[music, travel, books]
Nov. 16th, 2005 11:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wispfoxThe line in Ghost, by the Indigo Girls, which says "the Mississippi's mighty, but it starts in Minnesota at a place which you could walk across with five steps down" means I just added seeing the source of the Mississippi to the things I want to see, in my year of wandering.
Because of this, I'm wondering if there are any other places in the US that I should visit, based on lines from songs. Alternately, suggestions from books.
Anyone have any musical or literary suggestions for places to travel in the contiguous US?
Because of this, I'm wondering if there are any other places in the US that I should visit, based on lines from songs. Alternately, suggestions from books.
Anyone have any musical or literary suggestions for places to travel in the contiguous US?
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no subject
Date: 2005-11-16 04:31 pm (UTC)From the redwood forest (1996), to the Gulf Stream waters (2004)
...
I roamed and rambled, and I followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts (Painted Desert (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Painted_Desert%2C_Arizona): 1983ish)
And all around me a voice was sounding...
I've never been to visit the Mississippi -- any of it -- so it's on my list as well.
no subject
Date: 2005-11-16 07:14 pm (UTC)(and yay for suggestions!)
no subject
Date: 2005-11-16 07:26 pm (UTC)subversion
Date: 2005-11-16 11:26 pm (UTC)This land is your land,
This land is my land,
From California
To the New York Island,
From the redwood forest,
To the Gulf stream waters,
This land was made for you and me.
As I was walking,
That ribbon of highway,
I saw above me
That endless skyway,
I saw below me
That golden valley.
This land was made for you and me.
I've roamed and rambled
And I've followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
And all around me a voice was sounding
This land was made for you and me
The sun comes shining
As I was strolling
The wheat fields waving
And the dust clouds rolling
The fog was lifting a voice come chanting
This land was made for you and me
As I was walkin'
I saw a sign there
And that sign said no trespassin'
But on the other side
It didn't say nothin!
Now that side was made for you and me!
In the squares of the city
In the shadow of the steeple
Near the relief office
I see my people
And some are grumblin'
And some are wonderin'
If this land's still made for you and me.
Nobody living can ever stop me
As I go walking
That freedom highway
Nobody living can make me turn back
This land was made for you and me
Re: subversion
Date: 2005-11-17 05:53 am (UTC)the smoke clouds blowing
The buildings burning
The towers falling.
But all around me,
our flag still flying, saying
This Land's still made by you and me.
Re: subversion
Date: 2005-11-17 02:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-21 08:52 pm (UTC)Of course, you'd need to go at the same time as someone you know who goes, and I have no idea when I'll go next (busy month, and I get less social in winter).
no subject
Date: 2005-11-21 11:02 pm (UTC)I'm fairly confident
no subject
Date: 2005-11-22 02:39 pm (UTC)The next one is Dec 2nd, and the one after that is the 16th. If either works, I can make a point to go. :)
And yes, you should both go! And you should bring your guitar, presuming willingness to play along with any songs you know (it often helps keep the singers together to have a guitar).
no subject
Date: 2005-11-27 12:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-28 03:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-16 04:31 pm (UTC)I'd always wondered that if you drove down the Atlanta Highway you'd see a faded sign by the side of the road that says Love Shack, baby...
Apart from that, I could probably show you all of the NJ locations in Bruce Springsteen's musical repetoire...
no subject
Date: 2005-11-16 04:53 pm (UTC)The Suwannee River (http://www.50states.com/songs/florida.htm). As you drive on I10 from Jacksonville to Tallahassee (or Tallahassee to Jacksonville), you'll see a sign just before the river that actually has a few measures of the music written out.
Tallahassee Lassie (http://www.rockabilly.nl/lyrics4/t0044.htm). Florida's capital city, where I lived for about ten years. The most interesting tourist attraction is the Capitol, and it's important to approach it from Apalachee Parkway. You'll drive around a bend in the road and suddenly, there it will be in all its majestic glory. There is a dome for the Senate and another for the House, and a 22-story tower between the two. The Capitol is commonly refered to as The Dick on the Hill. So is Jeb, though, so the two are occasionally confused.
Pensacola (http://www.stlyrics.com/songs/j/joanosborne2040/pensacola96771.html). It's right on the Gulf of Mexico, and the beach is absolutely breathtaking. Clear green water and miles of sand so white it looks like sugar. The beaches on the Gulf have spoiled the rest of the world's beaches for me because nothing measures up. You'll also find incredible seafood there, and there are loads of little historical things to see. I lived nearby for ten years and quite liked it.
As for places from books, Carl Hiaasen's books are all set in South Florida, and they are hilarious.
no subject
Date: 2005-11-16 04:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-16 05:30 pm (UTC)Angus on Scenic Avenue, near the Bay, is not horrifically expensive but if I remember correctly is on the higher end of moderate. The steaks are fantastic and so is the seafood.
Sam's Seafood is not expensive or fancy, but it is wonderful. The seafood is always fresh and it tastes heavenly. Sam is my friend's brother so I like to plug his restaurant when I can.
I've heard that Jackson's on Palafox is incredible. I haven't been there, but I've heard the seafood and steaks are really good and that the restaurant is impressive. If it's a business thing this might be a good choice.
Skolepos (http://www.skopelosrestaurant.com/) is also fantabulous. It's considered by many to be Pensacola's spiffiest. I absolutely loved it the few times I went.
