Ridin The Rails

While looking through the pictures from the post below, I was reminded of the scene from Ridin The Rails where Johnny Cash is sitting around a fire with some confederate soldiers singing "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down." I think it's a pretty safe bet to say that if I were a soldier during the Civil War and I was tired and hurt and I'd lost all my friends and family and had watched hundreds of people painfully die from the bullet that I had put in their heart, I'd have a big grin on my face if I heard that voice sing me that song. I mean, really, could you imagine sitting at a fire and looking through the flames to see that face? Cheer up dude that looks like Ernest.Watch the video and know what I'm talking about:Youtube: Johnny Cash - The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

Robyn O'Neil

A long year or so ago, on a bright day in New York City, I took a train to the Folk Art Museum to see the Henry Darger exhibit. His work was nice to look at in a "cool back story" kind of way, but the real eye poppers were the massive graphite drawings by Robyn O'Neil. The one above is a section of a piece named "As Ye the sinister / Creep and feign / Those once held / Become those now slain."More Robyn O'NeilMP3: Loudon Wainwright III - Glad To See You've Got Religion

Sir Brohoss

I was sitting on my porch last night when I got a text message from a dear friend who we all call Sir Brohoss. A month ago he left Boston and, after spending some time at his folks' place in Chicago, is now driving out to start a new life in San Francisco. Looks as though he made an amazing pit stop that resulted in an even more amazing text:"Tahoe. Dark star concert. Totally dank"MP3: Grateful Dead - It Must Have Been The Roses

Get Back To Where You Once Belonged

Last week was a real let down. God decided to test my pain threshold by giving me his/her special "Why haven't you called in 3 weeks???" concoction of viral meningitis. I was pretty convinced the little alien from Spaceballs was going to pop out of my head and start singing ragtime while I waited three hours in the ER for a doctor to come talk to me. It took almost five for them to give me the morphine that would ease the pain of my brain swelling. Luckily for me, there was no alien and my fever finally went down after a few days of hell. Special thanks to everyone who coached me along to a full recovery. A very special thanks to all those who had to help me urinate. Good times.MP3: Paul McCartney - Get On The Right ThingMP3: Phosphorescent - And The Swimming (Castanets Cover)MP3: Aretha Franklin - Precious Lord, Take My Hand/You've Got A FriendMP3: Entrance - Tommy Thumb's Summertime Blues MP3: Bob Dylan - Dirge (Thank You Music Warship)MP3: Castanets - This Is The Early Game (From Daytrotter)

Horse Girls Of The World

This weekend, while smelling mounds of lavender and staring at the Atlantic Ocean on the Northeast tip of Long Island, we got to talking about horseback riding and the secret life of a horse obsessed teenager. The life of a "horse girl" is full of horse books, horse camps, horse movies, and competition, but it mainly consists of constant horse daydreaming and overt attempts at making horses part of everything you do on a day to day basis.Well, horse girls of the world, your time has come. I'm SURE you've already done this and you're looking at me like I'm 100 years too late, but try it anyway. Turn off your Black Stallion DVD for just one minute and head on up to New York's Museum Of Natural History to check out the Horses exhibit and find out how nature's most majestic creatures shaped our world.MP3: Belle and Sebastian - Judy And The Dream Of Horses (From LADRI)

Fern Hill

Now as I was young and easy under the apple boughsAbout the lilting house and happy as the grass was green,The night above the dingle starry,Time let me hail and climbGolden in the heydays of his eyes,And honoured among wagons I was prince of the apple townsAnd once below a time I lordly had the trees and leavesTrail with daisies and barleyDown the rivers of the windfall light.And as I was green and carefree, famous among the barnsAbout the happy yard and singing as the farm was home,In the sun that is young once only,Time let me play and beGolden in the mercy of his means,And green and golden I was huntsman and herdsman, the calvesSang to my horn, the foxes on the hills barked clear and cold,And the sabbath rang slowlyIn the pebbles of the holy streams.Here for the rest of "Fern Hill" by Dylan ThomasHere for "Summer Abroad" by the stunning Edward Bostitch.

a dreamer of pictures

Now we’re big on nostalgia around here, and upon hearing a couple of weeks back that a hundred and eight year old company called Lionel Trains emerged from bankruptcy, we couldn’t help but feel okay, because really, there ain’t no memory like the memory of the first time you took control of a Santa Fe Super Chief on a basement train set.It also makes you feel okay to hear that Lionel Trains owners will remain with the company, because really, there ain’t no better name in model trains these days than Neil Young. And there ain’t no better story in model trains than the one about Neil’s bond with his handicapped son:

Neil Young’s Incredible Lionel Empire: 1993 article from Classic Toy Trains. "He accepted the challenges presented by Ben's condition and responded by developing a completely new method of toy train control, giving his son the chance to experience the joys of toy train operation"

Take a Ride on Neil Young's Trains: A 1997 story published not long after Neil purchased a 20% stake in Lionel.

Model Train Journal message board with text of May 5, 2008 Wall Street Journal story regarding the future of Lionel Trains.

Here’s hoping that many more fathers and sons find memories down the tracks of a Lionel.MP3: Neil Young - I am a Child [Live at Massey Hall 1971]..