Rob’s Reviews and Views

05/26/2026

An Ode to Raising Cane's

Read more to learn about the recent update to the Hamburg Raising Cane's, their delicious fries, and their great marketing team....

One of the best things about being an Ambassador for Commerce Lexington Inc. is being invited to grand openings and ribbon cuttings. On May 21, Raising Cane's held a ribbon cutting for their newly renovated Hamburg location. This location has a place in my heart, as I was at the closing table for the loan that set up this location so many years ago. A dearly departed friend of mine was the lead banker for that transaction, and I think of him every time I visit this Cane's.

If you are not familiar with Raising Cane's, you should re-evaluate your life choices. They have a limited menu. It consists of chicken tenders, fries, texas toast, cole slaw, and Cane's sauce. Along with beverages, that's your choices. That's the list. My son loves the sauce, but faithful readers know that I won't touch it. Salt only. I'm a purist after all. The chicken is phenomenal. Perfectly marinated, hand breaded, and cooked to order. They don't have stale overly crispy exteriors. Nope. These tenders are juicy all the way through.

That's not why you are here though. How are the fries you ask? Perfectly cooked thin crinkle cuts. I have no idea how they are so consistently perfect. These types of fries are hard to do right. I've seen other places fry them too long, so they are burnt and too crunchy. I've seen some not fry them long enough to where you can taste ice when you bite into them. Nope. Cane's always has a perfect texture. Just enough resistance from the exterior before you enjoy a nice soft interior. You can successfully eat these in a handful or one at a time. I've done both, and I've always been happy. In fact when I'm invited to bring an item to a potluck or holiday event, I always bring a tailgate pan full of Cane's fries.

As an aside, one of the Regional Managers agreed to officiate a fry eating contest I was in LONG ago. A couple of my co-workers mistakenly believed they could beat me in a fry eating event. The Regional Manager brought each of us a tailgate pan full of fries, and he gave us 10 minutes to see who could eat the most. I almost finished my whole pan, and my competitors didn't get half way through. I can still hear the whiny echoes of Adam Saylor saying, "but I can destroy you in a nugget or tender eating contest." Adam may have been right, but I believe that I could beat Joey Chestnut in a fry eating contest when I was at my biggest/best. Unfortunately medically ordered weight loss has ravaged that fry eating beast that I was. Thanks a lot for extending my life Ivan! Maybe it was worth it.

The Hamburg location of Cane's has been masterfully renovated. The interior is much brighter, and the interior signage has been updated. The previously overcrowded drink area was expanded making it much more comfortable. The memorabilia on the walls has been updated to allow for younger generations to enjoy some of their own pop culture. Of course I prefer the old stuff, but I understand that young people need to be catered to as well.

When we showed up for the ribbon cutting the marketing team greeted us as we walked up. It was a rainy day, so I left my umbrella outside with them as I checked out the new interior. When I came back out, the umbrella was missing. I was quickly assured that the team placed my umbrella to the side. Then they offered me a Raising Cane's golf umbrella to help spread the word of Cane's! I gleefully accepted, as I can definitely be influenced by free swag.

The free swag didn't end there either. The team was passing out freebies to everyone coming in. Koozies, bags, sunglasses, etc. I kept my bounty to the umbrella and a small plush replica of their dog mascot. My son loves it. The team itself was remarkable. They didn't need to, but they spent time getting to know all of us who attended the event. They found out about my fry blogging (like I ever shut up about that), and they found out about my Bengals fandom. They even suggested that I attend a Tee Higgins or Chase Brown summer camp, as Cane's is a sponsor. They even sent me the pictures that you will find below from the ribbon cutting. I was impressed with how genuinely nice each of the marketing team members were. Things like that may seem small, but being treated so well makes me want to spend more of my time at Cane's instead of their competition.

The team also introduced me to the location General Manager. His business card says that he is a "Restaurant Partner, Fry Cook & Cashier." As someone who has restaurant experience, I know that's no joke. Servant leadership in a restaurant is greatly appreciated, and it's a sign of a place that is working well.

