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Welcome back, my friends, to the "Battle" that never ends.
We're so glad you could attend. Come inside! Come inside!
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This is 'BATTLE OF THE BANDS' ('BOTB') where you listen to different recordings and vote for the one you like best. A new Battle gets posted on the 1st of each month and on the 7th, I place my own vote, tally 'em all up and announce the winner.
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Friend? Foe? Stranger? No matter, ALL are welcome. So pull up a chair, pour yourself 24 oz. of DOG BITE High Gravity Lager (or the poison of your choice) and turn it up to Eleven!
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[NOTE: Links to the first year of 'BOTB' (#1 - #24) can be found at the very bottom of this page.]

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

'SOUND SYSTEM SHOWING-OFF SONGS' (Or, 'TUNES TO TURN UP TO ELEVEN')

In 1978, after my first year of working in Hollyweird, I spent my first tax return refund check on a pretty impressive stereo system to play my hundreds of LPs ("Licorice Pizzas") on. Up to that point, I was just using some cheap, little, portable record player.

I purchased a nice receiver and turntable and speakers that stood about three feet high. Truth be told, this was far too much power for my modest living quarters, but I was a young man addicted to fast, loud Rock 'N' Roll, and I wanted to have that capability to turn it up to eleven and blow my roof into the next county! And that I could do.

Back in those late-1970s/early-'80s years, whenever a friend came over and I wanted to show him or her how great my stereo sounded, I would invariably put on my 'MOONFLOWER' album by Santana and play the song 'SHE'S NOT THERE'.


I felt the song 'She's Not There' had a great range of sonic textures and then really seemed impressive when Carlos Santana would make that electric guitar scream like a wildcat through my 3-feet high speakers.

In 1987 or '88, I made the switch to compact discs and gradually sold off my LPs, replacing some (but not all) of them on CD.

At first, I just played my CDs on a very small, portable, nonimpressive-sounding player. Eventually I purchased one or more "boombox" type CD players and these sufficed for quite a long time, as I was no longer the 15-year-old who needed to hear everything cranked up to eleven.

Then in 2002, I took the plunge and bought a Bose CD player / radio. I thought it sounded fantastic. In fact, I thought it sounded as good as my old stereo system ever did, except for the fact that the speakers couldn't be separated into opposite ends of the room by long wires.

In 2007, I had a handyman working at my house for a couple weeks, doing some painting, cabinet refurbishing, etc. One day he noticed my Bose unit sitting on a shelf. He said he'd often thought of looking into getting one and asked me what I thought of the sound. So I told Mr. Handyman I would play something for him so he could decide on the sound quality for himself.

Well, I no longer owned Santana's 'Moonflower' album (nor was I interested in owning it again). But I did have a copy of the 'ENDLESS SUMMER II' movie soundtrack by Gary Hoey on compact disc. (Hoey? Who he?) By the way, it's a super-cool movie, too!


I put the Gary Hoey soundtrack album into the player. Although I truly dig every track on that disc, my very favorite is 'SURFDOGGIN'' because of the tremendous dexterity and cleanness of Hoey's playing, and the hybrid musical concoction he had created. To this day I don't know exactly how to describe 'Surfdoggin'', other than to say it strikes me as a sort of cross between Bluegrass and Surf Guitar. It's fabulous!

However, wanting to give Mr. Handyman a good taste of how loud the Bose can play without degrading into music-destroying distortion, and wanting him to hear the crispness of the slicin' 'n' dicin' guitar and the inescapable brain-pounding drums throughout, I put on the first track, 'RIPTIDE', and turned it up to eleven eighty.

Cats died, babies cried, women screamed, and manly men ducked for cover!

I'm pretty sure Mr. Handyman purchased a Bose CD player of his own shortly afterwards, because while 'RIPTIDE' was playing he just looked at me wide-eyed with his mouth hanging open.

Sadly, I did not feel I got my money's worth out of the Bose player because after owning it for only 5 to 6 years, the CD player stopped working, and I just don't listen to radio much.

I was not inclined to purchase another Bose player again, despite the excellent sound from such a small desktop unit. But last month I learned that Bose was offering new CD players for a little over half-price on a trade-in of an older unit, working or not. So I decided to give Bose one more chance, and I have a silver front-loading model sitting atop one of my bookcases now.

I am a huge fan of Western films. In fact, I've seen well over 200 of them, and as you might guess, the Western is my very favorite of all movie genres.

