Space Coast Stadium and Songs About Fireworks

Casey At The Bat At Space Coast Stadium
(Flickr user JB Kopp/CC)

Arriving at Space Coast Stadium in Viera, Florida in our last post from Interstate 95, its time to take a look around.Space Coast Stadium is the Spring Training park for the Washington Nationals.

Viera, Florida. Before the town's construction in 1990, this area that Interstate 95 passed through was known as Cocoa Ranch. The owners decided to break up the ranch for development. Viera is a master planned community that adjacent to Melbourne, Florida. Viera seems to be about suburban as you can get with 58 individual neighborhoods.

Space Coast Stadium was built in 1994 to act as the Spring Training facilities for the then new Florida Marlins.

You may remember from my post about Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, Florida, the Marlins now have Spring Training in Jupiter. Why aren't they still in Viera?  In 2002 the Montreal Expos were sold. As part of the deal it was required that Marlins switch stadiums with the Expos putting the Marlins in Jupiter and the Expos in Viera.

Expos? Not the Nationals. Actually they are the same team having been reformed and renamed in 2004 as the Washington Nationals. Which catches us up to the current day, The park seats 8100 fans and takes its name, like the rest of the region, from the history of NASA on the Central Florida Coast. When Spring training is over the park becomes home to the minor league Brevard County Manatees as well as occasionally serving as home field for the Nationals of the Gulf Coast League.

Space Coast Stadium
(Flickr user Joseph Gruber/CC)

Playlist Additions

Songs About Fireworks

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Happy Independence Day to my fellow Americans. As I suspected, Space Coast Park hosts a Fourth of July Fireworks Show. Lets go!

Our musical selections this week are all songs related to fireworks. In many ways, fireworks are like Americans: so fun, so dangerous, so loud, and so colorful!

Our set begins with a classical piece that hearkens back to Colonial Era England. In 1749, George Handel was contracted to compose a musical score to accompany a firework show that was being put on for King George II. The show was held on April 27, 1749 in London's Green Park. celebrating the end of the War of the Austrian Succession and the signing of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748.

Interestingly, Music for Fireworks, whose overture we feature here was originally written to include violins.The producer of the fireworks show, Duke John Mantagu insisted that the strings be removed as the King had a preference for wind instruments and drums. Handel argued the point, but ultimately complied. Regardless, the piece entered the classical canon as one of Handel's most famous pieces, often paired with his other famous outdoor composition, Water Music, in recordings.

(Flickr user Paul Wilkinson/CC)

Indoor Fireworks by Elvis Costello shares a similar tempo to Handel's piece so it bridges the musical transition from classical to more modern music. The song itself is a classic bit of the Elvis Costello wordplay that makes him one of my favorite songwriters. Indoor Fireworks symbolize a burning out of a fiery relationship, that still enjoys a spark in the bedroom.

Going back to 1929, our next track is a song recorded only once by Louis Armstrong and his Hot 5. The rocord was made in Chicago and it is the the uptempo number Firecracker.

Louis  Armstrong gets followed up by an obscure track from an obscure album. Chet Bolin was a little known Philadelphia musician who recorded an album in the 1980's that went largely unnoticed. It was yeas later, in 2007, when community radio station WFMU ran a series called The 365 Project on their blog that showcased obscure audio track every day, Frequently these were thrift store LPs available for free download. Chet Bolin's album All American Masher was posted on October 11 and on it was the song Boom Boom, our next track.

(Flickr user Adam Carter/CC)

The Chet Bolin track gets followed by an even more obscure track. When mash ups were first happening, a collection called Divas Of Joy was posted online. Our next track is a mash up from that collection between Joy Division and Katy Perry called joy division vs katy perry-Means To A Firework. Good luck finding a copy of this one, as it looks like it has been pulled down from most hosting sites.

