Boo On You Bargains-Black And Fool's Gold

The Goodwill Outlet reminds me of the Pick n Save St Vinnies in Madison, tho this Goodwill throws everything into one tub and they wheel it out to the shoppers.  It reminds me of the Buzzards circling around a dead body, and then they all go all in.  I just looked at disbelief at some woman, picking up a handful of cds and throwing them in her shopping cart.  Basically, I just hang around and managed to find a couple John Wayne movie DVDs and the much needed Clueless S/T, Dumb And Dumber S/T and Elvis Number one's in great shape.  All for a dollar fifty. 

More finds from the buck bins

Elvis Costello Get Happy

Eddie Money Greatest Hits-The Sound Of Money

The Specials-Protest Songs 

Bobby Enriquez-Mad Piano

Louis Armstrong-Mack The Live (Live Newport 1957)

The Royal Guardsmen-Snoopy Vs The Red Baron/The Return Of Snoopy

45's

The Kind Of Boy You Can't Forget-The Raindrops (Jubilee 5455) #17 1963

Write Me A Letter-Bobby G Rice (GRT 014) 1974 #9 Country 

Add Some Music To Your Day-The Beach Boys (Reprise/Brother 0894) #64 1969

Breakin' Up Is Breakin' My Heart-Roy Orbison (MGM K-13446)  #31 1966

Somebody Changing My Sweet Baby's Mind-Little  Milton Campbell (Cadet 1231) #22 1970 R&B

I'm Just Waitin' (Anticipating for her to show up)-New Colony Six (Sentar ST-1207) #128 1967

The Rodeo Song-The Patriot Band  (Party Records 209) 1981

Gypsy Woman-Brian Hyland (Uni 55240) #2 1970

Race Among The Ruins-Gordon Lightfoot (Reprise RPS 1380)  #65 1976

Mumbles-Oscar Peterson Trio (Mercury 73242)  #101 1965

The Patriot Band's version of The Rodeo Song is the one that I remember more from the days of hanging at some hole in the wall bar, The PG side is the one with the car horn replacing the F bombs.  Gary Lee And Showdown did the original, but I liked the car horn version better.  After the number 2 success of Edmund Fitzgerald, Gordon's follow up Race Among The Ruins faired much much poorly on the chart. Little Milton's single was arranged by Donnie Hathaway and produced by Calvin Carter of of Jimmy Reed fame, but the b side is a cover of Savoy Brown's I'm Tired, which is why I bought this in the first place. I'm Tired follows the Savoy Brown version but adds more horns and blues guitar.  Taylor made for Little Milton.  Bobby G Rice had some meddling chart success on the country side, I can't remember who did the pop version but I do recall Rice's version of Write Me  A Letter. B side Sweet Satisfying Feeling was a early Earl Thomas Conley/Nelson Larkin comp to which both would figure greatly in the 1980s as performer and producer. Gypsy Woman pairs Hyland up with Del Shannon and scored a big hit.  You and Me (#2) is weird even for Brian's sake, but then again hanging with Del Shannon could bring out the dark in anybody it seems. The Kind Of Boy You Can't Forget is from Ellie Greenwich under the The Raindrops banner and one of the all time great girl group singles ever.  It's good to discover the Bubbling under website so that some of the singles that I found did chart.  Such as the New Colony Six's I'm Just Waiting, which foretells about the pop move that they would make when they went over to Mercury Records later in 67.  While Roy's Monument songs are pretty well known, his MGM sides seemed to be forgotten   Breakin' Up seems to be a update of Running Scared. I'm surprised Raul Malo never covered this one with the Mavericks.  B side Wait, could have been another bubbling under single.  A underrated single classic that will never be heard on corporate crock radio.  With the Beach Boys moving over to Reprise, their catchy single Add Some Music To Your Day stumbled only up to 64, but I don't recall hearing this on the radio. Mumbles features Clark Terry scatting away as on b side Incoherent Blues. Clark also plays a mean trumpet.

Most of the stuff was found in Dubuque at the Thrift stores, tho the new Specials is a new CD release. that and the 45's came from Moondog Music.  Little Miltons a side is a bit rough sounding but all 45's played well despite the age and wear and tear on sleeveless 45s.  For CDs, it was more off the wall stuff, tho I really don't think Eddie Money Greatest Hits was needed. The Bobby Enriquez Mad Piano is fun jazz piano.  At that time, Portrait Records was going more into a Jazz Fusion label, which didn't last but a year but there some classic releases from Leon Thomas Blues Band, Oregon and Stanley Clarke's If This Bass Could Only Talk as well as Ornette Coleman's Virgin Beauty (with Jerry Garcia helping out).  Mad Piano is just that,, Enriquez going to town on a wild Classical Gas and All Blues.  the late Bob Theile producing and Al Foster playing drums, Eddie Gomez on bass. Mack The Knife, is Louis Armstrong playing the Newport Jazz Festival on Independence Day 1957 and it's a tight but fun event. Armstong made sure that this band would play.  Louis was right, these cats could play. As much as I have a distain for Elvis Costello, I still enjoy his early years with Nick Lowe producing and while Get Happy got raked over the coals, it still holds its own.  The Royal Guardsmen I don't think are nothing more than novelty, their Snoopy vs The Red Baron stuff is childhood fun memories.  I had the second album (my brother ended up taking it as his own), they could throw in a bubblegum pop song (So Right To Be In Love, I Say Love, Airplane Song) but I'm not sure why Christmas radio never plays Snoopy's Christmas or It Looks A Lot Like Christmas.  The great Phil Gernhard (Lobo, Bellamy Brothers) produced their two albums.  One Way originally called this a Anthology album, when Collectiables reissued it, they reworked it back to the two Laurie albums issued, Snoopy Vs The Red Baron/Snoopy And His Friends, to which Charles Schwartz, drew the cover art.  Which accounts for something. 