The bottom line is that you need to drop what you are doing and enjoy some Cane's. Go to the Hamburg location, and be impressed with the work they put into the renovation. Also if you see another ribbon cutting for Cane's, stop by! They will be remodeling more stores in town, and you can get freebies! You will also be treated insanely well by the marketing team. I don't say this because I was bought with some trinkets. I say this, as a card carrying Caniac. Proudly a member since 2007.

05/07/2026

A Tale of Two Eaters

Recently I was lucky enough to eat at one of my favorite places (Wheeler Pharmacy) with 2 great professionals. What follows here is what happens when people trust the fry expert, and what happens when they don't. Names have not been changed to protect the guilty.

First I had lunch with the great Taylor Sears Taylor is the COO of Silent Guard in Lexington. You may have heard of them. Silent Guard is Kentucky's largest family owned security company. They are an all in one provider of all things security (alarms, access control, video surveillance, gates, intercom systems, and fire alarms) for commercial and residential purposes. Even cooler than that, Taylor used to work for the Cincinnati Bengals! Reach out to Taylor. He can tell great stories!

Anyways Taylor already knew about the greatness of Wheeler and their fries. He smartly ordered the correct fries, and he was part of the clean plate club! Not only is Taylor the undisputed king of security in Lexington, but he knows his fries!

The next week I was able to have lunch with Jenny Schnurr. Jenny is the owner/operator of Accounts By The Book. Jenny offers top notch bookkeeper services to businesses in need of organization, direction, and advice. She works well with CPA's, and her financial statements are always easy to read. Professionally, she is top notch.

French fry knowledge for Jenny? Not so much. Any loyal reader of mine knows that I do not believe in tainting fries with any spice other than salt. Jenny decided to ask if Wheeler served seasoned fries. ?????!!!!!!!??????? She was told they have a wedge choice, and I advised against it. Why mess with perfection. Guess who didn't listen to the fry expert?

That's right. Jenny decided to go wild and order something that I did not recommend. As you can see from the pictures below, one of these plates was mine. One was Jenny's after lunch was over. I think Jenny learned a serious lesson that day. Don't doubt my fry expertise!

'What have we learned here? Taylor Sears can help you with security needs, and he can tell great stories about the Marvin Lewis Bengals years. Jenny Schnurr is a wiz with bookkeeping, but she wants spicy fries. Wise choice for bookkeeping, but not a wise fry chooser. Listen to your experts people!

05/05/2026

I have a complicated relationship with the Great Outdoors. I actually love going outside when conditions are right. The lake can be quite lovely when the weather is not inferno levels of heat. Give me 75 with cloud cover, and I love the lake. Hiking can be wonderful. When the temps are below 70 wit a nice breeze. Also I don't want a bunch of bugs. Think Fall or early Winter for me. I don't even mind freezing temps. Otherwise, sweating standing still is not my thing. I'd prefer air conditioning and comfort over that any day.

Why do I bring this up now? I have found a reason to go hiking year round at the Gorge. Drizzle & Glaze Donuts, LLC is a locally owned donut shop that makes their donuts fresh to order at the Red River Gorge. They serve coffee, lattes, donut waffles (oh yeah!), and the most creative made to order donuts I've ever seen. They get creative with different items, so you need to check them out as much as possible.

I was lucky enough to be in a place where we were served an assortment of their donuts. The flavors were spectacular. Despite traveling from the Gorge to Lexington, the freshness was on point. But most who will read this know that I'm not always in it for the flavors or freshness. I like plain. So how was that glazed twist?

Hands down the best glazed twisted donut I have had in my entire lifetime. Perfectly cooked with a soft fluffy interior. The glaze was not skimped on like a donut shop these days that starts with "D. D." Instead this was covered with a substantial amount of glaze that made it impossible to take a bite without the glaze included. This twisted glaze donut is the absolute truth, and it must be experienced.

Go to Drizzle & Glaze Donuts. Make a trip. Be healthy and hike. I personally plan to no such thing. I will just go there, place my order, and enjoy some amazing donuts. It's an added bonus that the owners come from an incredibly nice family. You will be treated well here. I will say that I've been warned to expect lines, since the donuts are made to order. I'd wait an hour and a half for that twisted glaze. It's spectacular.

