Such as Hurricane Harvey and then Irma, which might have been the biggest hurricane we had on record or close to it. Nothing like a 400 mile wide hurricane playing havoc and rearranging the land scape, namely Kenny Chesney's home which got wiped out in the Virgin Islands. Even on Monday Tropical Storm Irma still covered all of South Carolina and Georgia and over half of Alabama. Harvey the week before, drowned Texas, with areas getting 50 inches plus of rain overall. Way too much for too many, although climate deniers will concur. The pill popping oxycondin fat fuck Rush Limbaugh was calling Irma a hoax before he pussied out and got out of the way of this hurricane. No word if Irma leveled his place, which I doubt. Foof 45's Mar A Logo might have been spared. Unlike Kenny Chesney's and others. Questions remain about climate change but for the past three years, the ocean waters have never been warmer and this year was record warmth on the oceans. Doesn't take much for things to form over 88 degree ocean temps. As the world has seen this summer.
Gene $immons$ is never short about making money off the faithful it seems. His latest money making venture is to put out a box set of music that he has done over the years and they will not be cheap. The Gene $immon$ Vault will have it's very own steel vault with the Cds and plenty of pictures, track by track notes and other notables starting at around 2500 and studio and home series are 25 and 50K. The most expensive box set series ever but I'm sure there will be people that pony up the bucks and make Gene some $. The only thing I care to hear would be the Van Halen demos when Gene used Eddie and Alex during Love Gun and the Simmons produced Van Halen demos for a rumored album before Warner Brothers threw more $$$ at Alex and Eddie and took them away. https://theseconddisc.com/2017/09/the-demon-unearthed-gene-simmons-plans-massive-box-set/
It was yet another tragic week as we lost a couple of country stars on Friday. Troy Gentry, of Montgomery Gentry fame lost his life in a helicopter crash in route to a show, he was 50.
Don Williams may have not been the best known country singer but in the 1970s to 1991, Don scored many many hits on country radio. He was part of the Poso Seco Singers that had a minor hit with I Can Make It With You Baby, plus Time but they were more MOR folk pop than rock. Williams left for a solo career starting with JMI with Jack Clement and then onward to ABC Dot where he had big hits with I Believe In You, Till The Rivers All Run Dry (which Pete Townsend recorded with Ronnie Lane) and Tulsa Time (later Eric Clapton covered that song), when MCA absorbed the ABC and various labels, Don managed to have hits with Listen To The Radio and It Must Be Love. Once the hits dried up Williams moved to Capitol and hit a minor hit with Another Place Another Tim, but his last productive years was with RCA. His second album True Love for that label is really a underrated that shows that Williams, laid back style done perfect on the songs that by now country music was moving way. He did managed to get a number 4 chart placement with the title track and Lord Have Mercy On A Country Boy which would be his final top ten showing at number 7. The next album Currents was a bit too mellow for my liking, but RCA/BMG had enough songs to do The Best Of Don Williams, The RCA years. He tend moved over to Winter Harvest and Giant before semi retiring but coming back in the 2010's with a couple of very good albums for Sugar Hill before he decided to retire last year. Years of smoking caught up to him and he passed from emphysema at age 78 on Friday.
YES was supposed to play Cedar Rapids here Tuesday Night but the unexpected death of Steve Howe's son Virgil forced YES to cancel the rest of the tour, Todd Rundgren was the opening act. No word on how Virgil passed on though.
Tori Amos has done the unthinkable and has released her anti classic 1988 album for Atlantic called Y Kant Tori Read via digital download. While that album suffered ridicule and bad reviews, it does warrant a curious listen and in a age of even more shittier music on the radio, sounds a lot better now than back then. She chose a producer that did Pat Benetar's Seven The Hard Way but for dance alternative rock, you have to hear it once before moving on to something else. http://www.popmatters.com/feature/tori-amos-finally-lets-her-80s-flag-unfurl-and-reissues-y-kant-tori-read-af/
(Photo David Purdy via Getty Images)
In the meantime, the Cy Hawk Series happened this Saturday and the Iowa Hawkeyes had to come from 10 points behind to tie and then been Iowa State in overtime 44-41. The Cyclones had the game won till a bad decision to throw a pass which was intercepted Parker Hasse which enabled the Hawkeyes to tie the game. Nevertheless, Akim Wadley had 240 all purpose yards, Nate Stanley rallied the team back, he's a bit wild at quarterback but has shown leadership if he doesn't overdo things. He did throw 5 touchdown passes. Iowa defense was very sloppy and not focused very well, the secondary gave up a couple long TD passes but did tighten up when it was needed. North Texas State is next and I'm sure even with the victory, Iowa hater Colin Cowpie will be skeptical and indifferent. As for Iowa State, they're improving but losing to Iowa in this fashion will either get them better prepared for the next game or continued to be shell shocked. We'll see.
(Half moon in Tempe. Half assed Sun Devils team on the field)
And then, there's Arizona State, who's continue to hold down the NCAA's worst defense ranking, dead last with a San Diego State victory over them Saturday Night. 30-20. When you have SDSU on a 2nd and goal from the 33 yard line only to mess up and the Aztecs get a field goal, you are bound to have a long season. Texas Tech can't wait to get their hands on them next weekend.
Last season the Cubs had a excellent run to the playoffs but this season has been anything but rosy. At times they looked like shit and once again Milwaukee came into Chicago and swept the Cubs in three games and pulling St Louis within one game. Funny how the Cubs can score 17 runs twice in one week and turn around and can only score 3 runs for the whole series. A 15-2 blowout also shows that the Cubs bullpen stinks with relievers giving up 11 runs in five innings. This is not championship baseball and while the Cubs remain confident in the papers about making a run, their actions on the field are not. And losing to divisional opponents doesn't help at all. Cubs have three weeks to do something about this. Or else once again, get lambasted as flash in the pans from their 2016 Championship year. Of note. Washington Nationals have clinched their division and Cleveland has won 18 games in a row, sweeping the clueless Baltimore Orioles. Who will be watching the playoffs on TV once again.
(Kip Scheetz frustrates the Kernels with his pitching Monday Night)
Here in the Midwest league it's Minor League playoffs and the Cedar Rapids Kernels and Quad Cities River Bandits are going to see who advances in the winner take all third game to play Fort Wayne or Dayton for the championship. Game 1, Quad Cities spotted a 4-0 Kernels lead to score 4 in the 7th helped by a Royce Lewis error and a Chuckie Robinson home run, Josh Rojas singled in the game winning run in the 10th. On Sunday, Cedar Rapids once again tore out in front to a 7-0 lead on home runs by Travis Blankenhorn and Shane Carrier hitting a 3 run home run. River Bandits came back with a four run sixth inning as Kernel relievers walked four Bandits and a wild pitch scored the first QC run, with two to follow. But Colton Davis, the 3rd Kernels pitcher of that inning got Abe Toro Hernandez to pop to end the inning and the bases loaded. Another Bandits run, ended with Shane Carrier managed to make a head diving catch to end the 7th and Quad Cities never threatened again. On Monday, Quad Cities scored 3 runs in the first inning off Kip Wells who walked three batters and then MVP of the divisional finals Josh Rojas unloaded a three run double and Quad Cities never looked back. Kip Scheels struck out 9 Kernels. The Bandits win 6-1 and go on to Fort Wayne for the Championship. Fort Wayne will host the first two games and then Quad Cities will host games 3 through 5 if necessary.
(Pinterest photo)
I haven't done dream date pictures for a while. Ratings haven't been all that great and I don't get much readership even with inflated Russian views and the usual Blogger garbage comments on outdated postings that offer more than than a eye roll. 40 years ago, Sally Field was eye candy and even at 70 years still remains attractive. A bit of teasing helps in this photo. She would still remains a dream date for me. Come to think of it, any woman at this point remains a dream date for me.
