Ride On............

Well friends....the depression finally got to me, and I had to go visit my shrink! Perhaps you may have heard of him, his name is ..Harley Davidson!
I'm much better now after a long crisp ride...Thanks for all your kind words. That shit just has to run it's course....And the course has done run out!!
Anyway on a lighter note, tomorrow I am going to a birthday party for a lovely 82 year old Lady. She has 8 kids and I am friends with all of them. These folks are of Mexican heritage, and let me tell you they can cook!! All of us have grilled together many times, and each person has his specialty. We also exclusively grill on Weber Kettles...CHARCOAL!!..And NO ONE uses charcoal lighter fluid to start the charcoal...
There will be Baby Back Ribs
Sausage stuffed Pork Loin
Grilled stuffed Poblano Peppers
Beef Tenderloin
Galen the 'adopted' Gringo...is mariating as we speak Terryaki-Ginger-Garlic cubed Venison Backstraps that I'm going to put on Shish-Kabob skewers with Red Yellow and Green Bell peppers and Red Onion leaves...I think tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and 78, so what could be better?.Sorry about the downer 55, but we all have our moments. See ya for Musical Monday.....Peace!

Friday 55......

It grips you like a vise.
It zaps your energy.
It squeezes your soul....
It engulfs your existence
You try and mask it....
It's a bottomless hole!
Is it money?
Is it work?
Is it lack of love?
Is it health?
Is it danger?
...Or all of the above!
It's ugly.
It's torture.
It's depression!!!!!

I'm OK everybody, we all feel this way from time to time.
Thank God for the wonderful friends that we have on the WEB!!
You bring me great comfort and JOY!!!
Please do a 55, I't's easy, It's fun, It's Friday, so please play!!
...Then go tell Susie, her link is on my Blog-Roll.

Hahahahahahaha!!!
Another 55, Back to Back....AGAIN!!!
I Rock!!!!
Pax.....

Impala HNT

Ask Mr. Knowitall......

Ahhh....Nearly time for one of my favorite movie quotes....
The Setting: A dark dreary forest somewhere in Eastern Europe..
The Scenario: A very frightened, and freshly Wolf-Bit Lawrence Talbot..
He visits an old Gypsy Lady, desperately seeking her advice. She says this to him;
"Even those that are pure of heart,
And say their prayers at night...
Can become a Wolf, when the Wolfbane blooms..
....and the Moon is full and bright"!

The beautiful Sherry Martin of Frog-Holler Virginia asks....
"Dear Mr. Knowitall, please tell me what you know about the Moon."

"Hey Sherry, I heard that Virginia is for Lovers!..Is that true?.
Anyway...The average menstrual cycle for women is 29.5 days-precisely the same as a Lunar month.
The human gestation period is 9 months???? Hmmm. The average birth occurs 265.5 days after conception-which is the EXACT equivalent of 9 Lunar months!!
More children are born after the New, and Full Moons than any other month.
More boys are born after a Full Moon..More girls after a New Moon!!
Stressed out people, have an increase in pulse rates after a New or Full Moon!!
Surgeons claim that during a New or Full Moon, their patients bleed more!!
When New or Full Moons occur, mental hospitals admit more patients!!
There is actually an increase in violent crimes during a Full Moon!!

"Lunacy" refers to the Roman Moon Goddess, Luna...
In ancient times, Moon exposure was thought to "affect the mind"!
People were advised NOT to sleep with moonlight shining on their faces,
or they could become "Moonstruck"..(Crazy)
Ocean Tides are affected by the Moon's cycles..
The word Lunacy was derived from ancient observations that during a Full Moon,
human behavior became more frenzied..
The term 'Lunatic Fringe' was coined by Teddy Roosevelt, who was describing some of
his followers in the Bullmoose Party during the 1912 presidential election...
Jeez, and I thought that was Red Rider!!!

Mr. Knowitall grows weary..I blame that darn Sherry for that... Pax

IT's In The Air............

A few months back, I wrote a post about the only time that I skipped school. It was when I was a senior at Flint Southwestern Class of "68".. Me and a buddy had driven down to Toledo during 3rd hour, Lunch, and 4th hour, and bought 4 cases of Buckeye Beer..That night we had a party in a dusty field and about 25 cars showed up. We "circled the wagons" and turned our headlights on, and all had our radios blasting to The Big Six WTAC...AM ..I'm sure we were listening to Motown, The British Invasion, and 96 Tears!!!.There was also a local legend that played at all the local dance and Rock concerts...his name was Bob Seger. A while back I was reading an article about what inspired certain songs. This is what Bob Seger himself said about "Night Moves"..