Our next cut is far more readily available. It is also one of the most famous blues songs of all time. John Lee Hooker's Boom Boom. It is followed by another song from England. This time it the song Rocket from a Bottle, from the XTC album Black Sea.

It would be an oversight to have a list of firework songs without including one of the most iconic songs to mention fireworks. The  title of this Starland Vocal Band hit also gave the world a new phrase for an midday sexual tryst, Afternoon Delight.

(Flickr user Toshihiro Oimatsu/CC)

A metal firecracker is a slang term for a musician's tour bus. Alt-Country favorite Lucinda Williams sings of a love affair that is now over but was consummated on the bus with her song Metal Firecracker.

Keep Sending Me Black Fireworks comes to us from the band Of Montreal, who are not of Montreal at all, but rather from Athens Georgia. The song is a psychedelic love song from the bonus disc on the band's 7th album, Sunlandic Twins It compares love to black fireworks, you can feel the energy, but you cannot see it.

(Flickr user Epic Fireworks/CC)

The next track randomly appeared on my music player. I am not sure where it came from, but I like it. Laura Cantrell gives us a torchy folk cover of the Elvis Costello song Indoor Fireworks that appears as a sort of reprise on the playlist.

Finally this week we have a song that was offered on the music blog Cover Lay Down. It is another folky female cover. This time it is the Ryan Adam song Firecracker being performed by Janelle Daddona.

• Overture From The Royal Fireworks - Strings&Trumpet (Handel) Classical Requests BMP Classical Grand Entrance 1:22
• Indoor Fireworks The Very Best Of Elvis Costello Elvis Costello 4:09
• Fireworks The Complete Hot Five & Hot Seven Recordings  Louis Armstrong 3:10
• LINK  Boom Boom All American Masher Chet Bolins 2:53
• joy division vs katy perry-Means To A Firework Divas Of Joy Oki 4:14
• Boom Boom Martin Scorsese Presents: The Blues John Lee Hooker 2:32
• Rocket From A Bottle Black Sea XTC 3:31
• Afternoon Delight Have A Nice Decade- The '70s Pop Culture Box Starland Vocal Band 3:50
• Metal Firecracker Car Wheels On A Gravel Road Lucinda Williams 3:30
• Keep Sending Me Black Fireworks The Sunlandic Twins Of Montreal 3:28
• Indoor Fireworks  Laura Cantrell 4:19
• Firecracker Janelle Daddona 2:45

Watching the fireworks, I remember the that America was founded as a bunch of rebels and traitors, but we showed the world that a nation can survive by the rule of the common man.That is pretty cool and it IS something to be proud of. Have great 4th, everyone! Enjoy!

Mileage Stats

Route 66: 0 Miles/1 State/1091 Tracks/391 Videos/42 Posts

Highway 101: 25 Miles/2 Countries/1 State/696 Tracks/418 Videos/32 Posts

Interstate 95: 200 Miles/1 State/121 Tracks/183 Videos/18 Posts

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Port St Lucie to Vero Beach and Dodgertown/West Palm Beach to Jacksonville: Spring Training Part 5

(Flickr user Wally Gobetz/CC)

Tradition Field and Port St Lucie are behind us as we return to Interstate 95 and continue to head north through Florida.



Thanks to Cross Country Roads we have a dash cam videos of the drive we are making today. Its a short trip of twenty miles.



Vero Beach is the home of Dodgertown, for 61 years every spring Dodgertown was a beloved place for baseball fans to get up close and personal with the players. As a lifelong Dodger fan this is a must stop for me on the Spring Training route.

(Flickr user adamclyde/CC)

In 1947 Dodgers owner Branch Rickey and co-owner Walter O'Malley were facing the problem of how to deal with training the team that had the first black player, Jackie Robinson, when training was held in a deep southern segregated state.

The team tried training in Cuba, due to its having a more integrated population, but it did not work out well due to local population being more interested in the Cuban Baseball League thus leading to minimal gate revenue.Half of that season they came back to Florida where they were based in Jacksonville with Robinson staying in the home of local black druggist rather than with the team.

