Friday night Fun - Flying Burrito Brothers - Six Days on the Road

It's Flying Burrito Brothers night here at Naperville City Desk and boy are we excited. Gram Parsons is a big favorite and his work with the FBB is fantastic. Oddly, my first exposure to this song was not from FBB or Steve Earle who covered it. No, the first place I remember hearing it was the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor. On Fridays they had a country cover band of assorted Ann Arbor locals and they'd play happy hour from 5 to 8 pm or so. I went with my friend Mimi just about every Friday for about three years, until the Blind Pig decided they didn't want them anymore and they moved over to the Cavern Club, a perfectly awful venue. Goofy stage, bad visibility and a microscopic dance floor. The country nights ended pretty soon after that but I still have fond memories of Pistol Pete covering Conway Twitty's 'Make Believe' and this song.

Friday night Fun - Flying Burrito Brothers - Sin City

Video #2 is 'Sin City' by the Flying Burrito Brothers. Gram Parsons is the father of the country-rock movement, a description he despised, preferring to call it 'cosmic American music.'

Friday night Fun - Flying Burrito Horses - Wild Horses

It's a defining classic - Wild Horses, made famous by the Rolling Stones, but Gram Parsons played pedal steel on the track and maintained (albeit in a drug-induced haze) that he actually wrote it. Small matter - it's such a beautiful haunting song I'm just glad it is out there for us lucky listeners to consume. Gram died way too young but his influence lives on... Here's Gram singing lead with the Flying Burrito Brothers. It's a toss-up as to whose version is better - I think I've gotta give the edge to Gram.

If you're going to shoplift, make sure your loot is incapacitated

It's been a while since we've done this but we have a Chicks Committing Crimes report for our loyal reader (he knows who he is).

TINLEY PARK- Police say the turtle in her pocket gave her away.

A Plainfield teenager was arrested Oct. 10 for stealing a turtle from the North American Reptile Show at the Tinley Park Convention Center, police said.

Authorities said a worker at the show saw Michelle Gutierrez, 18, swipe a $49 turtle. The worker followed and confronted her. Gutierrez denied it, police said.

But then the turtle started wriggling in her pocket -- and the police were brought in, police said.

Gutierrez was charged with retail theft.

Friday night Fun - The Sweet - Ballroom Blitz

Yep, she thinks she's the passionate one...

Glam rock - dig that eyeshadow!!

Friday night Fun - The Romantics

Detroit's own... Dig those leather suits and skinny ties. I saw The Romantics a couple of years ago at the Open Space at the Traverse City Cherry Festival and they still sound GREAT - everyone was dancing!

Forgive our technical difficulties

We've been having problems with our laptop for the last couple weeks here at the NCD - an antivirus program designed to protect our computer decided accessing the internet was too dangerous and shut us out. Um, Hal? We uninstalled the program and everything is back to normal, although we're trying to figure out what to do for antivirus going forward.

Our mentor Johnny Action Space Punk would tell us to get a Mac. Next time, Johnny. Next time.

NCD Retro Post

I used to love this...

Friday night Fun - The Bangles - All Over the Place

Naperville City Desk is excited to declare tonight 'Bangles Night!' This all-girl group formed in Los Angeles took up the mantle from the Go-Go's in the early 80's and helped prove to everyone that chicks sell records and that the Go-Go's were not just a fluke. They had a monster hit in the mid-80's with 'Walk Like an Egyptian' and everyone knows that song but I want to take you all back to where it started for me.

Back in the day, before the internet I was reading a magazine and came across this article about this girl-band who wanted to be the next Beatles. Pretty bold, I thought, but I was interested enough to seek out their album 'All Over the Place.' I was blown away by it - while they were not the Beatles (no on is or will be) they had catchy tunes, great hooks, smart lyrics and interesting harmonies with everyone taking turns singing lead.

Here they are with 'Going Down to Liverpool.'





I am not the only Bangles fan out there - Lorelai Gilmore of 'Gilmore Girls' fame was a big fan and dragged Rory and Paris and friends from school along when the Bangles played in NYC. Of course, the friends ditched and Lorelai was distracted by something having to do with Luke but the band sounded great and if you watch to the end you'll see that at least one of the youngsters came around and became a new fan.

Friday night Fun - The Bangles - Hero Takes a Fall

We continue with Bangles night - the girls appeared live on late night TV in 1984. And sound really good! This is 'Hero Takes a Fall.'

Friday night Fun - Bangles night!

More from The Bangles...

This is 'James.'

Oh James
Letting me down again
James

Sunday funny

My mom sent me this joke:

What is the difference between Bird Flu and Swine Flu?

For bird flu you need tweetment and for swine flu you need oinkment!

Admit it, you groan and laugh at the same time!

Friday night Fun - B-52's Dirty Back Road

Kicking it off tonight with the B-52's from the early 80's with 'Dirty Back Road.'

Friday night Fun - B-52's Hot Lava

Really cool early video of the band from 1978.

Friday night Fun - Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac

Silver Springs - what a song. Sounds awesome every time I hear it. Now that Stevie has matured there is a richness to her voice that was missing when she originally recorded it.

"Lake. BIG lake..."

Or a pond in this case.

A motorist dropped a lit cigarette in his car and rather than do the smart thing and pull over to look for it he decided to try to fish around for it while driving. You know what they say about taking your eyes off the ball - motorist veered off the road. In what can only be considered a harmonic convergence, he veered off the road into a pond. The motorist managed to exit the car and stood on his trunk to keep his head out of the water. The submerged car and lights were spotted by a passerby who dialed 911 and reported it. The caller then tried to play Good Samaritan and jumped in to help the driver but then both men became stuck in the pond bottom which was very muddy. Two Wheaton police officers arrived on the scene and were able to remove the men from the water. Afterward they were checked out by paramedics and both refused transport to the hospital.

As a tribute to the driver who probably shouldn't be allowed to smoke and drive, we offer the following classic video: