Y-Y-Z or Why-Why-Zed?

It’s official. For the first time in my life, I left the comfy freedom-laden confines of the United States of Murica to go to a work conference in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. To preface this, I will say I enjoy airline travel and and airports about as much as I do going to the dentist or the DMV. That said, I got my passport and booked a flight some months ago. At the time, I had a small epiphany. I realized the band RUSH’s instrumental called “YYZ” was inspired by the airport code for Toronto Pearson International Airport. Apparently, the intro is based on a Morse code thing for the airport. The song entered my mind several times.

It’s a cool piece of music and there’s no Ayn Rand involved. Getting back to my visit to Toronto, I caught an Uber from said YYZ to the hotel and heard “Sundown” by Canadian Gordon Lightfoot on the way there. Bonus! There was plenty of traffic on a Saturday night, which I found slightly odd, but I think the Blue Jays were playing. Former-Royal Whit Merrifiled homered during the game. (For the record, I actually despise the Royals, but Merrifield is a hustling type of player that I respect.)

I’d like to tell you I had oodles of time and energy to see Toronto, but I was actually part of a team running the conference so I didn’t. Naturally, I tried to make smart yet convenient food choices. There was a well-known coffee and doughnut shop Tim Horton’s location across the street and a place called Beaver Tails which served some scrumptious pastries shaped like beaver tails. I thoroughly enjoyed both. Another highlight of my trip was the view of Toronto Harbour from my room. It’s not just that it was a view of the harbour, but I saw a pirate ship and sea plane, too. The hotel had a few things named “quay”, which I will leave up to you to Google.

Eventually, I had to come back to Kansas City International Airport. Everyone here calls it “K-C-I”, but the actual airport code is MCI. That’s a good example of why I despise airline travel. Letters, numbers, abbreviations. You book a flight months in advance to save money. You’re assigned a gate number. Then said gate number changes. Kind of defeats the purpose of the initial gate assignment, don’t you think? Maybe airports could merge with casinos and passengers could just spin a wheel to see which gate they’ve been assigned. Everyone else could place bets.

When I finally got to the charter bus for my parking lot, the bus driver was extremely displeased that I didn’t have the 1 mm x 1 mm square with my assigned parking row and numbers. However, I did actually write down those crucial numbers on my 8.5 x 11″ printed reservation for parking. I explained to him the concept that the numbers written in larger print on a larger piece of paper were easier to read, easier to keep track of, and still contained the needed information. I actually, willingly chose to write it on unofficial parking lot paper. This shattered his entire universe, but I verbally dug in without having to apply any martial arts compliance techniques and actually got to my vehicle. By the way, I also resisted punching a work “partner” in his gritted teeth . He had a meltdown about me touching the conference badges while his beloved printer was doing its thing. This must be why I would rather live in my own music-laden universe and leave the letters, numbers, and meltdowns to everyone else.

Till next time, keep your Mojo on the Horizon!

Bronson-Buffalo Battle Royal

I could have sworn I already blogged about this film, but I guess I haven’t. Apparently, this was Perennial Badass Charles Bronson’s last Western film. He was in some big ones, but 1977’s “The White Buffalo” was the end of that era for him. I discovered this film purely by accident. It came as a result of “Sleeping with the Television On.” Thanks, Billy Joel.

I woke up on the couch and saw this massive white buffalo charging around and making, you know, buffalo noises via the TV. I had to wonder if this was real or if I was still asleep. I read a couple of reviews of “The White Buffalo.” One described it as surreal while another compared it to the Western version of Herman Mehlville’s “Moby Dick.” It’s part monster movie, part Western, part anthropology class, and definitely different.

Apparently, the film was based on a story by pulp writer Richard Sale. I won’t get deep into the whole plot, but Wild Bill Hickock and Crazy Horse end up simultaneously hunting this great beast. It’s a creative storyline. Ted Nugent wasn’t involved, but he might as well have been.

This film’s special effects aren’t exactly award winners, but the soundtrack by John Barry definitely adds some eerie atmosphere to it. One confusing thing is Bronson’s dark hair doesn’t exactly scream “Wild Bill” to me as a viewer, but I enjoyed six-foot-five Native American Will Sampson in the film.

This film will never have mainstream wide appeal because it is definitely offbeat. I think a remake with CGI effects might be interesting. The only remaining question is who would win a battle royal with all of the aforementioned names: Charles Bronson, Ted Nugent, Billy Joel, Herman Mehlville, etc.

Till next time, keep your Mojo on the Horizon!

