2013 National Train Day

During my commute Thursday, I heard the host on Nashville's Lightning 100 radio say it was National Train Day. I've never heard of it, but with a day set aside for something as cool as trains I had to look into it once I got to the office.

TMC Great Grandfather standing between engine and tender

As it turns out, Thursday was not NTD. Today is - Saturday, May 11, 2013. My jaded mind believes most faux holidays were created by Hallmark or American Greeting simply as a cash grab and get guys in trouble with their significant others. But in this case, Amtrak of all folks started National Train Day in 2008.

Credit: TomSmith76.com

Based on the day's Wikipedia page, Amtrak established National Train Day to commemorate the anniversary of the driving of the golden spike that completed the transcontinental railroad. The pattern for NTD was established to fall on the Saturday closest to May 10. This year, therefore, NTD falls on May 11, 2013. By the way, if you aren't familiar with the story of the building of the transcontinental railroad AND you enjoy reading - immerse yourself into Stephen Ambrose's book Nothing Like It In The World. A fantastic read.

So what would National Train Day be without some quality train music, right? I'm not about to drag this post out to the n'th degree with a boocoodle of train songs. But I thought I'd include a six-pack to fire your boilers and drive your diesels today.

Credit: FoundItemClothing.com

Fresh off their award-winning performance at Couch By Couchwest in March this year, Uncle Leon and The Alibis are my lead-off track with the infectious Beer Train. (Or maybe I was supposed to remind folks you can catch an infection from them. Hmm.) Oh never mind. Just grab your favorite brand of suds, rally some friends, crank this number, (attempt to) designate lead and backup vocals, and Vine the results on Twitter.

TMC against the wall waiting for my train to come in

With Amtrak having established the train's most deserving day, its only appropriate to include a song named for Amtrak. Scott Miller simply cannot do anything but a rock-solid performance of the Amtrak Crescent - whether he is singing solo or with his band, The Commonwealth. (For the record, Scott also performed at Couch By Couchwest although not on a train like Uncle Leon.)


Sounds of Roger Miller in the house is one of my favorite childhood memories. Daddy had a Zenith fold-down turntable with fold-out speakers covered in avocado-green woven fabric. He played Miller's Golden Hits LP on most Saturdays.

 

My sister, brother and I enjoyed some of Roger's funny, bouncy songs at first: You Can't Roller Skate In A Buffalo Herd, Dang Me. But one of Daddy's favorites -  Engine Engine #9 - soon became one of mine along with many of his other underrated songs. My dad  was (and still is) a pretty stoic man. But when the stylus began the opening to this one, he'd sing along and keep a beat by tapping his pocket. You'd hear his change and keys jingle kind of like a tambourine.

Will Kimbrough - Another Train - Slide on a dobro guitar, harmonica, and a bluesy vibe from one of the most talented and versatile musicians and lyricists around. I believe Another Train from Will's album Americanitis seemed to fit this theme to a T.

The first train I recall riding - Fair Park, Nashville TN

Todd Snider's eulogy to his friend Skip Litz in Train Song from his album, East Nashville Skyline is truly an honest but haunting song. I'm pretty sure it was the first song I played a second time - and then a third and so on - after buying the CD.


After getting really introspective with Roger Miller and Todd Snider, how about I stoke the firebox and end this post with some just flat-out, greasy, Southern swamp rock courtesy of Blackfoot.


TMC

Mercy! Scott Miller burned up the Lounge

I know very little history about the state of Virginia. What I do know is the town of Staunton, Virginia has cranked out some great individuals including:

• My first true love as a teenager. Well, the romance only consisted of 5 days of a summer church camp, a handful of back-and-forth written letters, and a brief reunion six years later my senior year in college. But still...
• The Statler Brothers - my mother's all-time favorite country-gospel band
• Singer-songwriter Scott Miller (although those 2 adjectives seem too limited as a description for his talent)
  

Scott Miller & The Commonwealth has been one of the bands on my short-list of "must see" acts the last couple of years. Thursday night at Nashville's Mercy Lounge: Mission Accomplished.

I've only seen two or three shows at the Mercy Lounge. I'm not really sure why so few because they have a lot of great artists perform there. The club is above The Cannery Ballroom. I've only seen one show at The Cannery, and it was about 20 years ago: Guadalcanal Diary (What? Don't you remember Watussi Rodeo?) and Government Cheese (Vid: Camping on Acid).

