Impressionistic travel. A blend of music & video playlists, maps & history. The stories, pictures and videos of people, places, and songs along famous routes. Currently travelling virtually on Route 66, Highway 101, Interstate 95, the Pan-American, Trans-Canadian, Lincoln, & Al-Can Highways.
It was 1914. Cars had been around for a few years. Lately they had become a national craze. Henry Ford began producing the Model T in 1908. This made car ownership a reality for hundreds of thousands of Americans.
People loved the new cars, but there was a problem. The roads were awful. Larger cities had paved sections. A few early paved connector roads between cities existed. People wanted to use there cars to explore the country outside of the cities. That became difficult when the pavement ended.
Motorists in those early days in rural areas had to contend with muddy roads and deep wagon ruts. Railroad bridges were sometimes the only available river crossings. Horses still using the old dirt roads would get spooked by the automobiles. It was a difficult and often dangerous situation. Something needed to change.
Groups of early automotive boosters organized themselves. Their goal: establishing a paved road linking the east and west coast of the United States. They urged Congress to oppropriate funding for a national highway. They argued benefits to shipping. More important, the mobility of US troops within the nation would improve. The benefits to the average citizen were also stressed. Congress approved the Lincoln Highway. Construction began.
Opening in 1914, the highway was not one paved route throughout the country. It was a network of existing paved roads. New paving now connected these pre-existing roads. Together they would form one long, paved Lincoln Highway.
Lincoln Highway near Pennsylvania Tunnel-September 1922 Wikipedia
The Lincoln Highway was America's first national highway. The road was legendary long before Route 66 gained its infamy. This highway was at the birth of our modern road trip culture. It saw the rise of motor touring and the development of the car camp. Those old car camps sometimes added cabins and the motel was born.
Old Highway Notes asks you to join us. We will explore the Lincoln Highway in our usual style. A handpicked blend of YouTube video clips and music with a touch of history and tourism.
Before we hit the road here are some songs about cars from the Golden age of the highway 1914-1940.
1In My Merry OldsmobileBilly Murray3:01
2He'd Have To Get Out And Get Under (To Fix Up His Automobile)Billy Murray3:19
3The Little Ford Rambled Right AlongBilly Murray2:21
4Uncle Josh Buys An AutomobileCal Stewart3:17
5I'm Wild About Horns On AutomobilesJack Dalton and The 7 Blue Babies5:09
6Steppin' On The GasSam Morgan's Jazz Band3:23
7Get 'Em In A Rumble SeatBilly Jones & Ernest Hare3:28
8Henry's Made A Lady Out Of LizzieClicquot Club Eskimos2:40
9The Chevrolet SixFrank Hutchison3:10
10A Race Between a Ford and a ChevroletOscar Ford3:20
11Henry Ford BluesRoosevelt Sykes3:11
12Chevrolet CarSam McGee3:11
13Car SongWoody Guthrie1:53
14Hard Travelin'Woody Guthrie2:40
15This Land Is Your LandWoody Guthrie4:31
16Lost HighwayHank Williams3:13
17Terraplane BluesRobert Johnson3:02
18My Little MachineSonny Boy Williamson I3:03
19Mean Old HighwaySonny Boy Williamson I3:25
20Hard Driving BluesAmos Milburn2:43
Here is a bonus I found.
An American Songline: A Musical Journey Along the Lincoln Highway
Cecelia Otto
1It's a Long Way to California3:49
2Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life1:22
3Second Hand Rose0:42
4Beautiful Ohio2:30
5[Preparing for The] Lincoln Way5:40
6Along the Way6:34
7Goin' Home5:03
8In My Merry Oldsmobile3:10
9Let Me Stray3:02
10I Always Wear My Amber Shades (Even On a Cloudy Day)3:23
11Out Where the West Begins1:49
12I'm Always Chasing Rainbows3:13
13Land Of Lincoln2:53
Lincoln Highway: 0 Miles/0 States/0 Counties/33 Videos/1 Post
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Titusville is the home to a few Halls of Fame. Two are located near the entrance to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Center, while a third is located in downtown Titusville, This week we are focusing on the American Police Hall Of Fame near the gate to the Space Center.
