The Hikers

This joke I found on the belifnet website and I hope y'all will think it is cute as well.

 One day Joe, Bob and Dave were hiking in a wilderness area when they came upon a large, raging, violent river. They need to get to the other side, but had no idea of how to do so.

 Joe prayed to God saying "Please God, give me the strength to cross this river."

 POOF! God gave him big arms and strong legs and he was able to swim across the river in two hours, although he almost drowned a couple of times.

Seeing this, Dave prayed to God, saying "Please God give me the strength and the tools to cross this river." POOF! God gave him a rowboat and he was able to cross the river in about an hour, after almost capsizing the boat a couple of times.

 Bob had seen how this had worked out for the other two, so he also prayed to God saying "Please God, give me the strength and the tools and the intelligence, to cross the river."

 POOF! God turned him into a woman. She looked at a map, hiked upstream a couple of hundred yards, then walked across the bridge.


I hope you enjoyed this little joke. Maybe I'll post one every so often. That and maybe something on the saints, the religious kind and the New Orleans kind. But if I do a post on the New Orleans Saints, I feel I should also do one on the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Katrina

I had a cat named Katrina at one time and my Mom always said if there was ever a hurricane with her name to look out. Well, found out how right my Mom was six years ago.

  It's hard to believe that it has already been 6 years since Hurricane Katrina made her presence known. I remember being at a family reunion in Gulfport, Mississippi and going to the beach, looking out at the Gulf of Mexico and thinking that it was so beautiful but yet could be so dangerous. Two months later the Louisiana and Mississippi Gulf coasts  found out just how dangerous the water could be.

  I started waking up at around 5:30 in the morning an listening to my radio trying to find out what I could about Hurricane Katrina and then I would turn my radio off a get some more sleep. At one point one of the radio stations was playing "Walking On Sunshine" by Katrina and the Waves, so twisted. Anyway, I did this until about a quarter to nine in the morning that is when the fuse at the end of my driveway blew and no one had power. So what was a person to do? Just get up and get on with life the best as one can without electricity. Having been a hour away from New Orleans there were some high winds and some rain, but honestly I had been in summer thunderstorms that were worse. Compared to most people, including other family members , who are even farther away from New Orleans including the family in Mississippi,  I came out untouched by Katrina because not having electricity was the worst thing that happened.Just depends on fate I guess.  I was in my kitchen six years ago thinking how was I going to cook supper and that was when the power came back on.But my neighbors across the street still didn't have power because the blown fuse services them and the houses behind them, so it was after 10 pm before the got their power. So that is my Hurricane Katrina experience( such as it was).

Don't worry if your work is hard and your rewards are few.
Remember the mighty oak was once a nut like you.


 I don't know who came up with the quote originally but I thought this was cute and was quite fitting for me. I thought y'all might enjoy this, so I hope you enjoy it.

Misha

GOODNIGHT IRENE

"Good Night Irene" is probably, more than likely, what the East Coats of America is hoping for. Can not say that I would blame them if they do. Keep them in your thoughts.

          LEADBELLY

GOODNIGHT IRENE

 Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight

 Goodnight Irene, Goodnight Irene

 I'll see you in my dreams.

 Last Saturday night I got married

 Me and my wife settled down

 Now me and my wife have parted

 I'm gonna take a stroll downtown.

Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight

Goodnight Irene, Goodnight Irene

I'll see you in my dreams

 Sometimes I live in the country

Sometimes I live in town

 Sometimes I take a great notion 

 To jump in the river and drown.

 Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight

Goodnight Irene, Goodnight Irene 

 I'll see you in my dreams.

 Quit your rambling, quit your gambling

 Stop staying out late at night

 Stay home with your wife and family

 And stay by the fireside of right

 Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight

 Goodnight Irene, Goodnight Irene

 I'll see you in my dreams.

 Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight

Goodnight Irene, Goodnight Irene

 I'll see you in my dreams.

  

Do You Like?

I have put up a new background and the color of the lettering...obviously. I feel like it's incomplete or maybe it is to much , something is just not sitting well with me. I know the peachy-pink background for the post isn't the greatest but I'm just having trouble finding one that I like. So I would like your opinion about it all and I will take it under advisement. You can post your comments here and/or at the poll. Whatever your reply will be nice to hear.

