My Mazerati Does 185, I Lost My License And Now I Don't Drive

I hope everyone had a good Christmas holiday! This was one of my better ones. I got a Ferrari LaFerrari and a McLaren P1.

That's a bit misleading. They're built out of Legos. But still! They're neat little models, for minifig-scale supercars. Lego has a new theme called Speed Champions (which the Ferrari and McLaren belong to) that's actually pretty nice. All the cars are real, and very good likenesses for the size and using preexisting Lego pieces. I learned about it by stopping into a Toys 'R Us with my sister's friends one day; they had the Ford Mustang GT, and I liked the look of it enough to say hell with it and pick it up. I've built the LaFerrari already and it was a pretty clever build.

But while building it, I noticed something interesting on the back of the second (yes, there's enough steps involded that the LaFerrari needs two booklets) manual. Look at the lineup of the three cars - middle row, right side.

Ha ha! All the engine blocks are the same size! Get it? GET IT!?

They are, from left to right, the Lego versions of the Porsche 918, the McLaren P1, and the Ferrari LaFerrari. Hmmm... Where have I seen such a lineup before?

Oh. Right. 

Yes, Clarkson, May, and Hammond were working on an epic shootout between these three incredible cars on the Top Gear track, but as Ferrari and McLaren were coming around to the idea, Clarkson was booted and May and Hammond elected to follow. As they have a new show of their own on Amazon TV called The Grand Tour, I'm told they managed to organize the competition in their first episode. Still haven't seen it, or have any idea which car won. Even so... 

The Fireball We Rode Was Moving, But Now We Got A New Machine

Last weekend, at the Greenberg's Train Show in Monroeville, I picked up a new locomotive. It's an O scale, 3-rail prewar-appearance Pennsylvania Railroad K4s Pacific-type in brass, made by Williams. I won't say how much I picked it up for, but it's easily half of what it was sold for.

You see, it's an older model made in either the late '80s or early '90s, before O gauge trains began to receive high-quality electronic sound and digital control systems. It's not the most minutely detailed model either; but it's to scale, dimensionally accurate, and just plain looks good! Other operators might not be inclined to look too close (or assume it's messed up just by looking at the low price) as a result, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity. 

I've recently put together a video of some trains running on my grandfather's layout; and the last group of clips features this newest addition to the roster.

Now to find one with the postwar appearance!

You'll Not See Nothing Like The Mighty Quinn

This is a really cool video of a dogsled trip around downtown Pittsburgh during the major snowstorm over the past weekend. 

The guy filming, one Matt Philips, films quite a bit of adventurous stuff. Check out some of his other videos - here's his YouTube channel. 

A Thousand Miles Away From Home, Waiting For A Train

Something for my railfan readers.

This video is a wonderful color record of some impressive steam-era scenes. The list of roadnames is pretty impressive, actually. There's a couple of rare shots of streamlined steam on New Haven and Southern Pacific, a great look into what the freight cars of the 1940's looked like, and more than a few streamlined passenger cars behind non-streamlined steam. Possibly the best treat is the decidedly rare footage (I have heard of none aside from this film) of a Bessemer & Lake Erie 2-10-4 working on the north end of the railroad. I'm certain one scene takes place on the Hogback - the steep grade away from the Lake Erie shores.

Also, just for the hell of it, is the Delaware & Hudson's ALCo PA's on a passenger train. Thanks to Russ Monroe Jr. for this footage. 

Okay, what the heck. Here's a compilation of early Conrail scenes shot on Horseshoe Curve. 

All right, one more. Here's an audial guide to the whistles of the East Broad Top's locomotives. Watch out for #17! 

(Also, when I get my smartphone, #17 will be my unique ringtone for Ray.)

Better Strap On My Guitar, Gotta Be A Big Rock Star

Apparently this is a thing.

Yes, that is Donnie Iris and The Cruisers playing The Black Keys' 'Your Touch'. It's not the first time our boy from Elwood City has done a cover song, though.

On 1982's The High and The Mighty Donnie and the boys covered the British Invasion classic 'Glad All Over', originally by The Dave Clark Five. Interestingly, during The Beatles' first run of number one singles, only Dave and company were able to knock them out of that spot. Donnie and company didn't do quite so well on the charts with the song, but they did a good job on it regardless. Check it out:

More recently, on 2006's  Ellwood City, Donnie and crew decided to cover the Sam & Dave soul classic 'Soul Man'. The arrangement rocks, unbelievably so. It's really damn good; but I can't find the album version on YouTube. This horrible-quality live version will have to do. 

And you thought Donnie was just Pittsburgh's token rock star. 