American Police Hall Of Fame & Museum
(Wikipedia/CC)
American Police Hall of Fame & Museumwas built in 1960 to serve as a memorial to fallen officers as well as a tribute to the law enforcement community.The museum features a Robocop at its entry and also the squad car from the film. Here you will find a variety of police vehicles, uniforms and equipment. There are mock up dispatched centers and even a police helicopter to explore. Crowd control equipment and execution devices showcase the rule of force.
A memorial honors fallen officers who have given their all in the line of duty. In what I feel is just a but of irony, an attached gun range allows visitors to fire a few rounds. Memorial Day is celebrated here with ceremonies, special activities and a Motorcycle Police Memorial Day Run.
The songs I found are mostly not be in favor of police, except perhaps respect for them as adversaries. It seems like there is just some sort of natural tension between the freedom of the music and the regulation of the law that is timeless. Career musicians have always seemed to be on the fringes of legality. When punk rock came on the scene, police oppression was a big focus of the movement. Several notable punk songs make our list that look at the subject of police oppression.
Long before punk rock came along there were the blues. Blues musicians often lived outlaw lifestyles-or at least maintained that reputation. Our opening track, Police And High Sheriff Come Ridin' Down by Alabama blues man Ollis Martin from 1927 does nothing to change that. Next, Big Dave MacLean, a blues player from Canada, shows us that the tension between music and the law is not limited by national borders with his own interpretation of the song from 2008.
Police And High Sheriff Come Ridin' DownThe Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of: Super RaritiesOllis Martin3:05
Police And High Sheriff35 Years Of Stony Plain Big Dave McLean1:13
No one sees a cop quite like a kid. The authority of the uniform and their role in the community can be awe inspiring to the younger set. Our next two songs look at law enforcement from a child's point of view.
Our Gang or The Little Rascals was a series of comedy shorts that were made from the 1920's to the 1940's that took a humorous look at everyday life from a kids point of view. The soundtrack from The Little Rascals film featured some great early hot jazz and soundtrack music. Unfortunately, due to primitive techniques no master reels of the recordings used exist.
The Dutch group the Beau Hunks specialize in recreating historic music. Their album The Beau Hunks Play The Original Little Rascals Music is a modern recreation of soundtrack music from those short films. Cops is a short piece that resembles the music of the Keystone Kops films of the same era. Both series of films made by Mack Sennett Productions. Musically, it lampoons the authority of the man with a badge.
Casper, The Friendly Ghost takes a warmer look at law enforcement from a mid 20th century perspective. Motorcycle Policeman from the children's albumMusical Adventure In Make-Believe is a charming little record. It also the most positive look at law enforcement that makes our list this week. From here things just get darker.
CopsThe Beau Hunks Play The Original Little Rascals MusicThe Beau Hunks0:37
Motorcycle PolicemanMusical Adventure In Make-BelieveCasper The Friendly Ghost3:21
When Buddy Hollie died in that famous plane crash in 1959, his band The Crickets decided to carry on. They recruited a guitarist named Sonny Curtis to step in and take the place of Buddy Hollie. He brought with him a song he wrote in 1958 called I Fought The Law. The Crickets recorded the song to little fanfare on their album In Style With The Crickets. The song was largely unnoticed until a 1962 cover by Paul Stefan and his Royal Lancers achieved regional success in the Milwaukee area.
In 1964 a cover version of the song by El Paso, Texas's Bobby Fuller Four became a Texan regional hit. The record helped capture the attention of the Del-Fi record label. In December 1965 Del-Fi re-released the record nationally. It rose to number 9 in the charts.
In 1978, The Clash were in San Francisco recording their second album, Give 'Em Enough Rope at the Automatt studio. The album, would become the bands first US release rising to 128 on the US charts. Oddly, the Clash's first album was released in the US AFTER their second album.
A jukebox filled with classic records was part of the Automatt's decor and the machine held a copy of I Fought The Law by the Bobby Fuller Four. Singer Joe Strummer and Guitarist Mick Jones both enjoyed the record and by the time they returned to England they could play the song.
I Fought The Law must have been destined to be a punk rock record. At roughly the same time the Clash was learning to play the song Sid Vicious, famed bass player for the Sex Pistols, was working on his own version. Vicious would commit suicide before recording it.
Back in England, the Clash recorded their own version of I Fought The Law for release on the EP The Cost Of Living. The song was later added to their first album, The Clash as part of it's American edition release.
The song was the band's first single in the United States and helped the album gain traction in the US market.
I Fought The LawHighs Of The SixtiesBobby Fuller Four2:14
I Fought the LawThe ClashThe Clash2:39
Punk Rock emerged in part from poor economic conditions in England. In Jamaica, poor economic conditions and violent national politics was expressed in reggae music. In early 1976 violent gangland clashes occurred between the various political faction culminating in 20 homes being firebombed in Kingston, Jamaica's Trench Town Neighborhood. Trench Town was the center of the reggae world, as Wikipedia notes:
In May of 1976 a fairly minor league reggae musician named Junior Murvin auditioned with the legendary reggae producer Lee "Scratch" Perry. Junior Murvin had already appeared on several recordings and had a minor local hit record. Murvin played for Perry a song he wrote called Police and Thieves. The song was about police brutality and the gang warfare that was tearing apart Trench Town.
Lee "Scratch" Perry liked the song, recorded Murvin preforming the song later that same afternoon after reworking a bit of the lyrics. In the lightning fast reggae scene of mid-70's Kingston, the next day Perry was in the studio remixing the song with various dub versions. Junior Murvin also returned to the studio the next day to record a few more vocal tracks with different lyrics.
Mixing the song with Growler Dub by the Upsetters, Lee "Scratch' Perry immediately released the record to a reggae mad Jamaica. It was a hit! By June, the dub record was released internationally. In England it was an even bigger hit than in Jamaica, packing the floors in the countries dance clubs. In the US, the song did well within the category of reggae music.
By the end of the year, Police and Thieves was well on its way to being a permanent part of the reggae canon. It was named the 'Reggae Single of the Year' by Black Echoes, a long running Caribbean music program in Dublin, Ireland. In NME magazine, the song placed sixth in the 1976 end of year singles chart.
Police and Thieves gained further notoriety in the summer of 1976. That August, the long running Notting Hill Carnival exploded into rioting. The Carnival is an annual celebration of Caribbean Culture held in Notting Hill England. The festival had operated without permits for years. Occasionally police clashes would occur as police tried to disperse revelers who were parading without an official permit. In 1976 the conflict was particularly riotous. For many of the Notting Hill rioters, the hit song Police and Thieves was an inspiring anthem,
In the crowd in Nottingham that August were Joe Strummer and Paul Simonon of The Clash. They became fond of the song and it became a something they would goof around with during band practices. A particularly good playing of the song during a recording break inspired the band to record a clean performance as a last minute add on to their album, The Clash.
Police and Thieves was arguably the first record to merge punk rock and reggae, Junior Murvin was not impressed saying, "They have destroyed Jah work!" Lee "Scratch" Perry did not like The Clash version either, saying the band had "ruined" the song. The Clash got better at reggae and eventually Perry respected them, assisting with production on their Sandinista! album.
Punk Rock in the United States had its own flavor. In California, The Dead Kennedys borrowed guitar riffs from surf rock and tied them to inflammatory, fast, melodic music. Their song Police Truck looks at police brutality from the point of view of "bad cops" who committed violence against the citizens they were supposed to be protecting. We feature a live version recorded at the Deaf Club on March 31, 1979.
The Dead Kennedys not only preformed as a band, they also founded the record label Alternative Tentacles. The label was started so the band could self release their own records. It also released records from other punk bands unlikely to be signed by major labels. In celebration of the Alternative Tentacles 100th release, a tribute album of Dead Kennedys songs called Virus 100 was released. From that album we take The Didgits and their version of Police Truck.
