Gator Huntin’

I’ve never felt any pressure or inclination to keep up with the times so I’m usually behind on them. The case in point is a reality TV show called “Swamp People” which originally aired on The History Channel in 2010. I’ve been watching reruns on a free streaming network and have to say I’m addicted at this point.

The show follows alligator hunters into the bayous of Louisiana. They purchase tags for the hunting season and set out with their bait, gator fishing lines, and shotguns to git ‘er done. The biggest thing I’ve learned from watching multiple episodes is there is a small soft spot where hunters have to aim to end things as quickly as possible. Easier said than done when you have an angry gator hooked to a line and fighting for its life.

I think the show works because viewers go to a place, and an activity, which are both out of the ordinary. Naturally the personalities of the hunters keep things interesting, too. One guy wears an American flag doo-rag with bib overalls. Another is an arm wrestling champ. Thick Cajun accents are the norm. One episode opened with a cover of “Born on the Bayou” by CCR.

I wonder why John Fogerty never did a Gator-Stock concert? Oh yeah, parking in the bayou might be an issue.

Till next time, keep your Mojo on the Horizon!

DST

It’s officially Daylight Savings Time…that whole “Spring forward, Fall back” thing. Since we’re springing forward I think of the first day as “Daylight Sucking Time.” I suppose if you live in a rural area it could be “Daylight Savins Time, Y’all.” For me, I woke up today at 7:09 am and had to hustle to get to church band practice at 8 o’clock. The whole thing is a fairly bizarre phenomenon that we just accept as is. It reminds me of “Alice in Wonderland.”

Here are a couple of other weird things. First, the battery on my living room clock ran out about a day or two ago — it’s almost like it KNEW it was coming. Another thing that jumps out at me is that not all states take part in DST. A close friend of mine moved to Indiana years ago and told me they don’t change the clocks there. Apparently they got with the program in 2006. However, Arizona and Hawaii still don’t participate in DST. It feels like a “Time Warp” situation.

I suppose time is all relative. It’s just bizarre to wake up at the same time you did yesterday, but it’s not the same time as yesterday. Oh well!

Till next time, keep your Mojo on the Horizon!

State of the…

Author: Do you remember the time President Biden fell three times boarding Air Force One?

Friend: Yeah, that was bizarre.

Author: Apparently he has something wrong with his feet.

Friend: Really?

Author: Yeah, tonight he’s going to deliver the State of the Bunion address.

Friend: Groan.

I’m a very apathetic person when it comes to politics, but I couldn’t help sharing this punchline written by Yours Truly. Tonight is the night when “POTUS” will deliver the annual State of the Union address. Somewhere between 20-30 million ‘Muricans will tune in to watch. Then they’ll probably stick around for the interpretation of his address by whatever network you deem not to be fake news or which shares your viewpoint. Do you think Biden really has bunions or are his feet too big?

The Beatles apparently had this song in their repertoire during their time in Hamburg. “Your Feet’s Too Big” was written by Ada Benson and Fred Fisher.

Getting back to politics, I have no desire to pay attention to the rhetoric and spin of another election. I guess freedom has its price. I’ve never been a regular viewer of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”, but this bit just makes me feel patriotic in a way that Lee Greenwood never will.

So what else can I say about Biden’s Bunions? To be “fair and balanced” I should come up with a punchline for Donald Trump. Maybe something about his orange spray tan causing Biden’s falls.

The most difficult part of this blog entry was deciding which song to include. Here were some others I considered:

Bob Dylan – “Political World”

Mick Jagger and Michael Jackson – “State of Shock”

The Yardbirds – “Shapes of Things”

The list could go on infinitely, but the please remember the State of the Bunion.

Till next time, keep your Mojo on the Horizon!

Names O’ Irish Thespians

One time in my twenties, a friend was visiting from out of town when he asked if we could duck into a little health food place. Despite being a dedicated junk food eater I agreed. However, when we walked through the door, I started slowly stumbling and acting like Superman near kryptonite. “Too …much….health food….must get… McDonald’s value meal.” It was mildly amusing.

I think that same effect of “too much” can happen when you hear some well known names in Irish theatre. They’re just TOO Irish. The first one that pops to mind is Colm Meaney. He was hilarious as a rabid Elvis fan and father in 1991’s “The Commitments.”

