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| LICENSE PLATE IN THE MOVIE 'FALLING DOWN', THE INSPIRATION FOR MY COMMENT SECTION SIGN-OFFS. |
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We hardly know where to start with this one.
We hardly know where to start with this one.
I said
“we” even though it’s just me, because... well, haven’t you heard that you’re
not supposed to start a piece o’writing with “I”? Yeah, Henry David Thoreau
hadn’t heard that either... or... i-ther.
I’m
tryin’ to follow “the rules” here, but I admit that I ain’t no good at it, and
I axe you to forgive me transgressions.
This is
going to be a mixed up, shook up, semi-stream o’unconsciousness, kinda
spontaneous-like blog bit o’product reviews... which reminds me that I got
Dylan singin’ next to me and a glass o’sherry within arm’s reach, and the third
band I ever paid money to see play live-in-concert was Mink DeVille. That was
1977, my senior year in high school. The year before, I had seen Styx (my favorite band) open for
Journey at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. My second “professional” concert
(again at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium) saw Mink DeVille opening for Styx (my favorite band).
All these
years later, I realize that (the millionaires) Styx stunk, and that (the poor) Mink
DeVille was a far better band. Sorry, blokes, but sometimes the crap also rises (to the
top). Proof of my “confident heterosexuality”
is the fact that I can publicly admit to having loved Styx back in 1976 / ’77. But I was a
mere boy then, a lad of 16. And although I went out and bought Mink DeVille’s
‘Cabretta’ album right after their concert, it would be years before I’d come
to realize that they were way cooler than Styx ever was.
Mink
DeVille: ‘MIXED UP, SHOOK UP GIRL’
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If you’re
already familiar with Mink DeVille, chances are it’s because of their version
of the song ‘CADILLAC WALK’, which I
definitely dug and do dig:
Pretty
good, right? Lean, clean, and mean. But by far my favorite Mink DeVille song
was always ‘SHE’S SO TOUGH’. I used
to crank that “up to eleven” in my bedroom
and practice my Air Guitar. I absolutely loved (and still absolutely love) the
“hiccup” in the rhythm guitar line! And note the orange, black, and wee
bit of green on the album cover below. How Halloweenie, eh?...
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In my
last blog bit and its comment section, I related to all y’all how a woman stood
me up for ‘The Retro Theatre’ showing of the movie ‘FALLING DOWN’. The dumb blonde orange
has since contacted me via Email, apologized profusely, and said that she
didn’t meet me at the theatre only because she was “under the knife” – having
forgotten until the last minute that she had scheduled an appointment with her
doctor for ‘Breast Augmentation’ surgery.
What
could I say? Naturally, I forgave her (it was the ONLY excuse for
standing me up that I would have accepted) and, like any other guy would have,
I then asked her, “So... what are you doing ten
minutes from now?”
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We later
caught another showing of ‘Falling Down’ and laughed ourselves silly. (Not
really; it’s a drama, but there are several humorous scenes.) If you’ve
never seen that 1993 movie, you’ve missed some great lines like... “You forgot
the briefcase!” and “I’ll give you something to fix” and “Now you’re
going to die wearing that stupid little hat. How does it feel?” (It’s that
“How does it feel?” that prompted me to play Dylan’s ‘Like A Rolling Stone’.)
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A few
scenes from ‘Falling Down’ were filmed at L.A.’s famous Venice Beach.
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| VENICE BEACH... YEAH, IT'S A "COLORFUL" PLACE! |
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And so
shortly after watching the movie again for the godzillionth time, I was
inspired to pour a beer (that never takes much arm-twisting) and dig out my old
1992 compilation compact disc ‘SPIRIT OF
VENICE, CALIFORNIA’. But
first, let’s yak beer:
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Below is
the first beer I ever opened with my new, unique bottle
opener (a gift from a good friend), which I then poured into my Dogwood
design TERVIS TUMBLER, customized
with a “Wastin’ Away Again In... Margaritaville” patch. I don’t care what Nappy
says, Tervis Tumblers keep my beer colder longer and I LOVE them for that!
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| GREAT ALE, AND GREAT BOTTLE OPENER, TOO |
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| TERVIS TUMBLERS... THEY'RE THE DOG'S BARK! |
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That’s ‘DAYTIME ALE’,
a limited-time offering from the Lagunitas Brewing Company and now one of my
favorite IPA’s. It’s only 4.65% alcohol, so you can drink plenty of it, and it
has a very bold, unusual, up-front flavor for something I would consider to be
a “light” beer. And best of all, I’ve discovered that it doesn’t have to be daytime
to drink it; it goes down very well not only for breakfast, but for lunch and
dinner, too! Get it while you can. Pour it in your Tervis Tumbler. Drink it
down. Pour another. Drink it down. Repeat as necessary until all your troubles
are gone.
