More Weird Stuff From 1979

There's a story that goes with this... I'll share it later.

But, for now, enjoy this splash of out-of-time weirdness from Ron Wood's 1979 solo album Gimme Some Neck, a then-unreleased Bob Dylan song.

Cars

The girl at the convenience store checked IDs.

She couldn't have been more than 17.

A song came on the radio. She didn't know it. But she liked it.

"It's old, huh?" she asked.

I turned around. There wasn't anyone else in the store. So I guess she was talking to me.

"Yeah. It's old enough to be your Dad."

Years earlier, I would have been buying candy bars. Or the 99-cent fudge brownies.

But it was hot. And I was thirsty.

So I was buying water.

Nice cold water.

Thinking about how a song could be 35 years old. Not just old enough to buy beer, but old enough not to get carded.

By the 16-year-old clerk. Who knew enough to know it was old.

Old enough to be her dad.

Good Morning Wherever

Worry About it Later

She came from a place we'd heard of. A place none of us had ever seen.

But the sounds from that place echoed up and down the hallways.

And if she didn't tell us much, we filled in the details around everything she had told us.

And we imagined.

And we dreamed.

And she smiled.

Because that's who she was. And she didn't want to be unfriendly.

Years later, she was back there. We were not.

We weren't cool enough. Or she was always too cool.

Or something.

But when the wind would blow in the summers, blowing cool off the water after warm days...

That's when we all would turn east.

And remember.

And maybe wonder. If she ever turned west. From five (or sometimes six) hours in the future... and looked back on us.

Colorado State Policeman Trooper Cat

Because It's Uphill

Loveland pass has an elevation of 11,991 feet above Sea Level.

Denver, Colorado, about 60 miles away, is about 5600 feet above Sea Level.

That's an average grade of 2% for 60 miles, although the road at its steepest point is about a 15% grade.

So, no matter how you slice it, no matter how badly you're fleeing from a drug-deal-gone-bad, making it to Loveland pass in under half an hour is quite the accomplishment.

Happy 68th birthday, sorry it's a few days late...

Go Here, Read This, Listen to That

Three things about one thing.

Whiteray on a tragic anniversary in Ohio.


Dorian Lynskey from the Guardian on the same event (and the same song).

They Had To Use A Special Computer As My Replacement

I never thought that words like "product" could ever leave my lips...

There's a road that leads out of town.

It's not paved.

Every spring it washes away. When the snow melts.

But you can find it in the summers. Never crowded. But always traveled.

It avoids the highway. Goes the long way around the hills.

It's not the kind of place they put on the website. Or in the brochures at the tourism council.

It's a road that's windy. Mostly ignored.

In the winter, it's covered in snow. And ice. And memories.

It might have had a name once. Might have appeared on maps.

But not now. Now, it's something you have to know about. You have to seek out.

But it will take you out of town. All the way out of town.

Just make sure that's where you want to go.

And Then There's This

Which I'd love if Elvis didn't look quite so old.

And it didn't have Elmo in it.

But it's still almost too cute for words.