The up and down season of Iowa Hawkeyes continue. After being manhandled by Purdue last week, The Hawks came into Lincoln pissed off and blew out the reeling Nebraska Cornhuskers 56-14 before a annoyed crowd. The Hawks did look lost for the first half and even the Popcorn Huskers led 14-7 before Iowa scored the next 49 points and promptly took back the Heroes trophy back to Iowa City for another year. It was a game of sorts before the half but after the half, Iowa went 42-0 which sealed the fate for Mike Riley to be canned the next day. First time since 1957 The Popcorn went 4-8 and there was no way that Riley was going to come back next season, especially with a new AD in tow and the one who hired Riley long gone. Riley simply wasn't the right choice although he was much better but slightly in Oregon State and even was the Chargers coach for a time.
It looked like Iowa two weeks in a row. Dropped passes, the not worth a fuck punter Colten Rasteter mishandling a punt and Nebraska recovery and later touchdown. Iowa needs a punter that knows what he's doing next season and Rasteter has been more of a help to the other team than Iowa. Otherwise this would have been a 56-7 blowout and Riley would have fired on the spot after the game. However, Iowa's defense finally tighten up and created havoc for Tanner Lee and Akim Wadley rushed for a couple TDs and back to back 1,000 yards rushing seasons. Noah Funt might have glass hands 50 percent of the time but when he did catch the ball, he made things happen, scoring 2 TDs, a surprising 10 TDs overall. Wadley had 3 TDs and 159 yard rushing on a nonexistent Popcorn defense. In fact they scored 6 rushing TDs for the game, not since Northwestern in 2001. The last two games Iowa's O line were Ole blockers, waving bye bye to passing linemen on the way to say hi to Nate Stanley. This time, especially in the second half, they made mincemeat out of the Corn D. And let's give credit to the D, who been criticized much of the year. Iowa led with 19 interceptions, four of them went for pick six TDs and Josh Jackson has taken over quite well for Desmond King. Iowa finishes the season 7-5 and will go to a second tier bowl game, and the next step is to win a bowl game, something that Iowa hasn't done since 2010 and the Insight Bowl. Winning means big bucks, and Kirk Ferenz can score 800,000 G's if he can win a game.
As for Nebraska, they are no longer the elite team, they lost that by moving over to the BIG 10 rather than staying in the Big 12 which rivalry games against Texas and Oklahoma were the stuff of legends. Since coming over to the big 10, they have now gone through 3 coaches and on the lookout for a new one. The rumors say Scott Frost might be the man to take over. The positive is that Frost was on the 1997 Nebraska team and does have a familiarly with Cornhuskers tradition and pride. The negative is that he'll be in rebuilding mode once again. He might be the last hope for the mighty corn to return to such lofty status. The new AD would like to see Nebraska and Iowa be the big rival game and keep playing on Black Friday, Wisconsin takes over for a couple games in 2020 and 2021. But since we have Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa State as big rivals, he will have to take a back seat to this. Iowa has won three straight from Nebraska in the Heroes Trophy series in Lincoln and taken three out of the last four. As for the poor Nebraska fan crying about being wiped off the field by Iowa the last two seasons, he should be reminded back in the 1980s, the Mighty Corn would do the same and more often than not. He may have not been around that 1915 52-7 blowout, nor the 57-0 shutout in 1980 at Memorial Stadium. For now, we'll enjoy the 56-14 whopping and thank his lucky stars that Colten Rastster was kind enough to give him 7 points to make the outcome a bit closer than it actually was.
