over Lead Mine Road outside of Anamosa.

Not surprisingly, The Cedar River has begun to take over some of the buildings and areas not protected from the NESCO dams.  McGrath Amphitheater is becoming an island in itself.  Jim Slosiarek from the CR gazette took this shot, and the one below.

Shot looking at downtown CR, and the New Bo/Bo Town area.  Some flood water going into the low lying areas but so far as of 5 PM Monday things are looking better than originally thought. However the picture below might suggest otherwise.  James Carter takes this photo of train tracks to Quaker Oats.  To be continued tomorrow for the crest and aftermath.

Week In Review: TE Radio 22, Eagles Snub, Cubs Win

(Photo: SB Nation)

So ends the last weekend of summer.  New Bo park hosted the first ever harvest moon fest with local bands SaLOONatics, JC Project, Crankshaft in front of a small circle of musician friends and family.  I basically stayed home to watch Iowa get manhandled by North Dakota State (see last blog about that experience) and mowed the yard.  Almost fall and the grass still grows.  Friday Night sports, Marion's two game winning streak came to an end up in Dubuque as Wahlert beat them 17-13,  Arizona State almost got upset by University of Texas-San Antonio but managed to win on a last second Ballage TD and nuff said.  That would have been a more big upset than North Dakota State's so called shock heard around the world but then again ESPN or Fox sports don't hate ASU as much as they do of the Iowa Pretenders known as the Hawkeyes. ASU is 3-0, but their next foe is Cal, who managed to upset University of Texas-Austin (the real TX team).  Given how both teams have no defense whatsoever, it should be another basketball score in the making.

(photo: Getty Images)

The Chicago Cubs, managed to win the Central Division Friday when they beat Milwaukee, the fastest time they won the pennant since my grandpa was in grade school. Joe Maddon decided to give the guys time off over the weekend and Milwaukee whopped them on Saturday after yet another Jake Arrieta sub par pitching performance, he simply hasn't been the same since his Cy Young winning season of last year, in fact he's fading to be the number 3 ace behind Kyle Hendricks and Jon Lester. Sunday, Hendricks got outpitched by a pitcher with a 5.91 era, to which Maddon decided vacation is over and played the regulars Monday for a win over the lowly Cincinnati Reds.

(Credit: Bob Yeazel) http://www.bobyeazel.com/Hyperlinks.htm

Jerry Corbetta passed away, he was 68 and had Pick's Syndrome.   Best known as the vocalist for Chocolate Hair, later known as Sugarloaf since their record label didn't like the original name.  Big hit was Green Eyed Lady, which fit on AM radio, FM radio, underground radio, classic rock radio, oldies radio and so on. Later singles didn't figure much but their final top 2 hit, 1975's Don't Call Us We'll Call You used the phone number to CBS Records in New York as a ring tone, kinda of a novelty hit but the song really deal with (back then) bands trying to break into a major label and getting rejected.   Corbetta later would join the Four Seasons before touring as part of the Legends Of Rock groups that played state fairs around the country.

The Kennedy Center had announced that Bernie Leadon, Randy Meisner and Don Felder should not be included when The Eagles get honored in that televised gala  Kennedy Center Honors crap in December.  Probably a decision that Don Henley may have suggested since his feud with Felder has been tabloid fodder for the past 2 decades.  It was decided that Henley, Joe Walsh, Tim Schmit and the late Glenn Frey, casting his vote from beyond the grave, were the ones carrying the torch would be honored.  It way it goes. Say what you want about Felder, but if it wasn't for him kicking the Eagles in the ass to get that guitar lead sound right on the overplayed Hotel California, the Eagles would not sound the same.  Meisner played a crucial role as well as we all know from another overplayed song Take It To The Limit.  Without Bernie Leadon, they would be a very minor country rock band.  I won't take away Frey and Henley's role of perfecting those harmonies, but without Leadon, they'd be nothing.  And you won't see or hear that on the Kennedy Center Asskissing Honors show.  I love Joe Walsh, I can tolerate Tim Schmit, but on a whole, it remains the Henley/Frey show. They work well for live shows and excellent paydays, but that last Eagles album really was boring. If I want to celebrate their legacy, I'll just throw on any of their first three albums.

Places to go eat when you want something different.https://www.aroundiowa.com/blog/2016/09/see-why-crowds-wait-for-hours-to-eat-at-this-delicious-and-unique-iowa-restaurant/#.V-0HSslXSUk

And the ratings so far this month, no views over 200 since September 7, hell no views over 100 since September 7.  If it wasn't for the Bruce Stanley Tribute blog, I might not have 100 views at all this month. Rest assured it'll be another 2,000 views but I rather not do another death blog about a good friend if this means higher ratings.   Usually the rule of thumb is that out of every 10 blogs I do write for the past month, only 1 or 2 get read.  Unless it's one of the ole reliable blogs (Circumstances beyond our control, Hanging With The Band) that continue to pop up in the most viewed, to which I probably blame some picture of a model for that.  And I still can't get into that candy apple red hair that Ivy Doomkitty has been sporting lately.

John D Loudermilk, one of the best all time songwriters known (Tobacco Road, Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye, Break My Mind, It's My Time covered by The Townedgers) passed away Tuesday from a heart attack. He was 82. http://www.tennessean.com/story/entertainment/music/2016/09/22/songwriter-john-d-loudermilk-dead-82/90826022/?hootPostID=e9f84132f8151ec03cc7c4b682b59bec


Record Reviews:

Aaron Lewis-Sinner (Dot/Big Machine 2016)

Given the fact that Aaron is better known for Staind, the Nu Metal band of the 1990s he tends to come across as yet another rocker trying to make it in country music but unlike Steven Tyler or Bret Michaels Aaron at least is making a valiant effort to come across as a country singer. He certainly is outlaw enough to be a convincing David Allen Coe, although I tend to think Coe is more imposter than Waylon and Willie  or Hank Jr. as all four plus Johnny and June and George Jones gets namechecked on That Ain't Country.  While Aaron gets bounty points for calling out fake Bro Country imposters such as FGL to which he shares the same label with, simply being on Big Machine does give suspicions if Lewis is actually country enough to really care about.   Lewis gets credit by adding Willie Nelson (sounding even more  of his 80 plus years voice on the title track) and hooking up with Buddy Cannon, who did produce albums from Willie and George Jones when the possum was still alive.  And likewise tapping Vince Gill and Alison Krauss for vocal support.  The downside is that being on Big Machine, Lewis is probably required to write a song about trucks and back roads and we get that on Northern Redneck, probably Lewis's trying to appease the Bro Country crowd, but I think it comes across as tongue in cheek rather than horse manure that FGL or Luke Bryan is known for.  Another downside is that there's quite a bit of slow tempo outlaw songs that meander on the second side of the album.  Plus there's a Straind  like bellow on Mama that suggest Lewis is trying too hard to hit those out of reach notes in the chorus.  In the end, the record wins out, due to that Lewis took on a Chris Stapleton song in Whiskey And You and it sounds fine, but what wins me over is daughter Zoe covering Bruce Robison's Travelin' Soldier, originally done by The Dixie Chicks.  For being 13 years old, Zoe sounds right at home with the traditional country sound.   It's still hard for me to even think ever about listening or even buying Aaron Lewis's album, given that I never cared much for Staind.  Since Aaron was adamant about blasting the bro country crowd and that the folks at Saving Country Music even talked about this gave me the reason to listen to Sinner. He does show himself to be more David Allen Coe than the original outlaws of country, and even if Coe is the least of them all, it's not that bad to be compared to Coe.   It's rough around the edges like Willie and Waylon and a bit inconsistent like David Allen Coe, but it's a hell of a lot more honest than Steven Tyler's country attempt.  It is a good country album.
Grade B