Without question, amongst my Top Ten Favorite Western Movies Of All Time is the sprawling Sergio Leone classic 'ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST', the best "Spaghetti" Western ever made, and I don't give a Hoot Gibson who says differently. In my opinion, even the music was the best that Ennio Morricone ever composed for a Western (even though this movie is more of an American-made "Spaghetti" Western).


'ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST' ('OUATITW') includes that fantabulous crane shot early in the film - a shot that you may have seen parodied a number of times in a number of places, even if you were not aware of the original. I seem to recall seeing it mimicked in cartoon format once on an episode of 'The Simpsons'. But the real deal can be seen HERE.

I own the 'OUATITW' soundtrack also and play it far more often than one might expect. It's loaded with highly interesting musical compositions and snippets of soundscapes that really evoke a sense of the dusty, dangerous, wild West.


I recall one particular road trip I made to Las Vegas when I had the 'OUATITW' soundtrack playing in my car and glancing to my left, I saw a train rumbling through the dusty, desolate Arizona desert. It was the perfect music for that image; a flawless example of what I call "Congrutiating".


A few days after acquiring my new Bose compact disc player, I got the idea to find out how one of my very favorite instrumentals from the 'ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST' soundtrack would sound through the Bose "Wave" sound system. So I put the disc in, forwarded it to Track #2, 'AS A JUDGMENT', and cranked that bad boy up to about 63. HOKEY-SMOKE & HOO-WEE! You wanna yak about "Heavy Metal"? This is IT!



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbrHzKyFQ-E

If you're looking for a great Western movie, you could do a lot worse - I mean, a LOT worse! - than 'ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST'. And if you're looking for a truly memorable music-listening experience, you couldn't do much better than 'AS A JUDGMENT' as heard through one of the new Bose CD players!

By the way, this was definitely NOT an advertisement - paid or otherwise - for Bose products. I'm waiting to see how long this new unit lasts before I recommend Bose again to anyone else. But I just wanted to inform ya about a cool movie and its cool soundtrack, and to let you know why I seem to be suffering from hearing loss.

~ Stephen T. McCarthy

YE OLDE COMMENT POLICY: All comments, pro and con, are welcome. However, ad hominem attacks and disrespectful epithets will not be tolerated (read: "posted"). After all, this isn’t Amazon.com, so I don’t have to put up with that kind of bovine excrement.

23 comments:

  1. Too bad it's laundry day - this post is like refreshment hour at the ballpark > peanuts, cracker jacks, ice cold beer!

    I went the way of the stereos - Had to put masking tape on each wire so I could reassemble the thing wherever I went. I moved a lot. I remember and love, "She's Not there," related to it many times. Carlos was a special friend - no I didn't know him, but he taught me everything I ever needed to know about air guitar. Carlos and I had the police respond one night to a concert at my then meager, mobile home. Well - we didn't call them.(smile)

    My Dad had an old '65 Chevy, 3-spd column. If he drove we got country - Buck Owens, Hank Snow, or Elvis. However this one time at band camp - Dad had me take the wheel, and I played him some "Black Magic Woman." You could see the confusion in his eyes - he liked Carlos! A new world of drive time music had invaded his being. He wouldn't be that elated again until "Hey Jude"... (I loved guitar. Sad I couldn't coordinate the short fingers to stretch for the frets. I played accordian, and I will never admit that fact anywhere else.)

    My little system had marble tops on the speakers. Picture that in a mobile home. Yep. But it got harder to secure volunteers to help me move. I had one of those equalizers(?) - you set it up, crank it up, push the little button on the booster and "whoom" you blow out the candles on the coffee table. This system still works, and lives in my younger bro's workshop, where he jams on stuff like, "Me and My Arrow." Nilsson(sp)?

    Westerns are fine - but I had a tendency to believe all that as factual history. (Recall - She's Not There). Spaghetti westerns - haven't heard that in a while. My problem is recalling the movie names. I might be able to sing a couple of songs from it, if it was a musical, like "Paint Your Wagon or Cat Balou". I agree on Morricone - epic! Well, that's enough... the dryer stopped. Interesting read and hot spots - dc

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    1. DIXIE ~
      I know I played Air Guitar more than a few times to Santana. (Probably most of all to 'She's Not There' and - best of all - 'Open Invitation'. That song kicked booty.)

