Soulin'

For my quick trip to Chicago last week, I ended up with a Kia Soul (rental).  A bright red Kia Soul.  Not exactly my style, I kind of cringed when they pulled it up for me.  I'm way too old, and way too uncool for such a ride.  I mean, I don't even LIKE hamsters...  But, ya take what they give you.

Verdict?  Not bad, actually.  It's a lot bigger than it looks, which I blame on the whole hamster thing.  It was comfortable, drove fine, got respectable mileage.  Nothing to complain about.  Except looking over that screaming red hood for hour after hour.  And feeling like an anthropomorphic hamster...  This would probably be a great car for somebody in their twenties....  Which I'm not.

The title is from J.J. Cale's song...

I sure like your movin',  It's got me to groovin'

Your slow rollin', rollin',  You got me to soulin'

Rested

When I'm driving from Chicago-land to St. Louis, I almost always stop at the rest stop just south of Pontiac, IL.  There're some nice areas to wander, stretch the legs, and relax for a few.  Not as dramatic as some other places, but not too bad for an interstate rest area...    It has been the scene (for me) of numerous photos.  Like this, or this.

Today's image is a photomerge of five individual images, taken Thursday.  I had a quick business trip to the Windy City.   Larger (much larger) version here.

Cache, Cache (There Ain't No Bears In There)

Another from last weekend's visit to the Boy Scout Camp in Potosi, MO.  This is Mud Cave.  This was about 0.75 miles (straight line, not by the trail!) from the overlook posted Sunday.  A view looking out is at Happenstance.

Title courtesy of The Who's Cache Cache...

Canoe Canoe...

Another from last weekend's visit to the Boy Scout Camp at Lake Sunnen. Stacks of canoes in storage.  I found this wandering around while our troop got ready to go to their float trip (not on this lake, not with these canoes...  go figure).

Drowning Here In Summer's Cauldron...

An iPhone photo from ~10 days ago.  Really "pumped up" using #snapseed to edit (on my iPhone).  The result a a lot more extreme than I usually do, but sometime you just have to go there....

From St. Ellen Mine Park, lunchtime walk.  Also posted to Instagram.

Title is from the XTC Song

Second Guessing

This is a re-crop of the image I posted this morning.  Almost from the moment I posted it, I was thinking a narrower scope would be "better".  Again, full size version here.  Lake Sunnen, from the Boy Scout Camp.

Am I right?  or Wrong?

Oh, and the title references the R.E.M. song...

Lake Sunnen Panorama

We spent yesterday at Boy Scout Camp Sunnen, in Potosi, MO.  My son's down there for the weekend, but we just went down for the day. Long day (and HOT day), but fun.  We did a hike around the grounds before it too too crazy hot.  This is from "The Point".  Those canoes are scouts from another troop.

This is several images, "stitched" together in PSE.  Full size version of this is at Panoramio.

In The Woods

Taken on the same lunch time walk as Tuesday's post.  More to the point, this was starting point for yesterday's abstract.  From the one of the trails at Pleasant Ridge Park.

Ice Bucket Challenge

(photo of me, not by me)

Unless you live under a rock, you've certainly heard about the Ice Bucket Challenge that's sweeping the nation.  You get challenged, you pour cold water on your head, and somehow, it helps ALS. 

Well, I'm not exactly a trend setter, nor trend follower, so I pretty much stayed diinterested while celebrities, sports figures and politicians all took the "plunge".  Then an alarming number of people I know...  I reailized it was only a matter of time until somebody tagged me.  And earlier this week, it happened.

Problem is, I'm not a trendy guy.  Not one to join in.  Not to mention entirely too "grown up" for such silliness.   I figured to make a donation ('cause it's a good cause, ya know), and just ignore the whole specatcal part. But then I thought about it more.  And I decided to lighten up.  Be a good sport.  Get out of my comfort zone.  So yesterday, I did the douse, and the deed was done.  Not just damp, but drenched and dripping.  Almost refreshing in the current heat wave... almost.

But I did make a donation, too.  If you care about such things, you can catch it on facebook
UPDATE:  link if you care

#icebucketchallenge

Dabney Drive - Greens...

