STMcC’s Vote On '2018, October 1st: Battle Of The Bands' (BOTB) Or, Sweet Versus Sheryl Crow And The Final Tally:
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I'm a day late with my BOTB Results post this time because I was out of town yesterday. Where was I? New England?
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No, not New England. That's Carson City, Nevada -- 25 minutes South of me. I drove down there to celebrate Cactus Jack's 47th birthday and listen to Catfish Carl, and I decided to stay the night.
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| CACTUS JACK |
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| CATFISH CARL |
And while I was there, I took a few photos of "The Shootist house". 'THE SHOOTIST' (1976) -- a great Western -- was John Wayne's last movie, which also starred Lauren Bacall and Ron Howard. Bacall's boarding house, where The Duke spends his final days, is located just 3 or 4 blocks from the center of downtown Carson City:
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| The Duke riding his last horse, Old Dollar. |
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| Ron Howard sweeps the front steps. |
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| Same house in October of 2018. |
So, secondly, this was a nice BOTB voter turnout and I thank every single one of you for that.
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The Battle took place HERE, and it included a lot of yakking from me about my homemegalopolis, Los Angeles. Thanks for indulging me and my stories (almost all of you).
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The contest was between Sweet's "Santa Monica Sunshine" and Sheryl Crow's "Santa Monica Boulevard". As for Sheryl's 'All I Wanna Do', there were those voters who said they really dig it. There were some who said they dig it but are tired of it. There were some who said they dislike it. And, surprisingly, one voter said he had never heard it before. WHA-?! I didn't think a person existed who had never heard that song. I didn't think a person could avoid that song even if they were trying to.
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Ordinarily the "Familiarity Factor" is a huge advantage for a song in BOTB. But when "Familiarity" becomes "Exposure Overload", there's the possibility of the reverse effect, it seems. Sheryl's song was played every four and a half minutes in Los Angeles, and I knew it was a major national hit. But until I hosted this Battle, I did not realize that the song had been overplayed as much across the entire country as it had been in L.A.
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It's pretty rare that I use a song in BOTB that I personally dislike. 'All I Wanna Do' was one of those rare occurrences. I strongly disliked the song the first time I heard it, and I didn't like it any better the 665 millionth time I heard it! Rarer still is the song that I can't stand and yet is so "earwormy" that it always gets stuck on "Repeat" in my brain. For me, there are about half a dozen such songs and 'All I Wanna Do' is one of them. Having a song you truly hate stuck in your head is true torture!
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Still, the 'All I Wanna Do' Santa Monica-connection was too tempting for me to resist using it in BOTB.
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G DogG made the observation that there's something Rickie Lee Jones-ish about 'All I Wanna Do' and, gee, DogG is RIGHT!! That had never occurred to me before, but when he mentioned it, I listened to the song for the the 666 millionth time with that in mind, and I realized immediately that he was correct. The odd thing is that I LIKE a lot of Rickie Lee Jones' music (I own 5 of her albums on CD) and yet I dislike 'All I Wanna Do'. I dislike Sheryl Crow, too. There's something Diana Krall-ish about her that turns me off.
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Sometimes the underdog wins. That was the case this time, and both the Magic 8-Ball (8-5) and the Amazing Sixwell (9-4) predicted incorrectly. I had a hunch Sweet would win this contest. Maybe *I* should be one of the BOTB prognosticators. Sweet jumped out to a 5-0 lead and Sheryl could never catch up. She closed the gap to within 2 votes a couple of times but wound up losing by 3:
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SWEET = 12 votes
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Sheryl Crow = 9 votes
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My thanks again to everyone who contributed their $00.02 to this BOTB installment, and I hope to see you all here again for my October 15th contest. I have a Bossa-Nova classic chosen for that showdown.
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For anyone who may have skipped listening to The Dogtown Beach Report (Sept., 1985) in my original post, here's another opportunity:
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THE SANTA MONICA ("DOGTOWN") BEACH REPORT:
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6H2P8vRHRgk
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~ Stephen T. McCarthy
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I’m so glad she didn’t win. I am not a fan of Crow and I can’t stand Diana Krall. I want, for just once, that she actually opens her mouth when she sings..Krall that is. I always picture a dummy near her and she is. Ventriloquist. That is cool that you went to see the home where the6 filmed the Shootist....a great film and a sad one. I know Ron Howard loved working with John Wayne and always speaks highly of him as well he should.
