Zenyatta (Mondatta)

Ok, I realize I'm supposed to be the alt-country guy and Ryan the 80's music fan, but a recent trip to Hollywood Park racetrack in Inglewood, CA got me a little nostalgic about the decade of excessive hairspray and bright leather jumpsuits. One might very well ask what horse racing has to do with music, but the two have long been linked since the days of Bing Crosby recording Del Mar's classic track theme 'Where the Turf Meets the Surf.' In more recent years, music moguls like Jerry Moss (The 'M' of 'A & M' records and the founder of 80's rock legends The Police) have been major players when it comes to ownership of top thoroughbreds.

Few race horses in recent memory have stirred the kind of interest and emotions like Zenyatta (the female horse named (partially) after the famous Police record 'Zenyatta Mondatta'). For the many people who hardly ever watch a race or attend the track, Zenyatta recently became the first female horse to beat the top older male horses in one of racing's richest and toughest contests - the Breeders' Cup Classic. Jerry and Ann Moss are her owners.

Here is a short photo essay from my visit to Hollywood Park, along with about 10,000 other patrons, to honor Zenyatta as she retired from racing.

Slide Show Link

Daily Racing Form article

partial video

It may not be a U2-sized Stadium, but....

In response to Ryan's lighthearted dig on the mainstream appeal of Alt-Country in his last post, I found this story in today's LA Times too tempting of a response:

"Just a week after several of the highest-profile members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame gathered in New York for the hall's 25th anniversary blowout concerts at Madison Square Garden, another member of that elite pack was setting up in a very different environment.

Without an ounce of hoopla, Chris Hillman, who was inducted into the Rock Hall in 1991 as a founding member of the Byrds, slipped the strap for his mandolin over his shoulder Saturday night, stepped up to a makeshift stage for a church benefit concert. The location? A barn alongside a quiet road in this rural town just north of Santa Maria, 3,000 miles and a world away from the glitzy Madison Square Garden event" - Randy Lewis, LA times.

Being that the Byrds were major players in the Country-Rock scene of the late 60's and well-known influences for numerous Alt-Country outfits of the 90's and beyond, this seemed like a fairly obvious response - Also, I know U2 recorded in a church once, but - according to Hillman's positive review of the Barn's acoustics in the aforementioned article - any chance they may go for a more rustic setting one day?

No mullet for Bono...

Well, it seems Bono no longer has a mullet. Speaking of Bono, here are some pics from the
U2 concert at the Rose Bowl, as I scurried between enjoying and reporting it. The massive stage seems like something an 80s band can get away with. I'm not so sure about an alt-country band: Enjoy...

Chaotic interview in class...nothing to do with mullets or music!

Chaotic interview in class.egg on Aviary.