Friday, September 29, 2006

Old Folks Show

Tomorrow night, gonna go down to Jefferson Barraks Park, stop by and see my brother's grave, then gonna go next door and take in an "old folks show" as I like to call it. My "friends" at Emmis Broadcasting have put on a fine ensemble of acts that ought to be decent...

Saw Firefall at the Uptown in KC about three years ago and they were quite good. I think there might be two original members, but they still sounded tight. I thought their first LP (with "Livin Aint Livin" and "Cinderella") was very tasty. Then they got mellow.

Craig Fuller and John David Reilly are back in PPL and I was always a fan of this band. I think their first two LPs hold up over time and are some of the sweetest recordings ever. "Boulder Skies" still kicks ass as well as "If The Shoe Fits". They have a new CD out so I am really looking forward to it.

See earlier post about these guys. There are only two original members here. I have no expectations about this but what the hey, it's supposed to be a nice night and the music is very reasonable. Had to buy the tickets with cash, the clerk at the record store said something to me to the effect of..."hey, after all the time YOU spent there, seems that they would trust you." Not quite. I can't even get an email or phone call returned. But, that's life and "I'm not gonna let it bother me tonight..."

The Boneyard

Photos of the "Boneyard"






It is difficult to comprehend the size of
the facility and the number of aircraft stored there. Of course
the important thing to remember is that they are all capable
of being returned to flying condition if the need ever arises.
There was an excellent book published a few years ago on
the celebration of the "Boneyard's" 50 anniversary. It was
written by Philip D. Chinnery and is entitled "50 Years of the
Desert Boneyard" published by Motorbooks International
and can be obtained through any good bookstore. If you
are ever in the Tucson area, the weekly tours of the boneyard
are still given through the Tucson Air Museum, located
just south of Davis Monthan AFB. Both the museum and
the boneyard are very popular attractions here in the
Arizona desert.

It is difficult to comprehend the number of military aircraft in dead storage until you see these photographs! Even if you have seen this before, look again.

Things of interest.

1- The 3rd largest Air Force in the world is sitting on the ground here.

2- It's the only unit in the U.S. Air Force that actually makes a profit.

Thanks KoolK

Thursday, September 28, 2006

The Top Ten Most Annoying Asshole Anchors


Guess who is number one? Our buddy Bill.
From Giant.

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Twenty Thousand Hits!


Thirty years ago, twenty thousand hits meant something a bit different...Who's reading this crap? Whoever it is, thanks.

In Praise of....Rare Earth

When my brother came back from Vietnam in 1970, he returned with a whole new form of listening to music...cassettes. I knew they were around but until he returned, I didn't know you could get prerecorded versions of my favorite albums on them. Wow! One of the cassettes he brough back was "Ecology" by Rare Earth. Now, I had been exposed to these guys by what was played on the radio, but to hear a ten minute version of "I Know I'm Losing You" blew this 14 year old's mind.

The first concert I ever saw was Rare Earth, Sugarloaf and Flo & Eddie at the Rock Island Armory where the sound bounced around four times before it landed in your ears. I didn't care. I saw them perform agian at the Uptown Theatre in Kansas City in 1981 with all the original members and it was one of the best shows I have ever seen. Note for note and downright as close to perfect as I have witnessed, still to this day. I also liked them because the drummer sang.

With that in mind, my top five favorite Rare Earth songs....

1. "I Just Want To Celebrate" summer of 1971, this was the best song on the radio.
2. "Hey Big Brother" as funky as you want to be and a fortelling of the future.
3. "I Know I'm Losing You" it has to be the 10 minute version, though. Incredible!
4. "Born To Wander" I remember hearing this on the drive home from playing basketball all over the midwest on WLS.
5. "Any Man Can Be Fool" obscure song from "One World"
...oh yeah and the 20 minute live version of "Get Ready" rocks, too.

Postscript How sick am I? I got on line to my favorite CD clearinghouse www.gemm.com and found a copy of "One World" on CD in Germany. Yeah, I ordered it. What a clown.

T. O. Tries To Off Himself?


From Yahoo sports.

You're fucking kidding me, right? Can he make his mortgage payment with that $25 million dollar salary? Can he afford to send his kid to college? Does he not have a job? Doesn't he have health insurance? Isn't his biggest worry how to spend all those millions? Fuck you, Mr. T.O. Try living in the real world you over hyped, over paid baby prick. Spare me.

