Welcome to the $uper Bowl of the $ilver Dollar $aloon $ong Challenge! For you folks who don't know nut'n 'bout football, that means this is the LAST installment in this Challenge, and whoever wins is "the best", and they'll be going to
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ONLY songs that I have heard played at the Silver Dollar Saloon in Virginia City have been eligible to participate in this contest. That's the common thread: I've heard them at one time or another in one of the funkiest bars I've ever had the pleasure to pass out in!
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ONLY songs that I have heard played at the Silver Dollar Saloon in Virginia City have been eligible to participate in this contest. That's the common thread: I've heard them at one time or another in one of the funkiest bars I've ever had the pleasure to pass out in!
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No, the sign isn't a joke. Dogs ARE welcome at the Silver Dollar Saloon; and I have been tolerated there many times since February, 1992.
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A quick recap of what's brought us to this point:
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Dr. John (11) beat The Average White Band (4) in February, 2022.
Dr. John (9) beat Jonny Lang (4) in January, 2023.
Dr. John (10) beat Greg & Steve (3) in February.
Dr. John (8) beat Waylon Jennings (3) in May.
Jonny Lang (9) beat Dr. John (4) in August.
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'Lie To Me' by Jonny Lang is our current reigning champion. I heard this song in the Silver Dollar Saloon on December 8, 2019. In this Grand Finale showdown, it is going up against 'The Battle Of New Orleans' by Johnny Horton, which I heard in the Silver Dollar Saloon on August 8, 2022.
A quick recap of what's brought us to this point:
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Dr. John (11) beat The Average White Band (4) in February, 2022.
Dr. John (9) beat Jonny Lang (4) in January, 2023.
Dr. John (10) beat Greg & Steve (3) in February.
Dr. John (8) beat Waylon Jennings (3) in May.
Jonny Lang (9) beat Dr. John (4) in August.
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'Lie To Me' by Jonny Lang is our current reigning champion. I heard this song in the Silver Dollar Saloon on December 8, 2019. In this Grand Finale showdown, it is going up against 'The Battle Of New Orleans' by Johnny Horton, which I heard in the Silver Dollar Saloon on August 8, 2022.
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I consider Horton's recording to be one of the all-time greatest American bar songs. In my 2016, "Margarita Day" Battle Of The Bands post, I explained why I feel this way, and how this song connects Arlee Bird, Sixgun McItchyfinger (a.k.a. Sheboyganboy Six) and myself together into a Terrible Trinity! If'n anyone is interested in that old story, you can read it HERE. (In a funny and twisted roundabout way, if you like Lee's blog, and if you like the April 'A To Z Challenge', you can probably thank Johnny Horton's song for their existence.)
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It's JONNY versus JOHNNY "for all the marbles", as we kids used to say in the early 1960s on the playground at Iva Meairs Elementary School in Garden Grove. Jonny (without an h) or Johnny (with an h) - which one are you voting for in the comment section below?
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I will return here on or about November 8th to cast my own vote and announce the final winner of THE $ILVER DOLLAR $ALOON $ONG CHALLENGE! Be here or be really, Really, REALLY uncool!
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Bless And Be Blessed!!
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~ Stephen T. McCarthy
DogGtor of Alcohology &
King of Inebriation Nation
It's JONNY versus JOHNNY "for all the marbles", as we kids used to say in the early 1960s on the playground at Iva Meairs Elementary School in Garden Grove. Jonny (without an h) or Johnny (with an h) - which one are you voting for in the comment section below?
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LIE TO ME by Jonny Lang
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THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS
by Johnny Horton
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After you vote here, please be sure to vote in the other BOTB contests. (See the Participants links in the right-hand column of this blog.).
I will return here on or about November 8th to cast my own vote and announce the final winner of THE $ILVER DOLLAR $ALOON $ONG CHALLENGE! Be here or be really, Really, REALLY uncool!
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Bless And Be Blessed!!
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~ Stephen T. McCarthy
DogGtor of Alcohology &
King of Inebriation Nation
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POSTSCRIPT:
If you'd like to view a beautiful 5-minute tour of Virginia City, Nevada, photographed from above by a drone, don't miss this super-bitchin' video:
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VIRGINIA CITY by Drone World
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Well, Stephen, your prediction of how I would vote in this battle is going to come true! Battle of New Orleans is a fun song, but for pure listening pleasure, I have to go with Jonny Lang. Love those guitar riffs! ☺ Interesting back story with you, Arlee and Amazon. They banned you?!
