Tag Archives: Rock

“Sucking On A Chili Dog” parody of “Jack & Diane” by John Mellencamp

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Hell yeah! It’s National Chili Dog Day. You may know that I am from Detroit. What most people call a “Detroit-style” chili dog, we actually call a “Coney-Dog”, “Coney” or even “Coney Island”.

This style of hot dog was actually created by Greek immigrants that were living in Detroit after having spent a short time in New York City after entering the country. They borrowed the name from New York but invented it in Detroit.

A proper Detroit-style chili dog uses a ground beef based chili with no beans. It’s really just spiced up ground beef to be honest. Then you add chopped raw onions and mustard. That’s it. That’s a chili dog. I hope you can go suck on one today! And if you are in Detroit try the American Coney Island restaurant. I’d say they have the last word on the subject.

This goofy parody song has been done by a number of people. A guy named Tom McGovern got a lot of press about his version. The one embedded on this page appears to be the original but it is not the original upload. The original upload may have been taken down because of copyright issues. At this point the creator is unknown. If know who it is, let me know.

courtesy of the hopeless housewife

If you would like to try to make these or yourself, here is a recipe.

“Corporation” by Jack White

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I have a lot to say about Jack White. I’ll try not to spend all day on this!

First of all, I knew the guy back in the day. Jack was known as John back then but I will continue to use the name Jack for the sake of simplicity. He and I went to both the same grade school and high school. I was one grade ahead of him. I didn’t know him in grade school. We met in High school.

The grade school was actually part of a Catholic Church complex called Holy Redeemer. Jack appeared in a movie that was filmed on location. He played an alter boy in Rosary Murders in part because he was an alter boy in real life.

About one hundred members of the church community were invited to play church goers as extras. I got to be part of that crowd. Filming was a lot of fun. I was way in the back so you won’t see me in the movie.

Just like Jack, I had considered going to seminary school in Wisconsin but ultimately decided to go to public high school. We both ended up at Cass Technical in Detroit. I first met him in his second or third year. I wasn’t cool enough to get invited to watch his band practice but some mutual friends got to see them.

I remember asking Jack if his band could play at an environmentalist demonstration. He said maybe, but the band didn’t show up. I also remember asking him if he liked the new classic rock radio station, WCSX. He told me that he liked it but they played “Oye Como Va” by Santana way too often. I agreed but yeah, good song.

After high school, I went off to Michigan State and Jack went to work as a furniture repairman. While still in college, I tried to do what Jack ended up doing. I recorded music and tried to start a corporation, that is, a record label and promotions business. It went nowhere fast. I had naive dreams. Jack has the real talent to do it, obviously. I admire him.

We play “Corporation” on the air all the time because it is a bit odd. It reminds me of the excitement a child feels when the ice cream truck shows up on your street. The more serious meaning of the lyrics though strikes a chord with me personally. I own this track on vinyl. I purchased the LP Boarding House Reach at Third Man Records in Detroit.

I wish I could say I took the photo below but I found it in this very cool article on TapeOp about his record pressing plant.

What is your favorite Jack White track? Have you met him? Tell us your Jack White story in the comments.

-Wacky Alex

“Miau Miau” by Stereo Total on The Network Awesome Show

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How is it that we first hear a woman speaking English with a thick French accent and then she starts singing in perfect German? Stereo Total were a duo from Berlin. Françoise Cactus was raised in France before relocating to Berlin in the 1980s. Sadly she died of breast cancer in 2021. The other half of the duo, Brezel Göring is apparently from Berlin.

Of course today is another #Caturday and this song is apparently about cat behavior but I think it’s really a metaphor about a cheating lover. We play the album version of the song on our live stream all the time. Love this!

Both played a number of different instruments during their time as a group. They switched between and blended many different genres, but here we have them sounding something like The White Stripes with a stripped down garage-rock drum, vocal, and guitar performance.

This live performance was recorded in July of 2012 for a European TV show. MEOW!

-Wacky Alex