Goodwill CR 45's

Slipped, Tripped And Fell In Love-Clarence Carter (Atlantic 2818)  #84 1971

My Balloon's Going Up-Archie Bell And The Drells (Atlantic 2663)  #87 1969

Grits Ain't Groceries-Little Milton (Checker 1212) #73 1969

Baby Won't You Come Out Tonight-Tim Davis (Metromedia 0104)  1972

I'm been seeing a lot more soul singles, but also seeing a lot of soul singles that have their grooves worn off.  Tim Davis was the drummer for Steve Miller but went off and recorded a couple albums for Metro Media and Glyn Johns co produced this forgotten 45. Tho Miller doesn't play on this, this has sound of the Steve Miller Band having a influence.  Little Milton's Grits did much better on the R and B chart. and Clarence Carter was still delivering some straight forward soul singles that didn't do much on the pop charts, but Foghat covered this song in 1982 and got nothing to show for it on the charts. Clarence Carter really was one of the lost Atlantic soul singers, putting out another fine soul classic.  My Balloon's Going Up is another lackluster dance single and not one of the better Gamble-Huff production for Archie Bell n Company.  B Side Giving Up Dancing was much better.  The conditions of the records varied.  Milton's Checker single looked the worst but played the best. A major scratch on Balloon's Going Up but Giving Up Dancing sounded better.  There were a few more singles that I didn't pick up, the Wilson Pickett singles were trashed and Take It Off Him And Put It On Me looked beat but I'm sure it would play just as well as Slipped.

Just three weeks ago, Iowa was second in the nation and defeated Penn State and blew out Maryland.  And had the road to the Big Ten Championship all to themselves.  All they had to do was keep winning.  And then Purdue took a number 2 on Iowa and two weeks later, The Iowa Hawkeyes dropped off the Heartland Trophy in Madison as the Badgers whopped the Hawks and the no show offense 27-7, and it would have been much worse if Iowa's defense didn't play.  Brian Ferenez, the coach's son sucks as offense co-ordinater. Spencer Petras had no answer and neither did Alex Padilla as The Badgers tore through the line for six sacks.   Dreams of a national championship went out the door two weeks ago,  you can forget the big ten championship game as well.  Iowa went from contender to pretender in three weeks.   We can say the same for Michigan which Michigan State beat them 37-33 in East Lansing.  Hawks are now number 19 and fading fast.

Probably not so much as Arizona State who once again floundered and got blown to bits at home by Washington State who lost their coach due to his refusal to get vaccinated.   Like Iowa, ASU could have been in charge of their destiny for a good bowl bid, but that has gone out the door.  I wouldn't be surprised if Arizona came up and upset them later in November.  Herman Edwards is supposed to be the one that gave this team discipline....yeah right.  The Plastic forks looked like absolute shit  as WSU had a 28-7 lead at halftime.  By the time ASU got their act together, it was all over.  At least they won the forth quarter 14-6.  Too fucking bad they couldn't play the first three quarters.   Look for Edwards to be gone if he can't right The Plastic Forks.  Unlike Kirk Ferenenz.  

Also Iowa State lost to West Virginia and got knocked out of the top 25 again. And a former Charger took a pick six  back for a TD as the hated Patriots beat the Lack Of Effort Chargers.  So basically, another bad weekend of bad football all around. 

Going from number 2 to number 22 in a month has turned the Hawkeyes from a feel good story to yet another we told you so, from the halfwits of ESPN. The Hawkeyes have a solid defense but their offense has been suspect most of the season, and with Purdue and Wisconsin exposing the Hawk's glaring weakness, a lack luster offense.  Iowa certainly fooled Colin Cowherd this season, and probably the rest of the believers as well.  Northwestern is next up, then Minnesota, Illinois and Nebraska, and all four teams are not sure wins.   Heads will roll if Iowa goes 2-2 or worse. For a team that did control their destiny, Iowa shot off two of its toes.  They're not in charge now.

Back to music side of things.  Back in 2011, I posted the best places to find music.  Even back then, the scene was changing, FYE got out of the mall in Iowa City and Hastings retreated to the desert and west coast.  Here were the choices that year.

1.  Mad City Music Exchange (Madison) (still around) 

2.  Record Collector (Iowa City) (Still Around) 

3.  Moondog Music (Dubuque)  (Still Around)

4.  CD's 4 Change (Dubuque)  (Still Around) 

5.  The Exclusive Company (No longer in Madison but in Janesville, Green Bay, Milwaukee)

6.  Co Op Records (Moline and Clinton)

7.  Borders  (History) 

8.  Best Buy (No Longer Selling Cds)

9.  Barnes & Noble (Cedar Rapids)  (Still Around)

10. Strictly Discs (Madison) (Still Around)

Used Music.