Camper Van Mellen

During the 80s, I remember a stand up comedian joked about bands changing their names. It went something like this, “First they were Jefferson Starship…then just Starship…what’s next, The Jeffersons?” The same could be said of a well-known singer-songwriter from Indiana. First it was John Cougar…then John Cougar Mellencamp….then John Mellencamp. Whatever you want to call him, I think you have to give him some credit for his songwriting and his mainstream success. Like most artists, you may have a time period, a certain album, or look that is your favorite. For me, I think the underrated rocker “Again Tonight” from 1991’s “Whenever We Wanted” album is one of my favorites. It’s pretty straightforward with a cool bridge in the middle of the song.

I never cared much for the original video. It was shot in black and white and just didn’t do much for me. However, when I saw the album cover with his third wife/model Elaine Irwin, JCM’s stock went up several notches with me. If you can’t tell from the album cover, I think he was really into painting at the time.

By the way, if you like the drums on this track, you have great taste. Kenny Aronoff was in Mellencamp’s band for about 15 plus years including this record. Aronoff has also played with the likes of John Fogerty, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and many more. I think I saw him play with Paul Shaffer & The World’s Most Dangerous Band on David Letterman’s TV show, too.

Did Mellencamp overdo it with the whole Heartland-Farm Aid thing? I mean he had an album called “Scarecrow” for cyring out loud…and it’s actually a really good album. I’ll always be pissed off at him for his cover of “Wild Night” by Van Morrison, but give him credit as a songwriter, an artist, and a rocker. This album and this song weren’t exactly “grunge”, but it still works for me to this day.

Till next time, keep your Mojo on the Horizon!

Born to Be Willem?

Do you think it’s hard to typecast Willem Dafoe? I’ve seen him play everything from The Green Goblin to a sheriff, a grunt in the Vietnam War, and numerous other roles. If you think of Dafoe as a 50s style biker, you probably think of Walter Hill’s “Streets of Fire” film from 1984. However, his first starring role was also as a 50s style biker in “The Loveless” (1981). Rockabilly musician Robert Gordon not only starred as another biker dude, but also contributed some appropriate music for the soundtrack. I don’t think “Drivin’ Wheel” is on the soundtrack, but you get the idea.

If you have the slightest interest in rockabilly style and music, you should check out this film. It’s definitely not a mainstream pick. It’s kind of a road movie with some random drama, tragedy, and action. Dafoe’s acting chops definitely stand out. As an example of the whole 50s vibe, Dafoe buys two packs of Lucky Strike, two cases of Dixie Beer, and 4 bottles of Thunderbird wine.

Going back to Dafoe’s look in “Streets of Fire”, what was up with that? He had greased hair with a spit curl and then these black leather looking overalls on his pasty white shoulders. He was kind of like a Goth firefighter with a little bit of Lenny and Squiggy thrown into the mix. Personally, I prefer his look in “The Loveless”, which was directed by Kathryn Bigelow and Monty Montgomery.

By the way, these are alternate titles I considered for this blog entry: Loveless Willem, Willem the Outlaw Motorrijder , Gothic Brandweerman, and Willem’s Greaserama. Let me know if I missed the mark.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085872/soundtrack/

Till next time keep your Mojo on the Horizon!

Van Damme or Seagal???

I went to a tribute band concert a couple of years ago called “Beatles vs. Stones” and this rivalry question got me thinking….not necessarily about those two bands, but about two action movie stars from the late 80s and early 90s: Jean-Claude Van Damme and Steven Seagal. Sure, we could discuss who would win in an actual fight or who has the least or most martial arts credibility. The real question, though, is “Who do you prefer?”

There are many ways to approach this extremely important question. When it comes to nicknames “The Muscles from Brussels” (Van Damme) is a good one. There’s also the pithier one of simply JCVD. If Seagal has any nicknames, they must not be memorable to me. However, I will say a redneck friend of mine used to say, “Man, I like that Steven Seagal (SEE gull).” I would give the advantage to Van Damme in the nickname category.

What about first impressions? To me, Van Damme caught my attention with the tried and true big tournament martial arts formula film “Bloodsport” in 1988.

In addition to the tournament matches, there are some memorable, mystical, martial training montages in the film as well: being blindfolded, being hit with sticks, and some torturous flexibility efforts, too. Not to be outdone, Seagal also grabbed my attention during 1988 with martial cop film “Above the Law.”

What’s interesting to think about now is Steven Seagal (like Van Damme) was a virtual unknown when this film was released. He is a total Badass in this film and absolutely pulls of the one man vs. however many others successfully. There’s an intense bar fight scene which really left an impression on me. However, there are so many strange stories about Seagal I don’t think he could pull it off today because he’s more well-known.

