Rolling Stone's Top 100 Album covers! #99

1981- Elvis Costello, Trust

Rolling Stone's Top 100 album covers! #100

1971- The Who, Who's Next

Nick Mason (of Pink Floyd)

Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason fronted the group who made the one-off self-titled album Nick Mason's Fictitious Sports in May 1981 in the UK and US, this being Mason's first major work outside of Pink Floyd. However, the album is considered by many a Carla Bley album in all but name, since she wrote all the songs and co-produced it. It is sung by Robert Wyatt, except for the opening song. The album was recorded in November 1979 but its release was delayed for almost two years.


"I made 'Fictitious Sports' more as an exercise. There's more longevity in 'Profiles'... it's strong enough to be accepted as a 'proper' record."
—Nick Mason

"Originally, I had arranged to go to America and make an album using all sorts of material, but then Carla sent me a cassette with some of her ideas. It was very different from what she had done before and absolutely in line with what I like. So I thought it would be much better to do that than to struggle desperately to find things that work together."
—Nick Mason


Siam - Nick Mason's Fictitious Sports

Nick Mason – drums, percussion, co-producer, recording engineer
Carla Bley – keyboards, songwriter, co-producer
Chris Spedding – guitars
Steve Swallow – bass guitar
Michael Mantler – trumpet, recording engineer
Robert Wyatt – vocals
Karen Kraft – vocals on "Can't Get My Motor to Start"
Gary Windo – tenor/bass clarinet, flute, additional vocals
Gary Valente – trombones, additional vocals
Howard Johnson – tuba
Terry Adams – piano on "Boo to You Too", harmonica and clavinet on "Can't Get My Motor to Start"
Carlos Ward – additional vocals
D. Sharpe – additional vocals
Vincent Chancey – additional vocals
Earl McIntyre – additional vocals
James Guthrie – mixing engineer
Hipgnosis – cover design

Cheryl Burke and Julianne Hough

A 2-for Lovely ladies! My faves! Cheryl is just cute as a button and sultry, and Jullianne is the girl next door (that you could be friends with but never actually have so you just might as well drop it and move to another town and try desperately to forget she ever existed).

2 of the best things that stupid dancing show has (had) to offer!

Just as Glenn Beck prophesied....

I know. I was as surprised as anyone.

After watching Congress vote to enact sweeping health care reform (a few nights ago) and the President signing the Healthcare Bill into law this morning, I was surprised by a squadron of Commu-Nazi soldiers breaking down my front door. They grabbed me out of my kitchen, threw me in the backseat of an electric car, and took me to the nearest abortion clinic. It didn't matter how much I tried to explain that I was a man and thus unable to conceive a child. When they finally determined that I wasn't pregnant, they figured they had me there and might as well remove something, so they took out my pancreas and sold it to an ACORN employee for a pack of menthol cigarettes.

Just like Glenn and his "Chalkboard of Freedom" said they would.
Thanks for this!

Daddy's 'lil rocker!

Even in his sleep, Max rocks the international symbol for metal- the Maloik. Ronnie Dio and Gene Simmons would be proud!
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Smith

Smith were a one-hit wonder American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1969. They had a blues based sound and had a Top 5 hit in 1969 with a cover of the song "Baby It's You", with the lead vocals sung by Gayle McCormick. This disc, released in July 1969 had, by October, sold over one million copies, and received a gold record awarded by the R.I.A.A.

Smith were discovered by 1960s rocker Del Shannon in a nightclub in Los Angeles. McCormick had started her career singing songs by Tina Turner, Etta James and others of that ilk. Shannon arranged "Baby It's You" for the group and got them signed to the ABC-Dunhill Records label. Smith released an album titled, A Group Called Smith, which spent 11 weeks in the Top 40 album listings of the since-called Billboard 200 record chart. On the album, vocals were split amongst Rich Cliburn, Jerry Carter and McCormick. Smith recorded a second album titled Minus-Plus with lesser success. Smith's version of "The Weight" was included on the epochal Easy Rider soundtrack because The Band's version, which appeared in the movie, was not available for contractual reasons. Most of their material consisted of covers of popular rock and R&B tunes. The band broke up after a couple of albums, although their singles "What Am I Gonna Do" (co-written by Carole King) and "Take a Look Around" made the middle of the charts. The band's hit "Baby It's You" was also featured in Quentin Tarantino's Grindhouse film, Death Proof.

