Nearly $12 miillon in federal funding has been allocated to repair and upgrade the levee that separates Williston and Missouri River." ... took the Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry ...."
The Omaha District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded an $11.7 million contract on Friday for repair of the levee and access roads on the south side of Williston.
Folks would probably enjoy the studio recording better, but I prefer a bit more video.
A Note to the Granddaughters
"American Pie" was released in November, 1971. I remember listening to it over and over on a road trip from South Dakota, where I was going to college, to San Francisco, California, where I would study for one month with a chemistry professor on sabbatical. My colleague was Warren T---, of Chinese background, who taught me to use chopsticks. It's possible I knew how to use chopsticks before then, but I don't recall. The professor and his family, Warren, and I shared many wonderful dinners in Chinatown.
The trip to San Francisco that year was one of the many coming-of-age stories I experienced over a ten-year period. I don't recall the car in which I drove out to California, but I vividly remember the time I walked out to a eucalyptus-lined parking lot, got in, turned on the radio and "American Pie" was playing. I do not remember any other songs from this trip. Obviously "American Pie" pushed out all the neurons/molecules that had any connection of other songs from that period.
It was my second trip to California; this trip to University of California-Santa Cruz. The campus was/is one of the most beautiful campuses in the world, and the university, one of the most unique in the world. This was also the trip I remember picking up a most memorable girlfriend/boyfriend hitchhiker duo, to drop him off where he could catch a better ride in a different direction, and then drop her off at another location. I remember her "name": "California Blue"; I don't remember his. I hitchhiked on a regular basis -- including three cross-country hitchhiking trips -- during my college years, so I had a soft spot in my heart for hitchhikers. What a great period in life, when hitchhiking was still safe, and considered a reasonable way to travel, though "it" was on its last legs (no pun intended).
California Blue, Roy Orbison
My first trip to California was a couple years earlier, during my freshman year at college. Six of us in a large sedan drove out to San Diego. I saw my first stage play during that trip: "Hair," playing in Los Angeles. Of course, I did not "know" her at the time but Jennifer Warnes had a leading role in the Los Angeles "Hair" cast. Wow, this brings back some great memories. Jennifer Warnes has crossed my radar scope numerous times over the past forty years. [On another blog, I had a very, very long post on Jennifer Warnes, connecting a lot of dots, some of which not previously connected, but I think I deleted that post when I deleted the blog.]
From wiki:
Between 1979 and 1987, Warnes surpassed Frank Sinatra as the vocalist performing the most songs to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song (four times) and to win an Academy Award for Best Original Song (three times). Her biggest hits include "Up Where We Belong" (a duet with Joe Cocker from the 1982 film, An Officer and a Gentleman) and "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" (a duet with Bill Medley from the 1987 film, Dirty Dancing).
I'm surprised you'd feature the music of such a leftist as Don McLean.
ReplyDeleteI suppose...
Delete... you know, the interesting thing, or the irony is that I've become much less socially conservative as I've aged. I think there's a quote along that line:
"If you're not liberal when you're young, you have no heart. If you're not conservative when you're older, you have no brain."
I sometimes wonder if the adage would not be better like this:
"If you're not conservative when you're young, you have no brain. If you're not liberal when you're older, you have no heart."
I wonder if Willie Nelson became more liberal as he aged?
I don't know. It's a perplexing subject. That's one nice thing about investing: one can invest rationally or emotionally.
[I found the phrase at: http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/33/messages/799.html]
Willie uses bio-fuel in his tour bus.
DeleteYou are correct: he is a user.
DeleteWith regard to Willie Nelson, who is one of my heroes:
ReplyDeleteYes, he is able to afford biofuels. The rest of us have to settle for much less expensive natural gas or gasoline. I'm not even sure where I could purchase biofuels; gasoline service stations are somewhat ubiquitous; biofuel service stations, less so.