From an action standpoint, Van Damme was the king of flashy kicks and flexibility. You could call that inspiring. Seagal, on the other hand, dealt out lethal doses of bone breaking Aikido moves by starting with his hands at his side. I would call it impressive, but not necessarily inspiring to me. In the attitude category, Seagal is the clear victor: slicked back black hair (sometimes in a ponytail) with intense eyes and a leather jacket. I guess JCVD let his physique do the talking. I seem to remember more gunfire and pistol disarms in the Seagal film.

I can’t remember if I paid full price to watch either of these films…I might have seen one or the other at the dollar show or even shelled out the three bucks for renting a new release at Blockbuster. Times were certainly different then. At this point, I’m considering a second round of this contest, but if you want to be a capitalist pig about the whole thing, JCVD’s net worth is estimated at $40 million while Seagal’s is $13 million.

Till next time keep your Mojo on the Horizon!

Minivans & Mickey Ratt

A friend of mine recently told me he was sans-CD player in his family minivan so I felt obligated to burn a couple of discs and send him a portable CD player with resplendent cigarette lighter charger. Who needs a digital phone for music? This is one of my friends I’ve known since before high school and we have shared many conversations on our favorite bands and songs — many of those were in the cassette/CD eras.

This brings me to 80s hard rock band called Ratt. They were one of many bands playing on the Sunset Strip. What did they have that separated them from the others? The single biggest thing was the song “Round and Round.”

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The electric guitar on this track really blew me away and it still does to this day. The songwriting credits are shared by guitarists Warren DeMartini and Robbin Crosby, and singer Stephen Pearcy.

You can hear some suspended chords throughout the song and some interesting vocal harmony on the pre-chorus (“I knew right from the beginning…”). Another thing I noticed about this song is I don’t think I ever knew all of the lyrics correctly. There’s a line about putting you on their shelf which is hard to understand, but I like the way Pearcy phrased that vocal.

I’ve seen Ratt listed as a “glam metal” band on Wikipedia. (For the record, I don’t think I ever heard anyone use the term “glam metal” in the 80s. I suppose “regular metal” would be bands like Iron Maiden.) However you want to categorize Ratt, they really captured something on this record. Apparently, they shortened their band name from Mickey Ratt — as opposed to Mickey Mouse.

The original MTV video showed guitarist De Martini plunging through a ceiling to simultaneously play a shred-a-riffic solo and break up a stuffy dinner party.

Till next time, keep your Mojo on the Horizon!

p.s. This song is featured in a scene of the film “The Wrestler” with Mickey Rourke where he says “f _ _ _ the 90s!”

The Immersible Submersible

I was on a work Zoom meeting this week when one of the participants mentioned she was refreshing Twitter every 5 minutes to keep up on “the submersible.” Normally, I would say you’d have to be living under a rock to have missed this story…but, if you do live under a rock, your chance of finding said submersible is probably better than most. The short version is 5 adventure seekers went to get a close up view of the Titanic wreckage and, now, seem to be headed for the same fate.

This whole story has a lot of different angles….the back story, the news cycle, the human interest angle of it all, and the massive amounts of money involved in not only the actual submersible voyage, but also the rescue efforts. In case you missed it, we all have to be sure not to call the vessel a submarine. The only song which pops to mind is “Yellow Submarine” with Ringo Starr on lead vocals .

This leads me to the following question: If you could write your own heroic all-American happy blockbuster ending to this chapter of humanity, what would it be? I have a few ideas.

First of all, Ringo Starr would have to be involved. There’s just no two ways about it. He could release a new version of the song with funds going to offset cost of the rescue efforts. (It’s unfortunate that Gordon Lightfoot recently died because they could have collaborated on the new version.) Second, Aquaman seems like an obvious choice. For me, the Super Friends Aquaman is the one that pops to mind…although, you might want to have Jason Momoa on standby just in case. The Super Friends Aquaman always rode around on this “sea dragon” which was, basically, a man-sized sea horse on steroids. I think you can make the argument that Aquaman is the most boring of the Super Friends ensemble, but the submersible situation was made for him. Third, I think the Loch Ness Monster should also be involved. This would silence the non-believers and give Nessie an image makeover. I know it’s a monster, but it could do a little community service.

That’s my dream team for said submersible rescue. Getting back to this mega-hyped story, it makes me think of other news stories in the same vein. In 1989, a young girl named Jessica McClure fell into a well and it got the same type of mega-news coverage. This was brilliantly lampooned by The Simpsons with the episode “Radio Bart” and the song “Sending Our Love Down The Well.”

