Jimi Hendrix - Hear My Train A Comin'
Back by unpopular demand, it's EpiclyUnreal song of the week! After almost 12 months in the dark shadows of long work days, hazy weekends and sheer laziness I have returned, more experienced and committed than ever, to bring you brilliant songs and awesome musings every Friday for you to enjoy in preparation for the festivities of the weekend that lies ahead. We can call it T.B.I.F. And that can stand for 'Thank Beer It's Friday', 'Thank Booze It's Funtimes', or the three things that I plan to deliver, a 'Tune, Beer and Insight for Friday'. Each week I will choose a song to talk about, a beer to enjoy and a little insight that will be sometimes funny, sometimes enlightening, and sometimes just plain stupid. But it will always be entertaining. I've always enjoyed writing these and I sincerely hope that you enjoy reading them, listening to the tunes, or just looking at the pretty pictures. So without further adieu here we go...
Today marks the final weekday before Super Bowl Sunday, the greatest and unofficialest holiday there is! This year the mighty New England Patriots lead by Coach 'Darth Sidious' Belichick and Quarterback 'Darth Vader' Brady take on my defending champ Seattle Seahawks lead by Coach 'Mr. Excitement' Carroll and Quarterback 'Calm and Collected' Wilson. The 'Hawks defeated the Green Bay Packers to reach the big dance in a game that instantly reached legendary status as they came back from a 19-7 deficit in the final 5 minutes of the game to eventually win 28-22 in overtime. In order to do so they had to stuff the Packers twice on the 1 yard line, fake a field goal and turn it into a touchdown, convert several crucial 3rd downs, score a big touchdown, recover an onside kick, score another big touchdown, get the extra 2 points on a hail mary, win an overtime coin toss, and then score a HUGE game-winning touchdown. If you were lucky enough to watch the game then you know exactly what I'm talking about and that words simply cannot do it justice. If you did not watch the game then I urge you to check out the NFL Films highlight package of the game.
On the other side the Pats cruised to a 45-7 victory over the hapless Indianapolis Colts. This was a dud of a game that nobody would even be talking about had it not been for a little controversy that became massive and has taken North America by storm. The Patriots were caught with 11 of their 12 footballs being deflated below the league's mandatory minimum weight (like you didn't know that already). Anyways the coach, quarterback, owner and entire organization has come out claiming innocence while the NFL thinks the opposite. There is currently an ongoing investigation being held and time will tell as to what actually happened.
Until then, let's get to the big game. Both teams come in as number one seeds of their respective conferences, both have Super Bowl winning quarterbacks, both have scary weapons on offense and defense and both have great football minds at the helm. On paper this is one of the best matchups in recent Super Bowl memory and I guarantee that it will be more closely contested than last year's blowout.
Some Bold Predictions...
- Seattle wins by a score of 33-28
- Marshawn Lynch rushes for over 150 yards and 2 touchdowns
- Jermaine Kearse makes yet another huge play
- Rob Gronkowski and Legarrette Blount combine for only 2 touchdowns
- Tom Brady throws 2 interceptions, Russell Wilson throws 0
- Katy Perry opens the halftime show with "Dark Horse"
- Snoop Dogg makes a surprise guest appearance during "California Gurls"
Had to go with a Seattle artist for this week, and the greatest guitarist of all time seemed like a pretty damn good choice. Although I must say that this was quite a difficult task as so much amazing music has come out of the Evergreen State. From grunge rock Gods Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Foo Fighters and Alice In Chains to classic rock icons Heart, The Ventures and The Sonics to indie heavyweights Modest Mouse and Death Cab For Cutie to current hip-hop superstars Macklemore & Ryan Lewis the state has a plethora of musical history and talent. In comparison, Massachusetts lays claim to rock titans Aerosmith, as well as Boston, Dick Dale, Dropkick Murphys, Godsmack and The Pixies to name a few. These are solid but, believe me, it drops off quick after this.
"Hear My Train A Comin'" is a relatively obscure Hendrix track that can be found, in recorded form, on his newest batch of unearthed recordings People, Hell & Angels. You can find several extended live cuts that are quite thrilling as well. And I would also recommend the haunting acoustic version that can be found below. The song is classic Hendrix; exciting lyrics and vocals, deep blues, and exceptional guitar wizardry. I also chose this song because I immediately though of Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch whose hard pounding, up-the-gut and in-your-face running style can be described as a train chugging down the field. Opposing defenses cower at the sound of him comin'.
New to my blog this time around will be the discussion of a delicious beer that you can enjoy over the weekend. This week's choice is another of Seattle's own, the Superfuzz Blood Orange Pale Ale. This is one of my personal faves that "is a mind-bending whirl of the aromas and flavours of blood orange and Northwest hops". Even the psychedelic label design on the bottle is an ode to Seattle's guitar God and can be seen below. Superfuzz is great on a hot summer day but can truly be enjoyed anytime, anywhere. I would urge you to enjoy this beer at one of Elysian's microbrew restaurants in the Seattle area where the food is delicious and the beers come in a dazzling array (I had quite possibly the greatest and fanciest fried chicken sandwich of my life there!).
Happy listening and Drinking, Cheers!
