100 Worst Cover Songs ... EVER

Over at RetroCrush a list of the 100 worst cover songs just wrapped up. I didn't have a chance to contribute, so glad to see one of my picks - Madonnas simply awful cover of "American Pie"- made the list at #5. Would have liked to see Bananarama's cover of "Help" on the list though. I like Bananarama, but their version of "Help" is pretty painful.

Best cover ever? Easy. "I Love Rock and Roll", Joan Jett & The Blackhearts. Generally people don't even know it is a cover.

Best cover (music geek edition)? "Fever", (Little) Nell Campbell. I've only seen this on a bonus disc from the Rocky Horror Picture Show movie soundtrack box set. Lush, seductive, a little bit creepy. Just like good love songs should be.

Typos

I hate typos.

Previous post:

Rotterdam is in the Netherlands. Ooops. I meant Rothenburg. Actually, I'm not sure where I was. I was 16 and in a bar. Germany. Southern Germany. And the town name had an R in it ...

Demons:

"I choOse to lead." Missed an 'o' and changed the tense ...

Bitsand Pieces

Just assorted junk that really doesn't fit elsewhere, and will probably alienate many of the folks who read this blog. So it goes.

BENOIT/WRESTLING

If anyone is interested in more background on Chris Benoit, his biography on Wikipedia is here. I spent some spare moments at work reading through pro wrestling related articles on Wikipedia. It was a lot of fun, really. Ther is an article on there concering slang and jargon used in that industry that may make it easier to understand me sometimes. I tend to use words and phrases in everyday speech that ocasionally assume familiarity with such things. Not so often wrestling, more often things like comics and genre cinema.

WIKIPEDIA

Speaking of Wikipedia, picking a topic and following the links is a great way to waste time yet emerge a more knowledgable human being. Don't take anything as gospel truth until verifying it, though. The user-generated nature of the thing doesn't always lend itself to accuracy (not that Wikipedia articles are necessarily incorrect though. In studies they have compared well to things like Encyclopedia Brittanica.) The most recent probable ionaccuracy I've stumbled across was in the entry on 80s/90s hair metal outfit Gorky Park. The article states they were the first Russian group to appear on MTV. I am 90%+ certain this is incorrect. Problem is I don't know what the correct thing would be with ant certainty. I do know as fact Boris Grebeshnikov's video for the song "Radio Silence" got airplay - and predates Gorky Park's "Bang". I also vaguely recall a benefit concert which included a Russian artist.

I have contributed to a few Wikipedia pieces. Mostly on 70s/80s rock and various food-related tidbits. Am I a supergeek or what? :)

MANCHESTER CITY FC

I've been a soccer fan since a trip to Germany in '86. Watched the World Cup final in a bar in ... Rotterdam, I think.

The one English club I am a supporter of is Manchester City. I don't really pay enough attention though. So imagine my pleasent surprise to discover a few months ago that my favorite US Men's National Team player Demarcus Beasely was on loan from his regular club to City!

FORMERLY THE CINGULAR 31 CAR (NASCAR)

Cingular has sponsored Jeff Burton and the 31 car for the past few years. But Cingular's name is now AT&T. Nextel, sponsors of the Nextel Cup (top division in NASCAR), was going to disallow a name change on the car, arguing that although Cingular had been grandfathered in, AT&T would be a NEW sponsor. Agreements between NASCAR and Nextel prohibit new sponsors from the telecommunications industry. AT&T sued, and at the end of May judgement came down in their favor. So the paint scheme was changed, and the car now races as the AT&T 31 car!

OK, enough rambling for now. I promise to be more cohesive and coherent in the future!

Demons

I've 'fessed up to being a pro wrestling fan here before. One of the wrestlers I've always enjoyed has been Chris Benoit. Benoit always had the ability to put together a very entertaining match, even when working with someone less talented. Chris was a great athlete and wrestler.

He was also a murdeer.

This past Friday Chris Benoit strangled his wife Nancy.

On Saturday he asphyxiated his son Daniel.

On Sunday he commited suicide, hanging himself.

What personal demons drove him to this? We don't know. To those media outlets falling over each other in a rush to explain it as an extreme case of 'roid rage I repeat: we don't know.

What I at least know: to some extent we all have demons we have to dance with. The choice is ours. Do we lead the dance or give up control to darkness?

I chose to lead. Chris Benoit unfortunately chose surrender.

Whenever a tragic situation occurs we often seek some cosmic meaning in it all. Something beyond the 'just the facts' sense. So what does the past weekend MEAN?

To me, there is now discomfort in what was formerly a very enjoyable activity: watching a Chris Benoit match. To Nancy's parents, loss of a daughter and grandchild. In the big cosmic sense?

Not a damn thing.

There was a stormy day in March

I think I mentioned it before. Snow heavy ... HUNDREDS of accidents across the Twin Cities metro. I had one.

But my case was a little different in the eyes of the law from the other hundreds.. See, I have multiple sclerosis. And being shook up after the accident (as anyone would be) my MS symptoms were positivly raging. So the state canceled my drivers license.

Ah, but all I had to do to get reinstated was a simple exam. I had that exam yesterday.

Got nervous (lots of anxiety!) My leg pooped out on me and I failed.

So, I feel like I've just taken a stiff chairshot in a shootfight.

I don't even really have a chance here to catch my breath and process this. I am having a REALLY hard time, folks. But still I have crap that has to get done ...

Helluva 100th post, huh? I'd like to have posted something celebratory, or at least one of my stupid lists ... But life got in the way.

See, there was this stormy day in March ...

Weather (Climbin')

Dang it. Just when I was starting to see the summit a storm brews up. Can't see much -- too cloudy.

Ah well. Perhaps it is for the best. Gives me a chance to get better situated for my final advance.

[Note from the non-metaphorical real world: the weather WAS a factor in this little pause in progress. Last night we had a severe thunderstorm roll through about 2 AM. First time I've seen one that major that late. Consequently, I'm running on about 2 hours sleep. Not a good situation. That'll mess you up even if you don't have MS. So, when my ride was too sick to take me to a driving evaluation I had scheduled I was actually a little relieved I had good reason to reschedule.]

And now for something completely different ...

99 posts on my blog,
99 posts on my blog,
If Blogger should crash,
Make recent posts trash,

Then ...

98 posts on my blog

And so on.

It was 40 Years Ago Today

Blog entries are supposed to be timeless, but this one is really tied to today being June 1, 2007. 40 years after.

After what? The release of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

So I thought I'd take this opportunity to reconsider the film based on the album. You know, the one with the Bee Gees and Peter Frampton which came out when both those acts had a lot of star power. I mean, people were practically issued a copy of Frampton Comes Alive at birth. Some of the biggest names of the era in a fiilm based on one of the biggest albums of all time. How could one go wrong?

So ... considering .... thinking about it ...

Still stinks.