Another Old Gas Station

It's like Lay's chips...I just can't stop..

A "Two Hit" Wonder

Ya know, I just did one of my top 100 LPs with the Doobs, but this song has literally saved my life. Another one from 1973, it really doesn't get any better than this. One of my top ten songs of all time, without a doubt. Damn, I sound like John Cusack in 'High Fidelity", huh? The "In Crowd" be damned, this was Dobie's finest moment. It was a joy to meet him in Nashville, I didn't know what to do...I just looked at him weird. I stared at the top of my shoes and drank ice water. I didn't know what to say and he didn't either. This song fills me with awe, still. It has a very soothing quality to it.

Top 100

This resides somewhere close to the top 10. Junior year in high school and this release was the soundtrack, without question. To me, this is the high point of their career. Starting with "Natural Thing" and heading into "Long Train Runnin" and "China Grove", it doesn't get much better than that. "China Grove" was the first single from the album and it only got to number 15. "Long Train Runnin'" hit number 8. I think the songs are more popular now than ever. Those two songs were on the radio, but they weren't the hits that we think after all these years. "Dark Eyed Cajun Woman" reminds me of winter for some reason, great textured workout with some fine guitar playing and great dynamics. "Clear as the Driven Snow" is maybe the weakest track on the record, but a nice jam nonetheless. The first song on side two was "Without You", a great hard, up tempo number that was usually in the encore when done live. Song number two on side number two will forever and ever be one of my favorite songs. Without a question "South City Midnight Lady" is my all time favorite Doobie Brothers song and a song that resides in MY all time top twenty. "Evil Woman" is a bit of a throwaway, but still quite listenable. There's the obligatory instrumental break and then the album finishes with "Ukiah/The Captain and Me", a fine way to wrap the whole thing up. For a 17 year old kid, growing up in a rough river town, without much support, I took refuge in the music. It all meant so much, but this one along with "Toulouse Street" and especially "What Were Once Vices.." were the soundtrack to my adolescence. One of the very few bands that used two drummers and employed "Skunk" Baxter, one of the best technical guitar players.

This one's an A in my book

My Junk

This is not the map of the Seoul subway system. It is a view of what's right under my back yard. Created by the moles, voles, and whatever else is there, they have even set up their own hot dog stand and movie theatre. I hate killing anything really, but my back yard looks bad enough from all the rain, NOW I have to worry about falling in the cracks. Pest control to the rescue and I really hate to say that. But, it's them or me.

Hey, A-Rod, are you nuts? Do you realize what an idiot you look like? Are you and Elliot Spitzer hangin together? You bust up two marriages to have your go around with someone who stopped being relevant in 1990? Your wife's a beauty and you just had a kid? Wha? So, your wife goes and does Lenny Kravitz. According to the papers, your wife can take half of what you made while married to her. Wow, you're an idiot.

Getting pumped about the big move. Have lots of ideas, as Jerry Reed once said ..."we got a long way to go and a short time to get there..". Heading to Chicago for two nights with Gladys. Ought to be fun, back to St. Louis on Friday, then one last week at the mighty MOX. It'll happen fast.

What a great baseball game today. On the Saturday of the July 4th weekend, the Cardinals score three in the bottom of the ninth and beat the Cubs. Poetic. The best two teams in the National League play for the rubber game today. How cool

Beatles 101

I got this from the great www.smays.com
It's Steve Mays' website and he's the guy who got me into this whole mess
He got it from a plcae called Sturdy Soapbox

Everything you neeed to knoww about "A Day In The Life", one of the all time great musical masterpieces.

I.Q Test

Here's the link: I.Q Test.

I got 27. ...thanks , deb

Another Old Gas Station

Why do I love this crap so much? There's just something incredibly iconic in these pictures.
It must have been out of business for a long time, notice the grass around the pumps.

