HossC

The good weather never lasts long in Ireland, so I'll cool things down (unless MaryAnne is really Adele and can ).Rain - The Beatles

This week's comparison was a song I know very well, and I have to say I'm biased because the original version is one of my all-time favorites. Once again, the cover version was good, but for me it's the original every time. See what y'all think of this one: Glen Campbell - Wichita Lineman I have another version that wasn't included in the comparison, but, for me, even 'The Man in Black' can't beat Glen's version: Don't get me wrong: I think both the covers are good, but not great. Opinions welcome.

Here's another picture inspired by a typo, although this time it wasn't one of mine. I present the Plymouth Furry, or is that the Furry Plymouth :

There's some great dancing in this if you stick around until the end . Not another one .

I'd almost forgotten about this song until it came up on my MP3 player the other day. It seems that this track, from their third album, did slightly better on this side of the Atlantic. It works well with the hot weather we're enjoying at the moment.

To be blunt, I wouldn't waste your time worrying about it. For some reason there seems to be a new prediction for the end of the world about every six month at the moment. The prediction that's receiving attention now is December 21st 2012, which marks the end of the current 5125 year cycle in the Mayan calendar. Other dates were given earlier this year when some argued that the Mayan calendar didn't include leap years, or that the calculations didn't take into account the changes made when the Gregorian calendar succeeded the Julian calendar in 1582. All this despite the fact that Mayan experts claim there is no mention of the world ending on that date from any source. Last year Harold Camping gave us two dates for 'the rapture'. When the first date of May 21st 2011 passed without incident, he claimed that a non-visible "spiritual judgment" had taken place, and that the physical rapture would occur on October 21, 2011. For those of you who don't watch the news, it didn't happen. If you do want to take your predictions for the end of the world from the Bible: in 1704, British scientist Sir Isaac Newton proposed that, based upon his calculations using figures from the Book of Daniel, the Apocalypse could happen no earlier than 2060. There have also been various interpretations for the date of the end of the world based on the writings of Nostradamus, although most people seem to claim things were predicted by Nostradamus using hindsight; I'd like to see this method used for the Apocalypse. If you do want to read Nostradamus, maybe you should try his first book. Written in 1555, before his predictions, it concerned the secrets of making jams and jellies. Apparently the recipe for cherry jam is still considered good .

Similar title, very different song: A Campfire Song - 10,000 Maniacs Additional vocals on this track are provided by R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe.

We haven't had a theme for a while. Anyone fancy 'song' songs i.e. songs with the word 'song' in the title? Comedy version of .

Believe it or not, The Brady Bunch isn't that well known over here. It originally only had a limited showing (before my time), and the reruns in the early 90s were on a satellite channel before most people had satellite TV (myself included). I do remember seeing about 10 minutes of the 1995 movie with Shelley Long. I found a blurry clip of 'The Cincinnati Kids' on YouTube for people like myself who haven't seen it: The whole episode is supposed to be on TV.com, but they don't want anyone from my geographical region to see it . Maybe those of you in the US will have more luck: The Brady Bunch - The Cincinnati Kids

There's definitely a person in the jail cell in that scene. They are wearing a light-colored shirt and a cowboy hat, and spend their whole time on screen with their head lolling down in their lap. I don't remember any reference being made to this person, and Enos doesn't seem to include them in the food order. A while later when we see Enos take the phone call from Daisy the person is no longer visible, but we don't get to see the whole cell that time.

Apparently a version of this song appeared in the finale of 'House'. I haven't seen it myself; I just know that it isn't Lupus .

I'll start with the original Motown soul classic: The version I know better is . That's Dave Stewart that did 'It's My Party' with Barbara Gaskin, not the one from Eurythmics. Colin Blunstone is currently back together with Rod Argent doing gigs as The Zombies.

Here's a commercial for car accessory/cycle store Halfords. It draws heavily on (British) nostalgia for things like the old bikes, Polaroid cameras, rainy camping holidays etc. I know CDoherty is interested in bikes, so I can tell you that the blue one is a Raleigh Grifter. I had one in red. They looked like BMXs but weighed about three times as much and were about ten times less strong! The music for the Halfords commercial is the 1979 single 'Into the Valley' by The Skids. Every time I hear it I'm reminded of another commercial from over 20 years ago for Maxell cassette tapes (for younger members who may be unfamiliar with cassette tapes, you can read about them here). The idea of the commercial was that lyrics were easily misheard if you weren't listening to Maxell tapes. The use of the lyrics on cards is very like Bob Dylan's 'Subterranean Homesick Blues'. Maxell did a second commercial in the same style, this time with Desmond Dekker's 'The Israelites'. I still find myself singing along to these songs with lyrics that appeared on these cards .

