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.]
I gots me a "hangdog expression" on me mug because I'm two (count 'em: 2) days late with this Battle Of The BandsResults post. Sorry. Been a busy couple of days 'n' stuffs like that. But I sure appreciate everyone of youz what took the time to stop by here with yer two cents for the BOTB kitty. I had a lot of fun reminiscing while putting this Battle together and I hope all y'all enjoyed it, too.
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The contest took place [link> HERE, and it was a "Speed-Singing" Battle between Johnny Cash's 'I've Been Everywhere' and Reunion's 'Life Is A Rock (But The Radio Rolled Me)'.
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['The Jack Daniel's Cross-Country Tour' - New York City to Los Angeles, Oct. 1983.]
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[VW Bug somewhere in Georgia, Oct. 1983.]
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I really dig BOTH of the songs I used in this Battle, but I prefer the very catchy, earwormy song by Reunion. After my vote was added in, we wound up with this Result:
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FINAL TALLY
Johnny Cash = 6 votes
Reunion = 6 votes
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A tie. So, what else is new?
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Anyway, thanks again, my friends, for making this BOTB installment a success. I will return with a new Battle on September 1st, so be here or be... banished to the 7th circle of Planet Le Pétomane!
Yes, it's time once again for Battle Of The Bands (BOTB).
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On July 11th, I wrote this to our friend [link>dIEDRE:
"Next Battle will be pretty unique. Here's a big clue: What do Speed Racer, Speedy Gonzalez, and The Roadrunner have in common?"
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Tha-aaa-t'sright! They're all cartoonsvery fast.
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Today's Battle features two songs sung very fast. I very cleverly call this "speed-singing". Today we have Johnny Cash and his recording of 'I've Been Everywhere' (1996) against 'Life Is A Rock (But The Radio Rolled Me)' which was a #8 Billboard smash for the one-hit-wonder group Reunion in 1974.
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I have never made a secret of the fact that I think Johnny Cash was one of the very most overrated music "artists" of all time. I only like two of his songs (the grifter didn't write either one of them). And, helck, as the old saying goes: Even a broken, nutty squirrel finds a blind clock twice a day.
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One of those two Cash recordings I like is the super-fast 'I've Been Everywhere'. Of course, Johnny didn't write it because he couldn't have -- he simply didn't have that much talent. But he DID record a good rendition of it. (If you're curious about the history of this interesting song, click HERE.)
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I haven't been EVERYWHERE, but I have been to many places. Some examples:
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I have been to Winnemucca, Mac. I have been to San Fernando Valley; Monument Valley; Silicon Valley; Simi Valley; Death Valley; and Goblin Valley.
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Goblin Valley, Utah
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STMcC with a big ol' bottle of Almaden wine in Goblin Valley.
Tom Sawyer's (i.e., Mark Twain's) boyhood home. That's STMcC's Marvelous Ma in Hannibal, MO.
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I've been to Saint Louie; and Oklahoma City looks mighty pretty.
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STMcC's brother, Judge Al Bondigas, in St. Louis, 1984.
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...photo by STMcC.
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I've seen Flagstaff, Arizona - don't forget Winona - Kingman; Barstow; San Bernardino. (In fact, I got a speeding ticket just outside of Barstow in 1980.)
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STMcC & Muddy hitchhiking on the original Route 66.
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I've gotten to Amarillo by morning, and I've been seen standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona.
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Judge Al Bondigas, STMcC & Muddy standing on a corner in Winslow, AZ.
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I've been to Colorado; Kentucky; Washington, D.C. and the Devil's (other) Tower in Wyoming.
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I've seen Grants Pass, Oregon; jumping frogs in Calaveras County; and I've fallen in love with the cute cashier at the Santa Fe drug store.
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I've been in Maine; Mississippi; Minnesota; and Butte, Montana.
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I've been to Tonopah; Tucson; Tombstone; and Toontown. I've seen Gotham City; Bullhead City; Virginia City; the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia; and Hawkeye's "Swamp" in Korea.
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Judge Al Bondigas & STMcC in Virginia City, NV. (circa 1975).
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Okefenokee Swamp, GA., where I got completely lost one night with nothing but a flashlight and only one Lowenbrau beer to sustain me! The alligators were closing in and the hoot owl was "WHOooo"-ing. *I'm NOT kidding!*
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By the time I got to Phoenix, it was 1995 (degrees). I've been ON, ABOVE and UNDER the Vincent Thomas Bridge; and 40 years later, the authorities are still looking for me on Catalina Island!
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I once made a wrong turn and 12 miles later I found myself in McGill, Nevada. (Nah, I'm just joking. Nobody "finds himself" in McGill. McGill is a place you LEAVE in order to find yourself.)
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Oops!Wrong turn.
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I've been to Appleton; Sheboygan; and Weyauwega, Wisconsin.
(Why the helck was I in Weyauwega??!!)
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I've been in Kansas... (wait for it... wait for it...)
... but I don't think I'm in Kansas anymore.
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I have been in the state of Confusion and the state of Despair. I've been in Hot Water and A-Day-Late and A-Dollar-Short. I've been lost at sea in a fifth of Bacardi. I have hallucinated on the road out of Vegas, and I've gone to jail in Mexico.
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Daphne Moon and I NEVER should have hired those undercover cops posing as "male escorts"!!
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I've even been in Monstro.
The beast swallowed me while I was watching the birdie. [Photo by the one & ONLY "Countess". Don't be fooled by cheap imitations like Jeanne Moreau!]
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But worstofall, I've been in Fringe & Paisley...
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...and I killed a bottle of bourbon in Reno just to watch it die.
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The hangover I had when I took this picture in 1986, no mortal man could have survived. *I'm NOT kidding!*
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But unlike Johnny Cash, I haven't been EVERYWHERE... man.
I never went to Katmandu, and I've never seen holy Toledo!
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Alright, let's get on it. Let's get ON this thing!...
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