01/10/2026

While I patiently wait for my car to be serviced on a Saturday morning, here is the long promised review of the fries at Buddy’s Diner located in Wheeler Pharmacy.

I used to tell people I was eating at Wheeler’s, and I had to be corrected. Technically the diner is Buddy’s Diner. Not to mention that saying Wheeler’s is a lot like saying Kroger’s. It’s Kroger. No ‘s needed.

So I took two of my friends to experience the newly renovated Buddy’s last week. They have heard me rave about the fries, and they wanted to experience it for themselves. Buddy’s is a hidden gem in Lexington. Imagine an old time K-Mart cafeteria stuck in time. The food is as perfect as you remember. The seats are the same color and material. The ads are the same on the marquee. It’s amazing.

There are stools to where the locals can belly up to a bar to enjoy their meals while discussing UK sports. Local celebrities show up and mingle with the regulars as well. It’s long been famous for past UK coaches to show up for their breakfast. Not me though. I’m there strictly for the fries.

So that’s a lot of narrative to get to the day of the tasting. As commented on many times from the picture I shared, on this day the fries were a bit undercooked. Imagine my disappointment when I’ve raved about these fries to Jason and Bob, just to have them not be perfect.

(see the first picture below with the chicken rings which were awesome)

So they were undercooked. They still had a nice crisp and the unmistakable taste of good grease. Anyone who knows their fries knows that a fry is only as good as the oil they are fried in. I don’t know wha Buddy’s uses, but it’s not the same oil that you find in fast food spots. This is old school. It’s the real deal. With apologies to Jason and Bob, this is not the Buddy’s I know. I had to give them another shot.

With that in mind, I did a carry out order earlier this week. Picture below. You can easily see the difference. Look at the golden brown color. Imagine fries so perfectly cooked that they have almost a smoky grilled taste to them. They fries almost snap in your mouth revealing a fluffy interior that you wish you could savor for the rest of your life.

Yes. This was the perfection that I normally receive at Buddy’s. I had never been let down there before, so what did I need to do? Yes. More research. One more time to make sure these fries were indeed the truth.

(See the third picture below)

The kind waitress seemed surprised I was not getting my normal order of chicken rings with fries. I did not want to explain that I was there for pure scientific research purposes. This wasn’t refueling or meant for enjoyment. I was doing important work. The people need to know!

I was not let down. The fries were indeed the truth. My apologies, they are THE TRUTH. I savored each perfectly deep fried golden crinkle until I sadly had one left.

You know how you will have fries at the end of your meal that are just hard crisp pieces with no meaty interior? Almost like little needles of potato bits? You don’t get that at Buddy’s. Each fry is a real piece of goodness. No scraps are served here.

Buddy’s Diner at Wheeler Pharmacy has fries that make me remember falling in love with french fries for the first time. These remind me of how my mom used to fry Ore Ida Golden Crinkles for us in the 70’s and 80’s. These fries taste like those memories. They make me feel warm. Content. And ridiculously enough - loved. Ridiculous? Ruddickulous? Either way, I’m not kidding. Go there at your soonest convenience.

10/03/2025

Today would have been my grandfather's 100th birthday. He passed away 15 years ago, and it truly feels like it happened yesterday. So much has changed since then, but what hasn't changed are the memories of Robert E. Kroth.

Whether you called him Grandpa like I did, Bobby, Bob, or Mr. Kroth, my grandfather may have been the coolest human being to ever walk the earth.

This was a man who walked with the confidence of someone who served during war time. He was the President of the Glaziers Union where he ensured all of his men worked regardless of color. At that time, such things weren't guaranteed. My grandfather made sure it happened. He had a strong sense of right and wrong, and I feel sorry for those who opposed him.

He always had a smile on his face. If he wasn't drinking coffee, smoking his pipe, or talking, the man was whistling. His whistle sounded more melodic than any instrument I've ever heard. He brought joy into every room. Speaking of coffee and his pipe, those are smells that remind me of him to this day.

