Personal Story – Page 7 – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

A Not Famous Guitar

Not a famous rock guitar today. I will have the famous Rock guitars part 5 next weekend. This post is a little self-indulgent…no a lot.

I thought this guitar had an interesting story. My family made guitars for country stars in the 50s through the 70s. George Jones and Leon Rhodes are two artists that had them. They made quality acoustic guitars that compared to Martins… they also made mandolins but very few electrics. They were all high end instruments. Many were custom made for artists. They go for big prices now. My dad didn’t like making electrics because he said the craftsmanship wasn’t in them like acoustics. He told me son they are like a two-by-four with strings…ok Dad…but I got what he was saying.

What makes this guitar interesting is it was made in the mid-sixties. It then sat on a shelf for over 25 years. In 1991 I got this guitar and I was the first person to ever play the thing.

A relative gave me this hollow body electric guitar that was made by his dad. Two of the same style guitars were made at the time…the other one was sold. I have it’s sister that languished on the shelf for years.

When I got the guitar it had everything except the pickups and tuning keys…so it had never been played. I have a friend who had two Dimarzio humbucker pickups and he installed them plus Grover tuning keys…it also came with a vintage Bigsby Vibrato Tailpiece.

Now…getting a little technical… these pickups were very “hot”…I don’t mean stolen but with a very high output…very loud but clear. One guitar tech told me they were the hottest humbucker pickups he ever heard.

When you have a hollow body guitar and very hot pickups… they can make a guitar feedback at high volumes. It took me a good 2 years to really learn how to play this guitar properly without it getting away from me. It was like placing a jet engine in a car. I have some guitar friends who love it and it’s sometimes called “The Beast.”

The trim and the pickup toggle on the body had tarnished yellow by the time I got it. My favorite color is green…and good thing because this one is a very unusual sunburst green.

I’m going to alter it bit coming up soon. I’m going to replace one of the humbucker pickups with a P-90 and give it a little variety. We will see how that sounds.

The guitar compares to a Gibson ES-335 or a few Gretsch guitars. The beast has a growl like no other. Out of all of my guitars this is the one I pick for dirtier sounds…

Vintage Bigsby Vibrato Tailpiece

Creedence Clearwater Revival – Sweet Hitch-Hiker

I was headed over to see my then girlfriend in 1985 and I was exiting off of the interstate. That is when I saw a beautiful girl hitch-hiking. She was stunning and conservatively dressed. So being a caring guy… I wanted to do a good deed! I stopped and asked her if I could help. She got in the car and was very nice and well spoken. She asked me where I was going and I told her to my girlfriend’s house.

Then came the question…did I want a “date” for that night…I told her my girlfriend would probably frown on that idea so I took her back where I found her and let her out…she was totally nice but yea I was a naïve 18 year old and ever since then this song reminds me of her…So this song is for her where ever she is now.

This is a great song that was on what was regarded as Creedence’s worse album.

The Mardi Gras album. By this time John’s brother had quit and the other two (Stu Cook and Doug Clifford) members had wanted more to do with the band’s direction. John told them for this album they would have more to do like writing and singing 3 songs each…they were not ready for that and the result was Mardi Gras…it was universally panned but there are some good songs on it…mostly the Fogerty contributions. It was their last studio album.

The song peaked at #6 in the Billboard 100, #1 in Canada, and #36 in the UK in 1971. The album peaked at #12 in the Billboard Album Charts and #11 in Canada.

From Songfacts

This was the first CCR album that John Fogerty did not dominate. Other members of the band had accused him of being a control freak, so Fogerty let them do more of the songwriting and have a more prominent role on this album. It was the beginning of the end for CCR, as the album was a flop and this song the last of their hits.

In the line, “We could make music at the Greasy King,” The Greasy King was the nickname for the local burger stand in Berkeley, California near their rehearsal space, which they called “Cosmo’s Factory.”

This was the first single CCR released as a trio – Tom Fogerty left before the album was recorded.

The band started a four-continent tour as this was released.

Since they did not have other new songs to go along with this track, it was released as a single a year before the Mardi Gras album was issued.

The follow-up single, “Molina”/”Sailor’s Lament,” was never released in North America. It was released in Germany and became a major hit there in late 1971.

