BOTB RESULTS: 2024, AUG. 15 (Or, FARAWAYEYES TRIBUTE)

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My eternal gratitude to everyone who came by to read my Battle Of The Bands Tribute to Barbara (a.k.a. FarAwayEyes, FAE, Nitro Wilbury Babskiddo) and submitted a vote in the contest which took place > HERE. And a very special Thanks & shout-out to my friend > 'Wild Thing' Donna for writing & posting her own BOTB Tribute to FAE. 

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My contest was a rare 3-Way between 'Far Away Eyes' (The Rolling Stones) versus 'Summertime' (Janis Joplin) versus 'Wildflowers' (Tom Petty). 

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I predicted the outcome of this BOTB installment precisely! I must be sikike! Despite the title of the Rolling Stones' song 'Far Away Eyes', which Barbara had borrowed for her online pseudonym, Tom Petty's 'WILDFLOWERS' was the perfect musical epitaph for FarAwayEyes (Barbara). Without a doubt, I knew in advance that The Stones' 'Far Away Eyes' was the biggest underdog in this Battle and that it might not get a single vote (and, no, it didn't), but I still felt that it needed to be in this BOTB contest.

I was 422.83% sure that Mr. Petty would run away with the victory here. I have no doubt that Barbara herself would have voted for Tom and is looking down at these Results, very pleased with them! 

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FINAL TALLY: 

The Rolling Stones = 0 votes 

Janis Joplin = 4 votes 

Tom Petty = 9 votes 

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I gave Janis Joplin my own vote. Honestly, I was never a real Joplin fan. As mentioned, I went to see Big Brother & The Holding Company perform on August 3rd primarily because I was thinking about how I'd once told FAE that she had "Janis Joplin Hair". I was thinking that the only J.J. songs I liked were 'Piece Of My Heart' & 'Me And Bobby McGee'. 

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But when the band launched into 'Summertime', I had one of those "Uhp! I'm an idiot!" moments. I had forgotten all about that song & the history I have with it. (It's a Senior Citizen thang.) 

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First of all, the passion in Joplin's singing!...

"Honey, n-n-n-n-n-n-n-nothing's going to harm you now!"

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While hearing the following lyrics sung on Aug. 3rd, I *knew* this song was intended to be in my BOTB Tribute to FAE: 

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One of these mornings 

You're gonna rise, rise up singing 

You're gonna spread your wings 

Child, take to the sky 

Lord, the sky 

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I also remembered how this song is connected to another dear departed friend of mine. I've mentioned my acting buddy Marty, who was killed by a car thief in 1989. In 1981, when the movie 'American Pop' was released, Marty and I went to see it together. We both loved it. I later bought the soundtrack LP (which turned me onto Dave Brubeck's 'Take Five', which turned me into a Jazz fan). 

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Marty identified with the character Tony in 'American Pop', and one year for his birthday, I created an oil painting for him, 4' to 4'5" tall of this image:

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It came from the following scene in 'American Pop':

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So, today, I have that song and that imagery associated in my mind with two good friends who have gone on to Heaven before me. 
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I'm pleased that Tom Petty's 'Wildflowers' won this Battle, but I'm equally pleased that I was inspired by The Spirit to use Joplin's 'Summertime' in this BOTB Tribute.

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I intend to eventually write a full-length Tribute to Barbara and post it on my 'Stuffs' blog (and I'll post a link to it on this site). Before that happens, however, I'll need to look through a lot of old Emails. (Is 963 a lot?) Prior to that, I'm planning to return here with a new BOTB's Battle Of The Booze installment on September 1st. I hope you all will return here, too. Until then...

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Bless & Be Blessed!!

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(a.k.a. Stephen T. McCarthy) 

BATTLE OF THE BANDS: 2024, AUG. 15 (Or, IN MEMORY OF 'FAR AWAY EYES')

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"She's a good girl, loves her Mama 

Loves Jesus and America, too" 

~ Tom Petty

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It is with a very heavy heart that I am composing this, the only Battle Of The Bands installment I've ever constructed upon a foundation of deep sadness.

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I recently learned from my friend Donna (a.k.a. Wild Thing) that our mutual friend Barbara (a.k.a. FAE) of the blog Far Away Series has left us and gone Home (a.k.a. Heaven). After sufficiently looking back & compiling the right information, I fully intend to eventually publish an 

E-Ticket Tribute to the wonderful & incredibly unique FAE on my 'Stuffs' blog. But until then, this BOTB installment will be the placeholder. 

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Barbara went by the pseudonym farawayeyes. I still recall the time I left a comment on one of her blog posts in which I called her FAE. She asked me what this "FAE" stuff was about, and I replied: FarAwayEyes. Amusingly, after that, a LOT of her commenters also began calling her FAE, which she came to accept.

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As she and I began Emailing each other, I gave her a new nickname: Nitro Wilbury Babskiddo (or just Nitro for short), which I also began using in her comment sections. Over the years, she and I exchanged many gifts, letters & cards, which she would sign as "~Nitro" or "~N".