Police TruckLive At The Deaf ClubDead Kennedys2:55
Police TruckVirus 100 (A Dead Kennedys Tribute)The Didjits2:19
The Clash keep appearing on this week's playlist. Our next track comes from their final album Sandinista! It is the straight ahead punk rocker Police On My Back. ACalifornia hardcore punk song comes next, with Black Flag recounting their own tale of police oppression in the song Police Story.
Police On My BackSandinista! The Clash3:17
Police StoryDamaged Black Flag1:33
A couple of tracks from promotion CD's are now added to the playlist to take us away from punk rock rage.
Cops TooHere It Is, The Music CDK Vol. 1Keith Levene3:11
PolicemanGive 'Em The BootThe Skatalites3:31
George Thorogood and the Destroyers gives us a blues rock, good old boy gone wrong, Cops and Robbers story to add to the playlist. Next, Phish describe an encounter with the Makisupa Policeman. Side note: in an interview, Trey Anastasio, the lead singer of Phish, was asked what Makisupa meant. Anastasio replied that it is a word the band made up-it has no meaning, they just thought it sounded funny. Got to love Rock and Roll! Finally, this week we close out by getting indie and listening while The Strokes sing about New York City Cops.
Cops And RobbersHaircutGeorge Thorogood & The Destroyers4:50
Makisupa PolicemanLive Phish, Vol. 1: 12/14/95, Broome County Arena, Binghamton, New YorkPhish6:46
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For most of its life, Route 66 began at the Buckingham Fountain, as we looked at in our last post. These days, due to one way street alignments in the central city, the route West now starts at a block or so away from the fountain on Adams Street between Michigan Avenue and Wabash Streets.
Going West on Adams on the left we have the 274 foot tall Borg-Warner Building and to the right we pass the Mid-Continental Plaza on the right. It is a 583 ft tall high rise that is the 52nd highest tower in the city.
The intersection of Adams and Wabash is a station stop on the famous El Train that makes a loop around the core of the city thus gaining the downtown's nickname of The Loop. In front of the station we find a street musician jamming on his clarinet.
Chicago is known for many things, not the least of which are trains and skyscrapers. Modern steel frame skyscraper architecture was born here and for many years the Sears Tower (now the Willis Tower) reigned supreme as the tallest building in the world.
Trains also figure hugely in the development of the city. Located between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River, Chicago was destined to be a transportation hub. When the railroads were being built it was a logical choice to build to an already busy trade corridor. As more train lines converged on Chicago, it drew more lines to build to there as well.
As the city grew the rail lines built depots at the edge of the city center. In cosmopolitan late 19th century style a cable driven trolley system had a large pulley in the downtown area that was nicknamed The Loop. In 1897, when a an elevated train was build in a loop around the downtown core to connect the various terminals, the name The Loop began to be applied to the train.
The center of one of Americas largest cities, The Loop is packed with skyscrapers, public art, plazas, and government buildings. One of the plazas in the loop is as well known for its mention in the film The Blues Brothers as it is for the Picasso sculpture that graces it. That is the Richard J. Daley plaza, named after one of Chicago's most known mayors, He presided over the city for 21 years from 1955-1976 and his name will come up again in the Playlist Additions for this post a little later on.
Here are several short videos that explore the Loop.
Playlist Additions The 1968 Chicago Democratic National Convention Riots And The Songs That Followed Amazon Store
As promised, Richard J Daley will play a role in our playlist addition this week. The year was 1968 and one of the most divisive and bitterly fought presidential primaries was underway. The Democratic National Convention where the president would be named was due to take place in Chicago during the last week in August.
This is a complicated story and the music is the point. Please forgive any lapses in the narrative, as well as the lack of discussion of events happening inside the convention. Here is a nutshell version of the lead up and the scene on the streets that week. If you find it interesting, I urge you to explore the many other reports that have been made about the events in Chicago at the 1968 Democratic National Convention.
