Did the U.S. Really Land on the Moon? (BOTB results)

December 7–19: Apollo 17, the last manned Moon mission (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

      Since I'm in no position to get into any involved posts at the present, I'll just pose a question for you:

Do you think the U.S. lunar missions were real or faked?

     Apparently the Russians have some doubt as expressed in an article in The Daily Mail.  Check out the blog post by Battle of the Bands host Stephen T. McCarthy where he poses the same question of doubt.    Did the U.S. go to the moon or not?  What do you think?

Battle of the Bands Results

       One thing that was not faked is the guaranteed status of a classic song standard in my most recent Battle of the Bands post featuring the song "How High the Moon".   The featured performances were by Mitchell Ayres and Mary Ann Mercer who and were up against the classic hit version by Les Paul and Mary Ford.

        I had anticipated a possible blowout with all votes going to the Paul/Ford version. I was pleasantly surprised to see that this was not what happened.  Actually what surprised me most was that some voters indicated that they were not familiar with the famous Paul/Ford rendition and in some cases not even the song itself.  Maybe it was that lack of bias that helped Ayres get votes, but more likely it was the classic smooth big band sound.   The Ayres recording fared far better than I had expected.

        As for my own vote, I've always liked the Les Paul and Mary Ford version. There's no doubt as to the significance in musical history regarding this version.  However my own personal musical taste draws me to the orchestrated version of Ayres.    I prefer the melodic vocals of Mercer and the sweeping sounds of the big band.  So my vote goes to Mitchell Ayres and Mary Ann Mercer.

Final Tally

Les Paul/Mary Ford              16 Votes

Mitchell Ayres/Mary Ann Mercer    14 Votes

       
     Watch for my next very strange Battle of the Bands post on August 1st.  If you're afraid of clowns this one might disturb you.  Then again it might surprise you.  It will prove to be a royal battle.





   

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Blog Stew--Where's the Beef?

Pepper Pot stew, slow-simmered with diced tomatoes, black beans, and seasonings. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

       With the cold weather of winter coming upon us (or already upon you depending on where you are), some of us may be thinking of a nice comforting bowl of hot stew.  Even those in the southern parts of the sphere might not mind a dish of stew.   Perhaps not what your belly might be craving, I offer now some mental stew blog-style with some meat to greet your week-end.

Say It Again!



            The Deja Vu Blogfest is being revived this year by D.L. Hammons and Nicole Zoltack.  This is when you can repeat one of your blog posts from the past year that you felt was neglected and give it new life.  Even better to my thinking is that this is a great way for an underperforming blog to give readers a taste of the best of what your blog has to offer.   One day of content with minimal effort can be a win-win situation for you and your readers.   I've already signed up all four of my blogs and have 3 of the posts ready to go.  It all happens on Friday December 19th.   Sign up now!  You can find the Linky List at D.L.'s blog.


Play It Again!

        If you've been shying away from the Battle of the Bands posts I think you're missing out.   A number of music lovers have been joining us regularly to vote on their favorite versions of the songs presented in each post.  You don't have to know the songs or the groups to determine which ones you like best.  You just listen to the choices and pick the ones you prefer.  The participating bloggers add interesting bits of information about the songs and artists featured.  I try to tie in themes concerning topics that are on our minds--or at least my mind--to encourage readers to think beyond the music and stimulate discussion.  Next Battles will be coming up on November 1st so I hope you'll come over and vote for your preferences.  For more information including a participant list please visit the blog Stephen T. McCarthy created especially for this event Stephen T McCarthy Presents "Battle of the Bands".


Sleepy Sheepy Update


         I'm still helping my friend Dan Holom promote his children's book Sleepy Sheepy and Daniel.   I previously blogged about it here, here, and here.  In short, this is a clever retelling of the popular Bible story of Daniel in the Lions Den.   Dan's partner in this endeavor is illustrator and Disney animator Mark Henn. In the few weeks since its release, their book has gotten over 40 rave reviews on Amazon.  They're still looking for reviews for the book so if you'd like to help please get a copy and add your own review.   I talked to Dan just the other day and he told me that the second book of the series should be coming soon.  An informative radio interview with Dan and Mark about the process of creating their book can be found at Shine FM Chicago.  All writers--and especially writers of children's books--will find this interview very helpful.  Listen and get inspired.