      I got some good songs and musicians from my Pa (today's his birthday, by the way - he'd be... uh... many years old). My Pa gave me Louis Prima and Roger Miller (still love 'em both) and Willie Nelson (his 'Stardust' album is a genuine classic). But I wasn't able to give my parents ANY of my music. I think the closest I got was when I played Brian Auger's live version of 'Bumpin' On Sunset' for my Ma and she said to my Pa, "Chuck, this one's not as bad as most of his music is." Ha!

      Funny thing is that I now love THEIR music more than I do most of the music I was listening to when I was in high school.

      >>... I played accordian, and I will never admit that fact anywhere else.

      Ha!-Ha! Well, I'm honored that I got to break this story in Blogville. And, hey, it could be worse - you could have played the bagpipes.

      What do you call an uncool girl in the deep South?
      Dixie Polka.

      Ha! I just got home from work, but with a line like that, it seems my sleep-deprivation is showing.

      Well, Pat Metheny used accordion on his 'Secret Story' album (one of my very favorites of his) so I guess there's somethin' to be said for the instrument. Not much but... somethin'.

      >>... Westerns are fine - but I had a tendency to believe all that as factual history.

      It's twue, it's twue.
      You lookin' for a fight?
      I'm your huckleberry!

      >>... I might be able to sing a couple of songs from it, if it was a musical, like "Paint Your Wagon or Cat Balou".

      Dang! An old girlfriend of mine (well, she wasn't "old" THEN) loved 'Paint Your Wagon' and 'Cat Ballou'. 'Cat Ballou' was her very favorite Western movie, and 'Paint Your Wagon' was her very favorite Western movie soundtrack. [Is this you, Countess? You playin' a trick on me?]

      >>... Well, that's enough... the dryer stopped.

      Sheesh! The dryer stopped?
      That's even worse than "I have a headache".

      "Get off me, honey. The dryer stopped."

      ~ D-FensDogg
      'Loyal American Underground'

      Delete
  2. Well I guess this posts answers the question I asked a while back-was the Bose player worth it? I had no idea the CD player stopped working that long ago.

    I am looking to replace a CD alarm clock that I use daily, purchased in 1999 for $50 and still (mostly) works.

    My record with Bose is spotty.

    The noise cancelling headphones-worth the $300 investment

    The in-ear headphones-I bought them when they first came out ($200), and never got a good fit. I went to a Bose store and asked what they could do, and he gave me a set of their new earbuds, which do not fit a lot better but hold the thing in place (it used to pop out every time I turned my head, which on an exercise machine in a gym full of young girls in stretchy workout outfits, is more often that you might imagine).

    Those have since come down to (I think) $99-they'd be worth it at that if you listen to music on an iPad or your phone

    Their small Bluetooth speaker sounds excellent in the store, but I opted to get a $50 Creative version for the office thinking it would be easier to absorb the $50 versus $200 if someone stole the thing.

    I also have an old CD alarm clock in my office that I need to replace. That cost me $5 in 2011 or 2012....considering the Bose Wave is about $500, I am not running out to get one based on you review.

    But I do like Gary Hoey. Did you hear about him from me? I discovered him after moving to AZ but it was from The Professor, back in '95. I know we've spoken of Hoey, but forget if you were familiar with him already.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. LC ~

      >>... was the Bose player worth it? I had no idea the CD player stopped working that long ago.

      Yeah, but anybody who can afford to go back East for a couple days just for a concert shouldn't hesitate to buy a Bose.

      A co-worker of mine told me that his dad has had his Bose CD player for 10 years and it still works fine, so I may have simply gotten a lemon.

      We'll see with this new one, but if I don't get a full 10 years out of it I will actively do all I can to publicly tarnish Bose's reputation. I have a couple of very small portable CD players I got USED at Goodwill for about $5. and they BOTH lasted me as long as my last Bose did. Now, however, both of them are acting very erratic... when they act at all... and that is the primary reason I decided I needed a new CD player. When I heard about the Bose trade-in discount, I decided to give them one last try. I gotta admit, the damned thing sounds great though, and it plays louder than my old ears can even stand anymore.

      Sound-wise, for such a small unit, the Bose CD player is truly remarkable. Yesterday, I cranked mine up to 83 just to see, and it still sounded really good at a volume I could never stand to listen to for longer than about 3 minutes.

      >>... it used to pop out every time I turned my head, which on an exercise machine in a gym full of young girls in stretchy workout outfits, is more often that you might imagine.