He would pick up my sister and I every Friday after school to spend the night at Grandma and Grandpa's house. He would take us through a drive thru for dinner, and we could get whatever we wanted to eat. Once going through Roy Rogers drive thru, he ordered 2 holsters of fries. The person on the speaker said, "2 small fries?" My grandpa replied with, "My grandson can inhale 2 small fries!"

After dinner, Grandpa would give me $10 to go pick up a half gallon of milk from the store. It was understood that I'd keep the change, and boy did that change go to good use! A half gallon of milk was about $1.25 with tax. That meant I had about $8.75 to spend on comic books at the corner drug store. Comics back then were 50 cents, so I raked in the goods!

Friday nights also led to games of UNO or Trivial Pursuit followed by some good 1980's TV. Whether it was the Incredible Hulk, Dukes of Hazard, the Love Boat, or Fantasy Island, it was always just whatever we wanted to watch. Battle of the Network Stars back then was awesome too!

Saturday morning was breakfast with cartoons. The joy of Saturday morning cartoons from 8 am to noon was glorious. Then we would do a trip to Kroger for groceries where he would always buy me a Hot Wheels car.

I figured out years later that my grandparents were doing my parents a great favor by giving them a break from their kids. Someone please explain to me why I chose to live away from my family? How crazy would it be to have every Friday night as a date night with my wife?

My birthday parties were legendary thanks to that man. He would take 5 of us to the movie theater and pay for all the snacks and drinks. Kids would fight over that invitation.

Grandpa loved dogs. He would always have dog snacks with him in the car. Whenever he passed by a dog in a yard or on a chain, he would stop to give the dog a treat. He adopted a stray named Lucy who became a beloved member of the family. Grandpa gave Lucy an awesome life of treats and love from the grandkids.

Grandpa was a big time golfer. He would walk 18 at Lunken into his 80's. When I did golf with him, he always hit the ball far and straight. His touch around the green was feathery smooth, and he could putt like a magician. He would give me incredible tips on how to swing, and I had one of my only birdies of my life playing with him.

I wish I would have allowed him to get me to golf more as a child. I just wasn't interested. He'd be so excited to see my son wanting to golf now. Where I was never interested in swinging a club, my 8 year old was in our backyard practicing with his driver into a net for hours in the sun. Grandpa would be so proud!

He was a devoted husband, a loving father, a doting grandfather, and he as a great grandfather he took excellent care of his great grandchildren. My sister was smart enough to stay close to the family, and her children spent many a summer day at my grandparents house. That's when he became known as Bobby to a lot of my family.

In my mind, Grandpa will always be the guy in a leather jacket and wearing a cool hat while picking me up in his Mercury Grand Marquis. He'll always be the guy driving fast down I-75 and slowing down right before a speed trap. Not because he had radar, but because he knew where the hiding places were. He will forever be the guy paying for things with a $100 bill. Not because he was flashy. He just did it to impress a very impressionable kid. That kid who still looks up to him.

These are just a few memories of a great man. It feels like I haven't put enough into this, as reading what I've typed so far seems so shallow. I haven't even scratched the surface of Robert Kroth. I'm certain my sister would have much different things to say. My mother would have a completely different list of things that are important to say. To anyone reading this far that could have done this better, I apologize. He's worthy of so much more.

That's the cool thing about Grandpa. I think he'd be happy that I wanted to do this in the first place. I hope he'd be happy that his picture is on display in our house. Our son knows him as Bobby, and he knows he was a great golfer. I hate that my son and wife were cheated of the privilege of knowing my Grandpa.

Robert E. Kroth at 100. You are remembered, missed, and loved. I hope you are listening to great jazz music, playing golf, and surrounded by dogs.

06/18/2025

My good friend Anne Willett alerted me to a recent survey on "America's favorite fast food fries." I've copied it below for your convenience. Read the article first unless you just want my opinions without theirs (better idea for all). https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/jun/12/n-chosen-americas-favorite-fast-food-fries-mcdonalds-lands-near/?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=bookmark

I believe that Anne shot this out to me to get a rise out me. She likely wanted to see how angry I would get. Maybe she thought I would get upset enough to write a scathing review of this mess. Well she was right!

