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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.]

Monday, April 10, 2023

BOTB RESULTS: APRIL 1, 2023 (Or, THE WESTERN MUSICAL SHOOTOUT: THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE UGLY)

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I'm a wee bit o' late getting this BOTB Results post up due to the Easter weekend. Although [link> THIS was the most fun I had constructing a Battle Of The Bands contest in quite some time, there wasn't exactly a top-notch voter turnout for this one. Nevertheless, I FULLY appreciate everyone who DID take the time to show up, listen / watch, and cast a vote. I enjoyed the contest.
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Despite the sad-assed low voter input, it was a really close Battle, which made me feel good, because I *definitely* foresaw this 3-Way match-up as being extremely competitive. It was a Battle between songs from movie musicals with some A-list performers included: Doris Day & Howard Keel from 'Calamity Jane' (song: 'I Could Do Without You'), Gordon MacRae from 'Oklahoma!' (song: 'Oh, What A Beautiful Morning'), and Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Pat Crowley & "The Smartest And Fastest Dog In The Movies", Mr. Bascom, in 'Hollywood Or Bust' (song: 'The Wild & Woolly West').
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Personally, I like every single one of these songs. But ONE of them I like far, Far, FAR more than the other two. 'I Could Do Without You' has a really terrific lyrical whiplash comedy sense. It's a MUCH better version of the earlier & similar 'Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better', which I almost used until I realized the song is just... annoying.
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Gordon MacRae's famous 'Oh, What A Beautiful Morning' is beautiful, and sounds almost like a [link> prayer!
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BUT(!)... my own favorite is easily 'The Wild & Woolly West'. Why? Uh... how much time do you have? Because I could go on for over an hour with 101 reasons I love this song *AND* the movie it comes from, 'Hollywood Or Bust' (H.O.B.) -- the final movie featuring both Martin & Lewis. H.O.B. is one of the silliest pictures ever made and it has become my #1 favorite "guilty pleasure" movie. The more depressing and insanely ridiculous this world and my country becomes, the more I watch H.O.B. as a form of escapism from the "real" nuttiness around me. I don't even want to tell you how many times I've watched the movie just since Sept. of 2021.
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As I wrote above, there must be at least 101 reasons I love H.O.B. Here is just a small sample of them:
1) When I first started to study acting professionally, one academy I briefly attended was actually owned and operated by the first female "Redhead" who appears with Dean Martin in H.O.B.
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2) Hollywood Park race track is featured in a couple shots in this movie, and I spent many days & hours "playing the horses" there with my Pa. (He passed away 27 years ago today.)
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3) Some of the scenery in the movie is flat-out gorgeous, and this shot below even reminds me of a painting that hung in my Grandpa's living room for all of the years I was growing up:
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4) Although so-called "progress" bulldozed it years ago, my favorite place in Las Vegas was The Algiers Hotel & Lounge. The Algiers was a real blast to the past, and the lounge was one of my all-time favorites! It was so dark and old in the lounge that every time a person entered it, a beam of light from the Sun would pierce the room, reminding me that it was still daytime outside. And I always half-expected Frank Sinatra and his Rat Pack to come in and sit down next to me at the bar.
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The Algiers (in 1956) shows up at the very end of the song 'The Wild & Woolly West':
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5) The ending of H.O.B. was so memorably zany that Mel Brooks stole "borrowed" the idea, elaborated on it a bit, and used it to end his classic comedy 'Blazing Saddles'.
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6) I have always been a huge fan of "Breaking The 4th Wall". This is a kind of 'wink & nod' when a movie or play acknowledges that there is an audience watching. (The audience serves as an imaginary 4th wall, and when a performer breaks that illusion, it's like he/she is saying, "Yeah, we know you're out there watching this game that we're all in on.") The TV series 'MOONLIGHTING' was constantly "Breaking the 4th Wall" and that's one of the reasons it was/is one of my very favorite shows ever.
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In just that one song, 'THE WILD & WOOLLY WEST', 'Hollywood Or Bust' hilariously Broke the 4th Wall at least twice, and arguably even three times. Here are some photos of the 4th wall being broken during the singing of 'The Wild & Woolly West':
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I literally chuckle-out-loud every time I see/hear that song! And there wasn't anything wrong with this scenery in H.O.B.:
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So, now you have an idea of why my vote for 'The Wild & Woolly West' was a no-brainer for me. Here's how the BOTB "boting" ended up:
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FINAL TALLY:
'I Could Do Without You' = 2 votes
'Oh, What A Beautiful Morning' = 4 votes
'The Wild & Woolly West' = 5 votes
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Whoa-Nelly! That was a close outcome! I loves it!
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My thanks again to everyone who participated in this Battle. I intend to return with another one on May 1st. Be here or be... somewheres else.
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~ Stephen T. McCarthy