1.  Half Priced Books (Madison, Des Moines, Marion)

2.  Frugal Muse (Madison)

3.  Goodwill (CR, Marion, Coralville, Iowa City, Platteville, Dubuque, Madison QC)

4.  Stuff Etc. (Coralville, Iowa City, Dubuque, Davenport) 

5.  Sweet Living Antiques (Iowa City)

6.  Segal's Pawnshop (Not selling CDs) 

7.  Salvation Army (Cedar Rapids, Davenport, Moline, Marion)

8.  St. Vincent De Paul (Dubuque, Madison)

9.  Hastings (History) 

10.  Pawn America (History)

At that time in 2011, Cedar Rapids didn't have a record store.  Today, Analog Vault celebrates their 5th Anniversary and The Vinyl Emporium is close to being a part of the scene for a year.  Vinyl has made a comeback and very big one as well.  Ragged Records has returned in a new place in Davenport and Cedar Falls has Metro Records.  There are no shortage of thrift stores that sell cheap music. The turnaround of inventory of Goodwill in Dubuque and Davenport assures me of finding off the wall things, such as the ones I found recently.  45's remain hit and miss, CDs a better chance.  But when you have a open mind, anything can sound good, tho grabbing Cracked Rear View on Cassette was a novelty. But what's to do with a big CD collector, when you don't have time to really listen to everything. And believe me, most collectors have this same problem too. I grew up listening to many many albums, while people will continue to rave and talk about the usual suspect albums and cds, I really don't think I will be listening to much of Nirvana or Led Zeppelin, since corporate crock radio tends to shove the songs down our throats.  Boston was great 45 years ago, but I grew sick of hearing that album in 1985.  The CD's are collecting dust bunnies bigly.

But for the best places to find music, hasn't changed that much, except for the end of FYE or Wherehouse Music or Hastings. I have good friends in Australia touting their finds and sometimes I'm amazed of what they find, especially The Angels, Albert AC/DC albums and so forth.  Nowadays, I don't get too excited of what I find. Once in a while, a CD from the past will turn my head around for a couple plays.  To which this week Bobby Enriquez's Mad Piano was that  album.

So basically, for 2021.  These are my choices for Best Record Stores.

1)  Moondog Music-DBQ

2)  Mad City Music X-Madison

3)  Ragged Records-Davenport

4)  Analog Vault-CR

5)  Co Op-Moline

6)  Metro Records-Cedar Falls

7)  Vinyl Emporium-CR

8)  Strictly Disc-Madison

9)  CD's 4 Change-DBQ

10) Record Collector-IC

Moondog gets first place because of location.  Otherwise Mad City Music X would be the destination. I haven't included Des Moines simply of the fact that I haven't been there and Wax Static in Marshalltown, ditto, but I am aware of what they do on Facebook.  I know where the Quad Cities and Dubuque stores are located at.  Perhaps ten years ago, I would be more gung ho of going to DM and Ames.  I know they got great stores there, time and age are against me at this point.  Marv's Record Store is one store in Des Moines I'd check out, ZZZZ's is the other, as well as their Half Price Book Store.

(Marv's Record Shop)

Used Music.

1)  Half Price Books (Marion ,Madison,DM)

2)  St Vincent De Paul (Madison, Asbury, DBQ)

3)  Goodwill (CR, Marion, IC, Coralville, Independence, DBQ,QC, Madison, Platteville, Etc)

4)  Salvation Army (IC, CR, QC)

5)  Stuff Etc (DBQ, IC, Coralville)

6)  Helping Hands (CR)

7)  Housewerks (IC)

8)  Disc Replay (Davenport)

9)  Sweet Living Antiques (IC)

10) Pre Played (Madison)

I could never think of that used entertainment store in Davenport so I looked it up.  Disc Replay can be madding at times, but they did have some choice quality stuff in the cd bins.  Books A Million drops out of both the new and used side of things since they quit selling CDs, as well as Best Buy.  I haven't mentioned Target or Wal Mart, both do have selected new releases but both stores are more interested in selling overpriced vinyl.  Likewise of Barnes N Noble, which is probably the most reliable for finding new Cds and Lps.  But if I want the latest releases, I have good luck getting it from Moondog (for CDs), most of the time.  Collector's Choice Music is best for online ordering.

With the demise of Hastings, the Arizona bargain hunts died right there and then, no thanks to old gruffy TSA dude who had a bit of fun rearranging the suitcase of 45s from the last AZ trip.  Say what you want about Hastings Entertainment but for me, it was a home away from home.  But time goes on, Hastings is nothing more a distant fond memory, a star in the horizon that shares the galaxy with FYE or Wherehouse Music or Rock n Bach or Relics Records.  Nothing against Streaming from your cell phone but give me a working AM radio and a bunch of 45s and a cool second hand store to hang at and I'll be happy.  If there's a afterlife, that's where I'll be, at some forgotten Hastings store in the great beyond.  Hope to see you there.

  

And BTW, the rock hall of fame inductees happened over the weekend.  Todd Rundgren, The Go Gos' Tina Turner, Foo Fighters and couple hours were enshrined. 

(Marvin Newman: Photo credit (via Getty Images)) 

Five Star Mud Game-Los Angeles 33, Green Bay31  at Milwaukee 11/20/1960

I suspect there are more mud bowl games out there, but for a mid November game even with the sunshine, players did play on real grass and real dirt.  Green Bay was up and coming thanks to Vince Lombardi   Paul Hourning had a pretty good game here, rushing for two touchdowns and throwing a TD pass to go with 4 extra points and a field goal but missed two FGs.  Green Bay had five turnovers  Billy Wade threw for three touchdowns including two to Red Phillips and one to Del Shofner.  Green Bay came back from a 20 point deficient to take a late lead with Hourning's second TD of the day.  However The Rams would win late in the game when Frank Ryan (future Browns QB) drove the team downfield for a 9 yard Villenevna FG gave the Rams an upset win.  Green Bay would get revenge in LA two weeks later for a 35-21 win and went on to the championship, where Philadelphia would win the title 17-13.  Lombardi would not lose another championship game again. 

 

Week In Review: Purdue takes A Number 2.

Some new music and some finds.