For the 1948 Spring Training, the owners decided to move the team into a decommissioned Naval Air Station in Vero Beach Florida. It allowed the team to have, on its private property, integration. In Dodgertown, it was said a player wasn't black and white, he was only blue.

The barracks used during World War II were made into players dormitories. A dining hall, a recreation hall and a pool all provided entertainment and food for the players,  There were 2 tennis courts and a golf course. Life Magazine ran a nice pictorial of the facility in 1948. Its worth checking out HERE.

(Flickr user Boston Public Library/CC)

Of course, in addition to the dorms and rec facilities there had to be ball fields. Over time it would expand until there were 6 baseball diamonds in Dodgertown. In the early 1950's, after assuming complete ownership of the team, Walter O'Malley had a heart shaped pond put in as a tribute to his wife.

A path from the diamonds from the dorms, did not allow cars so players had a long walk along the pond with a bridge to cross before they reached the playing areas. Fans were welcome to line the walkways and the bridge. It was a popular place for autograph hounds to try to get the attention of their favorite players. And there were a lot of players.Not only did the Brooklyn Dodgers train here, but so did all of their farm teams from around the country. Over 800 players were there in 1951.

Fans Line The Famous Bridge to Catch A Glimpse Of the Star Players (Flickr user Wally Gobetz/CC)

Holman Field, built in 1951 was designed so that any seat had excellent sight lines. It was an experiment in innovations that O'Malley hoped to use in Brooklyn where he planned on building a new stadium for the Dodgers.

O'Malley was thwarted in his plans to build the Brooklyn Stadium of his dreams. Finally in 1957 O'Malley moved the team to Los Angeles where he could have his stadium built. Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles adopted many of the design innovations pioneered on the smaller scaled Holman Field in Vero Beach.

Holman Field (Flickr user Tom Hagerty/CC)

After moving to Los Angeles, the Dodgers continued training in Vero Beach until the 2014 season when they became the last West Coast team to leave Florida for faculties in the Phoenix, Arizona area.

It was the end of an era. The site Historic Dodgertown has a list of quotes about the place. Here are some of my favorites:

“No other place on earth holds as many memories for me as Dodgertown.”
Dodgers’ Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully 

“Spring training at Dodgertown was something very special to me because of its rich history and the people who experienced Dodgertown. It was a wonderful time. We were isolated there and players spent a lot of time together and we grew very close. When I got there, I had the opportunity to meet and play with so many great players—Duke Snider, Roy Campanella, Gil Hodges, Pee Wee Reese, Jackie Robinson, Don Newcombe, Carl Furillo and on and on. These were all the folks I rooted for in Brooklyn. I have so many great memories. Dodgertown is truly a historic place.”
Dodgers’ Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax 

“I get very emotional when I think about Dodgertown and my first spring training. It was great for a rookie who just wanted to play baseball. It has everything you could possibly want to get ready for the season. You can eat, sleep and train there and never have to go anywhere else. It brings back a lot of good memories for me.”
Dodgers pitching great Fernando Valenzuela 

“I first went to Dodgertown shortly after I turned 18. I had grown up in the projects in Washington, D.C. and didn’t know anything about the world and had no clue about life. My growth as a man started at Dodgertown. I got to live my passion for baseball and it all started when I got to go to Dodgertown.”
Former Dodgers All-Star shortstop Maury Wills 

“I had images of Dodgertown from listening to and watching games being broadcast from there when I was a kid growing up in Santa Monica. When I was traded to the Dodgers, I got a chance to visit this magical place. Dodgertown was the Disneyland of baseball. With its fields, living quarters, dining room, lounge and hallways filled with the history of the Dodgers, it had great facilities to get you ready for the championship season. I fell so in love with it, I now make my home in Vero Beach.”
Former Dodgers outfielder and now team broadcaster Rick Monday 