Minus Plus - Title track to the album

McCormick went on to record three solo albums, Gayle McCormick, Flesh And Blood and One More Hour after the group disbanded. "It's A Cryin' Shame" was a minor hit for her from the first of these, reaching #44 on the charts in 1971.

Smith were a quintet of one woman and four men:

Gayle McCormick- lead vocals - from St. Louis, Missouri
Larry Moss - organ and kazoo
Jerry Carter - bass
Robert Evans - drums
Rich Cliburn - lead guitar

Jellyfish

Jellyfish were a power pop band from San Francisco. The core members were drummer/singer/songwriter Andy Sturmer and keyboardist/multi-instrumentalist/singer/songwriter Roger Joseph Manning Jr. Although their career was short, the band has become highly influential in the power pop genre.

The band's debut album, Bellybutton, was released in 1990. It demonstrated the wide range of influences which the new band drew on, drawing heavily from the Paisley Underground, Queen, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, XTC, Cheap Trick, Wings, and Badfinger, Bellybutton was released in 1990. The album contained the band's biggest hit, "Baby's Coming Back", which peaked at No. 62 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The album also included the singles "That Is Why", "I Wanna Stay Home", "Now She Knows She's Wrong" and "The King Is Half-Undressed" (the video for which was nominated for Best Art Direction at the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards).

After the recording of Bellybutton, Manning's brother Chris was asked to join the band as bassist for the imminent live dates.

Frustrated with simply being the guitar player, Jason Falkner left the band after the Bellybutton tour. Chris Manning also left, disliking the touring lifestyle.


Sturmer and Roger Manning recruited Tim Smith as the new bassist while preparing new material. Studio musicians (including Jon Brion) were brought in to help record their second album, Spilt Milk in 1993. The album was a far more elaborate affair than Bellybutton, incorporating a significant amount of overdubbing and complex song arrangements. A tour followed which included Eric Dover on guitar and backing vocal duties.

The Ghost at Number One

High Tide

Death Warmed Up - Sea Shanties

High Tide was a band formed in 1969 by Tony Hill (guitar, keyboards, and vocals), Simon House (violin and keyboards), Pete Pavli (bass) and Roger Hadden (drums). The trademark of their first album Sea Shanties was the constant battle between the electric guitar of Tony Hill and the electric violin of Simon House. There is hardly a quiet moment on Sea Shanties, the heaviest tracks being "Futilist's Lament" and the instrumental "Death Warmed Up". Stylistically it is a mix of hard rock, psychedelic, blues, folk, and jazz-rock, and is sometimes even cited as the first progressive metal album. Allmusic author, Wilson Neate, had this to say of the group, "High Tide had the muscularity of a no-nonsense proto-metal band, but they also ventured into prog territory with changing time signatures and tempos, soft-hard dynamics, multi-part arrangements, and even some ornate faux-Baroque interludes.".

The second, self-titled, album is a little less heavy and introduces some keyboards, played by Hill and House; the folk and jazz-rock influences are more noticeable on this album. Featuring just three tracks - Blankman Cries Again, The Joke and Saneonymous - it can be seen as a concept of sorts, the theme being the slow slide into psychosis. Indeed, Roger Hadden was later committed for just that reason.

High Tide also played as backing band on Denny Gerrard's album Sinister Morning (1970). A third album, Precious Cargo, which was more a psychedelic album without any hard rock influences, was recorded in 1970, but the band split up, and it was not published until 1989, when Hill and House reformed High Tide as a 2-man band with the use of drum computers and produced Interesting Times, in the wake of which "Precious Cargo" was finally released.

