Simply put, there was no one like Elvis. I love The Beach Boys, The Beatles, The Sandals, surf music in general, Jimmy Buffett, Pink Floyd, Boccherini, Sinatra, gospel quartets, and all sorts of stuff. But if you ask me who the best vocalist of all time is, I have to say it’s Elvis, the King of Rock N’ Roll. Simply put, there was no one like him. He could sing rock, ballads, gospel, blues, and country. No one before or since could touch him. Here are a couple dozen of my favorite Elvis performances:

20. Where Could I Go But To The Lord. Elvis was great gospel singer. It doesn’t get a whole lot better than this.

19. Peace In The Valley. Ditto. What a classic vocal performance.

18. Are You Lonesome Tonight? Simply put, an Elvis classic.

17. Promised Land. Elvis does Chuck Berry. I love his version of this tune – very Elvis ’70s.

16. Moody Blue. Very late ’70s Elvis from his last LP before he died. The material is decent enough, but Elvis’ vocal carries the day. I still have the blue vinyl LP, I think it’s worth something like $20 on eBay. The album on a whole was pretty good.

15. Can’t Help Falling In Love. How can you beat a love song like that?

14. Viva Las Vegas. Typical of so many Elvis tunes (unfortunately) the production is crappy, but you cannot deny it’s a great song. ZZ Top’s version would sound fabulous with Elvis on the lead.

13. Way Down. Elvis’ last hit. From Moody Blue with JD Sumner and The Stamps. A great little rocker.

12. Unchained Melody sung in an almost gospel setting. Riveting.

11. Suspicious Minds. As with all his late ’60s and ’70s stuff, I hate the production – everything just sounds so tinny and compressed – but the song is damned good.

10. Burning Love. See #11 above.

9. Blue Christmas. I don’t know what to say, it’s Elvis backed by the legendary Jordanaires. How on God’s green earth do you beat that combination?

8. How Great Thou Art. Name one other artist who could transcend the gospel and rock idioms like Elvis could. You can’t. He and the legendary gospel group JD Sumner and The Stamps are an incomparable combination here. Elvis’ voice just penetrates to the soul, and, simply put, it doesn’t get a whole lot better than this. Awesome.

7. You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me. As mentioned previously, this is my #1 choice if I were ever to do karaoke. Even as restrained as it sounds, it’s still a great vocal performance.

6. Kentucky Rain. Simply put, a classic.

5. It’s Now Or Never. One of the great vocal performances in rock n’ roll history.

4. I Want You, I Need You, I Love You. The King in all his glory. This is what rock n’roll was all about. Gritty, passionate, sexy.

3. An American Trilogy. Can you imagine any artist attempting such a bold celebration of America in these politically correct times? Why, Elvis would be accused of racism and being a xenophobe. What a performance – majestic in every way you can imagine. It just goes to show just what a performer and talent he was.

2. One Night. See #4 above. It simply doesn’t get a whole lot better than this.

1. He’ll Have To Go. To me this is Elvis at his best. The song oozes emotion and James Burton’s guitar reflects the song’s murky and moody atmosphere. The vocal is awesome, the accompaniment is flawless.

A few news and notes from the “left coast”.

William Shatner’s PSA on the dangers of deep-frying turkey is priceless. (Hat tip: Hot Air)

…and speaking of William Shatner, I gotta agree with him that, regardless of what Carrie Fisher thinks, the Star Trek franchise was superior to that of Star Wars. Maybe I’m in the minority here, but I thought the Star Wars films, at least the first two I saw, pretty much sucked. Anyone who has watched Star Trek IV and VI can tell you that – those were good flicks. And the Next Generation series was superior to the original in every way. Were their effects as good as Star Wars? Probably not. But the Trek characters were far more compelling than the self-absorbed idiots and lame story line George Lucas created for the Star Wars series.

She was a wonderful and lovely actress, but frankly, I got more important things to worry about than what really happened to Natalie Wood thirty years later.

Demi Moore has rotten taste in men.

