Al Stewart

I was getting my extra mile in today, and the Ipod hit on a song by Al Stewart. It was "Where Are They Now?" I can't tell you how much I enjoy this guy. Of course, I think everyone's first taste of him was "Year of The Cat" (me, too), but he's been making music since 1967. I have followed his career and got a real thrill when he signed my "Year of The Cat" LP a few years ago. He is a master wine collector and probably doesn't like dealing with the hassles of the road, but I sure am glad I saw him. Extra bonus: his guitar player for many years was Peter White (another excellent guitar player that you have never heard of). Peter is now HUGE with the Smooth Jazz genre.
My top five Al Stewart songs (as of today):
1. "Year of The Cat"
2. Don't Forget Me
3. "Time Passages"
4. "On the Border"
5. "Last Days of The Century"
BTW, Al is the only person I have ever heard use the word "jackdaw" and make it rhyme. He gets extra points for that.

So, what movie is this from?

SMays, I stole your stuff...it's good stuff, though.
"Why shouldn't I work for the N.S.A.? That's a tough one, but I'll take a shot. Say I'm working at the N.S.A. Somebody puts a code on my desk, something nobody else can break. Maybe I take a shot at it and maybe I break it. And I'm real happy with myself, 'cause I did my job well. But maybe that code was the location of some rebel army in North Africa or the Middle East. Once they have that location, they bomb the village where the rebels were hiding and fifteen hundred people that I never met and that I never had no problem with get killed. Now the politicians are sayin', "Send in the marines to secure the area" 'cause they don't give a shit. It won't be their kid over there, gettin' shot. Just like it wasn't them when their number was called, 'cause they were pullin' a tour in the National Guard. It'll be some kid from Southie takin' shrapnel in the ass. And he comes home to find that the plant he used to work at got exported to the country he just got back from. And the guy who put the shrapnel in his ass got his old job, 'cause he'll work for fifteen cents a day and no bathroom breaks. Meanwhile he realizes the only reason he was over there in the first place was so we could install a government that would sell us oil at a good price. And of course the oil companies used the skirmish over there to scare up domestic oil prices. A cute little ancillary benefit for them but it ain't helping my buddy at two-fifty a gallon. They're takin' their sweet time bringin' the oil back, and maybe even took the liberty of hiring an alcoholic skipper who likes to drink martinis and fuckin' play slalom with the icebergs, and it ain't too long 'til he hits one, spills the oil and kills all the sea life in the North Atlantic. So now my buddy's out of work and he can't afford to drive, so he's walking to the fuckin' job interviews, which sucks 'cause the schrapnel in his ass is givin' him chronic hemorroids. And meanwhile he's starvin' 'cause every time he tries to get a bite to eat the only blue plate special they're servin' is North Atlantic scrod with Quaker State. So what did I think? I'm holdin' out for somethin' better. I figure, fuck it, while I'm at it, why not just shoot my buddy, take his job and give it to his sworn enemy, hike up gas prices, bomb a village, club a baby seal, hit the hash pipe and join the National Guard? I could be elected president."

Name the movie, (1997) win a prize!!! Pretty damn straight on and way before their time.

Way to go Bobby and you too, Keith

NEW YORK - While some cable TV hosts are making their living off the Natalee Holloway case this summer, Bob Costas is having none of it.
Costas, hired by CNN as an occasional fill-in on "Larry King Live," refused to anchor Thursday's show because it was primarily about the Alabama teenager who went missing in Aruba. Chris Pixley filled in at the last minute."I didn't think the subject matter of Thursday's show was the kind of broadcast I should be doing," Costas said in a statement. "I suggested some alternatives but the producers preferred the topics they had chosen. I was fine with that, and respectfully declined to participate."Costas' manager declined to elaborate on what Costas didn't like about the topic. Thursday's guests included Beth Holloway Twitty, the girl's mother; a television reporter; and an investigator in the case. Seven of the show's 10 guests talked about the missing girl, the other segments were about the BTK killer.
The Holloway case has been a big attraction on cable news networks during a slow news period, with Fox News Channel's Greta Van Susteren getting record ratings as she's paid almost nonstop attention to it. Reports of Costas' decision first surfaced on the mediabistro.com Web site on Friday."There were no hard feelings at all," Costas said. "It's not a big deal. I'm sure there are countless topics that will be mutually acceptable in the future."Wendy Walker, senior executive producer of "Larry King Live," described it as a mutual decision for Costas not to do the show because he was uncomfortable with the subject matter."We love having Bob ... and since `Larry King Live' covers an extremely extensive palate of subjects, there will always be shows that he will enjoy hosting," she said.The NBC Sports personality, also host of "Costas Now" on HBO, had agreed to be host for about 20 editions of "Larry King Live" this year. He's done six, the network said.His decision is reminiscent of Keith Olbermann, the former sportscaster who left his MSNBC news show in the late 1990s in part because he was asked to repeatedly cover the Monica Lewinsky story. Olbermann is back now for his second run at MSNBC.
-from yahoo news.