Joesy Jewell won the Jack Lambert Award for best linebacker and Josh Jackson took the Jack Tatum Award for big 10 honors. Congrats and well done mates
Minnesota and Wisconsin plays for something called the Paul Bunyan Ax. For the past 14 seasons Minnesota have yet to see this axe in their trophy case. The Ax is taking up permanent residence in Madison as Wisconsin shuts out the Gophers 31-0. The Ax is becoming a myth just like Paul Bunyan is a story to Minnesota. As for Wisconsin, they are one of two undefeated teams still playing, the other is Central Florida. Alabama got derailed by Auburn. So basically it comes down to Wisconsin playing Ohio State for the Championship. Wisconsin finds themselves in the department that while they are undefeated, they had a soft football secedule (sic) that didn't find them playing Penn State nor Ohio State, to which the Colin Cowherd method of the Badgers being pretenders, they played number 24 Michigan and won. They did beat Northwestern and they manhandled Iowa two weeks ago, but as ESPN and NCAA folks want to know is what have you done lately. So they find themselves like Iowa was back in 2015, Iowa went undefeated but didn't play Ohio State nor Michigan that season and wound up losing to Michigan State and then blown out of the Rose Bowl by Stanford and Christian McCaffery. So Wisconsin needs to beat Ohio State regardless, since Iowa blew out Ohio State 55-24 two weeks ago, Ohio State has been playing pissed off football. It's not going to be easy but if Wisconsin don't win this and the bowl game, they'll be the Fake ID team of the NCAAs.
The worst officiated game goes to the Kansas State Refs who picked up three flags and lifted the Wildcats to a 20-19 victory over Iowa State on the final play. I don't think I ever seen a game that the officials would overturn on three calls on the home team and disregarded late hits on the ISU QB, and PIs on Allan Lazard to which I have to agree with him, Pass interference. Nothing against Bill Snyder but he had the refs on his and Kansas State side all game. Big 12 Refs are the worst, even more than the Pac 12 if you can believe it. The Cyclones had 9 calls against them, KSU four. Nevertheless, Iowa State will be going to their first bowl game since 2012. Hopefully they will get better refs than Reggie Smith, who should just stick to his regular job at Popeye's or KFC.
Even though Todd Graham has been 7-5 this season and Arizona State improved a lot from last year's disaster, he thinks he will be let go by ASU after this season. Which is a shame, Arizona State reclaimed the Governor's Cup by outlasting Arizona 42-30 in Tempe on Saturday.
(there goes Manny)
Demario Richard ran for 165 yards and two touchdowns and Manny Wilkins threw for three scores. It might have been different had Shau Brown scored on a 74 yard punt return and not had that called back due to a block in the back., which would have given Arizona the lead. Despite Brandon Dawkins 50 yard TD run, ASU put it away on a Wilkins to N'Keal Henry TD Pass. At least Graham went out a winner and won four of the six cup games with Arizona, AD Ray Anderson fired him on Sunday. The reason was perhaps a revolving door of other coaches, to which one is has now turned Memphis State around and the other is Auburn's Offense coach who played a role in Auburn beating Alabama in the Iron Bowl. Although last season would have been better to let Todd go, ASU overachieved and managed to beat Oregon, Utah and Washington along with Arizona to go 7-5 and make it to a bowl game. Still Todd Graham will get a nice hefty buyout (12 million perhaps?) and get to take a year or two off if he desires. After six season ASU starts over again and the big stink is Kevin Sumlin will be the next coach down the line, a big step down considering how awful Texas A and M has been all season.
(Chargers Photo Credit-Having fun in Dallas after Desmond King's Pick Six)
In the NFL, The Los Angeles Chargers have been making rumbles of late to get to the playoffs. They blew out Buffalo 54-24 and then on Thanksgiving Day went to Jerry's house and beat up the Dallas Cowboys 28-6. Phillip Rivers throwing for 434 yards and 3 touchdowns, one of his best games as a Charger. Keenan Allen 172 pass receiving yards and a TD. However, the Iowa connection was Desmond King, grabbing a interception and running it back 90 yards for a pick six TD. In April Desmond predicted his first interception would be a pick six TD. The Chargers won without a kicker, Nick Novak aggravated his back during a missed FG and the LA Chargers did all right without him. Drew Kaser, the punter had to perform the extra point. He went 1 for 3. Chargers are in Cleveland this Sunday.
Passings: Mitch Margo, singer of The Tokens (The Lion Sleeps Tonight) and Cross Country (In The Midnight Hour) passed away in his sleep during Thanksgiving week. He was 70.
