BOTB RESULTS: 2018, APRIL 15 (Or, WARREN ZEVON VERSUS JACKSON BROWNE)

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My April 15th BATTLE OF THE BANDS (BOTB) installment took place [link> HERE. It was the latest in my "Battle For Los Angeles" theme and featured Warren Zevon's zong 'Carmelita' versus Jackson Brown's 'Boulevard' (or, The Pioneer Chicken Stand versus The Gold Cup Coffee Shop).
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The first thing I want to do is extend my sincere gratitude to every single one of you who voted. I was exceedingly pleased with the terrific turnout this time. (I believe the Email I sent out to remind some folks of the existence of my newest Battle may have had something to do with the better turnout. It's something I now intend to continue doing in the future, so keep an eye on your InBox, peoples!)
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I really enjoyed the heck outta this Battle and I felt especially inspired in responding to y'all in the comment section. I feel like I was in a good, creative place. (Many of my favorite BOTB installments are those that have free-flowing back & forth exchanges in the comment sections! This was no exception.) 
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This Battle was really close for quite awhile. With 6 votes in, it was tied 3 to 3. With 10 votes in, it was tied 5 to 5. Then Jackson Browne got three consecutive votes, giving him an 8 to 5 lead. But... that was it for Browne. The final 7 votes (including mine) all went to Warren Zevon:
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Warren Zevon = 12 votes
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Jackson Browne = 8 votes
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The Amazing Sixwell and I both guessed wrong on this contest. I knew it would be a tight race but figured the uptempo hit by Jackson would beat Warren's mostly unknown ballad by perhaps 2 or 3 votes. WRONG! And this means that in "The Battle Within The Battle", the Magic 8-Ball takes a 2-0 lead over Sixwell. (Bringing in a little competition sure seems to have put the "magic" back into the 8-Ball. Suddenly, that dog can hunt!)
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'Carmelita' is one of my very, very favorite Warren Zevon zongs. A person might ask, "WHY do you like a song about a heroin addict?" Well, there are a few reasons. 
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Musically-speaking, I think it's an extremely catchy song. In fact, to me, it even has an "earworm" quality about it. I find myself singing or humming it often. But I concede that at first blush it doesn't appear to have a strong "earworm melody" to it. I believe it takes multiple listenings before that melody starts to worm its way into one's mind.
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I also really like that Spanish guitar sound in 'Carmelita'. So, I think the song stands on its own, musically. But then there are also a number of elements to the song that very strongly resonate with me on a real personal level.
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As a person, Warren Zevon left much to be desired. He had some good qualities, too, naturally, but he was certainly self-destructive and too often put his own self-interests ahead of others. But as a songwriter, the guy had an undeniable knack for reaching down deep and expressing feelings that many of us "Glass Half-Empty" folks share. Zevon had a dark sense of humor, and so do I. Therefore, the themes of some of his songs, and certain lyrics in some of his songs, have almost become a part of who I am because they express my feelings and attitudes every bit as well as I myself could. Honestly, I suspect that only a person who's a wee bit "twisted" could really appreciate these, but here's just a small sampling:
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I'm going to hurl myself against the wall, 'cause I'd rather feel bad than not feel anything at all.
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I'll sleep when I'm dead.
(Zevon's version of "Carpe Diem".)
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I appreciate the best but I'm settling for less. I'm looking for the next-best thing.
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Back in the 1980s, my buddy Pooh and I nearly wore this one completely out:
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It ain't that pretty at all!
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How are you and your girlfriend doing?
"It ain't that pretty at all!"
Did you pick-up your paycheck?
"Yeah. It ain't that pretty at all!"
How's your hangover?
"It ain't that pretty at all!"
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And then there's what I think may be the truest thing ever said in a song -- a line I have repeated a godzillion and two times:
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There's a sadness in the heart of things.
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In 'Carmelita', the storyteller is having problems with heroin. But to me, it could be anything. Alcohol. Relationships. Bad luck. General depression. The bottom line is simply that for whatever reason, one is down 'n' out and feeling a strong longing for something that's out-of-reach. I can't relate to being strung-out on heroin, but I CAN relate to feeling down 'n' out and longing greatly for something that seems very far away -- unobtainable.
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So that's why I love the song 'Carmelita' in general. But there are also explicitly personal reasons: Contrary to what Warren Zevon may have believed, there REALLY WAS a Pioneer Chicken stand on Alvarado Street in L.A. It was only 4 or 5 blocks from Echo Park, between Reservoir Boulevard and Scott Avenue. My beloved Grandfather, Floyd (R.I.P.), used to drive us right past it on the way to Dodger games:
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My friend, Pooh, standing near the former location of "the Pioneer Chicken stand" on Alvarado Street.

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And, finally, there's that opening verse in 'Carmelita'...
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I hear Mariachi static on my radio 
And the tubes, they glow in the dark 
And I'm there with her in Ensenada 
And I'm here in Echo Park
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That paints a vivid mental picture for me. I remember when I first started really getting into music at the age of about 15. While simultaneously exploring my teen-aged feelings, I would lie in the dark staring at the orange glowing tubes inside my radio while listening to the songs coming out of it.
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And later, from about 1983 to '85, I used to listen to a radio station, 69 XTRA Gold, broadcasting from Mexico (Tijuana, not Ensenada -- where I once spent a night in jail. Uhp! I was an idiot!!). I fell in love with the beautiful Mexican woman -- whom I never saw -- who would periodically mention the station's call letters. I thought she had the perfect feminine voice, and I longed to meet her.
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Over the decades, I had completely forgotten all about that mysterious woman in Tijuana -- my personal "Carmelita" -- who used to speak to me from Mexico through my radio in Santa Monica, California. But on Saturday, March 24th of this year, I was listening to an old cassette of things I had recorded from my radio back in 1985. Suddenly, "Carmelita's" voice came through the speaker saying the call letters in Spanish.
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It was an incredibly intense feeling! Too bizarre to understand, let alone to try explaining. But in a moment, I remembered that "woman in my radio" and I had a kind of "Somewhere In Time" experience. I felt like I had been immediately pulled back to the 1980s and I re-fell in love with that woman, my Carmelita, in a single instant! In that same hour, I knew that Warren Zevon's song, 'Carmelita', would be used in my very next BOTB "Battle For Los Angeles" installment.
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If anybody is interested, you can find an article about the old radio station 69 XTRA Gold HERE. That article even includes an old audio file which has "Carmelita" saying the station call letters in Spanish. (I'm still in love with her, and wish I could find a way to go back in time and locate her. ...I wonder if she looked as pretty as her voice sounded.)
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Again, I thank you all for showing up and I hope you'll do so again, when I present my next Battle Of The Bands contest here on May 1st.
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~ Stephen T. McCarthy
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