A Nice Place to Visit, But... ( #IWSG )

 

     "There's no place like home"  was the advice given to Dorothy in the movie The Wizard of Oz.  Pretty good advice I'd say.   The nice thing about traveling to a fictional book world is that it's easy to get back home and one doesn't even need ruby slippers to get there...

  My current special summer edition of Battle of the Bands can be found here.  Please vote!

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 July 6 posting of the IWSG are J Lenni Dorner, Janet Alcorn, PJ Colando, Jenni Enzor, and Diane Burton!

July 6 question - If you could live in any book world, which one would you choose?

      I enjoy reading in order to escape the reality in which I exist.  The nice thing about this is that I can enjoy the escape without enduing hardship or inconvenience of that reality offers and easily close the pages to return to the reality from which I came.  In thinking this question through I came to the conclusion that there are no book worlds that I'd particularly like to live in.

       Many of the fiction books I tend to read have settings that are apocalyptic or rather dark and gritty so those are not places where I'd want to live.  I also don't especially want to live in a sci-fi type future world because often those stories don't end up all that well.  Give me the here and now that I know or something similar.

        So with that in mind I'm going with a couple of books that take place in the same time era of early World War Two, but are set in New York City.  It's a time before my birth, but with indoor plumbing still a common thing and many of the conveniences I can recognize.

        E.L. Doctorow's Worlds Fair is a beautiful nostalgic depiction of the magic of 1939 New York City that culminates in a visit to the New York Worlds Fair.  Despite the turmoil going on in the rest of the world, 1939 New York seems like a nice place to be.

        Likewise,  Philip Roth's Nemesis depicts life around Newark New Jersey in 1944.  Close enough to the New York of the Worlds Fair world for me to hang out in New York if I were living in Roth's world.

          Even though the threat of war was ever present, it was a time that seems exciting to me.  The cars, the night clubs, the shows on Broadway, and a rapidly changing America as it careens toward a post World War era.  I think I could stand that time.  It was pretty much like things were when I was born and those seemed like good years in many ways.

         Oh sure, lots of bad things were happening in the United States at that time, but there was a lot that I would liked to have experienced first hand.  Sure beats trudging through some apocalyptic landscape battling monsters and mutants.  That stuff is fun to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.

    Are you happy having lived in the times in which you have lived?   If you romanticize times prior to the 20th century, do you take into consideration modern things like indoor plumbing?    What major historical event would you have most liked to have witnessed?

        

Sounds Like Summer? ( #BOTB )

If the following seems like something I've posted before then you would be discerning correctly.  This post is not exactly the same as some others I've posted, but it is similar.  And after all it is that recurring musical thing some of us do.  We call it....


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.

Similar Summer Sounds

        Darned if I remember how this Battle episode came into being.  Maybe it's just my ongoing (weird perhaps?) quest to find songs that remind me of other songs.  This BOTB post is like a part two of my previous Battle which was based on songs I find to have similarities in melodic lines.

        Most likely this Battle came about after watching a show about the music of Kid Rock, an artist for whom I had previously had no interest in and might have a hard time coming up with many of his songs. On the other hand, maybe the show just reaffirmed something that I had previously noted about a few songs that have long been a part of my musical memory.

        No matter how the Battle premise came about, the following collection of songs has been lingering in the BOTB hopper waiting to be unleashed upon you who follow this blog.  These are songs that not only remind me of each other, but other hearers of the song apparently think the same way which is evidenced by the final Battle entry of the three contenders.

        Though not in a chronological sense of release date, this musical journey begins with the Warren Zevon song "Werewolves of London" (1978).  I never cared much for this song until more recent years when I came to have a greater appreciation for Zevon's music, but it's still not among my favorite tunes so I don't care to use it in this Battle (especially considering this is going to be a three song Battle and I don't want to burden you with any more songs that the three that I prefer).

       In any case, some time ago when I was listening to this song, it came to my aural mind that the song reminded me of Steve Miller's more well-known hit "Take the Money and Run".  Now, anyone who was of a cognizable age in the summer of 1976 will likely recall that this song was all over the place at the time and has remained a staple of classic rock.  As evidence that I'm not the only one who hears this similarity between the songs you might check out this amateur bar band mash-up of the two songs.

