Joshua Tree / Palm Springs revisited …

Where the Streets have no Name – U2

2014
Somewhere in the High Desert  

Back in 2014, Rose and I did a flash tour of Joshua Tree National Park
near Palm Springs, California.

It’s a large Park.
The High Desert from ‘on high’.

Sadly, we only had a limited time that day
so missed out on a lot of things here.
Too bad – because we’re not likely to get back.
Make the most of your moments folks.

But it was still good.

Below: The Sign
I look sorta like Fred Couples – without the money.

Neither the graffiti or the bullet holes are mine Officer.

Now THAT is a hell of a Joshua Tree.

Joshua Tree National Park is famed for it’s amazing rock formations.
Many of them are named.

I named this one Rose’s Noodle.
I doubt that will catch on.

Beautiful

Chuckawalla Lizard

You can see a long ways in the high desert.

I could climb around in this stuff all day.

So what do you do after a hot day in the desert?

Dumb question.

Hope we can get back there and see all the stuff that we missed.

Art from the 70’s … June 2021

Jessica / The Allman Brothers Band / 1973
from the album Brothers and Sisters


You called?

Keep on Truckin’ …

Your point?

Heart and Soul wins the Prize

Who are those guys?
Eh?

I cannot recall any Hockey team winning a Hockey Tournament after losing it’s first 3 games in Round Robin competition.
Can you?

If you ever needed any proof that Heart, Will, Desire and Hard Work
are more important that Skill, Talent, and Experience,
it was just provided by a group of Canadian Hockey Players
who just won the IIHF 2021 World Hockey Tournament
(International Ice Hockey Federation)
in Riga, Latvia.

Video Highlights:

After losing the first 3 games, these guys – most of whom I’ve never heard of? (they were NOT Stars!) -proceeded to win every game from then on – usually in Overtime or by a single goal.
A truly amazing feat.

That’s GOLD Baby!

 

 

 

Swimming at Oak Creek Crossing …

 

Sedona Spirit – Keith O’ Sullivan

Also called Red Rock Crossing.

Me at Oak Creek Crossing 2000?
Me at Oak Creek Crossing – 2000?

Back in the late 70’s (or early 80’s?) I went swimming at Oak Creek Crossing in Sedona, Arizona. But I believe a few people thought I was exaggerating because much of the time Oak Creek Crossing is shallow and there’s no obvious place you can swim.
Yet I’ve recently discovered several photos that prove my case.

Don’t forget your sunscreen / Net Photo
The water can be cool ... but that's good / Net Photo
The water can be cool … but that’s good / Net Photo
It’s no secret anymore / Net Photo
Net Photo

When I came here back in the 70’s I had Spiritual experiences here – and it was still pretty well unspoiled. I climbed up to Cathedral Rock and I felt like it was a secluded sacred moment – like nobody had ever been up here before. Now there are hiking trails that go up here and people all over the place. The Spell of Solitude is long gone.

Net Photo

But it’s beauty and mystique can never be completely destroyed.

Net Photo

Someday I hope to return.

Net Photo

 

Silverado / The Credits Quiz

The Credits quiz

The spectacular Silverado ensemble cast is revealed:

Here’s an alphabetical listing of opening Silverado Credits and Billing:

Rosanna Arquette
John Cleese
Kevin Costner
Brian Dennehy
Scott Glenn
Danny Glover
Jeff Goldblum
Linda Hunt
Lawrence Kasdan
Kevin Kline
Question/Quiz: 

The Quiz question is:
Without looking below, what order would you Bill the above Actors in the opening Silverado Screen Credits?
I ask this question because the Billing order is very often not what you’d figure it would be.
Try this quiz and you’ll see.


To me the order of Billing is always interesting.
Who gets Top Bill? – and the succeeding order.
It’s often not what you would think it would be.

Screen Images rom  “THE MOVIE STILLS COLLECTION” website: (http://annyas.com/screenshots/updates/silverado-1985-lawrence-kasdan/)

A Critical Showdown

Because of it’s eminent re-watchability
I place Silverado a Western Classic.
That’s how I judge these things.
Time usually tells the story.

Other opinions:

IMDB: “7.2” Not bad.

I’m a big fan of Rotten Tomatoes Reviews
because they also show the ‘Audience Score’
who aren’t encumbered by intellect.
They just know what they like.

MetaCritic: “64” out of 100.
Audience: “8” out of 10.
The audience got it.

ALLMOVIE: “4.5” out of 5.
Right.

Silverado (1985) – the Posters

Silverado inducted into My Favorite Westerns. 

Soundtrack:

Silverado Preview Trailer:

Love this Western.
It’s generic and
Cliché as hell, but easily carried by it’s amazing Star Power and action. 

Kevin Kline, Scott Glenn, Kevin Costner, Danny Glover,
Riding high.

“Get ready for the ride of your life.”

Silverado Poster 1

“A dangerous place,
in a lawless time … ’til four friends risked
all to make things right.”

Silverado Poster 2
Silverado DVD Cover

“FUN … HIGH-SPIRITED, JOYOUS” 

“Fun”? “Joyous”??
Have you ever seen any Western with Tags like this before?
Silverado gets away with it.

Silverado Poster 3

Italian: “There is something new in the West”

French: “In the West, finally something new”
???

Spanish: “Ride with them on the adventure of a lifetime”

Silverado
Silverado Spanish

Chinese: Four decadent Westerners murder the Authorities”
(joke)

Silverado Chinese
Silverado Chinese

Lobby Cards:The Lobby Card above has a spoiler of the climactic gunfight? 

Spoiling for a gunfight
4 Stars

Chasing them ol’ Covid Blues …

The Sun will Rise Again

I recently said some negative things about Kevin Costner on another Blog. I deeply regret those knee jerk remarks. Snap judgements. What do I really know about anybody else? Not a damn thing. I hope to become less judgmental in future. 

And I really like what he says here. Not a bad song either.

Thanks Kevin.

 

True Grit … ?

My whole system blew up the other day.
It had become completely corrupted.
So I’ve had to re-install everything.

Meanwhile …
Rose wants me to retire from my job.

I’ve been thinking it’s time.

But I will still work on the blog,I’ll just pop a couple of meds …

And induct a couple of Westerns
into My
Favorites Pages:
True Grit (2010) and Silverado (1985).

… among others.

Hang in there.

2021 U18 World Hockey Champions ….

We are the Champions


Way to go lads!
Not bad for a bunch of Canuck teenagers.

See you in the Bigs

Cool Water … A Western Classic … Part 2

“You never miss the water ’til the well runs dry …”

Cool Water … Many Interpretations

Most artists do Cool Water ‘straight up’.
Nothing wrong with that.
But there’s a few interpretations
 that caught my ear.

Hard to beat how beautifully The Sons of the Pioneers do this /1961

Dale Evans intro? Husband Roy Rogers was one of the
founding members of the Sons of the Pioneers back in the 1930’s.

Below:
Possibly the most popular of modern interpretations:
Joni Michell and Willie Nelson / 1988

Jimmie Rodgers with his great voice /1959

The Browns. Their unique and wonderful sound / 1960

Burl does it straight up / 1961
But oh so nicely.

This song was made for Walter / 1964

The Sons do a wonderful job / 1992

Teresa Brewer? Who knew!? / 1967

Nicely done Johnny / 1969

Fleetwood Mac. Really / 1982

A powerful and poignant interpretation.
Johnny knew his time was up / 2010

Hope you enjoy these. 

Cool Water … A Western Classic … Part 1

Cool Water / The Sons of the Pioneers / Written by Bob Nolan

Cool Water

Cool Water by The Sons of the Pioneers (Album, Cowboy): Reviews, Ratings, Credits, Song list - Rate Your Music

Some things have been around so long we just take them for granted.
We shouldn’t.

For some things are treasures and a wonderful part of our Heritage.
Cool Water is one such gem.

Wikipedia says:
“”Cool Water” was written in 1936 by Bob Nolan.
It is about a parched man and his mule traveling a wasteland tormented by mirages.

Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as No. 3 on the Top 100 Western songs of all time.”
Justly so.
Nolan also wrote Tumbling Tumbleweeds.
How many can claim that they wrote 2 of the greatest Western Songs of all time?

Bob Nolan (1908 – 1980) was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, April 13, 1908. In 1929 he moved to California.
With Roy Rogers and Tim Spencer, he formed The Sons of the Pioneers in the 1930’s until it broke up in 1949.
That’s a heck of Legacy Bob.
In the song “Dan” is usually assumed to be the subject’s horse, but the term “Old Dan”
usually refers to a trustworthy mule in traditional cowboy colloquialism.
While he wrote cowboy songs including subjects like the desert, this song became popular
during the droughts of the Dust Bowl and Great Depression era. He wrote this poem as a teenager
after he had moved with his divorced father to Tuscon Arizon, and he put it to song twelve years later.

Bob Nolan’s original Cool Water lyrics:

All day I’ve faced a barren waste,
Without the taste of water, cool water.
Old Dan(2) and I with throats burnt dry,
And souls that cry for water,
Cool, clear water.

(CHORUS:)
Keep a-movin’, Dan,
Don’t you listen to him, Dan,
He’s a devil not a man,
And he spreads the burning sand with water.
Dan, can you see that big green tree,
Where the water’s running free,
And it’s waiting there for me,
And you?

The nights are cool and I’m a fool,
Each star’s a pool of water, cool water.
But with the dawn, I’ll wake and yawn,
And carry on to water,
Cool, clear water.

(CHORUS)

The shadows sway and seem to say,
“Tonight we pray for water,
Cool water.”
And way up there He’ll hear our prayer,
And show us where there’s water,
Cool, clear water.

(CHORUS)

Dan’s feet are sore, he’s yearning for,
Just one thing more than water,
Cool water.
Like me, I guess, he’d like to rest,
Where there’s no quest for water,
Cool, clear water.

(CHORUS)

Sung by Many

“It was first recorded by The Sons of the Pioneers on March 27, 1941, for Decca Records and briefly charted in 1941 with a peak position of No. 25. However, the best-selling recorded version was done by Vaughn Monroe and The Sons of the Pioneers in 1948.
The record was on the Billboard chart for 13 weeks …”

Over the Cool Water years it’s been interpreted by many Artists:

Cool Water Bob Atcher 1940 First recording on June 13, 1940
Cool Water Sons of the Pioneers April 1941
Cool Water Sunshine Girls with Cliffie Stonehead’s Harmony Homesteaders 1945
Cool Water Smiley Burnette with The Sunshine Girls 1945
Cool Water Dude Martin and His Round-Up Gang June 11, 1946
Cool Water Foy Willing and The Riders of the Purple Sage July 1946
Cool Water Kate Smith May 1948
Cool Water Nellie Lutcher and Her Rhythm July 1948
Cool Water Tex Ritter and The Dinning Sisters August 1948
Cool Water Sam Browne with The Quads and The Squadronaires directed by Jimmy Miller December 1948
Cool Water Vaughn Monroe with The Sons of the Pioneers 1948
Cool Water The Four Tunes November 1950
Cool Water Bing Crosby and The Andrews Sisters with Orchestra Directed by Matty Matlock 1952
Cool Water Bob Nolan 1954
Cool Water Frankie Laine March 1955
Cool Water The Norman Luboff Choir 1955
Cool Water Roy Rogers and Dale Evans August 1956
Cool Water Dave Pell Octet February 1957
Cool Water Roger Williams September 1958

Cool Water Polly Bergen and Bill Bergen May 1958
Cool Water Cliffie Stone August 1959
Cool Water Marty Robbins September 1959
Cool Water Johnnie Ray October 1959
Cool Water The Ames Brothers with Hugo Winterhalter and His Orchestra and Chorus 1959
Cool Water Jimmie Rodgers [US2] 1959
Cool Water The Diamonds 1959
Cool Water Hank Williams January 1960 Released more than 10 years after its recording
Cool Water The Browns featuring Jim Edward Brown March 1960
Cool Water Jack Scott July 1960
Cool Water Kate Smith with Bill Stegmeyer and His Orchestra 1960
Cool Water The Randy Van Horne Singers 1960
Cool Water Jack Marshall April 1960

