25 Greatest Heavy Metal Songs-- Part 1

From November 24, 2014, Yahoo! Music by Rob O'Connor.

Not that I am a big-time heavy metal guy, but I have heard of some of them and you know how I feel about lists.  * I've heard of before.

25.  MASTERS OF PUPPETS--Metallica*
24.  COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWN--Led Zeppelin*
23.  BLACKOUT--Scorpions
22.  PEACE SELLS--  Megadeath

21.  MIND OVER MATTER-- Raven
20.  TOXIC WALTZ--  Exodus
19.  UNDER THE BLADE--  Twisted Sister
18.  WAR PIGS--  Black Sabbath*

17.  COWBOYS FROM HELL--  Pantera
16.  OVER THE MOUNTAIN--  Ozzy Osbourne
15.  HELL'S BELLS--  AC/DC*

And, there are videos and information at the site.

I'm Just Listing Them.  --RoadDog

And, a Happy Thanksgiving to You

Finally have some sun here in Goldsboro, North Carolina, after overcast ever since I got here.  It rained and drizzled ever since Monday night.

Getting ready to sit down to an extremely good-smelling turkey that Mom has cooked for us.

I kind of felt like Ralph's old man in "A Christmas Story" as I was helping move the turkey from pan to platter,  What did Ralphie call him, "a real Turkesaurus?"

Watched the Macy's Parade in NYC and now getting ready to watch Da Bears play the Lions.  We'' have to see what our resident turkey, Scary Jay is going to do.  Will the good or bad Jay be with us today?  We'll know in about three hours.

Gobble, Gobble.  --RoadDog

Cold Ahead: N.C. T-Giving Trip 2014-- Part 2

NOVEMBER 21ST:

Drove south from the motel about 8 miles to US-33 and took it southeast to West Virginia, stopping in Athens, Ohio, for breakfast at Burger King (great biscuits) and then to I-77 and south through West Virginia and the W.Va. Turnpike. ($6 for three tolls).

Gassed up in Wytheville, Va., always the cheapest on the trip.  It was $2.56.  Decided not to stop in Mt. Airy, N.C., so I could hopefully get through the Durham-Raleigh traffic mess and driving along I-40 made it.

Took US-70 to Goldsboro and stopped at the Wal-Mart east of it and bought some items.

Arrived at Mom's and we went to Goldsboro's Paramount Theater and saw Jason Coleman's show.  He is the grandson of noted Nashville country pianist Floyd Cramer who was famous for his instrumental "Last Date" and his slip note style of playing.  I did not know he played piano on so many country hits.

--RoadDog

Cold Ahead, 2014 N.C. T-Giving Trip: Day 1

NOVEMBER 20TH:  Actually left early at 7 a.m..  Took Il-49 south to Mahomet, Illinois, stopping at Gibson City for a McRib meal (that season, you know).  Gas was $2.65 in Mahomet, the lowest I've seen in years.

Picked up I-74 southeast to Indianapolis in no problems going through the city on I-70.  East to Ohio and a stop at Englewood, Ohio, for my Skyline Chili fix (gotta have my Cincy Chili every chance I get.  I got to Columbus, Ohio, near the end of rush hour, but no traffic jams and got a room east of town at a Knight's Inn.

Drove around the surrounding area and found one of my favorite stores anywhere, Half Price Books.  Books and music, that's my game.  I almost thought I was going to set a record and get out of there without buying anything, but then found two Civil War Navy books, a CD by Buck Owens and two historical calendars.

The reason I'm calling this Cold Ahead is that it is mighty cold for November.  The temp in Spring Grove was 12 degrees when I left and it finally got into the upper 20s by the time I got to Ohio.  At least there wasn't as much road work as there was in the summer trip.

--RoadDog

Chicago Area Rugby Football Union

From Wikipedia.

Not long ago, I wrote about the rugby game played in the United States between our team and the best rugby team in the world, New Zealand's All Blacks which resulted in the U.S. being routed.  I mentioned that there were several rugby clubs in the Chicagoland area.

Among the men's Divisions:

DIVISION I:Chicago Griffins, Chicago Lions

DIVISION II:  Chicago Blaze (Lemont), Lincoln Park (Chicago), Southside Irish (Chicago) and Chicago Riot (Chicago.

DIVISION III:  Fox Valley Moors (St. Charles), Chicago Westside Condors, IAS CW Shamrocks (Manhattan, Il.), Illiana Misfits (Hammond, Ind.) NW Indiana Exiles (Hobart, Ind.), NW Woodsmen (Schaumburg) and Rockford Ravens.