First off, I need to start by reminding everyone about my rules for french fries. I'm a purist. No spices, no sauces, and nothing added besides salt. I like all kinds of shapes, cuts, and styles of fries. I prefer a crisp exterior with a meaty yet fluffy interior. Then it's normally the taste of the potato mixed with the grease which makes me a fan or not.

This ranking gives first place to In-N-Out Burger. To be fair, I've had In-N-Out fries once in my lifetime. I remember them being unspectacular. Nothing bad. Just nothing to get all excited about. I'm sure some of you will say that you love them due to putting all kinds of toppings on them. Maybe you order them "animal" style. To those I say, does adding toppings make fries themselves good? I say no. Fries should be able to stand alone, so rating them #1 is kind of ridiculous.

Shake Shack coming in at 2 isn't insulting on the face of things. Long time followers of mine will remember I wrote a blog that famously had Shake Shack asking for another shot for the bad service I received. They definitely made up for it, and I will say their fries are excellent. The problem is that the order size is small, and the price is large. As long as you have the extra coin sitting around with no other spending plans for the next few days, Shake Shack is a wonderful choice for fries. Great smaller golden crinkle style that always comes out hot, fresh, with a little crisp to the skin. I'm not mad at this inclusion on any ranking list.

Third on their list is Freddy's Frozen Custard and Steakburgers. Wow. Where to begin on this one. If you go to their own website, you will see that they describe their fries as having their famous fry seasoning added. It gives it a "tangy" flavor, or so says Google's AI when I searched for them. Tangy flavor? No thanks. This is due to their seasoning having onion powder and garlic salt. Gross. Again, if you have to add something to the fries to make them good - your fries are NOT good. Get this abomination off every list of best fries now!

Bojangles finished fourth for this list. I'm not even going into it. They have seasoned fries, so they are off the list. Next is the waffle fries from Chick-fil-A. I'm often asked about these fries, and I surprise everyone by saying I love them. They are always well cooked. Nice meatiness and fluffy on the inside. This list says they are "praised for their sauce friendly design." Shut up with the sauce stuff! Enjoy them for being the good fries that they are. Chick-fil-A can stay on a list.

The bottom five of their top ten list is as follows: Raising Cane's, Zaxby's, Arby's, Hardee's, and Checkers/Rally's. Let's take care of some easy work on these 5. Zaxby's, Arby's and Checkers/Rally's are eliminated due to pre-seasoning rules. Get out of here! Cane's has good fries when they are cooked well. Too often Cane's is so busy that they serve under cooked fries. When they are allowed to spend time in the grease to properly achieve a crisp, these fries are excellent. Otherwise they are just good. Hardee's belongs somewhere with In-N-Out on a list. Not remarkable at all.

The biggest sin for this article is insulting the fry giants that are McDonald's and Burger King. The writer acts "shocked" that McDonald's and Burger King are near the bottom of the list. Shocked I tell you!

It's never shocking when someone ranks these two low on the list. Let's get the bad out of the way first for McDonald's. McDonald's suffers from 2 problems. 1. Switching from beef tallow based grease to "healthier" vegetable based grease under public pressure from health nuts and the Super Size me guy. Huge mistake. No one orders fries to be healthy. 2. They have quality control problems. Sometimes they are cold, sometimes under cooked, sometimes overcooked, etc. If the fries have been sitting too long, they can get the consistency of cardboard. OK.

All that being said, for the most part, McDonald's fries comes out pretty much the same every time at the drive thru, Nice, hot, and fresh 90% of the time. That 10% can be rough, but the 90% is more than decent. They are good. Are they on my top 10 list? NOPE. I will say that I probably get fries from McDonald's more than anywhere else. Why? They are consistently good, the price is affordable, and they are convenient. Shouldn't be on the bottom of the list. More silliness from this author and this poll.

Finally Burger King. Second to last? Come on! BK has great fries that suffer from the same issue as Shake Shack. The order doesn't have enough fries for the price. They come out crispy with a nice hot meaty interior. The flavor is good with no bad aftertaste like you get at Wendy's. As an added bonus, the drive thru guy at the Richmond Road BK will say, "You rule" at the end of every sentence. Seriously. "Welcome to Burger King where you rule." "That will be $11.27, you rule." "Would you like to round up for charity, because you rule?" By the way, you know I'll throw in 77 cents if someone says that I rule. I can be bought.