 Thank You,

 Misha

Football Season

In 13 days , September 3,2011, that magnificent thing called college football starts. Yes there are some clouds hanging over it before the season begins: Ohio State is awaiting a decision from the NCAA on ethics violations and hoping that the university's self-imposed punishment of vacating all of their 2010 wins will be enough, we shall see; now we have the University of Miami and their scandal, which makes Ohio State's scandal priggish by comparison, prostitutes, money, bounties on opposing players, jewelry and more.They may face the NCAA death penalty which is a suspension of an entire football season. If it wasn't for this scandal would anybody even care about the university of Miami? then there is L.S.U. and there problem that happened Friday night, a bar fight that a few players may have been involved in because the players have lawyered up and have postponed talking to the police until Tuesday.

  Now with that being said I am still looking forward to this college football season. Nothing says college football like shorter days, 105 degree heat index and hoping to set off a Richter scale with all the noise coming from the football stadium. Setting off the Richter scale was done in 1988 at L.S.U. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquake_Game. We in the South, for the most part, LOVE our football games and going tailgating. I mean where else can you make friends with your enemies? Unless your name happens to be Nick Saban who is coaching against L.S.U. and who also happens to also be a lying coward. Yes some of us are still royally ticked off at him for taking the head coaching job in Alabama. That sorry sucker knew better than to take a job with one of the main rivals of L.S.U. it's an unwritten rule. Telling the world that "No I'm not interested in the coaching job in Alabama. I'm happy coaching the Miami Dolphins", then the next thing you know he's half way out of the state and on the phone with Dolphins officials telling them he had taken the job as head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide. But L.S.U. has Les "the Mad Hatter" Miles and they're doing good, inspite of and despite of Jordan Jefferson. To me and some others I know, he is so overrated it's ridiculous. But hopefully L.S.U. will have a good season this year. They just need to get this mess with the bar fight taken care of and I don't mean having the police cover it up either.

Okay, ANYWAY... I admit to not knowing to much about football like the scoring, I mean are they scoring 2 points or 6 points? And where in the blue blazes are those 6 points coming from anyway? Jiminy Cricket! Now I do know that a field goal is worth 2 points and that sometimes a touchdown is worth 2 points and sometimes it's worth 6 points and that the teams have 4 tries to get the ball down the field to score. I guess that is pretty much a football game but I like to watch them knock the tar out of each other and make some nice catches.

  But then there are the fans and  a fair amount of fans will be there on Friday evening after work and school with their motorhomes tailgating for Saturday's game. They will get out their portable grills, camping stoves, beer coolers etc. and invite the neighbors over, even if they happen to be the opposing teams fans, and cook, drink and be merry. At least in the SEC (Southeastern Conference) that is what is done.I would like to imagine that other football conferences do the same thing. But then  as the saying goes: In the East football is a cultural exercise, in the Midwest  it's cannibalism,  in the West it is a tourist attraction, but in the South football is a religion and every Saturday is it's Holy Day.Plus I recently heard that the late great Alabama coach, Paul"Bear" Bryant could then be considered it's pope. Never heard that before but I can go with it.

Too bad the coaches don't dress and act like Bear Bryant did. Seems that they have become commercial sell outs, but that just maybe the nature of the beast.

Robert Plant

  British rocker Robert Anthony Plant, was born on August 20, 1948 in West Bromwich, Staffordshire (now West Midlands), England to a civil engineer and his wife Robert C. Plant and Annie nee Cain Plant, but grew up in Kidderminster, in Worcestershire. Plant attended King Edward VI Grammar School in Stourbridge until his mid-teens when he dropped out. At this time Plant was developing a strong interest in American blues. At some point, Plant left training as a chartered accountant after only 2 weeks, in an attempt to gain more CGE*passes and to become a part of the English Midland Blues scene. While pursuing his musical career, Robert Plant worked an assorted kinds of jobs including working at Woolworth's for a short time and laying down tarmac on Birmingham roads in 1967. While having these day jobs, Plant cut three obscure singles for CBS Records and sang with a variety of bands including, The Crawling King Snakes, in 1966, in which  John Bonham became the bands drummer and the original Band of Joy, John Bonham on drums for that band as well, merging  blues with newer psychedelic trends. Though he met no commercial success early on in his career, word spread about the "young man with the powerful voice".

