Wall of Crazy...more on Phil Spector

This guy fascinates me. A prolific and original music producer whos a real whack job.
Thats John Lennon's white piano ca. Imagine in the background.
Read this story here.

I'm just saying...

SUPER-SLICK 'ICE' IS A RIFF-O-RAMA

AC/DC, Black Ice
Rock like it oughta be.

I got into these guys in the ninties, when I used to to a lot of work related driving at night. They rocked me through the early morning hours many a night. Yeah, its simple , straight ahead riff-rock but, hey, r & r is supposed to be simple. "Have a Drink on Me" is the ringtone on my cell.

Heres a review of there latest effort:
"It's all about the intros with AC/DC. Listening to the infinite variety of electrifying riffs that the veteran Australian band can conjure with three chords and the dirty deeds of a pulsing rhythm guitar, you start to wonder whether there was any point at all in hard rock's burgeoning complexity over the past four decades.

With AC/DC, you get no lugubrious, snail-paced, detuned angst-rock, no hapless hip-hop embellishments, no tortured cookie-monster metal/emo screaming. (Brian Johnson's pinched, leather-lunged wails sound almost soothing in comparison.) You get primal rock with '70s power, '60s tunefulness and the wild abandon of the original '50s recipe.

Variations are few -- Rock 'n' Roll Dream nearly fools you into thinking it's a ballad before the crunch comes in, a couple of other cuts have a blues feel, and once or twice a slide guitar intrudes like some foreign objet d'art. But mostly it's non-stop riff-o-rama for 15 tracks, and for those listeners who are all about rock, nothing could be more salutary." -- Ken Barnes

Voyageurs become personal....

"Voyageur strength hauled more than goods; it also allowed explorer Louis Joliet and missionary Father Jacques Marquette to search for a route to the Gulf of Mexico. These men became the first Europeans to see and map the Mississippi River along with many other natural landmarks. As they returned northward through the Illinois Territory, news reached them of a faster route back to the Great Lakes: the Illinois River. Joliet and Marquette would continue to the current site of Chicago, and Father Marquette would return to start the first Christian Mission in Illinois near Starved Rock. Today you can follow the strokes of Father Marquette when you paddle into the Illinois River at Starved Rock State Park."

Why you are interested:
So my daughter-in-law, Bridget, grew up in Ottawa, IL and her mother, Kathy, still lives there. We have visited there several times and its a historic small town of about 18,000. The Lincoln-Douglas debates, its on the slave underground railroad route and the voyageurs and others (see above) traveled the Illinois River which runs through the heart of town. We have also been to Starved Rock State Park, a really nice, beautiful spot.
We also followed the trail of the Illinois River Road (inadvertently) in traveling from Chicago (from Andy's home) to Ottawa to visit Kathy and on to Peoria, to visit Nedra’s close cousins.
While I was not aware of following this historic route at the time, I was aware of the beauty of the country and how most of it is still rural and undeveloped.

Errr...scratch Goa as a tourist stop...

Waiters have allegedly beaten an Australian tourist to death for being "arrogant" while ordering a beer in an Indian restaurant.

John Kelly, 65, is reported to have died of internal injuries sustained when he was beaten by staff at the Club City Restaurant in the Indian resort region of Goa yesterday.

The incident follows the murder of 15-year-old British tourist Scarlett Keeling, who was allegedly raped and left for dead by two local men in Goa in February.

The Times of India and local reports said Mr Kelly's beating followed an altercation in which he displayed an "arrogant attitude".

He reportedly arrived in Goa on September 29 and entered the bar at 8am local time on Wednesday.

Some reports said security staff at the bar joined in the bashing.

Others said Mr Kelly was set upon by "a group" of waiters, who also tore up his clothes.

Deputy Superintendent Gundu Naik said Mr Kelly died 10 hours after being attacked while drinking a beer in the bar at Calangute, about 10km from the state capital, Panaji.

"He died 10 hours after the assault, while being treated at Goa Medical College and Hospital here,'' Superintendent Naik was quoted as saying.

"He entered into an argument with the waiter which resulted in the altercation. The deceased was pushed down and assaulted.''

No further details were released but Superintendent Bosco George said two waiters and a security guard at the premises had been detained, but not arrested, in connection with the incident.

The Times of India quoted another local police officer as saying that the incident was being treated as murder.

...thanks to Foxnews.com

Go Vandy!

U.S. college football's 19th-ranked Vanderbilt Commodores upset the number 13 Auburn Tigers, 14-13, Saturday, to improve to 5-0 for the first time since 1943.

Favored Auburn built a 13-0 lead in the first quarter, before backup Vanderbilt quarterback MacKenzi Adams came off the bench to replace the injured starter, and threw two touchdown passes for the win.

Commodores' coach Bobby Johnson said "This is what coaches live for . . . to walk into the locker room and see how happy our players are."

Vanderbilt is the powerful Southeastern Conference's smallest school and only private university, known more for its academics than its football.

Sox go down also....

They shared hugs and smiles as they packed their belongings in a subdued clubhouse.

"We did our best, but we ran out of gas," Paul Konerko said after the White Sox's mercurial season ended Monday night in a convincing 6-2 loss to Tampa Bay in the fourth game of the American League Division Series.

After surviving four elimination games, the Sox fell to a deeper Rays team that limited them to four hits while displaying a timely blend of speed and power.

The Sox can at least hold their heads up and show faces around Chi…..the Cubs have gone into hiding.

Read this article for comparisons between the two clubs….

Dodgers Sweep Cubs in THREE!

LOS ANGELES — It's a century and counting for the Chicago Cubs. Manny Ramirez and the Los Angeles Dodgers shoved Chicago into another long winter Saturday night, completing a three-game sweep of their first-round playoff series with a 3-1 victory.

The Cubs' latest flameout has to be among the most galling, considering they fell flat against the Dodgers after their best regular season since 1945.

And the Cubs head home without having come close to their first World Series triumph since 1908. They have lost nine straight playoff games, including three to Arizona in the first round last year.

Anyone interested in buying some cubbies tee shirts, caps? Cheap.

White Sox win AL Central!

CHICAGO — The Chicago White Sox have no idea how it happened, but wiping the champagne and disbelief from their eyes Tuesday night, they really didn't care.
The White Sox, with a 1-0 victory against the Minnesota Twins in a one-game tiebreaker, are going to the playoffs. They won the American League Central in front of 40,354 fans at U.S. Cellular and will face the Tampa Bay Rays in the AL Division Series on Thursday at Tropicana Field.
GAME REPORT: White Sox 1, Twins 0
"Man, oh man, I'm having a hard time breathing I'm so excited," said White Sox DH Jim Thome, who provided the run with a colossal seventh-inning home run to center off Twins starter Nick Blackburn. "This is great for the city of Chicago."
It's the first time since 1906 the White Sox and Cubs reached the playoffs in the same year, which appeared remote last week after the Twins swept the White Sox.
Gratz to the Sox who looked liked they were sinking toward the end. And Gratz to Jim Thome, friend of my wife’s cousins in Peoria. They say he is a really nice guy.
Photo is of Jim Thome slamming the 7th. inning home run to win the game.