Riding The Midnight Train..... R.I.P. Doc Watson

Bluegrass legend Doc Watson died yesterday.  I  first discovered Doc Watson on the "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" album.  While that album was released in 1972, I didn't discover it until around 1977. 

The post title is from a Doc Watson album form 1993.

Bounty Hunter Gonna Hunt You Down

A little randomness for a Tuesday:

So I got a call from a head-hunter today.  More appropriately, a "professional recruiter".  Now, I'm not opposed to head-hunters.  I've had good experiences with them from both sides of the hiring equation.  But they're a pretty varied lot, and not all are wonderful.  And my current company doesn't use them.

This fellow today, turns out he's trying to find a candidate for a company I left a few years back.  A departure that didn't exactly go smoothly.  I didn't want to burn any bridges, but that feeling wasn't mutual....  Not quite 6 years later, I'm only a little bit bitter.

Anyway, I was polite to the guy, but I didn't give him any leads.  And he chatted and chatted and chatted....   Meanwhile, it made me think about the Molly Hatchet song "The Bounty Hunter". 

Memorial Day, 2012

A few snapshots from todays Memorial Day ceremony here in Glen Carbon, IL.

Local vetrans man the color guard

Our scout troop participated, as usual....   Below, a young man places the wreath:

The Boys Of Summer

My son's little league game from last night (Wednesday).  This was his first chance to pitch this year, and I only had my blackberry camera.  Not a very good photo, I'll try and be better prepared next time.

Tonight was deemed to be a Movie Night.  Browsing Redbox, Matt picked out "The Perfect Game".  Really great movie, very inspiring for a young ballplayer (and his dad).

The title is (of course) from Don Henley's Top 5 hit from 1985

Boom, Boom (Out Go the Lights)

from the archives

A distribution substation in central Ohio.  I took this photo back in 2003, about a week or two before the Northeast Blackout of 2003.  If I Recall Correctly, this particular substation was not affected by that event, but it was pretty near the edge of the outage area.  If you didn't know (or even if you did), I work in the power industry (Protection & Controls).  And I'm always noticing  these things.  This photo was taken with one of my early digital cameras, the quality is rather mediocre.

The title is from the Pat Travers song....

There's a Village Green, It's Been A Long Time...

from the archives...

This was shot at a small park that's not far from SEATAC ariport (Seattle).  I uesed to have a meeting twice a year which held at one of the hotels right by the airport (not always the same hotel).  Fly out from St. Louis one day, have the meeting the next day, and fly back the 3rd day.  Three days out of the office for a 6 hour meeting.  I would usually have a little time to wander the area, and found this nice spot.  It's only about a mile south of the airport, but seems a world away.

Post title is from the Kinks' song "Village Green" from the album "The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society".  A fine effort, ranked #255 on Rolling Stone's (original) listof Top 500 albums of all time.

Light Posting

I haven't posted in a few days, apologize for the negligence.  It's been kind of busy.  Even moreso than usual.

My younger daughtter graduated from college last weekend (Murray State, Summa Cum Laude!).   She'll be home for a few weeks before heading to Grad School.

My son's Little League team started games this week. Here's a quick shot of my son batting Monday night.  This was great contact, but he was robbed by a shortstop with great verticle leap.  The team is 1 and 1 after a close loss last night (12-11).

Lots of photos on the camera from the past week or so.  I need to find time to plow through them all.....  Thanks for your patience.

Donna Summer passed away today.

I'm not a huge Donna Summer fan, because I'm not a huge Disco fan.  But I do have several of her hits: Hot Stuff, I Feel Love, and Love To Love You Baby...  I remember all the controversy when Love To Love You came out, that it was too "suggestive".  Which naturally caught the attention of my (then) 15 year old mind.  But I never heard the full album-side version until a few months ago, on youtube.

Donna Summer had 20 Top 40 hits, including 11 Top 5's between 1975 and 1980 (including 4 chart toppers).  Thus earning the title of Queen of Disco.  She was 63.

