My last Battle Of The Bands contest took place HERE, and it was between 'Chug-A-Lug' by Roger Miller and 'Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat' by Bob Dylan.
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It was a big blowout (someone brought a cat to a dogfight), but I thank ALL of you for Visiting, Listening & Voting.
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Although I was awakened, raised & liberated by Roger Miller, my own vote went to Bob Dylan. Noone could pack more serious meaning into a seemingly silly & superficial song than Mr. Zimmerman could.
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Regardless... the end result was pert-dern lopsided:
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FINAL TALLY:
Roger Miller = (cranked up to...)
11 votes
Bob Dylan = 3 votes
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The last time I saw something that lopsided, it was me on a bicycle, riding home after a day & night at Rail City Casino. (I lost my money, my cowboy hat, and my self-respect!!)
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Please return for my August 15thBattle Of The Bands installment. We are going to take a one-Battle break from the booze (a.k.a. hooch & evidence), because I have something very, Very, VERY special planned. Bear in mind that I very, Very, VERY rarely describe something as very, Very, VERY special, so that goes to show you how very, Very, VERY special this next BOTB installment is going to be. (If you only knew... how much my heart hurts while I type this silliness! 'Wild Thing' knows, but none of the rest of you do... yet.)
. Welcome toBATTLE OF THE BANDS' Battle Of The Boozeinstallment #14. I'm 422.83% sure this will not be one of my more popular Battles because not everyone digs novelty songs and not everyone digs Zimmy. But, as I mentioned to MMQE recently: "I'm-a do it because... I gotta be me ...and if I don't be me, who will?" . I recently published a blog bit in which I explained how I came to write (and think?) the way I do. It was titled HOW I LEARNED TO "WRITE RIGHT" (Or, WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, HOW & Sometimes Y) But to save y'all the trouble of reading that un-masticated mess, I can put the three-tiered explanation into a Milk-Bone sized summary that even a winky dinky dog could get down in a single swallow: . 1) Being repeatedly awakened for school by Roger Miller's song 'YouCan'tRollerSkateInABuffaloHerd' when I was in 5th and/or 6th grade. . 2) Repeated listening to Bob Dylan's album 'Bringing It All Back Home' when I was a teenager. . 3) A bizarre hangover I experienced near Venice Beach in June of 1983 that threw me through the "DONOTENTER" barricade that had been erected in my mind by mean & nasty social engineers. . That blog bit has inspired me to do a RogerMiller versus BobDylanBooze Battle. (The songs are free, but the bizarre hangover you'll need to purchase with your own money, as I simply can't afford to treat you all to a bizarre hangover. Money doesn't grow in cabbage patches, ya know!) . OK, you know what to do: LV&V. (Listen, Vote &Visit... the other BOTBers.) Do it today... "or the Wolfman's gonna getcha!"
. Alright, let's get on it. Let's get ON this thing! .
. Grapewinein a Mason jar Homemade and brought to school By a friend of mine 'n' after class Me and him and this other fool decide That we'll drink up what's left Chug-a-lug, so we helped ourself First time for everything Hmm, my ears still ring . CHUG-A-LUG by Roger Miller https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJwEAAt4ZTo
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. Well, you look so pretty in it Honey, can I jump on it sometime? Yes, I just wanna see If it's really that expensive kind You know, it balances on your head
My sincerely sincere gratitude to everyone who took the time to visit & vote on my July 15thBOTB's Battle Of The Boozeinstallment which happened HERE. . Warren Zevon's zong 'Werewolves Of London' (pinacolada) went up against the other Warren Zevon's 'Desperados Under The Eaves' (margarita) and it was a very good Battle (meaning "a very close Battle"). . I really like a lot of Warren Zevon's zongs, and still own four of his albums on compact discs. My music collection wouldn't be complete without songs like 'Poor, Poor Pitiful Me'; 'I'll Sleep When I'm Dead'; 'Carmelita'; 'Bad Karma'; 'Even A Dog Can Shake Hands'; 'The Heartache'; 'Ain't That Pretty At All'; 'Looking For The Next Best Thing'. . And although 'Werewolves Of London' is essentially just a novelty song, I happen to love novelty songs. (Anything that can put a