“I grew up in a household where my dad was a huge Brooklyn Dodgers fan as a kid and I heard about Dodgertown and had seen pictures of it, but as a player that’s where you really understood the history of the Dodgers. You realized you were a part of more than just the ball club you were playing on at that particular time. As a player at Dodgertown, the thing I remember most is the interaction with the fans and the accessibility the fans had, unlike any other spring training site. It made for a very intimate environment. It was very peaceful, very calming. It was baseball in its purest sense.”
Former Dodger first baseman and now FOX broadcaster Eric Karros

This video offers a fond look back an the history of Dodgertown that is a bit of a tearjerker. It is followed by a tour of the recently closed facility.





Today the city of Vero Beach has converted the facilities for use as the Vero Beach Sports Village to be used for sports team building and tournaments, but Dodgertown will always hold a special place in the memories of 60 years worth of Dodger fans.

Playlist Additions

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Growing up, I remember Dodger broadcasts would play the song, It's A Beautiful Day For A Ball Game Later in life, I discovered a record by the Count Basie Orchestra that celebrated Jackie Robinson, the famous Dodger who broke the color barrier of Major League Baseball.

• It's A Beautiful Day For A Ball Game Harry Simeone Songsters 1:44
• Did You See Jackie Robinson Hit That Ball? The Count Basie Orchestra 2:28

Coming Attractions

Next Week: We will be wrapping up our look at the Blues Brothers, from Chicago Illinois at the Start of Route 66.
Two Weeks: We head North out of Old Town in San Diego, California along the route of old Highway 101.
Three Weeks: Returning to Vero Beach, Florida we will take a look at a few other attractions around the town before we continue North on Interstate 95..

Mileage Stats

Route 66: 0 Miles/1 State/1001 Tracks/270 Videos/40 Posts

Highway 101: 22 Miles/2 Countries/1 State/625 Tracks/363 Videos/30 Posts

Interstate 95: 143 Miles/1 State/89 Tracks/144 Videos/15 Posts

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Roger Dean Stadium/West Palm Beach to Jacksonville: Spring Training Part 3

This is part of a multi-part post: West Palm Beach to Jacksonville Spring Training 

• Part 1 1888-World War II
• Part 2: Breaking The Color Barrier and "Take Me Out To The Ballgame"
• Part 3: Roger Dean Stadium

A short 12 mile drive up Interstate 95 North takes us to Jupiter, Florida. Jupiter is an important stop on the Spring Training highway as the home of Roger Dean Stadium. Jupiter is an affluent suburban beach community that also features boating, swimming, a historical park, excellent golfing, a sandy beach, a lighthouse and a River inlet.

Driving To Jupiter

As we motor North, it would be wise of us to use caution. This report from WPBF News points out that Interstate 95 in Florida is one the most dangerous stretches of highway in the US.



Here is the map of the day's short drive.



BigRig Travels posted a dashcam view of the drive.

Roger Dean Stadium

The reason we have stopped in Jupiter is to visit Roger Dean Stadium. It is a busy ballpark! It was built in 1998 and for most of the year it holds the distinguishing record of being the home park for 4 different minor league teams: Class A-Advanced Baseball Florida State League's Jupiter Hammerheads and Palm Beach Cardinals as well as the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League's  Gulf Coast Marlins and Gulf Coast Cardinals all call Roger Dean Stadium home.

roger dean stadium (Flickr User Jennifer Griggs/CC)

Before summer, when the Minor Leagues come in to rule the parks, in February and March, two Major League Baseball teams call Roger Dean Stadium home: the St. Louis Cardinals and the the Miami Marlins. The park features an berm around the outfield that fans can use as a sort of picnic lawn to watch games at a bargain admission price.It is a popular place for fans to enjoy a spring game.