You think Hollywood is warped and self-absorbed? You simply can’t make up headlines like this. (Hat tip: Drudge)

But I like Kirsten Dunst as an actress and think she’s a fox. Her latest movie is supposed to be pretty good.

One way to figure out how Hollywood has run out of ideas? When they’re thinking of recycling “The Munsters”. I have a better idea: why not just show reruns of the original show? Stupid, but awesome.

…makes you wonder what the collective brainpower of Hollywood will come up with next? Here’s an idea – how about “My Mother The Hybrid” as a take-off on the original?

This was a pretty damned good song from Bob Seger’s heyday. But when I think about rock music and L.A. I have to go with Jim Morrison’s “L.A. Woman” – now there’s a truly awesome song. Or the entire Fleetwood Mac opus “Tusk”. Or even Warren Zevon’s iconic “Desperados Under The Eaves”. Great stuff, all. Not that any of this makes me want to live anywhere near or around L.A. – like, ever?

Thoughts while heading into the weekend before Thanksgiving, where the local Fry’s will be packed from produce to patio decor with shoppers frantically loading up on everything from potatoes to pumpkin pie makings…

This year at the behest of the twins I’m planning on cooking an 18 lb. turkey – the largest I’ve ever done. Me, I’m most comfortable in the 11-13 lb range. Anything more than that and its extra everything you’ve got to come up with – potatoes, stuffing, gravy. Not to mention the additional refrigerator space.

If I were ever to do karaoke, this is the song I would choose.

Is Tim Tebow one of the premier QBs in the NFL? Hardly, but the young man is a winner. And to do what he did against those evil blowhard New York J-E-T-S Jets ought to warm the cockles of every true football fan’s heart. Unfortunately, you listen to the cable and national sports talk stations and all you hear is people who ought to know better ragging on and sneering about his faith. Look under the covers, however, and you’ll find a football player:

He finished 9-20 for 104 yards and rushed eight times for 68 yards, including that game-winning touchdown. He was sloppy at points (a lot of them), but he says he doesn’t care about how it looks or how other people think it should look “More than anything,” he told NFL Network, “I just want to win football games.” And you believe him.

And that’s all it should be about, regardless of what all the Christian-haters out there think. Me, I can’t wait for the first NFL Muslim QB so all these elitists can fall over themselves saying what a credit he is to his religion. The hatred of Christians out there is real, folks, believe me.

Want to know the difference between the Tea Partiers and the Occupy Wall Street movement? The Tea Partiers respected the rule of law and the Constitution, and believed in using the political process to get their point across. These Occupy folks are nothing but brain-dead pampered narcissists who have no respect for anyone and anything but their juvenile slogans and chants. They’re nothing but a clueless Marxist-Leninist horde who think slogans, intimidating people, and shouting people down is akin to freedom of speech. It is not. You want a model for Occupy Wall Street? Think the French, Russian, and Cuban revolutions, and if you think it can’t happen here you’re dreaming. This country better start getting a handle on these losers rather than coddling them before they get even more violent. Unfortunately, that’s not going to happen, and a lot of people are going to get killed or hurt before this thing is brought under control, mark my words.

Thoughts while wondering if the new tiki torches soon to be deployed in the backyard along with the new lighting is a bit too exotic and whimsical…

Tracey’s not upset at the news Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon has signed with the Phillies (she thought he had become a total egomaniac with that stare into home plate followed by that long, deep breath) but I’ll miss him. Great closers are hard to find, and he’s one of the game’s elites. And he was a character, something the Red Sox desperately need on a team with too many lard-asses. Of course, that’s a lot of money to blow on a role that a lot of teams have come to regret dolling big dollars out for in recent years.

This Red Sox departure does upset me, however. Although I was sad to see her predecessor Tina Cervasio go, Heidi grew on me during her tenure. Will never forget that skin-tight white tanktop with the short polka-dot skirt she wore two years ago while the team was playing in Texas. She looked absolutely breathtaking – were I the father of teen boys I would have sent them to their rooms for the night, she looked that dangerous. And ummm… that girl could wear a scarf, a quality in women I deeply respect. Best of luck to you, Heidi.