CD Cover.  Well, mock CD cover.  For a mock album by an imagined band.

Sometimes it's fun to just mess around.  This is an image taken during a recent lunchtime walk, at Pleasant Ridge Park.  Lots of tweaking in Photoshop Elements.  Text added in PowerPoint.

Does it work?

To Be A Rock And Not To Roll.....

Happy Birthday, Robert Plant!  Born 68 years ago today...
Best know as lead singer / lyricist of Led Zeppelin.

(image borrowed from Alex Reisner's Led Zeppelin Site) 

 

Page has been pretty busy post-Zep, with a slew of solo albums, projects like The Honeydrippers, and colaborations with folk like Allison Kraus.  But Zep's the big thing, his ticket to the RRHOF.

 

And yes, LedZep is churning on my iPod today...  

 

So, what're you're favorite Zepplin songs?  Here's a 10 of mine (hard to pick just 10):

• Ramble On (II)
• When the Levee Breakes (Zoso)
• Good Times Bad Times (Led Zeppelin)
• Immigrant Song (III)
• Kashmir (Physical Graffiti)
• Black Dog (Zoso)
• Misty Mountain Hop (Zoso)
• Comunication Breakdown (Led Zeppelin)
• Over The Hills And Far Away (Houses Of The Holy)
• In My Time Of Dying (Physical Graffiti)

 

 

Spread

Something I noticed walking the trails at Pleasant Ridge Park during lunch.  Taken with my iPhone, tweaked using #snapseed (on ly iPod) and posted to Instagram.  And now here!

Lone Tree

Found this one on the CF card in my Nikon D3200.  It is from back in mid-June, but didn't get transferred to my computer.  Something I noticed while helping my wife deliver a wedding cake.  As opposed to the image I posted at Happenstance yesterday, which was something I noticed while helping my wife deliver a wedding cake.

Pop Music - August 1974

August 1974: NFL Players' strike ends before pre-season... (without an agreement)

Looking at American Top 40 charts for August, 1974... 40 years ago this month: What songs made their Top 40 debut? What was new and trending? Well, there were 25 songs entering the Top 40 during July (5 weeks). With 6 eventually making it to #1!  Here they are, ranked by eventual peak:

• I Honestly Love You  - Olivia Newton-John - 1
• You Haven't Done Nothin'  - Stevie Wonder - 1
• Then Came You  - Dionne Warwick - 1
• Nothing From Nothing  - Billy Preston - 1
• I Shot The Sheriff  - Eric Clapton - 1
• Can't Get Enough Of Your Love, Babe  - Barry White - 1
• Beach Baby  - First Class - 4
• Can't Get Enough  - Bad Company - 5
• Clap For The Wolfman  - Guess Who - 6
• Another Saturday Night  - Cat Stevens - 6
• Sweet Home Alabama  - Lynyrd Skynyrd - 8
• Earache My Eye  - Cheech & Chong - 9
• Wild Thing  - Fancy - 14
• Who Do You Think You Are  - Bo Donaldson & The Heywoods - 15
• It's Only Rock 'N Roll (But I Like It)  - Rolling Stones - 16
• Let's Put It All Together  - Stylistics - 18
• Free Man In Paris  - Joni Mitchell - 22
• I Love My Friend  - Charlie Rich - 24
• Don't Change Horses (In The Middle Of A Stream)  - Tower Of Power - 26
• My Thang  - James Brown - 29
• Time For Livin'  - Sly & The Family Stone - 32
• River's Risin'  - Edgar Winter Group - 33
• Happiness Is Just Around The Bend  - Main Ingredient - 35
• Sugar Baby Love  - Rubettes - 37
• Kung Fu  - Curtis Mayfield - 40

I was actually able to find all but one of of these songs on Spotify (guess which one!). And added to a playlist. Right now it includes through September 1974, and 164 of the 175 songs which entered the Top 40 in the 1st 9 months of 1974. I'm pretty impressed that they have almost 94% of these songs...