John Fogerty-Centerfield (Warner Brothers 1984, later issued via Dreamworks/Geffen)

With CCR, Fogerty made some of the best swamp rock albums in the history of music, to which his vision or the music clashed with the CCR rhythm section and after Marti Gra, John cut them loose and begin somewhat of decade an half exile, throwing together DIY projects like The Blue Ridge Rangers and a Asylum album that has disappeared from sight.  That Asylum J.F. album had a great song in Almost Saturday Night and a good one with Rockin All Over The World but the rest of that album I can't remember.  And then for 9 years he'd disappear to the point that Joe Strummer actually requested that John would come up with something new and John did, by surprising the world with Centerfield, a album that seemed to pick up where Marti Gras left off, but without Doug and Stu hanging around.  I guess they are missed from a fan's viewpoint but John thought good riddence.  In fact The Old Man Down The Road is so damn CCR sounding you have to check the credits and no, that's John doing all instruments and vocals.   Take away the electric drums and you would swear it was 1969 all over again.  I think the title track remains a bit corny, Vanz Can't Danz might have ole Zal Zentz still spinning in his grave but even for the disco beat and goofy drum solo I like it fine and the short and simple songs of Big Train From Memphis and I Saw It on TV are vintage Fogerty, even though he did add some Creedence riffs to Saw It On TV.  John has managed to stick around and put out more albums in the next few years and finally learned to embrace the magic sounds of Creedence and has become more of a better tribute artist to that band than his estranged bandmates, but I do admit I haven't had much interest in the past two albums that Fogerty has done.  If his Asylum 1975 effort was a misstep, Centerfield was a full fledged return back to the basis and the fact that simple three chord rock and roll if done right can remain timeless.  By far Centerfield, is John's solo masterpiece.
Grade A-

Frank Zappa-ZAPPatite (Zappa 2016)

I don't think there'll be a best of Frank Zappa album we can all be happy with.  Strictly Commercial, the Rykodisc 90s best of, is probably is the best of the bunch and Zappa tried to compile a best of the Mothers with Mothermania  but Zappatite, while adventurous, pales next to Commercial, and poor choice of songs from Overnight Sensation (trading Montana for Dirty Love), perhaps I'm The Slime makes a great lead off song and probably says more about Zappa's output overall. Zappa could play it straight, although rare,  Peaches En Regalia might be his best overall song ever, and Trouble Comin Every Day his best rock song overall.  And of course his usual progressive rock fun of Cosmic Debrik and Titties And Beer.  G Spot Tornado, hints of a synclavier future we could do without and Strictly Genteel is Zappa reaching to be a classical composer.  For a sampler of what Zappa was, it's uneven as hell, but if you're looking for something that has Peaches, I'm The Slime, Valley Girl, and Joe's Garage here you go.  But Strictly Commercial is a much better overview.
Grade B-

Adele-21 (Columbia 2011)

I know.  She's got a good voice and lord almighty she can belt out those heartbreaking torch songs, but she doesn't rock enough for me and the sob songs get tiring after a while. Rolling In The Deep and Rumor Has It are excellent songs, the former probably the best song she's ever done and she has enough variety to Rumor Has It that  it's worth to hear a few more times.  Whitney Houston also had a great voice and I would have liked her better had she not shout and scream out of control.  The uptempo stuff, there's much of, outside of Take It All and Rolling and Rumor.  Her last album probably had the same amount of ballads as well and I think I liked it better than 25.  But for a 1.88 special, it's one of those albums that I had to listen just to see what the fuss is about.   21, Adele puts her heart and soul into these songs but I think I prefer Amy Rigby or Linda Thompson if I want to hear love gone wrong songs.
Grade C+

Doc Holliday-Doc Holliday Rides Again (A&M 1981-later issued on Rock Candy 2006)

Strange how some albums are yet to be issued on CD (The Brains....) but some minor stuff has seen CD reissued.  Doc Holliday was a Southern rock styled band from Texas that made two albums for A & M but even I knew nothing about them back then.  Legend has it that Jerry Moss wasn't too thrilled of hearing Tom Allom's original production and David Anderle remixed it judging from the exhaustive liner notes.  Perhaps Mr. Moss had a point.  Doc Holliday is like the 2nd tier Southern Rock bands of the late 70s and early 80s that made pleasant enough rock and roll but not enough to stand out, somewhat like Arista era Point Blank or Great Southern or early 38 Special before Jim Peterik came to give them some much needed hit singles.  Somewhat of a poor man's Blackfoot (Southern Man, Last Ride) Doc Holliday didn't do ballads very well and Let Me Be Your Lover issued as a failed single shows it.  Jerry Moss wrote them off as a tax loss anyway although there was enough interest for Rock Candy to reissue it on CD with two bonus tracks: covers of Whiskey Train and Travelin' Band, sounding like a bar band on a Saturday Night when the lead singer had a bit too much of Jack Daniels.
Grade C+

Music Of My Years-Cinderella Night Songs (Mercury 1987)

This is too hard rock for me consider it to be hair metal.  Tom Keifer had more Nazareth in him than Bon Jovi, who was instrumental of getting Cinderella on Mercury Records.  Certainly a lot of Aerosmith comes into play, but credit Andy Johns (RIP) for giving them the hard rock and roll sound that wasn't hair metal.  The hard rock riffs of Push Push and hit singles Somebody Save Me and Shake Me  were head banging fun, although Keifer's lyrics are very simpleminded.  If Nobody's Fool reminded one of Bringing On The Heartbreak by Def Leppard, Leifer channels his inner Dan McCaffery to make it sound harder than Poison or Motley Crue for that matter.  Hell On Wheels even sounds a bit like Blackfoot's Warped although I'm sure Keifer and the boys would ever deny of hearing Blackfoot, maybe Ted Nugent was thought of?  No matter, I tend to enjoy Cinderella's first album more than Motley Crue and Poison or even Ratt for that matter, but with Long Cold Winter and otherwise I never paid much attention.  Night Songs remains their bona fide classic album.  Their poofy hairdo might have made them come across as Hair Metal but in reality, Cinderella was pure hard rock and roll.
Grade B+

