Bogieblog

Need for Some Speed

Nice voice but the Star Spangled Banner is not supposed to be a lull-a-by. She sang that so slow, that at regular tempo at least 3 of the 4 verses could have been sung in the same time.

New Take on an Old Song

I usually don't care for musicians that put a real twist on the Star Spangled Banner (did you know it has not 1, not 2, but 4 verses?), but this version by Madison Rising is really good. Okay, it might be a bit rock-a-billy for some, but I think it is well done.

Thanks to Jim for posting the link.

Trip Hiccups

Our trip to/from Indiana was generally smooth. The bikes ran great, even in the hot weather (the bikes are air cooled, not radiator cooled). We didn’t forget anything at home that we had to have. Nor did we leave anything at any of our stops.

That is not to say there were no hiccups. I neglected to bring my Walkman charge cord, so by the second day it had died. I put my phone to work in its place, using the IHeartRadio app, The app had a few issues at times, but was working okay. Then I hit the thing with my hand and I saw parts fly. We were going 70-75 MPH down the highway, so I figured I had just lost my phone. But then I still heard music, the same music that had been playing before I saw parts fly. I finally located my phone hanging in front of my tank; hanging by the auxiliary cord. The case I had for my phone had broken and those were the parts I saw flying. I was able to secure the phone in my windshield bag after rotating my glasses to a pouch behind me.

Once in Indiana, I was able to get a new case, but I couldn’t get one with the belt holster, and it is slick in the hand, but it will do for now.

Harry came up with a charging cord for my Walkman, so I charged it while there (actually took the cord home with me to keep it charge). However, the Walkman decided that it didn’t like the big rain storms we hit on the way to Lexington, and quit working. Well, “quit” isn’t quite the word. It actually started playing everything in fast forward. Ah well, I turned to the radio and found that the mountains (hills) kept most stations from coming in for very long. That was okay, there was plenty of traffic and scenery to occupy my mind. The next day, the Walkman started working fine. Then it started pausing itself randomly. After an hour of that, I turned it off. At the next stop, I blew in the two speakers at the back of the Walkman to dislodge / dry out any remaining moisture, and it worked fine the rest of the way home (there is a joke about blow jobs in there – you can figure it out).

All in all, just minor irritants.

Dang, Missed It

Last Friday was Geek Pride day. I'm such a geek, that I don't have a problem celebrating it late. Check out the poster to see if you have any Geek in you (click poster to biggify).

Actually, I probably celebrated it a little; it seems to me that my Walkman played the Star Wars theme while I was on the bike that day (it definitely played the theme during my little trek either Friday or Saturday - I remember humming to it).

Yes, I'm such a sad little Geek that I have the original album music, which WS kindly recorded to CD a couple of years ago, on my Walkman!

Move Vinyl Meme

Another entry for Stu's vinyl meme, Ole Elo:

This album had so many good songs; 10538 Overture, Roll Over Beethoven, Can't Get it Out of My Head, Boy Blue, Evil Woman and Strange Magic.  Released in 1976, this is certainly over 30 years old. My draw to this band is the mixture of orchestra music blended with rock - which they acknowledge in their whole name, Electric Light Orchestra.

This was not neccessarily their best work (Theme for Wide World of Sports and Mr. Blue Sky come to mind as better), but it seems that it was the album that most of the songs made it to be played on the radio, so I actually knew what I was buying when I plunked down my money. So maney times we would buy albums and find that there were only one or two songs worth playing - with this album, we avoided that risk.

Unfortunately, there is only one YourTube video that I could find on YouTube, which was only of a partial song, but here it is FWIW:

 

And by the way Stu - you are incorrect that the only people that hung onto their vinyl must be in their 60's - we obviously hung onto our, and I'm not even 50 yet. I even bought WS a new turntable about 5 years ago because our other one had died. True, it is mainly used to play albums while transfering them to CD, but still, we have them.

