Neo made the announcement today that the last post of American Digest is now up. Time to go and catch the last of Gerard's works directly from his site for the last few days the site will be active.
Chambers Brothers - Time Has Come Today
My thanks to Neo for all the work she has done to keep Gerard's site up as long as it was ... seems like not all that long ago Gerard was still writing.
My thanks to her also for her permission and help in getting this site up and running; hopefully "the gang" can stay together and comment on topics far and wide - or even contribute posts for those of you so inclined.
But all good things come to an end ... (bad things seem to last forever).
The Doors - The End
R.I.P., American Digest
Somehow, it's not hard imagining Gerard during the days these tunes were "new".
“Bitter Creek is too miserable a stream to have a name. Tho’ I don’t know [how] