Filed under: americana, i was born in the wrong decade, music, townes van zandt
on march 7, 1944, townes van zandt was born, & the world became one poet richer.
that is all.
“…from now on let’s try to be careful when we’re around people i know. you won’t sketch them and i won’t mace them. we’ll just try to relax and get drunk.”
“right,” he said. “we’ll go native.”
– h.s.t., “the kentucky derby is decadent and depraved” (1970)
above: self-portrait in the white whale, las vegas, 1970.
Filed under: americana, bob dylan, i was born in the wrong decade, music, new england, the band
trail map of the rolling thunder revue, new england, fall 1975.
dylan in plymouth during the tour.
johnny cash’s to do list, because i also write myself notes not to write notes (and to read the notes i already wrote). i like that “worry” is on there… my own to do list is getting longer by the second.
Filed under: americana, i'm serious, music, politics, quote of the day, woody guthrie
above is wild bill hickok’s original grave in (near?) deadwood, south dakota. i first learned of him from watching the show deadwood – they did a really accurate job portraying his original burial place. i can’t read it all, but it’s clear that the tombstone mentions both his killer, jack mccall, and “colorado” charlie utter, his good friend.
when hickok was shot during a poker game, he was holding four black cards- a pair of aces and a pair of 8’s. there’s some dispute over what the fifth card was or if he even had a fifth card at the moment. the phrase “dead man’s hand” had existed previously, but afterwards it came to describe the hand that wild bill last held.
“in 1949, don haynes, a 39-year-old truck driver, made a bet that he would spend the next 14 months traveling to each of the 48 states while welded inside his car. the car came equipped with a chemical toilet and phone (and, someone suggested, removable floorboards so he could occasionally sneak out).”
haynes visited 41 states and covered 111,000 of the planned 140,000 miles when his car broke down in winnemucca, nevada, just three weeks short of completing his trip.
“later, he would embark on a quest to collect pajamas from the governor of each state, though he stopped after collecting 41 states’ worth. haynes would return to the car throughout the 50’s and 60s’- in the late 50’s he and wife shut themselves in and traveled the country billing themselves as “the nomads”- but what became of the ‘seaman of the sealed car’ after that is a mystery.”
via square america. more info here.
i don't like fun 