Plastered

Just a little slice of life, the back side of a plaster wall, at my daughter and son-in-law's house.  They were doing renovations (since finished) at the time I shot this (just over a year ago).

American Top 40, May 13, 1972

Topping the charts this week in 1972:

1.  The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face - Roberta Flack


2. I Gotcha - Joe Tex


3. Oh Girl Chi-Lites


4. I'll Take You There - Staple Singers


5. Rockin' Robin - Michael Jackson


6. Betcha By Golly Wow - Stylistics


7. Look What You Done For Me - Al Green


8. Day Dreaming - Aretha Franklin


9. Back Off Boogaloo - Ringo Starr


10. Horse With No Name -  America

 Hmmm.  Usually I consider 1972 to be a great year musically.  Certainly as reflected on my iPod playlists of Top-40 songs from each year.  But this week is not so outstanding.  Not bad, but....  not really memorable.

Meanwhile, It was a particularly hard week to pick only 5 favorites / notables from the Hot 100 this week, but NOT in the Top 10.  But here goes:

• Jump Into The Fire - Nilsson  (#37 )


• Someday Never Comes - Creedence Clearwater Revival  (#43)


• Old Man - Neil Young  (#47)


• Immigration Man - David Crosby & Graham Nash  (#73)


• Ain't Wastin' Time No More - Allman Brothers Band  (#77)

Praise for the singing, praise for the morning, Praise for the springing fresh from the world

From the archives:

Another sunrise from Lake Little Grassy.  Taken a couple years after the other recent post.  This trip was for a "visioning" meeting at our Church.  This was a part of a process that led to an expansion effort.  I believe this image was autumn of 2004.

The post title is from Cat Stevens' "Morning Has Broken", which peaked at #6 in 1972.

Morning has broken, like the first morning

Blackbird has spoken, like the first bird

Praise for the singing, praise for the morning

Praise for the springing fresh from the world

Sweet the rain's new fall, sunlit from heaven

Like the first dewfall on the first grass

Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden

Sprung in completeness where his feet pass

Mine is the sunlight, mine is the morning

Born of the one light, eden saw play

Praise with elation, praise every morning

God's recreation of the new day

Morning has broken, like the first morning

Blackbird has spoken, like the first bird

Praise for the singing, praise for the morning

Praise for the springing fresh from the world

Rock Me On The Water

from the archives:

This is a Water Inlet building for the St. Louis Waterworks.  This is located in the middle of the Mississippi River, about 9.5 miles upstream from downtown St. Louis.  This was taken from the Old Chain Of Rocks Bridge, which is now a hiking/biking site.  The building is from way back in 1894, and has survived many floods.  If I Recall Correctly, during the '93 flood, the water was close to (but not reaching) the walkway.  The river was about 20' above flood stage both St. Louis and Atlon (about 10 miles upstram)

I believe this was taken in the 2004, but maybe 2003. I had taken my son for a Saturday excursion, and we walked the length of the bridge (and back) from the Illinois side.  Pretty good hike for a preschooler, about 2 miles round trip.  Its a pretty interesting place,but we haven't been there in years.  Its a pretty desolate place, which I generally like.  But they were having some security problems, and had to close the parking lot on the Missouri side.  An unpleasant reminder of the location's rather unsavory hstory.

This is one of my more popular photos at Panoramio, with over 1,000 views. 

The title is from Jackson Browne's 1972 single, which only made it to #48 on the charts.

Faster Than The Speed Of Life...

From the archives

Way back in 1997, we had a new racetrack open in St.Louis:  Gateway International Raceway, in Madison, IL.  It was going to be BIG STUFF!  They would have CART racing, Nascar Truck Series and Nationwide Series....  And inevitably a future Sprint Cup race!!  Sadly, it didn't work out that way.  CART merged back with IRL, and then bigger and better tacks opened in Chicago and Kansas City and nabbed filled NASCAR's appetite for top series venues in the midwest.  Gateway failed to thrive, and finally closed in November of 2010.