Sweet Hitchhiker

Was ridin’ alongside the highway
Rollin’ up the country side
Thinkin’ I’m the devil’s heatwave
What you burn in your crazy mind?
Saw a slight distraction
Standin’ by the road
She was smilin’ there
Yellow in her hair
Do you wanna, I was thinkin’
Would you care?

Sweet Hitchhiker
We could make music at the Greasy King
Sweet Hitchhiker,
Won’t you ride on my fast machine?

Cruisin’ on through the junction
I’m flyin’ ’bout the speed of sound
Noticin’ peculiar function
I ain’t no roller coaster
Show me down
I turned away to see her
Whoa, she caught my eye
But I was rollin’ down
Movin’ too fast
Do you wanna, she was thinkin’
Can it last?

Sweet Hitchhiker
We could make music at the Greasy King
Sweet Hitchhiker
Won’t you ride on my fast machine?

Was busted up along the highway
I’m the saddest ridin’ fool alive
Wond’ring if you’re goin’ in my way
Won’t you give a poor boy a ride?
Here she comes a ridin’
Lord, she’s flyin’ high
But she was rollin’ down
Movin’ too fast
Do you wanna, she was thinkin’
Can I last?

Sweet Hitchhiker
We could make music at the Greasy King
Sweet Hitchhiker
Won’t you ride on my fast machine?

…

Madness – Our House

At the start of MTV my small town I lived in had yet to get cable…but it wouldn’t take too long. At that time I had to travel to relatives in Nashville before I got a chance to see it. I would spend the weekend and we would watch MTV for hours at a time. Binge watching before binge watching was a saying. We would wake up the next day bleary eyed and turn on more MTV.

I did find some music I never heard before. This band and song caught my attention. The song was released in 1982. It peaked at #7 in the Billboard 100, #1 in Canada, and #5 in the UK.

The song was on the The Rise & Fall album. They were different…they have been described as a British ska and pop band.

This was Madness only top 10 hit in the US. Much of the song’s success in America was helped out by the clever music video that was in heavy rotation early days of MTV.

The producers were Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley

Alan Winstanley: “At the time of doing Madness we were kind of flying along together,” adds Langer. “Alan’s very precise and very particular, and I’m more slapdash and in a hurry and probably tend to like rougher-sounding records. That’s a generalization, because in the end we do like the same records, but sometimes the whole process with Alan can be laborious for me. He normally does the vocal comps whereas I’ll do a lot more work in the rehearsal room on the arrangements, deciding what instruments should play what where, how long the chorus should be and things like that. Still, we’ve got on fine considering how long we’ve worked together.”

Graham “Suggs” McPherson lead singer : “This was the first time we worked with the string arranger David Bedford. It was clear to him what our records needed and he did great things for us. It’s strange now to think we were so philosophical about such everyday things.”

From Songfacts

This won the Best Song award at the 1983 Ivor Novello Awards.

This was played in a 2007 TV commercial shown in the UK for Bird’s Eye Fish Fingers, which featured Suggs. In the advert the Madness frontman is sitting with a family at tea time. The daughter is studying for her school exams and asks Suggs where Omega 3 can be found. He offers the answer of Birds Eye Fish Fingers.

The song’s video featured the band as a cloth-cap wearing family squashed into a terraced house. Drummer Dan “Woody” Woodgate recalled to Q Magazine August 2008: “The knocking-on-the-door bit where somebody comes out, goes, ‘Where are they?’ and the others sneak in and close the door… That’s The Flintstones. We stole lots of ideas from the Keystone Kops and Benny Hill.”

Our House

Father wears his Sunday best
Mother’s tired, she needs a rest
The kids are playing up downstairs
Sister’s sighing in her sleep (ah)
Brother’s got a date to keep, he can’t hang around

Our house, in the middle of our street
Our house, in the middle of our

Our house, it has a crowd
There’s always something happening
And it’s usually quite loud
Our mum she’s so house-proud
Nothing ever slows her down and a mess is not allowed

Our house, in the middle of our street
Our house, in the middle of our
Our house, in the middle of our street
Our house, in the middle of our (something tells you that you’ve got to move away from it)

Father gets up late for work
Mother has to iron his shirt
Then she sends the kids to school
Sees them off with a small kiss (ah)
She’s the one they’re going to miss in lots of ways

