Battle of the Bands Update

The Kinks

We had a double dose of Battle of the Band contests on Dr. John's Record Shelf last night, determining four groups that will advance to Round 2. The goal, you may recall, is to determine the greatest British (or Commonwealth) band of the era 1960 to 1974. The winners, all from the Empire Bracket were the Kinks (seeded no. 2), the Bee Gees (3), Jethro Tull (6), and Badfinger (7)-- all favorites in their respective match-ups.

The losers, in order, were the Creation (15), the Mindbenders (14), Thin Lizzy (11), and King Crimson (10). The only one of these matchups that was close was Tull over Lizzy by a 4-3 margin; the Bee Gees and Badfinger posted cofortable 5-2 margins; while the Kinks scored a perfect 7-0 victory. Here's the list of songs played this week: "Living in the Past" by Tull; "The Rocker" by Lizzy; "Lonely Days" by the Bee Gees; "A Groovy Kind of Love" by the Mindbenders; "Baby Blue" by Badfinger; "The Court of the Crimson King" by King Crimson; "You Really Got Me" by the Kinks; "How Does It Feel to Feel" by the Creation.

These results mean that Jethro Tull will meet the Bee Gees, and the Kinks will meet Badfinger, in Round 2 sometime next Spring. As of this week, we are halfway through Round 1, which will finish up sometime before Christmas.

Badfinger

This week's winners join the Band, the Troggs, the Easybeats, Buffalo Springfield, Free, Manfred Mann, the Rolling Stones, Mott the Hoople, The Who, Sweet, the Moody Blues, and the Tremeloes in moving into the next round. If you'd like to cast a vote for upcoming pairings, you can find the full brackets here, here, here, and here (just leave a comment here with your selections-- you can vote for some or all of the pairs).

Monday's Quote

Here's some good advice from our old pal, Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu (6th Century BC):

"In dwelling, live close to the ground.
In thinking, keep to the simple.
In conflict, be fair and generous.
In governing, don't try to control.
In work, do what you enjoy.
In family life, be completely present."

Remember This One?

Here's a really great song by Graham Parker and the Rumour off their first album, Howlin' Wind. After hearing this one, I'm looking forward to digging out the album to hear the rest of that fabulous collection of songs, which I haven't listened to in quite some time.

First Vegas Pictures

Here's the first set of pictures I'll post from my recent visit to Las Vegas. We arrived, after driving all afternoon and evening, around 1:00 am. This meant that when we came over the hills north of the city, we were greeted with the somewhat stunning valley of lights that you see above. We stopped at the top of Las Vegas Boulevard and took a view shots like the one above-- the skyline of downtown in the distance, and the streaming rear lights of a passing car headed down to the city.

Our first stop in town was the Peppermill Restaurant, one of my favorite Vegas places. It's very garishly decorated, and the food is outstanding. I captured some of the decor in the reflection of the window above (including me taking the shot). I had a Lorraine Omelet which was just the first of several great meals while there.

After the Peppermill, Bill and I headed over to Bally's, where we set up our tripods in the plaza out front to get some night shots. Above you see the view looking across to what I always think of as the Barbary Coast, though the name changed some years back to something else.

Those palm trees sit in the mall that divides the Strip in front of the Bellagio. The red streak across the botton is actually passing traffic, rendered mostly invisible by keeping the shutter open for several seconds. That also makes the trees look particularly colorful.

I like this ghost effect on Bill. Since his camera was stable, sitting on his tripod, it looks really sharp, while he was moving a bit and comes off as a specter. This is my favorite picture of those I've looked over so far. More to come tomorrow, including perhaps a new favorite.

Sunday Funnies

It's been some time since I posted some of the great Fontaine Fox's Toonerville Trolley strips. So here are a few.

This is one of those classic strips that creates a wonderful little world, populated by uniques and compelling characters. Last time I put a few of these up, I believe I focused on some of the more well-known characters like the Terrible Tempered Mr. Bang and the Powerful Katrinka.

This time, I'm going with some of the less well known denizens of Toonerville, like the Professor and Suitcase Simpson, though I had to include at least one with the Skipper.

Doesn't Toonerville come across as a place you'd like to visit, if only to see what other wonderfully odd folks inhabit the place?

A Sunday Quote

Today's word of wisdom come from the great British statesman Edmund Burke (1729-1797). I wish those who advocate freedom above all else will keep this in mind:

"But what is liberty without wisdom, and
without virtue? It is the greatest of all
possible evils; for it is folly, vice, and
madness, without tuition or restraint."

On the Road Again

I'm off school for a few days and heading down to Las Vegas to enjoy some warm weather before winter hits, and to take some photographs. So posting here will likely be sparse (and probably nonexistent) until Sunday. Hopefully I'll have both images and stories a'plenty to share once I return, so check back in at the start of next week.

p.s.-- this will give you extra time to get guesses in on last week's quiz!

One of the Greats

Here's Van Morrison with a song from his masterpiece Astral Weeks. This is one where the video is merely the album cover, so you can close your ideas and just allow the music to wash over you. I doubt you'll be disappointed:

This Week's Top Five

What with the baseball playoffs, the start of the NHL season, and so forth, we were in an athletic frame of mind on Dr. John's Record Shelf this week. Hence, the topic of our Top Five List:

A Thought for the Day

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) was something of a man about town (the town being London) and bon vivant (at least according to his biographer Thomas Boswell). But he was also a man of letters, and this quote is suggestive of his more thoughtful side:

"A wise man will make haste to forgive,
because he knows the true value of time,
and will not suffer it to pass away in
unnecessary pain."