Anyway, the first event at Gateway was a CART series race held on May 24, 1997.  The day before the Indy 500 (somebody actually thought that was a good idea).  Regardless, I was there, and had a great time.  Even though I'm not a huge fan of open-wheel racing.  I also went to the CART race in 1998.  We went to the Nationwide race in 2008, and both Nascar events in 2009.  This is from the 1997 race, the #24 of Hiro Matsushita headed out after a green flag pit stop.  Matsushita finished in 15th place that day. 

 

The post tile is borrowed from a Steppenwolf song from their 2nd album.

Well the pistons keep on churnin' And the wheels go 'round and 'round And the steel rails are cold and hard For the miles that they go down...

From the archives.

Tweetsie Railroad, near Boone, NC.   Another from the film days.  As noted at Wikipedia:  Tweetsie Railroad is a family oriented railroad and Wild West theme park located between Boone and Blowing Rock, North Carolina. In addition to a 3-mile ride aboard an authentic steam locomotive, the park features amusement rides and other attractions geared towards families with children.

Tweetsie is one of those places that went to as a child, and then took my kids decades later.  I'm not sure exactly when this was, but it was before my son was born.  Probably '96 or '97.  Not as impressive as Disney, nor even 6 Flags.  Or even Holiday World for that matter.  But I enjoyed it just fine.

The title, of course, is from Long Train Running, which was the Doobie Brothers' first Top 10 hit (way back in 1973).

Dream on, on to the heart of the sunrise.....

From The Archives

Sunrise, from the Methodist Camp at Lake Little Grassy.  This is about 2 hours South-South-East of St. Louis area, near Carbondale.  When my daughters were younger, we'd go down here a couple of times a year, it was always fun.  I'd frequently wake early, wander the grounds, and enjoy the quiet at sunrise.  This particulalr morning, there was a slight fog lifting off the lake (rising from left to right) and a nice pink/purple cast.  All was calm, and everything seemed "right" with the world.

I think this captures the spirit of the moment.  It was taken with one of my point-n-shoot cameras.  My DSLR might've done better, but Ektachrome would've been best.  But I haven't shot slides in probably 30 years.

The title is from Heart Of The Sunrise, by Yes (from the album Fragile)

May Be The Last Time, I Don't Know

From the archives

I got "into"photography back in High School, around 1975.  Regular readers have seen a few images from those early days (here, here) .  Even after college, I continued to do some interesting stuff (here, here).  But when we moved to Illinois (in 1989), it seemed to fade away.  I took mostly "snapshots", and not many of those.  Then in early 1996, I started getting the itch, and dusted off the SLR.  This is one of the early images from that time.  Maybe not the best image, but I like it.

During most of the '90s, I commuted to Highland Illinois.  About 16 miles each way, most of it interstate.  This billboard was about 1/3 of the way to work.  I liked the rhetorical question; when was the last time?    This billboard sat pretty far off the highway, too far for a reasonable photo.  So one weekend, I explored along the backroads until I was able to get closer.  But I didn't want to go into the newly planted cornfield to get a straight on view.

The Billboard was for a nice little restaurant on the east side of Highland, which is still there.  Though the billboard is long gone.

The title is from the old Rolling Stones song.

Great Songs That Missed The Top 40 - 1971

How were these NOT hits??
Twenty of my favorite songs from 1971 that were released as singles (made the Hot 100), but failed to crack the Top 40:

Janis Joplin -Cry Baby  42

Stephen Stills -Marianne  42
Stephen Stills - Change Partners  43

Kinks - Apeman  45
Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Lucky Man  48
Chicago - I'm A Man   49

James Gang - Walk Away  51
Steppenwolf - Ride With Me  52
Jimi Hendrix - Freedom  59

Steppenwolf - Snow Blind Friend  60
Tommy James & The Shondells-Church Street Soul Revival  62
Grateful Dead - Truckin'  64
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - Some Of Shelly's Blues  64
Poco - C'mon  69

Band - Life Is A Carnival  72
Jethro - Tull Hymn 91
Allman Brothers Band - Revival (Love Is Everywhere)  92
Joni Mitchell - Carey  93
Neil Young - When You Dance You Can Really Love  93
Quicksilver Messenger Service - What About Me  100



I (of course) made a playlist.  It actually includes 38 songs, but I decided to limit this post to 20.