      I doubt THAT! I may be old, but my head still turns on my neck when I see a hot gal. My first thought is usually: I should go after that!
      And my second thought is: Yeah, right. Take your crown of grey and your grey goatee and see what they get ya, you dirty old man!

      >>... I do like Gary Hoey. Did you hear about him from me? ... I know we've spoken of Hoey, but forget if you were familiar with him already.

      Sheesh, Doctor DiscDude! Your memory is way worse than mine, and I have good excuses for my poor memory: I'm older than you, I drank more than you, and I've been working graveyard shi(f)ts for the last 15 months!

      Maybe THIS will jog your memory. (That's the SECOND time I posted that (first time was at BigBitch.com) and it was only 3.5 years ago.

      You need to get on the Ginkgo Biloba. Either that or drink more and change to graveyard shi(f)ts.

      Gary Hoey is damned good. (I like his soundtrack to the movie 'Endless Summer II' better'n the stuffs he recorded outside of that soundtrack gig.) But as I told ya then, I tells ya now: As good as Hoey is, Gatton is better. If you don't believe that, go check out the last two postings by Chris Fries at his 'The Creative Outlet Of StratPlayer' blog (http://stratplayercjf.blogspot.com/).

      ~ D-FensDogg
      'Loyal American Underground'

      Delete
    2. Well, my memory ain't what it used to be...and it never was that much.

      A co-worker is an avid surfer.

      I would love to know what made someone look at a tree, look at the ocean and think....cut down the tree, make a plank, and ride a wave?

      Delete
    3. >>... A co-worker is an avid surfer.

      I hate to be argumentative but... I would argue that NO ONE living in phukin' Phoenix, Airheadzona, could honestly be described as "an avid surfer".

      Nevertheless, your remark about the tree and the ocean is spot-on and very intriguing. Indeed, a surfboard and a wave is the perfect marriage of earth and sea. (Never thought about that before.)

      Had I been the first would-be "surfer", I'm so retarded that I'd have probably thought: I wonder what would happen if I stood on this dead halibut and tried to glide across the ocean?

      ~ D-FensDogg
      'Loyal American Underground'

      Delete
    4. I went to college with a guy who claimed he was an "avid surfer." Born and raised here, too.

      I didn't have the heart to tell him surfing in your bathtub doesn't count.

      Delete
    5. Ha! Yeah, if someone's going to call himself an "avid surfer", I think living near the ocean is a requirement. How "avid" can you be if you only go surfing for a week while on a vacation once a year?

      I've been an avid record collector for years!
      So far, I own 3 albums by The Beatles, The Rutles soundtrack album, 'Songs To Remember' and 'Merry Christmas To All Of You' by Mantovani, and next week I'm planning to pick up a copy of 'Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975)' by The Eagles.

      ~ D-FensDogg
      'Loyal American Underground'

      Delete
  3. Now I really want to see Once Upon A Time In The West! I remember lugging my brother's old clunky stereo to college. I'm glad your sleek Bose is a quality sound system.

    Julie

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    Replies
    1. GEM JULIE ~
      Not only is 'Once Upon A Time In The West' a great movie (far better'n ANY of Clint Eastwood's 'Spaghetti' Westerns), but 'ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST' by Dire Straits is a great song, too!

      In the movie, Charles Bronson is a bad mofo; Henry Fonda is pure evil; Claudia Cardinale is hot, Hot, HOT!; and Jason Robards (one of my "favoritist" actors) is very cool.

      Of course, any American West history buff knows that the stand-in-the-middle-of-the-street and shoot-it-out is almost pure Hollywood fiction, but who cares, right? It makes for a tense, exciting scene in a Western movie, and nowhere was it ever done better than in 'OUATITW'.

      If you see the movie, be aware that Cheyenne (Jason Robards) sometimes refers to himself in the third-person (e.g., "Cheyenne's men don't get killed.") The first time I saw 'OUATITW' that thang kind of threw me for a momentary loop. (Wait! I thought HE was Cheyenne!)

      If you see it, let me know what you thought. I wanna know if I steered you right or wrong (no pun intended).

      ~ D-FensDogg
      'Loyal American Western Movie Fan'

      Delete
  4. I think I've seen 'Once Upon a Time in the West', help me remember. Is this the 'desperados waiting for a train movie'? I tried to find that clip on Youtube to check it out, but ran out of time. Whichever from your clip it seems like a great soundtrack, but not exactly one you would want to turn up to eleven.

