Without any commitment to do so, I now have a route to Colorado, all paved four-lane roads through Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas & Oklahoma. It would be a seven day trip averaging 350 miles per day with flexible stops. The high points would include Palatka, Texarkana, and Wichita Falls. I love driving the prairies. While there is nothing to see, unlike Florida, that is the whole idea.More rain means I finally tackled “Ghost Riders In The Sky”, a tune I suppose everybody has covered at some point, except me. As I thought, most versions are inconsistent between the root minor (usually Am) and the third (usually C). Same goes for the 6th making tough to play by ear. Every instance I encountered has at least one instrument changing chords in the wrong place. I’ll wait and customize.
The new band contact has provided more songs on their list. I have not met these guys in person yet. They seem to play a lot of instrumentals, old Ventures, Dick Dale, etc. Er, I had to download and convert all the tunes myself as they don’t seem to have them on MP3. However, that means they are ever the more likely to play any tune that I can sing. During the search, I saw dozens of old album covers.
I remember that era because it went out before I came along and I found/find the artwork laughable. Four guys trying to look casual while wearing identical suits and ties. I’ve explained how back then being “mature” was identical with kissing older people’s butt. I was a radical, I wanted to know in advance what each older person had done. Even today I don’t automatically respect anyone, they have to earn it. Be careful here, what you get from me automatically is indifference, and that is not disrespect.
The same with music. In the early rock period, the music industry was controlled by “old people”. Elvis and other stars performed music composed by those who had fixed ideas about what teens should listen to. And a lot of it was total crap: “Mack The Knife”, “Purple People Eater”, “Rockin’ Robin”. No wonder the Beatles made such a splash. Nor did the next decade escape the rot: “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head”, “Spinning Wheel”, “Snowbird”. But those suits and ties still get me rollin’.
Where’s Wallace? If he was around, I’d have seen him by now. He hangs out at all the so-so places which I regularly bicycle past. I haven’t seen that Malibu he got taken so badly on. He’s lucky to be gone, for I had planned to teach him a lesson. When he promised we would share the old place, I forgot he was Canadian. Keep all promises short-term. A Canadian rarely understands that a promise is meant to be kept even if doing so proves less than convenient down the line.
On the way home I biked past. There is trash lying on the inside floor as if the place was broken into. Nothing of value was visible from the windows. That’s funny, because according to Wallace, renting the place out for a fortune involved nothing more than going to Panera and bringing home the big shots.
Here’s a Quasar, it has 850cc and I would buy one in an instant if they were still made. A British design, the factory folded after only 22 were produced. They were described as very high quality. Riders say it handles differently than a motorcycle. But the unit was easily capable of 100 mph all day long. And it looks stealthy.Price-wise in today's money you are looking at $43,200.00 USD. (Five thousand pounds Stirling in 1976, or about the price of a small car.)
