Greta Thunberg Pleads with Jesse James Dupree to Switch to Battery Electric Chainsaw Ahead of Performance at Ohio Bike Week 2025.

I love Jackyl, but that stinky Chainsaw has got to go, says the noted environmentalist.

Creative Commons/You Tube

Outspoken activist Greta Thunberg has taken it upon herself to spearhead the international cabal of rock music enthusiasts encouraging Jackyl front-man and self-anointed “Lumber Jack of Love” Jesse James Dupree to cast aside that stinky two-stroke and get hip with a new emissions-free, battery-powered chainsaw. 

Thunberg wishes to make it clear that she wishes for the summer concert party season to continue unabated, albeit with fewer noxious two-stroke emissions. “Like most young Swedish people, my life revolves around three things: Calling out hypocritical world leaders and gross corporate polluters, scarfing those meatballs at IKEA, and blasting some f#cking Jackyl from the tape deck in my Volvo EV. I mean, Jesse James Dupree is basically the Bob Dylan of Scandinavia.” 

Preferred over four-stroke models for their lighter weight and quick-revving nature, the two-stroke has been the choice of lumberjacks and musicians for decades. But the new wave of battery-powered chainsaws offers some excellent alternatives. Stihl, the brand most commonly associated with Dupree, makes several dandy battery-powered chainsaws, including the Stihl MSA 220 C-B; it’s got plenty of power and a 16-inch bar, so it won’t be too emasculating when Jesse suggestively positions the saw amidst his loins and “jams” along with the band. It’s a crowd favorite. 

Equally as troubling is that while now assembled in the U.S., the German company’s founder was apparently a bit of a Nazi back in the day and was arrested as such during WWII. But let’s not throw stones. 

Thunberg is on the record as preferring Husqvarna battery-electric chainsaws from her native Sweden for her personal arborist needs. 

Ohio Bike Week runs from Friday, May 30 through Saturday, June 7 in Downtown Sandusky, Ohio, a suburb of the Cedar Point Amusement Park. Catch Jackyl on Thursday, June 5th on the Jackson St. Pier in downtown Sandusky. Show starts at 6 PM. 

Legal Note: This is obviously satire. Get with it nerds.The part about Jackyl playing Bike Week, however, is 100% legit.

Jimmy Page and the Yardbirds Played a Cincinnati High School Prom

"Jimmy’s first question was, 'Why are you dressed like that?'" I said, "You’re playing at our prom." And he said, "What the fuck is a prom?"

Even if you've already managed to catch a screening of Becoming Led Zeppelin, you need to to surf on over to the The New Yorker and check out David Owen's essay on the Yardbirds playing the prom at St. Xavier High School, an all-boys Catholic prep school in Cincinnati. 

Click here to read "Before He Formed Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Page Played a Prom in Ohio," by David Owen.

It's a great example of not only how unpolished the business of rock and roll was then, but also provides a rough timeline of sorts for the pending breakup the Yardbirds and the subsequent birth of Led Zeppelin.

Here's the band performing the night before on Cleveland's UPBEAT! TV show:

And of course, here's the official trailer for Becoming Led Zeppelin:

For those in the cheap seats it's worth mentioning that seven years later, Frank Marino and Mahogany Rush would play a similar Catholic Boys Academy in Toledo, Ohio:

Rick James Snowmobile Is the Best Snowmobile (Give It To Me Baby)

When Mother Nature turns on the chill and the snow flies, only one thing is certain: Rick James is gonna get his ass on a snowmobile.

YouTube

 "Raised in the ghetto of Buffalo New York where his mother was a numbers runner, Rick is now a multi-millionaire who has recently moved back to his hometown from LA, where he found the social scene around the music business crazy."-Jeanee Beker, Much Music TV, aka M3, Much More

 

Rick's story is a well-known one, just another tired take on the classic "poor boy from the wrongest side of the tracks ditches the navy, forms a band with Neil Young in Canada, gets caught, does his time, moves to LA, moves back to Buffalo and forms the explosive Stone City Band, hits multi-platinum selling pay dirt, buys an Arctic Cat Panther, writes and produces for everyone from Smokey Robinson to Teena Marie, starts to run out of money, dates Linda Blair, guest stars on the A-Team, loses more money, has his finances recover on the strength of licensing deals with up and coming rap acts, gets addicted to crack, kidnaps a few people, ends up in Folsom Prison, gets out and then passes at age 56 from heart failure."

But along the way, Rick James, born James Ambrose Johnson Jr. (February 1, 1948 – August 6, 2004), laid down grooves and vibes that still haven't been topped. Comfortable in any situation, he never put on a personality for cameras or the audience, always letting his rust-belt heritage show through as the video below so clearly illustrates.

While we can't be entirely certain, the sled in question appears to be an Arctic Cat Panther from the early 1980s, based in part on its regal burgundy and gold exterior finish. Powered by a 431cc Suzuki-two stroke twin, the snow machine was a cool thing that slid, not walked, like a Panther across the snow. 

Bonus: Mama Cass on a Snowmobile