smile on my face in this pathetically sad world is A-OK by me!) . However, 'Desperados Under The Eaves' has always been my very favorite Zevon zong. I won't drone on and on and on and on and on and on and bore you with all of the details that make 'Desperados...' my favorite of Warren's recordings. But I do want to say that I find the song very anthemic, in the way that it builds up, through the down-'n'-out paranoia of the beginning, to that very hopeful chorus and orchestra at the end. . "LOOKAWAYDOWNGOWERAVENUE!" . I've also always been intrigued by the mystery of this song. "GowerAvenue" is really a "Street", but I suppose Zevon called it an avenue for the additional syllables in the lyrics' meter. I don't know what Gower looks like today, but when I lived in helL.A., Gower was a very dirty, grungy, impoverished looking street that ran through the center of disappointing Hollywood. The only notable thing about Gower that I'm aware of is that it runs right alongside the western edge of Paramount Studios and the Hollywood Cemetery, which abuts Paramount to the north. . I've always wondered what Zevon found hopeful (and maybe even salvational?) about Gower Street. Was it the fact that a historical dream-making facility like Paramount was located there, right in the middle of slumsville? Perhaps Warren found it funny that there in Hollywood, smack-dab against a major movie studio was a cemetery (the final resting place for Rudolph Valentino, Judy Garland, Cecil B. DeMille, Mickey Rooney, Tyrone Power, Douglas Fairbanks, and Mel Blanc). . At any rate, I've always loved the lyrics, the melody, and the strange, positive ending of 'Desperados Under The Eaves', so naturally that is where my vote landed, giving us this... . FINAL TALLY: Zevon's 'Werewolf' = 5 votes Zevon's 'Desperados' = 6 votes .
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'DesperadosUnderTheEaves' will advance to BOTB's Battle Of The Booze playoffs, while the 'Werewolf' drowns his sorrow in pina coladas at Traver Vic's. . Thanks again, y'all. Please return for my next Battle on August1st. "We are going to drink... >WINE!" . ~ Stephen T. McCarthy
Welcome to my Lucky 13th installment of BOTB's Battle Of The Booze!
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My headbone went through so many different idears for this BOTB installment that I began to feel like a horse's patootie switching jackasses in midstream! I finally rolled the dice, flipped the coin, consulted my Magic 8-Ball and then settled on this: Zevon zong versus Zevon zong!
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I've always loved me some Warren Zevon. The dude had a twisted, sardonic sense o' humor, much like mine own. Warren has to be one of the most famous One-Hit-Wonders in music history.
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1978: Zevon's zong 'WerewolvesOfLondon' was just starting to get some radio airplay when I walked into the Licorice Pizza store on Wilshire Blvd. in helL.A. (Any of you old-timers remember that record store chain?)
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Zevon's album 'ExcitableBoy' was on display next to a sign that said if one bought the LP and didn't like it, they could return it for a FULLREFUND! That was exceedingly unusual in '78. Since I'd heard and liked the 'Werewolves' song, I purchased the album.
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Did I return to Licorice Pizza? Yes, I did. But NOT to return the LP I'd purchased. I returned to buy his earlier album, the self-titled 'WarrenZevon', which I liked even better than 'ExcitableBoy'.
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FunFact: Zevon wrote the hit song 'WerewolvesOfLondon' while in a friend's house in Venice, Italy helL.A. According to one source, the house was actually located along one of the Venice canals, where I used to hang out playing "Huckleberry Sawyer" on borrowed rafts in the very early '80s. I'd usually bring a bottle along to keep me company. The canals looked like this then:
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Venice canal in helL.A., photo by "Huckleberry Sawyer" (STMcC), circa 1982.
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Today, the rebuilt houses along those same canals go for multiple millions of buckaroos! (Look HERE! and dream on.)
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I saw a werewolf drinkin' a PiñaColada at Trader Vic's
And his hair was perfect!
~ 'Werewolves Of London'
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In 'DesperadosUnderTheEaves' (1976), Zevon zang about drinking a whole lotta Margaritas, see?...
