Last Ten Songs We Heard on Simon-FM in Greensboro, NC

On Monday afternoon, between the hours of 4:00-5:00, perhaps when we should have been to "All Things Considered" on WFDD (88.5-FM, Winston-Salem, NC), http://www.wfdd.org
a local NPR affiliate, we were listening to 98.7-FM (Greensboro, NC) http://www.987simon.com/
and we have a list of ten songs in a row that were played on air during that hour.

The image of the jet plane from Bahrain is in reference to the band Jet, the poster for the 1987 film "Fatal Attraction" with Michael Douglas and Glenn Close is our image for the stalker anthem "Every Breath You Take" by The Police, and Cinderella is for the '80s pop metal band Cinderella.

Here are the ten songs:

1. All Right Now. Free. 1970

2. She Drives Me Crazy. Fine Young Cannibals. 1989.

3. Don't Know What You Got ('Til It's Gone). Cinderella. 1988.

4. Every Breath You Take. The Police. 1983.

5. Green-Eyed Lady. Sugarloaf. 1970.

6. Be Near Me. ABC. 1985.

7. Are You Gonna Be My Girl. Jet. 2003.

8. The Dock of the Bay. Otis Redding. 1968

9. 867-5309/Jenny. Tommy Tutone. 1981.

10. Black Water. The Doobie Brothers. 1974.

It's Been a Messy Week

The weather may have actually been nice in Fargo, N.Dak., than it was in Greensboro, NC, yesterday. Snow, sleet, ice and freezing rain left much of Virginia and North Carolina in a mess in a storm which also went through parts of South Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia and Maryland.

There were fatal highway accidents near Lexington, Va., and Fayetville, NC, which are about six hours away from each other.

As a result, we are behind with lots and lots of things, folks!

So, until things get back to normal, I highly recommend a Youtube video of my friend Bruce Piephoff singing "I Remember Asheville" or you can always settle for Ukrainian folk dancing or Hungarian klezmer clarinet music!

Today We Celebrate Five Years of Blogging

As of today, this blog (which originally ran on AOL; they have since ended their blogging features) is five years old!

And, as usual, it has put me slightly behind my schedule as I have pertinent things to do today like read email, go to a comic book store and watch a Criterion version of some obscure early Ingmar Bergman film.

They are actually kicking people off computers here at the Pyongyang Public Library in Pyongyang, North Korea (that is a joke, so don't call Jimmy Carter!).

So, let me go ahead and congratulate the Ragsdale High School football team who won their home game in Jamestown, NC (a suburb of Greensboro and High Point) by a whopping 52-7 margin over Person County High School which had to make what must have been an awful hour and a half trip back to Roxboro last night. Though we feel for the folks from Person County HS, I gather Ragsdale fans follow my blog more closely so we are ultimately happier for the home team!

Finally, anyone looking a new home for a cat or dog (of course, cats are the better pet), in the Triad might want to go to the Forsyth County Animal Shelter in Winston-Salem where a tuxedo kitten named Rebel is looking for a new home.

Well, the North Korean soldiers are pointing towards me, so we better run while we have the chance....!

Silly Picture to Fill Space- Taxi Cab Driver

If one googles the term 'taxi driver,' they will get one thousand references to a certain 1975 movie with Robert DeNiro. But, being a taxi cab driver can also be a rewarding summer job with lots of good tips, well unless you're working in rural Kentucky.

But, perhaps, Altoona, Pa., is a better place to drive a cab than Harlan, Ky. (asuming they have taxi service there in Appalachia). One with such inclinations may want to visit A1 Altoona Taxi on East 6th Avenue (assuming they're hiring).

We will continue to focus on summer jobs for next week's Silly Picture to Fill Space entry, but we will shift our focus from Altoona to any community somewhere in the eastern part of les etats unis.

Akron, Ohio, Trenton, NJ, Winston-Salem, NC, and Portland, Maine, are among the zip codes in the running. Perhaps, one of their mayors can send me a message on Facebook. We are based in NC, but does not guarantee that Krispy Kreme-town (as we like to call Winston-Salem which is also nicknamed Camel City) will get the bid!

SIDEBAR: Best wishes to Carley Schlentz, 13, of Greensboro, NC, who was bitten by a shark while vacationing with her family in Topsail Island, near Wilmington, NC, over the weekend. She had to have 60 stiches on her foot!

Know Your Mayors (Entry 10)- Durham, NC's Bill Bell

Municipal Elections are underway in many parts of the United States, including North Carolina.

The City of Durham, NC, is a college town (ironically so is Durham, NH) which is home to Duke University. But, the city is also known for the famous minor baseball team the Durham Bulls, which recently won the Triple-A World Series (see Sept. entry).

Bill Bell (pictured above) serves as the mayor of Durham, which has approximately 263,000 residents.

Bell, a Howard University alumnus, was first elected to office in 2001 and he was twice re-elected in 2003 and 2005.

The Durham mayor is among those seeking re-election in November, along with the likes of Greensboro's mayor Yvonne Johnson (see last entry in the series). Bell will be challenged by Steven Williams (I), also an African-American.

Bell is a member of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition, a bi-partisan group started by Boston mayor Tom Menino (subject of entry 14 in this series) and New York mayor Michael Bloomberg (when Bloomberg was a Republican as opposed to an independent).

The Durham mayor was challenged in 2005 by Thomas Stith (R) over a range of city issues, including violence. Stith charged that Bell needed to supply the city with more police officers.

Bell won the election over Stith with 58 percent of the vote.

The City of Durham is also part of the Research Triangle, which also includes the cities of Raleigh and Chapel Hill. Durham is also home to the mostly African-American college North Carolina Central.

