Get off my LAWN! "Grumpy Old Farts"

[beans-on-toast]

I personally know a (now) little old lady (then, not so much) who had a flat tire out on a lonely stretch of road one day in the early '60s. And who should happen along, but Elvis himself, drivng a big ol' Cadillac. He hopped out and politely asked if he could be of assistance and all she could do was nod, since she was speechless. She thought he would give her a ride to a Service Station (when that's what they still were). Instead, he got the keys out of the ignition, opened the trunk and changed the flat for the good spare! She could barely utter a "thank you". He said, "There's a Texaco just up ahead that'll be glad to fix that flat for you. Tell 'em I sent you." Then he drove off. She went to the Texaco and bashfully told 'em what happened and they fixed her flat for free, checked all the car's fluids, and cleaned the windshield while pumping her $5 worth of gas! They said, "Yep, he's an occassional customer here. He just honked and waved when he came by a while ago."
.

I remember going to Texaco to buy fifteen cents worth of gas for the lawnmower can. Every spring, they gave away Texaco kites which I liked. Not to mention the free road maps every year.

There used to be a field where we flew our kites. Box kites with long tails went the highest. We were near but not that close to an airport. Every once in a while the cops would come by and order us to lower them. They claimed that they were being picked up on radar.

 

[beans-on-toast]

The Fab Faux are good but The Analogues blow everyone away.

 

[StereoPlayer]

There's lots of "Fake Fab Faux" out there. Can anyone tell the real one?

If you’ve never seen the Fab Faux...highly recommended! They don’t pretend to be the Beatles. But they sound incredible!

 

[StereoPlayer]

I remember going to Texaco to buy fifteen cents worth of gas for the lawnmower can. Every spring, they gave away Texaco kites which I liked. Not to mention the free road maps every year.

There used to be a field where we flew our kites. Box kites with long tails went the highest. We were near but not that close to an airport. Every once in a while the cops would come by and order us to lower them. They claimed that they were being picked up on radar.

I remember wheeling the push mower to the gas station and getting that amount of gas to mow another lawn...

 

[SoulReflection]

I remember going to Texaco to buy fifteen cents worth of gas for the lawnmower can. Every spring, they gave away Texaco kites which I liked. Not to mention the free road maps every year.

There used to be a field where we flew our kites. Box kites with long tails went the highest. We were near but not that close to an airport. Every once in a while the cops would come by and order us to lower them. They claimed that they were being picked up on radar.

Ha, I remember, as a kid, building my own conventional kites with long tails for stability. Then, I remember the kite fights. Razor blades attached to the arms, trying to cut someone else's to shreds. Or the ulltimate, cutting the lines and watching the loser's kite crash to the ground.

I remember the dual handheld controls that made it all possible. I don't recall tails on a box kite...maybe I missed something?

Here is a more modern approach...

 

[GwenOnBass]

What's the chance the reason medleys are popular in youth music education is related to how university students are tasked with arranging medleys?

 

[beans-on-toast]

I don't recall tails on a box kite...maybe I missed something?

We never knew what we were doing!

 

[SoulReflection]

We never knew what we were doing!

Sounds like me...

 

[beans-on-toast]

What's the chance the reason medleys are popular in youth music education is related to how university students are tasked with arranging medleys?

A formal education can be too structured, producing clones that all perform the same. It’s always nice when classical arrangements are not predictable.

 

[GonePlaid]

A formal education can be too structured, producing clones that all perform the same. It’s always nice when classical arrangements are not predictable.

I give you P.D.Q. Bach.

 

[Deleted member 268085]

If anyone ever turned into a caricature, it was pore ol' Elvis.

Yeah. Last time I saw Elvis was in a gas station lot in Madison, WI before his show, his last tour where he couldn't finish a single song. Sad. Anyway, I was driving and saw a limo pull into a gas station. Elvis got out. To break up a fight between two guys he didn't know! Made the TV news!

 

[Charlie Tango]

I give you P.D.Q. Bach.

That was some brilliant stuff, it was.

 

[Deleted member 268085]

I remember going to Texaco to buy fifteen cents worth of gas for the lawnmower can. Every spring, they gave away Texaco kites which I liked. Not to mention the free road maps every year.

There used to be a field where we flew our kites. Box kites with long tails went the highest. We were near but not that close to an airport. Every once in a while the cops would come by and order us to lower them. They claimed that they were being picked up on radar.

Those were the days, my friend. Gas cost 24-25 cents/gallon. 19 cents during gas wars. And kites were everywhere! Fun to make! And no touchscreens!

 

[Charlie Tango]

Geeze, Sunoco 190 was 19.9 cents, and for you nose-in-the-air high dollar snobs, Sunoco 260 was an unreal (who in the world would pay that much for a gallon of gas?) 42.9.

 

[GwenOnBass]

A formal education can be too structured, producing clones that all perform the same. It’s always nice when classical arrangements are not predictable.

This is exactly how I was taught music theory at university. You've got a pencil that you'll need because ink certainly won't do. And we write out the chords measure for measure. Any attempt to correlate what I learn to write on paper with an instrument is irrelevant. Now I guess as a lady GOF, I'm a music major. At least this time I see a correspondence with theory and my instrument

PDQ Bach is to me as much a part of the time of Woodstock as Woodstock. Report from Hoople: PDQ Bach on the Air took ample play in my room. Because someone was raised in a household of classical music. Surrounded by classical musicians, I was, at an impressionable age Explaining the plot of the rock opera Tommy to my father was like explaining [think of your own metaphor]

 

[beans-on-toast]

Neil Young is my best example of a songwriter that surprises me. I can’t predict what comes next in his songs.

 

[alaskaleftybass]

I saw Alice Cooper throw up in a VW minivan.

 

[GwenOnBass]

I saw Alice Cooper throw up in a VW minivan.

THIS ^ is as rock n' roll as you can get!

 

[bobyoung53]

It was bad enough dealing with getting your windshield cleaned at a red light. Then there's this guy pan-handling for money at a stop light with his late model BMW parked nearby...

We've got talented panhandlers out here, jugglers, singers, acrobats, magicians, musicians, you name it and a lot of them are actually very good. The traffic lights out here count down to zero in red for a red light and green for a green light in addition to the light itself, so you know how much time you can "entertain" in the street. We do have our windshield washers, magazine and soda sellers though too. They call them ambulantes. Four kids went walking down my street yesterday, 2 drummers, a trumpet player and a dancer/whistle blower in costumes doing Bésame Mucho, they were pretty good.

 

[beans-on-toast]

I saw Alice Cooper throw up in a VW minivan.

Maybe there's a song in that.