DIVISION IV:  Chicago Blue (law enforcement), Chicago Dragons, Chicago Roosters (Wheaton), Kellogg School of Management and Lake County Gladiators.

There are also two women's divisions.

COLLEGIATE:  Eight teams

Chicago, DePaul, UIC, Lake Forest, Loyola, NIU, Northwestern, Lewis and Elmhurst.

NIU, my school, has won the last four collegiate championships.

Go Huskies!!!  --RoadDog

Movie Scratches: Annabelle-- Dracula-- Fury-- John

Movie Scratches.  A dog's Eye View of Currnet Movies.

The number refers to the number of movies I've seen this year.  10-15 refers to the date seen, Fox Lake is where I saw it and $4.50 is the price I paid.

69.  ANNABELLE--  10-15--  Fox Lake, $4.50--  How that doll got so darn mean.  A prequel.  Just as bad as Chuckie, but no sense of humor.

70.  DRACULA UNTOLD--  10-15--  Fox Lake, $4.50  To drink or not to drink the blood.  he did it for his family and country.  The fault is those mean old Turks.

71.  FURY--  10-21--  Fox Lake, $5--  "Machine" comes of age.  "best job I ever had."  War's real nitty gritty.

72.  JOHN WITT--  10-29--  Fox Lake $4.50--  Absolutely don't kill his cute little Beagle puppy.

The Mad Rush for the Bathrooms After a Long Movie.  --RoadDog

Global Blah Blah Blah

I am still at odds what to call this Al Gore thing.  Looking at the 12 degree temp reading this morning by our front window and seeing that we have gotten over freezing here in northern Illinois since last Wednesday and with three more days of it predicted, I just have a REAL HARD time calling it by Al's name.

To me, the "w" word means the opposite of cold, we we sure aren't getting.

I mentioned my problem with calling it the "G.W." words on one of my forums and one person said he called it Global Blah Blah Blah.  Sounds like a good name to me.

I was even thinking about going to Athens, Ohio, tonight to see my team play the University of Ohio, but am glad that didn't work out.  I wouldn't sit out in the cold at night, anyway.

It is way too early to be this doggone COLD!!

Any Better ideas for a Name?  --RoadDog

WLS Top Ten R&B for November 27, 1964

1.  ADORABLE ONE--  Joe Simon
2.  TOO MANY FISH IN THE SEA--  Marvelettes
3.  AIN'T DOIN' TOO BAD--  Bobby Bland

4.  VOICE YOUR CHOICE--  Radiants
5.  SINCE I DON'T HAVE YOU--  Chuck Jackson
6.  OH NO, NOT MY BABY--  Maxine Brown
7.  LONELY LONELY NIGHTS--  Vernon & Jewel

8.  AIN'T IT THE TRUTH--  Mary Wells
9.  WHAT'S NEW--  Gene Chandler
10.  AMEN--  Impressions

--RoadDog

WLS Top Ten for November 27, 1964

1.  I'M INTO SOMETHING GOOD--  Herman's Hermits
2.  SHE'S NOT THERE--  Zombies
3.  RINGO--  Lorne Greene

4.  LEADER OF THE PACK--  Shangri-Las
5.  ASK ME--  Elvis Presley
6.  YOU REALLY GOT ME--  Kinks
7.  TIME IS ON MY SIDE--   Rolling Stones

8.  BABY LOVE--  Supremes
9.  HAVE I THE RIGHT--  Honeycomb
10.  COME A LITTLE BIT CLOSER--  Jay & the Americans

15.  MOUNTAIN OF LOVE--  Johnny Rivers
30.  ANY WAY YOU WANT IT--  Dave Clark Five

Going Back Fifty Years--  RoadDog


YOU THINK ENGLISH IS EASY?  He could lead if he would get the lead out.

Movie Scratches: Behind-- Leave--Gone-- Alexander's

Movie Scratches: A Dog's Eye View of Today's Movies.

65.  LEFT BEHIND--  10-3--  Fox Lake, $6--  It's Rapture Time and we're not talking about Blondie's song.  It's the real deal.

66.  THIS IS WHERE I LEAVE YOU--  10-7--  Fox Lake, $5--  One of the funniest movies I've seen.  Finding old loves back home.

