Four Tops - Live - 1966

Four Tops Live Vinyl

The Four Tops, Levi Stubbs, Duke Fakir, Obie Benson, and Lawrence Payton, together for over 40 years. This album is from 1966, where they recorded a live performance at the legendary Roostertail Nite Club in Detroit, Michigan.

As you can see from the cover, this is a “Live” album. A picture of the Four Tops outside of the famed Roostertail dominated the bottom half of the cover. The Motown logo is listed on the bottom right.

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The back cover has informative liner notes written by Scott Regen recalling his experience attending the live performance of that night. A picture at the bottom left is a snap shot of the Four Tops on stage.

The right side has the song title list.
Side One: Introduction, It's The same Old Song, It's Not Unusual, Baby I Need Your Loving, Reach out I'll Be There, I'll Turn To Stone, I left My Heart In San Francisco, You Can't Hurry Love

Side Two: Ask The Lonely, Climb every Mountain, The Girl From Ipanema, If I Had A Hammer, I Can't Help Myself, I Like Everything About You

Four Tops Worn Vinyl Record

The vinyl record has the iconic Motown logo. Reach Out I'll Be There, (Side one, Track five) is one of my all time favorite tunes. The lyrics are below.

Now if you feel that you can't go on (can't go on),
Because all of your hope is gone (all your hope is gone),
And your life is filled with much confusion (much confusion),
Until happiness is just an illusion (happiness is just an illusion),
And your world around is crumbling down, darlin',
(Reach out) Come on girl reach on out for me,
(Reach out) Reach out for me,
I'll be there with a love that will shelter you,
I'll be there with a love that will see you through,

When you feel lost and about to give up (to give up),
Cause your life just ain't good enough (just ain't good enough),
And your feel the world has grown cold (has grown cold),
And your drifting out all on your own (drifting out on your own),
And you need a hand to hold, darlin'
(Reach out) Come on girl reach out for me,
(Reach out) Reach out for me,
Hah, I'll be there to love and comfort you,
And I'll be there to cherish and care for you,

(I'll be there to always see you through,
I'll be there to love and comfort you),
I can tell the way you hang your head (hang your head),
Your not in love now, now your afraid (you're afraid),
And through the tears you look around (look around),
But there's no piece of mind to be found (no piece of mind to be found),
I know what your thinking,
You're alone now, no love of your own, but darling,
(Reach out) Come on girl reach out for me,
Reach out (Reach out).......... just look over your shoulder,
I'll be there to give you all the love you need,
And I'll be there you can always depend on me,
I'll be there to always see you through,
I'll be there to love and comfort you

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Anna Torv - Fringe Sexy Siren

Anna Torv On the Fringe

Anna Torv, the star of FOX Network Science fiction drama television series, Fringe, plays Olivia Dunham, an FBI agent recruited to work with a secret division investigating supernatural and beyond explanation scenario’s. Dunham is paired with a brilliant yet institutionally insane scientist (Dr. Walter Bishop) and his handler, his son and Dunham’s love interest, Peter Bishop. The lead role in this successful series is ample enough for Anna Torv to shoot up our Sexy Sirens page.

Sidenote: Fringe reminds me of the FOX Network 1990′s classic series, X-Files with Fox and Scully.

Sci-Fi Sexy Sirens brought to you by the Grassy Knoll Institute marketing team to boost readership and placement on search engines.

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Gibsons Steakhouse - Chicago - Filet Mignon

Gibsons Steakhouse

If you ever find yourself in Rosemont, Illinois, does yourself a favor and head on over to Gibson’s Bar And Steak House for dinner. It’s just across the street from the Donald E. Stephens convention center.

If you get there before 6pm, you should be able to find a table. After 6, expect a long wait as the restaurant. We have been here several times before over the years. We made it before six and our hostess seated us and our waiter was over in a few minutes to take our drink and dinner order.

I ordered the Filet Mignon, (Here is a tip for you diners out there: If the restaurant has “Steak” in its name, you order the steak for your meal) The price of my entre was $33.00 plus a diet soda.

The Filet was a solid 8 ounce size, cooked to my specifications, and they nailed it. It was full of flavor, tender, juicy, and cut like butter.

Roll And Butter

Don’t worry, I didn’t forget about the rolls and bread that came with the Filet. The steak was just that good. The bread was also very good, a pretzel style bread roll that when topped with butter, was very tasty indeed.

Hash Browns

Instead of the atomic size baked potato that is a popular side dish option, I went off the grid and selected the house home style potatoes, or hash browns as many people know them by. The portion was generous, the potatoes hot and well cooked, and was a good variation from the standard baked potato.

What you see here was $36.00 before tip. When you look at the 8 ounce Filet, the rolls, and the hash browns, the price was in line. Add top shelf service, a clean restaurant, and you have a fantastic experience and meal.

The Grassy Knoll Institute scores 4.25 out of 5 shots and recommends Gibsons Bar and steak house in Rosemont for dinner.

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Electric Light Orchestra - Discovery - 1979

E.L.O. Discovery Record Album

The Electric Light Orchestra was a band that I liked to refer to as a "Rock Opera" band. Perhaps because they spoof the classical genius Beethoven using music from his Fifth Symphony. One of E.L.O.'s hit songs was Roll Over Beethoven. (Not covered on this album though)

The cover is a dark background with a man in a turban, (Reminds me of Ali Baba and his 40 thieves or Jason and the Argonauts) and he's holding a round colorful disc with ELO illuminated in the center. (Seriously, the disc looks like the old time electronic game Simon, a game to test your memory.) At the top is the bands name in light blue with the album title (Discovery) directly below in a burnt orange color.

