DCV Top Bands of the 80's: #1

1. U2

Reasons why U2 is better than every other band of the 1980's:

a) The songs. There are about 20-30 U2 songs that make Dolberry very happy whenever he hears them. (I'll list them under "best songs".)

b) There was never a better video than U2's "Sunday Bloody Sunday" where they were at Red Rocks outside Denver. A storm rolls in. You can see the band's breath as Bono waves his white flag and screams his frustration "I'm so sick of it!" He was sick of the violence in Northern Ireland and 1983 Dolberry was sick of doing homework, taking out the trash, or having girls not lining up to date him. Nevertheless, we were kindred spirits against cruel outside forces. (Video added to sidebar.)

c) No other band of the 80's played a concert in St. Louis MO in 1987 on the same night as the 6th game of the World Series (Twins - Cardinals) and sucked up to the crowd by having their lead singer come out emblazoned in a Cardinals jacket and hat (which he threw to the crowd).

d) More than any other "star" I know, U2's Bono has leveraged his fame to do something other than general self-indulgence. Personally, Dolberry thinks he's done almost entirely good things which is an added bonus.

e) The Edge's guitar sound.

f) U2's Super Bowl appearance which paid tribute to the 9/11 victims while reaffirming that the US and people of good faith everywhere will not bow down to evil.

g) My Dad once said, while demanding that early U2 be turned off, that "this is awful" & "those guys will never amount to anything". It is, to my knowledge, the only time my dad was ever wrong about anything. (For the record, my mom was only wrong once as well ... thinking potato soup was edible.)

h) I heard Bono say once, "Quit asking God to bless what you're doing. Instead, find out what He's doing and do that. It's already blessed."

i) I like how U2 rebounded from a period in which they thought songs about this citrus fruit were good ideas. I like the fact that they tried that whole weird mid-90's Pop Mart thing ... even if I never got it. (Others 80s bands rebounded, but not to the same level as U2.)

j) U2 is from Ireland. Dolberry ancesters are from Ireland.

k) I like the fact that U2's absence from Live Earth was advocated by the antiGores as evidence that the concept of global warming is somehow flawed. (They're recording a new album in Africa at present.)

l) I like the fact that when U2 was starting out they claimed "I can't change the world, but I can change the world in me."

m) I like that U2 is so into America (our strengths, as well as our failings)

n) I like the fact that there's no better song to play on your headset while walking on the beach on a grey cloudy day than "The Unforgettable Fire". Seriously, I think that's one of the best experiences one can have on Earth.

o) I like how U2 usually opens "Where the Streets Have No Name" w/ a snippet from one of the Psalms (e.g.: Ps 116-12-13).

p) Bono's 80's hair, while widely mocked, is still a target that to which Dolberry aspires.

q) I like the fact that the Edge so admired Stuart Adamson and paid a touching tribute to him upon his death.

r) I like the fact that Bono's been married to his wife for 25 years.

s) I liked the U2 appearance on the Simpsons and that Monty Burns thinks they're "wankers".

t) I like how U2 pretty much carried both "Do They Know Its Christmas" and Live Aid.

u) Who knows to what degree, but it's pretty impressive that a band would have any role in bringing warring parties to peace as U2 did in Northern Ireland.

v) I like the fact that U2 claims to be the best band in the world.

w) I like the fact that U2 has stuck together all these years. Not just the band, but it seems like most of their team members have stuck together all these years.

Best songs: Pride, Where the Streets Have No Name, Walk On, Until the End of the World, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Beautiful Day, New Years Day, The Unforgettable Fire, Vertigo, The Fly, I Will Follow, With or Without You, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, One, In God's Country, October, Gloria, Wake Up Dead Man, Elevation, Out of Control, All I Want Is You, Bullet the Blue Sky, etc., etc.

Worst songs: Lemon

Future spring training trips in jeopardy?

It's looking pretty bleak for future spring training sojourns to see the Reds in Sarasota FL. The Sarasota Herald Tribune has run several articles recently on the (lack of) progress in securing a long-term arrangement. Earlier in the year, it looked like the Reds, the State of FL, Sarasota Co., and the City of Sarasota were going to jointly fund a $55 million dollar stadium that would rival Clearwater's Bright House Networks gem of a facility. The political environment in the area appears to have somewhat soured on public funding of a ballpark in the last local election cycle. In recent weeks, the Reds have advanced a scaled-back plan ($45 mil) that would upgrade the current Ed Smith Stadium (which I never realized is built on a landfill), but that doesn't look to get local public funds either.

I don't really blame the local Sarasota government for not wanting to fund it. Here's my quick estimate of how much money goes into the local economy based on our travels there: a) we spend about $200-300 dollars a day there (mostly to hotels, but some to restaurants, grocery stores, gas stations, convenience stores, golf courses, & then $ to the Reds for tix, souvenirs), b) by my calculation there are probably 500-1000 families / spending units doing the same thing on any given home date that wouldn't be there w/o the Reds (figuring the crowd is ~50-75% local). My rough guess would be about $2-4 million a season comes into the Sarasota economy. There are costs as well (traffic control) that would have to be subtracted. Over 30 years (length of proposed deal), the $ in would almost certainly exceed the initial investment (probably about $25-35 mil after overruns). But the investment would directly only benefit a few sectors of the economy and only indirectly help (taxes, jobs) the local populace as a whole. The apparent competitor for the local money potentially slated for the Reds is seaweed cleanup along the beaches. That would appear to help more people & would also probably maintain more tourism inflow. Also, cheaper events like the Sarasota Marathon probably have way higher tourists/investment ratios.

The bottom line is (to me) that there's already enough tourists in Sarasota in March to support the local economy. When bargain-basement hotel chains can charge triple-digits a night, the demand is strong. Also, I think the Castellini-led Reds deserve some praise here by (at least according to the local paper) not blatantly trying to extort a new stadium from the local government w/ threats and artificial deadlines.

So, while Dolberry will miss the times in Sarasota here are my preferred locations for future Reds spring training locations:

1. Orlando FL - I believe Griffey Jr would likely personally defray $2-3 mil of any costs associated to spend March at home. Hotels are way cheaper in Orlando & the non-baseball entertainment is pretty nice.

2. Clearwater FL - The Reds could share Bright House w/ the Phillies, thereby enabling Dolberry to eat cheesesteaks 4 times a year, instead of only 1.

3. Apex-Cary NC - They could play at the new USA baseball academy; Josh Hamilton could spend his days at home; and we could charge people to sleep in our shed (which is at least as nice as that Knights Inn in Sarasota). The weather's pretty nice in March.

4. Toyko Japan - The Reds could just play Japanese league teams all March & in 30 dates maybe draw 750,000 people. If they could make an additional $1 per ticket than present, they could funnel that $750K into buying a relief pitcher that could get a guy out in the 8th inning occasionally.

5. Las Vegas, NV - The potential Pete Rose tie-ins are innumerable.

6. Anywhere but Arizona - The world does not need any more 17-11 Spring Training games.

7. Oh yeah, and not Winter Haven FL - Ugh.

Need your faith in humanity restored? Check video to right.

Hard not to like the Phillies after that.

You know what bothers me?

The 'Just For Men' commercial where they say "Let the real you come through", then encourage you to hide the real you by coloring your hair.

That's just stupid.

All of the other commercials irritate me just slightly less. Not enough monkeys in commercials anymore.

What doesn't bother me? The O'Jimmies are in 2nd place ... our high-water mark for season. (Of course, Josh Hamilton strained his wrist tonight swinging @ the on-deck circle. ?!?)

Embarassing days for NOAA

Have you guys been following the soap opera at the National Hurricane Center? What a truly embarassing display by government employees of many ilks. The quick synopsis is this:

New guy (Bill Proenza) hired to manage NHC. Complains about NOAA budget decisions hurting the NHC's ability to forecast hurricanes. Congressional Democrats pressure NOAA to quit hurting the NHC's ability to forecast hurricanes. NOAA reprimands their new hire w/ a humorously threatening e-mail, saying he's hurting the NHC's ability to forecast hurricanes. New guy leaks reprimand to media. NOAA brass get bad press. Congressional Democrats pressure NOAA more.

This Monday, NOAA's administrator and long-time Dolberry nemesis "The Admiral", sends an assessment team down to Miami because of stated concerns about the NHC's ability to ... everyone now ... "because of concerns about the NHC's ability to meet its mission". (In The Admiral's world, everything is a mission. He's presumably talking about predicting hurricanes here.)

Now yesterday, about 40% of the NHC staff signs a petition calling for Proenza's ouster, saying (yawn) they're concerned about their ability to forecast hurricanes w/ him in charge. This seems rather suspicious, in light of NOAA's advance scouts being on-site.

Dolberry suspects none of the players in this whole drama are really concerned about protecting the public by accurately forecasting hurricanes. They are driven by either pride, anger, fear, opportunity, greed, or some other baser instinct. It's sad and embarassing for all of us in the public sector.

Lautenbacher should resign or be fired. This whole reckless incident has made the NOAA brand a laughingstock & more importantly has needlessly antagonized Congress. The Admiral is reminding me more and more of this ship's captain.

The ultimate reason to be against global warming

The more CO2 in the atmosphere, the more poison ivy grows and the more itchy the plant becomes.

Now ... it's personal.

Latest Apex oddity

In October we had the chemical explosions and the resultant toxic cloud.

In March we had the guy w/ 70 sheep in house.

Last week, a guy was arrested in Apex for having: eight guns (including SKS and AK-47 semi-automatic weapons), $7,910 in cash, numerous knives, 3,000 rounds of ammunition, two gas masks, a Kevlar helmet, a flak jacket, material for explosives (a time fuse, blasting caps, tubes and pipes), & 17 marijuana plants. He was arrested by Apex Police who had been called to his townhouse by his own complaint of a neighbor's barking dog (they smelled the marijuana & searched his premises).

I'm thinking that neighborhood dog was extremely lucky the police came when they did.

Holiday from Blogging

Hey, a lot's gone on since I last blogged ... here's a quick update:

June 1: Mom, Dad, Tim, Kris, & Mojo came in from Louisville for trip.