For My Friends

Incredible Pictures

PHOTOS STORED IN AN OLD BROWNIE CAMERA since 1941
Thought you might find these photos very interesting; what quality from 1941 !!Pearl Harbor photos found in an old Brownie stored in a foot locker.
THESE PHOTOS ARE FROM A SAILOR WHO WAS ON THE USS QUAPAW ATF-11O.
I THINK THEY'RE SPECTACULAR!

Just in time for Independence Day...thanks beth

On Sunday, December 7th, 1941 the Japanese launched a surprise attack against the U.S. Forces stationed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii . By planning his attack on a Sunday, the Japanese commander Admiral Nagumo, hoped to catch the entire fleet in port. As luck would have it, the Aircraft Carriers and one of the Battleships were not in port. (The USS Enterprise was returning from Wake Island, where it had just delivered some aircraft. The USS Lexington was ferrying aircraft to Midway, and the USS Saratoga and USS Colorado were undergoing repairs in the United States .)In spite of the latest intelligence reports about the missing aircraft carriers (his most important targets), Admiral Nagumo decided to continue the attack with his force of six carriers and 423 aircraft. At a range of 230 miles north of Oahu, he launched the first wave of a two-wave attack. Beginning at 0600 hours his first wave consisted of 183 fighters and torpedo bombers which struck at the fleet in Pearl Harbor and the airfields in Hickam, Kaneohe and Ewa. The second strike, launched at 0715 hours, consisted of 167 aircraft, which again struck at the same targets. At 0753 hours the first wave consisting of 40 Nakajima B5N2 'Kate' torpedo bombers, 51 Aichi D3A1 'Val' dive bombers, 50 high altitude b ombers and 43 Zeros struck airfields and Pearl Harbor. Within the next hour, the second wave arrived and continued the attack.When it was over, the U.S. losses were:

Casualties

USA: 218 KIA, 364 WIA.

USN: 2,008 KIA, 710 WIA.

USMC: 109 KIA, 69 WIA.

Civilians: 68 KIA, 35 WIA.

TOTAL: 2,403 KIA, 1,178 WIA.

Battleships

USS Arizona (BB-39) - total loss when a bomb hit her magazine.

USS Oklahoma (BB-37) - Total loss when she capsized and sank in the harbor.

USS California (BB-44) - Sunk at her berth. Later raised and repaired.

USS West Virginia (BB-48) - Sunk at her berth. Later raised and repaired.

USS Nevada - (BB-36) Beached to prevent sinking. Later repaired.

USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) - Light damage.

USS Maryland (BB-46) - Light damage.

USS Tennessee (BB-43) Light damage.

USS Utah (AG-16) - (former battleship used as a target) - Sunk

CruisersUSS New Orleans (CA-3 2) - Light Damage..

USS San Francisco (CA38) - Light Damage.

USS Detroit (CL-8) - Light Damage.

USS Raleigh (CL-7) - Heavily damaged but repaired.

USS Helena (CL-50) - Light Damage.

USS Honolulu (CL-48) - Light Damage

Destroyers

USS Downes (DD-375) - Destroyed. Parts salvaged.

USS Cassin - (DD-37 2) Destroyed. Parts salvaged.

USS Shaw (DD-373) - Very heavy damage.

USS Helm (DD-388) - Light Damage.

Minelayer

USS Ogala (CM-4) - Sunk but later raised and repaired

Seaplane Tender USS Curtiss (AV-4) - Severely damaged but later repaired

Repair Ship USS Vestal (AR-4) - Severely damaged but later repaired.

Harbor Tug USS Sotoyomo (YT-9) - Sunk but later raised and repaired

Aircraft

188 Aircraft destroyed (92 USN and 92 U.S. Army Air Corps.)

The Top Ten Cocaine Songs Of All Time

Yeah, he's on the list (with video evidence, of course)

Where Have You Gone, Joe Buck?