If you haven’t seen the film, I recommend it. Moving along to Irish actresses, one name you might have heard is Saoirse Ronan — now that’s Irish. Her name alone may induce dancing a jig.

She appeared in Ed Sheeran’s video for “Galway Girl”, but I like Ed Sheeran about as much as having a hangnail. Instead, I’m including songwriter Steve Earle’s version with Sharon Shannon.

While we’re at it, I’m also not a big Liam Neeson fan despite his Irish name and heritage so let’s move onto Fionnula Flanagan. She’s been in tons of films and TV shows including one of The Hunger Games franchise and one of the Star Trek series. Hearing her name alone might cause uncontrollable green beer drinking.

Finally, there’s Cillian Murphy. Murphy is probably best known for his role as Tommy Shelby in “Peaky Blinders.” He was also in “Oppenheimer”, which I haven’t seen. Hearing his name may cause you to roll up your sleeves and start bare knuckle boxing.

Have a Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Till next time, keep your Mojo on the Horizon!

Good, Gone, & Gun Lovers

Sometimes when you hear a song, it gives you a geographic idea of where it was recorded. It just has that sound or feel. In this case it’s New Orleans and the song is called “Real Gone Lover” by Smiley Lewis.

(Lewis is best known for recording “I Hear You Knocking” later popularized by Dave Edmunds.) The songwriting credits I’ve found indicate “Real Gone Lover” was written by Dave Bartholomew, Joseph Robicheaux, and Ruth Durand. It’s a pretty straightforward song about a “nervous fella” and his abilities as a lover. Another version I found by Kid Ramos features Kim Wilson (Fabulous Thunderbirds) on vocals and harmonica.

The first version I heard of the tune was by Van Morrison and Linda Gail Lewis. It got me thinking about a couple of other songs with similar titles. For example, there is 1962’s “Good Lover” by Jimmy Reed. This song was apparently written by his wife Mary Lee Reed.

Fast forward to 1992 when ZZ Top released their Greatest Hits. One of the trends at the time was to not only release the “hits”, but also new stuff for die-hard fans. This album included a new one called “Gun Love.”

Are these songs all the result of the Smiley Lewis recording? It’s hard to know. Also, just to truly beat a dead horse, Van Morrison recorded a song called “Real Real Gone” in addition to “Real Gone Lover.”

Till next time, keep your Mojo on the Horizon!

Judging Emilio by the Cover

“Young Guns” popped up on one of my free movie channels so I watched it again recently. It got me thinking about how big of a movie star Emilio Estevez was during the 80s and 90s. He was in so-called brat pack flicks like “The Breakfast Club” and “St. Elmo’s Fire.” Those were pretty well-known, but he did some other interesting ones like “That Was Then, This is Now”, “Wisdom”, and one called “Judgement Night” (1993). Nothing on the film’s soundtrack really grabbed me so I’m opting for Bo Diddley’s “You Can’t Judge a Book by the Cover.”

I always enjoyed the vocals and the fun vibe Bo Diddley seems to be having on this recording. Plus he rhymes the words “cane” and “main” (man). I’ve always liked The Fabulous Thunderbirds’ cover of this song, too.

Getting back to “Judgement Night”, I would put this into a sort of B plus movie category. The plot seems simple enough. Old friends take an RV to a local sports arena, get off at the wrong exit, and wind up fighting to stay alive. It’s a pretty interesting cast. Denis Leary plays the bad guy while Estevez’s buddies are played by the likes of Cuba Gooding, Jr., Jeremy Piven, and Stephen Dorff. It’s a violent movie that makes you think about what you would do in certain situations.

Till next time, keep your Mojo on the Horizon!

Souped Up Bowl

We’re less than one week away from the football-media-advertising extravaganza known as the Super Bowl. I have to say I’ve been sick of the pre-game hype for at least a week. This year it’s the Chiefs and 49ers. (Yawn). Who’s favored this year….who cares! I live in the Kansas City metro and will be glad when the news coverage goes back to something other than the myriad of stories related to the game, the players, and even Taylor Swift. 