June 2: Went to Carowinds w/ TCC youth group. Much fun. It rained on us despite my assurances to all that it would not (for about three hours). Saw the Newsboys which is always nice.

June 3: Headed to Emerald Isle w/ the extended Dolberry clan. Caught up to the tail end of former Tropical Storm Barry. Swam in the pool in the rain. Ocean was a churned up.

June 4: Am sure we had fun on this day. Can't remember exactly what we did.

June 5: I'm gonna say we went golfing on this day. None of the golf was that memorable. APD and Sparky impressed at times. Scott & I hit a (curiously stupid) fish with our drivers.

June 6: Maybe we putt-putted and go karts on this day? I remember I lost at putt-putt. G'Ma won.

June 7: More fun at beach. I think I clinched the pool battle royale between KMD & I on this night. 3 nights to one.

June 8: APD and I made a cool sand stadium that got wiped out by a rising tide, despite numerous Dolberry forecasts that it would not.

June 9: Sad goodbyes to beach clan. What a great, relaxing, fun trip. Blow was softened by returning to a softball game. We only had 8 players and got pounded. I'm too out of shape to play OF in a 3 OF alignment.

June 10: First game of Apex tournament. We lost to #3 seed (as #2 seed) 14-9.

June 11-12: Two crazy days at work. Catching up from a week off & trying to prep for three more days away.

June 13: Headed out to Boulder/Denver for conference. Got to see Aunt Jane, Uncle Mike, and Jeannine, Shannon, and Michelle (and families). It was very hard to see Aunt Jane so sick. Was so glad to hear she was able to be returned to Louisville & hopefully will be transferred to a rehab center soon. As sad as it was to see Aunt Jane, it was equally happy to get to see all the (former) Fitzgerald cousins and their families. What a great group. I'm proud to be related to 'em.

June 14: My day to lead the conference and give two talks. Think it went well. Ate dinner in downtown Boulder. Boulder is always nice ... even the time I went out there for a job interview at NCAR and totally bombed the seminar I gave. Once the bombing was complete, I went and drove into the mountains which saved the trip.

June 15: Left Boulder at 3:15a local time to get back for our softball tournament that night. Plus, I was able to catch a show from a band that a YG member drums for. The key to good softball is waking up 2000 miles away, flying coach most of the morning, going to a smoky bar for loud music, than playing ball from 8-11p. I was 4-4 w/ two walks and flawless SS defense in two St Andy's wins (17-12 and 19-6).

June 16: Unfortunately, Catholic Blue team ran up against Baptist Blue and they beat us again. 9-6 this time. I had a chance to get us into a tie in the 5th, but flew out w/ 2 outs & a runner in scoring position.

June 17: Fathers Day was nice. I was treated to Philly Cheesesteaks for lunch & we had a TCC picnic that evening. Started to itch from poison ivy contracted presumably from yard work the day before.

June 18-21: Everything basically settling down. Over this month I applied for my own job and got it. So, I'll be switching over from NOAA to EPA sometime in July. It's only a slight raise, but is good to be actually working for the agency I've always done work for (if that makes any sense). The humorous bureaucratic thing is that I'll be on a 1-year probation (again) & they're doing a background check on me. I told HR that if there was anything worth stealing; I'd have stolen it already ... which they didn't think was funny. I itched profusely over these 4 days and moaned unceasingly to KMD and APD.

June 22: Went to doctor and got steroids. Immediate relief. Went swimming w/ APD and KMD. Very much fun. Hung out w/ some friends that night.

This weekend was fine. Went to Harvest Crusade w/ youth group. Other than that, just relaxed.

There! You are now all caught up on the tediousness that is Dolberry!

DCV Top Bands of the 80's: #2

2. Big Country

The DCV countdown started way back on January 6th of this year w/ a note about the scoring system. Assuming most folks don't remember, it was a combination of

- how much I liked them in the 80's (60%),
- how much I like them now (30%), &
- how popular they were w/ other folks (10%)

Big Country lost big on the 3rd criteria, & got nosed on the 2nd criteria, but they were the clear winners in the "how much I liked them in the 80's" category. If it wasn't such a countdown copout I'd just call them #1a to the next band's #1.

It's sounds weird to say looking back, but Big Country's music was just incredibly instrumental in Dolberry's surviving (and perhaps prospering through) the high school and college years. It's cliched to say so, but their songs we're the soundtrack to the 80's for me.

I can still vividly remember sitting in my room listening to The Crossing and being inspired. Not necessarily inspired to be doing the homework I was supposed to be doing, but inspired to live my life in a certain way. Big Country's root-level philosophy was embedded in their one big hit "In a Big Country" (peaked at #18 in the U.S. in 1983) and it was to "stay alive". Stuart Adamson and the lads spun huge anthems about you-and-me people trying to make it in a world that was/is not always necessarily looking out for us. But the people in BC's songs always held onto a spark, always yearned for something better, always strove to stay alive (in the figurative and literal sense).

Some sample lyrics (that still come immediately to mind w/o need to reference them):

In a big country, dreams stay w/ you. Like a lover's voice fires the mountainside. Stay alive.

I will carry you home w/ the stars in my eyes. I will carry you home while the westerlies sigh.

It's just a shadow of the people we should be, like a garden in the forest that world will never see.

We save no souls. We break no promises.

But when I look at you I see you feel the same way too. And you will take my hand and be w/ me in wonderland

Im not expecting to grow flowers in the desert, but I can see the sun in wintertime.

The memories are very fresh when it comes to Big Country. The Crossing was always my get-fired-up-for-races tape. I still remember getting the Wonderland EP cassette from that mall south of Louisville (the same one where we got Intellivision) and wearing it out. Every Friday at SLU was Steeltown afternoon. The tradition was to listen to that tape in its entirety as part of the transition from school week to weekend. I wore lots of plaid back in the day in my attempts to emulate the lads. I still vividly remembering driving down Taylorsville Rd. one day and hearing "Look Away" from their third album The Seer on the radio.

The 80's were a great time for Dolberry up through 1988, when I dispatched myself to the wastelands just south of downtown Chicago for grad school leaving most of my friends behind. Big Country hit the skids (inside joke there) that year as well w/ their dismal 4th album Peace in Our Time.

Perhaps coincidentally, perhaps not, Dolberry and BC's fortunes both picked up in the early 90's w/ me leaving school, getting a job, getting engaged, getting on a good softball team. Meanwhile, Big Country blasted back to life w/ Buffalo Skinners. Again, the memories are vivid of an afternoon in Stephen's apartment in Elgin IL, him saying he'd gotten BC's new album & I should give it a listen. Not expecting much, figuring they had wandered off the track for good, I was surprised that the first song ("Alone") really rocked. Figuring that would be the outlier, was surprised the second song ("Seven Waves") really rocked. The whole album really rocked.

BC put out three more studio releases in the 90's and while never reaching the unobtainable heights of The Crossing or even Buffalo Skinners, they all had several very good songs on them.

I'm guessing that most readers know the total irony of how Big Country's story ended, or at least how Stuart Adamson's story ended. (I love Tony, Mark, & Bruce, but Stuart was the heart of BC.) He hung himself in a Best Western hotel room in Honolulu, on December 16th, 2001. His blood alcohol level at the time was > 0.279. Stuart had reportedly battled alcoholism for many years. It is strange to me how a life spent encouraging others to stay alive would end w/ someone taking their own. I get teared up thinking about it even now.

I was playing indoor soccer that winter in an attempt to stay in shape in the softball offseason. It was a team consisting of individuals who had signed up to be on the house team (i.e., no one knew each other) and we played that way. We lost nearly every game and most of the time was spent in endless recriminations of overly long shifts and not enough passing. I was pretty detached from all of this as I was in way over my head as far as my soccer skills go. I'd take a shift or two a half and try not to embarass myself. The night of Stuart's death (& I believe Kristin broke the news to me), I vowed to get a goal in his memory ... as he was a big soccer (football) fan. Amazingly enough, I got two. My only two of the season. Things like that make me think that there's a God, and he's real, and he's there for us, and he wants the best for you-and-me in a world that's not always looking out for us, and that we need to keep that spark, we need to keep yearning for something better, and that we need to stay alive ... just as Stuart said.

Best songs: In A Big Country, Fields of Fire, Wonderland, Harvest Home, Where the Rose Was Sown, Chance, all of The Crossing, You Dreamer, Look Away, pretty much all of them.

Worst songs: Eggplant, King of Emotion

DCV Top Bands of the 80's: #3

3. R.E.M.

Another band I "discovered" via the J-town library, which I guess was the Itunes/Napster of those way bygone days. R.E.M. is the highest ranking American band in this survey of Dolberry's memories.

R.E.M's career trajectory is essentially a chi-square distribution w/ four degrees of freedom (see plot). By the way, this is how I write at work. I express some fact/opinion and then say "see plot" usually in parentheses like above. Then I state some other fact/opinion which has its own plot, or sometimes for variety's sake a table.



Anyway, R.E.M. started in the early 80's, out of the University of Georgia, with their signature Peter Buck jangly guitars and Michael Stipe's mumbly, mostly incomprehensible lyrics. This style is most evident on Murmur, Reckoning, and Fables of the Reconstruction. In Dolberry's opinion, R.E.M. peaked with the fantastic Lifes Rich Pageant album which was produced in southern Indiana with Mellencamp's long time producer. In these days of Live Earth concerts and star-powered environmental conciousness, it's neat to remember that R.E.M. was crafting melodious treatises on why fouling our atmosphere and water (e.g., Cuyahoga) is not the best route to sustained life on this planet since 1986. And while the acid rain problem has more or less been mitigated through the use of market-based control measures (whereby utilites buy and sell pollution credits in an environment of a declining cap on those emissions) "Fall on Me" nails the oddity of a company having the right to inject large quantities of SO2 into everyone's air.

"Buy the sky and sell the sky and tell the sky and tell the sky, don't fall on me."