Buck Owens-Sweet Rosie Jones

Ministry-Mortal Hygiene

Toots And The Mytals-Got To Be Tough

Marty Stuart-The Pilgrim

Lee Hazelwood-The Complete MGM Years

Dr. Feelgood-Live At The BBC

Avey Grouws Band-Tell Tale Heart

Buck Owens-The Singles 1967-1970

Buck Owens-Tall Dark Stranger

The Bobbettes-I Shot Mr. Lee 

Since I cannot trust the local stores to have the latest in new music I have gone to Collector's Choice Music into finding new music from the likes of Ministry and Toots, who's album nobody has had sine it's release of last year.  Robert Christgau gave it a A minus but I found it to be a B plus.  I wasn't not pleased with the overall bass sound of this album but it is a robust final effort from the departed Toots Hibbert, who gave us some of his toughest songs since Funky Kingston.  I should up this to an A minus due to Zak Starkey, former Who and Oasis drummer turned into guitar player and paid the cost of these recordings.  Ministry continues to get back into a more heavier sound that reminds one of the Psalm 69 album, full of samples, crazy drum machines and heavy riffing.   All Music wasn't impressed but I think it might be Al Jourgenson's best since that Psalm 69.

Marty Stuart, I'm beginning to piece his MCA albums together and The Pilgrim does begin Marty's real digging into country music and bluegrass by having legends George Jones, Johnny Cash and Bill Monroe to appear on this record.  Supposely a concept album, Stuart actually added 10 more tracks to the 2019 edition but I got the original.   Not bad tho I think his Columbia album Country Music was a bit better.  But I have yet to hear a bad Marty Stuart album.  The Lee Hazelwood Complete MGM Sessions shows the first cd of his first two MGM albums sounding very good, with the exception of S. J Hoakam being the female counterpoint and more cynical sounding then Nancy and Lee having fun with his take on These Shoes Are Made For Walking.  The second CD is his import only Something Special, which is stripped down Lee without Billy Strange around and using his own vocals through a harmonizer instead of a lead guitar.  This is probably his thumb at the nose for the odious Mike Curb, who was head of MGM at that time.  But then again Mike Curb did managed to destroy MGM anyway.  From the the folks at Cherry Red/Big Beat Records.

Ron Tutt passed away. He was the drummer for Elvis' TCB band and later Neil Diamond.  Most recently he did one of those Elvis Hologram shows which was fun to look at.  Now he gets to join Elvis in the great beyond.

(This bud's for Greg Long , thank you PO'ed Hawkeye fan) Bryon Houlgrave: Photo Cred.

Last week, Iowa came back from behind to beat Penn State 23-20 and was ranked number two in the nation.  But then again the naysayers cried out OVERRATED.  Paul Finebaum probably one of them.  So for homecome week, Iowa hosted and got owned by Purdue 24-7, to which exposed the Iowa offense and Spencer Patras, who threw four interceptions and the feared Iowa Defense fell apart to a wild and wooly Purdue offense.  Aidan O'Connell throwing for 375 passing yards  and two TDs and rushed for one himself.  David Bell had 240 yards receiving against a Iowa D that was rock solid, but cracked over all the field.  Purdue has taken 4 out of the last 5 games from the Hawks.  Petras, threw three INTs in the fourth quarter, killing the drives there.  Needless to say with this shit performace, Iowa still controls its own playoff destiny, but Minnesota, which beat Nebraska 30-23 and forthcoming Wisconsin up next do have some sort of incentive to come up with their own upsets.  This year has been a disappointment as well (Chicago Cubs anybody?) but hopefully Iowa will get their act together.  But it would not surprise me to see them getting bounced from the Top 10 list.  For being number 2, they played like number 2.  Speaking of playing like number 2, Arizona State forgot to play the second half against Utah and got smacked 35-21.  They might be out of the top 25 for their shit performance.  And they did get bounced.  Iowa fell to 11th in the top 25.  So much for the feel good story of beating Penn State.

And until Michigan beats Ohio State, I will not be convinced of their season.

And the LA Chargers stunk it up in Baltimore 34-6. Tristian Vizcaino can't kick extra points worth a fuck. Six missed XPs this season.  He wasn't the only turd.  Nothing worked on offense or defense. That concludes the weekend of our teams taking a number 2 and looking like shit. 

For the former Marion Indians team, now Wolves, this season has been a exercise in disappointment as well.  For their final game at Thomas Park Field, they fell 22-21 to Mason City, as their FG kicker missed a 45 yard attempt in the waning moments of that game.  It hasn't been a fun season, since they lost by a point in their opening game to Clear Creek Amana 36-35 and this bookend to their final game, a one point loss.  They go to Waterloo East to conclude a one and whatever season.  Next year, they won't have to dress at the high school and get bused to Thomas Park Field; they will have their own stadium and their own artificial turf and join the ranks of the other teams and their spiffy stadium and turf.  As for myself, I will relish the history of the old Indians and their WAMAC domination, which sadly, ended years before the WAMAC  broke up.

Now that we're all depressed of the crappy games, Jane Dillon will cheer you up with a catty costume. Meow indeed.  Look but do not touch. 

Billy Lee Janey now hosts the Sunday Acoustic Open Mic at Dharma's in beautiful Troy Mills, which is a thirty minute trip from CR.  However, the jams have had below average turnout and even Whisky Jo's to which the host drummer had to carry the show since yours truly is back working during the fall peak season.  Since I live closer to Stone City, I go to that open mic more often then not.  And of course, it's about that time for me to do the Crabby's, which is best of what CR has to offer.  But then again, I'm sure it will be the usual suspects that won the pervious few.  Maybe some surprises.

New music isn't over yet.  Neil Young And Crazy Horse new album Barn is out December 10th.  This week, the new Doobie Brothers.  With family and health issues bothering me, I don't foresee another bargain hunt for the time being.  Life ain't fair. 