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

The Ghost of Gene Mauch

Are the Cardinals done? Finished? Kaput? Will this team go down in history as one of the biggest choke jobs ever? It seems that the ghost of Gene Mauch resides in the St. Louis clubhouse. Gene Mauch was by all accounts a great guy and a super manager but in the 1964 season he managed to lose the pennant with the Phillies after being up by 12 games with about a month to go. The team that won? The Cardinals. I say that the team should have hung unto Reggie Sanders and Mark Grudzelanek. The Cardinals were seven games up with two weeks to play and now the lead is 1 1/2 games. The curse of greed, the new stadium, the new station and skin flint owners has now caught up with them. I certainly don't feel as passionate about the team as I used to. The new owners seem to be wrecking the history of the team by bulldozing the stadium, KMOX and being about the $$ instead of being about baseball. Just my take but I think this team is done. The Cardinals have now lost seven games in a row at the worst possible time.

Steven Tyler HAD Hep C



Steven Tyler has apparently been living on the edge more than he previously let on.
In an interview with Access Hollywood set to air Tuesday night, Aerosmith's sinewy singer reveals that he has quietly been battling hepatitis C, a blood-borne infection that can potentially lead to fatal liver damage, including cirrhosis or liver cancer.
Per the New York Daily News, the 58-year-old Tyler tells host Nancy O'Dell that he was diagnosed three years ago but had contracted hepatitis C several years earlier without manifesting any symptoms. He subsequently endured a year's worth of pills and injections containing the antiviral drug interferon.
"I've been pretty quiet about this," Tyler says, adding that his physician recommended he undergo the strict interferon regiment three years ago when the group took a break. "You know, it really hurt. It was a bad, bad period." Now, though, the frontman says he's back in the saddle, health-wise. "It is nonexistent in my bloodstream...where it's like a complete cure," says Tyler.
The virus is often transmitted through dirty needles and typically affects addicts in high numbers. While there is no vaccine or known cure, hepatitis C can be controlled and even reduced in the bloodstream by powerful antiviral drugs such as interferon that strengthen the immune system. No word on whether the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame vocalist will discuss how he contracted hepatitis C , but he has long history of drug abuse. Back in the late 1970s, he and Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry were known as the Toxic Twins for their heavy consumption of drugs, including heroin. Their addictions got so bad the Boston band nearly took a permanent vacation from the rock scene two decades ago. But the group's masterminds cleaned themselves up and launched a hugely successful comeback in the late '80s. Tyler also admits that his health crisis and subsequent treatment put a big strain on his 17-year marriage to fashion designer Teresa Barrick. "I had a little problem at home, to say the least," the "Cryin' " crooner says on Access. "I would run upstairs at night, you know, to put the kids asleep and wake up at 3 in the morning with a nosebleed--you know, just passed out from the interferon, the treatment. It's a shot and pills and all of that. But the good news is I stood the test of time." The couple, who have two teenage children, ended up divorcing last year. Tyler tells Access he plans to talk more openly about his struggle with hepatitis C in the future to raise public awareness. "Hepatitis C is the one that, of all the people in this room, at least three have it and don't know it," he says. "It's the silent killer. I may go on Oprah and talk about this. I hope you don't mind me mentioning that." The musician joins an estimated 4.5 million Americans who suffer from hepatitis C, including fellow celebs Pamela Anderson, Naomi Judd and Larry Hagman.

Randy's take Interferon and riboviran will fuck you up. I mean it, the cure for Hep C is much worse than the disease itself. You can ask my family, they'll tell you what a monster that stuff will turn you into. Depression, dementia and whole bunch of other nice things will ensue. I thought about killing myself a number of times and had to go to the grocery store just to be around people so I wouldn't slit my throat alone at home. I applaud Mr. Tyler for being real about this. You can also get it from dirty blood, too. I, like him, am cured.

Raymond "Boz" Burrell R.I.P.


Boz Burrell passed away yesterday. For those who don't know who he was, along with Simon Kirke, Boz laid down some of the finest bottom end for Bad Company. Boz was the bass player and he played it very well. His first rise to prominence was in King Crimson and then he was recruited to play bass in BadCo. Bad Company was one of my favorite bands. He was 60 and died of a heart attack. Here's his story.

Monday, September 25, 2006

Drew Dimmel


Drew Dimmel is one of the coolest guys I know. I met Drew back in 1979 when he was the weather guy at Channel 9 in Kansas City. He had a set of pipes on him that was a gift from God. Good looking guy and a nice cat, too. Imagine my shock and disbelief when I saw him in an ad for Stem Cell Research. Drew has Parkinsons disease and apparently it's got a hold on him. I actually shed a tear when I saw it.

He doesn't desreve this. No one does. I try not to be too political on this blog but this amendment needs to be passed. Godspeed, Drew Dimmel.

Blog Archive

Web Tracking