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Another
brew I tried fairly recently (but before I owned this new, unique bottle opener) is Boulder Beer Company’s ‘KINDA BLUE’. It’s a “blueberry wheat
beer”. Now I do NOT like “flavored” beers. As I told 4-B Old Soul (Bryan of the blog ‘A Beer For The
Shower’), I only like “beer-flavored beer”. But since I do love the taste of
blueberries, I figured I’d give this one one shot, since I was able to buy just
a single bottle of it at a reasonable price.
First sip: “Hey, that’s not bad; kinda light and refreshing.”
Second sip: “Wow! Surprisingly decent for a fruit-flavored beer.”
Third sip: “I may have to mention this one to Brother Beer Boy Bryan.”
Fourth sip: “Ugh. I’m tired of this flavor. Never again!”
There you
have it... a beer review in four sips.
However,
I will say that I love the ‘Kinda Blue’ label. Notice the blueberry notes
emanating from the trumpet? It’s obviously a reference to the Jazz classic ‘KIND OF BLUE’
by Miles Davis, considered by many to be the best, most influential and
best-selling Jazz record ever made. I certainly dig it, but my favorite Davis album is ‘PORGY AND BESS’ by miles and miles.
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| 'KIND OF BLUE', THE JAZZ AND THE BEER |
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OK, so
where were we? Oh, yeah... ‘SPIRIT OF VENICE, CALIFORNIA’ (A Collection Of Venice Street Musicians).
Back in ’92, someone got the idea to record a bunch of the street musicians on
Venice Beach, along with snippets of sounds like boardwalk chatter, children
playing on the beach, the Pacific Ocean waves crashing near the lifeguard
station at Rose Avenue, etc. The compilation includes songs representing a wide
array of genres from Rock, Pop, Blues, Folk, Gospel, Reggae, Rap, and there’s
even a traditional Russian song. Surprisingly, of the 13 full-length musical
tracks, I genuinely like 11 of them (this compilation album goes “up to eleven”), making this, for me, much more
than just a novelty souvenir reminder of my Venice Beach years. You can find the album at the
great website CD BABY: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/henhouse3
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ROCK:
‘Flim Flam’; ‘I’ve Been Searching’
POP:
‘Groovy Little Things’
BLUES:
‘Scarlet May’; ‘Don’t Come Here Running’; ‘Don’t Tell Me What To Do’
FOLK:
‘Under The Shade Of A Black Palm Tree’
GOSPEL:
‘I’m Listening’
REGGAE:
‘Eclipse My Soul’; ‘Rhythm Of The World’
RAP: ‘Venice Beat’
RUSSIAN FOLK: ‘Gop Stop’
CHEECH AND CHONG MEET SIMON AND GARFUNKEL MEET BOBS WATSON MARLEY: ‘On The Road To Your Life’ [That
was the closest classification I could come up with.]
From a second story, a post office building
Stands a friend of mine, a letter in her left hand
Looking down on the circles of
town
And wondering why it’s not at her command
Some of us are shattered
Others worn and tattered
That’s the way life always seems to be
But you might find me
Somewhere in Venice
Under the shade of a black palm tree
~ Peter Demian
‘Under The Shade Of A Black Palm
Tree’
I know
just what he’s talking about in that song. In Venice, just two blocks East of the
beach, there used to be a post office which overlooked a roundabout (or rotary,
or “traffic circle”).
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| THE VENICE BEACH MUSICIANS GATHER ON THE BOARDWALK |
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| JIM MORRISON AND THE DOORS GATHER ON THE VENICE BEACH BOARDWALK |
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Well,
that’s enough product reviews for one blog bit. But if you’d like me to review
anything else for you (or even review YOU), send six box tops, a
self-addressed stamped envelope and your vital measurements to:
Review THIS!
P.O. Box
Eleventy eleven
Grand
Central Station
Nude
York, Nude York
10017
Send
before midnight tonight and receive as our special gift to you,
absolutely free, a genuine ‘Little Orphan Annie’ secret agent decoder ring that
pulls in the Moon, the stars, the planets, and the satellites and the space
men. If you want to jitter jive... Buster Brown, ‘Fanny Mae’! [See? I told you
this bit was semi-stream o’unconsciousness.]
On behalf
of myself and Bess Gilberto, my tigress of a girlfriend with the new,
surgically plumped up “pumpkins”, I wish all y’all a...
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
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| MY GIRLFRIEND, BESS GILBERTO, A REAL TIGRESS! |
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| BEFORE SURGERY FOR "PUMPKIN AUGMENTATION" |
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~ Stephen T. McCarthy
YE OLDE
COMMENT POLICY: All comments, pro and con, are welcome. However, ad hominem
attacks and disrespectful epithets will not be tolerated (read:
"posted"). After all, this isn’t Amazon.com,
so I don’t have to put up with that kind of bovine excrement.
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