After the implosion of the rock band, the Yardbirds on July 7, 1968  Jimmy Page, who was the lead guitarist for the band  looking for a lead singer was looking for a lead singer for a new band he was putting together.Jimmy Page was told about Robert Plant by Terry Reid, an English rock vocalist and guitarist, who was Pages first choice for lead vocalist. At the time Plant was performing in a band called Hobstweedle when Page, along with manager Peter Grant, asked Plant to join the band Page was forming. Plant in turn suggested John Bonham for the drums even though others, including Creme's drummer Ginger Baker or so was the rumor at the time. However, upon seeing Bonham perform at a club in Hampstead, also in July of '68 all other choices went out the window, but it took 8 telegrams before a reluctant John Bonham agreed to join the band. John Paul Jones, was a session musician who crossed paths with  Jimmy Page, knew Page was putting a new band together , so at the urging of his wife Jones asked Page about the vacant bassist position and Page asked John Paul Jones to join the band. So here is a hopefully brief history on the band that would become... The New Yardbirds. This name was taken because the Yardbids had a scheduled Scandinavian  tour booked when they broke up so to keep up the bands end of the bargain they toured as the New Yardbirds. Keith Moon and John Entwistle, drummer and bassist for the rock group "The Who", are said ,by some accounts anyway, tohave been the ones to come up with the name Led Zeppelin, they are to have said that a supergroup containg themselves, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page wold go down like a "lead balloon". The band's manager, Peter Grant suggested that the "a" be dropped so not to have Americans pronounce it "leed". "Balloon" was droped for "zeppelin"and Page thought that this name conjured up the perfect combination of light and heavy, combustibility and grace. Thus we now have the origins of Led Zeppelin. They officially declared the name Led Zeppelin October 14, 1968.
                                                                                                                                                                    

Zeppelin's first concert was at the University of surrey on October 25,1968 and was followed by a U.S. tour debuted on December 26, 1968. Their self-titled album "Led Zeppelin" debuted in America on January 12, 1969 while the band was on tour.  It did not appear in Britain until March 31,1969.

But before Robert Plant embarks on Zeppelin's American tour he marries his girlfriend, Maureen Wilson on November 9,1968 in London. On November 7,1969 "Led Zeppelin II" is released. It is on "Led Zeppelin II" that Plant began to write song lyrics with Led Zeppelin for the first time. This album contains "Whole Lotta Love" which would reach #4 on the American charts and the bands only Top 10 hit  in the U.S.

While on a family vacation in Rhodes, Greece Plant and his wife, Maureen (now divorced), were involved in a serious car accident on August 4, 1975. This changed touring plans Led Zeppelin may have had at the time.Meaning that they had to cancel the remaining tour dates for the year and that the production of "Presence", Zeppelins seventh album had to be put on hold for a few months while Plant recuperated. Plant recovered fully and was able to take his first unaided steps in the begging of 1976. The movie and the soundtrack for "The Song Remains the Same"were released later in 1976 and it filled the void that was there because Led Zeppelin was not touring.

 In 1977 while on tour Robert Plant's young son, Karac, died as suddenly and sadly of a stomach infection on July 26,1977. Forcing Zeppelin to cancel what would be the bands last American tour. With this tragedy Plant retreated to his home in the Midlands and made him question his future for months afterwards.Karac's death would be the later inspiration for the song "All Of My Love", featured on what would be Led Zeppelin's final album, 1979's "In Through the Out Door". In 1982 Robert and maureen divorced, but they still remain friends to this day.

 

The end of Led Zeppelin came on September 25,1980 with the death of John Bonham, caused by asphyxiation due to inhaling vomit. But what could be called the official end of Led zeppelin came on December 4,1980, when it was confirmed that the band would not continue without Bonham.

 Arguably one of Robert Plant's greatest achievements with Led Zeppelin was his contribution to the epic rock ballad "Stairway To Heaven" from the album "Led Zeppelin IV". "Stairway to Heaven" drew heavily from traditional Celtic music, blues, folk and hard rock. Most of the lyrics were written spontaneously by Plant in 1970, at a former poorhouse, Headley Grange. Though never released as a single the song has topped polls around the world as the greatest song of all time.

 The 1980's marked a new chapter in Robert Plant's life. Starting with a few months after the break-up of Led Zeppelin Plant began playing a series of live gigs at a Stourbridge wine bar called "McCoys". He played old R&B songs with a band known as The Honeydrippers which included Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page and the band made an EP * in the United States in 1981. Also, during August and September of 1981 Plant began working on his first solo album at Rockfield Studios. His first album, 'Pictures At Eleven'  was released on June 28,1982 and debuts at #2 on the U.K. charts. The album includes "Fat Lip", "Moonlight in Samosa" and what would be his first music video, "Burning Down One Side".


In 1983 Plant released his second album,"The Principle of Moments". The song "Big Log" reached #11 on the U.K. charts and became a top 20 hit in America. Other songs on the album included "In the Mood", "Horizontal Departure" and "Open Arms".