Townedger Radio 22-Broadcast via Lucky Star Radio 9/22/16  http://www.luckystarradio.com/
https://www.mixcloud.com/LuckyStarRadio/townedger-radio-22/

Playlist:

Listen-Screaming Jay Hawkins
Trying To Forget You-Howlin Wolf
It Don't Come Easy-The Smithereens
Aging Eyes-Tommy Bruner
Nickels And Dimes-Wooden Nickel Lottery
Orion Subsiding-King Buffalo 
Different Shade Of Blue-The Townedgers
Vitality-Rush
Myth Of Love-The Georgia Satellites
Feel This/No Fat Burger-Descendants
Him Or Me-Bun E. Carlos
Black Rose (A Rock Legend)-Thin Lizzy
   

Rock and Roll and the Mockery Of Iowa Football

I don't think this could have waited till the next week in review blog.  This loss is historic in the fact that anybody suggesting that Iowa had a legitimate chance to be a force in the Big Ten West should be laughed at.  Fox Sports spudboy Colin Cowpie Cowherd is going to rub it in your face.  Iowa you're simply not good enough to even be considered in the top 25 ever again.

For a FCB school North Dakota State is a force to be reckon with. They win and win and wind and then sometimes they go play a Power 5 college and beat them.  They have done that six straight times now.  They were picked to win this game.  It wasn't the shot heard around the world as ESPN Butchie  Beth Mowens  wold exclaim time and time again after NDSU won on the last second field goal 23-21.  The Bison did exactly what Michigan State did to Iowa in the championship game last year,  they simply played power run football and shoved it down the Hawkeyes throat.  And the defense failed.  And the offense failed.  For a high powered bunch of running backs and all American pretty boy C J Bethard at quarterback and WRs, the offense managed to have negative nine yards in the forth quarter.  Not exactly the stuff that winning teams are made of.

The 2016 Iowa Hawkeyes wanted to prove that last year was not a fluke, they went undefeated all season till they trip up against Michigan State and then got blown out of the Rose Bowl by Stanford.  Critics like Cowpie Cowerd scoffed all along the way, saying Iowa played nobody, they got lucky at Wisconsin and they got lucky against Nebraska.  There was no North Dakota State last year and good thing too, Iowa would have lost that game as well.   But in order for Iowa to be taken seriously, they had to pony up a tough team before the Big Ten, why not drop a half a million to North Dakota State and have them show up and lay down and take the money home, why not?  Only problem is NDS was on a mission to come to Iowa City and kick ass and win the game, not just win it but dominate it and that they did in the final quarter against a tired Iowa defense that ran out of gas once again due to piss poor offense plays.

There was no line on the game, but I figured North Dakota State would win it.  Of course around the state, hardly anybody noticed and predicted that since the Big Ten had better players they would win regardless. The Bisons didn't see it that way as they shredded Iowa's defense for big yards rushing.  One of the greatest upsets in college football history?  Bullshit. North Dakota State could have beaten anybody from the Big Ten West and give Ohio State a good run for the money. But ESPN, the anti Hawkeye channel and FOX SPORTS with Colin Kocksuck will blow their horn and give this game the top story.  But even you, me and Colin Clueless will tell you this game is not a upset.  But this game has branded The Iowa Hawkeyes to be forever pretenders to the NCAA championship this season.  They are going to have to win ALL of the games, plus the bowl game against the other team and thank their lucky stars North Dakota State will not be that team.  But I have a better chance at winning the lottery then the Hawks winning the championship this season.

Whatever shred of credibility Iowa had left went out the door.  It doesn't matter if they blow out their foes 100-0 from here on out, nobody is going to give them any credit, Iowa will be, like Colin Clitherd will remind you, pretenders and shouldn't be there.  In fact, maybe The Big Ten West should trade Iowa for North Dakota State since NDS wins more the games they should rather than the Hawks who continue to crack under pressure of playing a top rated team be it Power 5 or FCB.    There was hope that perhaps beating NDS they would at least get some sort of cred.  Not anymore. This game pretty sums up the feelings of what the naysayers have said about Iowa, they're not good enough, they're pretenders.  And sorry to say, I have to agree with the hated Colin Custardpie, they're are pretenders and there's not a damn thing they can do about it, till they finally get off their collective asses and beat a Michigan or a Michigan State or a Stanford but rest assured they won't be going to the Rose Bowl this year.

They just don't have it and North Dakota State proved it.

PS:  Now that I calmed down, it isn't a total waste of a season and that one game would shape up the scope of the rest of the season, which BIG TEN games start taking over. That said, North Dakota State is a force to be reckon with and if Michigan or Ohio State don't want to play them, that's fine too.  The Bisons would have battled them tooth and nail.  But I remain unconvinced that this was a upset and an embarrassment,  the latter yes it was since it made top news around the sports channel across the America and the naysayers laughing their asses off, as an upset, it wasn't.  By adding NDSU, Iowa did try to toughen up themselves by playing quality rivals, but in the process they failed since they couldn't stop the power run in the final quarter, to which their opponents will now use in their plan of attack on future Hawkeye games.  And in any case the other teams they play will be tougher than last year, Nebraska is tougher, likewise Wisconsin and Minnesota and they want their trophies back.  Wisconsin remains the most shaky of the trio, Nebraska upset Oregon and who knows what the Gophers have in store.   Even Maryland is not a gimme game either, nor Rutgers, which the Hawks go to play there. If Rutgers win, that would be considered a bigger upset than the so called NDSU game.  Nevertheless, with each loss to a quality team does not help Iowa at all but rather confirms everybody belief that they will be pretenders and until Iowa beats a Michigan, a Michigan State or a Ohio State, the masses will not be convinced. And the falling out has begun, in the Amway top twenty five  coaches poll, they falter down to number 25.

However history has shown that after a bad loss, Iowa would come back and kick butt.  They did that when Arizona State blitzed them out of Tempe in 2004 but Iowa came back to share the title and a bowl game victory, and in 2002 after Iowa State took them out, went 8-0 to share the title and then lose in the Orange Bowl. And another Missouri Valley team in 2009 almost beat them if their FG kicker didn't miss a couple of field goals, after that Iowa did wake up and start winning and then winning the Orange Bowl that year.  Wake up calls like those did enable Iowa to get serious about playing again and playing winning football.   It has been done before.  But they are not going to convince Cowpie Cowerd, not now and maybe not later, unless it's a top 3 NCAA football powerhouse. It would have been easier to give half a million to Northern Iowa and perhaps a easier game but nothing is a gimme, unless your playing cupcake schools and junior colleges in need of money.  North Dakota State gladly took the money and promptly kicked Iowa's offense and defense line's ass all over Iowa City.   When your punter moves the ball better than your vaulted Running attack (only 34 rushing yards all day from all of them) and NDSU runs it that much plus 205 more yards, it's going to be a loss regardless.  Perhaps the Hawks should have given half a mil to Prairie View A and M or Trump University, ESPN would have ridiculed them (like Colin Cookiepuss Cowerd) anyway but it still would have been a win.  Next week's game with Rutgers will tell if The Hawks will be as advertised or worse, not even a ordinary subpar team.  Guess we'll wait and see next week.