Going into the 2012 election year, Jay Cost of the Weekly Standard is must reading. Democrat and Republican campaigns alike would do well to add him to their favorites. Consider his latest column with these important lessons for both parties to keep in mind:

As mentioned above, the Democratic leaders and liberal opinion makers forgot these rules in 2009-2010. Too many of them believed that the 60-year political dynamic had suddenly been displaced, that a new age of Democratic dominance was at hand, and that the party should go about achieving its long-standing ideological goals. Democrats passed an inefficient stimulus that favored party clients too heavily, then spent more than a year working on health care and cap and trade while real incomes declined and unemployment continued to soar. The public made them pay for their neglectfulness in the 2010 midterm.

Republicans cannot make the same mistake as the Democrats in 2012. What this means in practice is not that the party must forsake its conservative values, but rather it must find a nominee who can relate them to the practical worries of these non-partisan, non-ideological voters in the center, and make those voters believe that he will be the best choice for the future. Put another way, he must be a great salesman of conservatism to non-conservatives. And then in office, he must govern always with an eye to holding them in his voting coalition.

Read the whole thing.

Here’s another reason where and why I choose to separate myself from Roman Catholic teaching on the death penalty. As I’ve written before, human life is a sacred gift from God, but when you trash that sacredness by committing a heinous act such as this, you forfeit that sacredness. There’s nothing sacred about this monster’s life; if Jerry Sandusky is found guilty of what he’s been accused of the same goes for him. I wouldn’t waste valuable taxpayer money keeping people like these incarcerated for the rest of their lives. (Hat tip: Free Republic)

I doubt Maxine Waters would feel this way had what’s been an increasing problem at numerous “Occupy Wall Street” protests happened just once at a Tea Party rally. She’s an idiot.

And for your feel good story of the day: Congratulations, America, you did it! And ahead of schedule, thanks to Barack Obama, the Pelosi-led House, and the Harry Reid-led Senate. Well done.

Being so close to California we hear lots of anecdotal evidence about the awful business climate there. Finally, the L.A. Times (which, BTW, in recent weeks seems to have gotten at least some of its journalistic chops back – one can only hope the NY Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, et al follow) publishes a blistering op-ed by Wendell Cox and Steve Melanga:

For years, California could rely on its temperate climate and a talented workforce to attract and keep businesses even as taxes and regulations increased. No more. In surveys, executives regularly express the view that California has one of the country’s most toxic business environments, and they say it is one of the least likely places they would open or expand a company. Many firms headquartered here say they have forsaken expansion in the state. Meanwhile, California suffers from an unemployment rate some 2 percentage points higher than that of the nation as a whole.

…the state cannot ignore the role its policies have played in the economic decline. For seven consecutive years, executives polled by Chief Executive magazine have ranked California as having the worst business environment in the country. In a 2011 survey of its members by CalRecovery, a California coalition of businesses and industries based in the state, 84% of about 400 executives and owners who responded said that if they weren’t already here, they wouldn’t consider starting up in the state, while 64% said that the main reason they stayed in California was that it was tough to relocate their particular kind of business. In a recent op-ed, Andrew Puzder, chief executive of Carpinteria-based CKE Restaurants, which manages 3,000 eateries around the country, called California “the most business-unfriendly state we operate in.”

And that’s not all. Consider these troubling stats also detailed in the above op-ed:

* Between 2000 and 2008, some 80,000 more jobs left California for other states than came from other states.

* The leading destination of the job migration was Texas, with Oregon and North Carolina running second and third.

* California managed to add jobs only through the expansion of existing businesses, and even that was at a considerably lower rate than a decade earlier.

* Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area had been the engines of California’s economic growth for at least a century. But between 2000 and 2008, California’s two big metropolitan areas produced fewer than 70,000 new jobs — a nearly 95% drop from the 1990s and a mere 6% of job creation in the state. This was a collapse of historic proportions.

* 35% of the net new jobs in the state in the 2000’s were created in construction and real estate. All those jobs have vaporized since 2008, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

As with what is going on in Washington, it’s all about leadership, but don’t expect Governor Jerry Brown to look for creative ideas to turn the state around: his idea is to take even more federal money and pay it out to unions for transportation boondoggles with no chance of success.