Some four years ago, an incident between a female North Carolina Central student and Duke lacrosse players resulted in a famous scandal which lead to the resignation of Durham County's district attorney Mike Nifong.

Quote of the Week- Harold Pinter

In conjunction with my quote from David Mamet on "The Daily Vampire," I am posting a quip from another controversial playwright, the recently deceased Harold Pinter.

Unlike Mamet, Pinter was no conservative and he was very vocal to the Iraq War which he saw as an act of imperialism.

Studio Theatre in Washington, DC, just finsihed a run of Pinter's play "Moonlight" (pictured here), but the stage company will open with "The Solid Gold Cadillac" on Dec. 2.

'Cadillac,'a comedy play was first staged in 1953 and it was written by George S. Kaufman and Howard Teichman. The Studio Theatre production will be directed by Paul Mullins.

Triad Stage in Greensboro, NC, is currently running a production of Mamet's controversial play "Oleanna" through Nov. 8.

Here is a quip from Pinter's play "Moonlight:"

"I would never use obscene language in the office. Certainly not. I kept my obscene language for the home, the one place where it belongs."

Songs of Our Youth (8 of 12)_ "I Know What Boys Like" by The Waitresses

I actually found the lp which featured this song by the punk band The Waitresses at the Big Flea Market in Greensboro, NC, for a mere two bucks!

The band from Akron, Ohio, is also known for their song "Christmas Wrapping," which is frequently played on radio stations around Christmas time.

Sadly, the Waitresses' lead singer Patty Donahue tried at age 40 from lung cancer in 1996. The band also performed the title song for the cult tv sitcome "Square Pegs," which ran in the early 1980s and featured a very young Sarah Jessica Parker.

As for Uma Thurman, well---yes, I am definitely an admirer of her's!

Political Confusion Test (16 of 21) Earth Day or Tea Party

Yes, folks one can see the political divide everywhere including where I live in Boneville County, NC (fictional county).

Just yesterday, there was a 'tea party' in the town of Ararat (fictional name) where folks held up negative signs about their commander-in-chief. At another such rally in Greensboro (real town), one person refered to our president as 'Baby Killer Obama' (yes, I agree that person is an idiot!).

For those in Karachi (real place), the tea party is being held to protest Barack Obama's efforts to stabilize our economy with a bail out package, even though Republicans are just as too blame for the economic mess as anyone else in Washington, DC (real place).

But, on Saturday, in Boneville we will have an Earth Day celebration with live bands outside the Backstreet Buzz Coffee-Shop (real place). This is undoubtedly going to be the very first Earth Day celebration in Boneville.

Some how, I doubt my good friend Chris Knight (I'm sure he'll let me use his real name since he is an uber extrovert) won't be there as he once refered to Earth Day as 'Nerf Day.'

I, for one, am not an environmentalist fanatic but if Ahnuld thinks global warming is a reality and each summer day in Boneville feels as hot as hell's kitchen when it's on fire then I think it's safe to conclude that Al Gore has a valid point.

I would write more but I have a class to teach at some real town in a real rural part of southern Virginia.

Sidebar_ Oooops! This was supposed to be on our sister blog "The Daily Vampire" http://www.nocturnalguy38.blogspot.com

Old Cinemas_ Carolina Theatre in Greensboro (11 of 21)

The historic Carolina Theatre in downtown Greensboro has undergone an interesting history.

It opened on Halloween night in 1927. Then, in 1981, the cinema suffered a major fire and it did not reopen again until 1991.

Today, the Carolina Theatre no longer shows movies on a nightly basis as it also focuse on concerts, theatre, and community events.

But, they will screen "Ben Hur" (April 14), "That's Entertainment" (May 5), "Jaws" (May 6) and "The Great Escape" (June 9).

Bruce Piephoff Releases New CD

My good friend Greensboro, NC, folk singer Bruce Piephoff, who is undoubtedly celebrating UNC's national championship, will be releasing a new cd entitled "Clockwork" soon. It will be his 17th release.

Piephoff will hold a cd release party at the Lindley Park Filling Station on the corner of Walker Ave. and S. Elam Street in Greensboro on April 24 from 6 to 10 p.m. Phone: 336-274-2144

He will also be peforming at the Backstreet Buzz Coffee House in nearby Reidsville, NC, on April 18, at 7 p.m. The establishment is located at 234 SW Market Street in downtown Reidsville. Phone: 336-348-2899.


Useful Links:

http://www.brucepiephoff.com

Quote of the Week Special Edition- Hubert H. Humphrey

I heard a great radio documentary on NPR last night about the 1968 election, so I thought I'd post quotes from Hubert H. Humphrey and Richard Nixon on my two respective blogs.

"American public opinion is like an ocean, it can not be stirred with a teaspoon," Hubert H. Humphrey.

In other news, my good friend folk singer Bruce Piephoff will be performing at the Flat Irons Bar in Greensboro, NC, on Saturday night. There is a $5 cover charge.

Quote of the Week- David Bowie

"I've always had a repulsive need to be something more than human."


David Bowie's 1986 film "Labyrinth" will be shown at the Carousel Cinema in Greensboro, NC, on Wed., Jan.7 (coincidentally, a day before Bowie's birthday). For more details, check out the blog themovieshow.blogspot.com

My friend Joe Scott arranged the special screening.

We have a quote from Bowie's "Dancing in the Street" co-star Mick Jagger on our sister blog "The Daily Vampire."

Sore Losers

The lead article from the conservative newspaper "The Rhinoceros Times" in Greensboro, NC, actually started:

"Congratualtions to our new president Barack Hussein Obama......."

Image: Bad News Bears (1976)