Cool Water Burl Ives June 1961
Cool Water Stu Davis 1961
Cool Water Tex Ritter with Stan Kenton’s Orchestra July 1962
Cool Water Billy Vaughn 1962

Cool Water The Rooftop Singers November 1962
Cool Water Boston Pops OrchestraArthur Fiedler, Conductor 1962

Cool Water Jack Elliott March 1963 Live
Cool Water Eddy Arnold August 6, 1963
Cool Water Patti LaBelle and The Bluebelles 1963
Cool Water Odetta 1963
Cool Water Four Jacks 1963
Cool Water The Willis Brothers 1963
Cool Water Bobby Gregg and His Friends 1963
Cool Water The Bill Black Combo 1963

Cool Water Kai Winding August 1964
Cool Water John Hore accompanied by The Nick Smith Trio with Jerry Merito 1964
Cool Water Walter Brennan 1964
Cool Water John Hore 1964
Cool Water The Rangers [US2] 1964
Cool Water Dick Contino 1964

Cool Water Hank Snow with The Jordanaires November 1965
Cool Water Jim McNaught January 1966
Cool Water Gary McFarland and Gabor Szabo 1966
Cool Water Tom Jones March 24, 1967
Cool Water Teresa Brewer May 1967
Cool Water Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians July 1967
Cool Water Frank Ifield July 1967
Cool Water Nick Taylor 1967
Cool Water Johnny Nash March 1969
Cool Water Keith Manifold 1974
Cool Water Sleepy LaBeef 1976
Cool Water Sven Liljegren 1977
Cool Water Paul Bogart 1977
Cool Water Grady Martin 1977

Cool Water Royston 1978
Cool Water Trevor Adams 1978
Cool Water Spinning Wheel 1979
Cool Water Windsor Davies & Don Estelle 1979
Cool Water Lee Conway 1980
Cool Water Floyd Cramer 1980

Cool Water Fleetwood Mac August 18, 1982
Cool Water Shady Grove Ramblers 1983
Cool Water Riders in the Sky 1983
Cool Water Mason Williams 1984
Cool Water Joni Mitchell March 23, 1988 First release
Western Medley: Back in the Saddle Again … The Jordanaires 1991
Cool Water The Son of San Joaquin / 1992
Cool Water Jim Hendricks 1993
Cool Water The Gatlin Brothers June 8, 1994
Cool Water Michael Martin Murphey with The San Antonio Symphony Orchestra September 12, 1995 Live
Cool Water Wylie & The Wild West 1996
Cool Water Roland 1998
Cool Water Opera Cowpokes July 1999
Cool Water Craig Duncan 1999

Cool Water Swingsters 2001
Cool Water The Stay Tuned String Band 2002
Cool Water Viva Las Vegas 2002
Cool Water Trails & Rails October 2008
Cool Water Johnny Cash February 2010
Cool Water Michael Martin Murphey June 28, 2011
Cool Water Cow Bop 2011
Cool Water Daniel O’Donnell October 22, 2012
Cool Water Christian Masser 2013
Cool Water A Little Farther West January 6, 2017
Cool Water Jen Mize – Mark Sholtez 2018
Cool Water Hank Shizzoe 2019

There are many interpretations of Cool Water that are not listed here. 

Royal Tyrrell Museum … Going Inside

Joseph Burr Tyrrell, FRSC

(November 1, 1858 – August 26, 1957)
Was a Canadian geologist, cartographer, and mining consultant. He discovered dinosaur (Albertosaurus sarcophagus) bones in Alberta’s Badlands and coal around Drumheller in 1884.
Canada’s Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Alberta was named in his honor.

Went looking for Coal, but found something else.

Unidentified Dinosaur in Entrance

Many of the models are impressive.