Unfortunately, the Times article doesn’t go as far into the reasons behind California’s economic implosion as it should – simply put, liberal / progressive policies brought about by a toxic cabal of public employee union greed, radical environmentalism, and ridiculous entitlement programs pushed by the welfare and ethnic lobbies that have the state in a stranglehold. It’s a disease of greed, crony capitalism, and political opportunism that has no cure.

At some point, the gravy train has to end, or it will be the end of everything this country stands for.

Seems like there were all sorts of cool vids and pics out there on the net today. I enjoyed them, hope you do too:

From a weather balloon up in space. Watch for the passenger jet tearing by. Hat tip: Accuweather.com

From a car traveling 462 MPH on the Bonneville salt flats. Hat tip: The Blaze

Astounding photos of waves in motion. Hat tip: NRO’s Corner blog

Riding a 90-ft. rogue wave in Nazare, Portugal. Cool music, too!

A record-setting ski jump from 2006. Unfortunately, the link comes with the news that the same skier, Jamie Pierre, died from a self-started avalanche under unsafe skiing conditions today in Utah. He died doing what he loved doing the most. May he rest in peace.

I linked to this song just the other day, and it just occurred to me why it strikes such a chord with me. Consider the lyrics:

Late last night I got an S.O.S.
The fairy tale girl’s in deep in distress
She says I don’t know where I am
But it’s near Japan

My engine’s all burned out
My crew has all bailed out
I don’t know where I am
But it’s somewhere near Japan

And she said
“Rescue me”
I’m somewhere in the
China Sea
I think I’m sinkin’ fast
This call is probably my last
I’m throwin’ out a life line
And I’m doin’ it for old time’s sake
Though I know you’re gonna break my heart
One more time

Late last night I got an S.O.S.
The fairy tale girl’s in deep in distress
She says I don’t know where I am
But it’s near Japan

My engine’s all burned out
My crew has all bailed out
I don’t know where I am
But it’s somewhere near Japan

And she said “thank you dear”
I think she sounded quite sincere
And when she turned to go
She said “I crave adventure don’t you know”

And now she’s driftin’ on some Chinese junk
Her world is spinning and her hope has sunk
So I close my eyes
And somewhere near Japan
The spinning stopped and the world stood still
I broke her fall and I always will
Strung out in no man’s land
Somewhere near Japan
Rescue me

Replace “Japan” with “Florida”, “China Sea” with St. Petersburg, and “my crew” with my sister-in-law Tammy’s family, and two years removed you’ll know what I’m talking about.

John Phillips (late of The Mamas and the Papas) penned this tune concerning his daughter Mackenzie’s honeymoon experience – evidently, she and her new husband (both serious substance abusers at the time) flew to Guam where both their money and their drugs ran out. This was when Phillips received a late night phone call begging him to send money or drugs (preferably both). When he asked where she was, the reply was “somewhere near Japan”.

In our case Tammy fit the “fairy tale girl” role rather well; at the time she was indeed in “deep distress”, stuck in some fleabag motel in St. Petersburg with some dude who had rescued her from a Greyhound bus station two days before. His own intents were more than questionable, so the night before we were supposed to head out on a long-anticipated Caribbean cruise I found myself instead on a red-eye out of Phoenix to Tampa to rescue a sister-in-law who didn’t know really where she was; she only knew she was in trouble and needed rescue. So it was up to me to come and rescue her. And there’s no doubt at the time that, like the lyrics say, I was doing it “for old times sake”, knowing there was a damned good chance she was going to break out hearts sooner or later, one more time. Which, subsequently, she proceeded to do.

Fortunately two years later things are looking a whole lot better!!

—

Ever wonder what the role of a producer is in pop music? One of them is to take a song composed (and in this case already released) by someone else and craft it for their contracted artist. In this case the late, great Terry Melcher (he of The Byrds’ “Mr. Tambourine Man” fame) took John Phillips’ fore-mentioned tune and arranged a new version that the Beach Boys could do in their own style. The difference, I think you’ll agree, is striking. And, I might add, better.

