... Closing the year ...

        "Where is Lance ... "

   Well ... We kinda busy holding on right now.  

     To return however. Because we always do ... 

            Till then, Happy New Year!  

 

Music -Music Volume 2

 Late '88 - Mid '89

 Back to North Carolina for a couple of years. Music remained the main narrator of the story but a new hobby / Interest came about in early '89

 Soaps! 🤗.  Starting with The Bold and the Beautiful. Ronn Moss as Ridge Forrester. Already familiar with Ronn Moss from:

                                      Monster hit back around 1977/78. 

Young and the Restless followed. Hey, I recognize that fella:

  As the World Turns and Guiding Light joined the fray as well. Great escapism tv.  

  In early '89 Mike + The Mechanics released this poignant and melancholy future #1:

             A beautifully orchestrated song with powerful lyrics. 

 I decided to expand my listening footprint a bit in '89.

Sheena was back and holy wow

 Two great windows down - crank it up and roll songs hit the airwaves in the Spring of '89. 

 Roger Thorpe joined the party in the Spring of '89 also

                        Best Soap Villain ever. Michael Zaslow was great. 

   Don Henley returned. With flowing locks

  *Don Mattingly would have his last big season :

.303/.351/.477  23 HR 113 RBI 4.2 War

  

 *Batman & Ghostbusters were mega hits in the Summer of '89

*Ric Flair & Terry Funk put on a great show for months on the rasslin' side

      More to come ...

   

  

... Friday ...

  First ... Never forget where you came from ...

"Many relatives of mine have been or are Tobacco Farmers. None of which forced anyone to smoke a cig, dip snuff, chewing tobacco.etc. Personal responsibility is a thing. Never dipped or smoked a cigarettte in my life but I'll always support that industry." 

 

  Back on regular schedule soon.

            Later ...

... Whichever Way the Wind Blows ...

                   But first. Congratulations to a fellow movie buff , a very knowledgeable one with. My friend Virginie Saia Pronovost,

 who celebrates her blogs 10 year anniversary!  Link to her blog below.

The Wonderful World of Cinema

  A quick endorsement. Rivergirl Fishing. Family fun. The South Fork of the New River in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. What a locale 😎. Something tells me by Spring of '25 business will be rocking 😎

  

    

  "Boss, you can't swim..."

            "Bears can. Gotta be authentic and keep it real."

             Onward ...

Some random stuff to kick off the week. 

*The Redskins beating the Bears on a hail mary. Wild finish.

*Ravens. Skip this, royally pissed.

*Falcons. Good win. Solid road win.

*Yankees. FIX IT!!!

*Notre Dame is a National Title threat.

*Alabama still has issues.

*Colorado. Beware of the Buffs.

*Remember to keep some eyes and ears focused on the Western North Carolina corridor that I'm tied to. Ashe and Watauga counties and Trade and Mountain City Tennessee.  I do love those areas and they are home for me.  

    "It's a very eclectic roster"

*Many new links on the sidebar featuring Western N.C. businesses

*GoFundMe links:

Pie on the Mountain

CJ's Market

"No. Boo Berry is the best. Super Sugar Crisp was great back in the day also"

    Music time. Dualing drummers 😎

Later ...

... We've got the time ...

   

  

   Rams certainly did. The conviction in Coach Vermeil's delivery of the message. Not a Rams fan but love that clip.

"This has potential"

                  

  Cue Willie ...

 " Gotta love Willie ..."

   

Later ... 

       

 

... The New York Yankees! ... Music - Music Volume 1 .. .

          First up ...

   

  The level of professionalism in that at-bat is at an elite level. Soto stalked the relief pitcher, Hunter Gaddis, the whole at-bat. And Gaddis is pretty darn good. Good to finally, as a fan, get back to the World Series. I was 39 in 09, the last Series appearance. 15 years, but seems longer.  😂

                               Volume 1 Early 70's - 1988

  Yes, it was a hit. Live version from The Hague(! LOL) is pretty cool. 