Record Reviews:
Neil Young-Hitchhiker (Reprise 2017)
It's good to know that Neil has been opening the vaults for vintage albums that never got released. This batch of recordings was done in a afternoon to which Young might have been a bit stoned to say the very least. I'm sure one day Chrome Dreams 1 will pop up soon, but while the consensus of the reviews have been ecstatic (David Crosby calls it the album that makes him want to sing with Neil and the songs that made him fell in love with Neil's Music) I tend to find it wanders around a bit even towards the end but at 33 minutes it's all easier to take with one listening. Campaigner, was boring for me even on Decade but I do find the Nixon reference funny to hear and Pocahontas is actually better here than on Rust Never Sleeps. Powder Finger still needs a full band behind Neil but for a run through it's actually quite good. I guess at this point after each so so new recording Young does (The Monsanto Years, good intentions but unfocused as hell, Spirit Trail likewise although I liked it much better) he makes it up by seeing what he has left to release to give to us and I guess it's all for the better. But even I rarely play the acoustic side of Rust Never Sleeps if at all the overlong digipak just makes storing Neil's albums even more cumbersome and annoying. For historic value, Hitchhiker fits in nicely. Musicwise, it's Neil as we come to know and love him.
Grade B+
Eddie Kirkland-The Complete Trix Recordings (32 Blues 1999)
The gypsy king of the blues, Eddie was famed for recording with John Lee Hooker in the 1949 sessions and then went off to a career that wasn't as well known as Hooker was but Kirkland kept going till a 2011 U turn car accident took his life at age 87. At that time he was gigging with Foghat (he played on Last Train Home for them). These two albums reissued through 32 Records were on Trix and Front And Center works a lot better, since Kirkland was recording it in the style that John Lee would do for his solo and alone albums. Unlike Hooker's Boogie Chillen, Kirrkland's version tends to not go anywhere, it goes on a bit too long. Detroit Rock Island is a pretty good instrumental and Have You Seen That Lonesome Train has a hypnotic riff. The next album The Devil And Other Blues Demons shows Kirkland going into a more R and B and soul direction which doesn't work very well. He goes for a James Brown funk style on Pity On Me and Mother In Law. The problem with journeyman blues artists is that they can be convincing on their own when they stick to blues, when they opt for soul and funk they tend to come up short (Johnny Copeland comes to mind as well). Even John Lee Hooker knew his limitations. That said, Front And Center is listenable, The Devil And Other Blues Demons, not so much. Even John Lee Hooker knew his limitations.
Grade C+
MXPX-The Ever Passing Moment (A&M 2001)
About 15 years ago (has it been that long already) the majors were looking for "the next big thing" to which in the late 90s and early 00's this Christian modern punk band had it's moments. And for that "ever-passing moment" MXPX damn near beat Green Day at their own game on this album. Unlike Green Day however, MXPX suffered from an overcaffinated drummer playing speed beats on half the songs on their albums and most of the songs sounded the same, Mike Herrera being Billy Joe Jr despite it all. MXPX was signed to Tooth And Nail, the Christian Punk label and scored a surprise hit with Chick Magnet from Life In General, to where the Green Day comparisons (Hitchin A Ride) come into play. Unlike Green Day, that band made better albums, MXPX needed a best of to show the world what they could or could not do. Originally Ever Passing Moment got a A minus from me back then. MXPX has never done a more catchy song like My Life Story which could fit in on a Green Day record if Mike Herrera stuck a few F bombs in. Fifteen years later it still a punk classic song. As time goes by and drummer's Yuri's speedbeats gets a bit tedious and tiresome the album has become dated along with the skate punks who have now moved on to steady jobs and families except for a select few that are over-tattooed and still probably tagging buildings and box cars in the dead of night. They didn't get Billie Joe Armstrong to help on this album but they did snagged Stephen Egberton (Descendents) and Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters) to help and Grohl does add bite to The Next Big Thing. Then Herrera falls back to the positive vibes of the Tooth And Nail years with It's Undeniable And Responsibility (What's that?), which are probably better than the throwaway tracks from Life In General and Going Slowly By The Way Of The Buffalo. It also helped that Jerry Finn (RIP) produced this album since he's the connection between Green Day and MXPX But for whatever reason (perhaps A&M wanted them to update their sound so on the next album they went for a Good Charlotte sound, and fell on their collective asses) The Ever Passing Moment proved to MXPX shining moment and sad to say their defined statement by the album title alone. They're still around thank goodness and those who care will come to hear them play Life In General 20 years later. Herrera has shied away from those Christian rumors of long ago and far away, he's become skeptical as the rest of us. Still, he's never really topped anything coming out of the gate like he did with My Life Story. I doubt if I'll ever take a listen at the other MXPX albums but if I want to revisit my inner punk of the my early 40s, The Ever Passing Moment still works fine.