I found this article on Yahoo sports:

Joe Buck should be removed from MLB broadcasts yesterday
By 'Duk
Let me start by saying I don't like Joe Buck. In fact, I've never liked Joe Buck. When I watch Saturday afternoon baseball or the playoffs on Fox, it takes everything in my power to stop from hitting the mute button. He doesn't add anything to my enjoyment of the game and, more often than not, his refusal to never shut up and let the game breathe a little bit makes for the equivalent of a drill-bit being bored into my head for more than three hours at a clip.
You can disagree with me if you want, but I believe that if it weren't for who his father was, Joe Buck and his droning, monotone, haughty and easily-outraged-by-Randy Moss style would be somewhere in rural Minnesota, announcing the details of that day's ice fishing contest.
Well, if there were any broadcasting justice and any chance to make my dream come true, rural Minnesota is where Joe Buck would end up after the comments he made on this morning's Colin Cowherd Show. Apparently not only does Joe Buck not enjoy baseball as much as he used to, he says would rather watch "The Bachelorette" instead of the game that, for some reason, has made him its preeminent voice.


If he really thinks America is too busy to watch baseball during the week, then I would suggest Buck is completely out of touch from the millions who fill the parks Monday through Friday, those who blog about it endlessly with their own free time without ever getting paid and the people who hang on every pitch like he's announcing it without much interest during October.
What's even worse is that he doesn't even seem to believe that he and Fox might seem to be part of the problem. If people weren't being subjected to non-stop commercial breaks, dozens of in-game robot advertisements for Malcolm In The Middle and hundreds of fan reaction shots between each pitch, maybe more would be interested in tuning in.
Look, I never thought I'd agree with both Rob Parker and Skip Bayless, but Bud Selig and his people should be making phone calls this afternoon to ensure that someone else is tabbed to do the rest of Fox's schedule through the World Series. If Joe Buck no longer enjoys watching baseball, then it's time to confine him to his precious NFL and find someone else who does.

You know, I can't agree more. If you don't want to do it Joe, then don't. Now, everytime I see you doing baseball, I'll wonder if your heart is in it. There isn't anything worse in broadcasting than someone phoning it in. I had my suspicions the other day when the Cardinals were playing the Red Sox on a Saturday afternoon in Fenway on Fox and Joe..."took the day off". Took the day off? For the Cardinals and the Red Sox? at Fenway? I don't know the details and I'm not privy to any "backstage knowledge" but I don't think his dad would ever..."take the day off" on a broadcast like that. Colour me discouraged.

Off We Go Into The Wide Blue Yonder

Yonder is Bloomington/Normal Illinois. I was born in Illinois; Moline to be exact. It looks like now I'm headed back that direction. While I have enjoyed my run at KMOX and an opportunity to be part of such a heritage, first class organization, I set my sails north on I-55 about 150 miles. The opportunity for me to finally bestow my radio knowledge on a cluster of stations has made itself available. Starting on July 21st, I will be employed by Great Plains Media as the Market Manager for their Bloomington/Normal three station cluster. This decision was made after consultation with my family and a few close friends. Each and all agreed that this is where I needed to go to see if I indeed knew what the hell I have been talking about for the last 20 years. My time at KMOX has been fruitful and wonderful and I have learned a lot from the process, making some great friends along the way. I'm nervous but as Dave Ervin said..."you wouldn't be scared if it didn't mean anything". He's right. I will have three stations under my watch. A news/talk station on FM, a country station and a classic rock station. I hate to leave here again but it's time at 52, to put up or shut up. This is what I have been waiting for a long time. I hope not to blow it. I can not say in words what my time at KMOX has meant to me. There are none. God bless us all, everyone.

See The Picture Above?....

It is now my life...once again. It's never been easy with me, I have just got to relalize that after 52 years..and it will NEVER be easy.

Post 1,200

"May we never let the things we can’t have, or don’t have, or shouldn’t have, spoil our enjoyment of the things we do have and can have. As we value our happiness, let us not forget it, for one of the greatest lessons in life is learning to be happy without the things we cannot or should not have". Richard L. Evans

Another One Hit Wonder Band

Thank God for youtube. This isn't the greatest quality, but that's to be expected.
This is a song that I fell in love with in 1981.
I was mowing the yard and this popped up on the Ipod.
Here's the skinny on Duke Jupiter

Coldplay

It's been a week since I made the first purchase of "new music" since I bought The Eagles record at Christmas. I must say, this is a very nice piece of music. Throughout this album, I hear U2 (of course), Pink Floyd, Zeppelin and yes, a tinge of the Beatles here and there. While it won't rank with "Dark Side of The Moon" or any of those great albums, it'll come darn close.