Our house, in the middle of our street
Our house, in the middle of our

I remember way back then when everything was true and when
We would have such a very good time, such a fine time
Such a happy time
And I remember how we’d play, simply waste the day away
Then we’d say nothing would come between us
Two dreamers

Father wears his Sunday best
Mother’s tired, she needs a rest
The kids are playing up downstairs
Sister’s sighing in her sleep
Brother’s got a date to keep, he can’t hang around

Our house, in the middle of our street
Our house, in the middle of our street
Our house, in the middle of our street
Our house, in the middle of our

Our house, was our castle and our keep
Our house, in the middle of our street
Our house, that was where we used to sleep
Our house, in the middle of our street
Our house, in the middle of our street, our house

Beatles Hey Jude Greatest Hits…Desert Island Albums

We wrapped up Hanspostcard’s album draft…100 albums in 100 days. We are going into extra innings and extending three more picks from these categories… favorite Soundtracks, Greatest Hits, and a music related movie. This is my pick for greatest hits…Hey Jude Greatest Hits by the Beatles.

2020 ALBUM DRAFT- ROUND 12 -PICK 10- COMPILATION- BADFINGER20 SELECTS- THE BEATLES -HEY JUDE

It wasn’t my intention to go to the Beatles three times but…there is a reason for this one as I will explain…I didn’t know this album was a greatest hits package when I purchased it. I’m picking this album because of the personal connection to it…and it might be the album that influenced me the most in my life.

Is this the best Beatles greatest hits album? No, not by a long shot but it was the first Beatle album (or any album) I bought and was not handed down by my sister or relatives. I had some money given to me by a relative and mom helped me with the rest. The first Beatle album I listened to was my cousin’s copy of Meet The Beatles…he let me borrow it for while. The Hey Jude album sent me down the road of getting into music that was at least a generation before me…and I’m still in that generation…and I don’t regret a thing…because I’m still discovering new old music and new music that has it’s influences.

My cousin kept telling me of this great song called “Paperback Writer” and he didn’t have a copy. He built the song up so much that I had to listen to it. I found this album at a record store that I begged my mom to take me to. I went through the Beatle albums and this one had Paperback Writer. I couldn’t believe these bearded guys were the same band as on Meet The Beatles. So when I was 8 years old I got two albums… one was a birthday present… the soundtrack to Chitty Chitty, Bang Bang (that I requested) and then I bought this one. My mom asked…are you sure? A nod of my head and I bought a ticket to enter the Beatles world which I still reside.

It has an slight mixture of older, middle, and at that time, newer songs. This was a collection of non-album singles and B sides from the Beatles on the American Capitol label.

The album was conceived by Allen Klein (boooo) and Apple Records and released in 1970. The original name was going to be “The Beatles Again” but they wanted to capitalize on the hit Hey Jude. It was a nice album that should have included more of their earlier hits but it gave us a couple in Can’t Buy Me Love and I Should Have Known Better.

My favorite at that time was of course Paperback Writer…that guitar and those backing vocals…were/are great! Remember… all I’d heard to that point was their first album with Capitol… Meet The Beatles…so I couldn’t believe that “Rain” and the rest came from the same band that played I Want To Hold Your Hand. I didn’t know the history…my 8 year old mind thought…”What the hell happened?…” Where I am musically now…all started with this album purchase.

Rain…the B side to Paperback Writer…I grew to like Rain more than Paperback Writer through the years…in fact it is in my top 10 of Beatle songs.

Lady Madonna… Terrific driving piano riff that is relentless.

I will close out with an earlier Beatles song. I Should’ve Known Better is an instantly catchy song with a harmonica that they would stop using as much in the future. When looking back on their career…the early ones get forgotten sometimes and they shouldn’t be. Those early songs built the foundation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rp63A_-0XUU

My island is getting very Beatle-ly…and I don’t mind. I went with the album that influenced me the most at an early age…it just so happened to be a Beatles greatest hits package. This album brings back memories of playing it on a green portable turn table I had at the time with removable speakers.

Like this but green…

Can’t Buy Me Love
I Should Have Known Better
Paperback Writer
Rain
Lady Madonna
Revolution
Hey Jude
Old Brown Shoe
Don’t Let Me Down
Ballad Of John And Yoko

The Peanuts

The Peanuts lived in a world where adults didn’t matter as much. The world was for kids only and anytime an adult came around and talked… all you heard was a wah, wah, wah wah… no words. All the kids owned their day to day activities. The Peanuts didn’t talk down to us…no they talked to us. They were also clever enough for adults to like.