Human beings are interesting if not flawed creatures (myself included). Do we fixate on these stories because we’re hoping other human lives can be spared? In the real life aftermath of the Jessica McClure story she was saved, but the paramedic who rescued her ended up committing suicide. The media onslaught following the rescue is absolutely thought to have been a factor. One tragedy was averted, but we created another in the process.

In conclusion, things don’t look great for the submersible, but I’m glad other human beings take an interest in trying to save them. However, we might want to back off on the news coverage just a little bit.

Till next time, keep your Mojo on the Horizon!

Grunge-r Strike

Have you ever watched any documentaries or TV shows about the 1990s? One might start something like this… As the neon glow of the 80s started to fade, the Rubik’s Cubes and parachute pants made way for flannel, Doc Martens boots, and a musical revolution out of Seattle called “grunge.”

Speaking for myself, I normally resist whatever trend is current — especially in music. When grunge music was all the rage, I was probably listening to something from The British Invasion or Bo Diddley. I’ll say that I do appreciate some grunge music more now that some time has passed since the 90s. However, I didn’t “get” a lot of it or relate to those bands. One song from that time period I have always loved was written by Chris Cornell and recorded by a one album supergroup called Temple of the Dog. The song is called “Hunger Strike.”

Prior to writing this blog entry, I listened to this song repeatedly. Obviously Chris Cornell’s dynamic vocals are a big part of the song. I think you have to give him credit for not only his vocal range, but the emotional power in it.

Here’s another conclusion. “Hunger Strike” reminds me of Led Zeppelin’s approach to a lot of songs — soft acoustic intro, building into a hard rocking, dynamic finish. (Ann and Nancy Wilson of the band Heart were big Led Zep fans and copied this technique as well.)

There’s a whole back story about why the Temple of the Dog group formed and the inspiration for the album. I think what’s important, though, is it was made up of Cornell and several members of Pearl Jam including singer Eddie Vedder. I was never into Pearl Jam and really couldn’t relate to Vedder’s singing voice. That said, I think his Vedder’s baritone served as a perfect foil to the wailing voice of Cornell. Cornell sounds pretty amazing on his own, too.

If I had to pick a favorite song from the 90s, “Hunger Strike” would definitely be in contention. I think it has just enough Vedder vocals and just enough grunge guitar.

Till next time, keep your Mojo on the Horizon!

Dreams of Bill Paxton

I’ve watched the 2016 film “Mean Dreams” at least twice and have to say it’s definitely worth watching. It has been described as a “coming of age thriller” and was directed by Nathan Morlando. The basic plot centers around the meeting of new teenage neighbors Jonas (Josh Wiggins) and Casey (Sophie Nelisse). They hit it off, but Casey’s dad/crooked cop (Bill Paxton) doesn’t approve. One thing leads to another in their less than ideal home lives and they end up running away. Paxton is very convincing as an every day villain next door.

It’s a shame Paxton died in 2017. (According to Wikipedia, he was 61. A childhood bout of rheumatic fever led to later heart problems.)

He appeared in so many different films including Tombstone, Weird Science, Apollo 13, and even had a bit part in the original Terminator. Another offbeat film I liked Paxton in was 1997’s “Traveller” where he plays a con man. He left quite a body of work. I hadn’t intended to make this entire blog entry about him, but it turned out that way.

Viva, Bill Paxton!

Till next time keep your Mojo on the Horizon!

Not Quite Freedom Rock

For whatever reason, the 4th of July has been creeping up on me early this year. There are still a few weeks until the celebration of American Independence Day, but I started thinking about a cassette collection I had (or a friend of mine had) during the 80s. It wasn’t Freedom Rock, but it was something like it. One of the tracks was Eddie Money’s “Two Tickets to Paradise.”

The catchy song was released on his self-titled album in 1977 and has gotten plenty of radio airplay since then. Give Money (real name Mahoney) credit for his songwriting ability. A few years later, he wrote another rocker that got some airplay as well. When I looked at the official video I thought the woman riding shotgun was Catherine Zeta-Jones, but it turned out to be Apollonia (of Prince/Purple Rain/Lake Minnetonka fame). “Shakin’ “ was released in 1982.

I don’t know that anyone is writing songs about cruising around in their cars these days, which is kind of a bummer. Maybe someone will write one about getting shocked while charging their electric vehicle.

By the way, I think another great stage name for Native New Yorker Eddie Mahoney would have been Eddie ‘Merica or Eddie ‘Murica. Here’s hoping you don’t blow your Apollonias off this year.

Till next time, keep your Mojo on the Horizon!