Sunday, January 07, 2007

When I was about eight or nine years old I spent the night with my best friend and a couple of other kids and we stayed up until the wee hours of the night playing poker. I lost all of my money that night except for a quarter and I remember making a vow to God that if I could win my money back I would quit and never gamble or bet again. I did win all my money back and I kept my vow to never gamble for 41 years.... until.... two weeks ago...when...my cyberspace blogging comrade Dave initiated a friendly wager on the Rose Bowl game. The winner would buy the other a C.D. of their choice. Since my team, USC won Dave had to pay up by sending me a copy of Grand Funk Railroad's greatest hits. I'm not really a Grand Funk Railroad fan but the song I'm You're Captain is one of my favorite songs from my early childhood along with Nights in White Satin, Stairway to Heaven, and Riders in the Storm. I used to love listening to these songs on the FM dial late at night growing up as a kid. Just something haunting and transcendent sounding about these songs....back to the breaking of my vow....There are several ways of looking at the breaking of my vow...I kept the vow for 41 years. How many people can say that about keeping any kind of promise or vow?...Vows are meant to be broken...Friendly wagers between friends is really not gambling...or...I really didn't break my vow since wagering on USC against Michigan in a Rose Bowl game is really not gambling since gambling involves chance...and...we all know what happens to Michigan every time they venture out to Pasadena to play USC in the Rose Bowl... ....seriously....I appreciate Dave's promptness in sending the C.D., thanks Dave. It arrived yesterday and after I ripped off the plastic I sat down and listened to I'm Your Captain and was flooded with many fond memories as Grand Funk ended their classic hit with the famous line, I'm getting closer to my home, over and over which fits well with where I am at in life these days....and....if it is any consolation, Dave...I really didn't think USC would win the game....and...I wasn't particularly looking forward to trying to find some of the C.D. choices you had listed....so....thank God USC beat Michigan and thank God nothing has apparently changed with the Michigan football program....

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, I had no idea that I was such a... tempter! I just had the idea that the game would be a little more fun and interesting if there was more of a personal stake in the matter, and when you went on and on with all your "Men of Troy" chatter, I thought, let's make this guy back up his mighty boastful words... I did think that Michigan had a chance to reverse their well-documented fortunes when it comes to West Coast bowl games, but that's only because I bought into the hype, not because I pay close enough attention to college football to actually know what I'm talking about. So I figured, eh, let's put a CD on the line, no great shakes either way... Little did I suspect that I was meddling into Bilbo's relationship and solemn pact with the Almighty! Next time, don't hesitate to say "no thanks" if my idle whims threaten such disruption! But as it stands, it was an easy way for you to cop a free CD, low risk or even no risk, I now understand what you were saying.

And so you have a disc containing the greatest hit songs of one of Michigan's most distinctive and successful rock combos, the one and only Grand Funk Railroad! The quintessential American hard-rockin' power trio! They had some of the best album packaging to be found back in the heyday of the vinyl LP. Who can forget their coin-shaped "E Pluribus Funk" cover? Or how about the 3-D (with punchout red/blue glasses) "Shinin' On"? The glossy mirror-like golden metallic "We're An American Band" was another landmark. Or even "Born To Die" which had them all laid out in caskets? Yeah, GFR really had it goin' on back in the day... Mark Farner with his long straight hair hanging down to his butt, no shirt on, tight jeans, a metal slave bracelet wrapped around his beefy biceps, mashing out caveman-like three-chord power-rock while the chicks swooned and the dudes pumped their fist in time to the foot-stompin' music! OOOOOHHHH YEAHHHHH!

I enjoyed your recollection of "I'm Your Captain" too... nothing quite like those album-ending eight-minute epics that every heavy band worth their salt could trot out as a sure-fire way of getting the lighters up in the air at full flame. And I totally relate to the "late night FM radio" detail as well.

And if anyone's curious, the albums I requested (one of any, Bilbo's choice) on the flukey absurd chance that I had won the bet, were either Grateful Dead's "Anthem of the Sun," Jefferson Airplane's "Surrealistic Pillow" or the Mothers of Invention's "We're Only In It For The Money"... what's so obscure about any of these choices? They're all MASTERPIECES!

Bilbo said...

Hi Dave,

The albums you mention are obscure because I doubt I could find them at Wal-mart or Target. I probably would have actually had to go to Barnes or Noble, Borders, or Amazon...

Anonymous said...

OK, if you are talking about shopping at Walmart and Target, then yeah, my titles are obscure. I don't know that there's much to be found at those stores that I either don't already have or would want (other than new releases... Incubus' "Light Grenades" comes to mind as something that might be on sale there, but otherwise I might be browsing for a long time before I found something I'd like...)

Anonymous said...

I think I just came across as a hipper-than-thou "rock snob"...!

Bilbo said...

Don't worry about your self proclaimed reputation as a "hipper-than-thou rock snob". I actually enjoy listening and reading about your expertise in this area...and...over the years you have contributed to my own musical tastes with the likes of Moby and others. Besides, I've got a bit of music snobbery in me as well. My snobbery is not in the rock genre but in my own ecletic choice of music with the likes of the Cambridge singers, New Agers like Michael Jones and David Lanz, Chanticleer, Native American spirituals, and other world music interests...For the record...I agree with your comments about Wal-mart and Target although I have found a few concert DVD gems from time to time like U-2's Zoo T.V. concert I picked up a couple of weeks ago...

Anonymous said...

You guys are too funny! LOL! Bilbo, you know you are now on the short cut to hell breaking that all important childhood vow. My GOD! Is nothing sacred any more?

And I'll have to keep my wits about me knowing that Dave is such a powerful tempter. :)

Julie

Bilbo said...

I am glad Dave and I tickled your funny bone Julie...I may be on a fast track to hell Julie but I now have serious doubts about it's existence...at least the fire and brimstone version, so I am not going to sweat it I am...and...watch out for Dave...he's as subtle as they come and he's smooth which is a deadly combo for any big time tempter....