My Last Post (until A to Z begins) ( #BOTB Results )

       Yes, it's almost upon us!   The Blogging from A to Z April Challenge!   I've been getting my posts ready and there's a ton of great (and sometimes weird) music heading your way.  For an overview of what I'll be doing you can visit my Theme Reveal post now--or be surprised when those April posts go on line.  Compiling the posts has been interesting and entertaining to me and hopefully will be to you as well.  Stay tuned, but for now here are some...

Battle of the Bands Results

One Crazy Three Way Battle!

       My most recent Battle was an odd one as I had indicated when I presented it.  I figured it would be kind of a throwaway Battle, but it had an unexpected outcome for me and probably for some of you.  The take away from the results is that with BOTB there are no solid rules for predicting who the winners will be.

        I mean, really, how can something by Dave Brubeck be beat out by some other less serious pop artists?  For me there was no real question as to who I would vote for--Dave Brubeck's "Blue Rondo a la Turk" of course!  This recording is a work of true art--a masterpiece.  Some of you agreed while others just prefer anything else to jazz.  That's no surprise actually, but still...

Final Vote Tally

Dave Brubeck       3 votes

Alice Cooper         4 votes

Eiffel 65                 3 votes

Coming April 1st!

         Please join me in April for my musical extravaganza A to Z.  There should be something for just about anyone who enjoys music.  I'm putting a lot of work into this year's theme so I hope there will be an appreciative audience stopping in to enjoy the music and the memories...

Regressive Titles (#BOTB) Blue Again

       Seems I've started a "Blue" theme for my March Battle of the Bands posts.  And since it's a mid-month pre-A to Z Challenge post, I'm going for something odd.  Like I never do odd on this blog.  So on with the "blues"...

Battle of the Bands

        Battle of the Bands is the blogging event started by Far Away Series and now hosted by StMcC Presents Battle of the Bands.   This event happens each month on the 15th and on some there is also a Battle on the 1st of the month.  My blog is one of those with a second Battle excepting over these summer months.   The premise is simple:  Listen to the songs presented below and then in the comments vote for your favorite and tell us why you liked it.  Then visit the links listed near the bottom of this post for more Battle action.

Blue Titles in Descending Length and Depth

          I'd been toying with doing some sort of Battle using Dave Brubeck's "Blue Rondo a la Turk" for quite some time.  At first I figured I'd be messing with the territory of the rules described by Stephen T McCarthy in his recent Battle.  In other words, using a legendary piece like I was thinking about might not be a good idea.  Then I figured, what the heck, not everybody likes jazz.

            So here I go tampering with the fabric of time, space, logic, or whatever powers might be in the BOTB universe.   In keeping with the theme I began in my previous Mr. Blue Battle, here we go with the bluest of the blues Battles yet...

  Dave Brubeck Quartet   "Blue Rondo a la Turk"  (1959)

          This amazing piece of music is a tour de force of time signatures and exotic melody inspired by Turkish music that Brubeck had heard.  Try to keep up if you are able to attune your ears to this style.  It's pretty great stuff, but not everyone's cup of Turkish tea...





Alice Cooper  "Blue Turk"  (1972)

       Moving on a decade later after the Brubeck classic:   From a jazz master to a shock rocker jazzing things up a bit with some fairly credible results, here is a side of Alice Cooper that you may not think of when you think of this theatrical rocker....







Eiffel 65   "Blue"   (1999)

      Descending to a point in music history more than 25 years after Alice Cooper, here is an award-winning dance hit that took the world by storm after it was released.  Does this song excite you, incite you, or make you kind of blue?   Maybe it's your earworm for today.  Listen if you dare...






Time to Vote!
        
       Whether this contest "blue" you away or not, I still hope you vote on it.    Which artist do you enjoy the most?   Of the three songs, which do you like better?  I hope you'll at least give the versions a listen to discern your favorite.    Hopefully you have an opinion of some kind.  You don't have to know about music to have an opinion since it all comes down to your own personal taste.

        Please vote on your favorite by letting us know your choice in the comment section and tell us why you prefer the version you chose. Then after you've finished here, please visit the other blogs listed below who may or may not be participating this time around. And if you've put up your own BOTB contest let us know that as well so we can vote on yours.


Here are some other places where you might find BOTB posts:

 StMcC Presents Battle of the Bands

  'MIKE'S RAMBLINGS'

'Curious as a Cathy'

Sound of One Hand Typing

Jingle, Jangle, Jungle 



Winner of this Battle Announced on Tuesday March 22nd

           This is kind of a throwaway Battle as I prepare for the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge coming up in a couple weeks.  But I think it's a fun one so I'm doing it anyway.   Vote, vote, vote!

My Vinyl Collection & More (#AtoZChallenge Theme Reveal )

       It's that time of year!  April is almost here!  Inklings of spring are in the air as alphabet letters are appearing everywhere!

Yes, of course--it's time as the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge comes our way once again.   Here's what I'll be doing this April 2022...