Anyway, Stipe et al., stayed at the top of their game through 1987's Document and 1988's Green. Somewhere along the way though, R.E.M. started morphing from a cool college rock band to a pretty much insufferably huge pop band. 1992's Automatic for the People was really the worst IMO w/ its whiny "Everybody Hurts" and "Man on the Moon". The story is that Kurt Cobain was listening to this album shortly before his suicide and while I don't think it's that bad, it certainly is something best avoided. They bounced back a little w/ 1994's Monster (a somewhat late entrance to the Nirvana-led early-90's scene). And while Dolberry consistently bought their next three albums hoping for a return to form, it never happened. I didn't even get their last album. At some point, everything R.E.M. did seemed to be highly, almost-transparently calculated, which was an abrupt departure from their early free form days. Wikipedia says they're currently in Ireland working w/ Jackknife Lee (sometimes U2 collaborator) on a new album. Dolberry is adopting a cautious wait-and-see attitude.

Best Songs: The One I Love, It's the End of the World As We Know It (and I feel fine), Harborcoat, Green Grow the Rushes, Disturbance at the Heron House, Begin the Begin, Fall on Me, I Believe, South Central Rain, Driver 8, Pop Song 89, Radio Free Europe, Losing My Religion, Bad Day, Binky the Doormat, What's the Frequency Kenneth.

Worst Songs: Man on the Moon (I loathe this song in a way that bold and red font'ing cannot capture.), most of the songs on New Adventures in Hi-Fi.

Wednesday

I've spent all evening applying for my own job. It's a long story. I had to update my resume and answer four long essay questions.

On the plus side, I'm pretty qualified for this job, so I like my chances.

On the down side, I'm too wiped out to write anything else. I'll put Relient K's new video up for your blogging satisfaction. Their single has raced up to #56 on the charts over the past month or so.

Baseball: Season ending loss

We lost 1-0 tonight despite no hitting the other team. A two-out walk, followed by a dropped pop up to second base, led to their only run. Meanwhile, we got two hits but stranded 5-6 runners.

Not bad against the #1 seed, but we had them beat. Oh well, ifs and buts & only one team ends the season w/ a win.

APD took the loss, but he pitched great. He seemed ok about it which is good.

DCV Top Bands of the 80's: #4

4. The Rainmakers

Look out now! Here it comes!

One of the most underappreciated bands of all time, IMO. They had a pretty devoted following in Missouri in the mid-to-late 80s. Dr. Ron McCann, one of the best roommates a guy could have, put Dolberry on to the Rainmakers during the SLU days. Their eponymous debut album, The Rainmakers, ended up being their biggest, peaking at #85 on the U.S. album charts. It featured several Missouri-specific references: "Downstream" (which was about floating down the Mississippi w/ Mark Twain, Harry Truman, and Chuck Berry) and the searing "Rockin at the T-Dance" which lambasted the American engineering disasters of Apollo 1, Apollo 13 and the collapse of the Kansas City Hyatt which killed 114 people during an afternoon tea dance in 1981.

"You can still see the ghosts, but you can't see the sense.
Why'd they let the monkey go and blame the monkey wrench?"

This 1986 album spot-on identified many of the elements of what was wrong, maybe what is wrong w/ America: too lazy (Government Cheese), drinks too much (Drinkin' on the Job), too gossipy (Information), too lustful (Big Fat Blonde), and just generally too aimless (Long Gone Long, a true classic). Strangely enough, the Rainmakers had a Top 20 hit in England w/ "Let My People Go-Go" off this album.

They followed that album up w/ the equally excellent Tornado (1987) and The Good News and the The Bad News (1989). Stephen won a contest (or did I?) where we got to see them play a live studio show for WXRT w/ like 40 other people. I remember that was extremely cool but being slightly disappointed that frontman Bob Walkenhorst seemed way more interested in talking to the womenfolk in the crowd than dweeby (well, Stephen anyway) 20-something guys who had wished to thoroughly dissect every song they'd ever written. In retrospect, I can respect his decision. We saw them in concert at the Park West one time which was also cool.

The Rainmakers were always very popular in Norway for whatever reason. I wish they'd have come along at a time (like today) in which music is so widely available and when quality music will find a large audience via the internet. They would have been huge.

Anyway, my favorite memory of the Rainmakers occured on probably the best day of my life (top 2, definitely). The day I married the lovely KMD. We'd had a beautiful ceremony and had retired to the Galt House for our reception. The first three hours were mostly talking w/ people and taking care of all the obligations of a reception, but the last hour or so was a true blast, capped by Dolberry's mesmerizing dance to the Rainmakers "Tornado of Love" (slipped the cassette to the DJ at some point that night). If you weren't there, words can not describe the transcendentally athletic beauty of that dance. Well actually they can ... Dolberry mostly spun around like a tornado and tried to knock people down. I plan on reprising it on our 50th anniversary, so watch out.

Best Songs: Rockin at the T-Dance, Long Gone Long, Tornado of Love, One More Summer, Reckoning Day, The Other Side of the World, Too Many Twenties, Another Guitar.

Worst Songs: Wild Oats

The wind took, the ground shook, & me and my baby traded one last look.
The heavens squalled ... push come to shove.
Ain't no escaping the tornado of love.

DCV Top Bands of the 80's: #5

#5. John Mellencamp

As Etienne noted earlier, he & Dolberry and the Dolberry Sisters once made a pilgrimmage to Indianapolis to see Mellencamp on his home turf. As I recall, the concert was at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, which I interpreted to mean that the fair was going on and we should arrive really early. Which we did, but there was no fair. Instead we sat/stood in line for most of the day & still had "seats" (it was a huge lawn) about 50 yards back from the stage. I recall there being a really cool sunset that night.

Anyway, Mellencamp was obviously a big deal to us Midwesterners in the 80's. "Scarecrow" and "The Lonesome Jubilee" dealt w/ issues that meant something to people outside of LA and NYC. Lyrics like "I'll probably die in a small town", "It's a lonely ol' night", and "his dream burned up like paper in fire" resonated back in the day.

JM was famously from Seymour, Indiana. Seymour was one of the many southern Indiana towns I visited during the summers of 1987 and 1988 working for Nabisco. Thanks to Mr. Jim Allen, I had one of the best summer jobs imaginable. Let me highlight the perks:

1) You made like $7 bucks per hour which was pretty sweet.

2) Every Friday you could fill a box w/ all the Nabisco products you wanted (e.g., Oreos) from their snack closet.

3) They let me take Fig Newton end stands to SLU after they were done w/ them. We used them as bookshelves and they were surprisingly dorm-durable.

4) The job was really easy. All you had to do was take the cookies/crackers from the back room where the trucks dropped them off and stock the shelves.

5) On really long trips (e.g., Washington IN), Nabisco would put me up for the night in a hotel, w/ a per diem. Other than when APD was really young & we all went to San Diego for a conference, this was probably my favorite business trip of all time. Got to watch a movie and eat at Ponderosa on Nabisco's tab. Wow.

6) Most of my summer was spent driving around southern IN farmlands listening to music in the old Datsun. Except for those times when the Datsun expired, then I spent my time in repair shops in southern IN.

Anyway, that was a great job & Mr. Allen was a great guy. This year's version of the O'Jimmies (my Dad & my roto baseball team) is an obscene offense to his memory. Ah, now I'm in a bad mood, just thinking about it.

I was tempted to dock Mellencamp a spot in the ranking for every thousand times I heard his "Our Country" song in that Chevy commercial. If you're so inclined, move him down to 19th.

Best Songs: Paper in Fire, Small Town, Minutes to Memories, Human Wheels, Rain on the Scarecrow, Hand to Hold Onto, Pink Houses, Pop Singer.

Worst Song: "This is our countreeeee. From the East Coast ... to the West Coast ... to the Dixie Highway ... back home. This is our countreeeeee." And this is our truck.

DCV Top Bands of the 80's: #6

#6 Stray Cats

The amazing thing about this countdown is how little staying power a band had to have to be one of my lingering favorites. The Stray Cats were huge for about 9 months in 1982 and 1983. They were a strange mix of 50's-sounding rockabilly w/ an 80's New Wave sensibility (having hit it big in England about a year prior to hitting it big at home).

My favorite memory of the Stray Cats was watching the video to "Rock This Town" some Saturday afternoon & attempting to duplicate Slim Jim Phantom's signature leap off the drum kit to end the song from a folding chair we had. Something went awry & I managed to destroy the chair. Pretty cool.

Best songs: Rock This Town, Stray Cat Strut, Rumble in Brighton, Sexy + 17
Worst songs: Did they have any other songs?

Great game tonight! (APD)

First tournament game tonight. We ended the season as the #8 seed (of 12) and played #9 tonight. We tied them earlier in the season. Nothing screams "What a Matchup!" than when a 3-5-2 team hooks up w/ a 3-6-1 team.

The day started out bleakly w/ a note and call that our best pitcher had broken his toe in the morning. As it turned out he was fine. He gave up his first run of the season, but exited on the plus side of a 2-1 ledger thanks in part to a triple he hit. APD got a nice line drive single to the OF ... on a 3-0 pitch.

We got them out in the 4th inning after APD made a nice 4-3 play on a hard hit ball and our 2nd pitcher got a 1-3 line out DP. APD popped out to SS in the 4th. But, they tied it at two in the 5th.

In the top of the 6th we gave up a leadoff walk and a SB, then our SS made an amazing 6-3 DP by tagging the runner trying to go by, then gunning the guy out at 1st. Our 4th pitcher of the game was pitching great & struck out the next guy.

Bottom of the 6th, we get a leadoff BB, steal 2nd, FC advances the runner to 3rd w/ one out. Two walks later both on full counts, we have bases loaded w/ out second best hitter up. He'd struck out his first two times but on a 2-2 pitch he hit the ball over the OF's heads for the game winner.

Too exciting. Our team is really getting better. Only one K looking & almost everyone was putting the ball in play. And our infield defense is amazing.

We play the #1 seed on Tuesday. I think we have a legitimate shot at pulling the shocker. If we do, beach goers will be able to see APD on Sat 6/2 if they so desire (9am game).

APD's Outer Banks Trip

Taking a break from the countdown to briefly describe APD's 4th grade OBX trip. Thanks to KMD's dedicated service throughout the year, I was fortunate enough to be a chaperone.

