STMcC’s Vote On . . .
'2018, May 15th: Battle Of The Bands' (Or, 'Lou Reed Versus Mink DeVille') And The Final Tally:
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This BOTB installment turned out fantabulous, especially considering it was something I just kind of tossed together based on an "artists" suggestion from my ol' friend Lelly.
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The Battle took place [link> HERE, and it was a back-and-forth affair with both artists holding the lead at different times. In fact, this contest was tied 8 to 8 until just two hours ago, when three final votes gave Mink DeVille's 'Cadillac Walk' the win over Lou Reed's much more famous 'Walk On The Wild Side'.
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As I said on the Battle page, back in the LP era, I owned both of the albums that contained these two songs. I purchased the Lou Reed LP specifically because of the song 'Walk On The Wild Side', and I bought the Mink DeVille album 'Cabretta' after seeing them live in concert, opening for Styx in 1977.
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But my musical tastes changed drastically over time, and just 11 years later, I was listening almost exclusively to Jazz. Today, if I heard 'Cadillac Walk' on the radio, I would turn it "up to eleven". If 'Walk On The Wild Side' started playing through my radio, I'd probably see what was on at 87.9 -- my Christian radio station. So, I s'pose that tells ya where my own vote landed.
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Lou Reed = 8 votes
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Mink DeVille = 11 votes
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This was an excellent turnout and I THANK EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU WHO VOTED! You make BOTB what it is!! (And it was nice to see a couple of BOTB old-timers -- Michele & Debbie -- return to the flock in this round.)
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I mentioned that my old pal Lelly (aka LarryR) suggested that I use Lou Reed against Mink DeVille in a BOTB contest, and that got me thinking about this "Walking" theme that I used. But, FUN FACT:
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From the time their debut album 'Cabretta' was being recorded through 1979, LarryR (Lelly) managed Mink DeVille's stage shows. That's him in the checkered cowboy shirt below (lower left corner) during the recording of the 'Cabretta' album:
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On the back cover of Mink DeVille's second album, 'Return To Magenta', Lelly was credited as [link> "Larry (Lord Logar) Rosen". (But some of his UCLA friends still call him "Lelly".)
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In 'The Battle Within The Battle', both of our competitors accurately predicted the winner of this contest, with both of them coincidentally using the exact same phraseology in making their prediction. That brings their records to...
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The Magic 8-Ball (4-0)
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The Amazing Sixwell (2-2)
.I find it doggone amusing that The Magic 8-Ball has not missed a prediction ever since we hired The Amazing Sixwell to provide it with some competition. I don't think the 8-Ball EVER got 4 in a row right before! Hmmm.... So, competition equals improved quality of output? This doesn't look good for the theology of Communism, does it?
Until my next Battle Of The Bands contest on June 1st, I'll leave you with my #1 favorite Mink DeVille song. (I would rank 'Cadillac Walk' at #2.)
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SHE'S SO TOUGH
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6cZZtYL3H4
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~ Stephen T. McCarthy
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POSTSCRIPT:
You may recall that Lelly (aka LarryR, aka Larry "Lord Logar" Rosen) is a guitarist and songwriter who has also won a Battle Of The Bands contest against Van Morrison. Click HERE.
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Stephen darlin'
ReplyDeleteYou left us with a bum link in your battle post - but I managed to find you anyway ;)
I didn't receive my voting payment, so I went with Lou Reed instead. Still a heck of a song.
Congrats to the winner! And congrats on another great turnout!
See you on the First..
~Mary
MMQE ~
DeleteThe check is in the mail! ;o)
A bum link? Where dat bum link be? I'll have the cops remove him from the premises!
~ D-FensDogG
Stephen T. McCarthy Reviews...
I'm not sure how or why I missed Mink DeVille's music over the years. Maybe it was the name or something I associated them with (not sure what that would be). I'm amazed at all of the great artists I've discovered later in my life.
ReplyDeleteGood Battle and I'm glad that things turned out as they did.
Arlee Bird
Tossing It Out
LEE ~
DeleteThe name was inspired by the idea of a luxurious Cadillac (a DeVille upholstered in mink fur). Kinda clever, in my op.
Thanks! I enjoyed this Battle much more than I expected to, and I was pleased by how neck-and-neck it was all the way through to the final day!
I have read your BOTB Results post but am unable to comment from this work computer. (This machine uses Explorer as the browser, which may or may not be the issue. But from work I can't comment on your blog or even see the videos you have embedded.) I will get over there before long, though, from my home computer.
~ D-FensDogG
Stephen T. McCarthy Reviews...
I must be slipping. I could have sworn I voted in this one. I know I listened to both the selections... I must have thought I needed to come back and vote and didn't, or got interrupted midway through writing up my vote and just never got back to it. Sorry about that!
ReplyDeleteWell, it happens, JOHN.