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I was thinking that the gypsy wasn't lyin'
All the salty Margaritas in Los Angeles
I'm gonna drink 'em up
~ 'Desperados Under The Eaves'
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FunFact: Zevon's favorite place for Margaritas in Los Angeles was El Coyote Mexican restaurant. And I agreed with him on that point. It was El Coyote for Maggies but it was >Antonio's for Mexican cuisine. (Enchiladas Oaxaca! Hot-Dog!! Best food whole the world.)
My sincere thanks to everyone who participated in my special4th of JulyBattle Of The Bandscontest which took place HERE. The songs were '4th Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)' by Bruce Springsteen & 'Whose Cadillac Is That?' by War. The music theme was related to TheLeagueOfSoulCrusaders sneaking into a big L.A. Fourth of July parade in 1983.
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I really enjoyed reminiscing in the blog bit & comment section. The voting, however, was as one-sided as I'd anticipated. (The fake "working man" who, according to multiple sources never had even one real job in his entire life, took a beating!)
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FINALTALLY:
Bruce Springsteen = 2 votes
War = 11 votes (including my own)
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Miller & Mickie Darlin' - The League's "official" dog, who was even crazier than The League members were!
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"Filly-Waggit" ready for installation.
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Cranium, Napoleon & Torch on the roof of the Bay Street house. ("Filly-Waggit" is in the chimney.)
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STMcC (73.6% hungover) in line for Springsteen concert tickets, 1984.
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Torch & Lynthy-Pooh - June, 2024
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THELEAGUEOFSOULCRUSADERS
Chapter 18: Eye Of The Storm
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It is my wish to take this opportunity to shed a new light on the individuals who comprised what had become known as The League. I want to reveal a new dimension that will add more insight into our personalities and counterbalance our wild, barbaric exploits with something of a more civilized nature. And therefore, I go on record as stating that in all honesty there were indeed hours, even days, when not one vulgar word or noise (of mentionable volume) was emitted from the house on Bay Street. There were days when not so much as a sip of alcohol passed the lips of a single League member. There existed times when a great amount of intelligence was displayed, a concern for fellow human beings and, yes, even an astonishing sense of maturity. It is equally true, however, that these times were fairly rare.... which accounts for the brevity of this chapter.
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Thanks again to everyone who "boted" in this Battle! I intend to return with a new Battle Of The Booze installment on July 15th, so y'all come back now, y'hear?
This time, we are taking a break from Battle Of The Booze in order to do a special 4th of July'League Of Soul Crusaders' themed BOTB installment.
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As most of you already know, in the early 1980s, I was a member of a group of friends known as TheLeagueOfSoulCrusaders (TLOSC) in the Santa Monica "Dogtown" area. Sowing our youthful, wild oats, we were loud, rowdy & funny, and everyone wanted to party with us. Even people who didn't drink much wanted to party with us!
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The League was comprised of 6 primary members: Torch (the unofficial leader), Napoleon (a.k.a. Nappy), Twinkie, Lynthy-Pooh (a.k.a. General Poohregard, or Pooh for short), Cranium & myself. Each of us had a Ph.D. in Carpe Diem. There were also occasional fill-ins, or "pinch hitters" (a baseball term), such as Wally, Oscar, Dean, Kelly & Marty, et al.
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The genesis of TLOSC occurred on the day when Torch introduced himself to me on the set of the Gene Wilder movie 'TheFriscoKid'. Later, he introduced me to his buddy Lyle (Pooh) and, both of us being Thin Lizzy fans, we hit it off immediately.
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The League's comedic heroes were W.C. Fields, Laurel & Hardy, Monty Python, Benny Hill, The Three Stooges, Deputy Dawg & Wally George.
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We led the league in Most Amount Of Energy Expended In A Single Night, Most Number Of Jokes Told In A Night, Fastest & Funniest Ad-Libbing, Most Dangerous Stunts Involving OldCadillacs & Other Autos, Highest Number Of Chess Pieces & Coconut Heads Knocked Down In A Night & other feats of astounding athleticism!
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The trunk of Cranium's 1959 Cadillac. RCA Victor's dog Nipper & his many 80-proof friends!
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The League Of Soul Crusaders inspired the creation of 2 poems, a 196-page single-spaced book manuscript, and a great Rock song (HERE).
