And so it goes...

Mojo Nixon is with the King now.

Nonsense Etymology

In case you were wondering what a "pompatus" was, now you can know the rest of the story.

That's the sort of deep-dive nerdery I dig.

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I'm sure you've seen it but...

...it's still the best music video ever...

Geritol Alert

So my friend came down from Da Region to visit today and we went down and took in the Indiana World War Memorial and University Park south of it.

Afterward we tooled back up to SoBro for an alfresco lunch on the patio at Fat Dan’s… we’re heading into the time of year where these outdoor dining opportunities are rare and treasured …and we both of us commented on the excellent Spotify channel playing on the sound system. It was a festival of The Cure, Depeche Mode, INXS, Talking Heads, B52’s, The Clash, Echo & the Bunnymen; classic fare from our late teens and early twenties. Oldies that, to us Gen X’ers at least, don’t feel old.

After my friend left, the channel drops “Head Like a Hole” by Nine Inch Nails.

I’m never ready for that.

Good morning, America, how are ya?

"In 2014, the National Rail Passenger Corporation, best known as Amtrak, pulled off one of the epic marketing coups of U.S. railroad history—granted, there haven’t been many of late—when they announced the Amtrak Residency for Writers, where they would send 24 writers on cross-country trips, meals and beds gratis, to write the Great American Novel. The announcement of this perfect marriage of two beloved dinosaurs—trains and publishing!—set Twitter aflame, like hearing Panasonic and Oldsmobile had teamed up to launch a new line of gas-powered fax machines."

With an opening paragraph like this, you know you're in for a good read.

While he didn't get the residency he wanted, the author and his childhood bestie did wind up taking a trip on the fabled City of New Orleans from end to end, Chicago to the Big Easy. Along the way they discovered train food, delays, and that Amtrack may be slower than Delta, but Delta won't let you bring a case of beer on board to consume at your leisure.

Damn…

Sinead O’Connor was a controversial figure, but she was undoubtedly one of the great musical voices of my young adulthood. You couldn’t avoid those golden pipes on the radio in the Nineties.

I sure didn’t have “Sinead O’Connor dies before Mick Jagger” on my bingo card. She and I were practically the same age.

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That's funny right there...

"You have many options when it comes to birth control. Ask your doctor if the music of Rush is right for you."

I actually quite enjoy the music of Rush and even I thought this McSweeney's piece was hilarious.

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"Oh no! You made it political!"

I was literally just having this conversation on Twitter the other day...

Dude, nothing is funnier than seeing dudebros on gun forums bitching about RATM's politics and saying "I wish they'd just stick to music."

I'm like "Dude, do you even listen to the lyrics you're mouthing while you head-bang?"

— Tamara K. (@TamSlick) November 13, 2022

...and now this piece pops up over at The Bulwark today:

But not all of the band’s longtime fans were thrilled with what they got to see of RATM over the summer. When photos and video of their first new concerts began circulating online—especially one event not long after the Dobbs decision, where the words “Abort The Supreme Court” were projected across a backdrop—some fans were dismayed. What was wrong? The common sentiment was: Love Rage, but why do they have to get so political?

Huh? Rage Against the Machine, the most stridently political rock band of the last 30 years, addressing social topics? Heaven forbid!

I know, right?

Musical Interlude

Marzhan Kapsamat, a 23-year-old musician, is playing in Lake Köbeituz, a salt lake in Kazakhstan that turns pink every several years. pic.twitter.com/8UfEzk9VE8

— Vala Afshar (@ValaAfshar) October 29, 2022

Here's the Wikipedia article on Lake Köbeituz. She's playing a dombra.

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Musical Interlude...

The post tag that I use for any vaguely philosophical post, "a walk on the slippery rocks", comes from this tune by Edie Brickell & the New Bohemians. It should be pretty recognizable to my GenX peeps.

It's possibly the most Nineties-sounding song recorded in the Eighties.

