Sunday, 28 March 2004, 23:10:33 EST

Well, my grandfather and I are quite possibly the slowest mechanics on the planet. We spent five hours this afternoon replacing one of the struts on my car and we still have three left to go. It probably would have gone by a little quicker had we actually read the directions before we took everything apart. Spending more time searching for sockets and wrenches than actually using them probably didn't help matters either. No matter though; at the end of the day we each had more knowledge than we started with and it was a good way to spend the day. I can tell you one thing though, when you go to the mechanic to have the struts and/or shocks replaced in your car and he tells you that it will be about $230.00 in labor he isn't kidding with you. It is a severe pain in the ass. I like the fact that I now know what it takes to do such a job and will have a better idea of a good price for the job in the future should I have to have it done on another car (I won't be doing it again).

Aerosmith has a new album coming out on the thirtieth of this month (Tuesday). The first single has been getting a fair amount of air play the past month or so. Just about every time it is played the dj has to make some sort of comment about it. On 96 Rock the djs seem to think it is an original tune and hype it like the best thing since Walk This Way. This afternoon I heard it on Z93 (which has really changed recently - for the worse in my opinion) and the dj claimed it to be a Who "classic!" Who is he kidding? To the best of my knowledge The Who never even recorded a cover of the song. They did record Please, Please, Please which is very similar in the lyrics at least (I don't think I have ever heard the song). The song that I am ranting about is called Baby Please Don't Go and was made famous by the band that gave Van Morrison, whom is the man by the way, his start. The song was orignially written by Big Joe Williams, a delta blues artist. I just want to make sure some people out there, that may have heard it on the radio and the resultant dj blather, realize that Aerosmith did not write this song. Evidently djs don't need to know music history to press the shiny buttons in the booth but can just spout off crap that they think sounds good.

Any way, while doing some research, to be sure I gave you all the correct facts, I came across a double CD that I did not know existed. Evidently back in 1998 Van Morrison collaborated with Polygram Records to release the album The Story of Them Featuring Van Morrison. It is fifty tracks by Them with Van Morrison on vocals. This album looks so good, and the reviews boasted it as such, that I had to track down a copy at Overstock.com that I could afford and purchase it.

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