Through The Fire And The Flames We Carry On

You know, I wonder if the subpar reliability of most British diesels has anything to do with the following videos.

A Class 20. 

A Class 37.

A Class 31.

Sure, let's let all our diesels shoot flames out of the stack! That's never a bad idea!

Even the Russians are getting in on the act!

No idea what type this thing is, but I've never seen a diesel blow smoke rings.

Tick Tick Tick Tick Time You Take It

It occurs to me that some of the music I listen to is... extreme. Here is a tiptoe through that minefield of what I like to call 'Yikes' along with some warnings as to the details.

Rebel Girl - Bikini Kill
WARNING: This song contains
Occasional Shoutiness
Non-traditional Romance

Xtreem Attitude

Illegal Tender - Louis XIV
WARNING: This song contains
Severe Sleaze
Extreme Innuendo
Morally Problematic Amusement

Hang Wire - The Pixies
WARNING: This song contains
Occasional Shoutiness
Kinda Dark Lyrics

Kinda Dark Everything Else

Tick - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
WARNING: This song contains
Occasional Shoutiness
Orgasmic Rendition (or, they don't call her Karen O for nothing)
The Word 'Shit'
Caffeine Overdose

Abra Cadaver - The Hives
WARNING: This song contains
Really Fast Punk Music
Occasional Shoutiness
Alice Cooper Addiction

Other People's Tobacco Use

 Last Caress - The Misfits
WARNING: This song contains
Alice Cooper Addiction
Such Violence!
Unwarranted Self-Importance
Fun With Death

Bandages - Hot Hot Heat
WARNING: This song contains
Occasional Shoutiness
Uncontrolled Exuberance
Caffeine Overdose

Springing Leaks - Algernon Cadwallader
WARNING: This song contains
Occasional Shoutiness
Unintelligible Meanness

Hot Freaks - Guided By Voices
WARNING: This song contains
Extreme Innuendo
Occasional Shoutiness
Robert Pollard

One Way Ticket - The Darkness
WARNING: This song contains
Nasal Snowblinding

80's Hair

So, yeah. Wow. I mean, dang. Yeegh.

Snortin' Whiskey And Drinkin' Cocaine

Dave Edmunds - I Hear You Knockin'

British artist Dave Edmunds is best remembered today as a 70's rocker very interested in 50's rock and roll and blues. His main claim to fame is his solo single 'I Hear You Knockin', a cover of a Smiley Lewis blues tune. After a chain of production credits for notable pub-rock artists Brinsley Schwarz and Ducks Deluxe, Edmunds subsequently formed the band Rockpile (commonly credited as 'Dave Edmunds and Rockpile) with Nick Lowe in 1976. 

Up - Just Like An Aborigine

After the departure of the MC5 from the Ann Arbor, Michigan commune of John Sinclair, the protopunk band Up became the frontspiece for Sinclair's White Panther Party and its radical politics. With a stripped-down, hard-edged and aggressive sound, the band went unnoticed as the like-minded MC5 and Stooges were signed to Elektra and Up was not. Frustratingly, Up was the opening act at a show double-billed to the Stooges and the MC5, which was the performance that convinced Elektra to sign the two pioneering punk bands. The band split in 1973.

Bob Welch - Ebony Eyes

Bob Welch first rose to fame as rhythm guitarist for Fleetwood Mac for four albums during the years 1970-1975. Upon leaving after difficult tours and legal struggles, he turned to a solo career, releasing 'Ebony Eyes' in 1977 along with its album, French Kiss. Later solo albums in the 80's met with decreasing success, and sadly, in June of 2012 Welch committed suicide after an ineffectual back surgery.

Pat Travers Band - Snortin' Whiskey

Another Canadian, Pat Travers caught the attention of fellow Canuck and rockabilly artist Ronnie Hawkins, who invited him to play with Hawkins' outfit. After an appearance on German television by an early incarnation of Travers' own group, the band released one each studio and live albums, and opened for Rush on their A Farewell To Kings tour. In 1980, Crash And Burn debuted and the single 'Snortin' Whiskey' made the band a notable name in the hard rock scene of the very early 80's. 

In 1981, Travers' group disbanded and Travers dived into new projects which found only minor successes. However, since then Travers and a new lineup for the Pat Travers Band have toured briefly in the 90's and more extensively in the 2000's.

Henry Paul Band - Grey Ghost

Henry Paul formed the Siennas in 1971, and shortly thereafter the Siennas turned into The Outlaws. Paul left the band in 1977 and formed his own Henry Paul Band. The Henry Paul Band disbanded in 1983, and Paul returned to The Outlaws for three more years before forming the band BlackHawk. Paul still plays with the Outlaws on more recent tours.

