Waiting in Secondary Inspection

Part 1 Of A Series Of 6

Highway 101 Crossing The Border:

America: A Band and An Album

America: An Anthem

America: A Tale Of Two Alternative Anthems   

America: Another Alternative Anthem and a Disneyland Attraction

Show Me Some Identification

Waiting in Secondary Inspection

Amazon Store

Not an Easy Job

Hello and welcome back to Old Highway Notes. In our last post we found ourselves detained at the US Border while some confusion involving our identification was sorted out. As our last post ended we were left waiting for the US Border Patrol to review our identification so that we could re-enter the country, we were hoping there would be no further delays, While I waited, I fumed just a little that I couldn't just walk into my own country without being subject to inspection. In my frustration a little punk rock music ran through my mind to vent about the situation.

The first song is maybe not punk, but what to you call the Violent Femmes? Alternative? Alt-Folk? Pop? Post-Punk? Anyway, when I think about the phrase "The Land of The Free" and yet I have to submit to questioning (even though I understand WHY I have to) the song "America Is" comes to mind. Its main line "America is the home of the hypocrite" seems to apply to situations like these, Well, if I am going to wallow in the failure of the American Dream, which is what the Violent Femmes are talking about, then I may as well continue with "American Waste" by Black Flag. It's chorus "I see my place in American waste, faced with choices I can't take" raged against the machine, before Henry Rollins sang for them and then became a beefed up MTV star. Speaking of MTV stars, Green Day's "American Idiot" seems like a good way to wrap up this little burst of un-American thinking. Maybe what I should do is get my focus back on music and away from politics. So lets continue our despair fest for just a few moments longer. As I look over towards the glass office doors, I think I see the patrolman headed this way.

• America Is     Add It Up (1981-1993)     Violent Femmes     2:10
• American Waste  The First Four Years    Black Flag     1:33
• American Idiot   American Idiot    Green Day     2:56

As I take a deep breath, I see the badge gleaming in the sun and a smile on the face of the officer. "Your identification is quite complete. You are free to go. See the USA in your Chevrolet."  Happy to do so, I hop back into the car and  to cheer me up and to celebrate my freedom, we'll cap the mini-set up with the studio version of the Grateful Dead's U.S. Blues, from their album "From The Mars Hotel".

• See The U.S.A. In Your Chevrolet  The Commercials Vol. 1     Dinah Shore     0:56
•  U.S. Blues From The Mars Hotel Grateful Dead     4:42 

We start to motor North, we are on the oldest most southerly part of old Highway 101. It began at the border in San Ysidro. These days San Ysidro is best known for its parking lots for people crossing the border on foot and for its Mexican Auto insurance dealers. They operate small store fronts to offer the protection of legal in Mexico auto insurance for those who are driving into the country. It is the end of the line for the San Diego Tijuana Trolley train.

San Ysidro Massacre Memorial Site

San Ysidro is perhaps best known in recent history for being the site of largest mass murder in United States history where the murderer did not commit suicide. In 1984, an unemployed former welder James Huberty entered the McDonalds in San Ysidro with 3 guns and he began shooting. Before the police snipers would kill him about an hour later, 21 people were killed in the McDonalds in San Ysidro. Nineteen more were seriously injured. In the wake of the tragedy McDonalds donated the land to the city for a memorial park and rebuilt at a new location. This video recounts the events of that day:

Long before San Ysidro was in the news as the site of a horrific crime, it was a place of optimism. In the years 1907-1916 it was settled by a group of people known as the Little Landers. This was a group of people with a philosophy that would appeal to today's modern urban farmers. Their goal was for each family in the community to live a sustainable life on an acre of land. With the Tijuana River providing a reliable source of water, and the San Diego areas famously mild weather, productive farming seemed an easy proposition. 

They were a quasi-communal group opposed to hierarchy. Each man was given an equal vote and the city was run by a town council voted in by the citizens. Citizens agreed to particpate as a co-op with all profits being directed back into the community. Streetcar access meant that Little Landers were regular vendors at the San Diego farmers market. They enjoyed that they could take in cultural activities that the city of San Diego offered while still living a homestead rural existence. By 1912 the colony had attracted over a hundred families. Known as one of the first communes, there were attempts made in a few other spots in California to build Little Lander communities. None of them would prove to be successful.

Due to a variety of factors. most notable flooding of the Tijuana river in 1916, but also farming skills that were inadequate to provide the yields necessary to be sustainable, and failure to meet tax obligations in 1917, left the community virtually dissolved by 1918. From the remnants of that community the modern city of San Ysidro evolved to serve the needs of border crossers.


Speaking of border crossers, that would be us. We have been waiting to get across the border for what seems like months. At this point it would probably be a good idea to get some gas in the tank and some coffee into your humble narrator. After a quick stop at the gas station we pull into the Denny's parking lot. Its time for some Coffee and Cigarettes (old Highway 101 existed well before cigarettes were banned in diners), with versions by both by Otis Redding and by Buddy Miles Express. While we are here lets make that a sandwich with some American Pie. If you watch the video (sandwiched between versions of  Coffee and Cigarette, get it?) you will notice that the pie here is apparently served with cheese-as in one cheesy video.