1968 would have been a spirited primary season in a normal election year because the incumbent president Lyndon Johnson was stepping down from the presidency, leaving a contestable candidacy.
This was no ordinary year. 1968 was the most turbulent year of the decade in many ways. In fact, it was one of the most turbulent years in the second half of the 20th century, The youth counterculture had been driving a mighty wedge between older and younger Americans. The Anti-War movement was gaining more and more strength. And there were other societal issues challenging the nation. This led to the heated convention atmosphere,
On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee. The murder angered the nation but especially the black communities in cities around the country. While peaceful memorials occurred in some places, many cities black communities exploded into rioting to express the outrage against the racism in America that led to the death of such a peaceful man.
In over 100 cities rioting occurred, with damage in excess of 50 million dollars. Hardest hit were Baltimore, Maryland, Washington D.C., and Chicago, Illinois. In Chicago, the riots continued for 48 hours a 28 square block area was that looted, vandalized and burned, Between 4 and 10 pm on the night the rioting began, over 36 fires were reported in the area burning.
In the end, it took over 20,00 combined police, National Guard and Army troops to restore order. By then 11 Chicagoans were dead and 48 were wounded by police gunfire. The police received 90 injuries and 2150 people were arrested. Two miles of Madison Street were reduced to rubble.
Other events helped to drive up tensions leading to the Chicago convention. In June of that year the Democrats front running candidate, one with tremendous youth appeal, Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated at a fund raising dinner in Los Angeles.
After the death of Robert Kennedy, his older brother President John F Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr all killed by assassins bullets, concern for the safety of the convention delegates was in the forefront of the minds of Chicago's leadership. Richard J. Daley had hoped to use the press from the convention to make a leap from city politics to the national political stage.
Meanwhile, college students who had been mobilized by the civil rights and anti-war movements wanted to go to Chicago to make a statement to the delegates about their issues. Abbie Hoffman, on of the founders of the Yippies, the radical hippy political party, called for a "Festival of Life" to be held in Chicago in Lincoln Park near the Convention Center.
"Join us in Chicago in August for an international festival of youth, music, and theater. Rise up and abandon the creeping meatball. Come all you rebels, youth spirits, rock minstrels, truth-seekers, peacock-freaks, poets, barricade-jumpers, dancers, lovers and artists! . . . Bring blankets, tents, draft-cards, body-paint, Mr Leary's Cow, food to share, music, eager skin, and happiness. The threats of LBJ, Mayor Daley, and J Edgar Freako will not stop us. We are coming! We are coming from all over the world!"
The youth movement had been becoming more political for a few years. During that long hot summer major rock festivals were held across the country which produced a fairly large nomadic hippy population. A lot of them headed to Chicago to speak out for peace and to just groove on the scene and the free festival.
During the first day of the convention the Yippies, including folksinger Phil Ochs, protested. Marching and chanting, they caused a scene and brought a pig into the Loop area of the city. The pig was named "Pigasus the Immortal" and he was offered as the Yippie presidential candidate.
From City Hall, Daley wanted to make sure that the crowds were kept in line. He did not want this to open up into a reprise of the rioting the city experienced earlier in the year. Daley instructed his police to act with authority and shut down any protest gathering.was worried that the protesters who were expected to arrive would turn to rioting.
The Yippies had announced an occupation of Lincoln Park camping out for the duration of the convention. However, Mayor Daley's office denied permits stating that the police would enforce the parks closing time of 11p.
During that first day of the festival Phil Ochs performed. His song I Won't Go Marching Anymore was requested by Yippie founder Jerry Rubin. The crowd was in a militant mood, many of the having attended civil disobedience training earlier in the day hosted by the anti-war group Mobe.
The police were tasked with dispersing the crowd, by force if necessary. As protesters chanted anti-police slogans, the police swept in with billy clubs and in riot formations. Soon tear gas was fired on the protesters. All of it happened live on the network news.