Another reason why I like this song so much: while the vocals are great throughout, of course, listen to the final verse sung by Alan Jardine. I’ve always respected Jardine’s voice so much – I think he’s one of the great underrated rock vocalists of our time. His dry, midwestern style has always served as a beautiful contrast to the nasal tone of Mike Love, the sweet harmony of Bruce Johnston, the angelic sound of Carl Wilson, and the classic falsetto and (at least in later years) the odd rasp of Brian Wilson. Jardine’s vocal brings a unique, earthy quality that wouldn’t be quite as noticeable if his voice hadn’t been part of the vocal mix before that. Give producer Melcher credit for this – Jardine’s verse actually serves as a tag; it’s addition through subtraction, if you know what I mean.

Lost in a week where the top stories and 24/7 cable news attention was primarily focused on Herman Cain and the Penn State sexual abuse cover-up was the Obama White House once again showing its utter disdain for Congress, the rule of law, and this country’s needs for energy independence and putting people back to work by putting politics and the President’s unending re-election campaign over everything else. Consider the following three stories that are gaining traction as even the mainstream dino-media finally starts to notice just how corrupt and misguided this administration is:

Headline: White House delivers Solyndra documents, rebuffs full GOP subpoena:

The White House on Friday rejected House Republicans’ subpoena for all internal communications related to the $535 million Solyndra loan guarantee, instead providing 135 pages of documents that administration officials say meet the “legitimate oversight interests” of congressional investigators.

Considering Solyndra is just one of three failed “green” industry companies the Obama administration poured hundreds upon hundreds of millions of wasted dollars of taxpayer money into (Beacon Power and SunPower the other two), one has to ask what this administration’s priorities are. Is it this country’s energy independence, or rewarding fat-cat Democratic party donors at the former’s expense? Given the administration’s jaw-dropping decision on Friday to postpone a final decision on the Keystone XL pipeline that would transport oil extracted from Alberta oil sands to American refineries in Oklahoma and the Gulf Coast until after the 2012 election one has to guess it’s the latter.

Headline: Holder calls ‘Fast and Furious’ program ‘flawed,’ but defends response:

Under the operation, initiated in 2009, federal agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) encouraged gun stores throughout the southwestern US to sell weapons to known and suspected straw buyers in the hopes of tracking them to Mexican drug cartels.

More than 2,000 weapons were trafficked along the US-Mexico border, many to the Sinaloa cartel, and some guns were used in violent crimes in Mexico.

Guns found at the scene of the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry last December were later traced to “Fast and Furious.”

In his opening statement to the committee, Holder acknowledged “Fast and Furious” was “flawed in its concept and flawed in its execution.”

What really happened here is that anti-Second Admendment zealots in the Obama administration deliberately sought to use increased gun violence in both Mexico and the United States – gun violence they actually sought to increase through “Fast and Furious” – as a means to push through Congress legislation to restrict the availability and use of guns. Now you have one, perhaps two U.S. border agents and countless Mexicans dead, and hundreds upon hundreds of gun crimes committed as a result. People can talk about Watergate all they want – at least no one was killed as a result of Watergate. This administration has both American and Mexican blood on its hands, and yet Eric Holder still serves as the highest-ranking law official in this land. It is beyond disgraceful.

Headline: Obama Supporter’s Company Wins $433 Million No-Bid Contract for Experimental Smallpox Drug:

Hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars being given to an experimental project involving high cost, questionable necessity and a major party donor — Why does that sound so familiar?

As noted in the above post, it was Senator Barack Obama who, on October 2, 2008 – just weeks before he was elected President – said, “I will finally end the abuse of no-bid contracts once and for all. The days of sweetheart deals for Halliburton and the like will be over when I’m in the White House.”

Riiiiight. Simply put, this is “crony capitalism” at its most egregous and vulgar. The fact that the L.A. Times has picked up on this story shows, however, that as much as they’ve resisted doing so up until now, even the mainstream dino-media is now picking up the stench of corruption eminating from this White House.

