Battle of the Bands - August 2025

 

Hey, hi! Glad you stopped by ;-)

It's officially summer here, which means you don't want to step in any ABC gum on the sidewalk for at least the foreseeable future; -) It's not a good idea to walk the dogs, either. Let 'em do laps in the pool instead.

If it seems a bit quiet around here, it's because a whole lot of our "usuals" are unusually absent; it being summer and all, it seems everyone has something to do, someplace to be, or somewhere to go - maybe even the moon ;-)

And away I go to post a couple of songs I hope you'll enjoy for a mid-summer BOTB!

The Battle of The Bands (BOTB) is your basic Which-do-you-like-best contest where the one that gets the most votes wins. All you have to do is show up (the 1^st and/or 15^th of every month) give a listen and cast your vote in the comment section. Next, hop on over to see what battles other participants (links located top right column of this page) have posted for us to vote on! Votes will be tallied and the winner revealed on or about 8 days later. 

First up is a 1966 hit, Sunny Afternoon, by the Kinks. In an interview with Rolling Stone Magazine, Ray Davies admits to having had a head cold the day they recorded the song, and laments that they were out of time to try it again when he wasn't ill.  He also said he drew a picture of (how he felt) his voice sounded; it was a leaf with a very thick outline that looked like a "big blob in the background..."

Next up: Everyone's Gone to the Moon is a haunting song by Jonathan King that sold over four million copies, and peaked at #17 on the Billboard chart in 1965

Now that you've heard everything, Care to pick a favorite? 

And, just one more thing: here's a bit of head-scratchin' trivia: After Decca Records scrapped 25k copies of Ray Peterson's teen heartbreak song "Tell Laura I love her,"  Ricky Valance released it in the UK, where it soared to #1 a month later. 

Minimum wage was $1.00 / hour in 1965! 

Enjoy the summer, everyone! Don't forget the sunscreen!

BOTB July 2025

 

Hey, hi! Glad you stopped by ;-)

The Battle of The Bands (BOTB) is your basic Which-do-you-like-best contest where the one that gets the most votes wins. All you have to do is show up (the 1^st and/or 15^th of every month) give a listen and cast your vote in the comment section. Next, hop on over to see what battles other participants (links located top right column of this page) have posted for us to vote on! Votes will be tallied and the winner revealed on or about 8 days later. 

Have a safe and Happy 4th of July!  If you've got special festivities planned, don't forget to include (30 of your best) friends ;-)  

Which of the following songs reminds you of most of good times with friends; past, present, or planned?

The Rembrandts

Bruno Mars

"Smell the sea, feel the sky, let your soul and spirit fly." ` Van Morrison

BOTB June 2025 - Results

 

 

Thanks to everyone who stopped by to listen and cast a vote on my latest Battle of the Bands!  In what is becoming a confounding trend, I’ve gone and selected two of my own favorite (in this case, Summer) songs to battle each other for the win, and choosing seems next to impossible! Maybe I’ll flag down the mail carrier…

Anyhow, despite one vote I’ve taken the liberty of assuming I know who it was for, and including mine, here’s how we tallied up:

Another Park, Another Sunday  -                    3

Hot Rod Hearts - Robbie Dupree                    5      

 

One person who took a guess on the B-Side question was correct in naming Another Park, Another Sunday!  At least, I think so… Thanks for playing along, Stephen T. ;-)

According to Songfacts, it was first released as a single with “Black Water” as it’s B-Side, but one story has it that DJs didn’t appreciate a line in the song and gave the B-Side more airtime which helped it’s popularity so much (‘Black Water’ became they’re first #1 hit) that they “flipped” it to A-Side and ‘Another Park’ became the B-Side. Wikipedia seems to agree…

Thanks, Everyone!

BOTB June 2025 - B-Sides

 

Hey, hi! Glad you stopped by ;-)

The Battle of The Bands (BOTB) is your basic Which-do-you-like-best contest where the one that gets the most votes wins. All you have to do is show up (the 1^st and/or 15^th of every month) give a listen and cast your vote in the comment section. Next, hop on over to see what battles other participants (links located top right column of this page) have posted for us to vote on! Votes will be tallied and the winner revealed on or about 8 days later. 

I hope your summer is off to a fantastic start! Having recently attended a High School Graduation ceremony - what a crowd! - I couldn't help but remember the 'old days' when the very mention of the word "Summer"  made us all anxious for that last school bell to ring already! It didn't even matter if we had plans, as long as we had parks and boulevards ;-)

Did you catch my theme there? Coming up are two songs that always, ALWAYS get me into the summer mood. Let's see if they do anything for you ;-) 

First Up:

Next Up:

And there you have it, folks! Did we stir up any memories? Do you know - without peeking - or care to guess which of these songs was a B-Side hit? Let me know what you think, along with your (much-appreciated) vote in the comment section below. 

Happy tunes in June!

Memorial Day 2025

 

Take care, everyone.

BOTB May 2025 Bus Stop

 

Hey, hi! Glad you stopped by ;-)

The Battle of The Bands (BOTB) is your basic Which-do-you-like-best contest where the one that gets the most votes wins. All you have to do is show up (the 1^st and/or 15^th of every month) give a listen and cast your vote in the comment section. Next, hop on over to see what battles other participants (links located top right column of this page) have posted for us to vote on! Votes will be tallied and the winner revealed on or about 8 days later.  

Happy tunes in May!

Do we have any other sing-to-the-radio Rock Stars out there? No? Just me? So it is ;-) I’ve never regretted a minute – or a song. One of the most memorable “performances” I ever gave was on the ride home from a ballpark where my best friend’s team had won, leaving us both in higher spirits than we’d started with after deciding to venture clear across town after work for her to play for a team she didn’t care about while I watched a game (softball) I didn’t even like (for her sake.).  Anyhow, a favorite oldie song came on the radio during the drive home, and I sang it loud and proud, start to finish, without ever realizing until it was all said, sung, and done that for some strange reason, the words to the song hadn’t played – only the music. My friend was impressed and asked for an encore, but I’d embarrassed myself enough for one day ;-)  

While a link to the favorite oldie can be found above (purple), here are a couple of contenders you can choose between, see who you’d let sing in your car ;-)

 First up:  Gene Pitney

Next: Robson Field

Happy listening! See you all in a few days.

BOTB April 2025 Garden Party

 

Hey, hi! Glad you stopped by ;-)

The Battle of The Bands (BOTB) is your basic Which-do-you-like-best contest where the one that gets the most votes wins. All you have to do is show up (the 1^st of every month) give a listen and cast your vote in the comment section. Votes will be tallied and the winner revealed on or about the 8^th day of the month.

It's hard to believe that one stinker of a concert, attended by some who were glad to oblige—the operative word here—caused Rick Nelson such distress that he went home and wrote one of the defining songs of his career—just when it seemed to be winding down! 

For your discerning musical tastes (and coveted votes), I present to you two covers of Garden Party:

Adam Young - Owl City

The Pickups:

There you have it folks! Enjoy the festivities! I appreciate everyone coming by to give a listen and cast a vote in the comment section. Stop by the links of other participants (located in righthand sidebar) if ya would 😉

 Oh, and also if you would; let me know your thoughts about all the pop-up commercials...