A True Rock Classic

Although the Troggs were seeded somewhat low in the competition, it was really no surprise that they would advance in the Battle of the Bands on Dr. John's Record Shelf behind this particular song: "Wild Thing." I mean, this is as close to a stone cold classic as you will hear (even in this somewhat truncated video version):

Thanks Bobby!

Well, my team, the Atlanta Braves, were eliminated from the playoffs this evening, falling 3-2 to the San Francisco Giants. Every one of the four games was decided by a single run, and each outcome was determined in the late innings. The Braves were just too decimated by injuries going in to play up to their full potential, having lost two of their best hitters (Chipper Jones and Martin Prado) and two of their best pitchers (Jair Jurrjens and Kris Medlen) before the regular season ended, then watching their closer go down in game two of the series. Those losses were too much to overcome when all was said and done, and it was to the team's credit that they kept it as close as they did. One reason, of course, was that they had the venerable Bobby Cox filling out the lineup card. But tonight was his last game-- he's retiring after about thirty-five years as a manager with the Braves and Blue Jays, including the Braves stunning run through the nineties and early aughts when they won fourteen straight division titles. I can't tell you how much I appreciate Bobby Cox for all the great work he's done in keeping the Braves competitive for such a long time. I became a Braves fan in the late sixties, and followed them through a lot of down periods in the late seventies and late eighties, when they were perpetual cellar dwellers. Cox's arrival corresponded to their resurgence, and even though they only took one World Series title under his stewardship, they were in the hunt every year. Some fans complained about the lack of championships, but me, I'll take those long seasons of success regardless of what happens in the playoffs every time. Believe me, it's so much better than watching the team lose close to two thirds of the time. So Bobby Cox: thanks for the memories, and I hope you enjoy your retirement. To the rest of the team, wait'll next year!

Battle of the Bands Update

The Band

Two more matches in our Battle of the Bands on Dr. John's Record Shelf, two more winners who will meet in Round 2. The Band (seeded no. 2) held off Vanity Fair (15) by a narrow 5-4 margin, while the Troggs (10) upset Traffic (7) in an 8-1 blow-out.

The Troggs

The winning songs were "The Weight" and "Wild Thing," which bested "Hitchin' a Ride" and "Paper Sun," respectively. This week's winners join the Easybeats, Buffalo Springfield, Free, Manfred Mann, the Rolling Stones, Mott the Hoople, The Who, Sweet, the Moody Blues, and the Tremeloes in moving into the next round. If you'd like to cast a vote for upcoming pairings, you can find the full brackets here, here, here, and here (just leave a comment here with your selections-- you can vote for some or all of the pairs).

Monday's Quote

This comes from the famous French author Victor Hugo (1802-1885), probably best known for his novel Les Miserables:

"Be as a bird perched on a frail branch
that she feels bending beneath her, still
she sings away all the same, knowing
she has wings."

Cool Video

The visuals here are kind of goofy, but I really like the song by the Vivian Girls-- they've got kind of a neo-garage vibe going on:

Heading to Vegas

We have a long weekend next week, so I'm driving down to Vegas with a couple friends for a quick little vacation. Thinking about it caused me to poke through my pictures from a year and a half ago, and I found these three that seemed worth sharing. Above is a view of The Strip (Las Vegas Blvd.) looking north from the Excalibur Hotel.

I kind of like this futuristic view of the monorail as it curves into the entryway to the MGM Grand Casino.

Everyone likes the water show outside the Bellagio. The water spouts get a bit more interesting than seen here, but I liked how the black and white captured the contrast. That's Caesar's Palace in teh background.

Sunday Funnies

George Herriman's Krazy Kat is one of the greatest strips of all time, maybe second only to Peanuts in terms of sustained quality and influence. Here are a couple of very early Sunday pages, from 1916, when the characters of Krazy, Offisa Pupp, and Ignatz Mouse were still in their developmental stage.

Sunday's Quote

This is from the labor leader Samuel Gompers (1850-1924). I hope that he's right, and that things can get are generally moving in the right direction:

"Time is the most valuable thing on earth:
time to think, time to act, time to extend
our fraternal relations, time to become
better men, time to become better women,
time to become better and more
independent citizens."

More Michelle Malone

Here's a video by one of the artists featured in my previous post. See if she doesn't win you over too:

Three Pictures: Musicians

Three pictures today taken at concerts I attended over the past couple of years. Above is blueswoman Michelle Malone performing at Gateway Park alongside the Erie Canal in Tonawanda, NY. I hadn't heard of her before the show (she was opening for Robert Cray), but she made me a fan with her high energy show.

I was already a big fan of Alejandro Escovedo when I saw him at Thursday in the Square in Buffalo last year, and he completely lived up to my expectations and then some. Here he is dueling with guitarist David Pulkingham (l.) with drummer Hector Munoz in the background.

Tift Merritt opened the show for Escovedo, and was awfully good herself. I was familiar with a couple of her records, but she was much better live than I expected, partly because of her excellent band (maybe I'll post another image some time with the whole crew). I've been playing around with all these pictures with Photoshop-- cropping, filtering, etc. I know they're far from pro quality, but I'm having fun trying to make them look a little better.