Just ask Scott Rockenfeld, who is suing his Queensryche band mates for unfair termination after he left in 2017 due to a family issue.  Rockenfield didn't play on the last album, (Todd De La Torre actually played drums on that effort).  We'll see how this plans out.  Since jettisoning Geoff Tate, they have been splintering up left and right, although the De La Torre led albums are their most heaviest since the days of Operation Mindcrime and before.  Casey Grillo (Kamelot) has been the Queensryche drummer since Rockenfeld left on family leave. 

Ever since starting up this blog, I had made a case of the reissuing of the first album by The Brains, a band led by Tom Gray, who eventually learned to played national steel guitar and reinvent himself with Mark Johnson as Delta Moon, who have made 9 great albums of swamp rock and blues.  Saturday Night, Tom Gray lost his battle with cancer which came back in August this year.  Gray will forever be known for writing Money Changes Everything, which was a bigger hit for Cyndi Lauper, to which the royalties led Gray to learn to play the national steel guitar.    For years, we tried our best to convince the idiots at Polygram, later Universal to reissue their albums to which fell on deaf ears (but Mercury could reissue those Bon Jovi and Rush albums) and it was hoped that we could see those albums on CD before we passed on.  Alas, Tom won't get to see them on CD (unless you make a copy from a tape to which I did years later) tho there was talk that he and Jeff Calder (of Swimming Pool Q's) were in the process of readying them for release back in 2020.  Nevertheless, Delta Moon was his prime band and if you ever come across a copy of their CDs, check them out.  Tom joins Charles Woolf in the great band gig in the skies somewhere.  Fare thee well Tom. 

Fun Fact: The Brains were the first band signed as one of the early Athens/Atlanta new wave bands, beating REM.   Here's a nice tribute to Tom https://www.ajc.com/life/tom-gray-led-a-musical-life-in-two-chapters-first-new-wave-then-blues/N6HBMF2A6VD6JCV3XR4GFUFWMI/

Five Star Mud Game.  Houston 47 Oakland 16  Candlestick Park SF 12/17/61

The Oakland Raiders were not very good in 61.  Their coach was the first AFL coach to be fired and those Chicago Bears knockoff jerseys were not helping things either.  Most of the time, the Raiders found themselves playing at Candlestick Park, which like Kezar, had a field of poor drainage which led to plenty of mud baths in December when the rainy season came to be. Clem Daniels had a decent game, 80 yards rushing and one touchdown.  But this was George Blanda's day and he torched the Oakland Defense for 350 yards and four touchdowns, (he did throw two Interceptions, one led to a pick six TD), plus he kicked six extra points and one FG.  If you had him at a fantasy football player you would have blown out your opponent.  Marty Feldman replaced Eddie Erentz as coach, who wasn't related to the actor but this game would have bugged his eyes out anyway. 

Rumors'-From The Twist To Margaritaville To Otherwise.

The new edition of the Sunday Funday showcase.

(Billy, The Firegirl and R.S.  Tami Soukup took the pictures) 

It can't be a party without Ernest coming up to sing on The Twist.

Marline Thurn and Garry Markley celebrated their 75th birthday this past week and was the guests of honor.

I did ten songs on drums, Rick Wengle played drums the rest of the way. And of course Mr. Gracklin sang his usual four songs of note but left Mustang Sally and Dock Of The Bay for later to which Rick played drums.

Dave Bonham and Kimberly did show up later and seen them play Gold Dust Woman before I left.

It was National Hug A Drummer Day.  And got plenty of hugs.

The Week In Review: Avey Grouws Band, Iowa/Penn State

Alabama got knocked off by Texas A and M. 41-38 at Kyle Field.  First time Nick Saban lost to an former assistant coach and first time since 2007 that a unranked team beat the Tide Rolled.  TX A and M lost their standing in the top twenty five but should get back into top 25.  I wonder if a certain blogger will go over that loss in their hangover wrapup, which you can find on Blogger.

The bigger story is Iowa coming back from a 17-3 deficient to defeat Penn State 23-20, to an overflowing of Iowa patrons that stormed the field afterward.  Iowa had problems with Sean Clifford in the first two quarters before knocking him out with an injury and DaQuan Roberson couldn't solve the Iowa D, which had four more interceptions.  Jack Campbell knocked Clifford out after an incomplete pass.  Iowa's offense, once again dormant in the first half came alive in the second half with the game winning 44 TD pass to Nico Ragaini. Another hero in the Iowa game, punter Tory Taylor, who kept Penn State pinned behind their 20 yard line.  With this win, Iowa controls their own destiny from here on out, with the rest of the teams they play are not ranked, including a disappointing Wisconsin team, a so so Purdue and much improved Nebraska team that almost upset Michigan, but Michigan seems to be on the comeback of late.  Till they beat Ohio State, I won't be convinced.   Also, Arizona State whopped Stanford 28-10 Friday Night in Tempe.  Jack Jones, lateraled the ball to Deanan Pierce who went into the end zone and Jaylen Daniels had a great game, ran for 76 yards including a 51 yard touchdown run, against a poor Cardinal defense.  This was the same Stanford team that upset the Oregon Ducks the week before but this time they had no answer to the Sun Devils running game.   Next up for the ASU, Utah, who blew out USC 42-26, the first time the Trojans lost to the Utes in LA since 1916. It's been a very interesting week of college football.

