Author: Dick

When it comes to musical preferences I will, often times, let an entire genre alone for various periods of time. That is not to say I don’t listen to songs of a certain genre. It’s just I don’t pay close attention to the body of work as a whole or give a lot of thought to it for awhile. A case in point is country rock.

It may have seen to some folks at certain points in time that country rock was an oxymoron. But it really wasn’t if you go back and look at the heyday of rockabilly which was stuffed with the likes of Elvis, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash.

But country rock as we know it today probably owes much of its popularity to Gram Parsons, the enigmatic performer whose work included stints with The Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers.

Parsons died Sept. 19, 1973, at age 26, of a drug overdose. Yet his legendary status in the music scene — among which was being Emmylou Harris’ mentor and influencing the Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards — was overshadowed by the near mythic story of what happened to Parsons after his death. I refer to the theft of his body by friends who took Parsons to Joshua Tree, Calif., and cremated him. His friends stole the body at Los Angeles International Airport as it was being readied for shipment to Louisiana for burial. His friends insisted that Gram wanted Joshua Tree as his final place of rest.

Flipping channels on the “jumbotron” the other day, I came across the musical tribute to Parsons in “Return to Sin City” on INHD. Lo and behold there was Jay Farrar of Son Volt and Uncle Tupelo fame singing a soulful version of the biting anti-war “Drug Store Truck Driving Man,” written by Parsons and The Byrds’ Roger McGuinn:

“Well, he don’t like the young folks I know
He told me one night on his radio show
He’s got him a medal he won in the War
It weighs five-hundred pounds and it sleeps on his floor …

“He’s a drug store truck drivin’ man
He’s the head of the Ku Klux Klan
When summer rolls around
He’ll be lucky if he’s not in town.”

Listening to old Gram Parsons tunes got me in touch with my inner Byrds, such as the light but cosmic McGuinn piece “Mr. Spaceman:”

“Woke up this morning with light in my eyes
And then realized it was still dark outside
It was a light coming down from the sky
I don’t know who or why
Must be those strangers that come every night
Those saucer shaped lights put people uptight
Leave blue green footprints that glow in the dark
I hope they get home all right …

“Woke up this morning, I was feeling quite weird
Had flies in my beard, my toothpaste was smeared
Over my window, they’d written my name
Said, so long, we’ll see you again
Hey, Mr. Spaceman
Won’t you please take me along
I won’t do anything wrong
Hey, Mr. Spaceman
Won’t you please take me along for a ride.”

From there on came Emmylou, the Eagles, Rodney Crowell, Cracker, Lucinda Williams and who knows who all in the genre of country rock. It’s sometimes nice to think of how we got from Point A to Point B, especially when something worthwhile is waiting at the terminus.

Arrr, it’s Talk Like A Pirate Day. It is the day I usually never remember until it is days, weeks or months too late.

Once I did remember that September 19 was Talk Like A Pirate Day. I had to fly to El Paso on business and I had harbored thoughts about wearing a pirate’s hat and an eye patch. However, thinking about it was all I did because people don’t seem to have much of a sense of humor when it comes to flying these days. I probably would have been strip searched (ostensibly so the TSA could look at my peg leg, arrr!)

Anyway, if you see someone talking like a pirate today, greet him or her with a robust “ahoy.” Or, at least tell that person to have a nice pirate day.

The Beaumont Enterprise reports Willie Nelson and company got busted for pot and magic mushrooms on I-10 near Lafayette, La. Among those cited and released after their arrest with the 73-year-old Outlaw King was his 75-year-old sister and piano player Bobbie Nelson. Isn’t that just like those young whipper-snappers!

Mad props to Anousheh Ansari from nearby (to me at least) Plano, Texas, for her reportedly $20 million vacation trip to the International Space Station. The 40-year-old Texas entrepreneur may be checking things out where you are as we speak.

Ansari, whose family created the Ansari X-Prize for private space flight, blasted off in a Soyuz spacecraft last night from Kazakhstan. Just going to Kazakhstan would be an adventure for me. Why hell, just pronouncing Kazakhstan correctly would for me be a major accomplishment.

Ansari won’t stay at the Space Station but will instead zip back to Earth with the astro-cosmo-nauts who are returning from their tour of duty in the ISS.

EFD wishes Ansari a safe trip and just a tip: Don’t drink the water. I don’t know that the water is bad up there, but that’s what you tell someone when they go on an exotic trip. Unfortunately, there may be no beer up there in the ISS to drink instead of water, which is what you drink when you shouldn’t drink the water. Maybe she should just ask for a nice glass of Tang.

It has been awhile since I looked at any of Joel Veitch’s wacky world via his hilarious and clever Web site rathergood.com. I received his latest and “13th ever” newsletter from rathergood.com and his band 7 Seconds of Love. There I found he has a few new pieces of hilarity including his Quiznos “We Love the Subs” ad as well as his video “Let’s Get Wasted.” The latter was made, says Veitch, after a friend told Luxus Lager that if they would give them “hundreds of beers” they would film themselves drinking those brews.

Veitch, an English “computer animator, animated commercials director and singer/songwriter,” has developed a cult following with rathergood.com since it came online in 2000. It was only last year that I first stumbled onto his work when I found the spellbinding “Independent Woman,” in which some Bohemian kitties get down to Elbow’s odd but catchy tune. The little calico on the xylophone is bitchin’ dude.

If you’ve never heard and seen Veitch’s creation, check them out, they’re out there.