Wednesday, October 19, 2005

down the road


i grew up in the back seat of a midnight blue oldsmobile station wagon. my family was a dixieland jazz band doing one niters up and down the roads of america, and during the late 50's there were no interstates. the only way to get to from one end of the u.s.a. to the other was route 66, a two-lane blacktop that wound from chicago to santa monica. it crossed 8 states through some of the prettiest parts of the country, and some of the most boring.

i must've traveled that road a hundred times through the years since i was a kid. in the 90's it was in a ragged, slow, bumpy, hot truck zig-zagging back and forth doing shows across the country. we'd travel through gallup, amarillo, flagstaff, barstow, st. louis, albuquerque, kingman .... tho most of the little eating and gas places i remembered are gone, as is most of '66'. it's all swallowed up by various interstates now (although sometimes you can find it as a side road along i-40 in certain places). i still have vivid memories of the old blacktop tho, driving thru the night, playing with radio to help keep my dad awake and playing 'spot the v.w.' or 'name the licence plates' with my sis. sure was a cool way to grow up ...

so now we are heading down that old hi-way again, or whats left of it. we're leaving for new orleans, or whats left of that, on friday to do that thing everyone else down there is doing, mainly cleaning up. we're gonna be gone for a week and as my laptop is down i'll try to post from my sister's when i can ...
well i gotta go pack now, but i'll leave ya'll all the tunes from one of my road cds that's gonna help get us farther down that road.
happy trails ya'll!

cartunes road mix 05 (via yousendit):
drivin' - the kinks
down the road - smiley lewis
run it - the replacemants
drive me - blodwyn pig
key to the highway - big bill broonzy
under my wheels - alice cooper
feats don't fail me now - little feat
rocket 88 - jackie brenton
traffic light rock - xtc
you can't catch me - chuck berry
back of a car - big star
big road blues - tommy johnson
little red lights - todd rundgren
passenger side - wilco
have love, will travel - the sonics
drive around the world - weezer
chevrolet - zz top
terraplane blues - robert johnson
killer cars - radiohead
crosstown traffic - jimi hendrix
here comes bob - sparks
grey cortina - tom robinson band
driving sister - mott the hoople
caddilac man - the jesters
going mobile - the who
transfusion - nervous norvus
(and, this all fits on a cd, if you are so minded ...)

11 comments:

Carl Abernathy said...

Great mix. Have a safe trip.

Danno said...

Good road music makes all the difference, looks like you're stocked, Under My Wheels! Damn I love old Alice Cooper! Does anyone else hate to see old Alice playing golf these days? I sure do.

Happy trails my friends, I hope your destination is in better shape than most down there! Have a safe and productive trip! Bring back the good word about the easy.

Danno

Anonymous said...

You'll probably be gone by the time you read this, but...
Have a wonderful and safe trip...and take pics to show us!

~Kim S.

Michael said...

Hope that the journey and the destination both bring good things.

Bon voyage!

Jock said...

We just made a trip down thru Gulfport, man! there was still alot o'debris on the roadside. Lots of blue tarp roofs. We got a bunch of New Orleans musicians up here in Memphis since the storm. I'm trying to educate some of these kids riding w/ me of this good ole music. Thanks for sharing the tunes. Where's the Rundgren gone from your sidebar?
Jock

Blimunda said...

Sleepy,great selection of music..Thanks for sharing, my friend.
Susana

Laurie said...

We used to play spot the VW, too. Since I'm just now reading this on 10/30, I'm sorry I missed you passing down I-10 on your way to N.O. I would have sent out some good thoughts and a wave to you as you passed by.

sonicfrog said...

Blast, I should have finnished earlier. No. 10 on my "Favorite Ablums" list is FINALY posted at sonicfrog, complete with song downloads. You would have enjoyed it on your travels. No. 9 should be up next week.

Flash said...

Lovely post, thanks. Nothing like good tunes and the open road.

sonicfrog said...

HEY! SLEEPY! YOU OUT THERE??? Haven't heard from you in a while. Pop us a biz and let us know what's shaken'.

sleepybomb said...

howly mowly, whole lotta backed up come-backs ...we went, we cleaned, we left, and all was good along the way. thanks ya'll for the interest, but i think it'll be a lot more interesting the next few years ... it already is.