Monday, December 1, 2025

 




 

Happy December, everyone!

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 1st and/or 15th 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 everybody enjoyed Thanksgiving! This was the first time ever that when it cane to saying Grace, we all looked around the table with blank stares, It was a tough month. So we agreed to all be thankful for the entire year despite an abundance of  recent pitfalls since day one of November. We lost one of the girls (Chocolate Labs) I'm always talking about and are hoping against hope we don't also lose her sister. I guess eleven is quite advanced in dog years. We are extremely grateful to have had her in our lives, and are perfectly fine with whatever tricks the other, more mischievous, of the two, gets up to between now and Christmas :-)

Wishing everyone joy and good cheer for Christmas!



I don't expect ya'll to vote between the two, since I'm so late getting this posted, but I'd love it if you share a smile.

Merry Christmas!

Saturday, November 1, 2025

BOTB Nov 2025 Keep Me in Your Heart


 

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 1st and/or 15th 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 November, everyone! 

This was the last (beautiful) song Warren Zevon wrote before lung cancer ended his life in 2003. Thanks, Stephen T. for introducing me to it. This is a good (theme) song for my first ever attempt at a November Novel Sprint ;-)  wish me luck?

I think both contenders do a right fine job with this, but let me know what you think in the comment section.





In the words of Warren Zevon; "Enjoy every sandwich."


Wednesday, October 1, 2025

BOTB October 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 1st and/or 15th 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'm offering smiles today!







Which is more your (smile) style?  Let me know in the comments!








Monday, September 1, 2025

BOTB Sept 2025 Moondance

 



Hey, hi! Glad you stopped by ;-)

I hope you’re enjoying the last official weekend of summer!

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 1st and/or 15th of every month) give a listen and cast your vote for the band or song of your choice 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. 

When I mentioned how quiet we get around here during mid-summer vacations, I had no idea I’d take the proverbial cake for the quietest – ha! Yay, me. I do hope everyone made the most of the season most often set aside for fun. I won’t miss the heat, but I have enjoyed and am now looking forward to Autumn. How about you?

For this autumn Battle of the Bands, I present to you a couple of covers of a song Van Morrison brought to life by adding lyrics to a jazzy saxophone solo. 

 



There you have it, folks! Which do you like best? Please cast your vote in the comment section below, and don’t miss the other battles listed in the sidebar.

See ya back here on or about the 8th with battle results and a special announcement regarding what’s next for Landmark Sounds.

Friday, August 1, 2025

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 1st and/or 15th 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!


Tuesday, July 1, 2025

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 1st and/or 15th 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

Sunday, June 8, 2025

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!

Sunday, June 1, 2025

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 1st and/or 15th 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!




Thursday, May 1, 2025

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 1st and/or 15th 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.





Tuesday, April 1, 2025

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 1st 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 8th 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...

Saturday, March 1, 2025

BOTB March 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 1st and/or 15th 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.

Last week, our local Weather Gal promised a “cool down,” which was uplifting as all get-out for those of us who would like to experience a little springtime before the onslaught of searing Sonoran desert temps take over.  I was thinking about springtime when a flash of red outside the window caught my eye.

It was my backyard Cardinal! He was hopping around the hood, and hanging off the side mirror of my jeep; parked right outside the window. He seemed to play a peek-a-boo game, stealing quick glances of himself from left, right, and topside (for an upside-down view). I was so enthralled with this unexpected pleasure that I nearly forgot what I was doing!  But I smiled the whole day and promised myself I’d do a little something to keep the Cardinal hanging around. It took the gorgeous bird less than 10 minutes to find the feeder I hung in a backyard tree this morning!

Anyhow, I’m ready for Spring! Hope you are too. As usual, the songs I’ve chosen to offer for today’s battle were either not covered by anyone else in the whole wide world or, said covers simply didn’t measure up ;-) I love both of these ladies, but you can only pick one (for now). Which song puts a bit of Spring in your soul?

This one?


Or this one?


Happy March! Be safe (and happy) out there, Folks!



Saturday, February 1, 2025

BOTB February 1, 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 1st and/or 15th 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 February, everyone! I don’t know where our weather guy gets his information, but I like it! Starting today, temperatures should be in the 80s! My mind has already skipped spring and moved on to summer ;-)

Aw, winter wasn’t all bad. I did manage to watch a few good movies from beneath a blanket on the sofa near the hearth. These movies included such great soundtracks I can’t help but share. I hope you all don’t mind voting on which one of the following trailers leaves the most lasting impression.

Up first:  Carly Simon’s spot-on perspective of “Heartburn,” featuring a couple of America's most prolific actors.

 




 

Next up:  Heath Ledger borrows a classic from Frankie Valli and captivates the entire field for the approval of one girl in "10 Things I Hate About You"

 


 

That’s it for me this time. I hope you enjoyed the offerings – and don’t forget to swing by the other battles going on today!  (Other participant battle links are located at the top right of this page).

Tuesday, December 31, 2024

BOTB January 2025 - Smiling through

 



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 1st and/or 15th 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 New Year, everyone! I’m getting my year-end party started early (see below), but I’ve set the alarm for midnight so I can witness everyone else’s ;-) I’m looking forward to your battles! It will be interesting to see how everyone throws out the old while embracing the new. Some years are just hard to let go of, kind of like Sweet Caroline. (Other years you just want to drop-kick off a cliff – but that’s for another post – ha!). Still others, according to the Black-eyed Peas, you find yourself infused with such feelings of hope and positivity that you might be as catchy as the song itself!

With that, I present two different songs by two different artists who are sure to have you singing along. But which one keeps you smiling the longest? I’m so determined to smile more this year; it might be my new theme!