Check it out: http://open.spotify.com/user/lsqrd42/playlist/23G0cY9o6mflTaGwievQ9z

Banhammered.....

(image not mine)

I'm feeling sad.  I've received my first banning on the internet.  And I don't even know why...

There's a site that I've used for 4-5 years for Top-40 information (at least since mid -2010).  It has been the source for much information you've seen here regarding song / artist rankings.  Posts like this and this.  Several years ago, I included attribution in the posts, but I stopped when the site closed to new subscribers, figuring I shouldn't promote a "closed" site..

Anyway, the other day I was looking at charts from the late 50's and early 60's.  I was thinking about the concept of The Day The Music Died (TSTMD), pondering a compare-and-contrast between a couple of time spans:

• From Elvis's first Top 40 hit, until TDTMD (5/56 through 2/59)
• From TDTMD to The Beatle's first US Hit (2/59 through 2/64)
• From The Beatle's first hit until their breakup (2/64 through 6/70)

As I was skimming the data, I received a warning that I had exceeeded my daily quota of page loads.  No big deal, it happens.  But I received the same warning when logging on the next day, and the next...  and a couple days later.  So I dug up a contact address and sent them a pleasant email.

The response:  "Your membership has been cancelled for terms violation".



Granted, I haven't read the terms since I first signed up.  I tried to review them since being banned, but I can't access the site anymore!  My "What did I do?" email remains unanswered (after a week+).  Now,  I'm willing to accept that I did something, because I wouldn't expect them to randomly ban folk.  But, I don't know what I did wrong.  And while I don't think I did anything to harm the site, I realize it's their call not mine.
.
Oh well, it's their site, their terms.  I agreed to them, and if I've forgotten, it's not their fault.  I will accept and move on.  As my first ever banning, I suppose I should wear my "bad-boy" badge with pride.  But I'm bummed.  I really liked that site...

This is not the way it seems

 

Hello, cowgirl in the sand, Is this place at your command?
Can I stay here for a while?  Can I see your sweet sweet smile?

[Chorus]
Old enough now to change your name, When so many love you is it the same?
It's the woman in you, That makes you want to play this game

Hello, ruby in the dust, Has your band begun to rust?
After all the sin we've had, I was hoping that we'd turn bad
[Chorus]

Hello, woman of my dreams, This is not the way it seems
Purple words on a grey background, To be a woman and to be turned down
[Chorus]

 

 

Check the link if you feel the need to analyize and discern the deeper meaning.  Me, I'll just groove.

August 1974

Continuing the series, (Jan, Feb, Mar ,Apr, June, July):

August 1974... 40 years ago this month.  For me, the summer between Middle School and High School.  The overriding story that month was Richard Nixon's resignation, following the Watergate Scandal. 

On a lighter note....  What was happening in music?

Albums released in August1974 include:

• Alice Cooper's Greatest Hits
• Emerson Lake & Palmer - Welcome Back My Friends To The Show That Never Ends... (Live)
• Bachman Turner Overdrive - Not Fragile
• Crosby, Stills Nash & Young - So Far (Greatest Hits). 

As for singles, 4 songs topped the charts in (the 5 weeks) of August 1974:

• (You're) Having My Baby - Paul Anka (8/24 and 8/31)
• Annie's Song - John Denver (8/3)
• The Night Chicago Died - Paper Lace (8/17)
• Feel Like Making Love - Roberta Flack (8/10)

Some really good songs made their Top 40 chart debuts, including 6 future #1's.  Notables (IMHO) include:

• Nothing From Nothing - Billy Preston (peaked at #1)
• Can't Get Enough 0 Bad Company (#5)
• Sweet Home Alabama - Lynyrd Skynyrd (#8)
• It's Only Rock And Roll (But I Like It) -Rolling Stones (#16)

Packed

Slice of life.  Or maybe a chunk.  My son was at Boy Scout NYLT camp last week.  When I arrived to pick him up, the gear for all 49 boys was piled around the pick-up area.  I took a moment to experiment w/ my iPhone.  Not sure I like this one, but figured to share anyway.  That's my 30+ year old Ketly backpack.  Vintage!