Contenders and votes for the October 1, 2022 Battle of the Bands – Last Kiss:
J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers vs. Pearl Jam
J. Frank Wilson – 7 + 1 = 8
Pearl Jam – Zip + zero = Nada
Am I supposed to feel defeated by a shutout, a landslide, a runaway, or a blowout? Well, I don’t (this time) because the truth is I really love the Frank Wilson version 😉 So, with nimble fingers and a tune in mind, I’m off to see how the other battles did! See you all soon 😉
The Battle Of the Bands (BOTB) is your basic Which-do-you-like-best contest where the one that gets the most votes wins. All you have to do is show up (the 1st of every month) give a listen and cast your vote in the comment section. Votes will be tallied and the winner revealed on the 8th day of the month.
Known in some circles as The White Knight of Soul, not even Wayne Cochran’s flamboyant stage presence (laughably gigantic white pompadour and outlandish outfits) nor the fact that he wrote the song featured in today’s battle was able to garner the singer of “Blue-eyed blues” and the C.C Riders more than a single that didn’t quite chart in 1961. He tried again in 1963, under a different label with similar results.
A year later, J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers revived the song and took it to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100’s in June of 1964. This was the version I must have heard a hundred times as it and other treasures continuously played in the room of my (then) teen-aged aunt.
By the time I was a teen and finally trusted not to contaminate or damage anything, I was allowed access to my aunt’s outstanding collection of what we now know as “Golden Oldies”. As time went on, I heard the popular teen tragedy song less and less and had all but forgotten about it until I heard it playing in my own daughter’s room! I could not believe she’d come across the age-old hit by Wilson and the Cavaliers.
As it happened, my daughter was listening to a new version performed by Pearl Jam after vocalist Eddie Vedder found the old version in an Antique Mall in Seattle, WA, and convinced the band to try it. Their cover and subsequent release in 1999 (also) eventually climbed to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100s and remains Pearl Jam’s highest-peaking single.
So there you have it, folks. Which do you like best?
After you vote, and before you go – I highly recommend visiting the rest of the BOTB participants – they’re pros! And a few of them hold two battles a month! Here’s where to find them:
“From even the greatest of horrors, irony is seldom absent” H.P. Lovecraft
A Disney masterpiece – from 1929!
New Release!
Buy your copy now! Chapter book for ages 5-8 ISBN 9798848409956 Paperback: $6.99 | ebook $3.99
Blurb Oscar the ghost dwells happily in his cozy cottage, where he hides from creatures that lurk in the dark. After a mysterious message arrives, he must find the courage to go out and discover what’s waiting for him. Will he be brave enough or will the monsters send him rushing back home?
About the Author H.R. Sinclair is a left-handed hermit prepping for the squirrel apocalypse. She writes fantastical stories and visits cemeteries for inspiration.
The Battle Of the Bands (BOTB) is your basic Which-do-you-like-best contest where the one that gets the most votes wins. All you have to do is show up (the 1st of every month) give a listen and cast your vote in the comment section. Votes will be tallied and the winner revealed on the 8th day of the month.
In honor of Halloween, I’m going with associated scary (or not) movie soundtracks. If you’ve seen the movie, all the better! Pick which one you like best.
After you vote, and before you go – I highly recommend visiting the rest of the BOTB participants – they’re pros! And a few of them hold two battles a month! Here’s where to find them:
Fun fact: While the movie itself all but tanked, Ennio Morricone (of spaghetti western fame) a relative newcomer to Hollywood blockbusters was given free rein to compose the score for the “Exorcist II” and delivered arguably his best weirdly creepy scores for the “Heretic” soundtrack . He later won an Oscar for his musical contribution to “Hateful Eight” using leftover scraps from “The Thing”
Have a thought? Drop a line in the comment section. Thanks for stopping by the stream!
With my vote for Daughtry, we had a three-way tie in our very first BOTB until a music-loving member of Gen Z stepped up to post his vote for the best September song; leading to a win for Earth, Wind and Fire! Released by RCA Records in 1978, the song “September” was recently included by Rolling Stone magazine at #65 on their “500 Greatest Songs of All Time” list. Thanks, everyone, for participating!