We met at his school at 6:15a Thursday and got on a really nice bus.

1st stop was at Fort Raleigh. Very interesting site. The colonization of America didn't get off to the best of starts.

2nd stop was Roanoke Island Festival Park. That was really cool. The kids got to "work" as if they were part of the first colony. They worked on a ship, w/ a blacksmith, & learned some dances.

3rd stop was Jockey's Ridge State Park which is a series of tall natural sand dunes. It had been raining all day & was about 59 degrees, so there was some doubt as to whether the kids would be able to do this part, but we went ahead & did it. Because they didn't want sand in the kids shoes, we all did it barefoot. The kids loved it & I got off my best line of the trip, remarking to another chaperone (re: the barefoot slogging uphill in a steady, wind-driven, cold rain) ... "This isn't a field trip. It's a hazing." Ha. I'm pretty funny.

After that we went to Pizza Hut (no link, I'm supposing you've seen one at some point) and retired for the evening at a church's gym. The kids played basketball & rollerskated from 8-10p, then crashed for the evening. Sleeping on a basketball floor is something I can going another few years w/o doing again. We ended the day w/ a really nice talk from his teacher about how God had blessed these kids w/ so much and it was up to them to do something w/ those blessings. It was powerful. The second best part was after that when APD's teacher (who is outstanding) was on his last frayed nerve after all day w/ that many 10 yr old boys & 10-15 minutes of mayhem in the dark said "the next one that talks of gets up is getting the air let out of his air mattress." That quieted them down.

On Friday, we started out at the Wright Brothers National Memorial. It had stopped raining, but was still cool and very breezy. At the top of the monument hill, it was probably sustained 30 mph which the kids loved. There were pictures taken. One of me & APD, if it turns out, I'll post it. Pretty cool up there as you can see the Atlantic and the Sound. The museum itself was solid w/ a really nice presentation. The kids got to run along the paths of the first four flights. APD was able to beat the plane on it's first three flights.

The last stop was in Washington NC at the North Carolina Estuarium. It was cool. Featured a museum and a nice walk along the Pamlico River. We saw a muskrat and some baby ducks.

We ate dinner at a Golden Corral & got back home at 8p. (In time for me to get to a 9p softball game where I threw two runners out from LCF, but we lost.) It was just a really special time to watch APD as a member of this big group of kids. He cares so much about his friends. It's cool to watch.

DCV Top Bands of the 80's: #7

#7 Van Halen:

Edward Van Halen and cohorts flat out rocked for a period from 1978 to 1986 (or so). This has been somewhat overshadowed over the past two decades due to their unsurpassed ability for non-musical drama. To truly appreciate Van Halen I think you had to grow up in Louisville. We had one rock station ... WQMF 95.7. QMF played three bands in strict rotation, and while the songs could vary, these were the only three bands that were ever played: Led Zeppelin, Heart, and Van Halen. The Halen is the only one of those three I enjoyed. If I hadn't, this neverending blogging exercise would probably consist of Alabama, Eddie Rabbitt, & Oak Ridge Boys, because that's what the other side of the dial was.

Of course, if El Cuarte was doing the countdown of the 80's, it'd be a one-blog countdown consisting of these guys.

Best Songs: Panama, You Really Got Me, And The Cradle Will Rock, Jump, Ain't Talking Bout Love, Unchained, Ice Cream Man, Right Now, Dreams

Worst Songs: Jamie's Cryin', Dance the Night Away, Love Walks In

DCV Top Bands of the 80's: #8

#8 The Police:

My favorite memory of the Police was when the Dolberries all loaded into the Volare sometime during the summer of 1983 to drop Dolberry! off at the Naval Academy for some summer program while the rest of the family vacationed at Ocean City. I do not remember why I went along w/ this idea. Anyway, I had a decent enough time in Annapolis. I got some good brooding in while listening to U2's amazing War album on my walkman while running around the Naval Academy's track from which you could see Chesapeake Bay. I also had some fun learning about coastal engineering w/ sand dunes and stuff in the USNA wave tank. Very cool. Anyway, I probably would have gone to the Naval Academy but for three reasons: 1) the call of the Billiken, 2) I was pretty sure that I'd never get the hang of that strange thing the cadets have to do w/ their shoes whenever they turn a corner, and 3) I think you needed a Congressional letter of recommendation & we were Larouchies at the time. Anyway, from what I've gathered over the years, the rest of the family had a miserable time at the beach w/o me, and vowed never to be away from me ever again. This summer were all going to the beach as a family and so far no one has signed me up for Camp Lejeune, though I'm going to grip the door handles tighter this time as we pass. As they say ... fool me once ...

What does this have to do w/ The Police? I'm getting to it.

If you've been a reader of the DCV since day one, you'll know I was once upon a time a great countdown buff. Now, I hardly ever count stuff down (at least not quickly). 1983 was the golden era of countdowns & somehow I was able to talk Mom & Pop into constantly scanning the radio to see which song would be played the most during our car ride. Looking back, I can't imagine how annoying this must have been ... to listen to 5-10 seconds of every song before searching for another one. It certainly appears to indicate some guilt on the part of the parental units in dropping their only son off at military school while they went to the beach. The most-played-song contest came down to two songs: the horrific Sergio Mendes ballad "Never Going to Let You Go" and (here comes your payoff) The Police's "Every Breath You Take". As we entered into Kentucky heading west/home on I-64, EBYT was trailing by two plays, but aided by better knowledge of which stations were likely to play the Police and staying away from Mendes-favoring stations, Dolberry was able to engineer a victory for Sting, Stuart, & Andy.

The Police had a lot of great songs. "Roxanne" is pretty good, but if you've never had the pleasure of listening to it w/ accompanying falsetto from Dolberry, you haven't experienced it in full. "Don't Stand So Close to Me" was always a Trinity cross-country favorite which was sung when someone would try to run too close to you in practice. I love the fact that the Police were able to work this guy into a song so seamlessly. "Synchronicity II" was a pretty amazing song as well ... as the lyrics to that one pretty much summed up how I felt every day fighting the traffic home in Chicago.

Another working day has ended
Only the rush hour hell to face
Packed like lemmings into shiny metal boxes
Contestants in a suicidal race.

Sting's solo career was sort of a disappointment for those of us who enjoy rocking out on occasion. Guess he was doing was he wanted to be doing though, so bully to him. Hope their reunion tour goes well this summer. They're playing at Churchill Downs at some point. I guess Louisville has Giacomo to thank for that.

Best Songs: Every Breath, Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic, Don't Stand So Close to Me, Message in a Bottle, Synchronicity II, Roxanne

Worst Song: After a while I got tired of "King of Pain", but it was ok.

APD Baseball

Our baseball team is starting to feel like we're playing soccer or hockey, as we tied our 2nd game of the season tonight. This one was 2-2. We played really good defense and got some great defense, but left the bases loaded in both of the last two innings.

APD pitched 2 shutout innings and walked his first two times up & came up w/ the bases juiced and two outs in the bottom of the fifth (w/ time having run out). He got down 0-2 to a fast pitcher, then chopped one down to the 3rd baseman who made a nice play & got the force at home. Then in the 6th, we had the bases loaded & our leadoff hitter popped one up to 2nd. It was a really exciting game. Probably no one deserved to lose. I think we're in 8th out of 12 now at 2-5-2.

Euphoria!

This blog is boring enough w/o me getting into details about my softball games, but last night's game was too much fun to move past.

I've been hitting much better lately. On the Gold team (10-1, 2nd of 17), I've gotten on base 7 straight times (6 hits, 1 E5). On the Blue team (6-4, 2nd of 6), I was leading the team in hitting going into our last game (~ .700). Anyway, we were down 17-8 going into the last inning last night. Dolberry had made the last out of the prior inning so I was minding my own business coaching 1st as our team battled back w/ a whole bunch of hits to 17-15. So, I came up w/ 2 outs, 2 on, and down by two, & cranked one down the first base line that bounced by the RF to the fence for an 18-17 Blue victory. It's been since Chicago that I got a hit as fun as that one.

APD had a nice game today as well. One hit and he scored our only run in a 2-1 loss. He was the losing pitcher, but not really his fault as he pitched 2 IP, struck out 2, & walked one. Unfortunately, we had a ground ball that was an E6, E3, E2 that allowed two to score. Oh well. After that we had our annual parent-kid game & they won that one 9-8. KMD got a big hit in that game as well, so we all are hot.

DCV Top Bands of the 80s: #9 (new contest!)

#9 Men at Work

I remember the first album I ever really wanted (& got) was Men At Work's Business as Usual. Prior to that, I was always happy w/ 45's or taping individual songs onto cassettes. Yes, I feel old. Anyway, Men at Work pretty much dominated 1982 and 1983. "Who Can It Be Now" was #14 for the year in 1982 and they had three songs in the year end Billboard countdown in 1983: "Down Under" was #8, "Overkill" was #41, and "It's a Mistake" was #71. According to wikipedia, Men At Work is one of only five artists ever to have the #1 song in the U.S. and the U.K. at the same time (along w/ Simon & Garfunkel, Rod Stewart, Beyonce, and the Beatles ... seven times).

However, pretty much as fast as one could eat a vegemite sandwich; they were gone.

Primarily famous as an Austrailan band, the lead singer Colin Hay was actually born in Scotland, only moving Down Under when he was 14. One of the DCV Top 5 bands also features a few Scottish lads. Anyone who can guess the Dolberry Top 5 Bands of the 80's in order (post guesses below) will when a special prize pack of a Dolberry! Best of the 80's CD and an old Dolberry t-shirt from the 80's that doesn't fit anymore. Good luck!

DCV Top Bands of the 80s: #10

(Has anything so meaningless ever been so drawn out? I'm guessing, no.)

#10. The Fixx:

Only in the 80's could you have so many good bands who started out as hairdressers as Cy Curnin of the Fixx did (and the Flock of Seagulls guy). The Fixx entered Dolberry's conciousness in '82 as one of the early MTV heavy rotation stalwarts w/ songs such as "Stand or Fall" and the apocalyptic "Red Skies".