As for things to do at night, it has been a gazillion years since I've been there so I don't have many suggestions. McGuire's Irish Pub is hugely popular. If you're going with a bunch of rowdy people you'll want to staple dollar bills to the wall, drink Irish Wakes, and kiss the moose. (http://www.mcguiresirishpub.com/) ()
no subject
Date: 2005-11-16 07:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-16 07:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-16 05:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-16 07:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-17 08:26 pm (UTC):D
no subject
Date: 2005-11-16 05:34 pm (UTC)To the hills of San Francisco
The spirit of the pioneers
The brightest and the best.
From the snowy slopes of Rainier
To the California Redwoods
It's the power and the glory
of the West.
So yes, see Sedona Arizona, and San Francisco, and Mt. Rainier, and the Redwoods. Throw in Yellowstone and Yosemite while you're out there.
no subject
Date: 2005-11-16 07:17 pm (UTC)(and noted)
no subject
Date: 2005-11-16 08:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-17 02:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-16 10:39 pm (UTC)I arrived at about 8 am on a Tuesday in February. I remember standing in the middle of the valley that contained nothing but me, my partner, trees, and some snow and water, and thought, "Okay. This wasn't overrated."
It really does deserve its reputation.
(I'll think about songs. I would have chosen "Ghost" first, too. That song really evoked a sense of place to me.)
no subject
Date: 2005-11-17 02:51 pm (UTC)Is this a thought for possibly my next visit to SF, or are you thinking further out, when I wander the country (which is when the question was originally thinking)?
no subject
Date: 2005-11-16 05:40 pm (UTC)Obligatory jaded ex-Floridian comment: Stephen Foster never set foot in Florida, and thus never actually saw the Suwannee. This amused the hell out of me, actually, especially the time some out-of-state guest performers at the Florida Folk Festival (which is held right by the banks of the river) started going on about communing with his spirit.
It is pretty there, though. I swam across the Suwannee and back, one year at the festival. I might go back, someday.
no subject
Date: 2005-11-16 07:19 pm (UTC)Better yet, show them and sing a snippet of the approrpiate song! ('cause I might not know)
no subject
Date: 2005-11-16 06:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-16 07:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-16 08:05 pm (UTC)Rolls along past houses, farms and fields:
Passin' graves that have no name, freight yards full of old black men,
And the graveyards of rusted automobiles.
Please come to Denver with the snowfall
We'll move up into the mountains so far that we can't be found
And throw "I love you" echoes down the canyon
And then lie awake at night till they come back around
Memories of East Texas
And piney green rolling hills
Covered in the springtime
With golden daffodils
Rowing on Sandy Lake come April
Harvesting hay in June
Sitting by the road watching well-fires burn
By an old October moon
no subject
Date: 2005-11-17 02:54 pm (UTC)What songs are the other two?
no subject
Date: 2005-11-19 05:01 am (UTC)Please come to Boston for the springtime
I'm stayin' here with some friends and they've got lotsa room
You can sell your paintings on the sidewalk
By a café here I hope to be workin' soon
Please come to Boston
She said "No, would you come home to me"
And she said, "Hey ramblin' boy now won't cha settle down
Boston ain't your kinda town
There ain't no gold and there ain't nobody like me
I'm the number one fan of the man from Tennessee"
Please come to Denver with the snowfall
We'll move up into the mountains so far that we can't be found
And throw "I love you" echoes down the canyon
And then lie awake at night till they come back around
Please come to Denver
She said "no, Boy, would you come home to me"
And she said, "Hey ramblin' boy why don't cha settle down
Denver ain't your kinda town
There ain't no gold and there ain't nobody like me
'Cause I'm the number one fan of the man from Tennessee"
Now this drifter's world goes 'round and 'round
And I doubt that it's ever gonna stop
But of all the dreams I've lost or found
And all that I ain't got
I still need to lean to
Somebody I can sing to
Please come to LA to live forever
California life alone is just too hard to build
I live in a house that looks out over the ocean
And there's some stars that fell from the sky
Livin' up on the hill
Please come to LA
She just said "no, Boy, won't you come home to me"
And she said, "hey ramblin' boy why don't cha settle down
LA can't be your kinda town
There ain't no gold and there ain't nobody like me
No, no, I'm the number one fan of the man from Tennessee"
"I'm the number one fan of the man from Tennessee"
****
It's one of those songs I've always turned up when I hear it on the radio, but never managed to catch (or remember) the artist to find a copy of my own. Results of Googling it just now say it is by David Loggins ( Kenny Loggins' second cousin ), his one and only hit.
On my one and only major road trip, I stopped in Hoople, North Dakota, for a picture of the "Welcome to Hoople" sign, because Peter Schickele (http://www.schickele.com/) is supposedly a professor at "The University of Southern North Dakota at Hoople." Though not nearly as widely known, Peter Schickele is to Classical music what Weird Al Yankovic is to Rock/Pop music. His "research" about PDQ Bach ( "the oddest of JS Bach's twenty-odd children" ) has been a Classical music "Spinal Tap" for over forty years now.
no subject
Date: 2005-11-16 08:40 pm (UTC)'Tis summer, the people are gay;
The corn top's ripe and the meadow's in the bloom,
While the birds make music all the day;
The young folks roll on the little cabin floor,
All merry, all happy, and bright,
By'n by hard times comes a-knocking at the door,
Then my old Kentucky home, good night!
Main problem is that its location is disputed.
no subject
Date: 2005-11-17 02:53 pm (UTC)