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As most of you know, FAE was the person who published the first "Battle Of The Bands" in our li'l corner of the blogosphere, which was the springboard for what we are still doing NOW, this very day.

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In her blog bit on Wednesday, July 10, 2013, titled 'House Guests & Battle Of The Bands', FAE posted a BOTB using Nina Simone & Muse. She later described it thusly: 

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Glad you guys enjoyed the Battle of the Bands. I admit it was a lazy way to fill a blog post for me this past Wednesday. 

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And two years later, in 2015, she added this:

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If you didn’t know this before, I actually started this in an attempt to post something on my site when I had nothing else to say. Mr. Stephen T. McCarthy picked up on it and encouraged me to join with him and make it a bi-monthly endeavor. Others started to join in and... as they say... 'the rest is history'.

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[Fun Fact: On this blog, I have always written "Battle Of The Bands" and "BOTB" in blue as a tribute to Barbara who always posted in blue & wrote her Emails in blue.]

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Here are a few more quotes from FAE (Nitro), whom I will greatly miss until I too go Home:

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I consider myself a ‘water person’. I love the water and do some of my best thinking ‘neck deep’. When it’s cold outside and all else fails, even the shower proves to be a great ‘think tank’ for me.

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...my personal thermostat no longer works, and I can not seem to ever get warm enough, plus having lived in a place of perpetual Summer for three years... well, I think you can see why Summer is now my favorite time of year.

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If you know me or think you know me, or if you've only come around here occasionally you know that my favorite musician / writer of all time is Tom Petty. This past Summer, right smack dab in the middle of my move from Nevada to Idaho I was taken to see him perform in person at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado. ... When Tom sang 'Wildflowers', I promise you it was just for me. ... Tom Petty wrote my life in his songs. I know a lot of people say that about musicians, but this is uncannily true.

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When asked in a blogfest, "What is life to you?", her response was 'Wildflowers' (which was linked to the Tom Petty song).

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Although she didn't have the easiest life, Barbara (FAE, Nitro Wilbury Babskiddo) remained a steadfast, Bible-reading Christian who had many extraordinary Spiritual experiences!! She related several of them to me via Email.

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Trying to decide on which songs to use in this memorial BOTB contest, I was overwhelmed by the countless possibilities, like a mangy dog overwhelmed by ticks & fleas! At one point I was thinking of constructing a Battle between Nina Simone & Muse, like FAE did in the very first BOTB. 

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After much reminiscing & mental agonizing, I decided that Tom Petty's song 'Wildflowers' (which was quite possibly FAE's all-time favorite song) absolutely had to be in this contest. 

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On August 3rd, I went to see Janis Joplin's backing band Big Brother & The Holding Company perform. The drummer (Dave Getz) & bass player (Peter Albin) are original members of the group. 

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Big Brother & The Holding Company, Aug.3, 2024

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The primary reason I wanted to see that band was because of a humorous incident that Nitro & I shared in an old Email exchange. After I saw this old photo of her for the first time... 

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FAE holding baby Michael.

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...I wrote this: "You looked so 1968 with all that Janis Joplin Hair". She replied, "I've had a lot of comments about my hair, but that is the first time anyone has ever called it Janis Joplin Hair".

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A photo I took in the > Silver Dollar Saloon in Virginia City, NV. - Aug. 12, 2024.

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I knew that Summer was FAE's favorite season & that she liked Joplin's cover of the song 'Summertime'. On Aug. 3rd, when Big Brother & The Holding Company played 'Summertime' & the vocalist (Darby Gould) sang the lyrics below, I felt the Holy Spirit prompt me within and I knew that I was meant to use Joplin's version of this song in this Battle!

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Don't you cry 

One of these mornings 

You're gonna rise, rise up singing 

You're gonna spread your wings 

Child, take to the sky 

Lord, the sky 

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I have no doubt that Barbara - from where she Lives now - embracing my snarkastic sense-of-humor, approves of this song selection!

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Therefore, I thought this Battle had been "settled" & "decided": It was going to be Tom Petty (wildflowers growing & a boat in the water) versus Janis Joplin (her hair spreading like wings and taking flight in the Lord's Summer sky).

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But then I remembered that many years ago, Barbara admitted to me that (as I had suspected) she'd taken her online pseudonym, Far Away Eyes, from the Rolling Stones' song of the same name.

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Therefore, in honor of Barbara (farawayeyes, FAE, Nitro Wilbury Babskiddo), this BOTB installment is going to be a very rare 3-Way contest. Below are your contestants. Please vote for the song that *YOU* like best. No matter how you vote, it will be a tribute to our dear friend and Heavenly resident who started this whole BOTB shebang 11 years ago & which still lives on now, even after her departure to a FarAwayBetterPlace!  

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FAR AWAY EYES 

by The Rolling Stones 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGu5_LH3Wng

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SUMMERTIME 

by Janis Joplin 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMAnrGj4OCg 

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WILDFLOWERS 

by Tom Petty 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNa2LtdMrgo 

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Bless & Be Blessed!!

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