Jon Hendricks-jazz singer that started the Vocalese trend for the likes of the Manhattan Transfer and Al Jerreau and was part of Lambert, Hendricks and Ross jazz trio died on Wednesday. He was 96. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/22/obituaries/jon-hendricks-96-who-brought-a-new-dimension-to-jazz-singing-dies.html
Jim Nabors, the beloved Gomer Pyle of Mayberry and elsewhere an entertainer with a baritone voice that sold a few albums for Columbia in the 60s and 70s, passed away in Hawaii after a long illness. He was 87.
George Avakian, A & R and jazz producer for Columbia Records in the 1950s and produced the likes of Louis Armstrong, Dave Brubeck and Jimmy Rushing to name a few. He then later went over to Warner Brothers and signed The Everly Brothers and had a hand in The Button Down Mind Of Bob Newhart being a smash hit. He later moved to RCA and had a hand in records by Sonny Rollins and Paul Desmond. Avakian was instrumental in introducing the long playing album and reissuing some of the early jazz albums of the 40s and 50s as well. He died of natural causes at age 98 on Wednesday. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/22/obituaries/george-avakian-dead-record-producer-and-talent-scout.html
I tend to be selective when it comes to eye candy of the month or whenever I feel like blogging. But I always enjoyed the models that are voluptuous. Maxey Greene is one of these beautiful models that has managed to look pretty in what she wears. For eye candy, I think she has the prettiest eyes I've ever seen.
Davenport-The Salvation Army Junk Shop had no 45s to speak of, but however the Salvation Army store up the road had a couple of CDs of note, notably Neil Young's 1991 answer to Metal Machine Music, Arc, that goes on for 31 minutes and is more boring than exciting. Say what you want with Lou Reed's MMM, at least there some sort of arrangement there. Here, we hear Neil tease everybody with a chorus from Like A Hurricane and then start saying I wanna about five times and repeats this nonsense a few times more. With avant garde albums such as Trout Mask Republa or Free Jazz, at least there's some sort of melody and content, on Arc, all it is, is nothing more than patched up endings that go on forever and Crazy Horse the band has no clue on how to lively up things. I remember the album Weld, had good songs but the endings went on forever. Young did this on last year's Earth album with the 32 minute Love And Only Love to which he added 18 minutes of Arc noise nonsense. Even on the way home listening to this, it damn near put me to sleep. This was strictly a bargain hunt since I was out and about taking pictures of a beautiful sunset and didn't have time to frequent Ragged Records or The Source Bookstore since they close at 5. CO OP was open till 9 so I went there and found a Nitty Gritty Dirt Band Best of that had Fishing In The Dark on it. Where Sam Goody used to be in North Park Mall is a used media place that had plenty of games, DVDs and a crappy selection of CDs but I found a couple of 45s for 50 cents. The Moline Goodwill had a few 45s that I picked up. The usual hit and miss of stuff found. A new change of ownership at the Dynasty Buffet and the food wasn't that great and the service wasn't much better. Plus I ended up losing 9 dollars in 15 minutes at Rhythm City Casino, a far cry from the 255 dollars that I won a year ago. If nothing else, the sunset along the Mississippi River was worth the price of admission.
Singles Going Steady Medley-Davenport Finds
I Am A Pilgrim-Tennessee Ernie Ford (Capitol F3135) 1955
This little gospel number has been recorded by the Byrds for Sweetheart Of The Rodeo years later but it shows Ernie was good at playing straight rockabilly country or straight gospel, though this arrangement wouldn't sound out of place on Ray Charles' country attempts of the early 60s. B side His Hands written by Stuart Hamblin (It's Ain't No Secret) shows more of the gospel pop Ford would do more of, to which ample copies of his albums are can be found in thrift stores all across America. Gotta love his baritone although the song is a bit too syrupy for these ears. Thank you Billy May.
Thank You Girl-Street People (Musicor MU-1401) #96 1970
Second single from this band featuring Rupert Holmes (Mr. Pina Colada man). Has that bubble gum sound that we all made fun of back then. A dash of Tommy James here, a pinch of Five Americans there, but the lyrics are bubblegum silly. For some reason it makes me just want to sing the Coca Cola Song (it's the real thing).