The back cover of the ELO Discovery album depicts a scene from an Arabian palace, complete with a guard wielding a sword.

The top left corner has the song titles listed. The songs are:
Shine A Little Love - Confusion - Need Her Love - The Diary of Horace - Wimp - Last train To London - Midnight Blue - On The Run - Wishing - Don't Bring Me Down

All music and lyrics by Jeff Lynne
Bottom left has the Jet records logo, released in 1979 by CBS Records.

The inside cover art is a panoramic view of the same man on the cover in the desert seemingly running away from a horde of sword wielding Arab Charger riding men. And there's that Simon electronic game again. See, it does help to improve your memory.

On the far left in powder blue lists the band members. They are:
Jeff Lynne, Bev Bevan, Richard Tandy, Kelly Groucutt

The Album sleeve has photo's of the band members and the instruments that they play. Notice the porn mustache Kelly Groucutt is sporting. It was the 1970's mind you.

The flip side of the album jacket has the song lyrics to each song. Top center has a photo of the Electric Light Orchestra in concert. A multi colored lighted space ship hovers above the band. (A big Simon electronic memory game)

This album produced two top 40 hits. Shine A Little Love and Don't bring Me Down. If you like rock music with an classical orchestra backing them up, you will love E.L.O.

E.L.O. Discovery Back Cover Art

Electric Light Orchestra Discovery Album Inside Cover Art

E.L.O. Album Jacket Cover

E.L.O. Album Jacket Cover Lyrics

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Thought Screen Helmet Aliens Sinister Intent

Results Not Waering Thought Screen Helmet

The question of whether aliens exist is a moot point as millions of citizens have well documented sightings with miles of evidence of their visitations. However, until just today, the most puzzling question was; Why are aliens here on Earth? Why bother with humankind? What advantage would they have coming here?

The Grassy Knoll Institute can now reveal that answer. In a word, the aliens are looking for a little "Action." It takes hundreds of years for alien ships to travel from their home world to Earth. After many generations of breeding, the gene pool depleted, leaving the women incapable of bearing offspring. The only solution was to find a new fertile gene pool. Human females.

Through their telepathic abilities, the aliens are able to control humans. Once a female candidate is selected, the aliens proceed to seduce them in hopes of impregnating them. If a successful pregnancy occurs, the female is abducted so the fetus can be removed and implanted in an alien female host. This assures perpetuation of the alien species. The human female is then returned left wondering what had happened to her remembering only fragments of her abduction.

This is a warning to all the abductees' being taken and visited by aliens. To prevent unwanted pregnancy, you must continue to wear your properly constructed Thought Screen Helmet at all times. The helmet, lined with velostat offers telepathic canceling properties that prevents the aliens from linking to your mind. Think of it as wearing a condom on your head. No link, no control, no intercourse, no pregnancy.

For the men taken, perhaps this explains that pain in your ass when you are returned. Perhaps.....

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Dunkin Donuts – Sausage Egg And Cheese Wrap

Dunkin Donuts Breakfast Wrap

I remember when Dunkin Donuts only sold coffee and donuts. That was a long time ago. Today, they have at least 50 different coffee flavors but more importantly, they have these new fangled breakfast wraps.

As I was getting a coffee for Patty, I spied the wraps. I had to have one. I ordered the sausage, egg, and cheese wrap. The counter girl sprang into action, taking out a frozen round egg patty and sausage patty and a slice of cheese plus the wrap. All went into an over, (I suspected it was a microwave oven) and it cooked for less than a minute.

As she pulled out the tray, I asked what kind of oven it was. She said it wasn’t a microwave but some sort of high-speed hot air oven such and such. Anyway, she wrapped it up and bagged it for me.

As you can see, the wrap is not really a wrap, but sort of a small soft taco. The cost was proportional, at $1.29 for what you see. Of course it was hot, the cheese melted, the sausage and egg hot and the taste was good. I was pleasantly surprised.

The Grassy Knoll Diner scores 4 out of 5 shots and recommends Dunkin Donut breakfast wraps for breakfast or a snack.                 

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Chick-Fil-A Chicken Breakfast Biscuit

Chick-Fil-A Chicken Breakfast Biscuit

My son Patrick found out that if you go to Chick-Fil-A drive through in the late morning and order from the lunch menu, you may just receive a little extra with your order. Today was no different.

Inside the take out bag, was a foil wrapped sandwich marked ‘Free Sample’ that contained a breakfast chicken biscuit. This was a no frills biscuit with a piece of breaded fried chicken in between.

Surprisingly, it tasted pretty damn good. The biscuit was fresh and the chicken well cooked and juicy and hot. The cost, well, it was free. Apparently, a few minutes before the restaurant switches gears and goes from breakfast to lunch, whatever breakfast items they have left are given away to the lucky patrons ordering at the right time.

The Grassy Knoll Diner scores 5 out of 5 shots and recommends Chic-Fil-A chicken biscuits for breakfast.                  

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Subway - Foot Long Steak And Cheese Sub

Subway Philly Cheese Steak

Last week I ordered the $8 dollar Big Philly Cheesesteak sub. Just the other day, I ordered the $6 dollar foot long steak and cheese sub. One was 6 bucks, the other 8 bucks. Upon close inspection, I could not distinguish any difference in the sandwiches. Except of course the $2 dollar cost.

The sandwich tasted exactly the same, with the same amount of chopped steak, was prepared the exact same way. (Toasted) But it was $2 dollars cheaper so it ranks a tad higher. My advice, do not order the Big Philly Cheesesteak, all you do is pay $2 dollars more.

The Grassy Knoll Diner scores 3 out of 5 shots and recommends Subway Foot Long Steak And Cheese for dinner.

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