Fun fact: In terms of music tastes, Gen Z Americans tend to believe “old is the new cool” and despite the stereotype of excessive users of technology (staring at phone screens while sitting next to friends and or family,) Gen Z (Zoomers) overwhelmingly prefer face-to-face conversations.
It’s Hug a Greeting Card writer day! If you can’t find one, it’s also Read an Ebook day!
and the new fall not yet born. The odd uneven time.”
Sylvia Plath
Hello, Friends!
Happy Autumn! As summer insists on ending, I continue to revel in the recent thrill of having our rivers running bank-to-bank with August rain. Getting that much rain during monsoon had become such a rarity that this year’s deluge actually enticed people out of their homes to gape in awe at flooded streets and floating lawn furniture. A couple of adventuresome folks took kayaks out for a swift-water ride down the Rillito River and got their picture in the local paper. I don’t suppose they received an award, but they should have. Why, I can remember a time when monsoons, like we had this summer, were the norm and just about every afternoon there’d be small fishing boats riding the waves on Alvernon Way, quite a busy thoroughfare back in the day. And there was that time…
“Rushing water charged through the arroyo like a prize bull out of the gate at the Rodeo. Rosie was amazed and amused by the items in its tow: an oven door, a mate-less shoe, tree branches, food wrappers, lawn chairs – and sometimes, careless kids. Rosie had no intention of becoming one of the latter.
“Well? Are you coming?” Manny called from the opposite bank, his voice barely audible above the roaring water.
Rosie fiddled with the rope in her hands. You’d think she’d never done this before by the way her stomach churned. Somehow it had been more enjoyable when she hadn’t yet discovered what could happen if she let go of the rope too soon, or worse if she didn’t swing out far enough. Steeling herself, she took three steps back, checked her hold on the rope, took five running steps and swung clear across the arroyo – and back again.
Rats! She grimaced at Manny’s laughing face and tried again.
“Let go!” Manny yelled. “I’ll catch …“
It was not the most elegant landing, but they both laughed as they rolled on a cushion of crabgrass and mud. Thunder rumbled in the distance reminding them that monsoons were indeed upon them, flooding streets daily and causing typically dry riverbeds to overflow into arroyos such as the one they sat beside. Rosie knew they should be heading for cover before they found themselves running for it. She stood and brushed off her well-worn jeans.”
~Excerpt from “Owning Up” by dee Kay
Has weather ever inspired you? Has weather ever caused an event that inspired you? Something about September always seems to want to either gently coax, or drag kicking and screaming, every little memory right to the surface. Some say having to let summer memories go makes it harder to settle into autumn. Maybe it does, a little. But let go anyway, even if you don’t have a Manny on the other bank, you do have a memory bank in which to store those precious moments for all time 😉
So let’s celebrate September, shall we? In this, my inaugural attempt at participation in a musical bloghop called “Battle of the Bands” – otherwise known as BOTB – I hope to encourage at least one cool September memory from at least one of these cool September songs to resurface for at least half of all who care to cast a vote.
Did the songs stir any memories? We won’t know if you don’t say 😉
“Hop” being the operative word here, you’re invited to hop on over and see what battles the other participants have posted for your enjoyment!
The last super moon of the year is upon us tonight and I, of course, am stoked! The August full moon was named “Sturgeon” because that’s when the Algonquin tribes (first nation aboriginals of southeastern Canada) gathered around the Great Lakes and other large bodies of water to fish for enormous prehistoric sturgeon. While they do have their own original language, today’s Algonquin tribes speak French or English, and live and dress just like anyone else in today’s modern world. An enduring reminder of Algonquin cultural spirituality is the creation of the original “Dream Catcher”
Dream Catcher
With all the much-needed rain we’ve been getting, temperatures are cooler and tomorrow’s ending of the old “Dog Days of Summer” might actually have gone unnoticed had I not just mentioned it. You’re welcome 😉 “Dog Days” is basically a catchphrase for extended periods of extreme heat, but it’s also a reference to Sirius, the Dog Star (the brightest star visible from earth) located within the Canis Major – or Greater Dog constellation. In summer (July 3 – August 11) Sirius, in perfect conjunction with the sun, is so dazzling in brightness that ancient Romans were certain it caused the hottest days of summer. In actuality, days are always warmer when earth is tilted more directly towards the sun, as it is this time of year.