I wonder what year marked the point in which people quit worrying that the world could end any second due to nuclear war. I remember thinking about atomic mayhem many nights falling asleep while growing up. And for you youngsters out there ... we had this so-called "Doomsday Clock" which showed how close the world was to ending and it was always like 11:57pm. Just for hoots, I googled it to see where we're at now: 11:55pm. Now that's progress, folks. Good thing I was already staying up late tonight going over everything I could have coached differently in our 3-0 loss tonight.

Anyway, "Red Skies" made the prospects of a nuclear holocaust totally hummable ... "Red Skies at night ... red skies at night ... Oh Oh ... oh oh ... Oh OH OH oh Oh Oh ho ho!"

The Fixx hit it really big in 1983 w/ their Reach the Beach album featuring the smash single "One Thing Leads to Another" and less-smashier hits "Saved By Zero" and "The Sign of Fire". I saw the Fixx live in St. Louis w/ one of my earliest SLU friends Harry (last name forgotten). The Fixx started a great SLU tradition though w/ their "sharing" of zeroes w/ the crowd. Cy Curnin would form a zero w/ his thumb and forefinger and throw it to the crowd, then patiently wait for someone in the crowd to throw it back, whenceupon (?) he would catch it using a reverse motion of the throwng motion. We did it a lot at SLU because it was as fun and creative as hackysack w/o having to have any hackysack-skillz.

My other Fixx memory was that Ron M. hated 'em, or at least disliked them. One night when I was in a grumpy mood, I vowed to listen to Reach the Beach all night long to indulge my gloom by hopefully passing it on to someone else. Two problems w/ the plan ... 1) Ron usually forestalled getting gloomy by hitting/kicking/stickwhacking people & 2) I could only listen to about 6 Fixx songs by that point (1985?).

Best Songs: Saved by Zero, Red Skies, Are We Ourselves, One Thing Leads to Another
Worst Songs: The Sign of Fire, Less Cities More Moving People

Grazie, Domo arigato, Chong rakhmat!

What a great weekend! Thank you seems inadequate. (So, I put 3 "thank yous" in the title in different languages.)

Most blog readers were there, so no need for the usual tedious detail. Thursday was a slow, wet, traffic-laden drive in. Friday was spent at the Downs for the Oaks. Never been at the track when everybody in the group was winning. (Thanks to Lucky Chucky.) Saturday was a great day highlighted by a front row view of the Derby, time w/ great friends, and a trip to the paddock for Race 2. Mostly losers in the picking department, but that was ok. (Congrats to Carey who won w/ Street Sense. 2nd year in a row for him. Will start calling him Lucky Carey.)

Special thanks to ...

Uncle Brian for treating us to a really special experience ... even at the expense of the owners of Double or Nothing.

Uncle Greg for the smoked turkey, parking pass, & already on-line pictures.

Aunt Linda for the early reservation of the space and Nathan for the security presence.

G-G Fitz for the companionship & watching Alex for stretches.

The Alexanders, Cynthia/Paul, and the Timins for being such great relatives/friends.

Lucky Chucky for the free money.

KMD, Sparky, Scott, & the fabulous Dolberry Sisters for a full day w/ a full house of under 10 year olds.

And most of all Mom & Dad ... flat out the best parents anyone could ask for. I hope I grow up to be like you guys. (KMD says I've already grown up. Oh well.)

Derby picks

... for entertainment purposes only ...

4 - Great Hunter
3 - Any Given Saturday
2 - Street Sense
1 - Circular Quay

Sweet Victory and other thoughts

APD's team won today 3-1. The kids played really great. Our record is now 1-2-1 which sounds like an NHL record. Not sure if we've had any overtime losses. APD got the top of the first started w/ a 1-out single, then scored on an HR by our #3 hitter. APD stopped to see if the ball was going to be caught by the RF (it was a rocket right at him, that he deftly dodged) and our #3 hitter, who blazingly fast, had caught him by 2nd base. Fortunately he didn't pass him. APD made a sliding catch in RCF in the bottom of the first for a pretty nice inning. Our ace pitcher (& #3 hitter) struck out the side in 9 pitches in the 2nd. We got a run in the top of the third when one of our batters who rarely swings got an RBI single. APD pitched a scoreless 3rd. He gave up one in the fourth to narrow the lead to 3-1, but struck out a good hitter w/ runners on the corners. They got runners on the corners again in the 5th (last inning due to time), but our pitcher got a K to end it. It was very exciting for players and coaches alike. We play again on Monday.

Running down my softball performance in the blog must have fired me up as I went 3-3 w/ a (bloop) double. We won to improve to 3-3.

I'm excited about the Majerus hire at SLU. Hopefully he stays healthy & happy & SLU returns to the gravy years of .... well .... hey we used to be good at soccer.

Was glad the Browns didn't draft Quinn at #3, then glad they did draft him at #22.

Looking forward to the Derby!

Well we didn't lose ...

We didn't win either ... a 1-1 tie. APD played great w/ a tough-luck 6-4 fielders choice (on a ball that would've made it up the middle but for the mound) & a walk. Then he made a sweet unassisted double play on a pop up to 2B. It was kind of frustrating, as we should have won about three separate ways, but oh well. Try again tomorrow. The coolest part was on the way home hearing APD say "I love playing baseball."

Mojo came in 3rd in the EPA Earth Day photo contest which was the biggest miscarriage of justice sense OJ was let off. Plus, in a separate category (fauna), a picture of a gorilla came in third also. Seriously, who votes two photos ahead of a gorilla & the cutest baby around?

I like Circular Quay in the Derby.

I'm off work today, so to all you working ... enjoy!

Update

Lot going on here it seems, but then when I go to put in on blog, it doesn't seem like that much.

Work is busy. This probably won't change any time this year. Oh well. I'm a co-author on a paper that got accepted into Atmospheric Environment today. It's not as exciting as it sounds. Here are the things I'm working on: this, this, and this. I'm doing (part) of a briefing for the Asst. Administrator next Wed. It's not as exciting as it sounds.

APD's team is 0-2 w/ a 10-5 loss and a 10-1 loss. We play another 0-2 team tomorrow, so we will either be incredibly joyous or incredibly despondent by 7:30 tomorrow evening. By "we" I mean "me". APD takes after Dolberry in that baseball/softball can be a good thing if either the team OR the individual does well. It doesn't have to be "and". W/ coaching the team & the individual are kinda the same.

Softball goes on. In Apex we are 2-3. In Cary we lost our first game last night, so we're 6-1. I've pretty much settled into being a pretty mediocre player. Can't remember the last time I've gotten an extra base hit.

Youth group is fun, though it makes for busy Sundays.

I've only exercised maybe twice since doing that triathlon in March. I think I've set some sort of record for fastest getting out of shape.

KMD's had some tests lately that have all come back great, except for having anemia. I'd pretty much figured the burden of 24/7 w/ Dolberry was wearing her down, but there's a physical reason as well.

We're looking forward to the Derby trip. They scheduled a mandatory meeting (for chaperones) to talk about APD's Outer Banks field trip for that Thursday at 2pm, so we may be getting in later than previously thought. Oy.

Papa Sparky is kicking my butt in the blogging department. I get great joy out of the AOOSFB page and the smiling face that's up there almost every day & I know I'm not the only one.

I'm Tired

I Can Fly Wright Brothers Style

APD's class did a great job tonight w/ the annual 4th grade play about the Wright Bros. as kids. APD had the role of Octave Chanute who was an advisor to Orville and Wilbur. He did a fantastic job as did all the kids. It was cool to see him so excited afterward. He said he used the words "good", "great", & "awesome" over 400 times today.

They had a long day w/ the end of the standardized tests, then they stayed at school to get makeup, eat dinner, etc. The play runs through tomorrow night after which they have a big cast party. Very cool. Alex's makeup made him look like a member of the Cure ... had the Cure existed in the early 20th century.

Anyway, he has great teachers, so a shout out to all DCV-reading teachers. Thanks for all you do!

Switchfoot Concert

Went to see Switchfoot w/ parts of our Youth Group and other folks from church last Friday. It was a good show. Outdoors on a very pleasant night in a big field. They played the following songs:

Stars
Politicians (my current favorite)
Oh! Gravity
We are one tonight
Gone
This is your life
Learning to breathe
Faust, midas, and myself
On fire
Ammuntion
American dream
Shadow proves the sunshine
Awakening
Dirty second hands
Meant to live
Only hope
Dare you to move

Needless to say, I felt every one of my 40 years old.

Attending a concert w/ 7th graders did remind me that I still need to give the "Life Episodes" treatment to the Fleetwood Mac concert I almost attended in 7th grade. I assume any negligent parenting charges would have had some sort of statute of limitations expiration by this point.

Opening Day!

Had our first NC Mechanical game today. Nice weather for it. Upper 60's w/ some sun.

We had two tough innings & one really good one which added up to a 10-5 loss. Almost all the kids seemed to have fun. Am looking forward to our next game.

APD had an amazing inning of pitching in which he struck out the side on maybe 12 pitches. He throws strikes. Since he's a lefty w/ long unkempt hair, KMD has started calling him the "Little Unit" after Randy Johnson. Batting he had a K w/ a BB and a run scored. He's a gutty kid.

He's having a pretty good stretch because he won his HeroClix tournament this morning & he had a really fun sleepover last night in which he stayed up to 1:30a w/ friends. I told him he had to stay up past 1am from now on on game nights ... sort of a reverse curfew.

DCV Top Bands of the 80's: 15-11

15. Prince

Hey, did the diminuitive Purple One rock the Super Bowl or what? That was seriously impressive. For whatever reason, I associate Prince with my days as a lifeguard at Woodhaven. There's not much to be said about Prince that hasn't already been covered, so let's reminisce about my days as a lifeguard.

Q. Did you ever save anyone?

A. Not really. I got in the pool once. A little kid had bounced to a part of the pool from which he could no longer bounce up to get air. I think someone would have gotten him if I didn't.

Q. Were the kid's parents appreciative?

A. Not really. The mom seemed a little put out by my interruption of her book.

Q. Did all the girls hangout by the lifeguard stand when you were the guard?

A. Not really. The main person who hung out by the stand was Kent Maguire and he was usually trying to throw my stuff (clothes, radio, etc.) into the pool.