The show's advertised start time was 9:00 PM with doors opening at 8:00. I've been to enough shows to know rarely do clubs/bands start at exactly the promised time. So I showed up right at 9:00 figuring I'd have time to grab a beer and seek out a place to land before the opener came on stage.

But uhh, where was that opener?

• If there was supposed to be an opener, they didn't show.
  
• Or maybe they were invisible.
  
• Or maybe it was a brief performance by a meek, introverted quartet whose repertoire consisted of only one song: Simon & Garfunkel's "Sounds of Silence".
  
• Or maybe they were "the only band who wouldn't play - not even a note - under any circumstances: Silence - Music's Original Alternative - Roots Grunge!" referred to in Todd Snider's song Talking Seattle Grunge Rock Blues.

So we sat there for over an hour waiting for Scott ... or someone ... to come on stage. At least the house music was top shelf with songs from artists such as Wilco, Drive By Truckers, The Jayhawks, Son Volt, and Lucinda Williams. But finally Scott and the boys came on stage.

The Nashville peeps let me down a bit. My impression was Miller had a pretty good following and the place would be loaded with fans. Instead, I'm guessing the room had only about 125 people - max. Following the opening song, Scott quipped "did y'all ride here in one car?"

He mentioned for the last month or so all of his gigs had been solo shows. This one was either the first show - or near it - of his playing again with The Commonwealth.

I settled in at my high-top with a tall boy brew and did my best to capture the night's set list. I can hold my own in blogging, tweeting, e-mailing, and texting. But all that stuff is done with my computer or limited functionality cell phone. I'm not a Blackberry or iPhone guy. So there I sat with my pen and paper to take notes - in the dark. My cell phone provided my only illumination as I scribbled short-hand mnemonics that I hoped would trigger recall when I typed this entry.

Scott's music is great stuff, and I have most of his CDs. But I'll admit I'm not as familiar with all of his song titles as I am with other bands. It took some research this morning to locate the titles, but I think this is pretty close to what was played. Knowing I'm going to miss a few titles, I'll try to make up for it with video links of some of the songs. They aren't from Nashville's show, but they should give you a good intro to his music - solo and with the band.

1. ?? OK, a swing and a miss right out of the on-deck circle - something about a TV screen, motion pictures, and "all you people who think you got it made" - But I think you'll see I recovered nicely.
   
2. I Made a Mess of This Town
3. Sin In Indiana (video) - This one from his most recent release For Crying Out Loud simply rawked.
   
4. Let You Down
   
5. Still People Are Moving
   
6. 8 Miles A Gallon
7. I'm Gonna Be Alert - I think that's what I heard as part of the lyrics. Ironic I suppose in that I wasn't alert enough to capture the actual title.
   
8. Feel So Fair To Midland (Instrumental) - I think...
9. Double Indemnity
   
10. Lie I Believe
    
11. Appalachian Refugee (video)- Simply a great song written about his late father-in-law's family returning for his funeral. As much as Sin In Indiana rocked, this one is a very touching ballad.
    
12. Freedom is a Stranger (video)
    
13. Hawks and Doves
14. Drunk All Around This Town (video)- Scott was prepared to play Jody. But his bassist was in the middle of a string replacement. So the rest of the plan quickly changed to this one. Much like Snider's "Beer Run" or Robert Earl Keen's "Merry Christmas from the Family", Miller can pretty much drop this one in anywhere in a setlist and get a rousing response from the audience.
    
15. Jody
16. Dear Sarah
17. Wildcat Whistle (video)- Another one from For Cryin' Out Loud. The music was great, but I kind of zoned out on the lyrics. Ya see, there was this dancing silhouette in front of me dark from my viewed but shadowed by the stage lighting. Stiletto boots with jeans so snug they looked like denim-colored Glidden body paint. Dancing like she had the DNA of James Brown coursing through her soul. I may forever remember this song as Wildcat Wolf Whistle. Ahh-OOOOO!! But I digress...
    
18. Lo Siento, Spanishburg, WV (video)
    
19. Claire Marie
20. GD The Sun
21. 1..2..3..4 - Something about dancing... lost on this one
    
22. For Jack Tymon (video)
    
23. Encore: Amtrak Cresent (video)
    
24. Encore: Spike (Tom Petty cover) (video)
    

Face it, every band these days does the obligatory encore. Once the band left the stage, there was collective clapping, whooping, and whistling. But its pretty tough for only 100 folks to clap and hoot in a loud and sustained manner enough to motivate a band to return to the stage. It didn't take long for the noise to die down. Yet, the boys in the band returned and even laughed about it. "Aww, y'all knew you weren't gonna get rid of us that easy."