I love the name Sirius, from the binary star system to XM entertainment! However, a gal’s gotta do what she has to do to share her love of a big full moon. Thank you, Youtube!
“The moon is magic for the soul and light for the senses”
Now then, do you have a Dreamcatcher? Have you ever fished for Sturgeon? Are you a fan of Sirius? Do you have a favorite “moon” song?
How’s your summer so far? Monsoon is well underway in my area, as are daily flood and lightning warnings. A reporter interviewing a member of a family of self-proclaimed “lightning people”, in this case almost everyone in the family has been struck by lightning at least once, elicited a rather bold declaration from the member with regard to her latest strike:
What you fear most is what you attract.
Not such a powerful statement if your greatest fear is running out of chocolate chip cookies. You’d likely survive a snack attack. But can you really attract one? Sure, I could annoy a dog enough to earn myself an angry bite, but how could you attract a speaking engagement if you’re terrified of public speaking? If I found myself accompanied by a spider in a darkened elevator stuck between the highest floors of a skyscraper, could I have unwittingly appealed to the odds of fate? Or do things we can’t predict just happen sometimes? Like, lightning strikes… and falling stars.
Some of us are afraid of the unknown. As for me, I’m more curious than afraid. I think this quote sums it up fairly well: “We do not have a fear of the unknown. What we fear is giving up the known.” Indeed.
It is with that thought in mind that I offer the following music video as a tribute to our dear friend, “Mrs. Mildew”; mentor, confidant, and co-commiserate on subjects ranging from books to cat food. Her recent passing has left a scar and a lasting memory.
Every writer fears rejection. Yet, therein lays the motivation to move on, muddle through.
Here we are in the heart of May when showers of spring on the run glisten like diamonds in the pre-summer sun as we chart our courses and cultivate plans; convinced that solutions aren’t out of our hands. That kind of thinking is fuel for the mind, strength for the soul, as well as the warmth of hope in the hearts of us all. Here are a few reasons why I think so:
As if being Queen of England wasn’t impressive enough, Queen Victoria (“Victorian” era) was also somewhat of a trend-setter as, when in mourning the death of her husband, Prince Albert, Queen Victoria wore a locket that contained a daguerreotype picture of the king along with a lock of his hair. Soon, everyone was wearing a Mourning or Memorial locket. Before long, an entire jewelry industry was created, including heart-shaped lockets called “Keepsakes”
Does anyone remember how important a locket was to a fictional FedEx engineer who was stranded on an uninhabited island for four years? Does anyone remember the name of the movie?
In keeping with a celebration of Inventors in May, I was delighted to discover that not only did Robert Fulton invent the first commercially successful steamboat in America, well before the “Clermont’s” maiden voyage down the Hudson River; Fulton had earned his first wages painting intricate portraits for lockets! But his passion was steamboats, and even a submarine or two. He’d become an icon in the industrial industry, responsible for the expedient transportation of passengers and wares along our nation’s tributaries, who worked up to the day he passed away from pneumonia in 1815. Upon news of Mr. Fulton’s death, businesses closed for a day and both houses of the New York State Legislature voted to wear black clothing for the next six weeks; the first time such a tribute had ever been paid to a private citizen.
Another private citizen had a vision (since childhood,) to one day alleviate the burden of having to scramble for change whenever the postmaster came around. Englishman Rowland Hill eventually became a school teacher and a social reformer who never forgot his vision of postal system reform. His proposal of a pre-paid postage system led to his invention and subsequent distribution in May of 1840 of the original postage stamp! It was called Penny Black and featured an elegant engraving of Queen Victoria (yes, the same one I mentioned earlier in this post) who celebrated her 21st birthday that May.
The 1984 Guinness Book of World Records listed two Arizona boys, Marc and Ben as having built the largest penny pyramid in recorded history. Comprised of 104,000 pennies, and standing 22 inches tall, the pyramid was something to be proud of. However, right below the listing in Guinness’s book are notifications that Guinness would accept no further challenges to the record as the U.S. Mint feared future competitions could cause a national penny shortage.
Don’t miss the total eclipse of the moon tonight, The Full Flower Moon occurs tomorrow (May 16th), though it already looks full enough for me 😉 Thanks for stopping by the stream!
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