ReplyDeleteDEBBIE D'DOGLADY ~
DeleteYip! I knew there wouldn't be any "Purple Waylon Effect" in this Battle from you. I already had your vote locked in before you posted it. Ha! (I'm not saying that Johnny Horton is synonymous with The Partridge Family, but I thought he was close enough to make the analogy valid.)
Oh, yes, Amazon.com (or BigBitch.com, as I prefer to refer to them) eradicated every trace of me on their website, despite my being nearly a Top 1,000 Reviewer.
The thing is that all of these social media outlets have agendas, and if you buck the agenda too often (and with too much unassailable truth) you will be censored and eventually "disappeared" altogether. Being a maverick since birth, and rarely seeing eye-to-eye with *any* "orthodox" view of anything, it was only a matter of time before BigBitch would assassinate me. (Google hates me, too. I doubt if anyone has been shadow-banned at YouTube more than I have been.)
The way I look at it is: If I'm not upsetting The Powers That Be, then I'm not serving my purpose in life. :^D
~ D-FensDogG
I love your shit-disturbing attitude, Stephen! ☺ Stirring the pot
DeleteGuffaw-Out-Loud!
DeleteYip! That's me alright. Not very big but plenty feisty.
In fact, on my 'Ferret-Faced Fascist Friends' blog, just I above my photo, I describe myself as [Link> THIS BLOG'S SH!T-STIRRER
Good call, Debbie!!
~ D-FensDogG
Ah yes, those Amazon discussion thread days! It was back when I had a regular job and a regular paycheck. I kind of miss those days--especially that damn paycheck!
ReplyDeleteJonny's song was really good, but Johnny has been with me since my childhood. Initially I was going to vote for the Lang song until I started listening to the Horton classic. That one just can't be beat!
It's Johnny Horton for me!
Lee
ARLEE BOIDMAN ~
DeleteYou've already got all the music you could ever possibly listen to. What do you need a paycheck for? You need more furniture? ;^)
I know from BOTB's history that you're not a big Blues fan, and so I kinda had you figgered for a Johnny Horton supporter.
But that having been said, going into it, this Battle had me mystified. As I mentioned to dIEDRE, I foresaw it being a big blowout... or possibly a tie.
~ D-FensDogG
So Stephen: do you know how I am going to vote? I would guess you have an idea, yet are also unsure. We'll see.
ReplyDeleteFirst, comments on the videos. I think "no-h" looks a LOT like a young Mick Jagger. If you check his agonized looks from about 1:10 on - closed eyes, super-wide mouth - looks like a young Mick to me. And in the "yes-h" video, the alligator with legs splayed above the water really cracks me up!
As for the contest: "no-h" is SOOOOO good on this song! I am sure he's going to win this battle.
But as good as he is, he does not get my vote, "H" does. Was there any doubt? I will not vote against history. That song - besides being fun and singable - started this whole thing and introduced me to two people that have become great friends! I look forward to each and every BotB, and though I rarely go to battles beyond yours and Lee's, I've enjoyed peripherally meeting the other voters and reading their comments. The Battle of the Bands has provided many hours of enjoyment for me through the nearing 200 contests. So thanks to you, and Lee, and Far Away Eyes (though she no longer participates!)
I have no idea what is really "the best bar song" of all time. I don't go to bars, so I have little experience with bar music. But Battle of New Orleans is a great song that just may be THAT song.
Sixgun McItchySheboyganfinger Six
THE AMAZING SIXWELL
Delete(Man Of Six-Thousand Nicknames) ~
Terrific comment, my friend!
I know I've said this before but... ordinarily when I am considering a BOTB match-up, I don't attempt to predict how *everyone* will vote. As long as I am reasonably sure that there will be at least one vote for each contestant (thus avoiding a shutout), then I'm good to go.
However, *THIS* Battle being the Super Bowl, the denouement to this long-running $ilver Dollar $aloon $ong Challenge, I did try to predict votes but I came away unsure of anything. I thought it might be a blowout. (It's not.) I thought it could end in a tie. (It could.)
I felt pretty sure that Lee would go with JoHnny. But with you, I really wasn't sure at all. I suppose I had you figured as an "H" voter, but only by about 52%-48%. I was about 50%-50% in anticipating John Holton's vote.