Week In Review, Sports, Country Perspective, Leonard Haze, Unmarked 45s

Baseball season is winding down, and for the Cedar Rapids Kernels, they started out with a 9-3 victory on Saturday Afternoon, Clinton took the next two including the winner take all 1-0 11 inning victory.  The odd thing about playoff baseball in the minor leagues is that hardly anybody shows up for these games.  Only 620 folks made it to the stands and half of them were the Clinton faithful.  Cubs will finally clinch the division title later in the week but it seems the ace of the staff is Kyle Hendricks who almost no hit the Cardinals Monday with a 4-1 Cubs victory.

The NFL season started and the San Diego Chargers did their usual choke job in Kansas City, blowing a 17 point lead,  leading 24-3 before the Chiefs came back on a very poor Chargers defense and the usual fold job from Philip Rivers, winning 33-27 in overtime to which my best friend had to give me grief over that before I reminded him of the Cubs whopping his Cardinals team.  Still San Diego is poised to once again occupy the basement of the AFC West, they went 0-8 against their divisional rivals and starting out 0-1.  A long season is in store.  Even though Rivers has been a iron man, playing in 161 straight games at quarterback, his erratic playing has always pissed me off and I always thought of him lowly, although he's a step up from another erratic QB in Jay Cutler.   But then again, with Joey Boo Hoo Boza out with a hamstring pull  after holding out all of the preseason is giving one of the second coming of Ryan Leaf.  Mike McCoy may not be around long as coach but the biggest problem remains The Spanos family continuing to shoot themselves in the foot in bad draft picks and a shit defense that can't stop the run, nor the past.  Or worst of all, playing three quarters and taking the fourth quarter off, even the rookie punter gave Kansas City help with a shit 17 yard punt. The 24-3 lead was a fluke, and I knew that as I turned the game off and went to do my usual Sunday Afternoon thing, doing a couple songs at the Popcorn Jam and finally getting to play alongside Craig Erickson along with the best players in town with Dan Johnson and Tommy Bruner. Sad to say, my set list was about 5 minutes for both songs.   But then again there were 7 other drummers in tow, and we were limited to two songs.  The way it goes but the others had some jamming numbers, including a stunning interplay between Jeremy Jacobs and Erickson on three Hendrix numbers with, Trevor Ott pounding on drums.  Next time bring ear plugs, a reminder to myself.

In the Cy Hawk game, the trophy stays home as Iowa destroyed Iowa State 42-3 and it wasn't even close.  Even with that, Iowa dropped a notch, no love from the Coaches Poll whatsoever and probably never until they beat somebody more notable.  Top rated North Dakota State of the FCB is next.  That's not going to be easy and but a NDS win and you'll get ESPN and Colin Cocksuk Cowherd telling you that Iowa remains a joke.   The prediction remains Iowa to be 8-4, Nebraska and Wisconsin have improved big time and they are wanting their trophies back.  I'm hoping that won't be the case.

(Source: ESPN)

Arizona State outlasted Texas Tech 68-55 in a wild offense display by Kalen Ballage who scored a record tying 8 touchdowns in one game.  Texas Tech has always had a wild offense masterminded by Kliff Kingsbury but his theory is to outscore the opponent since his teams lack defense.  Not that Arizona State isn't that great, but they did managed to intercept a couple passes and score a safety.   After the game Ballage invited his offense line to the interview room and gave them some heaping praise.  Of course ASU has a new offense coordinator in Chip Lindsay replacing Mike Lovell and new quarterback Manny Wilkins as Mike Borcovici graduated and moved on to a brief spell with San Diego.  The main ASU RB is Demario Richard who ran for over 100 yards but Ballage got the TDs. Pat Mamhomes threw for 540 yards and two TDs and Justin Stockton ripped the Sun Devils Defense for a 75 yard TD run but in the end, Texas Tech came up empty on three drives in the third and fourth quarter.  For a rebuilding year, ASU might have a crack at 4-0 with winnable games against Texas/San Antonio (Who) and California, but it might be wise to bring some sort of defense to the game next time.  You can't play basketball scores all the time.

On the music side of things.  Mikkey Dee has found new employment as drummer for the Scorpions replacing James Kottak.  Leonard Haze, former drummer for Y & T died from COPD, he was 61.  Haze always played Ludwig drums, which I remember quite fondly from that band's era.  Haze also did time with Ian Gillan's band before forming his own band HazeXexpierince.   Jerry Donahue, guitarist for Fairport Convention suffered a major stroke which has paralyzed his right side and he can no longer play the guitar.   The town of Maquoketa had a 2 day music fest with the likes of John Moreland and a few other big name bands but I had to cancel due to Bruce Stanley's funeral and the Cedar Rapids Kernels winning game one of the finals 9-3 over Clinton.

(Discogs: Photo)

Record collecting in this day and age can be fun, but it can also be frustrating as hell, even more so when going to record stores and seeing boxes of unmarked 45s and hoping to find a bargain, only to have the owner of the record store look it up on the internet and inflate the price of a scratched up 45.  I do not mind paying 6 dollars for something that I have been looking for, or four for a promo copy of Mirror Star by the Fabulous Poodles, only to take it home and seeing it played like a G rated 45, scratched up beyond belief.  Basically since where I bought it from is about a 100 miles away, this is one I have to take on the chin.  It's a crapshoot on taking chances on 45s in a box and I should have known better so I blame myself on figuring I found a bargain but in the end I didn't.  The Unit Four By Two, Concrete And Clay was in better condition but as history has shown, those old London Records never stood the test of time and most of anything from London or the London based distributed labels (Sire in their first year, Parrot, Hi), the hard vinyl tends to fall apart after each play.  The consideration factor is that most if not all 45s from 50, 60 years ago have been played and most are not in excellent or mint shape, unless it's a fluke, such as the Waterloo finds of a couple weeks ago.  All in pristine shape and the owner of them took excellent care of them but they were found at a consignment store.  I can see today's record store owners trying to survive and make a buck in a world that streaming on your smartphone makes it hard for a brick and mortar store stay in business, it's another when you're looking at jukebox forty fives and finding something out of the ordinary and them knowing they can pop you in the pooper.  The single in question is The Superiors 1965 Verve single What Will I Do, which looked to be in good shape, to which the price to own this would have been 30 dollars, a bargain since it was sold off EBAY for 55 dollars!  A good song but not enough for me to buy it and play it  a couple times at best and comment about it.  However, there are Northern Soul record collectors willing to  pay 30 dollars for it.   There's one up for bids at EBAY at 7.99 starting bid.  I'm sure that price will climb as the days go by.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gb8xuyUVAgA

But in the past couple years of haggling with my record store owner buddies for scratchy singles, I have become more and more tired of the search for unpriced  single 45s and would rather try my luck at the thrift stores.  Once in a while I'll strike instant gratification gold, but as my Wednesday bargain hunts went, they were not so much of a bargain. The way it goes in the vinyl revival era nowadays.