You're My Favorite Waste Of Time....

One of the places where I post photos is Panoramio.  A fun site, and (important to me) free.

Anyway, after looking at what's popular on this blog, I decided to look at what's popular there.  I decided to rank based on a combination photos that have received votes as "Favorite" or "Like", along with views per day.  (Ah the joys of spreadsheets).

So, the top 5:

Old Barn On The Palouse, Spangle, Washington

Water Intake, Mississippi River, St. Louis

View from McAdams Peak, Pere Marquette

Walking Trail, Silver Lake Park, Highland, IL

Sunset on the Prairie, Edwardsville, IL

The post title is reference to the song by Marshall Crenshaw

How Soon We Forget

from the archives:

I remember something about most every photo I've taken.  When it was, where it was, what I was trying to accomplish....  something interesting.  Especially photos I've liked enough to post on the blog.

When I looked at this one in the archives, its story popped right up in my head.  So I started writing a blurb for the blog.  But as I went along, I became less and less sure about it.  And now I've convinced myself that I don't really know.

I thought it was an image taken during a business trip to Texas using a "one-shot" camera, as part of a challenge from a yahoo group I used to belong to.  But it may have bene taken with one of my early digital cameras, on a different business trip to Texas.  It is quite possible it isn't even from Texas.  But I think it is....

Granted, this one doesn't have any strong thematic clues, but still...  ticks me off.  I'm sure it'll come to me.  Maybe.

The title is from the post-crash version of Lynyrd Skynyrd.  From the album Twenty.

I Just Want To Be Popular..........

So, blogger recently updated their system, which has provided some cool data logging features.  Like View Count per post.  So, ever the engineer, I had to see what my most popular posts have been over the past 6 months.  I know you're all eager to know, so here you go:

1. Great Songs That Missed The Top 40 - 1978
2. Record Review: The Neil Diamond Collection – Neil Diamond
3. Ralph Eugene Meatyard
4. Just What I Needed
5. Great Songs That Missed The Top 40 - 1972
6. From The Archives - Columbine
7. A Music Story - Uncurl
8. A Concert Story – “NO” Eagles
9. Great Songs That Missed The Top 40 - 1976
10. I Am... I Said

 

Looks like I should revisit the "Great Songs That Missed" series.  I've made 3 posts, and all of them are popular.......

The photo is from Beale Street in Memphis, taken maybe 10 years ago.  "Elvis Presley's Memphis" restaurant.  Apparently it is gone, guess it wasn't sufficiently popular...  And it's back!

  Naturally, the post title refers to a song:  Pete Townshend's demo version of Cache, Cahce, from the album Scoop.

That Big Rockin' Chair Won't Go Nowhere

From the archives:

During my latter college years (1981 / 1982), I did some photojournalism for the school newspaper.  As I recall, I only did it for a a few months.  I remember my editor always wanted me to take a picture of a dog chasing a frisbee.  And I always refused. I didn't much like taking direction, but it allowed me access to a real darkroom, instaed of setting up in my apratment's only bathroom.  I'm sure my room mate appreciated the effort.

Meanwhile, the image above was not shot for the paper.  It was taken during a shoot for the paper.  I was sent to Duke Homestead to capture the essence of a tobacco spitting contest.  That's a challenging assignment.  I don't remember the final inmage for that one, but I managed to turm the excursion into a fruitful phototrip. I still have several prints from that outing (all printed 5x7).  This one has been a favorite for years.  Taken inside the historic house, with natural light, hand-held using a chair to brace the camera.

I recently found the negatives from that day (including the spitting shots).  Wish I had access to a darkroom....

This photo has been posted several times before.  Oh, and the title?  From the song by the Band