Q. Why do you suppose no girls hung out by you.

A. Not sure. I was very concerned about not getting sunburned while lifeguarding. As a result, I wrapped myself from head to toe in an oversized towel in an attempt to avoid the sun. I looked like Katherine Hepburn in her reclusive days.

Q. What was the hardest part of being a lifeguard?

A. No doubt it was the lifeguard test. You had to do all sorts of odd tests to qualify for this minimum wage job. For instance swim 800 yards in under 15 minutes ... somewhat overkill for a pool where it was about 18 yards to the farthest point from the chair. Plus, you had to rescue strange guys at the test. Ugh.

Q. Did you ever do anything really foolish as a lifeguard?

A. What a strange question. But yes. On one cool, cloudy day late in the summer when pretty much every fun thing one could do at Woodhaven (and those days are very special to me ... no better place to be a youth in the summer) had been exhausted ... David Orwick & Brian Maguire talked me into (or I talked them into) tying a lane line from the lifeguard chair to the high dive ... upon which they tried to dive over it from the low dive. There was probably a 35% chance of breaking your neck doing so, but they didn't, which is probably a good thing from all perspectives, including that of the Woodhaven insurer.

Q. Was that last sentence 6 lines long?

A. Yes, it was. I wrote that sentence like it was 1999.

Best songs: Let's Go Crazy, Sign O' the Times, Little Red Corvette

Worst song: Kiss

14. Flock of Seagulls

All right, I got on Bon Jovi for getting into the top 20 despite only having one good song. It turns out now if you had one really good song PLUS the best hairstyle of all time, you can get into the Top 15. Despite shooting their seminal "I Ran" video in a Shillito's dressing room, the Flock drew widespead acclaim w/ the hairstyle of Mike Score (a former hairdresser).

I frequently wore this hairstyle at SLU, mostly on Friday nights. Was it a desperate appeal for attention? On my part, probably. Not sure on the Flock of Seagulls part. I still break out my Flock do on occasion. I wore it once to work about two years ago & people still talk about it. Maybe for the beach. Anyway, I liked the Flock's second single as well, but not enough people did, & unlike Dolberry (& his considerable charisma), the Flock didn't have anything beyond the hairstyle to maintain attention and kinda faded away.

Best songs: I Ran, Wishing, Space Age Love Song

Worst song: none really distinguished themselves enough to be noticed

13. Warren Zevon

Believe it was the estimable Tom Menke who turned me on to Warren Zevon. He had a live album & remember us frequently rocking out to "Poor Poor Pitiful Me" and "Excitable Boy" among others. Along w/ Etienne, really enjoyed his 80's stuff. The guitar solos in "Sentimental Hygiene" (which I believe are played my Neil Young) are legendary shredders. The haunting "Spendid Isolation" called out Michael Jackson before most of us realized he was a certifiable loony. The whole Sentimental Hygiene album (backed by R.E.M.) is one of the best of the 80's. Etienne, Dolberry, & some friends from Region 5 saw him in a show in Chicago. Good deal. Possibly one of the most clever songwriters of all time, Zevon died way too early in 2003 of mesothelioma. On Letterman, he famously intoned "that he may have made a mistake in not seeing a doctor for over 20 years" and advised all of us that would outlive him "to enjoy every sandwich". Thanks Warren. Will do.

Best songs: Sentimental Hygiene, Poor Poor Pitiful Me, Bad Karma

Worst songs: I didn't like some of the acoustic treatments on his live album, but that's quibbling.

12. Dire Straits

Their 1985 album Brothers in Arms has sold 25 million copies worldwide. Really big album. I will forever associate the song "Walk of Life" with my first ever shoulder dislocation (shoulder dislocation counter 000014) as it was playing on the radio as we drove to the ER. Their pre-80's stuff was really good as well. Following the monstrous success of Brothers in Arms, Mark Knopfler and Co. made the questionable business decision of not releasing another album for 6 years.

Best Songs: Money for Nothing, Sultans of Swing, Tunnel of Love

Worst Song: Calling Elvis

11. Bruce Springsteen

There are probably millions of people who like Springsteen more than I do, but even still the amount that I like him is enough to get him to 11th in the DCV rankings. My #1 memory of Springsteen was one night listening to WLS (out of Chicago) and hearing them debut the first single of Born in the U.S.A. which was "Dancing in the Dark". Remember being relatively unimpressed, but that was probably the worst song off the whole thing. I guess real Springsteen fans look down on this period, but for my money there's no better feel-bad-for-yourself-'cause-you-got-no-girlfriend then "Downbound Train". I got ample use out of that song through most of my SLU days.

Best Songs: Thunder Road, Glory Days, The Rising (each from three separate decades)

Worst Song: 57 Channels (& Nothing On)

Shamrock Challenge: Professional Division

Looks like the competition is going to be pretty tight in the amateur division, but here's the elite division. (Other non-shamrock flowers shown for size.)

Careful observers will note the dusting of snow we got this morning outside. It was our third biggest snow of the season.

Get Well Wishes to All

G'ma: Will be praying for your rapid return to health.

G'pa: Hope you're hanging in there. Sorry about the Buckeyes (again!)

Katheigh: Glad to hear the strep is gone ... hope Spring Break never is ("gone" that is).

Kristin: Hope the surgery gets rid of the CT ... as best as possible.

Carrie: Job stuff. Hope Mom/Dad's visit heals all.

Gabe: Good riddance to that appendix. More room for hot dogs.

Isaac: Hoping that broken wrist heals fully.

My goodness ... did I leave anyone off?!?

(Oh yeah, Katheigh's sickly looking shamrock. I'll post a real shamrock pic tomorrow when the sun comes out & I can get a good pic of mine.)

Apex condemns sheep house & other thoughts

The DCV continues to stay on this story. Our town council passed an ordinance banning all livestock, except horses, from Apex. Closing the stable door after the indoor sheep have accumulated, I guess. It's not effective until June 1st, thankfully.

If there was ever a doubt that Bob Huggins was the leading weasel of all sports weasels, then it was removed this afternoon when he resigned from K-State (after a solid 1-year tenure) to take the WVU job. I'm not THAT sympathetic to K-State. They had to know who they were dealing with & they were probably fortunate to get off w/o a trip to Probationville. Still, it seems extremely self-centered to recruit a bunch of kids to Manhattan KS then leave them there as soon as something better opens up. It's not like the world was beating down his door to hire him last year. And from an environmental perspective, how many acres of purple fabric were wasted for one year's worth of covering Huggins' expansive gut? Anyway, WVU he's your problem now. Let us know how that works out for you.

Also, before I put this on craigslist, will give DCV readers a shot. We're looking to get rid of three healthy yaks. Motivated seller. Must take ownership by 5/31.

DCV Top Bands of the 80's: 20-16

#20 Replacements:
With most, if not all, of the previous 20 entries there's either been a high school reference or a college reference associated w/ the song. There were two other years in the 80's that were spent at an educational facility that holds a lower place in Dolberry's memories than either Trinity H.S. or Saint Louis U. That would be the University of Chicago. (As an aside, the U of C has called us every night between 7p and 8p for the past two weeks. Having answered in the past, I know it's the Geophysical Sciences Dept. They want money. In the past, I've always politely declined to provide it for them. I think if they had exhibited as much interest in me while I was a student there, it might have gone better for both of us.) Anyway, the Replacements pretty much perfectly fit the overall feel of my time at U of C. As I was over my head there, the 'Mats pretty much seemed to be over their head in terms of making professional music. But for whatever reason I was in Hyde Park and the Replacements were making albums. And we both went at w/ a similar slacker attitude. Whereas I got half-hearted C's in most of my classes on subjects I had no clue on (e.g., fluid dynamics), Paul Westerberg and company were releasing albums titled Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash and (most unfortunately) Tim. My penultimate Replacements moment was their free WXRT 4th of July show which the lovely KMD (at the time the lovely KMB) taped for me. It was the band's second to last show ever. After about an hour, they got tired of playing, so for the song "Hootenanny" each band member switched instruments, before eventually leaving the stage to the roadies, who also left, leaving wailing guitar feedback ... all on live radio. The DJ who rushed onto the air (after about 25 seconds of sirenous feedback) intoned somewhat cautiously "Um ... I believe the Replacements have left the stage." Anyway Dolberry survived this period as did most of the Replacements (3 out of the original 4 ... one died of an overdose).

Best Songs: I Will Dare, Take Me Down to the Hospital, Can't Hardly Wait
Worst Songs: Attitude

19. John Hiatt:
Well, how about that ... here's another U of C favorite. And another one who was frequently playing live shows on WXRT (an awesome radio station at the time ... I listened to it a bit when I was in Chicago in February ... still seemed to be playing an eclectic mix of mostly rock). After maybe a minute of thought, I can't think of any existential link between Hiatt's music and the dreariness of those U of C days. A native Hoosier who relocated to Nashville, to me Hiatt was one of the earlier forerunners of the so-called alt.country genre. Most of his songs are touching fables about subjects like family ("Your Dad Did", "Georgia Rae"), or his optimistic recovery from alcoholism ("Slow Turning", "Paper Thin"), or more humorous topics like stealing cars from Elvis ("Tennessee Plates") or a couples that rob banks w/ their child in an infant seat ("Trudy and Dave"). Hiatt seemed to be on the verge of decent commercial success after his 1995 Grammy-nominated Walk On album, but his work since that one has been kind of disappointing.

Best Songs: Dust Down a Country Road, Georgia Rae, Tennessee Plates, The Rest of the Dream
Worst Song: Little Head

18. Def Leppard
Not a whole lot to say here. Def Leppard was big on the Trinity cross-country team. The "Gunter glieben glauchen globen" opening to "Rock of Ages" was a semi-catchphrase back in the day. According to Wikipedia, the phrase doesn't mean anything in German and was only used because Joe Elliott wanted something other than "one, two, three, four". Pyromania and Hysteria were both solid albums that can still be enjoyed to this day. Def Leppard seems to have some credibility even w/ kids of today. Even APD knows the tale of their one-armed drummer.