Two other albums with previously unreleased material, The Flood and A Fierce Nature, followed in 1990. Simon House left, and Pete Pavli joined again. Together with some guest musicians including Dave Tomlin (violin), Drachen Theaker (drums) and Sushi Krishnamurti (vocals), they recorded Ancient Gates, which had some Indian influences. Another album of previously unreleased material, A Reason of Success, was released in 1992. The tracks "Futilist's Lament" and "Blankman Cries Again" are on the United Artists Records 2004 sampler All Good Clean Fun CD re-package (Liberty 8660902), but High Tide did not appear on the original 1971 LP.

More recently, Tony Hill has recorded with Nick Saloman of Bevis Frond and has also formed his own three-piece called Tony Hill's Fiction.

Tony Hill's Fiction were initially formed after the release of Tony Hill's solo album/CD 'Inexactness' which was released on Nick Saloman and Ade Shaws' Woronzow label 2006. Fronted by Tony Hill (Guitar/Vox) with D E Holt (Bass) and Syd Farrell (Drums) the band released one unofficial CD from their website ('Dna, The Brain, The Universe').

My wife's doppleganger: Joan Blondell

Seems I found my beautiful wife's look-a-like.
Rose Joan Blondell (August 30, 1906 – December 25, 1979) was an American actress.


After winning a beauty pageant, Blondell embarked upon a film career. Establishing herself as a sexy wisecracking blonde, she was a pre-Hays Code staple of Warner Brothers and appeared in more than 100 movies and television productions. She was most active in films during the 1930s, and during this time she co-starred with Glenda Farrell in nine films, in which the duo portrayed gold-diggers. Blondell continued acting for the rest of her life, often in small character roles or supporting television roles. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her work in The Blue Veil (1951).

Blondell was seen in featured roles in two films released shortly before her death from leukemia, Grease (1978- she was Vi, the aging white haired waitress that chatted with Frenchy before she fell asleep and dreamt of Frankie Avalon)) and the remake of The Champ (1979).

....side boob!

Kat Dennings

I have dug every movie she's been in at this point... I like her quirkyness and all around look. I'll give you 2 REALLY BIG guesses why I'm also a fan....

The Phoenix (1982)

The Phoenix is a 1982 television series starring Judson Scott which was on ABC for about one month in 1982. The plot revolved around an ancient extraterrestrial named Bennu of the Golden Light, who is discovered in a sarcophagus in Peru and awakened in the 20th Century. Bennu displays superhuman abilities and behaves in a manner meant to represent an enlightened culture (kind, nonviolent, environmentally responsible, etc.).

 Characters

Bennu of the Golden Light (played by Judson Scott), the protagonist, is an alien who possesses special abilities including physical levitation, telepathy, precognition, clairvoyance, astral projection and telekinesis. Some of these are made possible or amplified by his Phoenix Amulet, which draws power from the Sun. The planet Bennu hailed from was originally called Aurica, but this was changed to Eldebran for broadcast.

Yago is another being from the planet Eldebran. He is evil and Bennu's primary opponent. Yago is connected to the Moon, as Bennu is to the Sun. The series bible explicitly compares Yago to Lucifer and Dracula. He wears a bracelet called "The Bells of Thon" around his right wrist, which has the power to deafen. He also carries a musical instrument called "The Black Moonball," which can alter his appearance or teleport him to another location. In the series bible Yago was named Aiwaz, presumably after the alleged being who dictated The Book of the Law to Aleister Crowley.

Mira is another being from the planet Eldebran. 40,000 years ago she was placed on Earth as Bennu's companion, and when the series begins he is searching for her.

Justin Preminger (played by Richard Lynch) is the human villain of the story. He is generally only one step behind Bennu.

Dr. Ward Frazier is a scientist sympathetic to Bennu and his goals.

Sources and influences

The series bible mentions Erich von Däniken's books Chariots of the Gods? (1968) and Gods from Outer Space (1970) as the source of the idea that aliens may have visited the Earth roughly 40,000 years ago.