ReplyDeleteBIRGIT ~
DeleteThanks for checking out the Results page!
Yeah, I'm glad the Old Crow didn't win, either. (Wait! Old Crow is a brand of whiskey.)
Ha! I've never really noticed the "Ventriloquist Effect" of Diana Krall, but I'll have to watch for it the next time I see a video of her.
I didn't know Ron Howard had ever really anything about John Wayne, but I'm pleased to hear that he liked and respected him. The Duke is my favorite actor. Of course he was far from being the greatest in terms of acting chops, but he was way better'n most people give him credit for. And his final performance in 'The Shootist' was highly nuanced and a damned fine acting job! It's not my very, very favorite of his movies (close, though), but I feel he saved his best performance for last. He was totally believable. And sadly, the role was a fairly close representation of real life circumstances for him.
The Duke was so entertaining to watch and he had a terrific sense of humor, too!
~ D-FensDogG
Ferret-Faced Fascist Friends
Who dat? Who dat never heard dat song before?
ReplyDeleteYou dat! You dat what never heard dat song before!
Delete~ D-FensDogG
Ferret-Faced Fascist Friends
Well, well, well--that's a pretty nice outcome. I can hear that Rickie Lee Jones vibe for sure.
ReplyDeleteI've never seen The Shootist to my recollection (which isn't always perfect), but Ken Griffin, the magician who I worked with for a couple years after I left the family act, often mentioned it. I think it was one of his favorite films. Ken had been a famous leather worker before going into the magic business. In fact I guess he funded his show with his leather work at the beginning.
I think his book of leather patterns is still available on line. Surprisingly I looked and found a Wiki article about him:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Griffin_(artist_and_magician)
Arlee Bird
Tossing It Out
BOIDMAN ~
Delete'The Shootist' is a really good movie. More of a character study than a Western "Shoot-'Em-Up".
I read that entire article about Ken Griffin. Very interesting! The guy definitely was very influential in his field. I've probably seen saddles he designed for Roy Rogers -- my other big favorite when it comes to Silver Screen Cowboys.
~ D-FensDogG
Ferret-Faced Fascist Friends
After I first came to CA in the early 90's, Ken's wife Roberta took me to the Autry Museum where there was a display of some of Ken's work. If you ever visited that museum you might have seen it as well.
DeleteWhile I was traveling with them from 1975 to 1977 Ken was adulated by magicians all over because of his influence in that field. Still some of his leather fans would show up now and then. At that time Roberta was writing a regular column for the Tandy Leather Magazine. I was impressed by the royal treatment the folks at the Tandy headquarters in Fort Worth showed us when we stopped by to visit.
Lee
Wow! Very talented guy, obviously.
DeleteAnd, yes, LEE, I've been to the Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum several times, so apparently I HAVE seen some of Ken's work.
That is such a must-see museum for anyone interested in the American West and Western movies. In fact, I have a Christmas tree ornament I purchased from the museum circa 1991 or so, and I put it up every year.
~ D-FensDogG
Ferret-Faced Fascist Friends
Hmm, I don't think I like the taste of Crow after all ;-)
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun getaway for you! I loved The Shootist - and that house.
dIEDRE ~
DeleteDespite me having been a vegetarian since late 1985, I still occasionally eat crow.
See ya on the 15th (or thereabouts)?
~ D-FensDogG
Stephen T. McCarthy Reviews...
Rickie Lee jones 1979 album is the one album I have and it's good enough for me. On the cover, I can't tell if she's smoking a cigarette or a clove cigarette.. back in the day when "cloves" mad the whole Greek Theatre and surrounding area like cloves.
ReplyDeleteI was hoping to derail Sweet's victorious vote. I'm very upset they didn't rape anyone.
G DOGG ~
DeleteYou really otter get her album 'PIRATES', too. It's at least as good as that 1979 debut, if not even better.
Nah. I take that back. In the early 1980s, I thought 'Pirates' was better, but with time, I've come to the conclusion that the debut is best, but not by much. 'Last Chance Texaco' gives the nod to the debut.
And Mama said there'd be days like this, when no matter what one says, they can't make a false rape claim stick.
~ D-FensDogG
Ferret-Faced Fascist Friends