Walk Score will tell you how walkable your neighborhood is. Mine is a 26 / 100 (bad). But even that's too high, since:

• it apparently calculates distance as-the-crow-flies, not as the streets go.
• the bookstore it says is 1 mile away is actually more like 2mi away and it's a Mormon bookstore.
• the clothing store it says is 1 mile away is a home-based embroidery shop.
• the closest bar is 1.2mi, as the crow flies (more like 2.2mi on roads). But, there is a bar 1.2mi away - but who's walking 1.2mi to go to a bar?
• the movie theater might be 1.2mi away, if I had a zeppelin. But it's more like 3mi on roads. And not a single one of those roads has a sidewalk. Half of them are unlit no-shoulder country roads.

Nice try.

Below are fifteen songs. Next to each song is the name of a band who covered the song. Your task, without looking it up anywhere, is to name the person/band who wrote (or played) the original.

Some are old; some are new; all are borrowed; few are blue.

1. Take Me To The River - Talking Heads Al Green - [Bobby L]
2. Between The Bars - Madeleine Peyroux Elliot Smith - [M]
3. Sound And Vision - Sea And Cake David Bowie - [Bobby L]
4. Smooth Criminal - Alien Ant Farm Micheal Jackson - [Bobby L]
5. Where Have All The Good Times Gone - Van Halen
6. Woodstock - Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young Joni MItchell - [Bobby L]
7. I Will Always Love You - Whitney Houston Dolly Parton - [Bobby L]
8. Bringin on the Heartbreak - Mariah Carey Def Leppard - [Bobby L]
9. This Love - Natasha Bedingfield Maroon 5 - [Bobby L]
10. Landslide - Smashing Pumpkins Fleetwood Mac - [Bobby L]
11. Red Red Wine - UB40 Neil Diamond - [Bobby L]
12. Cum On Feel The Noize - Quiet Riot Slade - [Rob C]
13. Jolene - The White Stripes Dolly Parton - [Rob C]
14. Hallelujah - Jeff BuckleyLeonard Cohen- [Rob C]
15. Proud Mary - Ike & Tina Turner CCR - [Bobby L]

Post your answers in comments. I'll mark them off as people get them. Void where prohibited.

You can click here for the answers. But give it a good try, first!

The Black Oven