Nobody ever wins every time in this life. Everyone loses sometimes…therefore everyone is Charlie Brown to an extent. Every person has failed at a big moments or at small moments. We felt for Charlie Brown because we felt for ourselves.

When my son was born…I thought oh great…Now I’m a grown up and I’m a wah, wah, wah, wah adult…My son will live his life and sometimes I will be just noise in the background.

Growing up, there was no other cartoon I looked forward to more than the Peanuts. Every holiday and any time one of the networks decided to show one… I was there. I would also read the occasional Sunday paper to see the Peanuts strip.

Everything from Linus telling us the true meaning of Christmas, Sally and Linus waiting for the Great Pumpkin, Lucy pulling that football from Charlie Brown, Snoopy being cool and taking care of Woodstock, Lucy being a Psychiatrist and Charlie Brown getting that sad looking Christmas tree…we got to peek into that world and listen to the wisdom that was going on while propped up on that brick wall.

Charlie Brown, one day when you grow up… I hope you end up with the little red head girl that you like so much and win just for once…for all of us.

Paul McCartney – Nashville July 26, 2010

Paul McCartney came to Nashville in 1974 to record some and promised he would be back to actually play live…well he did although it was 36 years later. 2010 was his first Nashville concert ever. The closest the Beatles got to Nashville was in Memphis in 1966.

A year after he came to Nashville in 1974 I became a very young Beatles fan. Read everything, listened to everything that I could get my hands on, and saw what limited things I could. In the 80s I got to see some of the rooftop Let It Be concert on MTV. It was like the pictures I’d seen coming to life…it made it real…or as real as it got to me.

When the Paul McCartney concert was announced in spring of 2010… I bought tickets right away. I just knew something would happen. The concert would be postponed or something awful would happen…there was no way I was going to see him. My wife, my son Bailey, and I had tickets. Sure enough…on the night of the concert…just a couple of hours before it started… a tornado did damage in Nashville (no injuries) and a warning was out for downtown. While we were there and I just knew…so this is how it’s all going to end…me with a McCartney ticket in my hand.

Waiting at the venue…McCartney came on an hour late to wait for all the warnings to die down. When he came on I was pretty much in shock…all the years reading, watching, and listening to the guy…he wasn’t yet real until he broke into “Venus and Mars” an old Wings song. I was 43 and I felt like a 12 year old kid and I was full of emotion. When he started his first Beatles song of the night…All My Loving…it was even more emotion. This is the man who played with Lennon, Harrison, and Starr at the Cavern Club, Hamburg, and all over the world.

I always was jealous of my friends who liked modern bands…who could just go and see them in concert when we were younger and buy their new records. Most of the bands I grew up liking had broken up or changed years ago.

The concert was worth the wait.

This was Bailey’s first concert…his second was Ringo, third was Paul McCartney again, and fourth was The Who…I told him he was lucky…my first concert was REO Speedwagon…no offense to them but there is no comparison. Jennifer actually got to see Elvis for her first concert…when she was a small child in 1976 in West Virginia…

Paul played around three hours of solo, Wings, Fireman, and of course Beatles songs. With as many songs as Paul has…he could have played most of the night without repeating a song. I saw him again in 2014 and again he was great and added a few more songs… but nothing will beat that first time.

Setlist for July 26, 2010

Venus and Mars
Rock Show
Jet
All My Loving
Letting Go
Got to Get You Into My Life
Highway (The Fireman Song)
Let Me Roll It
The Long and Winding Road
Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five
Let ‘Em In
My Love
I’m Looking Through You
Tequila (The Champs cover)
Two of Us
Blackbird
Here Today
Dance Tonight
Mrs. Vanderbilt
Eleanor Rigby
Ram On
Something
Sing the Changes (The Fireman song)
Band on the Run
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
Back in the U.S.S.R.
I’ve Got a Feeling
Paperback Writer
A Day in the Life / (With Give Peace A Chance Snippet)
Let It Be
Live and Let Die
Hey Jude

Encore:
Day Tripper
Lady Madonna
Get Back

Encore 2:
Yesterday
Helter Skelter
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
The End

A Bird in the Mouth…?