17. Bon Jovi
I guess you can make the Top 20 even by only having one really good song. Bon Jovi's "Living on a Prayer" is in my opinion a requisite resident on any list of classic '80's songs. From the mumbled Star Wars-y opening "Once upon a time ... in a land not so far away", to the sweet 4-beat rhythm of the bass, to Jon Bon Jovi's growling "Tommy used to work on the docks ..." and "Gina works the diner all day", through the soaring anthemic chorus of "We're halfway there ... OH OH ... LIVING ON A PRAYER" ... stumbling a little thru a 2nd and last stanza about Tommy having to hock his guitar (evidence of the toughest times a young couple could go through in the 80s, apparently) ... before completely recovering by singing the great chorus several more times. Just a classic song.

Best song: Living on a Prayer, any of their other songs that sound a lot like "Prayer" (e.g., It's My Life)

Worst Song: Wanted Dead or Alive, Bad Medicine

16. Tears for Fears
This English duo dominated the charts in 1985 w/ "Everybody Wants to Rule the World", "Head Over Heels", and "Shout". It took them four years to release a followup to the huge-selling Songs from the Big Chair. In that time, the world had sort of moved on, at least I had, and the strongly Beatles-influenced The Seeds of Love were sown on rocky ground and the band split shortly thereafter. Anyway, cooler than all that is that in Relient K's classic ode to our favorite decade "In Love with 80's (Pink Tux to the Prom)" they sing the following lyrics that capture the entire decade in about 25 words ...

and I only want to pierce my left ear

I've been working on this mustache all summer long

and my favorite band will always be Tears for Fears

and I'm gonna wear a pinx tux to the prom

Papa Sparky! laps the DI field

In an upset of gargantuan scale, Papa Sparky went from worst to first to win the 2007 Dolberry Invitational. Given his accuracy this year, you can pretty much take FL over OSU to the back Monday night. I think he'll be in the top 1% in the ESPN picks. That's the last time I taunt anyone who finishes last in the DI. Be thankful, Chubby.

Congratulations PS! Your gift card is on the way ... ("on the way" is defined loosely).

Baaaaaaa, part 2

Figured DCV readers would want an update on the Apex sheep story. Here's my favorite part of the whole deal (from a different N & O article)

District Court Judge Jane Gray walked into her courtroom after lunch to see a gaggle of television cameras. "Oh God," she said to the media. "The sheepman?"

Watts' attorney, Josh Hansen, asked the judge to release Watts pending trial. Gray refused but reduced Watts' bail from $30,000 to $12,000. He posted the lesser bond and was released. As Watts was led from the courtroom, another inmate awaiting a turn before the judge loudly bleated like a sheep, earning Gray's ire.

Classic.

Baaaaaaa!

Hey, the Peak of Good Living has made the national news for the 2nd time in less than a year. Pretty much right in downtown Apex a guy was keeping 80 sheep in his house as pets. I guess it wasn't against any ordinances until they got loose yesterday & started grazing on the floral arrangements in the town cemetery.

Who knows what will turn up next in Apex? We've had a toxic waste recycling center and now a houseflock of sheep. My money says Michael Jackson will be involved.

DCV Top Bands of the 80's: 25-21

#25 Blondie:
I guess Blondie was one of the first "new wave" type bands to find success in the U.S. in the late seventies / early eighties, in the dying days of disco. They started out as NYC underground punk rockers before finding success in England in the late 70's. They hit it big w/ "Heart of Glass" worldwide in 1978. I remember listening to this song (along w/ the Knack's "My Sharona") while playing Dungeons and Dragons (and Risk) w/ Topher Walther & neighborhood friends. I always thought "Heart of Glass" had a bad word in it & remembered having to be careful when singing it, but a google scan of lyrics reveals "gas" and "glass", but not the term I remember. In these scandalous days of 2007, when people post right out in the open about "butt darts", the whole thing lingers pleasantly like the sweet innocent haze of youth.

Best Songs: Heart of Glass, Call Me
Worst Song: The Tide is High

#24 Rush
I admit to being initially underwhelmed and not properly appreciative of the ultimate Canadian power trio. In high school I was familiar w/ Rush via "Tom Sawyer" and knew of people who enjoyed their 2112 album. I think the reason why I wasn't too enamored w/ 'em in high school is captured by this wikipedia description of the theme behind the "2112" album ... "in the year 2062, a galaxy-wide war results in the union of all planets under the rule of the Red Star of the Solar Federation." .... O .... K ... Let us know how that all ends up Rush. Also, it takes about 10 years to get used to Geddy Lee's high-pitched voice. But once you do, how can you not enjoy such great tunes as "Limelight", "Spirit of Radio", "Subdivisions"? Kevin Evars (an extremely cool guy) turned me on to them most. "The Big Money" was a big hit at SLU. Rush had lots of good lines "Conform or be cast out", or "Even if you don't decide, you have still made a choice." Good stuff. They're still making new music, I believe which you got to respect.

Best Songs: "Limelight", "Subdivisions", "Spirit of Radio"
Worst Song: "New World Man" (their only US top 40 hit)

23: Cheap Trick
All right, now we're getting into the good bands. Rush and now the pride of Rockford IL (typically one of the lowest rated cities whenever they rate 'em), Cheap Trick. This group took an unusual route to stardom, becoming big in Japan first then establishing a foothold on U.S. rock radio via a live album recorded in Japan, At Budokan. The Trick had a distinctive video presence as well, w/ the chain-smoking drummer, a long-haired crooner, an anonymous bass player, and the guitarist who could make goofy faces and played goofy looking guitars. Their song "She's Tight" was a big hit amongst the SLU crew. I believe Ron & Dolberry covered it at one point. I think we recorded it on someone else's cassette. We weren't always real considerate.

Best Songs: I Want You To Want Me, Surrender, Dream Police
Worst Song: The Flame (their only #1 single)

#22 Duran Duran
It's impossible to overstate the importance of cable TV and especially MTV on the lives of American teenagers in the early 80's. I don't think it's an exaggeration to state that the day we got MTV was pretty close to what it must have been like for people to get TV at all in the '50s. This despite the fact that MTV played only like 12 videos over and over when we got it. You had the "video killed the radio star" one, then you'd get that Wall of Voodoo one where the guy's face emerged from a bowl of beans, there was a cool Peter Gabriel video for "Shock the Monkey" and then you had two Duran Duran songs: "Hungry Like the Wolf" and "Rio". And where the other videos looked like they been shot on a budget consisting of coins found under the couch, "HLTW" and "Rio" looked like major Hollywood productions. You had your Simon LeBon looking all handsome in all sorts of picturesque settings, surrounded by pretty girls, and in one famous case ... a conspiring-with-the-enemy monkey. None of it made any sense and the music was considerably iffy after the first two singles, but double D was one of the bigger bands of the 80's. Go figure.

Best Songs: Rio, Hungry Like the Wolf, Save a Prayer
Worst Song: The Reflex

#21 Genesis
These guys were like the bizarro world version of Rush. I really liked them in high school, then grew to loathe them in college. Matt Jung showed me the light. He viewed (views?) Phil Collins as the devil incarnate. (I'd always pegged the devil as a guitarist, not a drummer.) This band went through musical styles faster than Tennessee can lose a 20 point lead. Their playing aligned w/ my musical listening preferences for a relatively short period in the early 80's. From 1981's Abacab to 1986's Invisible Touch, Genesis churned out the most radio-friendly pop-rock around. My favorite album was the eponymous Genesis which had on its cover a baby toy which presumably evoked happy memories.

Best Songs: Taking It All to Hard, Abacab, That's All
Worst Song: anything by Phil Collins solo

Update

Hope the end of the weekend (or whenever you're reading this) finds everyone well ...

In Dolberry Invitational news, congrats to Papa Sparky for successfully copying off of Dolberry's typically astute picks. PS is in the 97th percentile which (while seeming mathmatically impossible) is 123% higher than his picks from last year. It looks to me as if PS wins if Florida repeats, Dolberry! wins if UCLA wins, & the Hellraiser wins if the Hoyas prevail. If Ohio St wins, it's either Sparky or Dolberry depeding upon who they play. Thanks to the rest of you for participating. Maybe next year.

In remodeling news, Chuck put a tile floor down in our kitchen this weekend. It looks really sweet! It was his birthday present to the beautiful KMD. A lot of hard work, for sure. Dolberry! stayed out of the way.

In little league news, the tryouts & drafts went well. We were very happy to get our neighbor, but we just missed out on one of our old machine pitch players who we would've loved to get. First practice is Wednesday.

In work news, my paper for a conference in Portugal got accepted, but now if looks like travel funds are unavailable. I'm not that broken up. Dolberry is proud of his streak of never having left the fruited plains of America.

In blog news, despite pressures from the bean counters, I'm not going to have a "butt darts" post in a shameless attempt to increase traffic. The DCV has standards, people.

First softball game is this Friday. Rotisserie draft is this Sunday. My Diamond Mind league starts this week. Ay carumba. Between work, church, blog, baseball, & softball, I'll be lucky to survive the next 5 months.

Weekend Update

Having PC/Internet problems at home. Not fun. Think our ethernet card is fried as the wireless network is still ok. Hopefully will be resolving this evening.

Baseball tryouts / draft got rained out last Saturday & were reset to this weekend. Kind of a bummer since our first practice was supposed to be this week.

I did my first triathlon of the year on Sunday. Results are here. I did it about 3:30 faster than last year, which probably isn't too surprising given last year I wasn't really going all out (just trying to finish). I finished 18 of 33 in my age group, which was short of my top 50% goal. It was very cold. I should have worn gloves. 39 degrees at race start w/ a nice wind. Standing there in my thin tri-shorts, dripping wet, hopping on a bike, & then drying off thru ventilation via cold, dry air ... I wondered if this is what living in Alaska feels like. I imagine AK is even worse.

The highlight of the weekend was then going to a practice softball game on Sunday afternoon where I went 4 for 4. It's always good to get all your hits out of the way before the season starts.

Dolberry Invitational

Join the DCV brackets challenge. Borders gift card to the winner. Go to this web page to sign up.