I remember thinking that this was The Outlaws when the song would play on Channel 97 as a kid. So did my dad, but when I looked it up and figured it out, Dad had the little lightbulb come on, remembering that Henry Paul was one of The Outlaws' guitarists.

Red Rider - Lunatic Fringe

Canadian hard rock band Red Rider formed in 1978, and released their first album in 1980. Their second release, As Far As Siam, spawned the AOR hit single 'Lunatic Fringe'. In 1989, rhythm guitarist Tom Cochrane began to see success from his solo career, and as a consequence, Red Rider broke up. Since 2002, Cochrane has reunited with some of his old bandmates to tour as Tom Cochrane And Red Rider.

Sniff 'n' The Tears

British band Sniff 'N' The Tears released 'Driver's Seat' in 1978, after five years of touring and searching for a record deal. The song was a minor hit, and remained an AOR staple for years in England and the US. After three more albums, the group split, but reformed in 1992 and has released a couple of albums since.

And The Way She's Steaming, Buddy, You Better Not Get In Her Way

Went out to the Ohio Valley to do some railfanning. Big steam in Pittsburgh this weekend. Norfolk Southern ran some employee appreciation specials with Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 Berkshire, number 765, out of Conway Yard. 

Notes:

• The first train filmed partially got by us. We had just decided on the filming location when headlights appeared westbound and I didn't have enough time to catch the head end.
• Next is a local train. Our buddy Dangerous Dan tagged along and brought the banner for the model railroad club we belong to. We got a curious look and an extra honk of the horn from this engineer!
• A few minutes before the second 765, an eastbound trailer train passed by at track speed, about 60 mph. The vortex knocked my camera over. Also, my batteries died just before the same shot, and I had to borrow some from another railfan. Thanks, dude.
• The bridge shots are from Big Rock Park in New Brighton, on the Beaver River. Norfolk Southern reserved Track #1 for the excursions, and as a result, I got skunked on her return from Homewood Junction. She stayed on the far side of the bridge. 
• In the shot of the merchandiser that crossed the bridge after 765 passed, you can see the CSX train from the next shot appearing in the lower right-hand corner as the tail end of the NS train passes. 
• The second CSX train is interesting for two reasons: Union Pacific run-through power, and a load of 32 wind turbine blades.
• The next shot of 765 was taken in the industrial park at Leetsdale, on an ancient iron bridge that the railfans overtook. We had to wave the cars through, there were so many of us.
• The concluding shot almost didn't happen! I should have stuck by the camera, but was chatting with my friends and some other railfans by the red pickup at the end of the shot. When the train came around the corner I had to dash to the camera.
• The unusual pan in the final shot is inspired by similar camera techniques observed in the films of noted and prolific railfan photographer and filmographer Emery Gulash. 

Can You Live This Fantasy Life?

As of late I've been searching for some lost classic rock songs I remember from my youth, and some of them I have found. Enough of this stuff, and some more recent discoveries, are in the pipeline that I will need two posts to get it all in. Part one as follows:

Aldo Nova - Fantasy

First up is Canadian rocker Aldo Nova, with the modest hit single 'Fantasy'. Interesting way of breaking that door down in the video. The song comes from Aldo Nova's self-titled debut album, released in 1980. The band would not see success bigger than that which accompanied this song.

I remember hearing 'Fantasy' on Channel 97, WRRK Braddock-Pittsburgh, when I was a kid. Early in their existence (which was also early in my existence) Channel 97 was the modern rock station, but by the time I really got into new music they had become a classic rock station with a massive library on account of getting all the new releases. Once a year, later in their existence, they would haul out this entire friggin' library of about 7,000 songs, if i remember correctly, and play the whole thing in alphabetical order. It damn near took them a month to do it, but it was epic. Most of the stuff in this list is either from the A To Z Playback, or got airplay on Channel 97 at some point.

The Hooters - And We Danced

Another Channel 97 memory, 'And We Danced' ended up in the early stages of an A To Z after Donnie Iris. Nervous Night was the album that gave us this gem, and Hooters, who hail from Philadelphia, had a long career, if mostly under the radar domestically, or more popularly in Europe.

Coney Hatch - Monkey Bars

If you ever wanted to know what Van Halen would be like if they were from Canada, this band, Coney Hatch, comes very close. Of Toronto, Ontario, and named for a mental asylum in nearby London, this hard rock quartet issued three albums over their career, with most attention going to this song, 'Monkey Bars'. 

I actually put in a request to Channel 97 for this song once, while I was under the impression that the band's name (or solo artist as it sounded) was Cody Hatch. Eh, I was ten or so.