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L-R: Twinkie, Nappy, Wally, Torch, Stephen (me) & Pooh, sitting on the roof of a bank, July 4, 1983.
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TwoThingsYouMustKnowForThisSongBattle:
1) At that time, all of the League members were big fans of Bruce Springsteen. One night in 1984, The League even rented a Winnebago and went to a Springsteen concert together.
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2) We were most often seen together riding in Torch's 1964 Cadillac. Torch had taken a blowtorch to the Caddy and removed the metal roof, making it permanently topless; and he named the car "Tiburon" (Spanish for shark). We rode in Tiburon rain or shine!
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The League in Tiburon - 4th Of July Parade, 1983.
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Nappy in a Springsteen shirt & giving the "Beee!" sign.
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In Los Angeles there's a fancy-schmancy area called Brentwood, where an annual 4th of JulyParade was held. In 1983 the parade included floats, marching bands, mounted cowboys, a motorcycle stunt team, mayors & various other city officials, as well as famous celebrities (Chevy Chase, Ted Knight & Dick Butkus). The League decided that Tiburon should be in that parade so... we sneaked in.
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And that explains why this BOTB installment is between two radically different songs: BruceSpringsteen's 4th Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy) and WAR's Whose Cadillac Is That?
1984: Stephen T. McCarthy & Lynthy-Pooh (both tired & hungover) waiting in line for Springsteen concert tickets. The night before, we'd ordered pizzas & had them delivered to "the six guys sitting on the couch at the intersection of 4th & Colorado in Santa Monica".
Please vote in the comment section for the song you prefer, and then please visit the other BOTBers and vote in their Battles.
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🐝👌EXTRA!EXTRA!🐝👌
READALLABOUTIT!
4 or 5 weeks before Christmas in '83, I got the idea to write the full story of TheLeagueOfSoulCrusaders and present a copy of it to each of my friends as a Christmas gift. So, I disappeared from their lives during that time, and a couple of them mistakenly thought that I was snubbing them & acting stuck-up.
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Boy, were they in for a surprise when I gave each of them a copy of "thebook" on Christmas Eve!
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I had to write & type the 196-page manuscript as fast as possible. Time was of the essence, and there were occasions when I was mentally composing the chapters while simultaneously typing them! It was the roughest of rough drafts. And therefore, "thebook" contained countless typographical errors, improper punctuation, and incorrect words. I had no - zero, zilch, nada - time to make corrections on the typewritten pages. It was an AS-IS project.
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Should anyone be interested in reading the pages from 'TheLeagueOfSoulCrusaders' which addressed our sneaking into the 1983 4th Of JulyParade -- to learn how it happened & how thepolice and paradespectators reacted to our intrusion -- you'll find links below:
The outcome of my latest BOTB's Battle Of The Booze came as a surprise to me. The contest took place HERE and it was between 'Hey, Bartender' by The Blues Brothers and 'If You Only Knew' by Van Morrison. I half-expected The Blues Brothers would have some difficulty keeping up with Van-The-Man, but in this case, the underdog didn't know it was a damn show, they thought it was a damn fight!
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My own vote was never in question because for many years I was a major Van Morrison fan (and owned all of his albums up to and including 1995's 'DaysLikeThis'). And the last several notes that Pee Wee Ellis plays in his tenor sax solo on 'If You Only Knew' can literally send a shiver up my spine!
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However, even with my vote, Van wasn't able to match the Blues Brothers' vote total.
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FINAL TALLY:
The Blues Brothers = 6 votes
Van Morrison = 5 votes
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Unfortunately, this wasn't a great turnout. (My sincere gratitude to every one of you who did take the time to visit and participate!!) Hopefully more voters will show up for my July1stBattle Of The Bands installment, because I have something very special planned for that one. I'll be taking a one-Battle break from the booze and featuring the exploits of my ol' pals, The League Of Soul Crusaders. Meaning, of course, that the post will be extremely serene. ;^)
DogGs & DogGesses, welcome to my 12th installment of BattleOfTheBands' Battle Of The Booze. .
This time we have The Blues Brothers going up against Van Morrison, or beer versus gin & vermouth (also known as a "martini").