I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself-Dionne Warwick (Scepter SCE-12167) #26 1966
Dionne with Burt Bacharach and Hal David had some fine silky soul classics and this one got covered by Elvis Costello years later. You seldom hear this on oldies station anymore. One of a 5 for a 1.88 finds at the Moline Goodwill. Worth saving for I guess. B Side In Between Heartaches is so so.
My Side Of Town-Dennis Robbins (Giant 7-18786) #59 Country 1992
Dennis was once part of The Rockets but then moved into a country solo career that peaked in the early 1990s and was part of Billy Hill as well. A bit of MOR country rock that got some jukebox airplay. Not much on the Corporate Radio side of things though. Co produced by Richard Landis who dismembered Poco a few years ago.
Just Call Me Lonesome-Radney Foster (Arista 12448-7) #10 Country 1992
Part of Foster and Lloyd duo that broke up, Foster went into a nice country career with this top ten honky tonk rocker. Somewhat in Dwight Yoakam territory.
Bethlehem Steel-Misty Morgan and Jack Blanchard (Wayside WS-1024) 1968
Misty and Jack was a husband and wife duo that scored a hit with Tennessee Bird Walk and Humphrey The Camel but it's odd to note while country radio played this in the late 60s it didn't chart at all. Probably too dark for radio anyway but I tend to love those dark songs as you can tell.
Boogie Down-Eddie Kendricks (Tamla T 54243F) #2 1974
Eddie had a one two punch of Keep On Truckin (#1 1973) and this number 2 followup of Motown funk goodness. They didn't make them like that anymore, and things would tilt more toward disco. Son Of Sagittarius went number 28 but I've never heard that one, nor the number 18 Shoeshine Boy. After 1976, Kendricks never hit the pop top 30 again. Reunited with the Temptations in 1983 and then joined forces with David Ruffin for a RCA album that was uneven.
Loving Arms-Dobie Gray (MCA 40100) #61 1973
I'm surprised that this only made up to number 61 on the national charts although KCRG had it in their Super 30 in 1973. Produced by Mentor Williams who wrote Drift Away. Later MCA singles didn't chart as well and a stint with Capricorn came up empty.
Loving All Night-Rodney Crowell (Columbia 38-74290) #10 Country 1992
Coming toward the end of his top ten country hits winning streak, this peak at number 10. Along the lines of Marty Stuart rockabilly country rock, I'm amazed on how good these songs were actually were compared to the grunge rock going on.
Anyway The Wind Blows-Southern Pacific (Warner Brothers 7-22965) 1989 #4 Country
A minor league supergroup of sorts, Southern Pacific had former Doobie Brothers Keith Kundsen and John McFee hooking up with Tim Goodman and former Elvis bass player Jerry Schieff and keyboardist Glen Hardin, but the lineup has been unstable and Schieff and Hardin went back to session work and Goodman went solo and got nowhere, which lead to them employing David Jenkins, former Pablo Cruise vocalist and CCR bass player Stu Cook and newbie Kurt Howell, Jenkins left and McFee took over the vocals. Anyway The Wind Blows was good enough to be included on soft rock stations in 1989 but it failed to dent the top 100. This actually got me to buy S.P. Greatest Hits and then found Zuma and County Line in the cutouts and both albums are fairly good, the first two I never bothered getting. Southern Pacific called it a day in 1991, McFee and Kundsen returned to the reformed Doobie Brothers, to which McFee is still a part of the band, Kundsen died in 2005. Cook returned back to Creedence Clearwater Revisited and Howell went solo and then formed Burning Daylight that made on forgettable album for Curb. I still have fond memories of Southern Pacific. B side Reno Bound made number 9 in 1986 and like the A side made it to the Pink Cadillac Soundtrack that featured Clint Eastwood. I always thought that movie was a bit cheesy.
