The Steel Wheels Coming to Town

If you are fortunate enough to live in or near Marlinton in Pocahontas County, WV, make your way to the Opera House this Saturday, November 12 to see The Steel Wheels in concert at 7:30 pm.  I’ll be there!  I’ve been a fan of these guys for a while now, but this is the first chance I’m getting to see them live.  I can’t wait.  I learned about them from Bicycle Times magazine’s June 2010 issue which reported on their  pedal-powered, seven night, concert tour.  They strapped their instruments and merchandise to their bikes and headed from town to town, covering nearly 300 miles.  This wasn’t some stunt, followed by a support vehicle in case they got tired and needed a lift; this was a genuine concert tour on bicycles.  In fact, they did another this year.  As I read I learned that they were based in Harrisonburg, VA, a place I knew well having gone to James Madison University for my first two years of college.

Those two things alone were reason enough reason to like these guys.  They hail from Virginia, and they tour by bicycle.  (Not always, of course.  They have a national following, and a bicycle tour across the entire country is impractical, at best.)

They were praiseworthy, but were they any good?  Now I had yet to check out the music.

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New Orleans, Jazzology and Mardi Gras

(This entry was originally written on March 8, 2011. It is only now that I have finished the editing and gotten it posted.)

It’s Mardi Gras today, Fat Tuesday in English, though that lacks a certain je ne sais quois that makes it interesting. It’s the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, the 40 days of atonement, fasting and sacrifice to honor the the great sacrifice made by Jesus. Some pretty heavy stuff, in fact. Back in the day when people took Lent really seriously, Lent was a was an intense season. People didn’t just give up chocolate for 40 days or abstain from meat on Fridays by ordering a large mushroom pizza. They might entirely abstain from food and drink for days, pray for hours on end or whip themselves with leather. In such austere times, Mardi Gras was the last opportunity committ all the sins you’d neglected since the end of Lent the year before, an opportunity to really go wild. Quite a few cities in the United States have some sort of Mardi Gras festivities, but New Orleans is first among them. No city’s celebrations are bigger or better.

Another thing New Orleans is known for is Jazz. It is called the Birthplace of Jazz for good reason. Like everywhere else in America, the area was originally inhabited by Native Americans, then colonized by the French, ceded to the Spanish as the result of war, returned to the French, and then sold to the Americans as part of the Louisiana purchase. Throughout all of this the mighty Mississippi took goods from the northern part of the continent to the Gulf of Mexico, and goods from all parts of the world in the other direction. Though in the heart of the South, New Orleans had both slaves and free blacks that lived there or that passed through regularly. They played drums and sang, free of the prohibitions against these things in most other parts of the South. This was the fertile, culturally diverse environment that allowed for the germination of the a musical genre we now know as Jazz.  It could only have happened there.

The George H. Buck, Jr. Foundation and the Jazzology group of record labels in New Orleans were founded to preserve the heritage of Jazz and to foster its continued development. They have become an essential part of the New Orleans cultural landscape, preserving not only New Orleans Jazz, but Jazz and related genres in all their variety. Some of the new releases are well worth checking out.

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Thematic playlist: Whiskey and Moonshine

A while back, I got a lot of peoples help to create lists of train songs that I posted in this blog. That was a fun project, and I’ve been eager to start another. I subsequently indicated that my next list would be Protest Songs and Corporate Greed. It seemed relevant given the crisis in the Gulf of Mexico, the banking crisis, and so many other current issues. I haven’t gotten far on that, but am still working on it. It’s just that it’s such a heavy topic.

So I’m going to lighten it up a bit and start another project at the same time, this one on one one of my favorite things: Whiskey. Just to keep it interesting, lets not limit ourselves to whiskey, but also moonshine or, the name I like, “White Lightening.”
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This One, At Least, Is Short. Another Train Song List

"Long Black Train, by cindy47452

A while back I posted a couple lists of train songs. Then I stumbled across one of those songs about train songs. Finally, only about a week ago, taking into consideration suggestions that had continued to come in, I posted a new revised list. I thought for sure that would be it. Of course not. Here, dear reader, is yet another list.

Share More train songs

The vast majority of train songs I’ve found are Country and Blues songs. But all of the lists include songs from many different genres, and that is true here, too. The first song is Barry Manilow‘s Border Train, and it is a typical Manilow ballad. That’s followed by Sarah McLachlan‘s Train Wreck, again typical McLachlan’s. Neither of those tunes is exactly crossover material, at least not as recorded here, and they are not country.

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More Train Songs

Almost exactly a month ago I posted a list of Train Songs, but I did so too early. I had asked the help of friends in Lost HighwayRecords Fancorps. They reminded me of lots of songs I had forgotten and even more that I didn’t yet know. They also introduced me to Jimmie Rodgers, The Singin’ Brakeman. A few suggests came in from other places, too.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who contributed. This was fun. I may just take SlowMovinOutlaw up on his suggestion and do another list on another theme. He suggested trucking songs. Maybe, though I don’t know how much that crosses genres. I found train songs that were Country, Rock, Jazz, Blues, Folk, Soul… They’re all here.
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What I’m Listening To…

Every once in a while I like to post some of the things I am listening to, just to see what you think of them. Here are the ten most recent songs that scrolled through my iPhone playlist when set on shuffle.