We took a lot of pics in here. 

mY fAVOrite weSTERns … Let’s Ride !!! …

Hans Zimmer – Now We Ride! / Rango

Amigos! …

You may have noticed my Blog is in a state of … kerfuffle.
CHANGE.


After several years I’ve finally decided to upgrade things. 
So I asked my Son-in-Law Ray,
who happens to be a champion Blog
and Website designer,
to help me out.

Ray Krohmer
Director, IT Specialist, Consultant
Monolith Solutions

www.monolithsolutions.ca
1-800-637-5090

I’ve given Ray full reign to do whatever he thinks will work:
Therefore things will be in a state of upheaval ’round here for a bit.
But Fear not!
It will all come together …
shortly?

Great Scott !!!

Let’s RIDE!!!

 

Virtual Tour: The Royal Tyrrell Museum

Virtual Tour: The Royal Tyrrell Museum

This virtual tour can be a bit awkward to navigate,
but if you click on that box in the bottom left hand corner
it will beam you to places around the museum and area. 

Click Here To View Royal Tyrel 360′ View

What you’ll see: 

Just inside the entrance:

T Rex – Always the Star:

Triceratops:

Big Fish:

Once an Ocean:

Sometimes a jungle:

Movie Time:

In the Lab:Get a T Rex T Shirt:

Exhibits are continuously being added and expanded.

Adult (18 – 64) $21.00
Senior (65+) $14.00
Youth (7 – 17) $10.00
Children (6 and under, ticket required) Free
Family (2 adults and their children 7 – 17, max. group size 8) $50.00
Members Free
Experience Alberta’s History Pass Holders Free

Effective December 13, 2020, the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology is temporarily closed

Despite the popularity of Dinosaurs, some people feared that nobody would come all the way out to Drumheller to see this. Since it’s opening in 1985 more than 13 million visitors have come from over 150 countries. They were wrong. 

Chichen Itza

Found this in my files.
Liked it.
Showing it.

Our trip to Chichen Itza was a true highlight of this lifetime.
If you get the chance to see any of this stuff for real …

Go for it.

The Return of the Wizard

Strange Magic / Electric Light Orchestra

Many years ago my niece Sarah made a small figurine for me. I called him Wizard. Wizard accompanied me on my many trips and moves – quietly gracing my desktop. But in my journeys, he also took a heck of a beating.
I lost his Crystal Ball (shameful!) and broke his Magic Staff (doh!).
These are two really bad things for a Wizard.
A Wizard without his Crystal Ball and Magic Staff is like a soldier without a rifle. Almost useless.
Something had to be done! Wizard needed to be fixed.
I sent out the call to Sarah:
Please fix Wizard! 

Sarah immediately responded, expressing astonishment that I still had Wizard at all!! after all these years!
She then determined to go beyond merely repairing Wizard and would create a whole new Wizard for me!
I didn’t expect such a generous offer! But happily accepted. 

A week and a half later Wizard 2 arrived in the mail:

Look how Wondrous he is!!!
Amazing!!!

Thank You Sarah!

Wiz 2 is substantially bigger than Wiz 1!
And I discovered something magical about Wiz 2:
When I went into my office the next – and before I turned on the light …
This is what I saw! : 

Wiz 2’s Crystal Ball shines in the dark!!!

I don’t how Sarah pulled that off, but it’s really cool.

I’m not about to abandon Wiz 1 though.
I now realize I can fix him myself.
All I need to do is to find a Magic Staff and a new Crystal Ball. 
Hmmm …

Something like this:
I wonder if I can find a Crystal Ball that shines in the dark also??
We’ll see. 

The Staff might take some searching
But I’m optimistic

I’ll keep you posted.

 

On the Dinosaur Trail …

The Bells / The Browns / 1960

On the way to the Royal Tyrell Museum you will spot The Little Church.
And, as Costner said in Field of Dreams, “I can use all the Karma I can get.”

“1968”??? I visited The Little Church in the early 60’s when we lived here.

Enter the downtrodden.

Amen.

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