Saturday, April 1, 2023

BATTLE OF THE BANDS: APRIL 1, 2023 (Or, THE WESTERN MUSICAL SHOOTOUT: THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE UGLY)

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[STMcC pretending to be a "good guy" - 1986.]
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STEPHEN T. McCARTHY [speaking to a friend a long time back] : "I really don't like Musicals. The only ones I like are 'Singin' In The Rain' and 'My Fair Lady'. ...Well, and I like 'The Wizard Of Oz', that's actually a musical, too. ...And the movie 'Hair', I like that one. ...Oh, and I love 'Bells Are Ringing'. ...And, of course, I love 'Song Of The South'. ...'JungleBook', of course, and all those old, classic Disney musicals... Oh, and 'Scrooge' is a huge favorite of mine - that's a musical. And, technically, so is 'One From The Heart', which I love. ...Also I like the Roy Rogers B-Western movie musicals 'Under California Stars', 'The Bells Of San Angelo', and 'Heldorado'. ...And... And... And..." 
And After naming off a few more musicals, I stopped myself and said: "Well, damn! I guess I DO like musicals!"
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[Pooh in the hoosegow, Virginia City, Nevada - 1986.]
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This month I'm doing a 3-Way Battle Of The Bands installment that I've been planning for a long time. This is April Fool's Day, and since Jerry Lewis (quite possibly America's most famous fool) is featured in one of the songs, I figured April 1st was an ideal time to unleash this Battle on y'all.
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Below, I have 3 songs and scenes from movie musicals featuring a 'Western' theme. I want you to vote for your favorite. BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!!... Because these are not just songs but full movie scenes, this is one of the rare times when I'm going to allow you to take BOTH the songs AND the video scenes into consideration when casting your votes. If you want to vote based solely on the song, that's fine. But if you want to take into consideration the song *AND* the accompanying scene, that's perfectly acceptable, too!
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[STMcC very hungover one morning in Arizona - 1986]
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FUN TRIVIA FACT: The most famous song in this Battle, 'Oklahoma!', was written by the legendary Rodgers & Hammerstein. *BOTH* of the other songs in this Battle were written by Paul Francis Webster & Sammy Fain; and in one of these two Webster & Fain songs, there's a lyrical reference to Rodgers & Hammerstein's song 'Oklahoma!' How's that for tying together a 3-way BOTB installment? Does I know my stuffs, or what?! 😉
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I hope y'all enjoy this, because I had 
a lot of F-U-N-! putting it together!
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Alright, let's get on it. Let's get ON this thing!
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Doris Day and Howard Keel - "I Can Do Without You" from Calamity Jane (1953)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZuaESf0MdY

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Gordon MacRae OH, WHAT A BEAUTIFUL MORNING from the film Oklahoma! HD - 1955
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNi0NJ1dfeE
 
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*NOTE: This last one is a two-part video combined. The song doesn't end when the Sun sets on Arizona. Let it keep playing until you get through Las Vegas, Nevada.* 
"Am I gettin' through to ya, fella?"
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Martin & Lewis & Pat Crowley [& the great dog, Mr. Bascom] - The Wild & Woolly West (Parts 1 & 2) - 1956
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYVDADnuGoc
 
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After voting here, please be sure to visit the other BOTBers [see links in the right-hand column --->] and vote there too, like a good BOTB community supporter. I will return here on or about April 8th with my own "bote" and the Results of this Western showdown.
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~ Stephen T. McCarthy
(I hopes I don't die with muh boots on and singing out of key!)