67.  GONE GIRL--  10-8--  Fox Lake, $4.50--  Like the lawyer said, "Just don't p___ her off.  One of the scariest females ever.

68.  ALEXANDER'S REALLY BAD DAY--  10-14--  Woodstock, free--  Don't even begin to think you've ever had a really bad day until you see what happened to this family.  Come on!!  Punched out by a kangaroo and menaced by an alligator?

Trying to Avoid As Many Pre-Movie Commercials As possible.  --RoadDog

Em-Bear-assing Bears

We got together with the Usual Suspects at the Squaw Bar in Ingleside, Illinois, for Da Bear game against Minnesota yesterday and were shocked, after the last three losses, to cheer for a Bear victory.

These last three weeks, with the blowouts at the hands of the Patriots and Packers and a bye week in between were surely times that tried Bear fans.  The team's play has been nothing short of embarrassing.

The whole team looks flat, but nothing as glaring as the shoddy, uninspired play of Scary Jay ( our qb Cutler).  The guy needs to be elsewhere, but die to an unbelievably bonehead play where the Bears signed his for a real long, well-paid, contract.  So, we're stuck with him.  Even the Cutler supporters, including several of our Usual Suspects, are not rising to his defense anymore.

And, the coach inspires no one.

I was hoping that if the Bears had lost yesterday, that they would have benched Cutler and told him he would have a shot at his old job after others had had their shot and failed as well.  We would have had the highest-paid back up quarterback in the NFL, bit, perhaps that would have lit the fire under Scary Jay and turned him into a real qb.

Oh, Well.  --RoadDog

WLS Top Ten for November 20, 1964

Since I'll be away from my lists, I will go ahead a couple weeks.

1.  I'M INTO SOMETHING GOOD--  Herman's Hermits
2.  SHE'S NOT THERE--  Zombies
3.  LEADER OF THE PACK--  Shangri-Las

4.  YOU REALLY GOT ME-- Kinks  (Three of the Top Four are British Invasion songs thanks to the Beatles.)
5.  RINGO-- Lorne Greene  (Pa on "Bonanza.  Go ahead and hum that song.  Did it have something to do also with another Ringo with the Beatles?)
6.  BABY LOVE--  Supremes
7.  COME A LITTLE BIT CLOSER--  Jay & the Americans

8.  TIME IS ON MY SIDE--  Rolling Stones  (Their first WLS Top Ten.)
9.  PRETTY WOMAN--  Roy Orbison
10.  ASK ME--  Elvis Presley

17.  GONE GONE GONE--  Everly Brothers (Probably my favorite E.B. song.)
18.  SHE UNDERSTANDS ME--  Johnny Tillotson
19.  WALKING IN THE RAIN--  Ronnettes

20.  SCRATCHY--  Travis Wammack
29.  THE WEDDING--  Julie Rogers
30.  EVERYTHING'S ALRIGHT--  Newbeats

I'm not familiar with #10, 18, 19,20, 29 and 30.

You Tube Here I Come.  --RoadDog


YOU THINK ENGLISH IS EASY?  We must polish the Polish furniture.

JSS: Gas Gouge Here-- Jaime Brockett-- Coyote On the Loose in Round Lake Beach

JSS--  Just Some Stuff.

1.  GAS GOUGE HERE--  Liz and I were shocked Friday to see gas had jumped from $2.94 on Thursday to $3.10 in Fox Lake, Illinois.  This even though the price of oil continues to fall.  As near as we know, the jump took all of qa second or two.

Hey, there is profit to be made.

Our gas stations like to do this every several weeks.

2.  JAIME BROCKETT--  On Tuesday, after the Vietnam Memorial ceremony in McHenry, Illinois, I went to one of my favorite places, Vinyl Revolution, a mom and pop music store and was shocked when I entered to see a copy of Jaime Brockett's album featuring that great "Ballad of the USS Titanic" song which clocked in at 10+ minutes and was a staple in early 1970s FM underground radio.

We have a copy, but the years of playing it for friends and on pretty bad stereos has done a lot of wear and tear.on it.  This one was in excellent condition and they were only charging $4 for it.  I grabbed it up right away and had the owner put it on his turntable.

He had never heard of the song or Jaime Brockett and was impressed.  I offered to let him play a song on the other side of the album that I like it, but he told me I'd best hurry up and pay for it as he was half motivated to put a new price on it.  he had looked it up and found that a copy of the album in excellent shape sells for around $60.

As the Who say, "Won't Get Fooled Again."