Once the show ended and the tear down began, I asked the bass player if Scott normally returned to mingle with us commoners. He said absolutely and went backstage to tell him. Sure enough, he came out and was just super nice. He signed a CD for me, and we went to the bar for a final drink (last one for me anyway). I offered to buy him the round since he was the guest in our town . (How'd ya like that lyric?) But he insisted on buying mine instead, and he gave me a couple of minutes to talk music biz industry, major label vs. indie vs. self-owned, The V-Roys, and the Live Music Archive. I appreciated the time he gave me and the beer he bought me, shook his hand, and headed for the house.

A fun night.

TMC

Things to do, places to go and people to see

2010? Are you kidding me? Weren't we just talking about the start of 2009 recently? And the whole Y2K thing seems like it was just yesterday rather than 10 years ago. Yet it is indeed a new year - so Happy New Year to everyone.

Historically, I've never been one who's known as much of a goal-setter - much less someone who latches onto a set of New Year's resolutions. I kind of just take things a few days at a time without giving a whole lot of thought about what the long-term holds.

Yet, 2010 seems different. Maybe its because the round number '10' looms before me like some sort of milestone begging for action. For the near term - whether it be 2010 or a year or so later, I'd like to do the following:

Places to go:

• Washington DC...again. This one is easy. Booked. Family vacation in spring.
• Vancouver BC/Victoria. I don't want to travel there during Olympic time. But my 20th anniversary is in September, so its an idea that's popped in my head as of late.
• At least two NASCAR races...hopefully three. I really want to go to Martinsville. I'm in my mid 40s, have followed racing for 75% of those years, and still haven't had a Martinsville hot dog.
• A TBD trip with my daughter. We had such a big time in Chicago this fall so I may need to do a follow-up in 2010. St. Louis maybe?
• Toronto - Have never been there, but based on all I've read the city just seems like its one of those great world cities that begs visiting.
• Seattle and/or Portland - Home of great coffee and beer. Plus, one of my long-term goals is to visit each of the lower 48 states at least once in my life. I still need to hit both Washington and Oregon.
  

Singers/Bands to see live:

• John Prine - this one is a book-it. I have tickets to his Nashville show in March.
• The Tragically Hip - A great Canadian band I've listened to off and on for years yet one that doesn't tour down to my part of the US very often. So I guess their song It Can't Be Nashville Every Night is quite true.
  

• Scott Miller & The Commonwealth - plays Nashville fairly regularly. Just seems like every time he's been here, I've had something else on deck. That's got to change.
• Jeffrey Foucault - His original songwriting is strong enough on its own, but now would be a good time to see him in support of his release of Prine covers. (MP3: One Part Love)
  
• Slaid Cleaves - Pandora introduced me to his music - specifically Horseshoe Lounge. And now the more I listen to his songs, the more I'd enjoy the chance to see him live.
  

• Rush - I became a Rush geek in high school and stayed one until around age 30. I've followed them from a distance the last 15 years or so. I've got more bootlegs of their shows than any other artist (closing in on 350 shows). Yet I haven't seen them live since around 1984. Should they tour again, I've got to make it a priority to once again see Geddy, Alex, and Neil.
• Bob Walkenhorst & Jeff Porter - Bob was the frontman of the fantastic 1980s-1990s rockin' Americana band, The Rainmakers. These days, he and Jeff Porter have a standing Wednesday night gig in Kansas City, MO playing their more recent individual and collaborative writings and a healthy dose of Rainmakers revisits. But with a 2009 release, they're hoping to tour a bit outside their home turf. And I'm hoping a Nashville date hits their schedule.
  

• Todd Thibaud - With some initial dollars in his pocket by penning some songs for ESPN's college baseball world series, he was then able to branch out to record some full-length releases. I'm not sure Todd tours much. But he is from Boston, and I tend to visit there about every year or two. So, I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
  

• Tom Freund - Former member of The Silos, occasional touring musician with Ben Harper, solo singer/songwriter (MP3: North American Long Weekend)
  

Other

• Teach my soon-to-be-15-year-old to drive.
• Help my son earn his Boy Scout Eagle rank.
  
• Spend more time getting to know more of the 140 people in my department vs. limiting it to just my team as I've likely been guilty of in the past.
• Strengthen four key areas of my life - home, spiritual, professional, and physical.

TMC