You think Jonny Lang looks like Mick Jagger? Who he?
I think he looks like Steven Tyler from Aerosmith. (GOL!)
I went and dug this up just for you:
[Link> ProvDog @ I Can Has Cheezburger
I remembered creating that meme a hunert years ago. I enjoyed creating memes at that website, even though I strongly suspected that they too were shadow-banning me (even before it was "cool" to do so).
BOTB has been a lot of fun for these 10 years, and I hope it can continue throughout World War III. I've enjoyed your participation and the fun comment exchanges we've had. I've come up with a new "themed" contest for 2024. You won't particularly care for the theme, but I think you'll dig a good number of songs that I'll be able to use in it.
~ The Not-So-Amazing STMcC
Hello Stephen
ReplyDeleteDoes it feel weird that this theme is coming to it's conclusion? I know when I finish out a theme, I feel a bit sad and not wanting things to end. I guess that's why I decided on phase 2 for my current theme. Thank goodness there are 2 spots each month for different battles.
As for this battle, I am torn. BONO is very nostalgic for me and dredges up memories of a misspent childhood. But... Not sure that I can imagine it as a bar song.
In the other hand, LTM doesn't really make me feel any sort of way but I can see it as being a good bar song.
So... I have some things to consider.
I've never really been a bar goer (especially after being almost 86'd from that Margarita joint back in the early 90s), and there's a lot to be said about those walks down memory lane.
For me, BONO wins my vote.
Good battle!
-MMQE
MMQE ~
DeleteI'm actually kind of pleased to see my $ilver Dollar $aloon $ong Challenge coming to an end. I liked it, but it taught me some "DOs & DON'Ts" about conducting an ongoing song challenge. I think this Challenge could have been done better. If I knew then what I know now, I'd have been able to keep it running and able to use ALL of the songs that were available to me. (There were some songs - The Cars, Pat Benatar, etc. - that I *could* have used if I had formatted the Challenge differently. To quote Ed Wood: "My next one will be better.")
I've seen what 'The Battle Of New Orleans' can do in a bar, and seeing is believing. However, maybe I should call it a "saloon song", since the word "bar" seems to conjure different ideas for some folks. I'm more of a saloon patron than a bar patron... unless it's a "dive bar".
I only got 86'd from a drinking establishment once in my entire career. It was an Irish bar and it was St. Patrick's Day... night. I guess I was being too "Irish" that evening and the Irishmen didn't like it. (They'd never even seen the movie 'The Quiet Man', so what did *they* know, eh?)
~ D-FensDogG
The Battle of New Orleans is a fun song and it makes me think about when I was kid but I just the Jonny Lang's vocals and that's how I'm voting!
ReplyDeleteMy battle is ready for you anytime you care to swing over, my friend.
CAThy! ~
Delete'The Battle Of New Orleans' really takes me back to my childhood also! My Ma owned the 45 single (with the illustrated dust cover) and I heard it countless times while growing up. In fact, it may have been the second song I ever loved, right after 'Home On The Range' by The Sons Of The Pioneers.
~ D-FensDogG
Home On The Range is a song I haven't thought about in years. Thanks for the reminder! :)
DeleteGotta go with Johnny Horton, first because I like his name, second (and more importantly), like Lee, I grew up with it.
ReplyDeleteHA! Right, right!!
DeleteJohn, you're only one letter away from being rich and famous. Well, also from being 63 years six feet under. I guess that doesn't sound so great after all.
I just looked him up and found that Johnny Horton was only 35 years old when he cashed in his chips. What a shame! And he was born in Los Angeles and died in Texas. That's the reverse of how that would normally go (i.e., born in Texas and died in Hollywood).
~ D-FensDogG
Hey there, Stephen T.,
ReplyDeleteThe drone video of Virginia City shows a really quiet little town. Snow, huh?
Enjoyed the flashback to the Terrible Trinity ;-)
As to your bar battle, neither song sounds like a bar song. You can't even dance to either one. But, what do I know?
I'm used to hearing the New Orleans Battle song at classic car shows and such. It's a fun song but not enough to sway me from the kid with the voice - Jonny.
Happy tallying!
Howdy, dIEDRE! ~
DeleteLots of snow in Virginia City (elevation: 6,200) in the Winter time, when most of the tourists stay off the mountain, leaving it to the locals (population: under 1,000).