The ratings of Blogspot is confusing to say the very least but I do think that the 514 plus views on my tribute to Bruce Stanley are honest enough to put it in 4th place in the all time views of Record World. Those who shared and viewed it.  Bruce thanks you from The Great Beyond. 

Site of the month: Country Perspective.  This guy goes above and beyond on the state of country music then and now. https://countryperspective.com/

Record Reviews

Whiskey Myers-Mud (Thirty Tigers 2016)

Southern rock in this decade remains a mixed bag at best, but at least you can call it rock better than  the bubblegum hair metal-autotuned  sounds of Bro Country.  A gigantic 7 member band from Texas, they are somewhat linked to Blackberry Smoke, to which Mud, the new W.M album can be compared to B.S's The Whippoorwill all the way to the soul sister screamer (Kristen Rogers) who does exactly that on a few songs here.  While I'm not all that convinced that Mud is a classic album, it is a steady work of progress that gets better with each new song, I usually think Southern Rock has to have at least one or two uptempo numbers.  Like most other Southern Rockers of this day age, Whiskey Myers doesn't do the uptempo all that much, mostly Southern shuffles and red dirt Country like songs (On The River, Lightning Bugs And Rain) or Drive By Truckers inspired Trailer We Call Home.  I kinda wished they did boogie a bit more such as the Bad Company driven Some Of Your Love, the Black Crowes rock of Frogman (Written with Rich Robinson of you know who) and the rock of Hank to which Hank Jr is name checked, and not Senior, 3, Locklin nor Snow.  Deep Down In The South might be aimed at the Bro Country dudes and probably Dave Cobb, their producer might have something to do with that.  Their first album Early Morning Shakes from 2014 might be the better of their albums, but for a followup, this is not a waste either. For the likes of the new Southern Rock, it took a while for DBTs and Blackberry Smoke to find their inner classic album in them and Mud I wouldn't say is a bonafide five star album, but Whiskey Myers is on to something and I still think they got a bright future in them.  Mud is down and dirty, but it is a promising good time.
Grade B+

The Beatles Live At The Hollywood Bowl (Apple/Capitol/UME 2016)

The reissue of the year is a no brainer.  People have been clamoring for this to be issued on CD (those who still buy CDs that is) and the original album did only last 29 minutes for a full set.  Adding four more tracks from the other Hollywood Bowl concert gives us I Wanna Hold Your Hand and Baby's In Black and it's amazing how the late George Martin and his son Giles managed to get the music out in front out of all them screaming girls.  The songs are shorter, faster and even more tighter than their studio counterparts and The Beatles did rock with the best of them.  Guess there wasn't a workable version of I Saw Her Standing There, but for punk rock, I think Ringo Starr started it with this version of Boys.  Seems like everything they did was historic and an classic, even in a live setting.
Grade A

Butch Engle And The Styx-No Matter What You Say (Beat Rocket 2000)

He was better known as writing with Ron Elliot of The Beau Brummels  and probably helped them shaped up the sound during their Warner Brothers era, but on a whole Butch and The Styx had a bit more in common with The Association or Triangle era B.B's and not exactly rock and roll.  In fact when they try to venture out into hippy dippy flower power psych pop, they don't convince me very well, even with all that gobs of echo thrown in.  This album has just about everything they recorded as demos and a failed single for Loma and another failed single for Onyx , Puppermaster to which Ron Eliot would record with the Beaus later on and version two of Hey I'm Lost, not exactly a good song to be repeated three times over.  I brought this simply of the connection to the Beau Brummels.  But for demos and a handful of singles only the folks at Sundazed could come up with this sort of overview.   But it's one of those albums that you will listen one time just for the sake of historical means of a major player helping out another band and doing better than the output that he recorded for his own band.   And even Triangle doesn't do much for me either.  No matter what I say.
Grade C+

Creedence Clearwater Revival-Marti Gras (Fantasy 1971)

Whether or not you agree with Rolling Stone or Spin's assertion that this is one of the all time worst albums from CCR, you have to admire that John Fogerty, tired of hearing his rhythm section whine about not getting any credit where credit is done on the previous albums, told Doug and Stu to come up with something and see what happens.  And of course their songs paled in comparison to John's, although I don't think they are not listenable.   In fact, there's sort of a goofy charm on Need Somebody To Hold, and Stu's Door To Door isn't bad, it did make B side to Sweet Hitch Hiker, by far the best song on this album.  Fogerty didn't really break much of a sweat when he decided to make this album a democracy,   Looking For A Reason and minor hit Someday Never Comes are good, but not great John Fogerty songs and perhaps Hello Mary Lou was him marking time.  But even a half inspired John Fogerty songs are better than most of what Stu Cook and Doug Clifford came up with.  Even as CC Revisited, I don't think they bother much of even doing their own songs live anymore.  The real money remains the hits of course. Overall, it's the weakest of the CCR output as everybody agrees but it isn't without its charm.  An A for effort I suppose but in the end. it's a .....
Grade B+

Sleepy LaBeef-The Human Jukebox (Sun 1995)

He recorded for Plantation back in the 1970s, and this short 12 song set came out on Sun from various albums and sessions.  Of course I bought it for Blackland Farmer, his failed 1971 single but here he takes on some of the old boogie country rock and roll songs of yesterday.  He does add something different to Bob Wills Faded Love and makes it more bluesy and his versions of Boom Boom Boom, Good Boogie Tonight (aka Good Rockin Tonight) and Tore Up can rival a good bar band.  The misstep is Me And Bobby McGee where he tries to incorporate both Janis and Jerry Lee Lewis and it just doesn't work very well.  I'm sure there's better albums to hear LaBeef but The Human Jukebox, is still worth hearing simply of the fact Blackland Farmer is on this.
Grade B

The Souther-Hillman-Furay Band (Asylum 1974 reissued via Elektra/Wounded Bird 2000)