Album Review: Rare Earth-The 70s Live (Sony Music 2015)
Randy "Bird" Burgenoff is the bass player and manager of Rare Earth, which is now led by Gil Bridges, the sole remaining link to the Motown past, Bird got there a bit later. Of course Pete Rivera remains the voice of Rare Earth and he is usually found at oldies package shows and rock cruises in the wintertime. Randy on the other hand has now moved to Iowa City and as been seen at various jams, namely Rumors and he's mostly on guitar rather than bass. I have yet to hear him play any Rare Earth songs at these jams. A couple years ago Sony Music came out with live albums from these bands, who's time has gone past and per usual, Sony gives no indication of where the album was recorded at or who plays, you have to hear the introduction to the band on Get Ready, which is only 15 minutes long and not 23 at it was on the In Concert or 21 minutes on the Get Ready album. For a cash in album, it's competent but not memorable, in fact, the drummer can't seem to keep the time on Born To Wander to which he slows the beat down to almost a crawl and outside of the Nashville Teens, I have no use for Tobacco Road, either by Rare Earth or Edgar Winter. There are some good moments, this version of Get Ready does boogie quite well before the obligatory drum solo. Papa Was A Rolling Stone which somehow plays true to the Temptations version. But, the organ player is annoying on Hey Big Brother, and the long drawn out endings to I Know I'm Losing You or Born To Wander are pointless, just end the song already. The guesswork is that this album was recorded at a casino on a week night when there wasn't too many playing the slots. Randy can play the bass and does a nice workout on I Know I Losing You. But I think I heard better jammers playing these songs at Rumors on a Sunday then on this album it seems.
Grade C
Neil Young-Arc (Reprise 1991)
See above mini review in the Davenport Bargain Hunts paragraph. Pointless noodling and countless teasing the folks with Like A Hurricane. But Crazy Horse can't improvise very well either. Metal Music Machine was more interesting.
Grade D+
Joesy Jewell won the Jack Lambert Award for best linebacker and Josh Jackson took the Jack Tatum Award for big 10 honors. Congrats and well done mates
Minnesota and Wisconsin plays for something called the Paul Bunyan Ax. For the past 14 seasons Minnesota have yet to see this axe in their trophy case. The Ax is taking up permanent residence in Madison as Wisconsin shuts out the Gophers 31-0. The Ax is becoming a myth just like Paul Bunyan is a story to Minnesota. As for Wisconsin, they are one of two undefeated teams still playing, the other is Central Florida. Alabama got derailed by Auburn. So basically it comes down to Wisconsin playing Ohio State for the Championship. Wisconsin finds themselves in the department that while they are undefeated, they had a soft football secedule (sic) that didn't find them playing Penn State nor Ohio State, to which the Colin Cowherd method of the Badgers being pretenders, they played number 24 Michigan and won. They did beat Northwestern and they manhandled Iowa two weeks ago, but as ESPN and NCAA folks want to know is what have you done lately. So they find themselves like Iowa was back in 2015, Iowa went undefeated but didn't play Ohio State nor Michigan that season and wound up losing to Michigan State and then blown out of the Rose Bowl by Stanford and Christian McCaffery. So Wisconsin needs to beat Ohio State regardless, since Iowa blew out Ohio State 55-24 two weeks ago, Ohio State has been playing pissed off football. It's not going to be easy but if Wisconsin don't win this and the bowl game, they'll be the Fake ID team of the NCAAs.
The worst officiated game goes to the Kansas State Refs who picked up three flags and lifted the Wildcats to a 20-19 victory over Iowa State on the final play. I don't think I ever seen a game that the officials would overturn on three calls on the home team and disregarded late hits on the ISU QB, and PIs on Allan Lazard to which I have to agree with him, Pass interference. Nothing against Bill Snyder but he had the refs on his and Kansas State side all game. Big 12 Refs are the worst, even more than the Pac 12 if you can believe it. The Cyclones had 9 calls against them, KSU four. Nevertheless, Iowa State will be going to their first bowl game since 2012. Hopefully they will get better refs than Reggie Smith, who should just stick to his regular job at Popeye's or KFC.