Back in 2015 Colin Cowherd thought Iowa was overrated and didn't play nobody, to which became true but this year he's been on the Iowa bandwagon and has been amazed on the Iowa Defense.  Time will tell but I do have a good feeling that Iowa will run the table to the Big Ten Championship and maybe get to play Michigan, if they can beat Ohio State.  That remains a very BIG IF.  In the meantime, kudos to the Ohio State Marching Band for their tribute to Rush during the halftime show.  To which Maryland had no chance of winning. https://ultimateclassicrock.com/rush-marching-band-tribute/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral&fbclid=IwAR2g9z7HcX0iijRAIYrv7yeoyFyL4yLKzh4kl8osEWbOxDr6AzgRlUZMyy0

On the music side of things. The Avey Grouws Band is one of the best up and coming blues rock bands that has come on the horizon.  Led by Jeni Grouws and the intense playing of Chris Avey, they have put out a new album called Tell Tale Heart, which is more rock and roll, but in this day and age, it's now known as the blues.  While I have cut back on buying brand new music, Tell Tale Heart is a must own. It's a record that demands your attention and has a groove to it, that you have to listen to it again.  It helps to have a damn good rhythm section and AGB has it with Randy Leasman on bass and Bryan West on drums (Nick Vazquez plays keyboards).   Plenty of rock and blues to go with Avey's searing guitar on Mariana, to which he actually played some of that guitar lead during a blues jams Thursday at Checkers.  They did played the Olympic with Joanna O'Connor, one of the best guitar players out there.  They're based in the Quad Cities but these folks are the real blues and rock deal.  This will be one of my fave 2021 albums of the year, maybe the best.  

It's been two weeks since the last bargain hunt, and Tell Tale Heart was the only CD that I bought over this time.  The Goodwill Dive and Dump Store, had about 8 scratchy James Brown records thrown into one of those bins along with decent copy of Elvis Costello's Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood but I really didn't need that record, nor One More Night from Phil Collins.  There's a Scotch Grove Flea Market slated for Sunday and perhaps we'll find something out there.  But I'm still trying to listen to the stuff that I got in Davenport two weeks ago.   So much music, so little time.  The Scotch Grove Flea Market I didn't make.  Had to go on a wild goose chase for something that I wrote the wrong address down.  My brain and fingers seldom are on the same page.  Life with Demetria. 

The Chicago Cubs' season is done.  They let go their hitting coach and one other.  The pitching coach should be let go as well.  The starters this season were the all time worst.  It was Kyle Hendricks' worst season as a Cub, Jake Arrieta's return was a crash and burn disaster and he never got any better when San Diego picked him up and then released him  three weeks later.  In hindsight, Yu Darvish being traded away, Jeb Hoyer thought right that Darvish would get hurt and Darvish did.  The guy they traded for Zac Davies sucked all year, even pitching that no hitter with the departed Andrew Chapin, Ryan Tepera and Craig Kimbrel helping out, that Davies didn't pitch worth a shit after that.  He's a one and done deal and good riddance to him.  While Tepera is doing well for the White Sox, Kimbrel has been used in a set up role and it has not worked.  This guy is a stopper and for this year as a Cubs player he was lights out.   So far, Tony LaRussa has not used Kimbrel as a stopper at all.  Which is a head scratcher. Look for Houston to move on to the final.

The Cubs pitching staff was a mess.  Nobody completed a game, tho soft throwing Alec Mills might have been the best, Azolay up and down and did better out of the bullpen than starter and Adrian Sampson, journeyman pitcher did well.  Middle relief and beyond, life after Kimbrel, Chapin and Tepera was a constant suffering of lead off walks, base hits, home runs and blown leads  In those 91 losses, half of those game could have been won had the Cubs had relief pitching.  Dillon Maples, couldn't stop the walks, so the Cubs told him to take a walk.  Tommy Nance sucked, Brothers, sucked Rodriquez sucked and Rowan Wick was no Kimbrel.  Trevor McGill sucked, Cody Hauer did okay. And Cory Abbott, faltered till he pitched a gem of a game against the Cardinals.  

Overall the Cubs had 69 players in their lineup, a record upon itself.  They traded away Rizzo, Baez and Bryant, and their replacements were Frank Schwingel (who really was the best of the new guys, winning rookie player of the month), Patrick Wisdom (who could hit home runs and then strike out multiple times as well) and Rafael Ortega, to which these three batters did hit better than our 2016 heroes.  Alas, this was Jason Heyward's worst year as a Cub, he couldn't hit and his fielding went south as well.  Ian Happ was Happless most off the year, but then got hot in August and September.  Happ would be the sole remaining player that started on Opening Day and the last game of the year.  David Bote simply couldn't hit either.  Sergio Alcantana turned out to match Wisdom and Baez for K's this year and was a joke.  Wilson Conteras was the only decent catcher the Cubs had, the rest could challenge the pitchers for the batting average that was under the Mendoza line.   Looking back, it's hard to believe that they were in first place for most of May and part of June before Milwaukee kept sweeping them away and the free fall begin.  But like any trainwreck, there was some sort of fascination with the ever changing lineup and results.  And they did win a few games.  But their bullpen was beyond repair after trading their best pitchers.  However, these trades might have bulked up their farm system.  It might take a year or two but perhaps the Cubs might be back in the hunt.  But then again if Pete Ricketts keeps a chokehold on the check book, we will be back in the days of PK Wrigley and the wilderness years.  

Iowa is now rated 2nd in the top 25  in college football with their win over Penn State.  Alabama tumbled down to number 5.

Five Star Mud Game.  Philadelphia 23  Detroit 20 12/5/71  (Tiger Stadium) 

The Inspiration Of Clone Trooper in Star Wars?  Seems to me that looking at the white helmets of the Eagles, they had to inspire George Lucas to come up with that.  But anyway, in 1968  both teams in the monsoon on Thanksgiving Day, one of the premier mud games ever, but even in 1971  improvements had even made Tiger Stadium see less mud games, tho in this game Greg Landry did find the mud puddle and proceeded to muddy up his jersey, only to have it replaced with a clean shirt after the half.   Landry was the Detroit offense that day, scoring two rushing touchdowns, including the one that put Detroit ahead 20 to 16.  However, Pete Liske then drove the Eagles in the final two minutes with a winning drive that Kent Kramer would score on a five yard pass.  The Eagle would win the next two to finish 6-7-1,  The Lions after upsetting Kansas City in the Thanksgiving game would lose this game and the next two to take themselves out of the playoffs.