              "It's the Strings & Horns man"

  I love music. Probably since birth 😂. Listen to pretty much everything. Well except for Speed Metal.  Grunge is iffy. And I give Rap the stink eye for the most part but there are a few Rap tunes I like. As mentioned a few blog posts back, I was fortunate growing up when it came to music. Mom & Dad liked Country, Bluegrass, Gospel. Older brother was all Country. Older sisters were listening to everything.  An early song I liked, my sister had the album, was this:

  

  Three year old me thought that was the greatest song ever. The Sweet, Jim Croce, Lynn Anderson, Charley Pride, Mac Davis, Three Dog Night and many more artists could be heard in the household. Hee Haw, Lawrence Welk, The Midnight Special, Soul Train, Don Kirshner's Rock Concert were some of the musical shows that were watched. Great era. My love of the Saxophone started at around 4 years old with:

                                   Older sister had the album  😁

  A year later I had an album. Elton John's Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy. Album cover stood out  😎. Hey, good stuff:

                                Jukeboxes had a role to play: 

                                      

  To South Carolina. Westview Elementary. On select Friday afternoons we could bring 45's to class:

                         Suzi aka Leather Tuscadero on Happy Days. 

  Disco at the skating rink:

  Westview was quite a bit of fun the two years I spent there. A bummer that we moved out of that school district. So on to Maranatha Christian. No "bring your 45's to school" days there. 😁😂. Started listening to more Country in those days:

But not exclusively Country:

  The Four Tops are brilliant regardless of era. Levi Stubbs with the "yeah that's right" fist pumps and what a voice. So much talent. 

       MTV was finally available to me  in 1983

Sir Elton's music has been part of the life here for a long time.

   Back to Public School for High School to close out the K-12 years. Macedonia High. Admittedly it was a means to an end for me. But what a great school. With a really good faculty. Fellow students, well, it would be hard to find a friendlier bunch. Great school, great people. But I have no roots there. 

  That was my 5th school (one elementary school left off, it was a 2 week stay), so I was shot. Done. Wanted the finish line.  Could have made a better effort on my end socially, but, it is what it is.  Music wise that school was polarizing. Your Rap folks, your Metal folks, your Country folks, your Pop folks. Meanwhile I'm buying this at The Record Bar:

    "Well, didn't see that coming. Stoney, I'm gonna need a hit or 3 off that, don't bogart it"

         MTV Was rolling out greatness regularly by that point:

VH1 Debuted in '85:

  Even George Jones was making promo vids

  

Falco gave us something unique   😁

  ZZ Top entered the orbit and declared "You will like us most of all"

   

  Last couple of years of high school featured some great music. To my ears anyway. 

  

  Def Leppard enters the orbit declaring you will like us almost as much as you like Sir Elton and ZZ Top:

  Eric Carmen delivered two monster hits:

  Sir Elton was back again:

  The Beach Boys dropped in with a big, if polarizing, #1 late in '88

  1988 I leaned heavily towards Rock, Pop, Soul, Adult Contemporary. Country had cooled for me from 86 - 88.  Rod Stewart, Cheap Trick, Van Halen, Chicago, Aerosmith, Guns N' Roses, Traveling Wilbury's and others were prominent in 1988.

   Musical landscape would change soon.

           To be continued ...

  

... The Great Lawrence Taylor ...

    #3 ... But first, an early 80's classic from Al Jarreau ...

  "Doesn't this sort of music make us look soft ..."

            "... Not a chance my Golden friend ..."

       Onward!

   

   Elite Skill Set. So. Let's take:

The Football IQ of Willie Lanier.

The Tackling Ability of Bobby Bell.

The Physicality of Dave Wilcox.

The Speed Pass Rush of Robert Brazile.

The Coverage Ability of Dave Robinson.

  Mix them together to form one Linebacker.

  Who do we get :

    

    Lawrence Taylor is, with no hesitation or question on my part, the greatest defensive player I have seen take the field in the NFL. I'm not alone in that assessment. I can go a step further and say LT is one of the two greatest NFL players I have seen play. It's either LT or Jerry Rice. In my opinion LT and Rice are the Top Two players All Time and I could fashion a formidable argument for either. But, not here. 