       Two summers prior to Miller's song release there was that ultimate rock anthem by Lynyrd Skynyrd (didn't I just do this one last time?) "Sweet Home Alabama".  That song rocked the airwaves in the summer of 1974 and has been popular ever since.  Maybe not as close sounding as the similarity between the Miller and Zevon songs, still I'm hearing a reminiscent melodic and rhythmic riff in the Skynyrd song as well.  

       So call me crazy if you want, but then you're going to have to call Kid Rock crazy too.  In his  2008 hit "All Summer Long" (which according to Wikipedia was inspired by Bob Seger's "Night Moves") Kid Rock very liberally samples "Werewolves of London" as well as "Sweet Home Alabama" and not in any plagiaristic sense.  In fact the song credits not only include the Kid Rock team, but also Zevon and the entire entourage who originally wrote the "Alabama" song.  Talk about giving credit where credit is due!   A whole bunch of people made money off "All Summer Long" and in the end they may have come up with what could be considered the ultimate summer song.

      That brings us to the arena of Battle. Three summertime song hits.  Some--or all--might bring back some fond memories of summers past.  This is a good collection of rock songs in my view, but you might think differently about them.  Which brings back the best summer memories for you?  Which song do you prefer most?  Take a listen to see if you hear the similarities and then tell us which is your favorite...


Steve Miller Band  "Take the Money and Run"  (1976)





Lynyrd Skynyrd   "Sweet Home Alabama"  (1974)





Kid Rock  "All Summer Long"   (2008)








Time to Vote!

         Nothing like a Battle of the Bands for a hot summer day.  Which song do you prefer?   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 Friday July 8th

      What do you think is the ultimate summer song?   Can you think of any songs that would fit well into a mash-up of the songs featured in this post?   What music are you listening to this summer?

Summer Considerations & Meaningless Musings ( #BOTB Results )

       According to the activity on my blog, summer has officially arrived.  The date is one indicator of summer as is the hotter weather.  But drop-offs in blog comments might mean summer is definitely here.  They might also mean something else, but I'll blame them on summer...

           Some might say that blogging is dead or dying.  I say it's cyclical in part.  Since I don't know the status of all blogs and all bloggers, I can't really say for sure that people are losing interest in blogging.  I don't think so.  I'd say blogging is a phase for some while others conform the activity into some sort of lifestyle.  We plunge into the blog world to either sink or swim.  I've been swimming for a while now and doing a respectable job of keeping my head above the water.  And I'm a lousy swimmer when it comes to the actual water activity.  Otherwise I can metaphorically swim okay.  

          For me, blogging is writing and since I've always been inclined to write then blogging is a fine way to crank out something on a regular basis.  I'm writing if for no other reason to entertain myself.  The fact that my writing actually does go into a public realm means somebody might read and might enjoy.  And if it is true that things on the internet stay there forever then maybe in some distant future someone will read my blog posts and think, "Wow!  What a creative genius!"

         Or, more likely, they will skim through my words and scratch their heads distractedly as they move on to the next arcane internet thing they can find.  

        For now that next thing in the story of my blog is, "What happened in my Battle of the Bands of June 15th?"

        Since all of you are so fervently waiting, here is the answer...

Battle of the Bands Results

Young Lynyrd Skynyrd

        My most recent Battle of the Bands installment featured Canadian artist k d lang singing the Neil Young song "Helpless" against artist Laura Cox singing the playfully anti-Neil Young anthem "Sweet Home Alabama"--it was a girl against girl contest (I think). 

       I like both songs and I think both artists did a tremendous job.  Laura was new to me, but I've been a k d lang fan since the eighties.  I went back and forth with this match--could have gone either way.  But "Sweet Home" is definitely more of a pick me up rousing fun tune.  And I wouldn't be the only one admiring Laura Cox's talent as well as her looks.  k d has a fantastic voice in my view, but so does Laura.

       I'm giving my vote to Laura Cox!

       Still, though a couple of voters agreed there is a melodic similarity between the song, there was not much argument one way or another about this.  An internet search yielded me nothing else to show agreement to my theory about the two songs and their similarity.  Oh well, it was a thought.

Final Results

k d lang                 5 votes       

Laura Cox            4 votes

Next Battle on Friday July 1st

        I think I'll follow Stephen T McCarthy's plan to use a summer themed Battle on that day. Sounds like a good time to do it since it will be Fourth of July weekend and all that.  Personally I'm hoping we have a cold spell in the weather where I am, but I'm not going to count on that.