3.  COYOTE ON THE LOOSE IN ROUND LAKE BEACH--  Yesterday we were driving around Round Lake Beach after our dentist appointments, we saw what we though was a dog running down the street and near some houses.  As we got closer, we saw that it was a coyote.  And, it was in a heavily populated area.

They're Everywhere, They're Everywhere!!  --RoadDog


YOU THINK ENGLISH IS EASY?  The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.

Dedication of the Vietnam Memorial in McHenry, Illinois

This past Tuesday, I joined around 300-400 others at Veterans Park in downtown McHenry for the dedication of this.  It was a really crummy cold, drizzly day and no fun to be out there on that count, but a very worthwhile one on a much larger scale.

McHenry's VFW, American Legion, Polish Legion and the Marine Corps League were in attendance as well.

The city was honoring four young men who graduated from McHenry High School, three in 1964 and one in 1967, who gave their lives there all those years ago.  This has been an ongoing effort for the past 14 years by the Class of '64 and one man in particular, but I didn't catch his name.

We had several speeches and McHenry's mayor called this a beautiful day for McHenry despite the weather.  It was.

Then, the families of the four fallen were introduced.

The monument stands in the southeast corner of the park and has four benches around it, one for each man.  The stone has their names, a map of South Vietnam showing where each fell and pictures on the back of it.

As a member of the Vietnam Generation, I was especially appreciative of all the efforts..

It Is a Very Fitting Memorial.

WLS Top 10, November 13, 1964

1.  THE LEADER OF THE PACK--  Shangri-Las
2.  YOU REALLY GOT MR--  Kinks
3.  I'M INTO SOMETHING GOOD--  Herman's Hermits

4.  HAVE I THE RIGHT--  Honeycombs
5.  SHE'S NOT THERE--  Zombies
6.  RINGO--  Lorne Greene
7.  PRETTY WOMAN--  Roy Orbison

8.  COME A LITTLE BIT CLOSER--  Jay & the Americans
9.  BABY LOVE--  Supremes
10.  OVER YOU--  Paul Revere & the Raiders

"You're My Kind of Man."  --RoadDog

WLS R&B Top Ten, November 6, 1974

1.  AIN'T DOIN' TOO BAD--  Bobby Bland
2.  OH NO, NOT MY BABY--  Maxine Brown
3.  BABY DON'T YOU DO IT--  Marvin Gaye

4.  BEAUTICIAN BLUES--  B.B. King
5.  YOU MUST BELIEVE ME--  Impressions
6.  ADORABLE ONE--  Joe Simon
7.  THAT'S WHAT LOVE IS MADE OF--  Miracles

8.  HAD A TALK WITH MY MAN--  Mitty Collier
9.  IT'S ALL OVER--  Walter Jackson
10.  THAT'S WHERE IT'S AT--  Sam Cooke

"No Matter What the Others Might Say.  --RoadDog


YOU THINK ENGLISH IS EASY.  "  The farm was used to produce produce.

Movie Scratches: Turtles-- Runner-- Equalizer-- Tombstones

A Dog's Eye View of Today's Movies.

61.  TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES--  9-5--  Fox Lake, $6.  Wise-cracking hard shells, led by a big ol' rat battle evil and the hair guy sacks.

62.  MAZE RUNNER--  9-25--  Fox Lake, $6.  Watch out for the Grievers.  Bunch of boys face post-apocalyptic world, but don't know it.  Stay tuned for part 2.

63.  EQUALIZER--  9-30--  Fox Lake, $5--  Moral of this story: Absolutely don't mess with his friends.

64.  A WALK AMONG THE TOMBSTONES--  10-2--  Fox Lake, free--  Even drug traffickers have feelings and family.  Liam battles certified psycho cases.

Love Those Free Movies.  --RoadDog

The Drive's A to Z, November 10, 2014: The End

Last song played Monday.

YOUR LOVE--  Outfield
YOUR LOVE IS DRIVING ME CRAZY--  Sammy Hagar
YOUR MAMA DON'T DANCE--  Loggins & Messina
YOUR MOTHER SHOULD KNOW--  Beatles

YOUR SONG--  Elton John
YOUR TIME IS GONNA COME--  Led Zeppelin
YOUR WILDEST DREAM--  Moody Blues
YOURS IS NO DISGRACE--  Yes

ZIGGY STARDUST--  David Bowie
ZOO--  Scorpions

It Starts Again in Spring.  How Long Is Spring?  --RoadDog