Ridin’ Out The Storm

Hurricane Ike from 2008.

By now everyone should be ready for this big storm. Just remember – when the wind’s blowin’ stay indoors, and try to find high ground when the floodwaters come. These big storms are gifts from Mother Nature, who doesn’t give a shit if you live in New York City or Podunk, Texas.

She couldn’t care less if you have someplace to be or something to do, and if you think you are going to show Mother Nature how tough you are then she may just want to show you back. That’s usually when we read about you in the paper – in the past tense.

Be smart, stay high and keep dry. Do that and you’ll stay safe. Here are some tunes to help you ride out the storm.

MP3: “Ridin’ The Storm Out” (live) by REO Speedwagon

MP3: “Stormbringer” by Beck

MP3: “Storm” by Blackmore’s Night

MP3: “Stand Out In The Rain” by the Jayhawks

MP3: “Into The Storm” by Yes

MP3: “Stormy Weather” by Dizzy Gillespie

MP3: “Thunder Island” by Jay Ferguson

MP3: “Rainy Night In Georgia” by Conway Twitty & Sam Moore

MP3: “Rainy Day Blues” by Lightnin’ Hopkins

MP3: “Box of Rain” by the Grateful Dead

MP3: “Didn’t It Rain” by the Band

MP3: “Rainy Day” by America

MP3: “Let It Rain” (live) by Derek & the Dominos

MP3: “When the Wild Wind Blows” by Iron Maiden

MP3: “Light From Your Lighthouse” by the Fireman

MP3: “After The Storm” by Mumford & Sons

MP3: “The Only Living Boy In New York” by Simon & Garfunkel

National Hurricane Center

The Weather Channel

Mike’s Weather Page (This excellent page is one of the best I’ve seen – it’s a virtual hurricane command center)

Lost Classics! Shel Silverstein

 

Most people probably know Shel Silverstein as that guy who wrote lovable stuff for kids, like the book Where The Sidewalk Ends and A Light In The Attic and The Giving Tree.  If you have kids, you probably read these to them at one point or another.  But your kids have probably never seen some of Shel’s early work – hope not, anyway.

The guy got his start in the 1950s working for Playboy magazine and its founder Hugh Hefner.  Silverstein drew cartoons and wrote poetry for that magazine until the 1970s.  Before he quit the publishing gig, though, Silverstein became a songwriter.  Among the songs he wrote were “The Unicorn,” a 1968 hit for the Irish Rovers that became their most popular song.  Two years later, Johnny Cash rode Silverstein’s “A Boy Named Sue” all the way to No. 1 and the song earned Silverstein a Grammy Award.

CAUTION: After the jump we feature some of Shel Silverstein’s adult material.  This is NOT for kids!   If you want to read about this author’s work for children, go here or here.  What follows after the jump is NOT FOR KIDS!!!  Whew.

Lost Classics! “Rainy Night in Georgia,” Conway Twitty and Sam Moore

Over the course of music history we’ve had the pleasure of hearing some great duets. Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, Johnny and June Carter Cash, Tony Bennett has recorded quite a few good ones, and the list goes on and on. But for my money, the greatest duet ever recorded was “Rainy Night in Georgia” by the late, great Conway Twitty and Sam Moore of Sam and Dave fame.

The duet appeared on Rhythm Country and Blues, a 1993 album that paired country music stars with legends of R&B. Most of the disc was unlistenable (do you really want to hear Little Richard and Tanya Tucker together?), but Twitty and Moore’s version of the Brooke Benton classic never gets old. It’s like an old friend who always makes you feel better when you’re down. It’s that good.