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Huh.

From the "They ain't dead yet?" department, apparently Journey has released a new album.

I think the only Journey album I ever bought was an 8-track that came with the car.

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Tunes

Insufficiently caffeinated to type anything yet. Have some synth-heavy nostalgia tunage.

Dead Man's Curve

"I was cruisin' in my Sting Ray late one night..."

"When an XK-E pulled up on my right..."

"He rolled down the window of his shiny new Jag..."

"And challenged me then and there to a drag
I said, "You're on, buddy, my mill's runnin' fine
Let's come off the line now, at Sunset and Vine
But I'll throw you one better if you've got the nerve
Let's race all the way
To Dead Man's Curve"

Dead Man's Curve, it's no place to play
Dead Man's Curve, you best keep away
Dead Man's Curve, I can hear 'em say
Won't come back from Dead Man's Curve

The street was deserted late Friday night
We were buggin' each other while we sat out the light
We both popped the clutch when the light turned green
You should of heard the whine from my screamin' machine
I flew past LaBrea, Schwab's, and Crescent Heights
And all the Jag could see were my six tail lights..."

<recordneedlescratch.wav>

"Six tail lights?" 

I thought Jan and Dean were the square ones and it was the Beach Boys who were on the dope?

Clicking to embiggenate will get lots of detail. Shot with a 36MP Nikon D800, you can practically read the tag on the driver's shirt.

Actually, though, adding a third pair of taillights was a common enough mod on C2 'Vettes that you could get DIY instructions for doing it at home.

Purists shudder at the thought.

Here, have some cheesy Sunday morning car nerd music...

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He doesn't need the dashboard light anymore.

Meat Loaf has left the building at age 74.

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Gruber und Gruber

On this date in 1818, the world heard the first performance of Stille Nacht, better known to us Anglophones as Silent Night. 

The words are from a poem by Josef Mohr, a Catholic priest, and the music was composed by church organist Franz Gruber. That first performance, however, the organ was busted and so Gruber accompanied the priest on guitar.

Thus was Christmas heralded a hundred and three years ago.

One hundred and seventy years later, Christmas was rung in by another Gruber, the criminal mastermind Hans, plummeting to his death off Nakatomi Tower. Captured on film, the event heralds the start of the holiday to this day.

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My lawn, you are on it.

With the lights out,
Metamucil!
Here we are now,
Little blue pill!
YEAH! https://t.co/Sm480KLDJZ

— Tamara K. (@TamSlick) September 24, 2021

I made myself laugh. 

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Better Guns Than Karate

I can't believe the literally hundreds of times the soft melodies of this song have wafted past my ears over nearly twenty years without me once actually processing the lyrics...



Yoshimi, girl, if you're really gonna defend Wayne from those evil space robots, karate and vitamins aren't going to be as effective as a trusty blaster at your side.

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Gen X Check

A friend posted this video from back in the day...

What's funny is that I was kind of a fan of the Crash Test Dummies. I loved, loved, loved God Shuffled His Feet...almost the whole album, but especially the title track and "Afternoons & Coffeespoons"... except that one track, the one that was their biggest hit, got on my last damn nerve so hard.

Fortunately the cassette deck in my car had auto-FF so you could skip to the next track. I'll bet that, with sophisticated enough measuring devices, that length of the magnetic tape (which is still in the attic somewhere) is measurably thicker than the rest of the ribbon for having hardly been played.

Here, enjoy the much better "Afternoons & Coffeespoons"...

Interlude

One Night in Lexington

Bobbi was watching The Queen's Gambit last night and I remarked on how a particular scene seemed a subtle nod to Murray Head's "One Night in Bangkok" and it turned out she wasn't familiar with the tune...

Incidentally, the Wikipedia article for the musical Chess is practically an event horizon for any number of hours-long wikiwanders on topics ranging from chess to musical theater to Eighties pop rock to Cold War nuclear strategy. Click at your own risk.

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