And now perhaps the biggest waste of an all star lineup it seems. Former Buffalo Springfield Richie Furay joins forces with Byrds/Burrito Brothers wonderkind Chris Hillman along with hotshot song writer John David Souther and backed with Al Perkins (Manassas), Jim Gordon (session drummer extraordinaire for Delaney And Bonnie and Derek And The Dominoes, and The Carpenters just to name a few) and Al Harris (Manassas, CSN), and trying to make an album to appeal to fans of Poco or the target audience of The Eagles and it falls flat on its face.  It's one of those albums that I continue to buy, then donate and then buy back to see what the fuss is all about.  I love Fallin In Love, their failed hit single and like Border Town and even Chris Hillman's hard rocking Safe At Home but like the last time I listened to this, the rest of the songs are bland or just plain suck.  The guess is that John David Souther couldn't get along with Richie Furay or vice versa and it turned out to be a waste of time and the album went straight to the cut out bins, do not pass go or collect 200 dollars, although the LP cost me a measly dollar.   While Furay is credited for the best song of Fallin In Love, he gets the blame for the worst song Believe Me.  He should never try to hit the high notes ever again.   Anyway, the CD is now out of print and used copies sell for over 20 dollars.  You're better off just cherry picking Falling In Love and Safe At Home for 1.29 per single or pay 6.99 for a MP3 copy.  To which I suggest the former.  Or better yet, pick up Cantamos by Poco or On The Border from The Eagles, they were much more enjoyable than this failed B team super group.
Grade C

Music From My Youth-Z Z Top-El Loco (Warner Brothers 1981)

This was the record that Billy Gibbons decided to incorporate more of a new wave kick in the boogie blues' ass that was ZZ Top and while Eliminator broke them big, El Loco I like better.  It doesn't get run into the ground like Eliminator and I love the goofy Tube Snake Boogie and the naughty naughty Pearl Necklace although my best friend complains that the radio station plays those songs too much.  It's a strange record, they do return to a boogie blues with I Wanna Drive You Home before going El Loco, with Ten Foot Pole to which Mr Gibbons talks nonsense, and probably inspired The Melvins into doing their own gibberish nonsense song Hootch years later.  Another strange fact is that Leila, made the top 30 in rock but that song never gets played on classic rock radio.  Side 2 starts out with It's So Hard somewhat of a yawner before Pearl Necklace and then their new wave move with Groovy Little Hippie Pad and B-52 inspired Party On The Patio.  But I also love the humorous Heaven Hell Or Houston.   In the end I think El Loco was the end of ZZ Top as a band of well meaning for me, Eliminator was better but MTV and KRNA and KKRQ and other assorted rock stations have played most of those songs to death.  El Loco was the first album for ZZ Top to get hip to the times and they would get more famous as the 80s wore on.
Grade B+


And now, the bi yearly Can't Review Them All series of artists and bands that are not cost effective.
The music biz is full of them.

Jason Aldean-The Dwight Yoakam of Bro Country (not a slam on Dwight but rather a comparison), Jason has managed to carve out a ten year career of bad country and bad rock and roll to make turd after turd albums.  Of course name checking Johnny Cash, the logic is thinking he's country if he namechecks a legend, but then again if Nickelback namechecks Johnny Cash or Webb Pierce, they could called country too.  Strange how it works in this day and age.  Aldean's music is not exactly memorable, but to stay relevant get another bro county or flavor of the month (Kelsea Ballerini) and do a duet for a new album, which he did.  I had a friend that did a meet and greet with Jason and she mentioned he was kinda creepy, just like that Johnny Cash song.  As for Dwight Yoakam, Dwight's last subpar album is ten times better than the new Aldean album.  http://www.savingcountrymusic.com/jason-aldean-just-admitted-to-the-dumbing-down-of-modern-country/

The Mars Volta-Nothing screams prog rock more than hyper speed beats and shouted out lyrics that nobody can understand.  Frances The Mute was that album it might be worse than anything kOrn ever did.  The most overrated band of the 2000s.

Megadeth-Out of all the metal bands that broke big in the 1980s, Dave Mustane's band has never made much of an impression on me,  I did buy Peace Sells But Who's Buying years ago but something about his vocals that I never cared much for.  He continues to make the news on a regular basis, throwing out band members, welcoming new members and then throwing them out and then have some former bandmates return and get thrown out.  Dave always had great musicians backing him up though.  For classic Megadeth, Rust In Peace is the one that gets the most votes, followed by Peace Sells and then Countdown To Extinction.  After that you're on your own.

Guns And Roses-They entered my restricted list simply of the fact that classic rock radio overplays Welcome To The Jungle and Sweet Child O Mine.  Appetite For Destruction remains a rock classic, but like most classics overplayed on KKRQ or KRNA you get sick of hearing the endless plays of those two Corporation Approved Rock Songs.  Granted GnR were not hair metal, the guitars of Slash and Izzy Stratlin were the Joe Perry/Brad Whitford of that band.  The key player is Izzy Stratlin, who favored a more roots rock and roll with a side of reggae and his songs on Use Your Illusion 1 and 2 still are quite good but since Axel Rose doesn't sing them, you don't hear them on the radio.  There is a goofy charm to The Spaghetti Incident?, which GnR finds some rock and punk covers that's worth a 1.98 in the cut out bins.  It is true that Axel Rose runs a tight ship and as the original members drop out due to drug problems and music disagreements, has managed to keep band going and finally giving the world The Chinese Democracy after years of delays.  It's listenable but not as classic as Appetite or the best of Use Your Illusion albums.  While Slash and Axel finally settled their differences enough to stand each other on stage again this year (2016).  Duff McKegan also joined them on stage through a successful summer tour that even Steven Adler managed to play drums on a few numbers but while fans raved about the original trio back together, to me it wasn't a full reunion with Izzy Stradlin missing and not taking part, later making a rare comment that he wasn't invited to the reunion (it's all about the $$$).  But the world remains happy that as long Slash is there, it's GnR.  A side note: my mom forbid me to bring and GnR albums into the house, not that it mattered much. There were more harder rocking and better bands that never got the credit that was bestowed upon GnR (Kings Of The Sun anybody?), and I doubt that GnR saved rock and roll even back then.  If you stand Sweet Child O Mine playing many times during the day this late in life, you're welcome to them.

Kanye West-He is rap, he drowns himself in autotuner, he's married to a Kadashian and is overrated even by Rolling Stone Magazine standards.  He's only rock with his mouth, and did I mentioned he's rap?

Tony Bennett-He's 90 years young and probably still be swinging the big band pop and lite jazz till he's dead.  Like pop singers of that era, it wasn't cool to like Tony Bennett, but he is good at what he does.  I heard the duet with Lady Gaga from that album is fairly good. Two albums of note is the I Left My Heart In San Francisco and If I Ruled The World-The Jet Set Album, both from the 60s and anything with Ralph Sheldon Trio is worth hearing, and the recently released album with Dave Brubeck is worth hearing as well.  Perhaps if I'm still around when I turn 70 I might be interested in what he has out there to listen to.  But like Frank and Dean, it's not the right time for me to indulge myself in his albums.  