    Glad the new Bose is working out for you. Even with a trade in that is a hefty sum of $$$, for someone like me.

    Oh and Happy Birthday to Pa McYou. I suspect you're pretty proud of your son.

    ReplyDelete
  5. FAE ~
    Ha! Well, 'Desperados Waiting For A Train' is a song. But you're right that the movie begins with desperados waiting for a train - one of them being crazy-eyed Jack Elam. 'High Noon' also includes a scene of desperados waiting for a train, so I'm not sure which of these 3 things you have in mind.

    The opening scene in 'OUATITW', where 3 desperados are waiting for a train is fantastic because it goes on for quite a number of minutes and there is no dialogue at all. It's just 3 armed men waiting for a train to arrive with nuttin' said to no one. Sounds really boring, huh? Hardly!

    There are several things going on while the natural sounds are really heightened, like the sound of water dripping on Woody Strode's cowboy hat, the sound of heavy boots on wood planks, and Jack Elam trapping a fly in the barrel of his gun. (Does any of that seem familiar?) Right from the beginning, in a long scene with no dialogue and just a bunch of waiting around, one can tell that this is going to be an extraordinary movie.

    The storyline itself revolves around a lame, ruthless railroad owner building a track across the West and all the obstacles and various agendas that must be dealt with along the way. There are few Westerns I like better.

    Ennio Morricone (also responsible for the soundtrack to 'The Legend Of 1900') is underrated because he's written so much for movies. And, yes, a Western movie soundtrack doesn't seem to be the thing you'd crank up to eleven, but in this case it IS.

    There are some beautifully sweeping melodies involved, and then the tracks 'As A Judgment' and another one I can't recall the title of but it sounds like a sword being repeatedly pulled from a metal scabbard are very ominous sounding and go great at "eleven".

    Believe me, the Bose was a hefty sum of $$$ for me too, and I couldn't have even considered it had it not been nearly half-price. But with my move coming up, music may be all the entertainment I have for awhile, so I needed something to play my CD collection on, and a Bose at half-price doesn't get offered very often, as far as I know.

    ~ D-FensDogg
    'Loyal American Underground'

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    Replies
    1. Ya know, Jerry Jeff Walker first recorded the song 'Desperados Waiting for a Train' sometime in the early seventies and I've heard a recording where in the prologue he refers to the movie, as though the song was written in response to that scene. Of course, now that I want to reference it, I can't find that recording with Walker making that reference anywhere. Go figure!

      Delete
    2. Try SPOTIFY.

      Oh, wait... that's right, you still can't get it (I'm guessing, since I never received any feedback on that experiment).

      ~ D-FensDogg
      'Loyal American Underground'

      Delete
  6. 'Open invitation' - there's a few memories! Great song. The only song I knew of Prima was gigolo - never another.

    I saw Willie in concert about seven years ago - he seemed to have problems remembering song lyrics. (Then again I haven't done any drinking or drugging in 25 years; it's possible there were never any lyrics to begin with.) My favorite was always 'Poncho & Lefty. ("...all the feral robbies say... they couldda mumbled any day...") Seriously. He missed a few lyrics. Yepper.

    You know, I think Auger is like Santana light. I wasn't the kick back kind. I was the amp Bruce Sprinstein kind... "Tonight in jungle land".... yepper. The Who, and Meatloaf, Eric Burden & the animals, Hollies, Dave Clark Five. Chicago, Jimi, Billy Preston, and Yul Brnyer!! (don't ask)

    Okay, so much for the nicities - now I have to tell you off... here we go...

    Oh yes - Chuck you Farley! Let me refresh your memory:

    >>...What do you call an uncool girl in the deep South?
    Dixie Polka.

    Aw, but he's tired -

    ...>>Ha! I just got home from work, but with a line like that, it seems my sleep-deprivation is showing.

    Yes Batman - Dixie Polkas do exist!! I happen to like this one: http://youtu.be/ulWrva97R8E
    and this one too: http://youtu.be/CQCGBeDoW0o

    Oh yes and this little gem -

    ...>> Sheesh! The dryer stopped?
    That's even worse than "I have a headache".