Even though Todd Graham has been 7-5 this season and Arizona State improved a lot from last year's disaster, he thinks he will be let go by ASU after this season. Which is a shame, Arizona State reclaimed the Governor's Cup by outlasting Arizona 42-30 in Tempe on Saturday.
(there goes Manny)
Demario Richard ran for 165 yards and two touchdowns and Manny Wilkins threw for three scores. It might have been different had Shau Brown scored on a 74 yard punt return and not had that called back due to a block in the back., which would have given Arizona the lead. Despite Brandon Dawkins 50 yard TD run, ASU put it away on a Wilkins to N'Keal Henry TD Pass. At least Graham went out a winner and won four of the six cup games with Arizona, AD Ray Anderson fired him on Sunday. The reason was perhaps a revolving door of other coaches, to which one is has now turned Memphis State around and the other is Auburn's Offense coach who played a role in Auburn beating Alabama in the Iron Bowl. Although last season would have been better to let Todd go, ASU overachieved and managed to beat Oregon, Utah and Washington along with Arizona to go 7-5 and make it to a bowl game. Still Todd Graham will get a nice hefty buyout (12 million perhaps?) and get to take a year or two off if he desires. After six season ASU starts over again and the big stink is Kevin Sumlin will be the next coach down the line, a big step down considering how awful Texas A and M has been all season.
(Chargers Photo Credit-Having fun in Dallas after Desmond King's Pick Six)
In the NFL, The Los Angeles Chargers have been making rumbles of late to get to the playoffs. They blew out Buffalo 54-24 and then on Thanksgiving Day went to Jerry's house and beat up the Dallas Cowboys 28-6. Phillip Rivers throwing for 434 yards and 3 touchdowns, one of his best games as a Charger. Keenan Allen 172 pass receiving yards and a TD. However, the Iowa connection was Desmond King, grabbing a interception and running it back 90 yards for a pick six TD. In April Desmond predicted his first interception would be a pick six TD. The Chargers won without a kicker, Nick Novak aggravated his back during a missed FG and the LA Chargers did all right without him. Drew Kaser, the punter had to perform the extra point. He went 1 for 3. Chargers are in Cleveland this Sunday.
Passings: Mitch Margo, singer of The Tokens (The Lion Sleeps Tonight) and Cross Country (In The Midnight Hour) passed away in his sleep during Thanksgiving week. He was 70.
Jon Hendricks-jazz singer that started the Vocalese trend for the likes of the Manhattan Transfer and Al Jerreau and was part of Lambert, Hendricks and Ross jazz trio died on Wednesday. He was 96. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/22/obituaries/jon-hendricks-96-who-brought-a-new-dimension-to-jazz-singing-dies.html
Jim Nabors, the beloved Gomer Pyle of Mayberry and elsewhere an entertainer with a baritone voice that sold a few albums for Columbia in the 60s and 70s, passed away in Hawaii after a long illness. He was 87.
George Avakian, A & R and jazz producer for Columbia Records in the 1950s and produced the likes of Louis Armstrong, Dave Brubeck and Jimmy Rushing to name a few. He then later went over to Warner Brothers and signed The Everly Brothers and had a hand in The Button Down Mind Of Bob Newhart being a smash hit. He later moved to RCA and had a hand in records by Sonny Rollins and Paul Desmond. Avakian was instrumental in introducing the long playing album and reissuing some of the early jazz albums of the 40s and 50s as well. He died of natural causes at age 98 on Wednesday. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/22/obituaries/george-avakian-dead-record-producer-and-talent-scout.html
I tend to be selective when it comes to eye candy of the month or whenever I feel like blogging. But I always enjoyed the models that are voluptuous. Maxey Greene is one of these beautiful models that has managed to look pretty in what she wears. For eye candy, I think she has the prettiest eyes I've ever seen.