However, during the warmer months, that town can get pretty revved up and rowdy:
[Link> Virginia City Special Events
I absolutely *LOVE* that video and someday I'm going to figure out a way to feature it in a Battle Of The Bands installment!
>>... As to your bar battle, neither song sounds like a bar song. You can't even dance to either one.
Dancing? ...DANCING?!
Bars aren't for dancing in. Bars are for drinking and forgetting in. (You womenfolk sure do get some strange notions. ;^)
I try to get up to V.C. about once a month, even though I already know nearly every inch of the place. There's a little boy's gravesite I often visit in the cemetery there. He died in 1887 at the age of 9 years, 10 months. I often wonder if he may be me. WOOooooo!
Happy Trails!
~ D-FensDogG
Population 1000!? Wow. Even Mayberry beats that. And the one road, one store hamlet of Cascabel now seems like a thriving metropolis – which it might have been had it not been for a devastating earthquake in 1887 that reportedly took out a relative of the mythical mammoth Thunderbird from the Salton Sea, and was instrumental in the vexation of both General Miles and Geronimo while permanently rearranging the landscape. I sure hope the young boy (in the cemetery) had time to be a kid.
DeleteTry as I might, my friend, I can think of only two bars I’ve ever been in that didn’t have a dance floor. One was in an airport. The other was a “local living room” called the Cow Palace, across from the Longhorn off of Exit 48 (How’s that for a band name?) on the way to nowhere you want to be after dark. Good times, far as I know…
Happy Trails to you!
The closest I've ever been to Cascabel was Benson... which was probably close enough, what with all the cacti and rattlers and tarantulas, oh my!!
Delete>>...Try as I might, my friend, I can think of only two bars I’ve ever been in that didn’t have a dance floor.
Try as I might, my friend, I can think of only two bars I've ever been in that did have a dance floor: The Music Machine in West Los Angeles, and The Sunspot on the Pacific Coast Highway somewhere between Santa Monica and Malibu.
I guess it's a "state" thang.
(Truth be told, I'm more of a saloon / dive bar kinda guy, than a dance club kinda guy. "Tough Guys Don't Dance", and that may have played a role in my eternal bachelorhood.)
~ D-FensDogG
And Steheheven,
ReplyDeleteGood battle indeed. A close one here. Now, here's how I determined the winner of this near photo finish. I put myself in a barstool at the Silver Dollar in my questionable imagination. And I axed myself, what song would you respond to more if it been had been playin in the Silver Dollar. Sos I'm going to pick Johnny Lang....not even looking at the other votes.
I do recall that BONO song being on the radio when I wuz a youngin and recall I liked it. But its a bit stale in my mind, but then again what isn't? Rhetorical...no need to answer. To top it off all I can think of when I think of New Orleans is the vomit lined Bourbon Street.
JW,
Pooooooooooohoooohooo!
. . . And, Pooh, that's not ALL! . . .
DeleteThat was a pretty unique way of "imagining" how you otter vote. Can you still really recall what it was like to sit on a barstool until you fell off'n it? (I wish I had a dollar for every dollar I ever spent in bars with you. :^)
Jonny "The Kid" Lang (not to be confused with Billy "The Kid" dead) thanks ya fer yer support, my Brother! I don't know how many votes each contestant has, but I do know this is a rootin'-tootin' son-of-a-gun close horsey race!
Shoot, I don't remember any vomit on Bourbon Street when I was there in 1983. But I do remember the vomit in Reno in 1986. Whose vomit was it? The world may never know. (Remember that old lollipop TV commercial? Tootsie Roll Pop, I think it was.)
Thanks for the vote and the memories, General Poohregard!
~ D-FensDogG
Actually, the aforementioned vomit mystery was in Bullhead City, I do believe. Which was solved due to hot dog particles present and what with you being a vegetarian and all...unless you are talking about the vomit between Reno and Virginia city...that my friend was yours causing a flash flood on Geiger Grade I do believe. JW, Pooh!
DeleteThe title of this episode iz...
Delete'REMINISCING WITH D-FENSDOGG,
Doggtor Of Alcohology & King Of Inebriation Nation'
Hmmm.... You may be right about Bullhead City. Perhaps I conflated the two incidents: Not Knowing How We Got Back To The Motel with Not Knowing Who Threw Up On The Floor Between The Beds (until hot dog particles were discovered by Sherlock Columbo).
