This topic was suggested by my close personal friend Jay, who belongs in the Hall with us more than any friend I know yet resists entering for fear of never leaving. Well, my friend, you've been stuck in your own personal Rock (and Film) Town Hall for as long as I've known you. You've been with us before we existed.

I think most of us are old enough to get the meaning of this Last Man Standing. Entering one artist at a time, let's see if we can't exhaust all of the artists who were dubbed by critics and/or publicists as the "next Dylan." I don't know if anyone still gets that title or if they simply call the person the "next" someone else, probably a former "next Dylan" himself. Rather than rob anyone the opportunity to provide an answer, I won't get things started with my own entry. Ready...Set...Go!

You know the drill: one band/artist per entry, last entry is the Last Man Standing!

I want to know how many bands you can name that hail from, *and* that made/recorded at least some of their music in, the American desert Southwest. For the purpose of clarification, I say the "desert Southwest" includes the following states only:

Arizona
New Mexico

I realize this is topographically, meteorologically and culturally incorrect, but I don't care. No answers featuring the desert parts of Colorado, Utah, California and Texas. Let's keep this one short and focused, people.

I'll start with:

Buddy Holly -- Clovis, New Mexico

It was hot in Philadelphia today. Effin' hot! I took a long walk after breakfast, did some chores, cut up a big batch of hot peppers and put them in vinegar, then went to the Phillies' game, where I sat in the sun and watched my boys chase Rockies' first-half Cy Young Award Winner Ubaldo Jimenez from the game in 3 or 4 innings. Jimenez wanted nothing to do with a 4:00 pm game-time temperature of 100 degrees and our city's oppressive humidity. Unlike Jimenez I lasted all 9 innings, cheering as if it was a night game in the 70s. It was hot!

In honor of all the sweat shed at Citizens Bank Park today, how about a Last Man Standing on songs that tell the temperature, specifically. The song can't simply say it's "hot as hell" or "cold as ice"; it must cite a specific temperature, be it in degrees or celcius. Got me? It's too hot to explain it again. Now go!

Today Townsman k. steps to The Main Stage with the following Last Man Standing competition. Take it away, k.!

Those of us following the RTH World Cup of Rock 'n Roll saw cdm's Australian squad play The Hoodoo Guru's "Like Wow, Wipeout!" - complete with an all-feedback solo. Although it may be a bit of a cliche move these days, I generally like this musical device when it comes in at just the right time. To clarify, I am not interested in those nothing-but-feedback exercises by the likes of Sonic Youth or Neil Young's Arc but something like the clip cdm used in the RTH World Cup, where the feedback takes the place of a standard guitar solo.

How many of these can Townspeople come up with and how many will it take until we are all good and sick of it?

In the spirit of fairness, I will kick this off with "Little Honda," by Yo La Tengo, solo at 1:25:

It was noted in the ongoing RTH World Cup of Rock 'n Roll competition that no one is impressed by a rock 'n roll mama's boy. Elvis Presley is rock's best-known mama's boy. Phil Lynott and Jim Morrison were cited as other examples. Are there more? What makes your rocker a mama's boy?

As a tribute the the Mod, who is apparently under the weather today, I propose a last man standing of songs with the word sick in the title.

One rule in addition to the normal LMS rules: the use of the word "sick" must mean "ill," not just fed up or crazy (unless "crazy" refers to an actual mental illness and not just bad behavior).

I'll lead off with "Sick as a Dog" by Aerosmith.

There have been two recent mentions of the Cream song, SWLABR. BTW, it was a song I hadn't heard of and had to look up so that I could get with the RTH program. I'm now ISO other of these acronym songs. Mr. Royale and I could think of three: DMSR by Prince, PYT by Michael Jackson, and IGY by Donald Fagen. FWIW, can you think of others? (One entry per post, of course.)

BFN, LMKR

This has been said before, but I'm pretty sure this will be our most challenging Last Man Standing competition yet! If you've never played before, the idea is to submit one entry at a time until no other answers to the LMS competition come to mind. The reason I feel this LMS will be the most challenging ever is because I can only think of 4 possible answers, 2 of which come from the same band. I'm pretty sure there are no more than 4 possible answers, but I'm also pretty sure that I'm wrong about this. Prove me wrong!

By the way, there are a couple of limitations. Only songs by ROCK artists will be accepted - no hip-hop artists, who are self-referential on 75% of their songs. Also, the song must come in the second half of the artists' relevant years. The song "Bad Company," by Bad Company, for instance, does not qualify, because it was one of their first singles.

Because there may be so few answers to this question, I will not kick off this thread with an entry, but I will give one clue regarding probably the best-known of these songs: although rock nerds would not rank it among the band's top 20 songs, it's become a staple of the band's abbreviated sets for nationwide television performances and the like. Go!

Name a sexual act mentioned or described in the lyrics to a song.

Specific acts can only be named once. Variations in terminology do not count as additional opportunities to repeat a specific act. So, for instance, I’ll start off with bestiality in "Had It With You," by Paul Westerberg (“Like Catherine the Great underneath a big horse, your sexual preference is me of course.”)

All other bestiality songs are now off the table.

And keep your kids away from Rock Town Hall today, will ya?

This may be the shortest Last Man Standing we've ever had, but then again, we frequently say that, don't we? The goal is not to list any old song about horses; the song has to be about horse racing, or have a definite reference to horse racing. Simply riding a horse doesn't count, so don't bother suggesting The Rolling Stones' "Wild Horses" whenever that day comes when you ride them.

Because there may be so few horses in this race, I won't kick things off with the one obvious entrant that comes to mind.

The horses have entered the starting gate...they're off!

Enjoy the following promotional message, courtesy of one of our very own Townsmen!