Password: billikens

Spring Training Trip

Great trip as always ... some highlights.

Wed 3/7: Traffic was rough getting down to our Orlando stopover. Two separate stretches where we either came to a complete stop or crawled for 45 minutes. We listened to three of the four MAC tournament games on radio. Living the high life! We got to Orlando too late to do both Giordano's and putt putt, so we opted for hotel pizza (ugh) & putt putt. After 11 hours in the car, worrying about whether we'd get to putt putt in time, Alex drained his very first putt. Mental preparation will get you everywhere. He ended up beating me on the first 18, which was quite surprising. Great day.

Thurs 3/8: Met Mom & Dad in Tampa, then drove down to Sarasota to see the Reds v. Tigers. Adam Dunn hit an HR which was cool. Josh Hamilton got a few hits & made a diving catch pretty much right in front of us (we were in the first row). However, the Reds suffered their first loss of the Grapefruit League season 9-7. Got to see Angela & the cousins for dinner & watch Louisville's OT win vs. WVU. Stephen called w/ Billikens updates on their surprising quarterfinal A10 win. Great day!



Fri 3/9: Played golf in the morning. Dolberry shot an amazing (for him) 99. First time breaking 100 at Oakford. The key, apparently, is to not care too much. I shot a 45 on the front, then started paying attention to my score, at which point I reverted to usual play. Closed w/ a par 4 on a tough hole, draining a 12 footer to save my double-digit round. Saw the Reds lose again, versus the Indians. We got to see the best Reds prospect since Eric Davis, Homer Bailey pitch (ahem) one-third of an inning, giving up (ahem) 5 runs, (ahem) all earned. After that we swam in the glacial waters of the Sleep Inn pool & then had dinner w/ Keith, Angela, & the cousins at a restaurant on a bay. Was asleep before my head hit the pillow. Another great day.

Sat 3/10: Got some breakfast & spent some time at the beach w/ the Baker-Fitzgeralds. Beautiful morning. Temps ranged from 60-83 our whole time there w/ seldom a cloud. Then got in the car for a very long ride to Winter Haven FL to see the Reds play the Indians. Chain O' Lakes Park (winter home of the Tribe) is nice enough once you're in your seat w/ your drink and dog, but everything else about it is problematic (traffic, location, parking, generally claustrophobia inducing nature). This is their 2nd to last year before moving to AZ. I imagine the Indians cannot wait. Heading back to Tampa for the evening, we got run off the road going 60 mph by a Floridian driver (an entirely unpredictable breed) which was fun as far as that goes. Listened to the Louisiana Derby w/ Carrie (via cell phone). I like Circular Quay in the Derby. Swam in a heated pool w/ APD while Mom & Dad held down the fort at the Bahama Breeze where there was a 60 minute wait. APD practically fell asleep at the restaurant. Great day, though too much time in the car for a vacation day.



Sun 3/11: More swimming w/ Gpa & APD. Headed over to Clearwater for a Phillies-Tigers tilt. Gpa and Gma tried unsuccessfully to rob a CVS, but we escaped & arrived at the stadium in time for several savory cheesesteaks and other baseball-related fun. Tigers won 5-3. Dropped Mom & Dad off at the airport & headed home. Trip home was much easier. Listened to 7 hours of debate about why Syracuse did not get in the NCAA, which isn't as exciting as it sounds. In order to not make it seem so late, we just stayed on standard time. We got home at 1:45a EST. Great day.



Hard to put into words how super this vacation is. The baseball, weather, & other activities were awesome, but of course it's the people who make this week so special. Thanks Mom, Dad, K, A, & KACB. Only 360 days until next year's trip.

Top Bands of the 2000's

Um, it's not finished but Relient K has clinched the top spot. Their new album (Five Score and Seven Years Ago) came out today and it is awesome. I recommend you all buy it. If you buy it & don't like it, I'll buy it off you.

My favorites: 1) Devastation and Reform, 2) I Need You, 3) Up and Up, 4) Forgiven, 5) Deathbed.

They were on Conan O'Brien last Friday. I realize that doesn't help you much at this point.

Report from Chicago Trip

Let's see ... way behind on my blogging. My trip to Chicago was great. Really uplifting conference & a lot of good ideas re: leading a youth group. The Willow Creek church in S. Barrington is pretty impressive. It has a 3-story waterfall & seats about 8,000, I'd guess. For their midweek service, I sat in the 200 level figuring they were the equivalent of the skybox seats. For free, thank you.

After the conference ended, I had about an hour to kill before heading back to O'Hare, so I drove by the hospital APD was born in, plus the apartment Kristy & I lived in in Hoffman Estates. Doing so, was flooded w/ so many happy memories, it may me cry realizing how blessed I've been. Thanks to all you guys for being so great. Did you know ... they renamed the hospital Alex was born in after him now. It's true .... see here.

Chicago's weather also made me cry, for different reasons. I think it was glad to see me again & has held a grudge for my long-distance mocking. I got the wind-whipped snow pellets and the ground blizzard. Silly me, I wore my "footies" (socks) which are fine for an NC winter, but don't work so well in places where there is snow on the ground.

The highlight of the trip was getting to see C-Lo and the lovely Annette. Opus was glad to see me and expressed it in a entirely inappropriate way. They live in a cool condo w/ some fancy painting. It was very cool to hear that C-Lo recently earned a promotion and is now Management. Also nice to catch up on the status of all the Lowrys. C-Lo treated Dolberry to the deep dish pizza which was very nice & very delicious. Things I miss about Chicago: C-Lo, baseball, pizza. Things I don't miss: weather, road conditions/traffic, lack of trees, O'Hare.

Despite bad weather, my flight was only about a half-hour delayed which isn't that bad. All in all, a really nice trip.

DCV Top Bands of the 80's: 30-26

#30: The Connells
It's kind of funny as the Connells are from Raleigh, but I started liking them prior to moving to the Triangle. I vividly remember cranking one of their best tunes 'Stone Cold Yesterday' on a bus trip ("riding the dog" may be a Life Episode some time) back to Chicago from visiting SLU friends ... musical help in a time of displacement. It's sort of odd that a band as popular as R.E.M. wouldn't have any direct imitators, and I don't think the Connells were either, but their first album Boylan Heights certainly has the feel of R.E.M's glory days. Most of the time they were straight ahead rock, especially the 1993 release Ring. Like another American band that we'll see in the Top 5, they were far more popular in Europe than here. Check 'em out.

Best Songs: Slackjawed, Stone Cold Yesterday, Disappointed, Scotty's Lament
Worst Songs: 74-75

#29: Simple Minds
For whatever reason, Dolberry liked all things Scottish in his formative years. Let's see ... I had a crush on Sheena Easton, I liked bagpipe music, I liked wearing plaid, I entered road races under the pseudonym Stuart Adamson (late leader of Big Country), my favorite cross country race was always the Highland Fling at Joe Creason Park ... shoot I even have a brother-in-law named Scott. All that said, I never really liked Simple Minds' music as much as I felt like I should have given their Scottish intangibles, height-challenged nature of their lead singer (Jim Kerr), & their tendency to shoot their videos on picturesque looking cliffs. It probably stemmed from the uber-success of "Don't You Forget About Me" from the Breakfast Club movie. I didn't really like Breakfast Club all that much. It seems like the writers went out of their way to present several high school student stereotypes: the rich girl, the oddball, the jock, the brainy nerd, and the delinquent ... but none of them really spoke to the young Dolberry (i.e., charismatically-charged superhero and friend to all ... who dabbled in countdowns sure ... yes & hung out w/ some brainy nerds ... and ran track ... but still ... hey Molly Ringwald was hot back then.)

Best Songs: Sanctify Yourself, Alive and Kicking
Worst Songs: Don't You Forget About Me (for how often it gets played to this day)

#28 Billy Joel:
This is kind of ironic, because Billy Joel was just in Raleigh last night & our good friends the Jensens went & had a good time. Eyewitness accounts (Seriously, do any other of my rival blogs offer this? Of course, not.) indicate that he now introduces himself at shows as "Billy Joel's father". That's a pretty good line. Kristy & I saw him in the 80's w/ our SLU friends. He put on a good show. I do remember when I quit liking Billy Joel though ... it was when he released that song "Storm Front". If I have anything resembling a pet peeve, it's when people refer to weather in terms of a "storm front". There's simply no such thing.

Best Songs: You May Be Right, Allentown, A Matter of Trust
Worst Songs: Uptown Girl, Storm Front

#27 Hooters:
I've seen 8 of these Top 40 bands in concert. This is the 2nd in a row. Stephen & I saw them open up for Bryan Adams sometime in the 80s. We were there to see the Hooters, not Bryan Adams. I remember it was the day their One Way Home album was released. The Hooters were famous among our SLU crew from a radio station interview with Loverboy in which the interviewer kept questioning Loverboy about the Hooters (who were opening for them at the time). The Loverboy dude kept saying they were a "good band" w/ little emotion other than exasperation about the third time they were brought up.

Best Songs: Day by Day, All You Zombies, And We Danced, South Ferry Road
Worst Songs: Probably something from their Zig Zag album.

#26 Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers:
Tom Petty has been an amazingly consistent artist for a long time. I think my favorite period of his was during the Southern Accents album, but TP and the HBs were solid from Damn the Torpedoes through the solo-effort Full Moon Fever. One of the earliest complements, the lovely Mrs. Dolberry ever gave me was that I did a good Tom Petty impersonation. At least I think it was a compliment.

Best Songs: The Waiting, Running Down a Dream, Southern Accents, Rebels
Worst Songs: Jammin Me

C-Lo Visit

Hey ... a regular feature of the DCV will be what we call "Blogger Visits". It'll be a venue in which Dolberry reaches out to his readership community by visiting their home. The purpose of these visits is to suggest improvements in the readers lives that will make them more like Dolberry (i.e., on the path to greatness).

I'm doing my hardest one first, C-Lo. T-minus 4 hours. Wish me well. A full recounting of any grievances will be aired on Friday (or Saturday)

On other note, am enjoying my conference. I wish I could go to conferences every week, but that K & A would come w/ me.