Every single time I go to Virginia City (which averages about once a month), I am reminded of that Hangover Day when I drive past The Sugarloaf Motel. You know the "day" I'm referring to... When I was flat on my back all day and night, staring at the ceiling, while you were getting 86'd from the Bucket Of Blood Saloon. ...Ahhhh, the "Good Ol' Daze!"
~ D-FensDogG
This has been a great battle, and I'm glad to see people so divided still. Shutouts? Zis is Kaos - ve don't do shutouts here!
ReplyDeleteI guess because I don't have history with Battle of New Orleans, it has less of an effect on me. About my only experience with New Orleans is Cafe Du Monde chicory coffee - which is some lovely coffee if you haven't tried it - but we're here to talk music, not coffee. And if I'm sitting in a dive bar, I'd probably rather hear the soulful stylings of Mr. Jonny Lang.
So give my bote to him. And while yer at it, get the boy a haircut already. He looks like he played Red Rover with a weedwacker.
>>... Cafe Du Monde chicory coffee - which is some lovely coffee
DeleteZis iz KAOS! Ve don't do "lovely" coffee here! Ze coffee iz hot and black, like ze vimenfolkz!
FUN FACT: I approved your comment for publishing yesterday via cell phone from the Virginia City cemetery (where all the best peoples go to rest). While I was in town, I stopped in at the Silver Dollar Saloon (ca$h only) to get Wild Turkey & Seven and to pet the dogs roaming around in the saloon.
This Battle is going exactly as I had hoped it would. After all of the months of this Challenge, I really wanted to see the "Super Bowl" being neck-&-neck competitive, and it surely is. (No! I did not just call you Shirley!)
Apropos of nothing, fairly recently Nappy and I lost two of our Ping-Pong Club members. Sadly, 'Punk' and 'Mrs. Wiley (reincarnated)' met their demise due to UFP (Unfortunate Foot Placement). But I'm pleased to report that they were finally replaced by our [Link> two newest members of the P-P Club.
Thanks for your continued support of BOTB, where the "boting" costs nut'n but a wee bit o' time.
Git you a "lovely" day.
~ Stevie-Boy
Al Bondigas here. Well, I guess this it it. All good things come to an end. You know I've never been a big fan of the blues genre, but, this Johnny Lang song, and performance is pretty darn awesome. However, ( insert Niles Crane response here ), with our history of " The Battle of New Orleans", you know darn well who I'm rulin' fer. Rulin' fer Horton!! That's it, that's muh rulin'!!
ReplyDelete"I'm listening".
DeleteBefore I even posted this Battle there were two (and *ONLY* two) things I was 100% certain of: Debbie D'Doglady would vote for Jonny, and you would vote for Johnny. Everything else was uncertain, and that added to my enjoyment of this contest.
In 1993 we took a little trip
To Prescott, Arizona, where we had a little sip
We had a little sip and we had a little more
Then we got quite plastered and passed out on the floor.
What we done had did was wrong, it wasn't even right
And it later became known as "The Terrible Night".
~ STMcC-Boy
How about a couple more "bars," as it were:
DeleteWe had a bloody mary and we had a whisky sour,
But it weren't near enough so we hollered for some more.
We drank our drinks said to keep 'em comin'
but there weren't near as many as there was a while ago.
Bartender said, you boys should be runnin'
you've had too much and you really gotta go.
But we said son, you don't know Crusaders,
We'll drink you dry till you ain't got no mo'.
Sixgun
>>... How about a couple more "bars," as it were
DeleteHa!-Ha! There ain't nuttin' better'n a good saloon pun.
Hokey-Smoke! Bloody Marys and Whiskey Sours. Look at you, talkin' like you knows this bidnizz!
I don't think I've ever had a Whiskey Sour. But the last time I was in Virginny City (Nov. 3rd), I had me a Bee's Knees. Now I'll bet you ain't heard o' dat one a'fore. How 'bout a Sazerac, or a "Dirty Martini"?
You've given me a pretty neat idear here. I'd never thought about it before, but some day I really should write a full parody on The League Of Soul Crusaders based on 'The Battle Of New Orleans'. Look out, Weird Al, here ah come!! ;^)
~ D-FensDogG