The 'states' Tag Archive

Below you'll find all my writing tagged with the word states. The posts are listed in chronological order. Click the post title to read more.

  • 05.30.2007
  • Uncategorized
  • Comment (4)

May 30th, 2007

The 50 States: Washington, part 1

Our slow train continues its crawl on across the 50 states. This week, Washington!

Washington, you gatekeeper of the green. Thank god we have you to protect us from hockey players and good weed. I visited you once and we got along well…. until I arrived in Seattle. It seemed like a good place but it was just too big, too confusing for my small brain. You beat me, Seattle. I lost and I quickly retreated back to Portland. I don’t hold it against you, though. In this case it really was me — not you.

Washington, you’ve been kind enough to give us such things as Bob Barker, the worlds first revolving restaurant, apples, an incredible amount of glaciers, Carol Channing, the worlds largest building (a boeing assembly factory), Kurt Cobain, Judy Collins, Microsoft, the oldest operating gas station in the world, soft-serve ice cream, Bing Crosby, Starbucks, the only rain forests in the united states (whoa…!), Bill Gates, Mt. St. Helens and it’s temper, Jimi Hendrix, Kenny Loggins, Amazon.com, Adam West, red rasberries, hops, pears, concord grapes, pictionary, pickleball, and cranium.

Washington, you proved to be one of the most difficult states to find songs for. There are plenty about Seattle, but most are negative, and the ones that are actually about you are very hard to find. I had lots of problems confusing you with Washington, DC which is ironic because you were trying to avoid that. Up until you were declared a state you were known as the Columbia Territory. You would have kept that name but you didn’t want to be confused with the district of Columbia — then those bastards went and called the city Washington, DC. Jerks.

Boom Bap – Welcome to Seattle
Dwarves – Goodnight Tacoma
Jelly Roll Morton – Seattle Hunch
Steve Vai – The Boy from Seattle
Knut – Seattle
PC Deathsquad – I Drove to Seattle and all I got was a 3 Second Handjob
Conflict – From St Paul to Seattle
Neko Case – South Tacoma Way
Anti Flag – Seattle Was a Riot
McClusky – Bi-Polar Bear Takes Seattle
Nirvana – Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle
 Todd Snider – Talking Seattle Grunge Rock Blues

Stay tuned for two more posts of Washington tunes. Next up we’ve got Virginia so if you feel like contributing some songs, leave some love in the comments.

  • 05.10.2007
  • Uncategorized
  • Comment (3)

May 10th, 2007

The 50 States: West Virginia!

Drrrr…. it’s Thursday and it’s another edition of our Great Guide to the 50 States! Wahhoooooo!

Today we celebrate the great state of West Virginia. I don’t remember anything about WV besides interstate, but I have been told it’s a beautiful place. You just sit there content to be sandwiched between Pennsylvania and Ohio. This makes you the southern most northern state and the northern most southern state. You are a state that spans wide with resources and wider with diversity. We’re lucky to have you, Ms West Virginia.

You’ve given us such things as George Brett, Mothers Day, the worlds largest sycamore tree, Thomas Stonewall Jackson, a kid that scored 135 points in a 1960 basketball game, Don Knotts, the first federal womens prison, the worlds largest and highest steel arch bridge (the new river gore bridge), Mary Lou Retton, Lewis L. Strauss, the lowest crime rate in the country, free rural mail delivery, the golden delicious apple, the electric railroad, and Chuck Yeager.

And you’ve inspired these songs (some good, some tired, most country) have been written about you.

Jason and the Scorchers – Take Me Home
Joni Mitchell – Morning Morgantown
Spike Jones – I Wanna Go Back to West Virginia
Alice Gerrard – The Green Rolling Hills of West Virginia
They Might Be Giants – West Virginia
The Can Kickers – West Virginia Gals
Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown – Salt Pork West Virginia
Edward Thompson – West Virginia Blues
Willie Nelson and David Allan Coe – West Virginia Man
Daniel Johnston – Wild West Virginia
K. McCarty – Wild West Virginia
Chicago – West Virginia Fantasies
Big Wreck – West Virginia
John Denver – Take Me Home
Phill Ochs – Hills of West Virginia

Hey kids! It’s a perfect time to sign up and/or comment. I need help getting tracks together for Washington. Tell your music snob friends to get their ass in here and show me the way to put a post together. Let’s get some steam rollin’ up in here!

  • 05.05.2007
  • Uncategorized
  • Comment (0)

May 5th, 2007

Cinco de Mayo

Mexican Flag

The translation of the phrase Cinco De Mayo is “Let’s get drunk. Early. All day. On tequila. And let’s eat burritos and steal hubcaps.” At one time in history it had some significance and the translation was a more literal “Fifth of May” but time erodes and culture corrupts and the boys of summer might as well be the sons of springs blue agave and black beans.

The holiday originally began as a day to celebrate the Mexican victory over the French Army in the Battle at Puebla in the year of our lord, 1862. There was indeed a reason to celebrate. The Mexican army at 4,000 strong was half the size of Napoleons forces. They were the Alexander Karelin to Mexico’s Rulon Gardner. It was a true upset.