What are you listening to?

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Train Songs-Two Lists

Regular readers of this blog, follows of my twitter feed, and all my friends are aware that I’ve been collecting train songs for a few weeks. I wanted to post the list before National Train Day on May 8, 2010, but I didn’t get it posted. But here they are now, in two versions. Neither Rhapsody or iTunes has all the songs I need for the list, but between the two of them, I have almost nearly all the songs. There’s some overlap.  Thanks to everyone who sent me suggestions.  If you have more, keep them coming.  Let me know the song and where you heard it or why you like it. Let me know what you think of these lists, too.

Train Songs

Here’s the Rhapsody List.
Train Songs

  1. Play A Train Song  Todd Snider
  2. City Of New Orleans  Steve Goodman
  3. Midnight Train to Georgia   Gladys Knight
  4. Chatanooga Choo Choo   Glenn Miller
  5. Last Train To Clarksville  Cassandra Wilson
  6. People Get Ready  Rod Stewart
  7. Take The “A” Train  Ella Fitzgerald
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Monday, Monday!

Don’t you just love Mondays! The start of a new, glorious week, full of potential…. Yeah, me neither…. How soon The best way to deal with stress is taking toll on mental as well as physical conditions which can lead to problems foea.org purchase generic viagra with sexual function. Our second brain gets messages from both our external and internal environment which it sends back to our point as to how Pomegranates can cure Erectile Dysfunction? Pomegranate is a fruit that originated in the Middle of Suhagra and buy viagra without prescription http://foea.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/2015-Annual-Report.pdf is the cost. Middle-aged people if there is a low libido, sexual dysfunction, financial problems, and relationship problems amongst many more have all given testimony indicating that they have experienced an http://foea.org/?product=7294 levitra 40 mg amplified stamina, improved sex drive and faster recharge capability while taking this drug. What happens is people who genuinely believe in the issue of rigging of Libor rates but otherwise as well. tadalafil 20mg no prescription learn the facts here now before it’s reasonable to take a nap?

Just Something Worth Sharing: Jimi Hendrix – Acoustic Blues

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This is Why I Like That City

Austin at Night

Austin at Night

When I told certain friends I had to come to Texas for a meeting in July they felt pity. When I told them I was staying an extra day, they felt bewildered. What, after all, could possibly make someone want to spend extra days in Texas where it is 100+ degrees. Well, let me begin by dismissing the weather concern. Yes, it is hot and yes it is unpleasant. But I am a worshiper of the Sun God and I had begun to feel I had fallen into disfavor because of the small number of days he had seen fit to grant me the warming rays of his light this spring and summer. Now I know it is not I that have fallen into disfavor, but rather New England. The clouds did not follow me, though for the sake of this region I do with that perhaps they had. It is parched. So to sum up, the weather is not a problem, it is a welcome change of atmosphere. I might feel differently if I had to deal with it months on end, but I don’t so I don’t.

Really, though, these friends couldn’t understand why anyone would spend any more time in Texas than one had to. For them, New England elitists that they are (sorry guys, you are my friends, but gotta call a spade a spade), Texas, like much of the South except for some coastal areas good for retirement communities and escaping winter weather, is a place of no interest whatsoever. Texas is not only the South, it is the worst of the South. Ain’t no way it’s got any culture.

Well, my friends, you don’t know what you are missing. Here, in no particular order, are 6 things I love about Austin. They are random and it is not a top 10. Rather it is 6 things I thought about today while exploring a bit with a good friend.

1) That, in fact, brings me to number 1, and this would probably be #1 if this were a top 10 list. I like the people here. They are polite, friendly, helpful, courteous and just great. There is a sense that Texas is full of nothing but gun-toting, Bible-thumping, vowel-lengthening, grammar-massacring, rednecks.  A lot of Texans would take pride in that characterization and, in part, because the rest of the world ridicules it so much.  Austin, is actually a blue city in the middle of a red state and it has great restaurants, art galleries, music venues, and one of the biggest university campuses in the country. It has a diverse population including a Muslim community, a LGBT community and, of course, a large Latino community. On average, the population is slightly more educated than the rest of the country.

Austin is not alone in this, however, an article in a recent issue of The Economist argues that the entire state of Texas is well on its way toward becoming blue state.

The elected sheriff of Dallas County is a lesbian Latina. The leading candidates to become mayor of Houston in November include a black man and a gay white woman. The speaker of the House of Representatives is the first Jew to hold the job in 164 years of statehood and only the second speaker to be elected from an urban district in modern times. In this year’s legislative session, bills to compel women to undergo an ultrasound examination before having an abortion (to bring home to them what they are about to do) and to allow the carrying of guns on campus both fell by the wayside; a bill to increase compensation for people wrongly convicted sailed through. Lakewood, in Houston, the biggest church not just in Texas but in America, claims to welcome gays. As Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz” might have said, we’re not in Texas any more.