    I have come to the conclusion that dryer lint is the cremated remains of all of my missing socks. At one point I was so distressed I would sit by the dryer for hours - waiting - ready to assist survivors. It's a cold lonely basement when your only companion is a plastic basket. One might think you'd show a genuine sensitivity, Chuck -

    ...>> "Get off me, honey. The dryer stopped." (Did you ever say that to the Countess?) 'Spatial', I'm sure. OR

    ...>>Ha! I just got home from work, but with a line like that, it seems my sleep-deprivation is showing. (Is it possible this phrase comes in handy for most situations?)

    I experience sock deprivation. Only one day a week is permitted for laundry. I don't mix laundry with pleasure. I never have headaches. Sheesh! What - do you make this stuff up? Oh wait... I forgot -

    ...>>Ha! I just got home from work, but with a line like that, it seems my sleep-deprivation is showing. (uh-huh)

    Aw - no worries, Chuck - I forgive you(smile).
    In fact I'm going to drop a link to one of my favy little songs. It's especially nice because my fireplace looks exactly like this. And if you were here - you could handle the next load in(smile) Farley!

    Well, that's enough. Tonight I'm making peanut butter cookies. The timer just sounded.
    Don't go there!(smile)

    Christmas in Dixie - Kenny Chesney, featuring Randy Owen & the boys.
    http://youtu.be/o_G3wXBr3sc

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    1. That Santana album also contained the song 'STORMY' with the great Greg Walker doing the lead vocals. Best vocalist Santana ever employed!

      Prima and his wife, Keely Smith, recorded a lot of really good, fun songs. In fact, I think Keely Smith's version of 'I Gotta Right To Sing The Blues' is probably the best I've ever heard. Prima and Keely are also very famous for 'That Old Black Magic', and it was Prima who wrote the Benny Goodman classic 'Swing, Swing, Swing'. I used to know a waitress in a really great little, old-school lounge who was crazy about Keely Smith's song 'I Wish You Love'. My all-time favorite Louis Prima song (which he did with Sam Butera) was a comedic thing called 'There'll Be No Next Time' (my buddy Sheboyganboy Six knows it),

      But here is a Louis Prima song that I would bet some serious moolah that you've heard before:

      EVERYBODY KNOWS THIS SONG! A duet with Phil Harris, who was another of my Pa's favorites.

      >>... You know, I think Auger is like Santana light.

      Santana light?
      Well, if he was Santana "anything" (which he wasn't and still isn't) it definitely wasn't "light".

      *BUZZ!* ..."I can lose that music credibility in ONE sentence!"

      Yeah, I used to be a huge Springsteen fan before the release of 'Darkness On The Edge Of Town', (saw at least 4 of his concerts) and my enthusiasm barely made it through 'Born In The U.S.A.', after which I became politically informed and dumped Bruce along with all the other commie musicians I used to listen to. (But I still own his first two albums on CD.)

      >>... Yul Brnyer!! (don't ask)

      Yul Brynner? What, for 'The King And I'?
      Oh, never mind. I forgot you told me not to ask.

      I'm not Chuck U. Farley! Chuck U. Farley was an actor who appeared in the movie 'Buggery On The High Seas'. (See Cheech Y Chong's 'Pedro And Man At The Drive-In'.)

      Well, that first Dixie Polka wasn't bad at all, I admit it. However, I was right about one thing: It still ain't "cool".

      >>... I have come to the conclusion that dryer lint is the cremated remains of all of my missing socks.

      Hokey-Smoke! I think you may have just solved a mystery that has plagued mankind ever since the invention of the electric dryer. Now think about all those totally useless "Missing" Posters that have been printed and posted over the decades.

      Thanks for the offer, but I've got my own laundry to do. And a tree to decorate, Christmas cards to address and mail, gifts to wrap, friends to call, and... and, in fact, if you get done with your laundry early, how 'bout you come over here and decorate this tree for me? You can listen to all the Polka your heart desires... through headphones.
      [:-)}

      ~ D-FensDogg
      'Loyal American Underground'

      Delete
    2. POSTSCRIPT:
      DIXIE POLKA ~
      I didn't comment on the Kenny Chesney song before because I was unable to get it (or any other YouTube videos) to play due to some Greek language problem pertaining to a "Shockwave Plug-In". And that's all the Greek I understood about it.

      Now, however, I found a way to make it play and... I liked it. That was a really nice little song with some especially elegant guitar riffs woven throughout. Nice fire in the fireplace, too. Thanks for the little trip down Dixie way.