It starts and ends with the same U2 Police inspired riff called "Life In Technicolor", that gives it a sense of cohesiveness thoroughout the disc. The songs are arranged on the CD in the correct order, this is one of the those discs that need to be played from beginning to end in one setting (like "Dark Side" or "Abbey Road").

"Cemeteries of London" is one of a number of their songs that changes tempo a couple of times through the tune, this is a very nice song with some great guitar chops and great lyrics "...save the nightime for your weeping". This is one of many songs on the release that has a coda. Just when you think the song is done, it shifts gears again.
"Lost!" is a great U2 song with a heavy organ presence..."just because I'm hurting doesn't mean I'm hurt" That cutting "Edge" guitar in the middle makes it one of the more heavy songs. This one has emerged recently as one of my favorites on the record.
"42" is my favorite so far. Starts off sweetly with just Chris Martin and a piano, then at the 90 second mark takes off like a Zep rocket with the refrain of ...."you didn't get to heaven but you made it close", this one's a killer, then all of a sudden it stops. I just wish it was longer.
"Lovers In Japan/Reign of Love" is another one that sounds like it could be a great U2 song, and there's nothing wrong with that. It could be the influence of Brian Eno more than anything. This song would fit on "The Unforgettable Fire" real well. "Reign of Love" has a real seventies Cat Stevens feel to it, another excellent song.
"Yes" is my second favorite song, well produced and sounding more like Coldplay than anything else, nice tasty string break to separate the verses. Another coda that has noting to do with the song. It's almost annoying. Almost.
"Viva La Vida" is one of the best pop songs I've heard in a long time. This was the song that got me interested in this in that Itunes commercial. So, yes, I've succumbed to the cheap advertising ploy thrown my way. They got me hook, line and sinker.
"Violet Hill" This their dark Pink Floydish track. "It was a long, cold, dark December..." Nice gutar work, here. Stops down with just Chris Martin and a piano at the end of the song.
"Strawberry Swing" is one of the better tracks on the CD, well produced and well played with great dynamics. This song sounds great, such great sonic landscapes painted by Brian Eno, very Beatle-esque.
"Death and All His Friends" This is a great way to end the disk, another Floyd sounding tune until it breaks wide open in the middle. Another quality recording and the coda to the whole body of work.

The tunes are catchy, full of hooks and the dynamics on this record make it one enjoyable ride. It sounds good, the producing and mastering by Bob Ludwig are first rate. The only problem I see is reproducing this on stage. There will be lots of pre-recorded stuff in concert.
Not the masterpiece they were shooting for, but I'll give them credit for coming close. A fine release that make Coldplay maybe the best band out there (apologies to U2).
Grade A-

Saturday Morning Coming Down

This is the time the I take it all in. I don't look at the phone or email until noon. I'll read the paper have my usual oatmeal and toast and then veg for a couple of hours.
It's weird how I have kind of morphed into my father. He would have has rigid rituals. Certain things had to be a certain way at a certain time. I'm even starting toi look like him.

I applaud the passengers on the flight that was cancelled on the tarmack. They didn't leave the plane to protest. The only bad thing about it is that it happened in China. It needs to start happening here.

Where have America's thinkers gone? I am talking about the kind of people who would take the initiative to get us out of our addiction to oil. This started happening 35 years ago, and we're still stuck. What happened to us? Where are the Edison's, the Einstein's, the people who took the lead and invented or developed something in all this time? I don't understand how someone couldn't have come up with an alternative to gas in thirty five years.