 First up:


Next Up:

 


 

Have a wonderful January!



Sunday, December 8, 2024

BOTB December 2024 - Results

 


 

Many thanks to everyone who stopped by to listen and cast a vote on my latest Battle of the Bands! I also appreciate how you all voted when you didn’t have to – especially since I posted one of my most favorite Christmas songs for the second time in as many years – you guys are the best!  

Contenders                                       Song(s)                                Votes

Ben Rector                         Thanksgiving Song                              4  (Including  my Sister, Dana E.)

Chris Rea                    Driving home for Christmas                    6 (including me)

 

So, there ya have it, folks! Best wishes for a wonderful holiday! I’ll leave you with one last favorite Christmas song to lift the spirit and warm the heart J

 

 


 See you all soon after the first of the year! Be happy, safe, and well.


Sunday, December 1, 2024

BOTB December 1, 2024

 


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 1st and/or 15th 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 holiday season is off to a peaceful, happy start.  Thanksgiving here was very enjoyable with good food and great people.  We should have dragged everything outside to enjoy the southern Arizona weather, but there was such a lot of food and at 80 degrees, the weather already had folks shedding outer layers of clothing so we turned the cooler back on and stayed inside ;-)

As I watched the last ones drive away to destinations far and near, I realized how thankful I was for the wonderful time we’d all had together. Since I’m so late getting this out, I’ll not ask you all to vote; just listen. But be on the lookout for my vote on your battle!


And one more of my favorites - for the road!

 

 



Be safe out there, folks! Happy Holidays!




Friday, November 8, 2024

Battle of the Bands - Results and such

 


Many thanks to everyone who stopped by to listen and cast a vote on my latest Battle of the Bands!  Just when I thought it couldn’t be done, two different icons laid claim (and accrued acclaim) for outstanding covers of a legendary train song; proving it can so be done.       

Contenders                                       Song(s)                                Votes

John Denver                         City of New Orleans                           7  (Including me and Anon.)

Johnny Cash                         City of New Orleans                          2   

 

Since the holidays are fast upon us, I won’t fret too much about what happened here ;-)  Suffice it to say one John won, and one Johnny didn’t. With that in mind, I present an artist who appeared in my search for songs about trains that might just hold his own – were he to compete against the winner.

Please let me know what you think in the comment section.  

I encourage you to stop by and see how the other battles went (participant links in the upper right sidebar)



 

Happy Thanksgiving!




Friday, November 1, 2024

Battle of The Bands - November 1st, 2024

 


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 1st and/or 15th 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 8 days later.

I hope your November is off to a good start. My area of Arizona has finally turned down the heat, so we won’t mind turning the oven on in a few short weeks ;-) I wait all year to have turkey on Thanksgiving, though I’m willing to eat Pumpkin pie anytime. As far as music for the occasion, besides Nat King Cole, and any of those old favorites, a song that comes to mind (because we play it every year) is one by Arlo Guthrie about an unforgettable Thanksgiving, which I’ll just leave a link to, since it’s nearly 20 minutes long.  Instead, here are a couple versions of another song written by Steve Goodman (1970) but made famous by Arlo Guthrie in 1972.  You may be surprised (I know I was) by who else covered this song about riding on a train. 







There you have it, folks. Which do you like best?

Be safe if you're traveling, and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!




Thursday, October 24, 2024

Battle of the Bands October 15th results

 


Many Thanks to everyone who stopped by to listen and cast a vote on my latest Battle of the Bands! Boris, the battle-winning spider song was written by John Entwistle, (of the iconic band, The Who) about one of his least-favorite things; spiders. As he so eloquently illustrated in the lyrics, the tragic demise of one such dreaded insect occurred beneath a (no doubt behemoth) book, which, incidentally, reminds me of myself ;-)  In fact those who know me also know that if they ever come to my house and see a book on the floor – for no apparent reason – there actually is a reason. But it might not be a spider. We have scorpions here in the desert…big ones. 

Contenders                                  Song(s)                                      Votes

The Who                                Boris The Spider                        7  (Including me and Anon.)

Tom Waits                           What’s He Building?                     2

If the song itself doesn’t raise those little hairs on the back of your neck, check out what Tom Waits had to say about “What’s He Building?”: In April 1999, when asked about this song by Mojo, Waits replied, "We seem to be compelled to perceive our neighbors through the keyhole. There's always someone in the neighborhood – the Boo Radley, the village idiot – and you see that he drives this yellow station wagon without a windshield, and he has chickens in the backyard and doesn't get home till 3 a.m., and he says he's from Florida but the license plate says Indiana... so, you know, 'I don't trust him.' It's really a disturbed creative process."  ~ Songfacts.com

 

On a lighter note:



See ya soon!

Tuesday, October 15, 2024

Battle Of The Bands - October 15th 2024 Don't Look Now

 


 


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 1st and/or 15th 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 8 days later.

I wasn’t going to post this time; you know, holidays coming, candy to buy, meals to plan... but who can resist the hijinks of Halloween?  Do any of you decorate for the Holidays? How about scary movies? Have you watched any yet? I’ve seen at least one a day for the last week or so. Well, if not seen then at least I listened while doing something else. There are some outstanding soundtracks attached to those movies!  Though, as far as I know, I’m not using any ;-) Enjoy!





I sure hope I'm not taking someone's idea with this next one...




Hope to see you all soon, but if I don't make it back in a few days as planned, I'll see ya on Nov 1st with a new battle - AND the results of this one. Have a spooky Halloween!





    Happy December, everyone! Hey, hi! Glad you stopped by ;-) The Battle of The Bands (BOTB) is your basic Which-do-you-like-best co...