It’s Tuesday. I’ve been an AC/DC fan since I was a teenager in the 80s. My absolute favorite song of theirs has always been It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock and Roll) from the 1976 High Voltage album. It’s one of those rare rock anthems that punches you in the face with pure attitude and then completely surprises with—of all things—a killer bagpipe riff! Bon Scott whipping out the pipes is pure rock ’n’ roll chaos—bizarre but somehow totally badass. The guitars are snarling, the rhythm is driving, and then suddenly you’ve got Bon wailing on bagpipes! It’s crazy, it shouldn’t work, but somehow it does and it turns the whole song into this glorious celebration of doing things your own way—loud and proud, as only AC/DC can deliver.

AC/DC has been back on the road, and before their show in Melbourne, something downright epic happened: 374 bagpipers gathered to try and set a world record for the largest bagpipe ensemble. Not only did they pull it off—they shattered the previous record of 333 pipers set in Bulgaria back in 2012. And, of course, you can guess what song they fired up!

-keep

February 21, 1976

It’s Monday. Thanksgiving is still a good ten days away, yet somehow everyone’s attention has already laser-locked onto Christmas. For the handful of holdouts who hadn’t put up their decorations yet, the unusually warm weather on Friday and Saturday became all the motivation they needed to get out there and deck every last hall. People were up on ladders, stringing like 40,000 lights while I’m still over here trying to finish my leftover Halloween candy. Overnight, half the neighborhood started glowing like it’s auditioning for a holiday-themed power-grid failure. Is it really too much to ask that we at least wait until the Thanksgiving turkey has been carved? At this rate, by 2030 folks will be hanging wreaths in mid-July.

But since I was one of the rare few *not* out wrestling with extension cords, I managed to catch another Bears last-minute win! They squared off against the Vikings and snatched the victory with a perfectly placed field goal. The Bears advance to seven wins and only three losses.

Back to work, guys…

-keep

It’s Friday! Our temperatures in Illinois are on the rise for the weekend. We could see mid to upper sixties for the next couple days before it returns to more seasonable weather Sunday afternoon. It’s only a short temporary break from the cold, but I’ll take it. And just watch, people in my neighborhood will use the nice weather to put up even more Christmas decorations—and it’s not even Thanksgiving yet!

Anyway, the weekend has arrived so it’s time to roll out the double babes and double jokes. Oh, and then there’s some amateur goodness as well! Enjoy!

-keep

Keep, from a recent trip. No names please. -Anonymous