DeleteThe good news is that this Battle was ultimately decided by 3 votes, so yours wasn't going to be the game-changer, anyway.
See ya on 6/1.
~ D-FensDogG
Ferret-Faced Fascist Friends
Stephen,
ReplyDeleteI went with the winner this round. Your battle was certainly close. After you mentioned the song you like a lot by Ambrosia I found a nice playlist of their songs and it wasn't until I began listening to it that I realized I do know this group and loved a lot of their songs. So, thank you for making curious to know more about them!
As you know, I decided to do BoTB monthly on the 15th through the summer. There are two reasons for this, one Blogosphere is going to be like a ghost town and two I am more motivated to get some much needed chores done while the weather is nice. It was a tough call but I felt it was necessary to keep me from feeling to frazzled and then I will see blogging as work instead of fun. I'll see ya around next time June 15th if not before that time. Have a blessed holiday weekend, my friend!
CATHY ~
DeleteI've only ever heard a few of Ambrosia's hits, and it's funny that I don't personally care for any of them... EXCEPT for 'Holding On To Yesterday'. And that's a HUGE exception because I abbalouly LOVE that song!
I will bring up your excuse for BOTBing only once a month to the BOTB Bored Of Directors to see if it passes muster. (Or at least passes the mustard.)
I have a feeling you are going to be unceremoniously kicked out of the BOTB Community. Nevertheless, I'll pray and keep my fingers crossed for you.
~ D-FensDogG
Stephen T. McCarthy Reviews...
Stephen,
DeleteOh, bother! Well...if I must be kicked off the BoTB community then I'll have to live with that decision. No worries here. Thanks for letting me know that I'm treading on dangerous water. lol Have a good week, my friend!
Don't worry too much, CATHY. 99 out of 100 times, the BOTB Bored Of Directors fall asleep before they ever come to any kind of decision about... anything.
DeleteThe only thing they ever agree on is that lunch should include beer and be served promptly at Noon.
~ D-FensDogG
Ferret-Faced Fascist Friends
That's a fairly decisive battle, without being a blowout. Congrats to Mink DeVille! Thanks for explaining the history behind the name.
ReplyDeleteDEBBIE, this Battle pleased me. Having kind of tossed it together on a whim, I didn't have much in the way of expectations. But it was so close that had I not extended the voting deadline to the 13th hour so the Beer Brothers could get their votes in, my own vote would have been the deciding factor.
DeleteThanks for stopping by to see the outcome!
~ D-FensDogG
Stephen T. McCarthy Reviews...
Well, your BOTB contest was a deft, smart sleight of hand. I thought Lou Reed would win big. I'm not the world's best prognosticator. For example, in the early-mid eighties, I said that Cyndi Lauper would be bigger than Madonna. A caveat... I had no idea how much Madonna would be willing to degrade herself to be popular. In the late 80's, when hair metal and dance, and pop-rap ruled the airwaves music was party party party. Lou Reed's "New York" (that's the album title literally) was a cold smack of reality - a work of genius. Between Velvet Underground and "New York," Walk On The Wild Side was/is a good song.
ReplyDeleteI just looked it up and Lou Reed is Jewish. I'm not going to be like Hillary Clinton and claim the vote was anti-semitic and anti-tranny and gripe and second guess the concept of voting for the next 1.5+ years.
Cheers to Mink DeVille the winner. I like She's So Tough better than Cadillac Walk - both good songs and showing range - Wouldn't have changed my vote.
Another great set of choices, battle, preface, and summation S-Man.
The results were, figuratively: Close, close... Florida tips the tie, here comes Wisconsin and Michigan... Deville wins!
Cheers,
Howdy, G DOGG!
DeleteI appreciate the visit and comment!
Although I predicted it ahead of time, it's always pretty surprising when a big hit song gets beaten in BOTB by an unknown. It rarely happens. That's why it is known in the BOTB Community that putting an original against a cover, or a hit against a non-hit, is pretty much begging for a blowout... or worse!
This wasn't the first time I've done it and gotten away with it, but I seem to have a kind of knack for predicting BOTB outcomes.
I'm not nearly so good in the Prognosticating department when it comes to actors: After seeing Treat Williams in 'HAIR', I predicted that he was going to be a big star in the future.
WRONG!
And when I saw Kenneth Branagh in 'DEAD AGAIN', I predicted that he too was destined to become a big star.
WRONG!... again.
I've learned to stick to predicting BOTB contests.
Looks like "Mink DeVille is the new Donald Trump". Ha! (Nice comparison!) And I'm glad to see you're not going to get all "Hillary" about it. :^)
By the way, no busloads of illegal immigrants nor dead people in Chicago voted in this BOTB. This was all on the up-and-up. Very rarely have I suggested people vote early and often in BOTB.
~ D-FensDogG
Ferret-Faced Fascist Friends