A great victory and one that was worth celebrating. Who among us would like the French to be living a whole lot closer? Light crappy beer garnished with citrus fruits is what speaks to me about everything south of the Rio Grande; not wine and cheese. The last thing we need as a nation is cheese being cooked under the hot Mexican sun, with the smell slowly drifting north.

The problem is that the victory and it’s following celebration were fleeting. Though Mexico defeated Napoleon in the battle at Puebla, they lost the war 13 months later and Mexico City fell under French (booooo!) rule.

At the same time that all this was going on, America was up to its eyes in a little thing called the Civil War. The Battle at Gettysburg solidified a union victory just months after Napoleon secured Mexico. Confederate troops in Mexico were disbanded provided that they would assist the Mexican army in their attempts to repel the French. This worked and American troops were a substantial part of the victory celebration in Mexico City after the execution of the toppled monarchy. It is believed that these troops returned home with a celebration called “Cinco De Mayo.” Today this holiday has become a great excuse for people all over the world to drink tequila for a day. An entire day. And I’ll start at 10:00am. On Friday.

I’ve also decided to tag this post as “States” because Mexico, like Canada, is really just more of a state than a separate country. Thanks, NATO!

Happy independence, Mexico! What a fantastic time of year. Remember Ecclesiastes 3:4? “There’s a time to cry, a time to laugh, and a time to drink tequila.” Yup, that sounds about right.

Reverend Horton Heat – Cinco de Mayo
Liz Phair – Cinco de Mayo
Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass – Numero Cinco
Jimmy Buffet – Cinco de Mayo in Memphis
War – Cinco de Mayo
Lil Rob – Cinco de Mayo
El Vez – Cinco de Mayo

…and don’t give me any shit about the Liz Phair. Sometimes you just have to go with what’s out there. We honestly don’t need another reason to drink Tequila — usually the sun coming up or the sun going down are excuse enough — but if those aren’t good enough for your AA sponsors then point out that listening to Liz Phair while sober is much more dangerous than piloting a bus load of 3rd graders through a top-secret, underground zombie laboratory after drinking a case of Jack Daniels and shooting mikes hard lemonade directly into your veins.

Also worth noting that this is Stu and I’s first collaborative post. Anywhere up above where it says I or We or we otherwise fucked up, just ignore it and drink some more tequila. ARRIBA!

  • 04.11.2007
  • Uncategorized
  • Comment (2)

April 11th, 2007

The 50 States Returneth : WYOMING!

Holy bicycles! The 50 states project? Resurrected? Oh what a glorious day! Oh what a world so alive and full of joy!

For those of you that may be new to the site, new to me, just born, living under a rock, or otherwise mentally infirm, let me feed you the play by play. This blog was originally called Trees Lounge. It started small — just a fat kid with a dream and an irritating narrative voice. He decided that this country is a grande and beautiful place and that we should further discuss the music that’s been written about its landscapes. It’s a hard project to materialize and this kid became caught up in the pitfalls of fame and fortune after 27 (or so) states were completely documented. The mentions in Wired Magazine and Rolling Stone went to his head. The posts became bloated. Like many a drunken captain the ship veered wildly off course. The crew became sea sick. The marine life went belly up. We ran aground just steps from the local bar and immediately imbibed waaaay too much alcohol.

Cut to months later. The posts will resume. The states will be recognized for what they are.

A few new rules, however:

- Posts will be limited to near 10 tracks. This will give me space to breathe and keep the aggregators happy that they aren’t choking on 100 songs at a time. This may lead to states taking several posts to completely cover. There may be 17 posts about Wisconsin (but probably not.)

- We’ll be covering all 50 states, again. This includes the 27 that I’ve already done the work for. I’m lazy. I may add some new tracks. You may contribute ideas via the comments section of this website. We’ll be running in reverse order (or maybe no order at all should my brain see so fit.)

- There will be a grand finale. It will be great.

Without further ado. Wyoming! Great western state built under an endless sky. You’ve given us an unobstructed view of the stars, Jackson Pollock, the western meadowlark, sugar beets, the very first implementation of womens suffrage, a place called yellowstone, devils tower, coal, JC Penny, a horse on a license plate (old steamboat is named that horse), the lowest population density in the country, Buffalo Bill, and lots and lots of space.

We love you, Wyoming. Here are a few tracks penned in your honor.

The Black Crowes – Wyoming and Me
Richmond Fontaine – Laramie, Wyoming
Ocean Blue – Ticket to Wyoming
Neil Young – The Emperor of Wyoming
David Broza – A Night in Wyoming
Tex Ritter – The Hills of Wyoming
The Lucksmiths – Wyoming
Merle Travis – Oh Why Did I Ever Leave Wyoming
Slim Cessnas Auto Club – Cheyenne
Ennio Morricone – Farewell to Cheyenne (!!!)
Micky and the Motorcars – Rock Springs to Cheyenne
Ramblin Jack Elliott – Leaving Cheyenne

Next up: Wisconsin. Leave me some love in the comments if you’d like to help out.

We drink Jim Beam. RSS Feed.