Davenport-The Salvation Army Junk Shop had no 45s to speak of, but however the Salvation Army store up the road had a couple of CDs of note, notably Neil Young's 1991 answer to Metal Machine Music, Arc, that goes on for 31 minutes and is more boring than exciting. Say what you want with Lou Reed's MMM, at least there some sort of arrangement there. Here, we hear Neil tease everybody with a chorus from Like A Hurricane and then start saying I wanna about five times and repeats this nonsense a few times more. With avant garde albums such as Trout Mask Republa or Free Jazz, at least there's some sort of melody and content, on Arc, all it is, is nothing more than patched up endings that go on forever and Crazy Horse the band has no clue on how to lively up things. I remember the album Weld, had good songs but the endings went on forever. Young did this on last year's Earth album with the 32 minute Love And Only Love to which he added 18 minutes of Arc noise nonsense. Even on the way home listening to this, it damn near put me to sleep. This was strictly a bargain hunt since I was out and about taking pictures of a beautiful sunset and didn't have time to frequent Ragged Records or The Source Bookstore since they close at 5. CO OP was open till 9 so I went there and found a Nitty Gritty Dirt Band Best of that had Fishing In The Dark on it. Where Sam Goody used to be in North Park Mall is a used media place that had plenty of games, DVDs and a crappy selection of CDs but I found a couple of 45s for 50 cents. The Moline Goodwill had a few 45s that I picked up. The usual hit and miss of stuff found. A new change of ownership at the Dynasty Buffet and the food wasn't that great and the service wasn't much better. Plus I ended up losing 9 dollars in 15 minutes at Rhythm City Casino, a far cry from the 255 dollars that I won a year ago. If nothing else, the sunset along the Mississippi River was worth the price of admission.
Singles Going Steady Medley-Davenport Finds
I Am A Pilgrim-Tennessee Ernie Ford (Capitol F3135) 1955
This little gospel number has been recorded by the Byrds for Sweetheart Of The Rodeo years later but it shows Ernie was good at playing straight rockabilly country or straight gospel, though this arrangement wouldn't sound out of place on Ray Charles' country attempts of the early 60s. B side His Hands written by Stuart Hamblin (It's Ain't No Secret) shows more of the gospel pop Ford would do more of, to which ample copies of his albums are can be found in thrift stores all across America. Gotta love his baritone although the song is a bit too syrupy for these ears. Thank you Billy May.
Thank You Girl-Street People (Musicor MU-1401) #96 1970
Second single from this band featuring Rupert Holmes (Mr. Pina Colada man). Has that bubble gum sound that we all made fun of back then. A dash of Tommy James here, a pinch of Five Americans there, but the lyrics are bubblegum silly. For some reason it makes me just want to sing the Coca Cola Song (it's the real thing).
I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself-Dionne Warwick (Scepter SCE-12167) #26 1966
Dionne with Burt Bacharach and Hal David had some fine silky soul classics and this one got covered by Elvis Costello years later. You seldom hear this on oldies station anymore. One of a 5 for a 1.88 finds at the Moline Goodwill. Worth saving for I guess. B Side In Between Heartaches is so so.
My Side Of Town-Dennis Robbins (Giant 7-18786) #59 Country 1992
Dennis was once part of The Rockets but then moved into a country solo career that peaked in the early 1990s and was part of Billy Hill as well. A bit of MOR country rock that got some jukebox airplay. Not much on the Corporate Radio side of things though. Co produced by Richard Landis who dismembered Poco a few years ago.
Just Call Me Lonesome-Radney Foster (Arista 12448-7) #10 Country 1992
Part of Foster and Lloyd duo that broke up, Foster went into a nice country career with this top ten honky tonk rocker. Somewhat in Dwight Yoakam territory.
Bethlehem Steel-Misty Morgan and Jack Blanchard (Wayside WS-1024) 1968
Misty and Jack was a husband and wife duo that scored a hit with Tennessee Bird Walk and Humphrey The Camel but it's odd to note while country radio played this in the late 60s it didn't chart at all. Probably too dark for radio anyway but I tend to love those dark songs as you can tell.
Boogie Down-Eddie Kendricks (Tamla T 54243F) #2 1974
Eddie had a one two punch of Keep On Truckin (#1 1973) and this number 2 followup of Motown funk goodness. They didn't make them like that anymore, and things would tilt more toward disco. Son Of Sagittarius went number 28 but I've never heard that one, nor the number 18 Shoeshine Boy. After 1976, Kendricks never hit the pop top 30 again. Reunited with the Temptations in 1983 and then joined forces with David Ruffin for a RCA album that was uneven.