All we better off now than eight years ago? The next president has a lot of work to do. I don't remember a time since the seventies where this country has been as fucked up as it is now. Housing mess, stock mess, gas prices mess, Iraq mess, crisis of confidence mess... and the band played on. I get the vision of Nero who fiddled while Rome burned. I think this may be the most out of touch administration in the last one hundred fifty years. The silence from Washington is deafening.

The proposed sale of AB to InBev, if it happens, will turn St. Louis into Dayton. Now, don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with Dayton but St. Louis has always been a Cleveland sort of town. If AB goes (and if the sale goes through, it will), the entire heart and core along with the civic pride in this city will deteriorate. Contrary to what's coming out of Belgium, the first thing InBev will do is cut, cut, and cut some more. It won't be good for this region. St. Louis in recent years has lost a number of Fortune 500 headquarters (May Company, ATT, etc) but this will be like roling them all into one. I wish the board members at AB good luck. They are going to need it.

The Cardinals get swept by the Royals at home, go to Boston and win two (almost three) out of three and then get beat be the Royals again. They've lost three in a row, hope this isn't a trend.

I wonder what kind of conversations God and George Carlin have gotten into. Like to be a fly on the wall there.

I got an email from someone who wanted to know if I still look like my picture on the profile. Are you kidding? Sure, I do....not. It was taken about twelve years and I'm just havin some fun. My new one is my last "publicity shot" at KSHE. I didn't care for it much but Abby Pollay said, ..."it's so you." And as usual, Abby was right. A little less hair and it's certainly a different colour.

Fire Rainbow

THIS IS A FIRE RAINBOW - THE RAREST OF ALL NATURALLY OCCURRING ATMOSPHERIC PHENOMENA. THE PICTURE WAS CAPTURED THIS WEEK ON THE IDAHO/WASHINGTON BORDER. THE EVENT LASTED ABOUT 1 HOUR. CLOUDS HAVE TO BE CIRRUS, AT LEAST 20K FEET IN THE AIR, WITH JUST THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF ICE CRYSTALS AND THE SUN HAS TO HIT THE CLOUDS AT PRECISELY 58 DEGREES. Thanks, Beth

Something Very Rare

Paul performing "A Day In The Life" earlier this year. He nails all of John's lyrics but he forgets his own part...even the greats have senior moments....

What Joe Cocker Was Really Saying

No, I don't know who April is, but I have a niece with that name, so..OK

The Black Sabbath Cartoon Show

you've been warned...

God and Missouri

Thanks, KK

Once upon a time in the Kingdom of Heaven,God was missing for six days. Eventually, Michael the Archangel found Him,resting on the seventh day. He inquired of God, "Where have you been?"God sighed a deep sigh of satisfaction and proudlypointed downward through the clouds, "Look Michael, look what I've made!" Archangel Michael looked puzzled and said, "What is it?""It's a planet," replied God, and I've put life on it. I'm going to call it Earth and it's going to be a great place of balance.""Balance?" inquired Michael, still confused.God explained, pointing to different parts of Earth."For example,Northern Europe will be a place of great opportunity and wealth,while southern Europe is going to be poor; the Middle East over there will be a hot spot. And over there I've placed a continent of white people, while over here is a continent of black people."God continued, pointing to different countries. "This one will be extremely hot and arid while this one will be very cold and covered in ice."The Archangel, impressed by God's work, then pointed to an area of rolling hills and prairie on a large land mass and said, "What's that beautiful garden spot there?"Ah," said God. "That's Missouri, the most glorious place on earth.There are beautiful lakes, rivers, sunrises, sunsets, rolling hills, open prairie, oceans of waving corn, small water falls, monumental rock formations, abundant wildlife, pure white snow in the winter,white fluffy clouds, blue skies year-round, and a place where a person can See millions of stars in the sky at night.God continued, "The people from Missouri aregoing to be modest, intelligent and humorous and they are going to be found traveling the World. They will be extremely sociable, hard working and high-achieving, and they will be known throughoutthe world as diplomats and carriers of peace."Michael gasped in wonder and admiration but then questioned, "What about balance, God? You said there would be balance!"God replied wisely, "Wait until you see the idiots I'm putting around them in Arkansas, Kansas,and Oklahoma.

nyuk. nyuk. nyuk.