Yago's ability to create illusions using the power of the Moon was, according to the series bible, "implied in the Lunacy (sic) Act of 1842".

Bennu is the Egyptian word for the mythological phoenix bird.

Episodes

Only a 90-minute pilot and four regular episodes were broadcast. Four additional episodes were scripted, but never filmed nor broadcast. The episodes were:

The Phoenix (Pilot)
In Search of Mira
One of Them
A Presence of Evil
The Fire Within
Trial by Fire
Deadly Cargo
Dark Hunter
The Star Needle

Fun Fun Fun 'till her daddy took her T-bird away...

From the Floriday Keys News site Keysnews.com
FHP: Driver lacked razor-sharp focus


BY ADAM LINHARDT Citizen Staff

alinhardt@keysnews.com

As authorities nationwide warn motorists of the dangers of driving while texting, Florida Keys law enforcement officers add a new caution: Don't try to shave your privates, either.

Florida Highway Patrol troopers say a two-vehicle crash Tuesday at Mile Marker 21 on Cudjoe Key was caused by a 37-year-old woman driver who was shaving her bikini area while her ex-husband took the wheel from the passenger seat.

"She said she was meeting her boyfriend in Key West and wanted to be ready for the visit," Trooper Gary Dunick said. "If I wasn't there, I wouldn't have believed it. About 10 years ago I stopped a guy in the exact same spot ... who had three or four syringes sticking out of his arm. It was just surreal and I thought, 'Nothing will ever beat this.' Well, this takes it."

If that weren't enough, Megan Mariah Barnes was not supposed to be driving and her 1995 Ford Thunderbird was not supposed to be on the road.

The day before the wreck, Barnes was convicted in an Upper Keys court of DUI with a prior and driving with a suspended license, said Monroe County Assistant State Attorney Colleen Dunne. Barnes was ordered to impound her car, and her driver's license was revoked for five years, after which time she must have a Breathalyzer ignition interlock device on any vehicle she drives, Dunne said. Barnes also was sentenced to nine months' probation.

Barnes and Charles Judy were southbound in her Thunderbird at 11 a.m. when they slammed into the back of a 2006 Chevrolet pickup driven by David Schoff of Palm Bay. His passengers were a man and two women; the latter were treated for minor injuries at Lower Keys Medical Center, FHP spokesman Alex Annunziato said.

Schoff had slowed to about 5 mph to make a turn when the Thunderbird hit him, traveling about 45 mph, which was within the speed limit, Dunick said.

Barnes allegedly drove another half-mile, then switched seats with Judy, who allegedly claimed to be driving, Annunziato said.

"She jumps in the back seat and he moves over," Dunick said. "It was like the old comedy bit, 'Who's on first?' "

Burns on Judy's chest from the passenger-side airbag deploying belied their story, Dunick said. The airbag in the steering wheel did not deploy, he said.

Troopers charged Barnes with driving with a revoked license, reckless driving, leaving the scene of a wreck with injuries and driving with no insurance. Judy was not charged.

Barnes faces a maximum of a year in jail if found guilty of violating her probation due to the wreck, Dunne said.

"My phone has been ringing off the hook all day, and I know there's a funny side to this, but it's also deadly serious. This is a scary road and a lot of bad wrecks are caused by dumb stuff like this," Dunick said. "It is unbelievable. I'm really starting to believe this stuff only happens in the Keys."

New (to me) Vinyl...

The Monkees - Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd. and Chicago XI

The Moody Blues - Long Distance Voyager and In Search of the Lost Chord

Bob James - The Genie (with "Angela", the THEME FROM TAXI) and Vince Guraldi Trio - A Charlie Brown Christmas

BEATLEMANIA recorded @ the Winter Garden Theatre and Gustav Holst's - The Planets

John Klemmer - Waterfalls and Hush

John Klemmer - Lifestyles (my 3rd copy) and Pat Metheny - Offramp

Roy Buchanan - A Street Called Straight and Steel Breeze - Self Titled

Superstars of the 70's Box set and Chuck Mangione - Live @ The Hollywood Bowl (3-record set)