THE OTHER SIDE OF MT RUSHMORE

C'mon, you know it's funny...

DID YOU KNOW...DO YOU CARE??

Yellow fever was once known as 'black vomit'!

Certainly a descriptive name, and worse sounding than yellow fever, don't you think?

And in the 1800s British explorers thought it was caused by 'miasma', basically bad air, and never

expected it to be started by mosquitoes and easily communicable. So they did everything (except drink quinine - the one preventative cure) to keep from getting it, to no avail. Eventually they made the connection between the few who drank quinine and lived, and the many who didn't and died...

Black Vomit...Ugh!

RIP: JOHN DAWSON

At only age 64, died last Tuesday in Mexico. Probably buying some of that Panama Red, the weed, not the song. Never one of my favorite bands, BUT, this was one of my favorite songs, done by John 'Marmaduke' Dawson's band - New Riders Of the Purple Sage.

So rock on John, rock on, and play Panama Red one more time...

Panama Red, Panama Red
He'll steal your woman, then he'll rob your head
Panama Red, Panama Red
On his white horse, Mescalito
He come breezin' through town
I'll bet your woman's up in bed with
ol' Panama Red


The judge don't know when Red's in town
He keeps well hidden underground
But everybody's acting lazy
Falling out and hangin' 'round


My woman said, "Hey Pedro
you're actin' crazy like a clown"
Nobody feels like working
Panama Red is back in town


Panama Red, Panama Red
He'll steal your woman, then he'll rob your head
Panama Red, Panama Red
On his white horse, Mescalito
He come breezin' through town
I'll bet your woman's up in bed with
ol' Panama Red


Everybody's looking out for him
'Cause they know Red satisfies
Little girls love to listen to him
Sing and tell sweet lies


But when things get too confusing, honey
You're better off in bed
And I'll be searching all the joints in town for
Panama Red


Panama Red, Panama Red
He'll steal your woman, then he'll rob your head
Panama Red, Panama Red
On his white horse, Mescalito
He come breezin' through town
I'll bet your woman's up in bed with
ol' Panama Red

WOW...PSYCHEDELIC, MAN...

Wow...the famous Woodstock couple, on millions of album covers, cassette covers, cd covers, still together after 40 years!

Infuckingcredible!!!!!

YEAH, ME TOO...

BEER VS WHEEL

From Dave Barry:

"Without question, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is beer. Oh, I grant you that the wheel was also a fine invention, but the wheel does not go nearly as well with pizza."

Need I say more...?

RIP: GORDON WALLER

Gordon Waller of the British Invasion pop duo Peter And Gordon has died at the age of 64.Waller passed away Friday (July 17) at a hospital near his home in Connecticut after he went into cardiac arrest. His cause of death was listed as cardiovascular disease, reports the Associated Press. Peter And Gordon had a string of chart-topping hits in the 1960s, including a handful written by their friend, Paul McCartney. Their hits included 'A World Without Love' and 'I Don't Want To See You Again'.Waller was born in Scotland and met his bandmate Peter Asher at Westminster School in London. "Gordon played such a significant role in my life that losing him is hard to comprehend – let alone to tolerate," Asher said in a statement.

"He was my best friend at school almost half a century ago. He was not only my musical partner but played a key role in my conversion from only a snooty jazz fan to a true rock and roll believer as well. Without Gordon I would never have begun my career in the music business in the first place. Our professional years together in the sixties constitute a major part of my life and I have always treasured them."

I remember these guys, my favorite 45 was 'Lady Godiva', which was a humorous song about...you guessed it, Lady Godiva!

DON'T YOU KNOW IT!

"It's only after 50 when everything starts to sag. Then you start sitting on your balls and you can't wear boxer shorts anymore."

Phil Esposito Thunder And Lightning

Probably the best hockey bio I've ever read (and I've read a lot).

And from personal experience...the song he really can't stand, and I quote..."I hate this fucking song!" is 'Thunderstruck' by AC/DC which was played way too many times at the Lakeland Center when the Lightning used to hold training camp there back in the 90s. But a really nice guy, who autographed both this book, and his earlier autobio also.

Thanks Phil, you'll always be one of the best in my book...

RIP: DRAKE LEVIN

And so goes another one, too early at age 62. Drake was lead guitar for Paul Revere and the Raiders from 1962-1967, and played on the hits such as 'Kicks', 'Hungry', 'Good Thing', & 'Just Like Me'. He was also a member of the band when they were stars of the TV show Where the Action Is, which was one of my favorites when I was growing up.

Yeah, I was a big fan of PR&tR, owned a few singles and a couple of the albums. Don't know why they never got inducted into the R&R Hall of Fame.

So now the band in the sky gets another member...rock on Drake, rock on...

...WHO CAN YOU SAVE?

Apparently there was a computer attack on the websites of various government agencies beginning on July 4th; causing said websites to crash at various times over the following days. The funny thing is, one of the websites that had the problem was run by the Agency in charge of...

...cyber crime!

If you can't save yourself...

PREY

by Graham Masterton: Used to read quite a bit of his, but nothing recently until I picked up this 1999 novel. Quite creepy and odd. An old house, an HP Lovecraft monster (Cthulhu), a mysterious creature,ancient Sumerians, a picture with moving figures, and many other events that will make you nervous if you read this alone at night with only one light on! The only disappointment about this book is the cover. When you read this book, you will get a quite distinct picture of what the house looks like - unfortunately, it's not the one on the cover...

But a good book, nonetheless, and a great read for horror fans.

THIRSTY WORK

Racing my car sure is thirsty work. I'm going to take a rest soon and have something to drink...hmmm...should I drink my juice...or go for Grandpa's beer??

RIP: SKY SAXON

On June 25th, of an unspecified ailment. Don't know who he is? Well, shame on you, he was lead vocalist for the 60s psych band The Seeds of "Pushin' Too Hard" fame. Later went on to other things, including recording with Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins).

Rock on, Sky, rock on...

SEATBELTS...MAKE $$$$

So the new seatbelt law took effect June 30th; now is it not only illegal to NOT wear a seatbelt, it's a primary infraction. Now the police can pull you over or set up traffic stops just to check if you have your seatbelt on, just as if they were checking for DUIs! And if they catch you comitting this heinous (what a great word - reminds me of anus) crime, its a $99 ticket, per person in the car not wearing it, I would suppose.\

Now, I'm all for wearing seatbelts, though there was a time I didn't, but is it really a $99 crime, and aren't there better things for the police to be doing? Like...catching criminals, drunk drivers, speeders, tailgaters, etc. I mean really, if someone wants to kill themselves in a car accident, isn't that their problem?

It can only help the gene pool, the way I look at it...

RIP: FRED TRAVALENA

At only 66. But you may not know him, he was an impressionist back in the 70s, who was once quite well known. But not enough where you'd say "Hey, I wonder what happened to Fred Travalena?" I guess he may have been the poor man's Rich Little back when he was famous.

But gone nevertheless, in the month of June when too, too many famous & semi-famous people died.