 In 1984 The Honeydrippers got back together and released the groups only EP "The Honeydrippers:Volume One". With the remake of Phil Phillips song "Sea of Love" going to #3 on the American charts and hitting the top 30 with "Rockin' at Midnight". In 1985, "Shaken and Stirred" is released, containing the songs " Little By Little", "Sixes and Sevens" and "Pink and Black. Robert Plant does a successful tour supporting both "Shaken and Stirred" and The Honeydrippers albums. Then Live Aid happens in the middle of the tour and Plant joins John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page on July 13, 1985 to sing a few Led Zeppelin classics. But because of poor sale numbers for "Shaken and Stirred", Plant disbands his recording and touring bands.

 Plant eventually gets a new band together and starts work on a new album and has Jimmy Page play on two tracks. This would become the album "Now and Zen" which has the song, that introduced me to Robert Plant, eventually Jimmy Page and Led Zeppelin as a whole, "Tall Cool One",. The song reached only # 87 on the U.K single chart, #25 on Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. "Tall Cool One" is one of the songs that featured Page on guitar. Two other songs on the album that did good are "Ship of Fools" and "Heaven Knows". "Now and Zen" revived Plant's solo career as he performed for over 1 million people in America.

 Through the 1980's and '90's  Plant had three solo albums, "Now and Zen", "Manic Nirvana" (1990) and "Fate of Nations" (1993). "Fate of Nations" has the song "I Believe", another song that was written for and dedicated to his son, Karac.

In 1994 Robert Plant and Jimmy Page teamed up again for the next to last performance of MTV's Unplugged series. The 90 minute special, called "Unledded" premiered to the highest ratings in MTV history. In October of 1994, the session was released as the Cd "No Quarter: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Unledded". This was followed by a highly successful tour in 1995. In 2004 the DVD "No Quarter Unledded" was released. The follow-up album "Last Train to Clarksdale" was released April 21,1998. It debuted at #8 on Billboard's Billboard 200 album chart and going to #3 on the U.K. Album Chart. In 1999 the single from this album "Most High" won  the Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance. Even so the album did not sell as well as previous Plant albums, which may have led Robert Plant to return to his solo career.

In 1997, while Page was working with The Black Crowes, Plant was looking for a new outlet for his creativity. Joining with 2 performance art faculty members of Kidderminster College and 2 students, Plant formed a new group, Priory of Brion. The band was together until the end of 2000.

In 2001 Plant came back with his acclaimed collection of mainly folk and blues remake solo album, "Dreamland" which was backed by his newly formed band , at the time, Strange Sensation. Two years later Plant debuted "Sixty Six to Timbuktu", a two disc compilation dedicated exclusively to works that plant had done during his solo career, including "Tall Cool One" and "Upside Down". Then in 2005  it was followed by  his second  album with Strange Sensation  "Mighty Rearranger", which contains new and original songs.Plant earned some of the best reviews of his solo career for both albums and earned 4 Grammy nominations, two in 2003 and two in 2006. In November of 2006 an expansive box set of his solo work, "Nine Lives", was released. It expanded all of Plant's albums with various b-sides, demos and live cuts. "Nine Lives" was also accompanied by a DVD.

2007 saw Robert Plant collaborate with bluegrass singer Allison Krauss for a duet album "Raising Sand" which was released on October 23, 2007. The album was produced by T-Bone Burnett, who I think is one of the greatest record producers to ever walk the face of the earth. Anyway, in April of 2008  Robert Plant and Allison Krauss started an extended American and European tours. The album was nominated for a Mercury Prize in July of 2008. On February 8,2009 they won Grammy Awards for Album of the Year, Pop Collaboration With Vocals, Country Collaboration With Vocals, Contemporary Folk/Americana Album and Record of the Year. In July of 2009, Robert Plant was bestowed with the honor of Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his services to the field of music.

A year late, in July of 2010, Plant went on a twelve date summer tour with a new group called Band of Joy, reprising the name of his very first band in the 1960's. After a show on September 12,2010 at the Bowery ballroom in New York City, an eleven date autumn tour for Europe was announced. The next day, September 13,2010 the studio album "Band of Joy" was released. The European tour  started in October of 2010 and went through November 2010. A North American tour was announced on November 16,2010, with the first show being on January 18,2011 in Asheville, North Carolina and the last one being in Atlantic City, New Jersey on June 25,2011. The Band of Joy did a summer tour of Europe starting on July 19, 2011 in Rome, Italy and with the final concert being at Eastnor Castle Deer Park in Herefordshire, in the West Midlands region of England.

 

* General Certificate of Education- An academic qualification that examination boards (a bit like the SAT in America) in the United Kingdom and a few Commonwealth countries confer to students.