What kind of crazy people took part in this poll? This is why no one trusts pollsters. Was this poll done by calling house phones? Maybe they took out an ad in a newspaper to see who was interested in taking part? Maybe those who responded never saw the classic Saturday Morning Cartoon PSA that taught kids "Don't drown your food. In mayo or ketchup or goo. It's no fun to eat what you can't even see, so don't drown your food!" I took that to heart, and so should everyone else.

Thank you Anne for bringing this to my attention. Justice has been served. Want to know more about what fries are good and which ones are terrible? Comment or DM with your review requests.

In-N-Out’s fries may not be everyone’s favorite, but according to tens of thousands of Yelp reviewers, they’re the best in the country.

06/06/2025

It's been a long summer already, and it's only June 6. Weather is Kentucky has been insane. It goes from cool, to hot, to tornadoes, to storms, to cicada swarms. I can hear the cicadas through the roof and walls of our house.

Crazy thing about that is that I wear hearing aids. I can hear them outside while I"m in the house when I'm NOT wearing my hearing aids.

Well all of that can take a backseat today, because it is officially National Donut Day today! I was able to take part in a blind taste test of 11 donuts available in the Lexington area, and I figured this was as good of a place as any to share the results. The judges were 7 of the top donut experts in the city.

First the rules: Donuts were cut up to reduce the chances of being able to pick out which one was which immediately. Donuts were then ranked with a scale of 1 - Excellent, 2 - Good, 3 - Average, 4 - Below Average, 5 - Poor. Donuts were then ranked by the cumulative judges scores with the lowest scores being the best. Multiple samples could be tasted if necessary for each donut. All selections are glazed only.

The official results ranked best to worst by the judges scores are below followed by my tasting notes and personal scores:

1. Spalding's - hard to disagree with here. This was my #2 choice today, as today's sample was a little overcooked for my taste. "Crunchy texture, almost cake like, could use slightly more glaze, bu the flavor was second to none." I gave them a 1.

2. Frank's Donuts - surprise for me to see them this high. I gave them a 2. "Nice feel, very soft. Full of glaze. Lighter donut."

3. North Lime Coffee and Donuts - my top choice today. In my opinion this place is tied with Spalding's for quality and consistency. I gave them a 1 saying, "superior taste, not as crunchy as my other 1 ranking. Perfect glaze."

4. Jeff's Donuts - Another surprise, as I had not tried this donut prior to today. I graded them a 2. "Very soft with thick glaze. Slightly different aftertaste."

5. Donut Days - Slightly high for me, but this is a great local donut. I gave them a 3 today. Maybe a bad batch? "OK but a slightly odd aftertaste."

6. Krispy Kreme - Basically the McDonald's of donuts. Many will hate on them, but they are loved by many. When hot, this should skyrocket up the charts, but this selection was not hot off the racks. I gave them a 2. "Good but not earth shattering."

7. OMG Donuts - A strong showing that was new for many in the group of judges. I gave them a 2. "Very fresh to extra tasty. Wonderful after taste and good glaze."

8. Donut World - Eh. Not bad. I gave them a 3. "Solid average donut with no big complaints."

9. Walmart - I've found these to be decent in the past for large grocery stores, so I wasn't shocked it didn't finish last. I gave them a 3. "Good aftertaste. Perfect amount of glaze. Definitely can taste that it is a processed/not fresh donut."

10. Kroger - Their frozen packaging often tastes better than their "fresh" bakery donuts. A 3. "Slightly more dense, could use more glaze, but the taste is good,

11. Dunkin' - Oh how the mighty have fallen. Remember the good old days when Dunkin' Donuts were light and made fresh throughout the day? This received my worst score of a 4. "Could be much better, and there is not enough glaze." I remember when the glaze covered most of the donut. Now Dunkin' just brushes it on the tops. Other judges said the Dunkin' donut was too dry.

There you have it. The definitive list of donuts this year on National Donut Day. Missing was Doughdaddy's out of Versailles. I hope to add them to the judging next year.