Gamma - Thunder And Lightning

Previously discussed on this blog, Gamma was a late '70s AOR hard rock band fronted by the prolific, if largely under the radar, Ronnie Montrose.  I did not get a sleeve with my copy; it came free from a local record store, disc only. That is one whacked-out piece of cover art. Whacked. Out.

John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band - On The Dark Side

John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band could have easily been mistaken for Bruce and the E Street Band by those not familiar with either. Somehow, in creating the music for the movie Eddie & The Cruisers, Cafferty wrote and, along with his band, performed with a Boss-like sound - for a movie set in 1963. 'On The Dark Side' hit number one after the release of the movie in 1983, but that was as far as the group would go, despite getting a track on the Rocky IV soundtrack.

Spring - Hendre Mews

In 1971, an early progressive rock band released a single album, which did little, and broke up before completing a second effort. This was the band called Spring, who came to the attention of producer Kingsley Ward, owner of Rockfield Studios, when their van broke down in the village of Rockfield.

One of the main sound features of the record was rumored to be three Mellotrons, which the band apparently had available, but three of the pioneering keyboards never appear together on any of the tracks. After the breakup, drummer Pick Withers would go on to play with Dire Straits for the first four albums.

UFO - Too Hot To Handle

UFO were a British hard rock and heavy metal band that found better fame in Germany and Japan than their native Britain or the US. The 1977 album Lights Out contributes the gem 'Too Hot To Handle' to our roundup today. Lineup on this track has Phil Mogg on vocals, Paul Raymond on keyboards, Pete Way on bass, Andy Parker on drums, and Michael Schenker on lead guitar. Schenker, being the younger brother of Scorpions guitarist Rudolf Schenker and himself a brief member of the Scorpions early on, would leave for a solo career with his own group in 1980.

Neil Young (Stray Gators) - L.A.

So why did I include Neil Young on a list of favorite obscure rockers? The reason is that the album in question is obscure in Neil's catalog. Time Fades Away was recorded live over the course of a '73 tour Neil did that turned into a disaster. Neil broke up Crazy Horse after the heroin overdose death of guitarist Danny Whitten; formed a new band made up of session musicians not all of whom had even been on the road before or worked with Neil; sprung brand new, dark, semi-autobiographical songs on his unsuspecting audiences; and recorded the whole affair with a severely problematic digital mixer that bypassed the typical 2-track master tape stage. 

The whole album's 16-track configuration would have to be reassembled with extreme difficulty in order to remaster it for reissue; however, copies on vinyl and a preview of a cancelled HDCD issue are both circulating. That said, it's likely that TFA will not be officially re-released because of how disastrous the tour was and how many bad memories Neil still has of the experience.

PART 2 

Chaska Nebraska Alaska Opelika

I can't stand country music under modern circumstances. But I love the old stuff. I'm warning you now, however, that I'm not really a fan of Johnny Cash. If he's the oldest country artist you like, prepare to be either disappointed or enlightened by what follows (quite a lot of what, actually).

I've Been Everywhere - Hank Snow

A clever YouTuber has found images for just about every location mentioned in the song, with quite a lot of railroad presence, which I like. Also interesting is the pre-WWII photo of Pittsburgh, with the old Point bridges in place. A very good traveling song that me and my friends have enjoyed on trips here and there.

As I was looking for this, I found an interesting version of the Wabash Cannonball, also by Hank Snow. Interestingly, the steam freight scenes are filmed on the Nickel Plate Road (properly known as the New York, Chicago & St. Louis), a midwestern competitor of the Wabash!

Great treatment of this fine old (and often altered) song from Hank.

Waterloo - Stonewall Jackson

Another classic from 1959.

Amos Moses - Jerry Reed

Sit down on'em, Amos! Make it count, son! The late, great Jerry Reed rolled out this swamp-cajun-country fusion number in 1970, and is one of the coolest pieces of country music I've ever heard. Also check out his tracks When You're Hot, You're Hot and Eastbound & Down.

There Ain't No Easy Run - Dave Dudley

My all-time favorite from the king of truck-driver music. I also recommend Six Days On The Road, Girl On The Billboard and Give Me Forty Acres. Great, great stuff.

Sudbury Saturday Night - Stompin' Tom Connors

Oh, man, where do I start? The greatest Canadian country musician of all time too much? Classic songs that few in the US have heard, he's so Canadian. He refused his Juno music awards because he was tired of other winners making their fame in the US instead of at home like he did. Moon Man Newfie, The Ketchup Song, and Bud The Spud all helped introduce me to this legend of the Great White North.