Roger Dean Stadium Panorama (Flickr User Brian & Jaclyn Drum/CC)

This playlist has 2 videos of Roger Dean Stadium, a guidebook style clip as well as families recollections of going to berm games to watch the Cardinals play. Thanks to  YCTV Destination Videos and RogerDeanStadiumTV for posting these clips.

Playlist Additions

The music this week will focus on two themes: Car Crashes and Baseball Songs, with three songs on each topic.

Car crashes are on the mind following the disturbing news that the stretch of Interstate 95 was the most dangerous highway in America. One of the stranger car crash songs that had a moderate amount of success in the days of New Wave was Warm Leatherette by The Normal. Its a song of erotic attachment to car crashes. Based on a 1973 novel by J.G Ballard, Crash, about a group of fetishists who are aroused by staging real and fake auto crashes. Warm Leatherette  was an early entrant into the genre of electronica and its influence cast a wide shadow in the development of the electronic and industrial genres.

Crawling From The Wreckage by Dave Edmunds is a song that might have followed Warm Leatherette on a late 70's early 80's New Wave radio station. Not as cerebral or dark as Warm Leatherette, Dave Edmunds tosses out a rockabilly influenced Pub Rock classic. The song is a celebration of still being alive after wrecking the car. At least that is the surface story, the song being really more of a metaphor for overcome adversity in life. It's a rocker and one of Dave Edmunds best.

(Flickr User Brian Josefowicz/CC)

A more obscure track is Transfusion, by Nervous Norvous. A novelty hit from 1956, Transfusion is the sung from the point of view of a careless driver who describes his accidents ending each verse with a sound effect of a car crash and ending each chorus with some sort of 50's hipster request like "Pass the blood to me , Bud" or "Give the crimson to me, Jimson" In Transfusion, Nervous Norvus takes some decidedly beatnik rapping and drops it onto a rockabilly riff. Its cool, Daddy-O! America thought so too as it rose to number 8 on the Billboard charts and stayed charting for 14 weeks.

Nervous Norvus was the alter ego of  Singing Jimmy Drake, who recorded and performed demo records for aspiring and mostly unsuccessful song writers. He would record their songs with his vocals accompanied by his king sized ukulele, These one off demo recording are now rare collectible records as only one or two copies would be made, and the songwriters generally did not go on to success,  His Nervous Norvus character was a diversion from his main demo business.. He recorded six side Dot Records,

Transfusion was the high point of his career professionally. He did follow it up with another novelty hit a few months later that did almost as well,  Ape Call. Transfusion  caused a bit of an uproar over its gory lyrics and was banned on both the ABC and NBC radio networks as to indecent for radio. Regardless, it was a hit. Ed Sullivan invited Nervous Norvus to appear on his program, but in spite of his cool sound when singing, Jimmy Drake was at heart a very shy guy and did not perform publicly. He declined the offer. and eventually drifted into obscurity and alcoholism, ultimately drinking himself to an early death at 58 caused by cirrhosis of the liver.

The song was headed towards obscurity as well, Then on his radio program, Los Angeles DJ and record collector Barry Hansen played the song on his radio program of novelty records. Fellow DJ "The Obscene" Steven Clean said that Hansen had to be "demented" to play that. The same Dr. Demento stuck and another alter ego was born involving the song. The song, as well as Dr. Demento's radio program, became  it became cult classics, with Demento perhaps most notable for launching the career of Weird Al Yankovic.  My version of Transfusion was included on a 1970;s K-Tel compilation called Looney Tunes that featured a number of late 1950's rock and roll novelty records.

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l>

Warm Leatherette Just Say Sire: The Sire Records Story The Normal 3:20

Crawling From The Wreckage The Dave Edmunds Anthology 1968-1990  Dave Edmunds  2:55

Transfusion K-Tel LOONEY TUNES Nervous Norvus 2:03

Taking a swing at some more baseball songs, the site TheDeadBallEra.Com has a page of mp3's of novelty baseball songs. A few tracks from there comprise today's mix. Legendary Detroit Tigers announcer, Ernie Harwell begins with his A Definition Of Baseball, a poetic ode to the game and how it fits so deeply into the culture of the United States.