Sorry…I have a short personal story…we will soon get back to music and pop culture.

It was an ordinary Sunday until 10-month-old Martha… our dog and family entertainer came in from the backyard. She came in and suddenly opened her mouth…when she did I saw another mouth in hers.

She dropped it on the floor. She had picked it up outside and it was still moving about. The bird must have fallen out of a nest (we looked and saw no nest but the tree is huge) or got kicked out a little too early by mom.

I put it in a box…it didn’t appear hurt just understandably scared. In the box, it hardly moved and we googled on what to do. I called a friend and he told me about a wildlife animal refuge called “Waldens Puddle”and we called them. They could take the bird later in the afternoon.

I went outside and found a cricket and tried to feed the bird at least part of it. It was still too scared to move much. After a few hours the bird started to make a little noise like it was hungry…we ended up taking it down to Waldens and on the way, it finally took the cricket from my hand and started to eat…after that it wanted more. Then it would not shut up and made it clear it wanted food now. Part of us wanted to keep it at this point but we did the right thing and dropped it off.

The lady that took the bird was extremely nice and thanked us for bringing it in. We called back a few days later and the bird is doing great and is now “a favorite of the staff.” We found out what kind of bird it was…I wanted to say “lucky” but the correct name is a Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher.

Here is what our visitor will look like when he or she grows up.

Who helped form your musical tastes?

Some bloggers have mentioned in the comments and posts on how they got into music or a certain song…on how they come to like a song or a type of music. I always enjoy it when someone says why or how they like a certain type of music.

It’s really interesting how many different influences we all have had through life. One thing going wrong in my history…and I could be blogging about the hidden wisdom of Osmond’s music. Some had older brothers and sisters who influenced them.

I didn’t have any brothers to influence me. I have an older sister with questionable musical taste (Osmonds). To be fair though some of her music did rub off.. like the band Bread and a few good pop hits of that time. I did though have a couple of older cousins (Greg and Janean) that were brother and sister. They influenced my musical direction more than anyone.

Janean was a very pretty hippyish girl of 16 who drove a Volkswagen Bug and wore flowery clothes. She was a hero of mine at that time. Greg, her brother was a young teen guitar player who lived for music.

When I was around 6-7 Janean would tell me about seeing the Monkees in concert when she was a kid in Memphis…and I would watch the Monkee re-runs. It looked like so much fun being in a band and later on I would be. She gave me her old singles and albums like The Monkees Headquarters and their debut album. The singles she gave me included Every Mother’s Son, Turtles, Joe South, Tommy James, and many more. She took time out to spend time with a 6-year-old dork who hung on her every word. Unfortunately, she died when she was 17 in 1975 and I’ve carried her passion for music and life with me to this day. I owe her a great deal.

When I was eight in that same year Greg exposed me to the Beatles. He got me started on my Beatles quest (Meet The Beatles) and soon I was reading every book and listening to any Beatle record my allowance would buy. I was lucky to have some very nice librarians in school. One, in particular, would call me over the intercom getting me out of class just to show me a new book. They would order Beatles and baseball books for me to read.

While reading about the Beatles I found The Who, Stones, Kinks, Cream, and all of those great British bands that started before I was born. I was telling CB the other day… My “Holy Trinity” of Rock bands are The Beatles, The Stones, and The Who. It’s from those bands I found all of the others.

I will add one more base…my dad liked Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, George Jones, and a few others and I credit him with my country taste. It took me a long time to dive into them as much but I did with a vengeance a little later on.

I will have to admit…this community we are all in exposes me to old “new” music as well as new music that I would have never heard…I guess our musical learning never stops.

I was told by a co-worker that he was confused about my music tastes. He stated I should not like bands that were popular before I was born…that it wasn’t normal…not natural… Well…I take that as a big compliment.

Who helped form your musical tastes?

The Band – Life Is A Carnival

One quick story before the song. When I was 6 years old my dad, mom, sister. and I piled into the car and we all traveled to the carnival. I was so excited…too excited. I was in the backseat and stuck my head out the driver’s side window. My dad was not paying attention…can you see this coming? My dad started to roll the window up and could not understand why it was stuck. My neck was in it and Dad was trying to roll up harder. By this time I could not breathe, my face was turning red, and I was flopping around like a mouse in a trap…my mom yelled at my dad…MAX IS IN THE WINDOW… what? my dad asked…then my mom and sister screamed…MAX IS IN THE WINDOW…in unison no less. I can still hear him….Son…why the hell did you have your head handing out the window? Uh Dad…I wanted out to go to the carnival.

