A little catchup

No not just some odds and ends. I'm still off kilter from going to Bristol last weekend. The camera is still in the car, but pictures will up soon.

Buck Owens passed away over the weekend. Buck was sharp. In the 60's when he was big, AM radio was were most country music was being heard. So Buck mixed his songs so they sounded right on AM. I had read about that in the booklet that came with the Rhino box , but didn't really understand it until I was driving around one evening. I don't recall if I was listening to WSM or one on the local stations that used to play classic country (one is now talk, the other, oldies pop after a brief stop with southern gospel) but a Buck song came on, and it sounded great on AM. If you like music, especially Country, you should get the box set.

You never want to hear about someone passing away young. I'm more a NASCAR fan than IRL, but news of Paul Dana's death saddened me. I first heard as I was listening to the scanner at Bristol and Chris Myers was working on his tribute report.

Cancer is another thing you never want to hear. NASCAR champ Bobby Hamilton recently announced he's taking a a break from racing, because has cancer in his neck. Jeanne K, a local radio personality, recently announce she has breast cancer. You can follow her journal and see other resources at V100

It's the price for refrigeration.

Ok, I go to the convenience store and I want myself a Coke Zero. I can get one 20 oz. for $1.29, 2 for $2 for a 2 liter for 99 cents. Of course the 2 liter, though the much better value, is warm, so the taste will be off. So do I save 58 cents by getting 2 Coke Zeros? That's what I do. That's how I justify it at least.

Convenient for whom might be the question.

At least I'm not spending it on coffee. Hi Ethel!

Not like Colonel Sanders at all

If you're like me, you enjoy the offerings of a Chinese Buffet occasionally. You see, I can pay 7 bucks for a Cobb Salad at Bob Evans, or some dinner at the other chains around here, or I can go to the China Buffet (pronounced Buffet, like Warren or Jimmy, not Boof-fay, like Phoebe) and get all I want for the same price or less. Go on and eat good in your neighborhood Applebee's, I'll be at the buffet. Actually, in my evert to get at least close to healthy, I do eat all I want, though I do eat plenty. I also understand that American Chinese food has little, if anything, to do with the country of China.

Nevertheless, one of the popular "Chinese" dishes and the buffets I visit (oh yes, I visit more than one) is "General Tso's Chicken" This always leads me to the question "Who was General Tso, and why is this his chicken?" So today, I finally remembered look it up. I always imagined that he was the Chinese equivalent of Colonel Sanders. Unfortunately, it looks like they just named the chicken after him. So I guess that would make him more like the General Lee (01) then.

For further reading:
The wikipedia article on General Tso
The wikipedia article on the General Tso's Chicken

It used to be good but now it sucks!

You ever notice how people say this about things? Take Saturday Night Live. IU2BGBNIS! Nope, sorry. SNL has always been about 2 good skits (usually the fake commercials), the Weekend Update, the singer, and a bunch of crap to fill out the time. Maybe a solid host occasionally, and wall to wall crap once in a while, but ont he average, a little bit of good and a lot of crap. But to hear people tell it, this season's actors are nothing like (pick a previous season). No, they were hit and miss also.

Same thing with Country and Western music. IU2BGBNIS! Nope, wrong again. The most common complaint is either "It's too rock" or "it's too pop" I was watching one of the awards shows (Country music has like 40 a year, but that's another story) and Big $ Rich were playing. I like B$R, but that's not country. Then I got to thinking, 10 years ago, Garth was too rock and Shania was too pop. Ten years before that... uh, Alabama was too rock and Kenny Rogers was too pop. 10 years before that... I was 2 years old and I don't know, but around that time (Maybe a few years later) Waylon was rock and... maybe Anne Murray? was too pop.
You could go back to any point in musical history, and find acts that were too pop and too rock in Country music. Modern Country is in fine shape. Josh Turner, Brad Paisley, Dierks Bentley, and Joe Nichols are all right in my opinion. "Heart as Empty as a Monday Morning Church" by Alan Jackson is pure sad, heart-broke country. If I'm driving around and it comes on the radio, I have to turn it, because I'll be in the ditch with tears in my eyes.

Then we get to my favorite topic, NASCAR. IU2BGBNIS! Come on! When was the last time someone won by more than a lap? In the old days, a lot. You had oh 6-7 guys capable of winning. Nowadays, 10 guys have a good chance, and another 10 have a decent chance, then a third 10 have an outside chance. And TV coverage? Flag to flag races, qualifying, practice, a driver goes to the can on Tuesday morning and someone has tape of it!

Nope, IU2BGBNIS! is wrong, Either it was good and it's still good, or it always sucked.