      ~ D-FensDogg
      'Loyal American Underground Outlaw-Country Music Fan'

      Delete
    3. ~D-FensDogg,
      Hope my comment didn't strike you as being unruly. I may have deleted too much from the original comment, but I'm terribly wordy. (No joke)
      Santana light was between the two songs you posted. I really don't Auger's work beyond what you shared. This is also why I've been hesitant about BOTB - I simply don't know artists' complete works. I would think the background knowledge would assist.

      A statement is missing for Yul Bryner - I really messed that comment up and didn't keep a copy.

      Not much I can do now... except apologize. I joke with everybody and this was supposed to funny.

      I am glad you enjoyed the Kenny-Randy video. It's always a peaceful song to me. My parents couldn't wait for me to hear it the Christmas it came out.
      Best move along before I start deleting to shorten and mess up another comment!
      dc

      Delete
    4. No, I didn't think the comment was unruly. Besides, unruly doesn't bother me. I'm unruly a good amount of the time myself.

      BOTB: No knowledge necessary. All ya gotta do is pick a song, find another version you think might give it some competition in the voting process, post 'em both and write: "Vote for one."

      Of course some BOTBers (but certainly not all) do sometimes include some background info about the song or artist, much of which can simply be copied from Wiki(Wacky)pedia, but it's not mandatory or even necessary.

      In fact, I think it's mostly just us First Four BOTBers plus Chris Fries who ever include any background or personal info pertaining to the songs or artists. The rest mostly just post two versions and say, "Vote".

      BOTB installments can be made as complex (with photos and extra info) or as simple (just two embedded YouTube song videos) as the BOTBer chooses to make them.

      ~ D-FensDogg
      'Loyal American Underground'

      Delete
  7. See... dee player? What's that? I know all about Bose, but I don't know what these "contact diss" things are that you keep referencing.

    Actually, I didn't even realize until your mention of the brand name (shows how much I care) that my big computer speakers are Bose. And they sound awesome. I've turned them up to eleventy right now while I'm enjoying some of that Gary Hoey.

    So, funny story. As you know, my brother-in-law used to live in this townhouse I'm stuck in now. He left an ungodly amount of crap here when he left, most of which we've either donated or given away. But in the bathroom, tucked in a cabinet for over 4 years, was this funky looking tower thing that kinda looks like a space ship had sex with a trash can.

    The Brookstone Hand Held Trash Can Spaceship

    We ignored it for years, and then finally the wife went to clean out the bathroom cabinets over the summer and asked me to figure out what the hell it was before she just threw it away. I grabbed it and flipped it around... had no idea what the hell it was, until I saw a little rubber flap. Pulled it away, and there was an audio input jack. Was this really a portable speaker? For the bathroom (My BIL is, uh, "eccentric" like that)?

    So I plugged it into my mp3 player... and it sounds awesome. Just as good as any stereo I've ever had. It even has a bass booster. It no longer resides in the bathroom, and now whenever I want to have a BBQ with some music I just grab my little hand held spaceship and lug it outside... She can't quite reach the moon, but she can sure reach eleven.

    ~6B

    ReplyDelete
  8. 6-B ~
    Who the hell would want to reach the Moon anyway? It's just a bunch of dust and rocks. I'd much rather reach eleven, or even eleventy... just before I spontaneously combust.

    Say, does anyone know, is it only drummers who spontaneously combust, or do other musicians spontaneously combust also?

    6-B, you got that dandy little thing for the best price of all time, too: free!

    Methinks your BIL has too much money if he can afford to leave stuffs like that behind. Ask him if he wants to buy LC a Bose player for his contact disses.

    ~ D-FensDogg
    'Loyal American Underground'

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, you know, dozens of people spontaneously combust each year... It's just not widely reported.

      And yes, my BIL does things with money that would make you weep. Like when he moved, the thought of hiring a moving company to drag all of his stuff to another state was "exhausting" so he just left everything here for us... whether we wanted it or not. And then he went and bought brand new furniture. And clothes. And electronics. I have a Playstation 3 that's been sitting in a cloud of dust for at least 4 years, that would probably make some poor gamer cry if he knew about it.

      On that note, I'm sure my BIL's even got one of those "see dee" players, the best model available at the time of purchase, that's just sitting in a closet gathering dust... wishing it was in L.C.'s possession.

      Delete
    2. If there's anybody who could put it to use, it's LC.

      ~ D-FensDogg
      'Loyal American Underground'

      Delete

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