Cheers! It's good to be back in the States.

• Cigarettes and Coffee     Thank You For Smoking     Otis Redding     3:53    
• American Pie    American Pie: The Best Of Don McLean    Don McLean     8:36
• Cigarettes &Coffee     Be A Buddy-A Buddy Miles Anthology     Buddy Miles Express 8:29

)

Thanks for joining us this week. Make sure and visit us again next weekend as we return to Interstate 95 and the City of Miami. Then in two weeks as we return to Route 66 in Chicago and a look at pre-electric blues music. Three short weeks from now we return to San Ysidro and continue north on the old pre-interstate Highway 101. Hope to see you all then.

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Show Me Some Identification

Part 1 Of A Series Of 6

Highway 101 Crossing The Border:
America: A Band and An Album
America: An Anthem
America: A Tale Of Two Alternative Anthems 
America: Another Alternative Anthem and a Disneyland Attraction
Show Me Some Identification
Waiting in Secondary Inspection

Amazon Store

Hello and welcome back to Old Highway Notes. We have finally reached the border so that we can leave Tijuana Mexico and Return to the USA and old Highway 101 in San Diego County. As we pull up to the small shack a border patrol agent steps outside to greet us.

(Flickr user Emilio Labrador/CC)

With that, Lee Greenwood's ode to Americanism, "God Bless The USA" with its line "I'm proud to be an American/Where at least I know I'm free" becomes the first addition to this weeks playlist. (As always, click on the text for Amazon download links, the iTunes button before the text will take you to the iTunes store for the track.)

"Hello," he says, "What is your citizenship?"

"I'm proud to be an American." I reply.

•  God Bless The U.S.A.     A Celebration of Great American Favorites  Lee Greenwood     3:14

We follow up with Roger McGuinn's "America For Me" From The Folk Den. This is a free download from his site that features a whole lot of other free folk music downloads. He released this song onto his blog shortly after 9/11 as tribute although it didn't get the same amount of play as the "God Bless The USA". Etither way I hope this will speed us past the Border Patrol agent and down the road.

• America For Me     The Folk Den     Roger McGuinn     4:19

The man in the uniform doesn't look impressed. "What was the purpose of your visit to Mexico?" The Border Patrol agent  asks us.
"Tourism. We came to explore Tijuana Mexico in a virtual journey of music and history."

"Do you have any identification?" he asks.

"Well, when this blog was started it went by the name of the Great Historical Bum, until I found a popular Bob Dylan Site was using the same name, but I still have my old ID."

The next track to be added to our playlist is Woody Guthrie's "Biggest Thing Man Has Ever Done" which starts with the line, "I'm just a lonesome traveler, the great historical bum/Highly educated out of history I come." My first version of the Guthrie classic was recorded less than a mile from where I now live in Portland Oregon.  Woody was working on narrating a documentary to promote the dams being built by the WPA on the Columbia River. The documentary was never completed but several of his well known songs were written during this period such as "Roll On Columbia", "Grand Coolie Dam" and this song. The song screams America and celebrates its victories, the INS will have to let me back home into the US when they hear this.

Hey, at least I wasn't looking like this guy...

• The Biggest Thing That Man Has Ever Done     Columbia River Collection     Woody Guthrie     2:21

We follow that up with Tom Paxton's live and faithful cover that he performed at "The Concert for Woody" that was held shortly after Woody Guthrie died in 1967 from Huntingtons Disease.

•  Biggest Thing Man Has Ever Done (Historical Bum)     A Tribute To Woody Guthrie  Tom Paxton     1:51

"Uh-huh. Do you have any other form of identification?'

"I want to go back into the USA so I can keep  traveling. Someday I hope to say 'I've been every where.' will that song be valid identification?"

And by now I am sure you can see where this little exchange is taking us. I break out what I thought to be the original version of  the song. "I've Been Everywhere" from Hank Snow in 1962. I follow it up with a variation by Chip Dockery that was apparently popular with soldiers serving in the Vietnam War. I have a nice version from Asleep At The Wheel's first album, 1975's Texas Gold. Then the coup de grace, the version everyone I know seems to think of when this song is mentioned, Johnny Cash.

This is where it gets interesting, Cash's version seems to be the iconic one, yet all my research shows that he did not release his version until 1996. So it must have been the Hank Snow version we remember prior to that. Cash did perform the song on his 1969 TV series  as a duet with Lynn Anderson, who was having some success with the song at the time, perhaps there is some lingering memory involved. I don't have the duet in my collection, so it won't make the list, but I did find the YouTube video so I am embedding that for you. Now back to our story...