Loving Arms-Dobie Gray (MCA 40100) #61 1973
I'm surprised that this only made up to number 61 on the national charts although KCRG had it in their Super 30 in 1973. Produced by Mentor Williams who wrote Drift Away. Later MCA singles didn't chart as well and a stint with Capricorn came up empty.
Loving All Night-Rodney Crowell (Columbia 38-74290) #10 Country 1992
Coming toward the end of his top ten country hits winning streak, this peak at number 10. Along the lines of Marty Stuart rockabilly country rock, I'm amazed on how good these songs were actually were compared to the grunge rock going on.
Anyway The Wind Blows-Southern Pacific (Warner Brothers 7-22965) 1989 #4 Country
A minor league supergroup of sorts, Southern Pacific had former Doobie Brothers Keith Kundsen and John McFee hooking up with Tim Goodman and former Elvis bass player Jerry Schieff and keyboardist Glen Hardin, but the lineup has been unstable and Schieff and Hardin went back to session work and Goodman went solo and got nowhere, which lead to them employing David Jenkins, former Pablo Cruise vocalist and CCR bass player Stu Cook and newbie Kurt Howell, Jenkins left and McFee took over the vocals. Anyway The Wind Blows was good enough to be included on soft rock stations in 1989 but it failed to dent the top 100. This actually got me to buy S.P. Greatest Hits and then found Zuma and County Line in the cutouts and both albums are fairly good, the first two I never bothered getting. Southern Pacific called it a day in 1991, McFee and Kundsen returned to the reformed Doobie Brothers, to which McFee is still a part of the band, Kundsen died in 2005. Cook returned back to Creedence Clearwater Revisited and Howell went solo and then formed Burning Daylight that made on forgettable album for Curb. I still have fond memories of Southern Pacific. B side Reno Bound made number 9 in 1986 and like the A side made it to the Pink Cadillac Soundtrack that featured Clint Eastwood. I always thought that movie was a bit cheesy.
Album Review: Rare Earth-The 70s Live (Sony Music 2015)
Randy "Bird" Burgenoff is the bass player and manager of Rare Earth, which is now led by Gil Bridges, the sole remaining link to the Motown past, Bird got there a bit later. Of course Pete Rivera remains the voice of Rare Earth and he is usually found at oldies package shows and rock cruises in the wintertime. Randy on the other hand has now moved to Iowa City and as been seen at various jams, namely Rumors and he's mostly on guitar rather than bass. I have yet to hear him play any Rare Earth songs at these jams. A couple years ago Sony Music came out with live albums from these bands, who's time has gone past and per usual, Sony gives no indication of where the album was recorded at or who plays, you have to hear the introduction to the band on Get Ready, which is only 15 minutes long and not 23 at it was on the In Concert or 21 minutes on the Get Ready album. For a cash in album, it's competent but not memorable, in fact, the drummer can't seem to keep the time on Born To Wander to which he slows the beat down to almost a crawl and outside of the Nashville Teens, I have no use for Tobacco Road, either by Rare Earth or Edgar Winter. There are some good moments, this version of Get Ready does boogie quite well before the obligatory drum solo. Papa Was A Rolling Stone which somehow plays true to the Temptations version. But, the organ player is annoying on Hey Big Brother, and the long drawn out endings to I Know I'm Losing You or Born To Wander are pointless, just end the song already. The guesswork is that this album was recorded at a casino on a week night when there wasn't too many playing the slots. Randy can play the bass and does a nice workout on I Know I Losing You. But I think I heard better jammers playing these songs at Rumors on a Sunday then on this album it seems.
Grade C
Neil Young-Arc (Reprise 1991)
See above mini review in the Davenport Bargain Hunts paragraph. Pointless noodling and countless teasing the folks with Like A Hurricane. But Crazy Horse can't improvise very well either. Metal Music Machine was more interesting.
Grade D+
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