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Showing posts from March, 2014

Lost Book Gem: "Around The World In Eighty Days" - Jules Verne (1873)

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" I am the backwards traveller. Ancient wool unraveller." -- Wings -- Phileas Fogg,  the  phlegmatic  "nothing worries me" guy, must travel around the world and only   has  eighty days to do it.  A feat believed nigh on impossible...or his entire fortune is burnt toast.  And all because of a spur of the moment wager he strikes up with a swell bunch of snooty fellas down at the Gentleman's Reform Club.   Talk about your no-nonsense itinerary! Jules Verne   French novelist  1828 - 1905 Fogg, along with his new servant, Passepartout, (I pronounce it 'Pass-the-potatoes" for fun) encounter one frustrating obstacle after another.  B ad guys, bad d rugs, bad weather, bad fish, and a bad  tribe named Sioux. Along with all that, Fogg squeezes in time to rescue a young lady in harms way.  Actually his servant's the hero, but Fogg has all the dough, so he gets to bake the cinnamon rolls...(if you get my drift.)  And putting the spo

Lost Album Gem: "Vagabonds of the Western World" - Thin Lizzy (1973)

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" The madman climbed The steeple spire. "Go higher" said the crowd From down below ." Thin Lizzy St. Patrick’s Day, I opted to review an album from a band of Irish descent. So after filling my plate with corn beef and cabbage and refilling my tall glass with green beer, I put in the CD " Vagabonds of the Western World " , an offering by Thin Lizzy released in 1973. At this time Thin Lizzy was just a three piece band led by the legendary Phil Lynott , an underrated bass player and singer-songwriter from Dublin, Ireland and was backed by Eric Bell /guitar and Brian Downey /percussion.  Lizzy had a much more soulful psycha-blues-rock burn going on...on this one...with plenty of meat on the bone. The band kicks off this overlooked treat with a message of environmental neglect in the powerful " Mama Nature Said ," a driving song that rocks without being preachy. It is interesting that forty years later the message i