Monday Night Music Club Week 2

I was looking for something with some cool sophistication to it, something to make me feel better, something that appealed to the music lover in me, so I found this in my collection...

Here's one that ranks in my top 50. Suave and capturing the feeling of 1976, pre disco music. For some reason, the memory I have of this is being with the ex wife at a drive in burger joint in Milan Il. Later, of course, I used this release as a fine "let's go back to the apartment" selection.

This CD is really the first time we heard what became Toto with the trio of Paich, Porcaro and Hungate getting a lot of time on this. David Paich also wrote a number of these songs. Also featured is session man Fred Tackett who went on to join Little Feat in the 80s. In a cameo role, one of my favorite underrated guitarists (Les Dudek) is featured.

Boz is nothing but class and this is one of the classiest releases of the 70s. With "What Can I Say" kicking it off, the cooler than cool "Lowdown" and "Lido Shuffle" on the same damn record along with "Harbor Lights" and "We're All Alone" and the very funky Allen Toussaint number "What Do You Want The Girl To Do", Boz was never better. This one brings back fine memories of a very unfine time....if ya know what I mean...

I met Boz at the Pageant and brought along this LP for him to sign.."For Randy, thanks for all the years.." is what he wrote. It's hanging in my office as we speak.

Goodbye, My Old Friend

My heart is broken. When I was in high school, I could escape the perils of the world by stealing off to my room, putting on the headphones and George would take me to a new world, where all norms were challenged and things were looked at in a different light. "Why is it that you park on a driveway and drive on a parkway"? "Snot's funny. The original rubber cement, ya know. Ya can't get rid of it." "What do dogs do on their day off? They can't lie around. That's their job." We slayed the same demons. "Names. They mean something. For instance, you wouldn't buy Goodyear pancakes. No one wants those. You wouldn't want Aunt Jemima tires for the same reason. If Janitor in a Drum made a douche, nobody'd buy it." My life is much less rich. "Football is a ground acquisition game. You beat the shit out of 11 guys and take their land away from them. 'Course you only do it 10 yards at a time. That's the way we handled the Indians, right? First down in Pennsylvania, Midwest to go." I feel like I have lost a member of my family. "Did you ever notice that your own farts smell OK?" "It's just exhaust. We're not perfected yet." "You know you really like your neighbor or your partner when you're willing to fart out loud." I feel I have known George since the days of Burns and Carlin. "Woody Hayes is weird. He wears a baseball hat during football games. Can you imagine if Walter Alston wore a football helmet during a baseball game? They'd take him away in a wire truck." He helped me get through life. "The language of football and baseball tells it all. Football is technological. Baseball is pastoral. Football is played on an enclosed grid. Baseball is played on an ever-widening diamond reaching into infinity. In football you have the hit, clip, block, crackback, the tackle, the blitz, the bomb, the offense, the defense. In baseball, you have the sacrifice." Another one gone. "In New York subways, it's a $50 fine for spitting. Vomiting is free."

George Carlin 1937-2008 Good bye, my friend and companion. I pray for your family.

Here's his best work in years..



My favorite Carlin bit. The difference between baseball and football



Goodbye Wally Lando. Thanks for all the laughter.

I Sure Feel Like This Sometimes

From The Associated Press:

Midwestern levees are bursting. Polar bears are adrift. Gas prices are skyrocketing. Home values are abysmal. Air fares, college tuition and health care border on unaffordable. Wars without end rage in Iraq, Afghanistan and against terrorism.

Horatio Alger, twist in your grave.