"The song was inspired by AMERICAN GRAFFITI," Seger says. "I came out of the theater in 1972 thinking, 'Hey, I've got a story to tell too!' Nobody has ever told about how it was to grow up in my neck of the woods"..So Seger wrote"Night Moves" about the early 60's, when he and his teenage friends around Ann Arbor, Michigan would drive into farmer's fields to party. "Everyone had their their headlights on, so there was light to dance", Seger recalls. "They'd play 45's, and we'd be blasting them out: Ronnettes, Crystals..." Seger's personal "American Graffiti" sold over a Million copies, and it became the personal favorite of his repetoire..."I don't know if I'll EVER write that good again"!!.....
" I woke last night to the sound of thunder..
How far off I sat and wondered
Started humming a song from 1962
Ain't it funny how the night moves
When you just don't seem to have as much to lose
Ain't it funny how the night moves...
With Autumn closing in..."

Musical Monday Memories......

Hi Everybody!!...I hope everyone had a great weekend...I sure did!!
Not only did Michigan win it's 2nd straight game, but the Defense did NOT allow a touchdown for those 2 games either!!..I think that I'm gonna ride the Hog for the rest of the day, so I 'm going to post my Musical Monday blurb a bit early...

When you think of an oldie what do you think about?..."Hound Dog" by the King?
"Great Balls of Fire" by Jerry Lee Lewis?..."Stayin Alive"...The BG's.? "Ice Ice Baby" by Vanilla Ice???? Whatever your interpretation of an oldie is, it seems like every "Oldie" station seems to play 3-5 old tunes that have become Oldies Anthems.."Wipe-Out" by the Safari's.."Louie Louie" by The Kingsman, and " 96 Tears " by Question Mark and the Mysterians!!
The band responsible for that hit, were the embodiment of a number of rock phenomena:
They were the ultimate 'garage band', they were living proof that anyone could be discovered and become a star. And they were the classic One Hit Wonder band that zoomed to the top and suddenly disappeared forever..
They had a little gimmick going on at the time, whereas they didn't reveal who their true identities were....Does the name Rudy Martinez mean anything to you? That's Question Mark's real name.
The band's members were actually 5 guys whose families all migrated from Mexico to work in Michigan's Saginaw Valley. They took their group name from a Japanese alien-invasion movie series from the early 60's, and then developed a pattern of secrecy from Rudy, who always sported dark sunglasses as his trademark..
The band played around the Saginaw area for a few years in the mid-60's, developing a repertoire that included an original number called..."Too Many Teardrops", a poem that Rudy had written and set to very simple music. The rest of the group liked the tune but NOT the title. They wanted to call it "69 Tears" , but they knew that it would never get on the airwaves if they did, so they called it "96" Tears.
Like millions of other garage bands of the 60's, Question mark wanted to make a record but no big label would sign them. They ended up contacting a woman named Lilly Gonzalez who owned a little outfit in Texas called Pa-Go-Go Records.. She set them up with a Bay City Michigan studio( a converted living room), for a recording session, and Pa-Go-Go pressed 500 copies of the song, and sent them to the band to schlep around to the local radio stations for some airplay!
Suprisingly several stations did just that, and one of the stations that did play it regularly was CKLW out of Detroit (actually Windsor Ontario, but it's just across the river). Then the miracle happened!! Executives at a national label that was almost bankrupt, Cameo Records, heard "96"Tears on CKLW, and picked it up for distribution. They began selling the record in other parts of the country, and suddenly it took off.. The song was recorded in February of 66,and by October it was the #1 song in America!!
The band broke up, according to lead singer Robert Balderama, because it's anonymous lead singer Question Mark, was on an "ego trip"...Go Figure!!!! Rudy finally settled down on a farm on the outskirts of Flint Michigan, ( Home of Michael Moore and Galen Haynes) and had a dog-breeding business for years..But in January of 2007, a fire destroyed all his belongings and priceless memorabilia, and he was left with nothing!!..Soon afterwards, news of this tragedy swept across the airwaves, and local businesses and promoters have had several benefit concerts in his honor!!!..God I remember seeing these guys at a great local rock venue called Mt. Holly..I also remember riding my Motorcycle out there in 1968 to see a local guy named Bob Segar for $5.00..he happened to have the #1 song in America at that time called "Ramblin Gamblin Man"!!.....For $5.00....hahahahaha...OLD OLD OLD!!!.. Peace!

Friday Flash 55....

It starts with a splash here...
And a splash there!
Slowly the lush forests transforms...
With a Firey crescendo!!
The once GreenVistas suddenly are Ablaze
with Red, Yellow, and Orange...
For a few weeks, the State is a Kaleidoscope of Colors
in it's Autumnal Glory!!
It is Spectacular!
It is Fall!!
It is Michigan!!!