• I've Been Everywhere    RCA Country Legends: Hank Snow    Hank Snow    2:48
• I've Been Everywhere    Next Stop Is Vietnam    Chip Dockery & Dick Jonas    1:58
• I've Been Everywhere   Texas Gold/Comin' Right At Ya    Asleep at the Wheel    2:47
• I've Been Everywhere (Album Version)    The Legend Of Johnny Cash    Johnny Cash    3:16

At this point the Border patrol agent sneers at me just a little and says, "Sir, I would like you do move your vehicle into the lot to your right for a secondary inspection." Now, I really don't have anything to worry about. I mean sure, we partied at some rock clubs, and saw some Banditos and political musicians, but nothing illegal.  And we are good Americans, but I still get nervous in situations like these.

As we pull into the inspection parking lot, another agent approaches us. "Do you know why you were detained?" he asks.

"I have no idea" , we reply. "Well, smart guy, for someone who uses Wikipedia so much, you should have known that Identification, "I've Been Everywhere" was worthless. Citing the article on Wikipedia:  Well, I guess that reminds me I should always do my research!
The officer continues,  "There are versions of that song in Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, the USA, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Finland, India, Scotland, the Faroe Islands and everywhere else in the world. Not to mention states and provinces like Alaska, Alberta, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, and Texas. Really all you nead is a list and you can probably adapt it to this song. Heck, they have even done Worlds of Warcraft, USAF Security service stations, and beers! Just listen to this portfolio...

"I've Been Everywhere" is a song which was written by Australian country singer Geoff Mack in 1959, and made popular byLucky Starr in 1962.
The song (as originally written) listed Australian towns. It was later adapted by Hank Snow for North American (predominantlyUnited States) toponyms and by John Hore (later known as John Grenell) with New Zealand toponyms (1966).
The song was a number 1 hit in Country Music in November 1962 in the United States for the recording artist Hank Snow.[1] The song was also recorded by Lynn Anderson (USA 1970), Asleep at the Wheel (USA 1973), Johnny Cash (USA 1996), Chip Dockery, Ted Egan, Little Jan Buckner of Wendy Bagwell & The Sunliters (USA 1972), the "Farrelly Brothers" from the television series The Aunty Jack Show (Australia 1974, a parody version), John Grenell (NZ 1966), Mike Ford (Canada, 2005), Rolf Harris(UK 1963), Clifton Jansky, The Sunny Cowgirls and the Statler Brothers. 

"As you can tell, that identification has been around a bit. You are going to have to provide us with something else."

I can accommodate that request."Here are some other forms of identification. A few of them relate to Vietnam. Now I wasn't there, I was just a kid when the war was going on, but I do support and am grateful to all the folks who fought and died in the jungles of Southeast Asia. That is why those songs have meaning to me."

(Flickr user Damian613/CC)

By way of an apology, we begin with Paul Simon's "American Tune". Then as proof of citizenship, we offer "Born in The USA" from Bruce Springsteen and another view of Vietnam service from Jerry Reed, "Fighting For the U.S.A". Then to prove my residency I offer up Steve Miller's "Living In The USA" as well as a version by Wilmer and the Dukes. Then to close out my plea, and appeal to blue state patriotism, Charlie Daniels, with "In America".

• American Tune    There Goes Rhymin' Simon    Paul Simon    3:47
• Born in the U.S.A. (Album Version) [Clean]    The Essential Bruce Springsteen    Bruce Springsteen    4:42
• Fightin' For The U.S.A.    Next Stop Is Vietnam - The War On Record, 1961-2008 (13CD+Book)   Jerry Reed    2:14
• Living in the U.S.A.-Steve Miller Band    4:06
• Living In the USA-Wilmer & the Dukes    3:19
• In America    In America    The Charlie Daniels Band    3:18

"OK",  says the agent, "wait here and I will be right back. I am going to go run this identification see if it checks out. If it does you should be on your way." 

And that is where we end this weeks Old Highway Notes. Will our identification check out? Will we be detained for further questioning? Will we be deported and left as a blog without a country?. You'll have to wait with me for the next installment of Old Highway Notes Highway 101 Crossing The Border in just 3 weeks. But make sure and join us next week as we begin our journey down Interstate 95 with some music. And in 2 weeks we will be back in Chicago on Route 66. I hope you are enjoying the ride.

Will we be let back into the USA or ?????

Don't Miss Out On an Old Highway Note. Subscribe Now! It is free and new Notes will be emailed to you when they are posted. Enter your email address:


Delivered by FeedBurner

And Now A Word From Our Sponsor...

If you like what you have read here I'd like to ask you a favor. If you purchase any item on Amazon after you link to them in the Amazon banner below, I will get a little something from them. It doesn't cost you any extra and I cannot see what you have purchased.
 With your help, I can keep the show on the road for you.

You Can Give me a Karma Donation Via PayPal

Keep Traveling!

To read more Old Highway Notes, choose an off ramp and click on the highway sign:

Vista Points

Be social, Get more info, View our YouTube playlist and more