The can-do, bootstrap approach embedded in the American psyche is under assault. Eroding it is a dour powerlessness that is chipping away at the country's sturdy conviction that destiny can be commanded with sheer courage and perseverance.
The sense of helplessness is even reflected in this year's presidential election.Each contender offers a sense of order — and hope. Republican John McCain promises an experienced hand in a frightening time. Democrat Barack Obama promises bright and shiny change, and his large crowds believe his exhortation, "Yes, we can."
Even so, a battered public seems discouraged by the onslaught of dispiriting things. An Associated Press-Ipsos poll says a barrel-scraping 17 percent of people surveyed believe the country is moving in the right direction. That is the lowest reading since the survey began in 2003.
An ABC News-Washington Post survey put that figure at 14 percent, tying the low in more than three decades of taking soundings on the national mood.
"It is pretty scary," said Charles Truxal, 64, a retired corporate manager in Rochester, Minn. "People are thinking things are going to get better, and they haven't been. And then you go hide in your basement because tornadoes are coming through. If you think about things, you have very little power to make it change."
Recent natural disasters around the world dwarf anything afflicting the U.S. Consider that more than 69,000 people died in the China earthquake, and that 78,000 were killed and 56,000 missing from the Myanmar cyclone.

Americans need do no more than check the weather, look in their wallets or turn on the news for their daily reality check on a world gone haywire.
Floods engulf Midwestern river towns. Is it global warming, the gradual degradation of a planet's weather that man seems powerless to stop or just a freakish late-spring deluge?
It hardly matters to those in the path. Just ask the people of New Orleans who survived Hurricane Katrina. They are living in a city where, 1,000 days after the storm, entire neighborhoods remain abandoned, a national embarrassment that evokes disbelief from visitors.
Food is becoming scarcer and more expensive on a worldwide scale, due to increased consumption in growing countries such as China and India and rising fuel costs. That can-do solution to energy needs — turning corn into fuel — is sapping fields of plenty once devoted to crops that people need to eat. Shortages have sparked riots. In the U.S., rice prices tripled and some stores rationed the staple.
Residents of the nation's capital and its suburbs repeatedly lose power for extended periods as mere thunderstorms rumble through. In California, leaders warn people to use less water in the unrelenting drought.
Want to get away from it all? The weak U.S. dollar makes travel abroad forbiddingly expensive. To add insult to injury, some airlines now charge to check luggage.
Want to escape on the couch? A writers' strike halted favorite TV shows for half a season. The newspaper on the table may soon be a relic of the Internet age. Just as video stores are falling by the wayside as people get their movies online or in the mail.
But there's always sports, right?
The moorings seem to be coming loose here, too.
Baseball stars Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens stand accused of enhancing their heroics with drugs. Basketball referees are suspected of cheating.
Stay tuned for less than pristine tales from the drug-addled Tour de France and who knows what from the Summer Olympics.

It's not the first time Americans have felt a loss of control.
Alger, the dime-novel author whose heroes overcame adversity to gain riches and fame, played to similar anxieties when the U.S. was becoming an industrial society in the late 1800s.
American University historian Allan J. Lichtman notes that the U.S. has endured comparable periods and worse, including the economic stagflation (stagnant growth combined with inflation) and Iran hostage crisis of 1980; the dawn of the Cold War, the Korean War and the hysterical hunts for domestic Communists in the late 1940s and early 1950s; and the Depression of the 1930s.
"All those periods were followed by much more optimistic periods in which the American people had their confidence restored," he said. "Of course, that doesn't mean it will happen again."
Each period also was followed by a change in the party controlling the White House.
This period has seen intense interest in the presidential primaries, especially the Democrats' five-month duel between Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton. Records were shattered by voters showing up at polling places, yearning for a voice in who will next guide the country as it confronts the uncontrollable.
Never mind that their views of their current leaders are near rock bottom, reflecting a frustration with Washington's inability to solve anything. President Bush barely gets the approval of three in 10 people, and it's even worse for the Democratic-led Congress.

Why the vulnerability? After all, this is the 21st century, not a more primitive past when little in life was assured. Surely people know how to fix problems now.
Maybe. And maybe this is what the 21st century will be about — a great unraveling of some things long taken for granted.