Underlying all of this is the truly breathtaking arrogance of the Obama administration and the mainstream dino-media’s unwillingness to take its total disregard for Congress and the rule of law law head-on. Over at The Ulsterman Report, a White House “insider” who has provided his own unique perspective on the inner workings of the President and his administration on a regular basis is shocked at the lack of accountability this White House has been held to. This insider, who is a loyal Democratic Party veteran, connects all the dots on the above when he says:

We have an administration directly responsible for the killing of hundreds of civilians in Mexico. The killing of our own border agents. The wasting of billions of taxpayer dollars that went back into the hands of Obama campaign donors. A Justice Department that dismissed a clearly proven voter intimidation case – that was on record declaring its intent to ignore race-based crimes where Whites were the victims. The shutting down of energy production industries in the Gulf – only to turn around and allow other nations the right to drill our oil. This president allows Middle East nations that were once at least somewhat cooperative with the interests of the United States to be over-run by Muslim extremists – and they call that kind of thing a (expletive deleted) victory for the administration! Talk about your “Mission Accomplished” moment! This president golfs more than he governs. He doesn’t meet with his own cabinet. There’s people in that administration who have never spoken to the man! When he is at the White House he sits up in that second floor room of his watching TV and waiting for the next batch of orders to come to him from Jarrett. A president that embraces radicalized union-backed protesters calling for socialism, who destory property and rape the weak. He has repeatedly pissed off Democrats and Republicans at every turn. Every (expletive deleted) turn. At every (expletive deleted) level. This guy has (expletive deleted) on the office. (expletive deleted) on the responsibility. (Expletive deleted) on the history and tradition of the office that he, by some tragic accident of which I personally played a part it – now occupies.

I encourage you to read the whole interview. The above rant comes at the end of an interview discussing the “Fast and Furious” scandal. And this from a Democrat fully-entrenched in both the administration and long-time Washington party politics! What you’re seeing right now at the highest levels of the American government is not only shocking; the fact that this President stands a reasonable, if not good, chance at being re-elected is a frightening prospect for both this country’s future and its future socio-economic well-being.

These are frightening times.

We’ve dfinally decided to bite the bullet and have the house painted in three weeks’ time. Here in our Summer Meadows HOA you can’t just willy-nilly run out to Lowe’s or Home Depot, pick out a color of your fancy, and start painting away. You have fifteen combinations to choose from, and you better make damned sure it’s professionally painted or the HOA cops will be after you big-time. We’re replacing our long ago sun-faded tan / tan combination with a nice light olive that ought to freak the neighbors out – we’ll then have the only house on the street whose basic color is not tan.

Unfortunately, as part of this effort our east-facing yard will require a serious revamping: underneath the lemon and lime trees it’s all grass, and the sprinkler system running alongside the house proper and the opposite wall have been shooting water across at each other for the better part of 15+ years, which has taken quite a toll on the stucco. So, a bit of a revamping is long since in order. Here’s what it looks like at the present, looking north from the backyard to the street:

So now we have to have a bunch of stucco replaced and need to re-landscape the yard to keep the water (and in Arizona we’re talking hard, hard water) away from the house. In order to do that, I need to either get rid of the grass or reduce it’s footprint significantly. To keep cost down I’m choosing the later. Therefore, in the next week or so a bunch of grass is going to be coming up, and some serious rock will be put down, thereby ridding opurselves of this issue once and for all. Here’s how I envision the new arrangement:

Basically, we’re talking about rock alongside the house and wall, reducing the grass to a figure-eight or oval arrangement around the trees, and having the sprinklers brought out a foot or so to only spray away from the house. Expanding the rock area will also allow us to plant some decorative bushes near the house and walls to introduce some color into the mix. We’ll also be putting a bench on the remaining grass beneath and between the trees to add a sense of peace and tranquility to the area.

How will it look once it’s done? I’ll keep y’all posted.

Just wanted to make sure my post didn’t miss this momentous event. 🙂

But you can’t just post nothing, so enjoy this!

And here’s the official song for the moment.

Consider this just a one off! 🙂