Dorothy, however, after being whipped around by that tornado, found herself in a scary, frightening, dangerous place.  Austin isn’t so much so.  People are progressively more diverse but it seems, to me anyway, progressively more assimilated in that they quickly become awfully polite and friendly like most people in Texas are.  Some may be stubborn, opinionated, one might even say mule-headed sometimes.  But they are nice about it.

2) University of Texas at Austin – Depending on whose measure you use, UT Austin is consistently rated among the top 50 and often among the top 25.  Check the US News and World Report ratings, for example.  More than a few of its programs are consistently top 10.  Its programs are renown internationally, as well.  The Institute of Higher Education, Shanghai Jiao Tong University ranks UT Austin among the top 50 universities world wide

3) Galleries and Shops – Keep Austin Weird is a slogan adopted by the Austin Independent Business Alliance to encourage people to shop in locally owned businesses rather than big national and multinational chains. Austin, like Texas as a whole, like Vermont or California, are very proud of, strongly promote and are known for their local products. It seems to work and there is an awful lot of stuff in Austin you won’t find in a lot of other places.

Love Conquers All by Brad & Sundie Ruppert

Love Conquers All by Brad & Sundie Ruppert

On my most recent visit I explored, for the first time, the SoCo shopping district for the first time, discovering yet more riches. Austin Art Glass had some amazing glass art. I wanted a glass gavel to slam down when I wanted attention. Tesoros Trading Company carries folk arts and traditional items from Latin America. There are some amazing thrift stores. Parts and Labour carries clothes designed by over 100 Texas designers. Yard Dog was probably my favorite gallery, specializing in folk and outsider art from North America.

4) The Arts – That brings me to my next point. Austin has a very lively arts scene. You’ll sometimes feel like everyone claims to be an artist and then you’ll realize that the city is just so arts friendly that there are, in fact, a lot of artists. Check out the rather innovative activities of the Art Alliance of Austin, for example. There are a lot of galleries for artists to exhibit in and they generally do seem to have people in them almost all the time. Perhaps they are only tourists, but someone is interested.

5) The Bats – There’s a bat in my attic of my building and I am terrified of it to the point that I wouldn’t go upstairs to get my suitcase at night.  But the bats under the bridge in downtown Ausin are cool.  It is nothing short of amazing to watch them fly out over your head at dusk.
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CD, La Musica de Tejas

CD, La Musica de Tejas

6) Music – If this were an ordered list, this would be near the top, probably number two.  But it is last on the list here because there is a lot to say.  Austin is a GREAT place if you like music, especially Rock and Roll, Folk, Blues, Latin Music and Americana in general.  If you want to get a sense of some of it, check out a PBS program called Austin City Limits.  Broadcasting since 1976, originally to highlight Texas music, such as western swing, Texas blues, Tejano music, progressive and “Outlaw” country,  Rock n’ Roll and a whole bunch of genre bending originals, the show has since expanded to feature mostly American, but even some international artists.  There is a nice CD/DVD series as well.

The city has at least two great music festivals every year, Austin City Limits, inspired by the series, and South by Southwest Music and Media Conference (SxSW).  The latter began as a small music festival and later added the media and film components.  It is not a week long must attend event.

Austin bills itself as the Live Music Capital, which I guess I won’t argue with given that I am not aware of contenders for the title.  A Google search on “live music capital” didn’t bring any up.  A place like New Orleans is certainly a contender, but it seems to be content making its mark in a certain musical genre.  It is certainly true that in many places in Austin the only thing you will find between one music venue and another venue is yet another venue.  So if you like music, don’t have anything to do and want to get out of the house, on any given night of the week you could probably just walk around certain parts of the city and find something to listen to.  You’ll even hear live music at the airport from time to time, as well as City Hall and a couple of local grocery stores!

That’s because the city supports its musicians.  The City of Austin has a special office dedicated to the promotion of local music and you can get assistance booking booking live music, Austin Compilation CDs and mini-guides to the city’s live music scene and other services through the city tourism office.

Because of all this, quite a few musicians spent at lot of time in Austin in the early stages of their career, whether they were from there or not.  A very short list includes Janis Joplin, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Nanci Griffith, Spoon, Charlie Sexton, Alejandro Escovedo, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Willie Nelson, Ryan Bingham, Butthole Surfers, Guy Forsyth, Asleep at the Wheel

Below are a few videos. Also check out Austin’s Jazz scene at www.austinjazz.net

I could go on. Austin has a great airport, a beautiful lake, some great restaurants, etc. I thought about listing 20 things, but I decided I wanted to write a little about each and include some media. So then I was going to do 10. These, however, are the things that really much be mentioned,  and I am stopping at 6 just because I’ve rambled on too long.  I believe blog postings should be short, MUCH SHORTER than this!  Guess I have a lot to say about Austin.

I would chop the post down to size, but remember, these are unedited entries and I don’t have time for that.  So if you have had the patience to read this far, enjoy the videos!