Friday, September 24, 2010

New CLAPTON September 28th

..There's a medical condition called Narcolepsy. It's a condition characterized my bouts of extreme fatigue. This latest release by the FENDER-MASTER "Clapton" should NOT be used as a remedy for a sudden bout especially while driving. As I sampled the latest offering from this Rock icon, I found NO Rock? I love blues cuts and riffs that this man is capable of and found none. If a record company had to offer up a track for radio airplay to sell the new release, I'd go with Track #1: Travelin' Alone or Track #14: Autumn Leaves, by far, the only offerings that resemble "songs." Tracks 2-13 to my ear sound like studio sessions and pieces of music being worked on. GOOD Luck with it and please, not while driving or operating heavy machinery!

Plotting my next move!!!!!!!!!!!!

Heart's Nancy Wilson Files For Divorce From Cameron Crowe

Rocker and film director have been married for 22 years.

divorcing after 22 years of marriage.

According to People magazine, Wilson filed divorce papers Thursday (September 23) in a Los Angeles County Superior Court. She reportedly cited irreconcilable differences and listed June 15, 2008, as the date of the couple's separation.

Crowe and Wilson were married July 23, 1986. The couple have 10-year-old twin boys, William James Crowe and Curtis Wilson Crowe. Wilson is said to be seeking joint physical and legal custody of the children and has also asked the court for spousal support.

In addition to "Almost Famous" — which is loosely based on Crowe's experiences as an eager 15-year-old writer for Rolling Stone magazine — the talented writer/director is responsible for '80s classics "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" and "Say Anything," as well as "Singles," "Jerry Maguire," "Vanilla Sky" and "Elizabethtown." He is reportedly finishing up an untitled Pearl Jam documentary.

Wilson, a singer/songwriter from the '70s rock band Heart (she sang lead vocals on the band's #1 hit "These Dreams" and on the top-20 hit "Stranded"), is a successful artist in her own right. She had cameos in Crowe's "The Wild Life" as Rick's wife and in "Fast Times," credited as "Beautiful Girl in Corvette," who while at a red light, turns and smiles, then laughs at Brad Hamilton (played by Judge Reinhold), dressed as a pirate.

More recently, Wilson has made a name for herself as a film composer, having composed music for several of Crowe's films including "Jerry Maguire," "Almost Famous," "Vanilla Sky" and "Elizabethtown."

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Leonard Skinner Obit

Leonard Skinner, 77, gym teacher and namesake of Lynyrd Skynyrd band, dies


Leonard Skinner, 77, a high school physical education teacher who was the improbable namesake of the rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, died Sept. 20 at a nursing home in Jacksonville, Fla. He had Alzheimer's disease.

In the late 1960s, Mr. Skinner was the by-the-books basketball coach and gym teacher at his alma mater, Robert E. Lee High School in Jacksonville. He had a reputation as a disciplinarian and was a stickler for personal appearance.

One day, Mr. Skinner sent a smart-aleck student named Ronnie Van Zant to the principal's office because his hair was touching his collar -- a flagrant violation of the school's dress code.

"It was against the school rules," Mr. Skinner -- who had a flattop haircut for most of his life -- told the Florida Times-Union in 2009. "I don't particularly like long hair on men, but again, it wasn't my rule."

Mr. Skinner left the high school in 1969 to become a real estate broker and bar owner and had completely forgotten about the brush with Van Zant until he got a phone call from an out-of-town friend.

Van Zant, who was later suspended from the school for other rules violations, decided to get back at his physical education teacher by renaming "One Percent," his fledgling rock band "Lynyrd Skynyrd."

Shortly after the release of their 1973 album, "(pronounced leh-nerd skin-nerd)," Lynyrd Skynyrd became one of the most in-demand acts of the 1970s, playing such signature hits as "Sweet Home Alabama" and "Free Bird." They played to sprawling crowds at concerts with the Confederate flag as a backdrop -- an homage to their Southern roots.

At first, Mr. Skinner later said, he was peeved at Van Zant for mangling his name and repurposing it for his band's moniker.

Mr. Skinner eventually warmed up to the rockers, and even introduced them at a homecoming concert in Jacksonville. For the group's third album, Mr. Skinner let the band print a picture of his real-estate sign on the inside cover.

For many years, he would get voice mails on his business line from curious Lynyrd Skynyrd fans seeking to speak to the real Leonard Skinner.

"He embraced it," Mr. Skinner's daughter, Susie Moore said in an interview. "As he got older, he mellowed and then he was able to embrace all types of music, really, even country."

Still, in the 2009 interview with the Times-Union, Mr. Skinner said he never developed a taste for Lynyrd Skynyrd's repertoire.

Instead, he made his musical tastes absolutely clear: "I don't like rock 'n' roll music."

He was born Forby Leonard Skinner in Jacksonville on Jan. 11, 1933.

After graduating from Robert E. Lee High School in 1951, Mr. Skinner attended Florida State University, where he was a fraternity brother of Burt Reynolds and a 1957 physical education graduate.

He spent two years in the Army but hated it, his daughter said, because he had to wait in line to get food in the mess hall.

He owned and operated a bar called The Still in Jacksonville, to which he later added his name after the band's surge in popularity. He sold it in the mid-1980s. It is now a topless bar.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Boardwalk Empire Premiere..


..Decent, BUT Enoch "Nucky" Thompson was like watching Don Knotts as Barney Fife??? Just me?

Friday, September 17, 2010

Just me & The Cats!

Just me & the cats on a Friday night: What to do?
Review my personal copy of THE STONES IN EXILE, a remastered DVD of the 1974 Rocumentary. WZXL hosted the one-time big screen release on Thursday September 16th (last night). My ALL-TIME favorite STONES album since I bought the vinyl copy in 1972, this film includes original home movies of the families of the musicians and the overview of the band's exile to the south of France due to a 93% income tax rate in Britain. Babes on the beach, Keith and son Marlon going to the beach in full incognito since nobody in France had ever heard of The ROLLING STONES!!???? Original still shots of the band including producers and photographers and interviews of the players involved made for an awesome narrative! The songs: ALL DOWN THE LINE, ROCKS OFF, TUMBLING DICE, HAPPY, SOUL SURVIVOR and the rest are timeless and on my all time personal hit list forever!
5-****** (star)*

Musicians and/or Stones fans MUST buy

Tuesday, September 07, 2010

My teams FINALLY win..


..GREAT Sunday in September baseball..Scoreboard watching from the Bill Giles luxury box at Citizens Bank Park Sunday night. As the PHILLIES were taking it to the Marlins down on the field, I notice the SOX beat Tampa Bay..AND the Padres snapped their 10-game losing streak by beating the Dodgers! GREAT day and night..REAL tired today. Carry on SOX LOBSTER!