Notes on the final weekend of baseball, Iowa, Pointless Banter

Helen Reddy made an anthem of the 1970s called I Am Woman a song about women empowerment but she also had some other hits Angie Baby, Delta Dawn and Ain't No Way To Treat A Lady.  She made a 1978 album called Ear Candy with Kim Fowley producing that is worth a look.  She passed away on September 29th 2020  from complications of Alzheimer's.  We at Record World remember her with fondness. 

This year on September 25, Bob Matthews passed away.  He was the sound behind the Grateful Dead live albums  Live/Dead, the Skull n Roses album, Europe 72', 100 Year hall etc)

David Lee Roth is retiring after his Las Vegas gigs.  We all get old.  And yet, Record World goes on n on.

Mandy Barnett has been one of the best unknown but known country singers, a voice like Patsy Cline to which Mandy had done a tribute to Patsy for a few years running.   On her 46th birthday, The Grand Ole Opry finally extended her an invite to become part of the Grand Ole Opry family.  About time.

(Ouch!) 

Iowa passed the test of playing a up and coming Maryland team in College Park and blew them out 51-14.  And for their effort, they jumped over Penn State to take the number 3 rated team in College Football.

The Iowa Defense terrorized the Terrapins offense by grabbing six interceptions and forcing a fumble. And scoring 31 points in the second half (Would have been 35 had the refs not intervene and take away a Iowa TD)  T. Tagovailiola (why can't we get players with names we can write correctly?) threw for 5 INTs and was taken out of the game. Dontay Demus Jr, their biggest threat, twisted his ankle and was caeted off the field.  Even tho, Iowa Defense really stole the show (51 points off turnovers, take that Norte Dame) this was Spencer Petras best game, throwing for three touchdowns and running for two.  This will set up a epic showdown with Penn State next week in Iowa City.  While there still doubts about Iowa's offense, so far the defense has been unstoppable.  That is what you want in a winning team.   

In some ways the feel good story of Maryland getting crushed mirrors Arkansas rise to 4-0 in the young season upsetting Texas A M last week and reality came calling with a 37-0 shutout at number 2 Georgia.  It doesn't mean that season is over for both teams.  Both can still be proud of what they have achieved.  Nevertheless, Alabama is number 1 and will remain number 1, likewise Georgia at 2.  Oregon got knocked off by Stanford, they will fall out of the number 3 position. Number 4 Penn State shut out Indiana, who is becoming a disappointment in the big ten.  Iowa State took out Kansas 59-7, Brock Purdy throwing for 4 TDs in the first quarter.    And in the late game, Arizona State went to Los Angeles and beat UCLA  42-23.  Jaylon Daniels passing for 286 yards and two touchdowns. Ricky Pearsall scoring on 65 and 54 yard bombs, well the latter was a screen pass that Pearsall tore through the UCLA D.  Arizona State's D shut down the UCLA O in the second half and shut them out.  For their reward, ASU will host Stanford and perhaps make their way back to the top 25 college teams.  UCLA will likely drop out. 

It's October, and the New Bo Market has gone from Friday night concerts to a October of outdoor Halloween movies, to which I got to watch the ridiculous Scooby Doo movie, between going back to the Chrome Horse to watch the Iowa game and to surprise some folks by watching Last Call.   Before I left, there was this bodacious and beautiful blonde that surprised the hell out of me of wanting to slow dance to Tennessee Whiskey, the overplayed Chris Stapleton nugget that even I play as part of Acoustic Adventures.  It's been a while since I had somebody rub their boobies on me (that will never happen again) and me hoping to hell that nobody tells my other half.   In the middle of the song she asked me about the guy sitting next to me and she must have been plastered.   She asked me if that long hair girl was my wife.  To which I looked at her funny, I can't hear even on a good day, so I asked her to repeat the question again.  Thought she meant another friend Laurie, who was in a wheel chair.  The second time, I looked at her and said no, that's not my wife, that's Gary, who is a guy.   I'm sure she was embarrassed by finding out that and I winked and thanked her for the dance.  And proceeded to call it a night.  However it was a fun time hanging out with my drum brother who bought pizza during the Iowa game.  Laurie is recovering from ankle replacement.  Hope she has a speedy recovery. 

Ratings aka Pointless Banter:  1,946 for the month of September.  Nothing much gained, nothing much lost.  Archives trump the latest news, discouraging to see people liking the Best albums of 2009 over the Davenport Baseball Weekend blog of last week.  And I don't even think I play any of the Best of 2009 albums all that much anymore.  The Moondog 45s from 2 years ago, got a big boost.  Not from me, unless I'm referencing one of the 45s in that blog.  In this case I forgot all about those singles.

Facebook has become notorious for banning people for 30 days over certain words.  Our fave Mark Prindle got a month long ban for quoting a certain four letter word (K**L) from Flipper's live version of Ever (which can be found on the Sex Bomb Baby comp) but he's back again.  I also felt the wrath of the FB sensor over the word Nuke, to which I didn't reference to anything else.  In my case, I appealed and FB apologized and kept that word up till I deleted it.  Now if FB can get rid of those funny Qanon quacks, we might get somewhere?