Grade B+
The Angels Greatest Hits (Liberation 2011)
In reality, I thought The Angels at times could rival AC/DC in riff flavored rock and roll but what separates them from the other band was Doc Neeson's cryptic and Dylanesque lyrical content and a howling vocal to boot. There has not been any shortage of Angels best ofs out there, Mushroom threw out a bloated two cd set of hits and rarities, but stopped short of their Albert Productions (Epic in the US) best known stuff. The Epic US version of Face To Face remains the best of the early years although The Alberts Angels Greatest did add a few more rockers to the equation (Who Rings The Bell and I Ain't The One), I guess in the end AC DC won out due to being more accessible and loved by Corporate Classic Rock Radio. I found this for 2 dollars new at Stuff Etc. and being the number one Angels fan in the state that I am, picked it up. It's six seconds short of 80 minutes on the CD but this album, like the Mushroom import, goes with live versions of Marseilles and Take A Long Line, the latter goes for a bloated and Spinal Tapish guitar lick and and endless ending that annoys rather than amuses. But Neeson throws a defined howl and scream to I Ain't The One and getting the fans to sing the reply back to Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again is the stuff of legends made of. While the Face To Face stuff is live instead of studio, we do get a couple tracks off the 1980 Dark Room for good measure (No Secrets and Face The Day, the latter would have fit at on home on classic rock radio if Corporate Radio wasn't so hung on AC DC) and Dogs Are Talking, from 1989's Beyond Salvation, an album that the US label they were signed to was so skitterish they forced the band to re record their Face To Face lesser known hits to a more pounding mix. I gather the two best songs off Howling are here, a cover of We Gotta Get Out Of This Place and Don't Waste My Time, however nothing is from Two Minute Warning to which this gets taken down a half grade. Not the best place to start for an overview of the Angels, as long as Epic keeps Face To Face in print, that's the one to get for the early years. This one is a so so review of the later years although it stops at 1989 and Dogs Are Talking.
Grade B
Rory Gallagher-Irish Tour (Eagle Reissue 2011)
Rory has been a subject of note during the past few years. I've been putting the pieces of the puzzle that is his catalog into place by finding his albums. Another cut out found at my second home Half Priced Books is his 1974 tour in (where else?) Dublin and Cork. Rory has always embraced the blues quite well and for rock, turned the standard riffs into his originals. Such as the Bo Diddley riff of Cradle Rock, and turns I'm A King Bee into Too Much Alcohol. While Rory's studio albums have been good to great, hearing him live the songs become something much more right up to Walk On Hot Coals and Who's That Coming to which the end the Irish crowd, really into it, chants Rory into the night. Like Phil Lynott, Rory's star has continued to shown much brighter after his passing and his albums are ripe for discovering if you're sick of classic rock radio and looking for something outside the usual guitar heads. Irish Tour is a nice way to start out.
Grade A-
Music From My Youth: The Grateful Dead-Live/Dead (Warner Bros./Rhino 1969)
This is where The Dead begin to hone in on their live performances and while Robert Christgau gives it a A plus, I can't do that. I love Turn On Your Love Light for about 10 minutes and then it becomes an exercise in tolerance as Pigpen keeps it going. Death Has No Mercy is a spooky 10 minute bluesathon before the 8 minute Feedback excursion which predates and beats Lou Reed at Metal Machine Music, you had to be there to witness this. And....then there's Dark Star, a 23 and half minute of improvised music interplay between Jerry Garcia and band. There's days I love this song, other not so much and like Ornette Coleman's Free Jazz or Terry Riley In C, I have to be in the mood to listen to it. Usually driving in the car going to work works great for me. Not to be taken away of course, that Turn On Your Love Light really rocks in the first 10 minutes, right at the call and response of Pigpen and Jerry, Phil and Bob answering back. The highlight is not Dark Star but side 2 with St. Stephen and The Eleven, both songs would become Dead staples and revisited time and time again. I am not the biggest Dead head fan, and probably not the top 1,000 fan either but I do enjoy listening to them from time to time. Live/Dead was that album to which turned the Dead into a must see live band, they were the pioneering jam band at that time. I tend to favor other live albums for definite dead (1971's Grateful Dead S/T, the recent official release of the 1977 Cornell show) but Live Dead is the one that started the whole strange trip that it had been.
Grade A
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