The riot would continue for four days, yet the festival continued featuring most notable the MC5 later in the week. Inside the convention, things were heated and contentious as well, The American public seemed to feel shock, concern, and rage over the events inside and outside of the convention.
The arrest count for Convention Week disturbances stands at 668. An undetermined number of demonstrators sustained injuries, with hospitals reporting that they treated 111 demonstrators. The on-the-street medical teams from the Medical Committee for Human Rights estimated that their medics treated over 1,000 demonstrators at the scene. The police department reported that 192 officers were injured, with 49 officers seeking hospital treatment.
Public opinions were decidedly mixed. Some felt the protesters to be Un-American communist sympathizers. Others saw the police as jack booted storm trooper thugs.
The filmConventions-The Land Around Us was created shortly after the incidents of the convention \ for The University of Chicago. It isis long but has many amazing images from the Convention and the surrounding chaos. as well as a certain late 60's hippy vibe that is undeniable. Conventions-The Land Around Us from Jerry Swatez on Vimeo.
Yippies! against the system. The Chicago 1968 Democratic Convention demonstrations. With music.
Information documents about this video can be found at http://ge.tt/1JBWTAU?c The excerpted Phil Ochs music from the film is in this clip:
An audio report from the Festival of Life exists as well:
After the convention was over a trial was held for Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, David Dellinger, Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, John Froines, and Lee Weiner, known as The Chicago 7. Originally it was the Conspiracy 8 on the Chicago 8, but the 8th defendant Bobby Seales, was severed from the group charges, ultimate being charged with 4 years in prison for contempt of court.
The Chicago 7was charged with conspiracy, inciting a riot and an assortment of minor charges. During their trial a number of celebrities testified, including Phil Ochs, who was given a fine for his role in bringing the pig into the city without a livestock license. During his questioning it was implied that Jerry Rubin requesting his performance of I Won't Go Marching Anymore was a deliberate move to incite the crowd.
Here is Hollywood's version in a trailer from the 2011 film Chicago Eight:
To start our playlist additions this week, we have Phil Ochs in the studio performing I Won't Go Marching Anymore. It appears that he also performed Power and The Glorythat day as well. We'll add it to our playlist.
A song written after the events by Ochs, describes the events in Chicago.William Butler Yeats Visits Lincoln Park And Escapes Unscathed. The song is a poetic description of the festival. A young couple fall in love only to get separated in the riots where she is killed. the song closes with a reprise that radically changes the tempo to a festive campaign tune that mocks those who claimed to be in Chicago but were not.
After plenty of searching, I could not find out who Ochs was referring to when he sings "I was in Detroit".It is obvious that this is a punch line, Perhaps he was referring to the race rioting in Detroit after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr, which also occurred in Chicago. If you get the joke, please explain in the comments.
The reprise is strong enough that the band Kind Of Like Spitting chose to cover it under the titel Where Were You In Chicagofor an indie tribute compilation dedicated to Phil Ochs that came out in 2010 called Learn: The Songs Of Phil Ochs.
To be fair, it seems right to include the police officers opinion. WFMU on their 365 Day Project featured a minor label record Chicago Policeman by Harry Burgess The song has a mock sincerity, I think. In the song, the policeman celebrates the departments actions during the rioting and how it helped keep the city safe from hippies and communists,
We conclude our playlist additions with a song that inspired me to start writing this post, before I got caught up in the Phil Ochs story. The song is Graham Nash's Chicago. We are adding the version from the Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young live album Four Way Street. Chicago calls out his fellow band members, and ultimately much of the rock community, for not appearing in Chicago. The song also holds many references to the Chicago 7 trial. and the injustice that Nash felt the trial was,
I Ain't Marching AnymoreThe Early YearsPhil Ochs 2:37
Power And The GloryThere But For FortunePhil Ochs 2:17
William Butler Yeats Visits Lincoln Park And Escapes UnscathedFarewells & FantasiesPhil Ochs 3:31
Where Were You In ChicagoLearn: The Songs Of Phil OchsKind Of Like Spitting0:43
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