I loved carnivals growing up. At night they were magical with the lights, sounds, and smells.

This song was on The Band’s fourth studio album Cahoots. The song was written by Rick Danko, Levon Helm, and Robbie Robertson. The song peaked at #72 in the Billboard 100 in 1972. The album Cahoots peaked at #21 in the Billboard Album Charts in the same year.

The Band had a new studio in Bearsville NY to experiment in during the early ’70s. It was opened by their manager Albert Grossman but Robbie Robertson commented that it left them a bit cold. They are also going through drug problems with three members at the time of recording.

Rick Danko in 1993: “I think we shipped a million copies of that second album,”
“And that changed a lot of people’s lives — in particular, the Band’s. After that, we were only getting together once a year, for a couple of months, to record. It was like we were too decadent to play.”

Life Is A Carnival

You can walk on the water
Drown in the sand
You can fly off a mountaintop
If anybody can

Run away, run away (run away, run away)
It’s the restless age
Look away, look away (look away, look away)
You can turn the page

Hey, buddy, would you like to buy a watch real cheap?
Here on the street
I got six on each arm
And two more ’round my feet

Life is a carnival
Believe it or not
Life is a carnival
Two bits a shot

Saw a man with a jinx
In the third degree
From trying to deal with people
People, you can’t see

Take away, take away (take away, take away)
This house of mirrors
Give away, give away (give away, give away)
All the souvenirs

We’re all in the same boat ready to float
Off the edge of the world
The flat old world
The street is a sideshow
From the peddler to the corner girl

Life is a carnival
It’s in the book
Life is a carnival
Take another look

Hey, buddy, would you like to buy a watch real cheap?
Here on the street
I got six on each arm
And two more ’round my feet

Life is a carnival
Believe it or not
Life is a carnival
Two bits a shot

Paul McCartney in Nashville 1974

Back in the early seventies, there was a line between rock and country. Now that line is blurred quite a bit but when Paul came to Nashville…it was a huge deal here. Some country artists wondered why a Beatle was coming here.

I’ve written some here but I don’t do it justice… His month stay involved an emergency room visit, a visit to Johnny Cash, Loveless Motel (great place to eat), and many other places. Please read this.. https://www.nashvillescene.com/news/article/13007056/when-we-was-fab

People here still talk about this visit to the city. I was only 7 and it was one year before I got into the Beatles. I faintly remember the newscasts. On June 6, 1974, Paul arrived and said he chose Nashville for his month’s stay as a rehearsal base for an upcoming tour. He also planned to enjoy himself while here, socializing with the community and horseback riding.

Paul said: “I rather fancy the place,” “It’s a musical center. I’ve just heard so much about it that I wanted to see for myself.”

He recorded songs, went to the Grand Ole Opry, met Porter Waggner and Dolly Parton, ate some Kentucky Fried Chicken, and visited Printers Alley. Paul and Linda lived on a farm in Lebanon that Curly Putman Jr rented…that is where the title Juniors Farm came from. Putman was a songwriter who wrote some huge songs like The Green Green Grass of Home, He Stopped Loving Her Today, D-I-V-O-R-C-E, and many more.

I have a cousin that lives down the road from the farm Paul and Linda stayed at…he got this shot but it’s a little dark. They added some columns since 1974.

As his time in Tennessee came to a close, McCartney told a group of local reporters that he hoped to mount a U.S. tour the following year and that if it happened, Music City would definitely be on the itinerary.

McCartney didn’t come back until 36 years later in 2010 and I finally got to see him.

Tornadoes in Nashville

I was driving to work this morning oblivious to the world around me listening to an audiobook. I got a call from the Mother In Law asking if I was ok. I was confused but she then told me about tornadoes on the ground in Nashville last night.

I live around 20 miles outside of Nashville in a small county. We had bad weather last night but nothing like that. I started to run into traffic and I saw huge tree branches on the interstate.