Jane Morgan's Baseball, Baseball is up to bat next. Jane Morgan was raised in Florida, and was a classically trained graduate of Julliard. Hired to sing American songs in front of a Parisian Orchestra, in 1948 she was successful and her fame spread throughout France. Se wanted to return to the US, but struggled as booking agents considered her a specialty act that would not sell to the American public. She was working, though and Dave Kapp of Kapp records had seen her perform and offered her a recording contract. On her first album 1954's An American Girl From Paris, Baseball, Baseball was featured to again emphasize her branding as an American and not a french artist. Maybe it worked as she continued to enjoy some success in America.

Casey at the Bat 3 (Flickr User Tom Bridge/CC)

On our third swing we hear the story of possibly the most famous strike out in baseball.history. On June 3, 1888 The San Francisco Chronicle published a poem titled Casey at the Bat: A Ballad of the Republic Sung in the Year 1888 by Ernest Thayer, a reporter for the Chronicle.

The story of a classic baseball game of the era, Casey at the Bat: A Ballad of the Republic Sung in the Year 1888 revolves around the end of game tension for the fictional home team from Mudville. Down by two runs, the batting lineup is not promising unless they can get the fifth batter, the team's star: Casey. The first two batters strike out and things are looking grim for Mudville. Flynn and Blake are the next batters in the line up and they are notoriously weak players. But the Flynn hits a single! Blake follows with a double! Suddenly there are 2 men on base. They are down two runs with two outs. But...Casey bats next! Casey takes the plate with bold cockiness, He lets two perfectly good pitches go by as he shows off for the crowd of 5000 gathered to watch the game. The tension mounts. Down two strikes, two run and two outs with two men on base and the chance to win with a run, Casey strikes out! Mudville has lost! It is a great portrait of 1880's baseball and its a great slap in the face to folks who get too proud of themselves in life. Its wonderfully American.

The poem was published a month later in The Sporting Times, without attribution, and with a renaming of its title and lead character to make it "Kelly At The Bat".  It was already on its way to joining the canons of both American Baseball and American Poetry. Being the era of Vaudeville, it began to be recited as an act on Vaudeville lineups. The most famous of those performers was a popular stage performer who was veteran of over thirty Broadway musicals. Dewolf Hopper was known for his loud bass singing voice and his rather goofy stature (think Kramer from Seinfeld). Hopper performed the Poem over 10, 000 times during the course of his career. Our last "song" this week is from a 1909 recording.

A Definition Of Baseball DeadBallEra.Com Audio Vault Ernie Harwell >
2:47Baseball, Baseball DeadballEra.com Audio Vault  Jane Morgan 2:22
Casey At The Bat DeadBallEra.Com Audio Vault Dewolf Hopper  7:25

Signing Off and Coming Attractions

Old Highway Notes would like to say thank you for coming back after my summer hiatus. I have added some things that should make it a little easier to browse around the site and find stories that interest you if you are visting this site on a PC or laptop. I still have some work to do on mobile. I'd love to know what you think in the comments. Has anyone gone to a spring training game? Do You have a good car crash story? Tell us about it in the comments.

Next Week: More on Muddy Waters as we continue Route 66 through Chicago.

Two Weeks: More San Diego tourism on the old Highway 101 in California.

Three Weeks. More to see in Jupiter, Florida when we return to Interstate 95.

Mileage Stats

Route 66: 0 Miles/1 State/621 Tracks/141 Videos/26 Posts

Highway 101: 19  Miles/2 Countries/1 State/503 Tracks/186 Videos/23 Posts

Interstate 95: 84 Miles/1 State/30 Tracks/70 Videos/9 Posts