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.

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.