(Pic: swampland.com)

Random Factoid:  The band Lynyrd Skynyrd named their band as an homage to a high school gym teacher at Robert E. Lee High School in Jacksonville named Leonard Skinner who used to give them a hard time about their long hair.  And who could blame him really.  Look at these guys.  I would hassle them too.  The teacher had such a profound impact on them that they named the band after him (with a couple twists) and later in life became friends with him.  Sadly, he died in his sleep on Monday September 20, 2010 at the age of 77.

Why would I care about this, you might ask.  Well, because Skynyrd freakin’ rocks!  My family and I went down to Florida a few years back.  We did Disney World in Orlando then went down to Jacksonville to see a Jaguars game and do all the Lynyrd Skynyrd sight seeing.  Here is a pic of my brother and I in front of Robert E Lee High School.  Ya, that’s right.  We’re hard core.

Tanya: Strangely enough, I had a dream about Lynyrd Skynyrd last night. You were going to the concert and whoever was going with you backed out so you asked me to go. And you asked me to go to a Slash concert on the same day (Saturday) and I said I’d be totally in. But then my moving day got bumped to Saturday so I couldn’t go anymore and was trying to text you about it but was having trouble texting because the car I was in was going underwater in downtown Okotoks where the newly built giant Chinese monuments and walls throughout the city (town?) were rising up out of the ground and the ground that was left was flooding.

In a way it’s like I subconsciously knew that something happened to him while I was sleeping.

Well, peeps.  Its that time of the year for the Calgary Stampede.  Time for everyone to throw their morals to the wind, drink their faces off, eat way too many pancake breakfasts, and take in the fun entertainment that is brought in. 

Every year, there is normally a few good bands that you can check out on the Coca Cola Stage.  And some good bands usually come to the Saddledome.  For example, this year Bon Jovi is playing.  For me, that’s a big fat “meh”. 

But who I am going to see tonight has me so excited I am literally almost peeing my pants.  LYNYRD FREAKIN’ SKYNYRD!  Woohoo!  I pretty much grew up listening to this band.  And while the original singer and 3 other band members died in a plane crash in 1977, they reformed in 1991 with Ronnie Van Zant’s younger brother Johnny Van Zant as the singer and have been together, releasing albums, and touring ever since. 

So in honor of how freaking awesome they are, I thought I would post one of their most famous songs, Freebird.  Which, interstingly enough was the 2nd most radio played song of the 70′s, only behind Stairway to Heavan.

I am just going to go out on a limb and say that Jessica couldn’t name one song outside of Sweet Home Alabama or Freebird that Lynyrd Skynyrd has ever done.

While I love Skynyrd, I get so tired of seeing people just wear t-shirts with bands or sports teams on them just cause they are “cool” when they have no idea about anything they have ever done.  It’s like the Che Guevara shirts.  Does anyone actually know what he stands for?  For what he has done?  It’s like Miley Cyrus wearing a Radiohead t-shirt…she doesn’t even know.

Tanya: Totally know where you’re coming from on this and I agree -  except I don’t think Jess falls into this category in this case. I’ve got a feeling that Jess knows a little Lynyrd Skynyrd.