        This upcoming Blogging from A to Z April Challenge will be my 13th go at the event that I first began in 2010.  Over the years I've had themes about marketing, Manhattan, movies, and myself.  One year my theme was all about blogging (why not?).  Last year's theme about rivers was one of my favorites since I learned so much as I researched it.  One thing we've seen over the course of hundreds of bloggers doing the Challenge for over a decade now is that there are a myriad of topics than can be blogged about.  That's what makes blogging so intriguing and informational.

        For my 2022 theme I will return to a favorite topic:  Music.  Or more specifically:  My music in the form of my music collection.  This theme was inspired by G.B. Miller in a post he put up in 2016 where he came up with the idea of exploring his CD collection.  That was an idea that immediately struck me as a good idea for me to pursue one year.  And this is the year!

About 300 of my remaining vinyl albums

      My music collection consists of thousands of vinyls, cassettes, and CDs with a sprinkling of a few 8 track cartridges.  My focus in my Challenge theme will be mostly my vinyl LP collection.  Over the years I've gotten rid of over half of the LPs I've accumulated in over a fifty year period.  For many years I haven't had a turntable on which to play them, but I've still kept many records that were meaningful to me in hopes that someday I might be listening to them again.  For now my remaining records reside in the top of my bedroom closet.  Waiting.

        Embarking on this Vinyl Collection theme gave me an opportunity to organize the records into alphabetical order (like I used to have them back when I listened to them regularly).  I was also reminded about what records still remained and how many of my treasured old albums I had gotten rid of.   In the early nineties I began my first purge when I began selling off my albums individually at fairly decent collector prices.  That's when albums like the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and many of the more marketable albums flew out of my possession  The money was helpful at the time, but now I kind of wish I had those albums back.

        Later--about ten years ago--I sold off four boxes of 200 albums to a guy that had a used record shop.  I made a firm offer of $200 for the lot. That was far more than I would have gotten at a yard sale or otherwise.  The dealer offered far less, but I didn't budge.  He climbed in his truck as if to leave then stepped out again with $200 cash in hand and walked away with the records.  He knew he had gotten a decent deal as there were some real gems in the collection and all in quite good condition.  I ended up with cash that was nice to have, but once again I do wish I had those records back.

        During the course of April I am going to do give you an overview of some highlights of my album collection from the standpoints of my personal favorites as well as the more quirky anomalies of my musical recordings.  Some entries will have personal stories about how I obtained the albums as well as why I chose to purchase some of them.  I've taken lots of photos that will be interspersed throughout the April posts so you can see what the albums look like.

        Most of the collection dates back forty years and more, weathering storage in not always the best of environments as well as a half dozen or so moves from one place to another.  Time has taken a toll on this collection, but still I'm somewhat proud of it.  Not that it's particularly valuable, but the collection contains a lot of fond memories as well as countless hours of listening pleasure for me.

         I hope readers will enjoy exploring the albums in this collection.  Maybe you will find some that you too have owned or have been curious to know more about.  I'll forewarn you that much of the collection is pretty weird and seemingly random, but for those who have an inkling of my musical tastes that might not be new knowledge.  Still, hopefully there will be something to interest many readers.

          This is all part of my life soundtrack--dear to me and possibly entertaining to the readers of Tossing It Out.  I do hope that you will join me on this musical journey in April.

What delights are to be found in this collection?

Who's Singing the Blues? ( #BOTB Results )

Today at Tossing It Out it's not Taco Tuesday, but it's BOTB Results Blues Day.  It's not that I am blue, but the sky is blue, love is blue, velvet is blue,  and blue is blue.  But me?  No--no blues here,  Just blue, blue, blue in the form of blah, blah, blah...

       So another war rages on far from where I am while I wage my own war against the forces I seem to battle every day.  But we all must push on in our personal battles.  I'm not alone though some might be gliding through life with more successful results.  Still, life is an ongoing battle for all of us.

        And in regard to a lesser Battle and yet a Battle currently forefront in my mind, I give you...

Battle of the Bands Results

Mr. Blue Showdown

       My most recent Battle found folksinger Tom Paxton up against the psychedelic sounds of the group Clear Light.  In my BOTB history I've often been pretty effective at presenting songs and artists that are weird enough to befuddle visitors to my BOTB posts.  This Battle was no exception.

      Stephen T McCarthy correctly guessed that I'd be going for the less appreciated psychedelic drama wildness by Clear Light.  It was, as I had indicated in the previous post, the first and only version of the song that I had ever known until relatively recently.  I first obtained Clear Light's album around fifty years ago and liked it then and still enjoy hearing it.  Partly due to the driving sound of the group's double drummers, the group has a mighty sound that conveys a lot of drama with rock and roll.

       Tom Paxton's version is a fun campy vaudeville sounding rendition that was somewhat prevalent in the mid to latter sixties.  Back then I was a fan of groups like The New Vaudeville Band and other such acts.  Paxton gives a light-hearted performance that doesn't quite convey the gravitas of the song's subject matter. It's a very listenable recording, but it lacks the impact that the song should deliver.

