BATTLE OF THE BANDS: 2025, MARCH 1 (Or, ELTON JOHN Versus BRIAN SETZER)

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2 MAJOR ANNOUCEMENTS 

before we begin this E-Ticket Show:

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#1) Judge Al Bondigas received an Email from Elon Musk (via dogGe.gov), informing him that he is no longer employed in the Federal Court System. Therefore, henceforth (and going into the future, too), Judgey will no longer be making "rulin's" in the Battle Of The Bands contests....

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...other than mine, of course. After all, he still owes me 'cuz I did save his life once, after he chased a badminton birdie and went crashing through my bedroom window, cutting his artery and slicing himself open from the armpit straight down Lincoln Boulevard to the bend in the road near Culver City! And then he had the audacity to tell me what to do: 

"Just let me die". 

I'm sorry but NOBODY breaks my bedroom window and then tells ME what to do!! 

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Scars? Judge Al's got 'em!

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New window & new (wealthy) homeowner.

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BTW, Judge Al's life wasn't the only one I've saved. I probably also saved my own Ma's life when she panicked and likely would have drowned in a Lake Tahoe motel swimming pool. (At some point, someone should have enough respect for me to address me as "Saint Bernard"). 

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It may possibly be within 'The Realm Of Possibility' that I also saved the life of some unknown young woman at the northeast corner of Wilshire Boulevard & Gayley Avenue early one morning in early 1982.

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Northeast corner of Wilshire Blvd. & Gayley Ave.

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She had NO business... being near the scene of the crime 10 hours later! But then again, neither did I. ...Something about a massive bank window being kicked in (15 feet tall & 5 feet wide) and... somebody (i.e., the kicker, who was not me) having to retrieve the shoe that fell off his drunken foot and landed inside the bank. I dunno... I'm felly confused-uh! To me, it all seems like something from a Mr. Peabody's 'Waybac Machine' dream.

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Regardless & nevertheless, in the early morning fog, a speeding car ran a red light, and some exceedingly hungover guy -- who felt very remotely like me -- extended his right arm to prevent the lovely lady from stepping off the curb and getting hit by the speeding, red light-running asshole driver.

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That's all I can recall about the event, but if you greatly desire less info about it, you should consult your copy of 'The League Of Soul Crusaders', chapter 12 ('In Formation'), pages 80 & 81, wherein the incident is not at all mentioned.

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#2) Uhm... uh... Sorry, but I've forgotten what the second major announcement was supposed to be.

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Alright, let's get on it! 

Let's get ON this thing!!

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In my last BOTB's Battle Of The Booze [here], I featured two ballads (also Dodger Stadium, Lifeguard Station #26, as well as Disneyland and its formerly great Hotel). This time we're turning 180-degrees and listening to some high-energy Rockers! (You should must crank the volume up to eleven!) 

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In 1973, Elton John had a big hit with 'Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting)', a song that I strongly feel deserves a place in the official Punk Rock timeline.

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Sometime after Brian Setzer broke up his neo-Rockabilly band the Stray Cats, he formed a new group called The Brian Setzer Orchestra. (Methinks it shoulda been called Brian Setzer & His Domesticated Dogs. But what could a poor, uncelebrated blogger like me know?)

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Anyway, Elton's hit is facing off against Setzer's remodeled Stray Cats hit 'Rock This Town'. Both songs mention booze ("belly full of beer" & "whiskey on the rocks") and both of them also mention Saturday night & fisticuffs.

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Please vote here and at the other BOTB contests. I intend to return here on March 8th with my own vote and the Final Tally.

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'SATURDAY NIGHT'S ALRIGHT (FOR FIGHTING)'

by Elton John

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhnZEmnuzgM

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'ROCK THIS TOWN' 

by The Brian Setzer Orchestra

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lvXC2DJ_7Y

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TTFN, 

~ Saint Bernard