Just reminiscing...

about stuff like head shops. I don't know if you had these where you were, but for some reason, there were a number of them in the Quad Cities. I think that is why I like incensce so much. It reminds me of high school. Head shops were the place that you could buy all sorts of cool stuff. If you were a stoner, you had all your up to date fancy dancy ways to consume your consumables. I, myself, enjoyed the various weird tunes that were paying in various head shops and the weird records they would sell. I remember getting turned on to guys like Steve Hillage and especially his "Fish Rising" LP. The first time I heard Mahavishnu or Kansas or Gong or BTO was in a head shop. I always enjoyed the "underground" comics like the "Fabulous Furry Freak Bros.","Captain Guts" and others that when my mom found them, she about lost her mind. My two alltime favorites were "The Curiousity Shoppe" in downtown Davenport and one called "The Church" in downtown Moline. Excuse me, while I enjoy this patchouli stick right now.

Frontier House

I was thinking tonight about this show that was on Public Television about 3 1/2 years ago. I became hooked quickly. This is the story of three families that are travelling by stagecoach and basically put out in Eastern Montana and then told..."you're on your own." How would you do if you had to live like they did back then? I grew up on a farm, so I hope I would fare better than most. I kept saying to the one guy on the show that he should spend every spare second cutting wood. But, he didn't listen. One couple couldn't cope and divorced. This was an excellent show and I was very sorry to see it end. I wonder what happened to those people. In my opinion, the best reality show I have ever seen. "Frontier House"

On the road

So, here I am in Rockford Il. I always used to think Rockford was cool. The perfect family lived there throughout my childhood. It was where my cousins lived (and some still do). I thought they had everything that I didn't growing up. Cool house, cool family. Then, after all this time, you realize that they had as much shit in their life as I did. It was just a different kind of shit. What is a normal family? Do they even exist? I think normal is pretty abnormal. All of us have our scars and our battles and ALL of us have to walk through fields of shit to get to the good stuff. And sometimes after reacjhing the good stuff, more shit happens. They are good people and I enjoy being with them. I don't feel as ulterior around them as I used to. It has been a busy day. I started today in Green Bay and finished it in Rockford. In between was Milwaukee. I got to hear an old buddy of mine on the radio in Milwaukee, that was very cool. He sounded much better than I could ever have been. It's kind of a bummer, but I am proud of him. Milwaukee is a cool city, not just "Chicago's most northern suburb." I had a decent day.

Kyle Riley

Damn it, I lost another one. One of my favorite people in the world passed last week. I didn't know about it until today. Kyle was a hell of a guitar player and a great, humorous, natural sounding radio announcer. Kyle and I teamed up at KFMH in Muscatine Iowa, where, at the time, was the finest free form AOR station ever. It was literally a place where you could walk into, do an airshift and know that somewhere, you made someone happy with a song or a request. Anything you want at any time. Like radio used to be. Kyle and I teamed up and did the "Kyle Riley Randy Raley Ravenous Record Review" (complete with sound effects) on New Years Eve in 1977. I had not seen Kyle for a long time when my new job took me back to Muscatine. I happened to stop in at the old place and it is in the exact same spot it was when I was there. Same layout and actually some of the same people. It was like walking into a time machine. It was then that I found out my friend Kyle had been battling brain cancer for a while. I called and we agreed to meet, but I could tell he wasn't the guy I once new. There are very few men in my life I tell I love them. Kyle was one guy I told the last time I saw him, which was the first part of May. He died of brain cancer on Wednesday of last week. He was buried on Friday. I think I would like to see his wife Sue. A true gentlemen and talent, you will be missed, bro.

My brain without drugs...

just kidding.

Ad campaigns

Maybe I am not the person that they are targeting (I think I would be though). I don't get the latest ad campaign from US Cellular. I guess I don't get the appeal of Joan Cusack. She seems to act like your drunk sister in law at the wedding whose behaviour borders on boorish. Hair is unkempt, and the jokes aren't funny. I do, however, understand the appeal of Catherine Zeta-Jones.
Goodness, I would but anything off of her. I also don't get the ad campaign Chrysler has with Lee Iacocca. "If you can find a better car, buy it" was the catch phrase 20 years ago, but these new ones are just bad. Jason Alexander needs to find something else to do, the George Costanza thing is PLAYED OUT. Lee is 80! God bless him, I wouldn't buy a car from my grandfather. Now if she was selling cars, maybe!!
I am usually very down on ad campaigns that feature classic rock songs (what does Led Zeppelin have to do with Cadillacs anyway)? But, I do think the Harrahs campaign featuring "Action" by The Sweet (one of my favorite bands) is great. First off, I hadn't heard that song in years, and second..jeez, it FITS! "Everybody wants a piece of the action!"

Sunday Morning

There is nothing better than a rainy Sunday morning, as far as I am concerned. It is a day to reflect with church, a good cup of coffee and the paper. Waking up to the sound of rain on Sunday just puts the whole rat race in perspective. If there is a waiting room to get into heaven, there will be rain and the sounds of Enya on the speakers.