Coldplay

I stopped at my buddy Tom Young's place "Now Hear This" in downtown Kirkwood today and picked up "Viva La Vida" from Coldplay and a couple of obscure REO releases on one CD ("Riding The Storm Out" and "Lost In A Dream"). So far, the word for Coldplay is "interesting". I could almost say it is a masterpiece but allow me more listens.
Chris Martin sounds to me like he's trying to write a masterpiece, but it so far has kept my attention. I'll check back later.

Another One Hit Wonder Band

I could not tell you another song these guys have done. I do remember about 1983 and KY102 was conflicted on which way to go. The Kansas City powerhouse station cut it's teeth on REO, Van Halen, Journey and such but this "new wave" stuff out of England was now all over MTV and how do we counter that? In a move that probably was the first death nell of the station, we were forced to capitulate and play a lot of it. This one was one we may have played for a week in 1984, but something about this song rocks my world. Don't ask me why but when this came on the Ipod while running today, I had a better spring in the step.

Style Council's story

Getting Caught Up

Tim Russert was a welcome guest in my house every Sunday morning. Even staying up after Route 66, I still got up to see Tim at 8 oclock. I couldn't believe it and couldn't believe how the whole thing played out. How this dominated every outlet, how poised and collected his boy was and the rainbow was cool, huh? I don't know who will replace him but no one can. Died on the job and apparently pretty quickly. That works.

Jim McKay was another great voice from my youth. From cliff diving, or bowling or bocce ball, ABC's Wide World of Sports was a Saturday afternoon treasure. On the days when you weren't out; something different, strange or bizarre was on WWS, Jim always made you think and feel he was as excited as possible. His broadcasting skills were impeccable and he was always what I wanted to be as a broadcaster. The Olympics will never be the same...."they're gone, they're all gone.."

Charlie Jones was in my house a lot as a kid. I lived in either Ava, Mo. or the Quad Cities while growing up. For the NFL, it was The Cardinals or The Bears, but in the AFL, it could be the Buffalo Bills, The Chargers, Chiefs or Broncos. Charlie would call that game. Charlie's on the right in the picture and once again, he died of a massive heart attack and was dead quickly. He was 78.

here's Charlie's story

RTF Review

As most of you know, I have very eclectic tastes in music. I love a good bluegrass song, dig the blues and rock and roll, like a lot of the country stuff and then there's...my jazz fusion side. I first heard "Return To Forever" in a head shop in Moline. I walked in and was enamored with how fast and precise these guys could play. That revelation made me seek out Mahavishnu Orchestra, Weather Report, Lee Ritenour, Billy Cobham, etc etc. It has been 25 years since this incarnation of RTF has been performing. I can not name the songs they played but their wizardry in pulling off such incredible, tight, fast runs is amazing. Al DiMeola and Chick Corea were smiling at each other many times during the evening as they pulled off those intricate pieces with great skill and ease. One of the problems of this tour, I think, it that it seems that all of the other guys have been playing but Lenny White, the drummer, looked like he felt uncomfortable and had to be pulled along by the other guys. It seems that he had to think about what he was playing before he played it, The other guys seemingly just played automatically. It was a near perfect evening with one glaring exception, the solos. Each one had a turn. Al kept his guitar solo relatively short and sweet, Chick's could have been about 3 minutes shorter, Stanley could have cut his short by half and Lenny White should NOT have attempted one at all. It was sloppy and unfocused for about 10 minutes. I haven't played in twenty years and I think I could have pulled it off better. Other than that, they were as good, if not better than I thought they would be. I think this music is our generations "classical" music. These guys may be our greatest unknown composers. That lead me to a question..who will keep this music alive? There doesn't seem to be any younger people focused on this style of jazz. Who's next when it comes to carrying the torch of Mahavishnu, RTF, etc? It was an amazing evening.

Iowa City Flood

A Bridge Too Far

What used to be Burlington Street

University of Iowa baseball fields

Coralville Strip

Nice try with the sandbags

Coralville Dam (not any more)