  

  As with most things football related from my youth, this story starts with a game I watched along with my Dad. The 1979 Gator Bowl. Michigan Wolverines vs. North Carolina Tar Heels.  Not much of a college football fan at that time (c'mon, I was 9 😁).  I had watched a couple of UNC games earlier. I've always liked the Linebacker position. Tar Heels had 2 great ones in 1979. Buddy Curry and Lawrence Taylor. The Heels defeated Michigan 17-15. A game that turned momentum wise in the first half following a LT sack of Michigan QB John Wangler. Wangler was done for the game. LT was only getting started.

  The 1980 Tar Heels were very, very good.  11-1. Top 10. Bluebonnet Bowl win over Texas. The only blemish being a loss in early November at traditional power Oklahoma. LT had an All American season leading a stout UNC defense. 16 sacks and a terror all over the field in every game. 

   1981 NFL Draft. My Dad being a Redskins & Dolphins fan so naturally he tried to mold me into one 😂 and he hoped LT would end up in Washington or Miami. Visual evidence below of his efforts to make me a "Skins & Phins fan 😂

  

    "... well, that didn't happen ... Cool Toboggan though ..."

       Nope, sure didn't. Giants grabbed LT. Who then proceeded to terrorize not just the 'Skins but every other team. The Giants, a woebegone relic of team that was once a powerhouse in the pre Super Bowl era, were transformed in 1981 into a Wild Card playoff team. That won a playoff game before going on the road and losing to the 49ers in the divisional round. LT was a major factor.  No playoffs in the 1982 strike shortened 4-5 season for the Giants. Head Coach Ray Perkins departed. Headed back to Alabama following the retirement of the legendary Paul "Bear" Bryant. Short term, Giants were 3-12-1 in 1983 under first year Head Coach Bill Parcells. A step back.  Long term. Well ...

           Intermezzo

   " ... I wonder who was the IMDB member who initially got this LT Showtime Special listed on the site?"

LT: The Life and Times

       

              "Guilty ..."

     Ok, that self serving flex is outta the way, let's get back to LT

  Following the mess of 1983 the Giants under Bill Parcells were contenders for the rest of the decade + another Super Bowl in 1990.  With a blip in 1987, another labor issue season. 

  1984 9-7 Wild Card

  1985 10-6 NFC East Champs

  1986 14-2 Super Bowl Champs

  1987 6-9

  1988 10-6 No Playoffs

  1989 12-4 NFC East Champs

  1990 13-3 Super Bowl Champs

  Two Super Bowl titles in 5 seasons. In what was a dog-eat-dog NFC at the time. The Giants, 49ers, Bears, Redskins were very strong teams. The Vikings, Eagles, Saints and Rams had their moments as well. Individually LT would grab the 1986 AP MVP & Defensive Player of the year (his 3rd). Certainly Coach Parcells and Assistant Coach Bill Belichick and their coaching methods deserve some of the credit. But by the late 80's it was very apparent that Lawrence Taylor with a combo of off the charts instincts and athleticism, was a generational player. The mold as they say, was broken. 

  Bill Parcells left the Giants following the 1990 season. His second Super Bowl winner. In my view, his best coaching job. Injuries and age were creeping in.

  From 91-93 LT was still great at his best, very good at his worst. 1992 was injury plagued. 1993 under first year head coach Dan Reeves the Giants made the playoffs in what was LT's final season. The writing had been on the wall. 

  Lawrence Taylor at a glance courtesy of Pro Football Reference:

LT 56

  Inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1999

LT 56 HOF

  There were other great Linebackers playing during LT's career. Andre Tippett, Rickey Jackson, Mike Singletary, Pat Swilling, Derrick Thomas, Harry Carson, Wilber Marshall, Carl Banks and more. Greats, but no LT's. 

  

  

   A few more LT'S here:

LT 56 DMH

   I'll hit on two LT topics not mentioned above.

   November 18, 1985 Monday Night Football. The Giants vs. the Redskins. 

The Giants entered at 7-3, the Redskins were clinging to playoff hopes at 5-5.

Skins eeked out a win. But still missed the playoffs. One of the last MNF games my Dad and I  watched together. The LT that people saw jumping around frantically waving for help after the unfortunate Joe Theismann injury? That's the real LT.  