Music Meme

Stu has started a meme on old vinyl that is 30-50 years old. He started with one of my favorites (and one I posess), Fleetwood Mac's Rumours. There were so many good songs on that album that I couldn't pick out a favorite. The Chain featured all the voices of Fleetwood Mac, so that is a good one. So is Gold Dust Woman - but Stevie Nicks has a voice that will just about make any song great.

As far as one of my favorite albums, Boston's self-titled album, from 1976, was awesome. I don't have a scanner big enough to contain the album (plus the album cover is very abused; being scuffed and worn), so I will cheat and use a picture from the internet:

(edited to add an authenic picture of our copy of the Boston album - with, you guessed it, the Fleetwood Mac Rumours album behind it).

The best song, of course, is Foreplay/Long Time - a song that lasted for dang near 8 minutes of enjoyable goodness. Although the words suggest that it should be a sad song (he is leaving: It's been such a long time, I think I should be going . . .), but it doesn't come out as sad. More of a launch into discovery and chasing dreams. There is acknowledgement of pain that it causes them both, but has excitement in seeing what is out there. And, the tune is rocking! Video from YouTube:

Although it could be a product of the fact I was a teenager - and dreams/discovery sound great at that age, I still find it to be one of my favorite songs that was one of the first I put on my Walkman.

Here are Stu's rules for the meme:

Here are the rules. Please join in.
1) Dig out one of your favourite old vinyl LPs, AT LEAST 30 YEARS OLD, and listen to it.
2) Blog a scan/photo of the cover.
3) Write a short review of your favourite track on the LP.
4) Link (if possible) to a YouTube version of the artist(s) performing, preferably of the same vintage.
5) Link to this blog entry. Copy these rules to your blog.
6) Mail me () a permalink to your blog entry that I may link back to you in the comments.
7) Repeat every sunday for the forseeable future :-)



New Hampshire State of Mind*

By way of the Weekend Pundit, comes this Facebook truism:

* Yes, I stole that from the song of the same title by the Super Secret Project.

Song of the Times

So I know the sopa/PIPA ado is done (for now, until Congress reworks it and hopes no one is paying attention except the PACS), but I just came across this on New Jovian Thunderbolt, and had to share.

 

Concert Going

After the town meeting, we went home, did some of our regular Saturday chores, packed and headed down to Auburn MA to check into our hotel. After grabbing some dinner, we headed to the DCU Center in Worcster to see Elton John.

He started the concert with probably our favorite song(s); Funeral for a Friend / Love Lies Bleeding. He proceeded to rock us with other hits such as Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting, and Crocodile Rock (amongst others).

He was then joined by surprise guest, Leon Russel (who is to get a star in Hollywood soon). They brought in a second, smaller piano for Leon to play. Elton John and Leon played/sang 5-6 newer release songs. During introductions of the singers and players, it was revealed that two of the backup singers were from the Stones. No, not the Rolling Stones, but from Sly and the Family Stone. One was actually from the band, another was a niece or daughter (I am unclear as to the relationship, as Elton did not specify).

After Leon Russell was helped off stage, Elton got back to rocking the house with older tunes.

There was never a break for Elton, except when he left at the end of the show, and there was about a 5 minute break before he came back out for the encore performance. The show started shortly after 8, and finished up right around 11.

We had a great time at the show and it was well worth the bit of travel to see. If you are an Elton John fan, and have a chance to see him at a smaller venue, definitely take the opportunity!

NH Music Videos

The Super Secret Project is at it again. First is was a NH spin on the rap song New York State of Mind:

Now it is the Plow Guy Boogaloo (as featured by Fritz Weatherbee of New Hampshire Chronicle):

 Both songs are great fun. The second features many of NH's famous people (Matt Bonner, a writer etc). If nothing else, check out at 4:46 mark, that is what many of us go thru and say when the street plow goes by!

There is also original rap sond/video, The 603, from last year (or maybe it was 2 years ago - can't remember):

 That is it for your NH cultural entertainment today.