It seems like there’s a new Chiefs-related t-shirt on the shelf every other day. There have also been news stories about headset adorned cookies and cakes in the likeness of Coach Andy Reid. QB Patrick Mahomes has some, too. Another Chiefs victory would result in a Super Bowl Victory-Valentine’s Day parade where parents can bitch about the superstar athletes drinking beer in public – again. Maybe we can get Paul McCartney to show up and play “Kansas City”, too?

Has McCartney played the Super Bowl previously? I think so, but I don’t ever watch that bit of halftime entertainment either. To give the Niners their fair chance, I’m including Eric Clapton’s Unplugged version of “San Francisco Bay Blues.”

What else can be said about the Chiefs’ quest for another Super Bowl Victory? Well tight end Travis Kelce’s brother Jason Kelce won’t be on the playing field, but may be drinking shirtless again. Orders for the Funko Pop figure in his likeness are all the rage these days. 

Till next time, keep your Mojo on the Horizon!

X-ray Eyes without a Sugar

I was scrolling through Netflix on a friend’s TV when I spotted an interesting find — it was a 39 minute film by Wes Anderson — the director with the unique vision has brought us films like “Moonrise Kingdom” and “Fantastic Mr. Fox”. I hadn’t heard of this one, but “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar” is a pretty wild tale. The short film is based on a children’s book by Roald Dahl.

Basically, Ben Kingsley plays this Sugar dude who claims he can see without having to actually look at anything…he can tell you how many fingers you’re holding up while blindfolded, etc. What’s even more interesting is the story was inspired by a guy named Kuda Bux who could do the same thing. (I’d recommend watching the short film before reading this informative BBC article about him https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-67166439). He also walked on hot coals in his spare time.

I had several magic and vision-related songs to share for this blog entry, but decided on Billy Idol’s “Eyes without a Face.”

I was never really big on the main part of the song, but the middle section around 2:10 totally rocks and more than makes up for the rest of it. Apparently the one line of the song is in French which explains why I could never understand it. Getting back to the film, it also stars Benjamin Cumberbun — I mean Cumberbatch as well. 

I think Mr. Sugar’s/Kuda Bux’s second sight must be linked to sneering like Billy Idol under his bandaged head.

Till next time, keep your Mojo on the Horizon!

p.s. How many batches could a cumber batch if a cumber could batch buns?

Higher, Part One

Sometimes it’s easier to give an example than to try to explain or define something. If you say a song is “funky” you can look up a definition, but it still might not be clear. For me, Sly and the Family Stone’s tune “I Want to Take You Higher” is one song I would label funky.

The shared bass and guitar riff definitely contribute to the overall feeling of funk on this song, which was written by Sly Stone.  I don’t want to say the song is simple because it has multiple elements to it, but it’s the riff and the shouts of “Higher!” that make the song. I bet it makes for a fun ensemble song like this example with Jeff Beck.

There’s another version where Beck plays the vocal riff on guitar while answering the singer. I found a few other interesting names on the list of musicians who have covered this song. The list includes Hanson, Duran Duran, and more. There could be a Part Two.

Till next time, keep your Mojo on the Horizon!

Gimme Some Hammond

As I was scrolling through YouTube today, I found a video about how to play the Hammond organ part to a song which has been recorded around 200 times. The original version opens with a catchy bass riff played by a dude name Muff — real name Mervyn. A couple of the other guys in the band included Pete York, Muff’s brother Steve Winwood, and Spencer Davis. The song is called “Gimme Some Lovin’ ” by The Spencer Davis Group.

The Hammond organ, Steve Winwood’s lead vocals, and the occasional “Hey!” make up the rest of the catchy tune. Some might remember this is the song Jake and Elwood Blues were playing in the infamous cowboy bar scene during 1980’s “The Blue Brothers” film.

“That ain’t no Hank Williams song” is by far my favorite line in the epic film. Have you already heard the versions by Ike & Tina Turner, Olivia Newton-John, John Mayall, and Great White? If so you can take a different route and hear blues guitarist Feddie King’s take on it.

This is a good example of a catchy song whose lyrics are kinda flexible. Winwood’s vocals are great, but the lyrics are almost unintelligible to my ears. It has a good beat and is easy to dance to, I give it a “10.”

Till next time, keep your Mojo on the Horizon!