Outlaw Country Meets 40s on 4 on the Satellite Radio

So I've had satellite radio now for maybe four years, and I couldn't be happier with it.  Truth is, I do spend the majority of my time on the Outlaw Country station (Waylon, Willie, Johnny, Kris, various Hanks, Merle, etc.), but I do like to change it up on occasion, and so yesterday I spent the day over at 40s on 4, which is dedicated to songs that, as you might have guessed, are predominately from the 40s (though they spill over into the 50s from time to time) - big band and vocalist stuff including Xavier Cugat, Les Brown, Bing Crosby, Nelson Riddle, Louis Prima, Andrews Sisters, Dean Martin and like that.  I love listening to this music because I simply like the way it sounds (though there is a fair amount of, let's call it "cheese" that pops up, stuff that hasn't aged as well as it could have), but I also love it because I imagine my father listening to it in the 40s as he was going about his life in Los Angeles (he was born in 1907), and it makes me happy to share that with him, albeit way, way after the fact, and him long gone now.

Anyway, because this is how things work, I heard at least three songs during the course of the day on 40s on 4 that I would also be likely to hear on my Outlaw Country station (though recorded by different artists and far more recently, of course - Asleep At The Wheel for sure and perhaps Wayne Hancock responsible for the updates) - Jump, Jive and Wail; Saturday Night Fish Fry; and, I think, Miles and Miles of Texas.  Ah, the point when Outlaw Country via its Texas Swing component sets down for a spell with 40s on 4 and its Big Band Swing component.  I love understanding the through line, I surely do...


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"We Love Our Customers"

An original IBL photograph taken November 8th, 2013, Little Red Hen, Green Lake, Seattle.

"Speedball Tucker", Jim Croce

Last night I heard Operator by Jim Croce over at the Little Red Hen in Green Lake, Seattle, and was reminded for the millionth time what a huge musical loss it was when his plane went down in 1973 (I remember it all too well, he and Roberto Clemente were the two first big losses of my childhood; how the radio kept playing Croce's I Got A Name afterward and how incredibly sad it made me, and how I would think, "He can't be dead, that's him right there." (I was ten.)).  Then, today, on the Outlaw Country station I heard this song, and I honestly can't say that I remember hearing it before.  A possible function of the aging process, perhaps, or maybe I really just missed it.  Anyway, in case you missed it, or your aging process precludes you from remembering -

Speedball Tucker by Jim Croce...

"Non-stop back to Dallas, popping them west coast turnarounds..."

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"SE Corner of Ballard Ave. and 20th Ave. NW, Seattle, WA"

An original IBL photograph taken November 2nd, 2013, Ballard, Seattle.

"Cross"

An original IBL photograph taken October 27th, 2013, Little Red Hen, Green Lake, Seattle.

Homer and Jethro?

They simply do not work for me...

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A Body Gets Busy, Then a Body Gets Tired

So, at the end of the day, when a body's energy flags, the blog suddenly looks like a Goddamn mountain, I'm not going to kid you.  Moving forward I shall attempt to perceive said hallowed IBL ground as simply a hill.  We'll see how that works.

Onward,

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