Week In Review: Labor Day Music, Waterloo, BDW 45s

For the next week I'm off from work.  It's been a very long and tiring summer of trying to complete a project for a state that would yank the contract away from my place of employment and give it to another competitor but yet we can still clean up this fucking mess that they left us.  It didn't scan worth a shit on our scanners and those 8 different vendors didn't know how to make scanning test scores.   What this summer was to be a furlough off to play in bands didn't turn out as planned.  But then again it's been that way at my place of employment for 6 years now running, layoffs and more job cuts and less and less work to do.  One gets tired of hearing the usual bad news from our CEO, it's no longer about the worker who tries to get things done with subpar and outdated materials, scanners and printers.   What used to be a company that cared about their employees, was sold off by a conman to another company which has been taking away the things that make going to work tolerable.  The makings of being on the USS Titanic, but unlike the ship sinking in a few hours, our company has had a slow leak since 2010, but now that slow lead is up to our necks.  I doubt if there will be a blue cart with my name on it when my last day arrives.  Just like Tom and Jim who was with this company for 40 years and the only reward is a payoff and a good luck in your future endeavors.

It has been yet another year of death and disappointments, most recently Bruce Stanley, which is in the previous blog, and now the one of original folks who started up Zia Records passed on too Brian Faber.  It's been three years since my last Arizona trip, but Zia's was one of my favorite hang out places when I went to AZ or Vegas for that week away to get away from Chaos Central. Thirty years ago, when I lived in Chandler, Zia's was my second home.  Zia's continues to be the exception to the rule of record and CD stores going out of business.  The guess is that Zia's will be around to stay, too bad we can't say the same to Hastings which is now history.   But the reality remains that I'll won't make it back to Arizona anymore.   The hassles of flying, renting a car, motel etc is simply not cost effective and certainly with Hastings gone less stores to find cheap music.  This year will mark thirty years ago that I attempted to move out to Arizona to start a new life, only to succumb making meager wages in a right to work state and a Aunt's impatience that threw me out of the house to come back up here.  To the point that I have nothing to do with Aunt Sarge and even my brother, who she still tries to maintain some sort of family connection with the usual monthly blabbering, wants little to do with her.   Bruce passes on but yet Aunt Sarge continues to live on, with years of living under 110 degree Arizona sun has melted her brains into cheese wiz. http://www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2016/09/06/zia-records-owner-brian-faber-dies/89917626/

I haven't been much in a blogging mood, even less with Bruce now gone but as the way Bruce would want it, I continue to head into town to check out bands and partake on bargain hunts.  The big thing was Blitz Creek, a two day rock and metal fest at around Center Point to which most if not all rock and metal bands took part in.   The new boss wouldn't let us out early Friday Night, so I missed out on In The Attic playing at New Bo outdoors but managed to see 50 Shades Of Rock and Tiffany Z at J and A and chatted with her a bit.  With school starting up Tiffany will be hitting the books rather than the drums.  Regardless, I still love to watch her play drums and still remains one of the best drummers around, and I'll do my best to see her next time the band is in town.

Saturday, I went up to Waterloo to get away from it all for an afternoon of seeing what St. Vincent De Paul had for music but alas, there wasn't much for 45s, most were still the old scratched up stuff that's been there for months but I did find a three LPs, and a couple CDs for 3 dollars.  I doubt if anybody would ever buy Leapy Lee, George Hamilon, Dave Dudley, Chet Baker with Paul Desmond and The Gaslight Anthem in a single visit.  Another surprise was that Stuff Etc, somebody brought up a pristine collection of promo 45s of old R and B stuff.  Mostly big band, jazz but I had to hear Prez Pardo version of the Marilyn Monroe Mambo.  It certainly isn't rock and roll but one of those curios you had to hear just once.  Just like, um that George Hamilton By George! fiasco album.  Whoever kept those 45s, kept them in great shape, even sticking a zip lock bag over the original 45 sleeves.  And for 99 cents a piece they were worth a listen.  I managed to get a better copy of House Of Blue Lights from Chuck Miller than the one that I had.   But I'm not sure if anybody would be interested in these 45s for a future Singles Going Steady Blog, outside of Chuck Miller and The Platters' Only You, most are either pop big band or jazz.  They're certainly not rock and roll.  But I commend the owner for painstakingly keeping these 60 year old artifacts in good shape, so I think I'll keep the ziplock bags in tact.

There were some cheap CDs at the pawn shop in Waterloo I thought about getting but passed on that, likewise a bunch of 45s from the Goodwill Cedar Falls store; I'd love a copy of Daddy Cool from The Rays but the record seen better days and there a bunch more old big band classics from the likes of Gene Krupa and Perry Como, and a Hit Records attempt at the Lonely Bull and Telstar but I passed. Independence Goodwill had Radio Moscow first CD, and I wanted to revisit that CD.  I guess 8 years after the fact that it wasn't as memorable or good as my first review of it.  It's not bad for heavy trio blues hard rock in the style of Frank Marino leading Blue Cheer, but it's not an A minus that I originally gave it.  More like a straight B grade.  Independence is a small town but I tend to go there for supper rather than Waterloo's places of eatery.  The Pizza Ranch  really didn't have a good pizza selection so it was biscuits and gravy, and of course a porta potty would come in handy about 20 minutes later.  I drove back down 150 on the way to Waubeek to check out a local month jam session, which I stayed for 2 songs.  The guy had electric drums and I don't do well with electric drums.

Sunday was Ballgame with The Kernels and they were shut out 5-0, wasted an afternoon there, so I went down to Parlor City to catch up with Wooden Nickel Lottery's CD debut gig and while the intention was to stay for a short set then off to the jams, I ended up staying through all of the second set and managed to chat with Jess and Rich Toomsen.  Rich is a guitar slinging madman putting together some wild licks part Stevie Ray, part Joe Bonamassa and even Joe Satriani.  Delayne Stillman is almost perfect for the blues tinted songs that WNL does, as they promoted their new album Down The Line.  Rick Gallo sounds a lot like Vince Gill or Craig Fuller, he is the most elusive member of that band, I've never talked to him at great length like I have with Jess or Rich for that matter.  But he can also play guitar as well.   Jess told me that WNL doesn't have much coming up for gigs, mostly private parties and perhaps later addition back to Parlor City.  Basically a play it by ear since WNL doesn't do many covers,  Rick did cover I'm Not The Only One and Further Up The Road or The Thrill Is Gone.  But I'm sure Rich and band did do Nickels And Dimes on their third and final set.  By then, the Jams at Rumors and Cooters were winding down, Kick It subbing for Terry McDowell at Rumors and Julie Gordon and Lorie Parker in for Mike Williams at Cooters Acoustic Jam.  And I was out walking back to the car over the 16th Avenue Bridge where some bike riding woman not paying attention lost control of her bike as she fell over the sidewalk into the road. Thankfully she wasn't hurt.