I got to work this morning and found out they touched down around 2-3 miles from where I work. I’ve seen a few buildings destroyed and it is heartbreaking to witness this. Over 40,000 are out of power and right now the death toll is 22 on the last report that I heard. In 1998 a tornado went through downtown Nashville.

This is the worst damage Nashville has had since the 2010 flood.

January 15th 1967

53 years ago the first Superbowl was played on this date in 1967. The two leagues (NFC and the AFC) were rivals and they agreed to play in what was called the AFL-NFL World Championship Game (no wonder why they changed the name). In 1969 it started to get marketed as The Super Bowl.

The reason I know this? I was born while it was being played…

On January 15, 1967, The Green Bay Packers beat the Kansas City Chiefs 35-10 in Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

30 seconds of advertising cost $42,500 in 1967 on television during this game

Last year 30 seconds of advertising cost $5,250,000 during the Super Bowl

The number 1 song? I’m A Believer by the Monkees..I had to fit music in somewhere.

Where is…The Partridge Family Bus?

I always have wondered where certain pop culture items have gone. Where is the “M” hanging on the wall in Mary Tyler Moore Show (she actually kept that), Fonzie’s leather jacket (Smithsonian), the original model of the Starship Enterprise (Again Smithsonian), the… well you get the point.

I like collecting seventies items. The Partridge Family bus would be one of the ultimate things to collect. It would be nice to find it somewhere on an old farm…but it is most likely lost to time. There are two known explanations for what happened to it.

One story is… it was last seen behind “Lucy’s Tacos” in LA in 1987. It supposedly was in the back parking lot. Then it was towed away to a junkyard into history.

But… I still have hope! Some have said the bus at Lucy’s Taco was a replica of the original because the make and model of the bus didn’t jive with the one on the show. There was only one bus…they changed the interior a bit during the later seasons but just one bus was used.

Others say it was painted white and used in a short-lived tv series called Apple’s Way in 1974. Most likely it’s gone to pop culture heaven…You never know though…somewhere it could still be out there.

What would I do with it? Tour America in the bus picking up fellow bloggers on the way? Dig up Tiger Beat magazines and look for Susan Dey? I have no clue…The closest I’ll ever get to it is this.

Quick Update on Martha

Some people have asked me to post an update since I posted about the new puppy we got on October 3rd…Martha…here you go. She has been the most active puppy (and the most clumsy) we have had ever. She is growing into her paws… She will walk through things rather than walk around. Everything has to go in her mouth to chew… but she is fitting in just fine.

When we got her in October I could pick her up with one arm…that is not happening now. She has much more growing to do.

Martha at 2 months old

Martha at 3 Months old

Martha at 4 Months old…Now

Vinyl or Digital?

I’m not writing this to put down CD’s/Mp3’s or Vinyl…just wanted to know your opinion. There is room for both in today’s world. When we are on the go so much…the answer is easy…digital. When I take a walk every day I have my iPhone with my music and audiobooks. When I’m at home…I’m starting to more and more listen to vinyl.

I had a huge collection of albums and singles when I was younger. Unfortunately, many were lost during my early twenties moves from apartment to apartment. In the late nineties, I started to work in the IT field, so I drifted to CD/ digital for convenience if anything.

Slowly in the 2000s, I started to pull out the albums I still had and bought a turntable. Yes, I heard some scratches but some were immaculate. I noticed a difference right away and I then realized what warmth I had been missing with CD’s/mp3’s. I’ve heard some people say Digital serves the music. Vinyl serves the romantics…I don’t really agree with that. Yes, digital is clear…so clear you can hear things that weren’t meant to be heard…some sounds (tambourine, handclaps etc…) were meant to be lower in the mix to be felt more than heard.

One song that I noticed a lot of difference was “I Want To Hold Your Hand” by the Beatles. The vinyl single when played, jumps out at you. When I heard it on CD it was flat and sterile. It’s hard to describe it in words but there was a sharpness and a rawness that was missing on the CD.

Earlier CD’s were heavily compressed…they have come a long way but it’s still a difference. The below video is quite long but he does mention that the record companies are making CDs more about high-end quality now than “loudness.”

I know MP3’s are not the ideal format for quality. Flac is one of the best formats I have found.

I am not an Audiophile nor do I play one on TV…I can listen to either format but I do know what vinyl lovers are talking about…what about you?