Gold Dust Woman - Fleetwood Mac One of the Stevie Nicks tracks from Rumours.

This location, up in the hills from the previous posts, was found by a stroke of luck. I'd saved these screengrabs from 'Hazzard Connection' (the scene where Luke pretend the brakes have failed to scare Enos) a couple of weeks ago hoping to discover where they filmed. Again I thought they should be distinctive enough to find. Then I went to re-check the map of the previous locations and typed "sand canyon road" into Google, but did a web search instead of a map search by mistake. The first result was . It was only five minutes long, so I thought I'd check it out for filming locations. Almost immediately after the bike leaves the car park it passes this spot. The video finishes at the intersection with Placerita Canyon Road at the bottom of the hill. This was actually the picture that confirmed I was in the right place. The concrete blocks and silver/gray pipe haven't changed a bit, hardly surprising as the terrain doesn't exactly lend itself to development. I'm pretty sure this is the same stretch of road from a different angle. You can check for yourself here, it's where Sand Canyon Road (also known as Little Tujunga Road in this area) is joined by Santa Clara Divide Road.

This picture from 'People's Chioce' has also bugged me for a while. The house is fairly distinctive, but there's not much scenery to go on, and it only appears very briefly. Just like the last picture, this house is also on Placerita Canyon Road, opposite the entrance to Ravenhill Road. Click here to see how it looks today. Just across the road is this house. It looks as if it may have been under construction when Dukes was filmed; now there's a driveway, pool and surrounding trees. The same intersection is used again almost immediately afterwards. The camera angle has been changed, but that's the General emerging from Ravenhill Road again. The hills in the background are the same as the ones in the second picture of the previous post.

Sometimes it pays to listen to Ferris Bueller's advice, so while I was at the intersection of Sand Canyon Road and Placerita Canyon Road I stopped to look around: if I hadn't, I could've easily misssed something. Luckily I've now ticked off several more of my "unknown" pictures. This is the same intersection as the previous post, but from a different angle. The screengrab is from 'People's Choice'. Here's yet another angle, this time from 'Follow That Still'. That brings us to this picture, which has bugged me for ages. I thought the mountain in the background would be a dead giveaway, but I couldn't locate it anywhere. It turns out this is just up Placerita Canyon Road, and the barriers at the side are where is crosses Happy Trails Road. I should have spotted it sooner. What can I say: the camera lens distorts the distances, the Google Street View is pretty blurry, the trees have grown considerably since 1980, blocking the background, I had a flat tire, I didn't have enough money for cab fare, my tux didn't come back from the cleaners, an old friend came in from out of town, someone stole my car, there was an earthquake, a terrible flood, locusts!

A radio show I listen to has a weekly feature where they put up two versions of a song, the original and a good cover, and debate which is better; sometimes with surprising results. For example, this week's comparison was 'Tracks of my Tears' with versions by Smokey Robinson and Linda Ronstadt. It's the one from a couple of weeks ago that still has me undecided. The subject that week was Leonard Cohen's track 'Tower of Song' from his 1988 album 'I'm Your Man'. The cover version was by Tom Jones from his new album 'Spirit in the Room'. I must confess, I didn't know either version beforehand, but expected the Leonard Cohen one to win. After listening to both several times I'm still can't make my mind up. Cohen's version is more tongue-in-cheek with the backing singers, cheap-sounding organ and self-depricating lines like "I was born with the gift of a golden voice". Jones, however, takes the song and makes it his own. He was born with the gift of a golden voice, and with his interpretation it could have been written for him. Have a listen to both and tell me which you prefer: For people who are used to their music a bit more country, Cohen acknowledges the influence of Hank Williams in this verse: I said to Hank Williams, "How lonely does it get?" Hank Williams hasn't answered yet But I hear him coughing all night long Oh, a hundred floors above me in the tower of song If anyone has more suggestions for original/cover versions for comparison, I'd like to hear them as well.

Getting closer .

Sorry to interupt your thread with sad news, but did you see that Alan Oakley, the man who designed the Chopper, passed away last Friday. His wife confirmed the now-legendary story that her husband drew the design for the Chopper on an envelope as he travelled home from the USA, in 1967. The full story is here. It looks like Raleigh made a limited edition Mk 3 version in 2004, but moved the gear change and modified the seat - doesn't look nearly as much fun as the originals.

Barrels (used to go over the falls )

Alcatraz

You get a good close-up of one of the Shelby wheels in 'Repo Men' - I think it's outside Ace's car lot. Looks like they're using Summit tires.