Five Star Mud Game
Buffalo 17  Oakland 14  

Frank Youell Field-Oakland 11-14-65

Kemp's Revenge

It's hard to call the Raiders the Las Vegas Raiders and playing indoors and on treated grass.  Not unlike the days of playing on a high school field with cow pasture of turf.  The real Raiders, black and silver, numbers obscured by mud.  And this game was just that,  rain, mud puddles and the laundry bill to clean all that mud off cost a thou or two.   The great Clem Daniels gliding through the mud for 91 yards rushing and scoring two touchdowns.  But Jack Kemp, one of the best AFL QB's managed to get Bills back down the field, and converting on a fourth and six.  Billy Joe ran it in for a one yard TD and Buffalo got a hard fought 17-10 win    Dick Wood, Oakland's QB, had a better rating than Kemp, but he threw three interceptions (2 to Butch Byrd), and Kemp did come alive in the final two minutes to propel the Bills win.   Oakland had two more games playing on the chewed up turf,  a win over Denver,  which wasn't that muddy and then a 24-14 victory over Joe Namath and the New York Jets, another mudful game that Daniels scored 2 TDs and ran for 110 yards.  

The weather of 2021 has been quite peaceful, except for the Son of Shitstorm 2020 that came exactly one year after that landscape changing storm.   The Arizona monsoon season had 23 days of measurable rain, 4.29  inches of rain at the Phoenix airport all total, making it the second wettest in thirty years.  The wettest was 9 inches in 1984 if you care to know.  Tucson had 12.43 inches of rain this year, 3rd wettest. Up here, Iowa had a below normal of rainfall but warm temps through the summer.   At the moment we are 12 inches below the normal amount of rain we usually get (making us in level 3 drought).  October shows we might get more rain, but temps will be above normal (tho that could change).  It is a bit odd to see Arizona getting more rain than we are.  Not complaining.

We can close the book on the Chicago Cubs season, some glorious highs and some very bad lows but throughout this house cleaning, the Cubs did hold their own at times, tho their pitching staff were terrible at times, but they took two out of three from St. Louis, which basically locked a playoff spot and didn't need to go all out.  Tyler Payne and Joe Biagini became the record 68 and 69th players to be used on a roster that had more changes and transactions that could rival War And Peace as a book.  The Cubs dropped the first game, then came back to win game 2, on an 2 run Ian Happ home run.  And then game 3, which was rain shortened, a 3 to 2 win to which Bianini won the game in relief.  If nothing else the Cubs did win their last four out of five game or six out of eight, taking the series with Pittsburger earlier in the week and then the hot Cardinals in St Louis.    They finish with 71-91 record, and it will be a 135 days before they get back to spring training and try to correct the wrongs of a season that saw the abrupt trading of their 2016 World Champ superstars Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo and Javy Baez and bringing up the likes of Frank Schwingel, Patrick Wisdom and Rafael Ortega  who actually scored more this half of season than the big 3.  In the end, the Cubs' pitching, which sucked all year, didn't improve at all, even after trading Craig Kimbrel to the White Sox (which he hasn't done exactly well) and Ryan Tepera (Same to the Sox) and Andrew Chaplin to Oakland.  Journeyman Adrian Sampson did fairly well, however Kyle Hendricks faltered during the second half, Alec Mills was off and on and Zac Davies who sucked all year despite pitching a no hitter, which would open the floodgates for a long losing streak that took the sails out of the Cubs and the playoffs went up in smoke.  They couldn't Milwaukee when it counted, nor St. Louis for that matter.    At least the Cubs went down fighting, in order to get a 7th pick in the draft.

As for Baltimore  Orioles.  they were shit. 52-110 and they couldn't beat the Toronto Blow Jobs or Tampon Bay.  Hell, they couldn't beat anybody.  They and Arizona had the worst records 52-110.  Another year, another in the cellar stinking up the joint.    And so it goes.  Toronto beat the O's 14 times in 19 games.  Tampon Bay won 18 and lost 1 all season   A big joke that is given to the people of Baltimore by the Spanos family, and will continue to be in the shitter till they get new ownership. Despite them helping the the Toronto BJ's, Toronto will join the O's in watching the playoffs.   Poetic justice to a team playing a shit team that the BJ's couldn't beat the Yankoffs or Boston when it counted. 

And Joe West is retiring, the longest tenured umpire in MLB.  He'll call the Dodgers/Cardinals playoff and go on to chase his dream of being a lousy country singer.  His umpiring paved the way for the likes of Las Diaz, C B Bucknor and the WOAT, Angel (without a clue) Hernandez.  Happy trails Mr. West. 

(K A C E Y on Twitter Photo Credit, Jenny playing to an indifferent audience in Forrest Gump) 

When it came down to a stripped down sound, Kacey Musgraves pulled no punches on her Saturday Night performance of Justified, from her latest album, wearing only cowboy boots. As they say, nothing is shocking anymore and I've seen it all in the 50 years of music and everything else. In Kacey's own way, she was paying tribute to Jenny, in the classic movie Forrest Gump.  To which the above photo is from that movie and not Kacey herself.   Will this shock translate into music sales for Kacey?  Maybe for one week but then again Melody Gardot posted herself in the nude on her live album for Decca/Verve a couple years ago.  Since she was mostly MOR Jazz, she got raked over the coals for that.  And may have sold a couple more copies.  Decency rules prevents us to show Melody's cover art.  And Melody is quite the looker. 

If the Rolling Stones want to do a tour without Charlie Watts, I don't have a problem with that since Charlie gave his blessing to the band.  And Steve Jordan would be the best replacement, after all Daryl Jones has been the bass player after Bill Wyman left and nobody gave them grief over that.  Times have changed, Mick Jagger managed to stroll into a bar unnoticed.  Go see them if you can, but  without Charlie, any new Stones album would not be the same.   But Jordan will come close.