  Off field issues for LT. No one will ever accuse LT of being a bad guy. Good men can make bad decisions. We're human. I never recall LT passing the buck and blaming anyone else for any transgressions. He has always manned up, never shied-away from taking blame. That matters. Good Lawrence Taylor dwarfs Bad Lawrence Taylor.  One of the few elite pro athletes I've had the pleasure of meeting. LT is one of a kind. 

   As for on the field, there will never be another Lawrence Taylor. 

Later ...

             

  

   

   

  Meanwhile ... at DaLancRo Tower on Electric Avenue ...

 "A little over the top"

  

   Sneakers ... Though I'm not a Sneakerhead ...

  With above average accuracy I can recall every pair of sneakers I've worn since 1976. The perils of a drug free and virtually alcohol free lifestyle 😄

   "He has a selective photographic memory" one of my older sisters once opined 😆

 

  Converse, Trax, Jox, Cuga, Puma, Reebok, Avia, Asics, British Knights, Nike, Skechers. 

Ahh Converse, Trax & Jox in elementary school. Fun times on the playground. Cuga while attending the private Christian school. Jeez, what became of Cuga? Kinda looked like Diadora's. Pic 'n Pay used to carry Cuga's. Come to think of it, what became of Pic 'n Pay?

  Back to public school for High School and there were not a lot of Jox or Cuga wearers 😆.

Puma - Adidas - Aigner - Converse dotted the landscape. 

  " ... What the heck's a Aigner? ... "

  Aigner's super premium. German. I remember a couple of gals in high school wearing them. One of which has moved on to great things in the business world. Which occured after seeing Beetlejuice at the theater  and eating at McDonalds with me. And a random shared Limo ride. Her success is a tribute to her perseverance in surving all those shenanigans and that trauma.  

   Back on topic. I loved the Puma Suedes. Never had any for school wear though. Only pair I had was Summer worn in '85. Not the best, not the worst. Early '85 my first pair of Nike's. The Penetrator. Low cut, white, royal blue swoosh. Man, loved those. Couple of pairs of Reebok's followed along with a cool pair of White/Blue Avia 830's and a low cut pair of British Knights.

  

  Nothing but a Nike buyer and wearer from 1988 - 2020 when these appeared on the scene:

  Early '88. Finally, a top shelf, high demand sneaker that I could find locally and in the right size.

         Not going through my roster of Nike's over the years but I'll give a quick "atta boy Nike!" to a few pairs.

   

    The OG Air Revolution (2/88-6/91) pictured above. Nike's best basketball sneaker in my opinion. Durable beyond belief. Could take a beating. The later retro releases lacked those qualities. 

   The Air Force III (1/89-7/90). I wore the III's until they nearly turned to dust. And the pic above is in the colorway of mine back in the day. Durable. A touch lighter than the Air Revolution. A great outdoor court shoe. 

     Jordan Team 9.5 (7/07-12/19). 10+ years but had 2 pairs and didn't dog them out. So technically the Jordan brand but I mean, c'mon. 😉.  Quality and durability surpass most of Nike's 2002 - present offerings. In some ways the 9.5's combined the best of the Air Revs & Force III's. Great sneaker both performance and looks wise. 

   Nike had some shaky offerings as well. The Air Pressure's from around 1990. Yikes. The Shox Supremacy from 02/03. No durability. Air Max Penny IV from '99 had some issues. The Air Zoom Huarache Elite TB from 2004 - 2006. Those had bad soles. Quality and durability from Nike/ Jordan took a dive starting around 01/02. Poor materials? Lazy craft? Dunno. But by 2020 my years of loyalty ran out. Skechers casuals would be it for me ...

                   Until ...

     "The decade of the 80's are here sir. They have a delivery for you ..."

  

   Avia drops the 715 & 720. They have a very distinct late 80's / early 90's look. Both in the colorway I prefer. White/Black. With a touch of gray on the 720's.  The 715's remind me a little bit of the Nike Air Flight (OG 89's) and the Nike Air Flight Bound (OG '93). The 720's are close to the Air Force III's in fit and weight. Great look for both. Comfortable to wear, appear well built. At a price point that encourages buying.  I'll see how they hold up. The Avia brand and retro look pulled me in.  😃

Summer break time ...

     

        Later ....