Haunting Time Is Nigh



      I caught part of Tui Snider's interview on BlogTalkRadio this past Wednesday night.  What a bubbly dynamo of energy she is!  Tui's 2nd book was released at the first of October in time for the Halloween haunting season.  It appeared on the Amazon Best Seller's list soon after its release.   This book is called Paranormal Texas. It is a travel guide to haunted places near Dallas and Fort Worth.  For more information about Tui you can visit her blog.





Get Ready to Write!


          With NANO around the corner many minds will be turning to thoughts of writing and many of those writers will be consulting books for ideas, practical advice, and inspiration to write the novel they will be laboring over.   You might want to check out Story Sprouts: Voice from the Children's Book Writers of Los Angeles.   On Monday I'll tell you about the launch party that was held October 11, 2014 with a few photos for your' enjoyment.  In the meantime I hope you'll check out the book on Amazon and maybe even buy a copy for you NANO November.



Be watching the A to Z Blog for a special announcement soon to come.

        Are you planning to do NANO in November?   Are you interesting in exploring paranormal locations?  If you stay away from Battle of the Bands is there any certain reason why?

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Hey Diddle Diddle Let Me Ask You a Riddle

The Riddler ...item 1c.. Booker T & The MG's - Green Onions (1962) Full Album -- "Behave Yourself" ...item 2.. 'Diamond Dee' who butt heads with lawyers - She sent a message talking about 'jackass lawyers on my ass.' (29 June 2013) ... (Photo credit: marsmet472)

          Do you like riddles or do they tend to annoy you?    I've been playing my little "guess the song" game for several months now.   Prior to a Battle of the Bands post I will often drop clues into my posts about what song I'll be using.   Most readers ignore my game and don't even bother mentioning it.

           In the comments of my most recent clue post my dear blogger friend Stephen T.McCarthy put it this way:

Oh, I have no idea what song you will be using. I've given up trying to guess on that stuffs.

You usually use such obscure songs that I've never even heard of them to begin with. Aside from that, I think you seed your 'Clues Posts' with all kinds of blind alleys and disinfo (i.e., clues meant to make the reader think it's a certain song that it isn't), so guessing what song you will be using is a near impossibility. No one has ever once guessed correctly, so what's the point in trying?

I rarely attempt to figure out what it will be anymore and I just simply wait to see.

          Mr. McCarthy may be expressing the same sentiments that most other readers have felt about my guessing game.  Though actually a few readers in previous Battle clue posts have guessed my songs ahead of time so apparently the guessing is not a "near impossibility".  Most of the songs I've used so far have in fact been fairly well known and by artists who if were not well-known, were artists with a certain historical significance in the history of modern music.  

        Even if a song or an artist is obscure, does this cause you the reader to have no interest and not wish to ever have an interest?  Often I'll see a comment to the effect of "I don't like this style of music" or "I could only listen for a few seconds until I couldn't stand it".  I guess I can empathize with that sentiment in the sense that if someone pitted song versions in the rap genre I might be tempted not to listen to those.  I thought I was putting up some pretty good songs since it's music that I like, but that's a whole different topic that I do plan on addressing in some future post--and not just from the standpoint of music, but all art including books and movies.

Back to the Riddle Topic

       So even knowing that the clues and guessing games are not overly popular features I will continue inserting these into blog posts now and then.  It might be worth noting that the Battle of the Bands posts are not my most popular either--I just like doing them because they're fun and interesting to me.  Part of my reasoning behind the concept of guessing games is that it is a sort of marketing strategy that might encourage readers to want to come back to the Battle of the Bands post to see if they guessed correctly or just to find out what the song is.   I'm still in the testing stage I guess.        

       Riddles, guessing games, and the like are marketing ploys that are often used to get a customer base curious and interested in something that is coming--a new product, movie, television show, etc.   They do require thought.  If answers were easy then an audience might soon lose interest.  That's what I've been experimenting with--marketing, as I so often do.   There is a riddle of sorts even in that sentence, but I won't go there.

        Instead, I'm sticking with the Battle of the Bands post which will appear tomorrow (Saturday March 15th).  I'm going to present a clue in riddle form.  This will be very obvious, but maybe only obvious after you've seen my next Battle of the Bands song pick.  Here is the riddle:

The song was not written by a queen

And the song is not about a king.

It could have been sung by Summer despite its winter theme

Since the setting seems like disco before disco was the thing.

        Part of this clue is very obvious if you think about it.  I'll admit that the song is relatively obscure but you'll find a lot of modern music connections regarding the song related to my contest of the two versions I will present.

            Do you think events like guessing games and riddles are fun?    What obscurities do you like to talk about on your blog?   Can you guess the riddle or any part of it?