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You probably recall that The Blues Brothers were "Jake" (John Belushi) and his brother, "Elwood" (Dan Aykroyd). What you may not have known was that their backing band included some really good musicians, such as Steve Cropper & Donald "Duck" Dunn (of Booker T & The MGs), and Matt Murphy, who had played guitar for Memphis Slim and Howlin' Wolf.
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Included in Van-The-Man's band was Pee Wee Ellis, who was nothing short of a beast on the tenor saxophone and who had been a member of James Brown's band! So, we've got some really hot musicians in this contest, and I am curious to see who will emerge victorious.
Remember: This is really about the songs and not the booze. So, in ye olde comment section, please vote for which song you liked better betwixt these two, and then please visit the other wonderful BOTBers and also drop your two cents in their comment sections.
* See the BOTBer links over there ---> . I'll return here on or about June 22nd with my own vote and the final tally.
Hi, Hello & Howdy, Y'All. My sincere gratitude goes to everyone who graciously and generously took the time to visit my BOTB's Battle Of The Booze installment (HERE) and voted in the contest while I was mostly away on my vacation 'Stop 'N' Go, Slow-Moving, BurningCarcation'. Also known as 'TravelsWithoutMuddy'. It was one hell of a trip! (Muddy is my stuffed dog and road trip good luck charm. Like a dern fool, I left Muddy at home this time and we suffered the consequences!) . The Booze battle was between ZZ Top ('BeerDrinkersAndHellRaisers') and George Thorogood ('IDrinkAlone'). It began as a massive blowout in ZZ Top's favor. At one point they were ahead in the voting 7-1. But then George's fans sobered up enough to cast vote after vote after vote. . Although I have always liked BOTH of these hard-rockin' songs a great deal, I slightly - only very slightly - favor the Thorogood tune for these 4 reasons: . 1. The wacky humor in staunchly drinking ALONE... along with Jack, Jimmy & Johnny. 2. The nasty sax. 3. (100-proof) OldGrand-Dad is my favorite family member!
4. Because.
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. FINALTALLY: ZZ Top = 7 votes George Thorogood = 6 votes . Thank you, friends, for making this such an outstanding Battle! ZZ Top's 'Beer Drinkers And Hell Raisers' will advance to BOTB's Battle Of The Booze playoffs, while George Thorogood is left behind, drinking alone. . The 4 Highlights from my brief road trip were: . 1. Seeing my sister, >Bonehead, for the first time in two years. 2. Being served the very best Old Fashioned cocktail I've ever tasted, thanks to Bonehead's husband, Eric (the man should have become a bartender!) 3. Learning the word "bourbonomics" from M.W., a former member of The League Of Soul Crusaders. 4. Getting to stay for free one night in a Big Bear Lake cabin with BillyGibbonsBilly Buck, who sings ZZ Top's famous song 'La Grange'. (When I found myself sharing a room with Billy Buck, I knew it was an incontrovertible omen that ZZ Top was destined to win this Battle!) .
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I hope to return here again on June 15th with a new Battle. And I hope YOU will return here again to vote in it! Until then, may you all... . Bless & Be Blessed!! (And try to remain somewhat sober, but without overdoing it too much.) . ~ Stephen T. McCarthy
. Howdy, Friends. Welcome to my 11th installment of BOTB's Battle Of The Booze. You should definitely crank this one "up to 11!" In this contest the hooch that gets mentioned is beer, bourbon and scotch (or Budweiser, Jack Daniel's, Jim Beam, Old Grand-Dad, and Johnny Walker). The winning song will advance to BOTB's BOTB post-season playoffs. . Unfortunately, I will be out-of-state most of the time that this Battle is running, so I probably won't be my usual verbose self in the comment section. I may even be a day or two late in posting the results of this contest. But post them I will, on June 8th or as close as possible. . In ye olde comment section, please vote for which song you liked better betwixt these two, and then please visit the other wonderful BOTBers and also drop your two cents in their comment sections. * See the BOTBer links over there ---> . Alrighty then. Straddle your Harley, crank it "upto11", and let's get ON this thing! . BEER DRINKERS & HELL RAISERS by ZZ Top https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09L0vTMDKwo
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