Weird Week Random Ten

This has been a weird week. Among the things that have happened:

--A couple that are close friends of ours appear to be splitting. There'd been no indication of problems

--A former co-worker at my old Evanston job was fired after he put a derogatory comment about a customer on the electronically generated check, apparently not remembering that the comment would show up on the check

--I found a $3,100 check on the sidewalk near my home, drafted to a person who lives a couple of blocks from me. I left a note at the address, but the check's owner hasn't contacted me.

Glad to be getting this week over.

1. Low Rider- War
2. I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)- The Proclaimers
3. Long Lonesome Highway- Michael Parks
4. Suddenly Last Summer- The Motels
5. California Dreamin'- Jose Feliciano
6. It's a Shame- The Spinners
7. Travelin' Man/Beautiful Loser- Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band
8. Growin' Up- Bruce Springsteen
9. The Right Profile- The Clash
10. Don't Know Why- Norah Jones


Notes:
1. My stepdaughter loves this song because it's the theme song for the George Lopez show, one of her favorites.
2. Big hit from a pair of Scottish twins.
3. Parks sang this song for the theme song of the 1969 series "Then Came Bronson." These days, Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez keep him in work.
4. One of a handful of hits the Motels had in the '80's.
5. Feliciano came up in the Village folk scene that produced Dylan, Phil Ochs, Joan Baez, Richie Havens and of course, the Mamas and the Papas. This cover of the Mamas and the Papas song is even more haunting and sad than the original.
6. When they recorded this one, they were actually known as The Detroit Spinners to distinguish them from a British folk group with the same name. They're one of my favorite bands of the seventies, and the surviving members are still touring. The song was written by Stevie Wonder and Syreeta Wright.
7. Another great product of Detroit. I'd argue that "Live Bullet" is one of top five live albums ever.
8. From Springsteen's great first album.
9. A song from the incredible "London Calling" album about tragic actor Montgomery Clift.
10. One of my favorite songs of the last ten years or so.

Okay, Mahmoud, You First

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has responded to President Obama's peace overtures by stating that "The Iranian people would welcome a hand extended to it if the hand is truly based on honesty."

Okay, Mahmoud, why don't you make the first move toward honesty and stop denying the Holocaust ever happened?

Go Nora!

I just got off the phone with Bubs. I had called to let him know that the vote totals in the Fangoria contest had changed-- for some reason, votes were taken away from the person in the lead, leaving Bubs' daughter Nora in the lead.

Bubs was on the phone earlier in the day with the polling company; many, including myself, had had trouble voting. It appears that the problems have been fixed. If you tried voting before without luck, try again. The voting lasts until April 17.

Let's Help Her Out

Nora O'Sullivan, the daughter of my friend Bubs, is competing in the Fangoria Weekend of Horrors Spooksmodel Contest. Through our previous voting efforts, she's reached the finals. Why don't you take a moment to click through to the contest, scroll down to Nora O'Sullivan and vote.

Cleaned Up Friday Random Ten

A week ago, I added some music to my Itunes and discovered it would no longer all fit on my Ipod. I did some cleaning up of my Itunes-- I discovered, for instance, that I had 4 copies of Eddy' Grant's "Electric Avenue" on there.

Even after cleaning, I've got about 5200 songs on my Itunes.

1. I Knew The Bride When She Used To Rock and Roll- Dave Edmunds
2. In The Modern World- Jesse Malin
3. Hey, Hey, We're The Monkees- The Monkees
4. Baby, That's Me- The Cake
5. Oh! Darling- The Beatles
6. Guess Things Happen That Way- Johnny Cash
7. Brave New World- Michael Penn
8. Venus- Shocking Blue
9. Two More Bottles of Wine- Delbert McClinton
10. Moondance- Van Morrison


Notes:
1. Dave Edmunds co-wrote this song with Nick Lowe, who had a big his with it in the mid eighties.
2. One of my "Little Steven's Underground" Discoveries.
3. I loved this tv show when I was a kid.
4. Another Little Steven discovery. These ladies had a "girl group" in the late sixties, long after it was fashionable to do so.
5. From Abbey Road, the last album the Beatles recorded
6. What would my Friday Random Ten be without Mr. Cash?
7. Michael is the brother of Senn and the late Chris Penn, and the husband of Aimee Mann.
8. I loved this song when I heard it on the radio as a kid.
9. First heard this one on WXRT in the late seventies. Great song of dreams run aground.
10. A couple of years ago, my old friend Larry visited and gave me a mix cd of songs we would have heard in a night at the Uptowner/Cellar tavern, our hangout in college. This was one of the songs on it.

Was It Just Me?

I saw the news story that President Obama, while visiting Queen Elizabeth of England, gave her an Ipod. According to the New York Times, the Ipod contained videos and photos of her 2007 visit to the United States, and some songs.



Was I the only one wondering if our Chief Executive succumbed to the temptation to slip the Sex Pistols' "God Save the Queen" onto the Ipod?

A Conspiracy?

News came over the wire that Herman Franks, who managed the Chicago Cubs from 1977 to 1979, died on March 30th at the age of 95.

I immediately began to suspect a conspiracy; two other former Cubs managers have died this year. Cuban-born Preston Gomez, who managed the 1980 Cubs, died on January 13th. Whitey Lockman, who managed the Cubs from 1972 to 1974, died just a couple of weeks ago, on March 17.

Should we sending some security to protect Don Zimmer-- or will the "Celebrities Die In Threes" Rule protect him?

Isn't It Nice...

Just saw on an internet news headline that President Obama has accepted invitations to China and Russia to work out trade issues and to try for arms reductions respectively.

Isn't it nice to have a President who isn't surrounded by neo-con nutjobs? Isn't it nice to have a President who sees a future cooperating with the rest of the planet for a sustainable future? Isn't it nice to have a President who doesn't induce cringes every time he opens his mouth?

Isn't it nice to have a President who knows his ass from a hole in the ground?