Monday was Labor Day, so basically I picked up a couple things at Half Priced Books 20 percent off sale, passed on new drum gear at Guitar Center and was going to buy a few 45s at the opened Salvation Army store, only to find that both Convention 72 and Instant Replay 45s had a nasty crack in both so I passed on that.

In other words, life continues to go on.  I have a week off.  And the last thing I want to do is wonder about work.  I have things to do around the house, things to donate, things to throw away,  to try to clean house.  As you can tell, I'm still sitting in front of the computer, not getting anything done outside of writing up another blog of my adventures this weekend.

For now this will do.  Just another way to say I'm still around.  I'm always around.

PS:  Thanks to those who shared the Bruce Stanley Eulogy blog.  If there's any more pictures of Bruce playing guitar or drums for that matter, I try to post them and give credit for those who post them. To share and keep the memory of Bruce alive, is the intention.  Eventually we will all join Bruce in the great beyond in the near future. I'm honored to be a friend of his.

In the meantime Phyllis Schlafly, devout Conservative hag who mentioned that there'll be a woman president over my dead body might see that come true.  She passed away at age 92.  At the same time Anthony (Ann) Coulter bombed big time on the Roast Of Rob Lowe that she became target practice for the social media set this week.   And if you haven't turned  your TV on this week, you might want to wait till after November, the bullshit political ads are everywhere even in your mailbox as trees are being cut down for such propaganda nonsense from the hard working politicians putting up their signs all over this area, the only line of work that they have done all year.  Such backbreaking tasks of putting a sign in your yard, might have overworked them that they have to file workman's comp.  They are certainly not used to this kind of, or any other kind of work.  Just ask Chuck Grassley.

Cedar Rapids disposed of Wisconsin 3-1 to move on to the division finals against Clinton and will play them at home Saturday.  The Marion Indians have won more games this year than they have the previous two years, outlasting DeWitt Central in a 7-0 slugfest in the mud at Thomas Park Field, which has been inundated by rain the past couple days.  While it's too early to tell if Marion has changed their ways back to winning, they have looked fairly decent, even playing top notch defense, although DeWitt Central was pretty much bogged down in the mud all game.  Marion moves on to Dubuque to play Walert next Friday.

Record Reviews:

Chet Baker/Paul Desmond: Together-The Complete Studio Recordings (Epic 1992)

They really didn't record much together. in fact the three February 1977 songs would be the last before lung cancer claimed Desmond a few days later, but even in the end Desmond still could come up with a beautiful solo or two.  Strangely, those three tracks would wind up on A&M Horizon and not Epic, and history has shown but both Baker and Desmond recorded for Creed Taylor's CTI Records in the early 1970s.  It's nice to hear the interplay of both Baker and Desmond in a light jazz setting.  Two more tracks, You'd Be So Nice To Come Home Too and the 19 minute Concierto De Aranjuez come from guitarist Jim Hall's Concierto album of 1974.  Mostly, these tracks are more favorable to both Hall and Chet Baker, who throws in a cool version of How High Is The Moon.  I don't think this got issued in the US, lack of interest perhaps or licensing issues.  But for a jazz curio pairing of two of the more eccentrics of jazz  it's not bad gentle jazz.
Grade B+

The Wild Flowers-Tales Like These (Slash 1990)

I don't think the world was ready for a British version of Midnight Oil but this record was an improvement over Sometime Soon, although the alternative producer Matt Wallace didn't do them much favors either.  The call and response of Shakedown and the Cultish Hopes Crash Down are the two best, but ballads are not their specialty either.  Even with Wallace's polished recording, it still remains angry Brit rock, which isn't bad if you're not into happy love songs.  Some days I'm not into happy love songs either.
Grade B+

Singles Going Steady Medley: BDW Scrapings

Teen Age Goodnight-The Chordettes (Cadence 1299)  #45  1956
Lay Down Your Arms #16 1956

Back in the days of the 1950s radio stations tend to play the flip side from time to time.  The Chordettes famed for Mr. Sandman hitting number 1 in 1954 and Lollipop #2 1958, had the most chart placing 45s in 1956, mostly on the strength of the B side Lay Down Your Arms, a big band pop type of a song that was famous better in WW2.   I'll go with the echoey charm of Teen Age Goodnight which probably did close a few high school dances back in 1956.

There's A Grand Ole Opry Show Playing Somewhere-Red Johnson (Capitol 5318)  1964

Written after the tragic plane crash that took the life of Patsy Cline, Cowboy Copas and Hawkshaw Hawkins this did managed to pop up on the country charts, but in reality there's not much use for this song anymore, unless you like those songs of country stars who left us before their time.  You can update it by adding the likes of Merle, Johnny and Keith Whitley.   Originally HEP 2933, Capitol picked up this single.  Red's only Capitol single, although he would return back to Hep for a few more singles before another one off for Dial Records.   Fun Fact: Johnson co wrote Taxi Driver for Dave Dudley.  B side Railroaded, is a bit more brighter than Grand Ole Opry and a bit more fun too.

He'll Have To Go-Jim Reeves (RCA Gold Standard 447-0574)  #2 1960
Am I Losing You #31  1960

Reeves recorded many many sides for RCA, even after his passing, they continue to issued the beyond the grave songs that still charted up till 1979 but He'll Have To Go will be his signature tune regardless.  The number 2 chart was for the pop, we all know it topped the country charts in 1960.  Perhaps the best representative single of the polished Nashville sound that Chet Atkins perfected in the early 60s for RCA.  With the Anita Kerr Singers adding those lush vocals.  Am I Losing You was another top ten country hit although it didn't chart as high as He'll Have To Go.

Come Softly To Me-The Fleetwoods (Liberty F55188)  #1  1959
Graduation's Here-The Fleetwoods (Dolton No.3)  #39

One of the best loved vocal groups of the early days of rock and roll, Come Softly To Me is vocal perfection, two girls harmonies over the guy's lead vocal.  Originally on Dolton Record No 1, Liberty decided to add it to their collection when it hit number 1.  The followup single Graduation's Here didn't fare as well, squeezing in at number 39, but next single Mr. Blue would return The Fleetwoods back to the top spot for the last time.  The songs were arranged by Bonnie Guitar who would go on to a decent country music career.

Corina Corina-Ray Peterson (Dunes 45-2002)  #9  1960

Had a number 7 hit with the tragic song Tell Laura I Love Her for RCA before moving over to Dunes for a three year fling and this Phil Spector arranged song did hit number 9.  I guess Ray was a teen idol of sorts, after Corina, Peterson  would have one more top 30 hit with Missing You and a top 70 single with The Wonder Of You, a one off for RCA.  Later made stops at MGM, Reprise and UNI with uncharted singles. B side Be My Girl is a 2 minute yawner.