        On the other hand, vocalist Cliff De Young with his hard-hitting back up serves up a menacing plate of Orwellian 1984 nightmare stew.  It reminds me of an episode of Twilight Zone or some dystopian horror story about totalitarian rule.  So considering the subject matter of the song, Clear Light is the clear winner for me.

           ...but not for the voters...

Final Vote Tally

Tom Paxton       13 votes

Clear Light           5 votes

Next Battle of the Bands on Tuesday March 15th

       Yes, I'll probably go for another Battle on that aforementioned date.  That's what I'm here for--for now at least.  However if you stop by on Friday March 11 you get a preview of my theme for the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge.  It's a musical theme that I hope you will enjoy.  It's gonna be kind of epic.  Well, it's going to be time consuming for me at least.  But it should be fun.  Please stop back to see what that theme will be.

Mr. Blue ( #BOTB & #IWSG )

        Feeling blue?  Blue is kind of my favorite color.  Better than yellow, but yellow is okay too in the right place and time.  Context is everything.  COVID.  Climate concerns.  War in Ukraine?   Didn't "C" that last one coming.  But these days we should expect everything and only be surprised when they don't happen.  It's enough to make anyone feel a bit insecure...

The Insecure Writer's Support Group

Join us on the first Wednesday of each month in Alex J. Cavanaugh's Insecure Writer's Support Group--a forum of writers who gather to talk about writing and the writer's life. For a complete list of participants visit Alex's Blog. 

The co-hosts for the  March 2 posting of the IWSG are Janet Alcorn, Pat Garcia, Natalie Aguirre, and Shannon Lawrence!

March 2 question - Have you ever been conflicted about writing a story or adding a scene to a story? How did you decide to write it or not?

       "Conflicted about writing a story"?   Or maybe conflicted about writing period.  Or maybe just fiction.  I've got so many stories floating around in my head and in snippets throughout pages of sundry notebooks. I'm not adding anything to anything.  So I guess that makes the March 2nd question moot for me.  No specifics in the answer.  Other than, what's the point?  

         Now the thing I need to do is just write.  Write blogs posts.  The Blogging from A to Z April Challenge is bearing down upon us.  I've got to get busy writing those posts.  Later I can go back to that question about being "conflicted about writing a story"--or perhaps the conflict of the writing is a story.

        Yeah, I'm sure there's a story somewhere in there.  There's a story everywhere if you look hard enough.  

Battle of the Bands

        Battle of the Bands is the blogging event started by Far Away Series and now hosted by StMcC Presents Battle of the Bands.   This event happens each month on the 15th and on some there is also a Battle on the 1st of the month.  My blog is one of those with a second Battle excepting over these summer months.   The premise is simple:  Listen to the songs presented below and then in the comments vote for your favorite and tell us why you liked it.  Then visit the links listed near the bottom of this post for more Battle action.

 Mr. Blue

       Not to be confused with the weepy Fleetwoods hit from the fifties, folk singer Tom Paxton wrote this song of the same name somewhere around 1967.  The song is Paxton's version of a 1984 type totalitarian society where all that we do and think is scrutinized by the powers in control.   Though I have had this Battle in my line-up for several years, now seemed like a particularly appropriate time to put it in the BOTB arena.  

Tom Paxton   "Mr. Blue"  (1968)

       Paxton is a folk singer/songwriter who's been around for decades.   You've undoubtedly heard some of his songs made into hits by other artists.  He also wrote the song "My Dog's Bigger Than Your Dog" which was later adapted as a commercial for Ken-L Ration dog food.  Here is one of his versions of his song "Mr. Blue".   





Clear Light  "Mr. Blue"  (1967)

          Clear Light had the first release of Paxton's song and the only version I'd ever known until researching for this Battle.  The group's vocalist is Clff DeYoung who later went on to be an actor who has appeared often in movies and television.  I guess that's where the drama in this cover derives inspiration...

Time to Vote!
        
        I'll be blue if you ignore my Battle and don't vote.  Come on people.  Now it's time to show your love.   Which artist do you enjoy the most?   Of the two song versions, which do you like better?  I hope you'll at least give the versions a listen to discern your favorite.    Hopefully you have an opinion of some kind.  You don't have to know about music to have an opinion since it all comes down to your own personal taste.

        Please vote on your favorite by letting us know your choice in the comment section and tell us why you prefer the version you chose. Then after you've finished here, please visit the other blogs listed below who may or may not be participating this time around. And if you've put up your own BOTB contest let us know that as well so we can vote on yours.


Here are some other places where you might find BOTB posts:

 StMcC Presents Battle of the Bands

  'MIKE'S RAMBLINGS'

'Curious as a Cathy'

Sound of One Hand Typing

Jingle, Jangle, Jungle 



Winner of this Battle Announced on Tuesday March 8th

  

            During the period of March 7 to 21 the theme reveal for the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge will be going on.  I'll wait for a few days after the BOTB results post to put up my theme reveal post so it will stand on it's own. Still, I hope you'll drop by to see who came out on top in this Battle of the Mister Blues.