Please remember these judges were selected for their expertise. Any disagreement you have is absolutely incorrect.

11/13/2023

My uncle recently requested that I do one of those Facebook things where you post daily about one of ten albums that “greatly influenced” your musical tastes. The best thing was that he wanted to see what someone from a younger generation would say. It’s not every day that I’m referred to as young, so I decided to take this task seriously. Unfortunately for T. R., I don’t want to follow his directions. Instead of doing this for ten straight days, I’m combiningit into one long blog post. Enjoy!

1. Kiss - Destroyer. This was the first album I ever purchased with my own money. I remember bringing the album to show and tell in elementary school, and Cris Collinsworth’s mother in law let my play it to the delight of my classmates. Famously that year, my Halloween costume was Gene Simmons. Only problem (besides being a pint sized demon) was we only had a blond wig for me to wear.

2. Steve Miller Band - Greatest Hits. I know it’s a cop out to include compilations like this, but my blog = my rules. My father bought this album for me on a business trip in Atlanta. I wore that album out from beginning to end while I read comics or played with my Star Wars toys. Thanks Dad! It’s sad that Fly Like An Eagle mentions “house the people living in the streets,” and it’s still a problem 45 years later.

3. The Who - Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy. I remember many times being driven around town by the late Jerry Lepper. He always had either The Who or Jimmy Buffett playing in his car, and The Who had the biggest impact on my young mind. Lots of angry youth type songs which is ironic since they are such an old band now.

4. Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack. During my formative days, my mother listened to a lot of good music. I can’t even start to list all the good artists, but one that always stuck with me was the Bee Gees. Their melodies and harmonies are impeccable, and this album added funk to the mix. Listen past The Bee Gees too, and you will find gems like Tavares’ version of More Than A Woman. No dead spots on this album.

5. Eagles - The Long Run. Another mom entry here. I remember being entranced by this album. Everyone knows the hits, but I played this one beginning to end. A personal favorite - The Greeks Don’t Want No Freaks. I saw somewhere that recording this album led to the Eagles long break up. Funny, as this album made me a young fan.

6. The Mills Brothers - Great Hits. Finishing off the Mom trifecta here. The Mills Brothers were a quartet that sang great jazz and pop hits with their biggest times being in the 40’s and 50’s. I was lucky enough to have this group playing at our house a LOT! Enough that I still know all the songs on the “Great Hits” note for note. I can’t copy it, as these guys are incredible singers. I’ve been told by more than one friend that I “wish I sounded like the Mills Brothers.”

7. Billy Joel - Greatest Hits. Another artist that I would have loved no matter what, but I got lots of exposure to him through the car stereo of Ray Gruner. Enough that I borrowed a lot of tapes from Ray to make my own mix called “Songs In Ray’s Attic.” Some of you may get that reference. Billy Joel legitimately filled albums with mega hits. No filler here at all! He will always be a genius to me.

8. Bell Biv Devoe - Poison. People of my age might remember a time when the pop music station in Cincinnati (Q102) would scrub the rap parts out of music they played. It’s true. It happened. If it wasn’t for MTV and a few high school friends, I never would have had exposure to hip hop. In my college years, I was blown away by “hip hop smoothed out on the r&b tip with a pop feel appeal to it.” I may have shocked my sister when I was visiting home one weekend driving around singing along to some of the many quotable lyrics. Chip Tillett used to famously sign off letters with one of those quotes.

9. Michael Jackson - Thriller. Does this really need any explanation? Huge when I was in 6th grade.

10. Neil Diamond - Greatest Hits. This one wasn’t introduced to me by anyone else. Embarrassingly I sought this out due to my love of the song America. Good song, but NOWHERE near his best. This album woke me up to what Saving Silverman called “America’s greatest songwriter.” That movie became an ironic favorite of mine when it was released , and my love of Neil Diamond made it a permanent favorite. I have some friends that love Neil, but my mom and my wife are not two of them. That is why I will be forever grateful that my wife took me to Neil Diamond’s 50th Anniversary Tour. That tour was likely his last, and I loved every minute of it.

So, does that list explain anything to anyone?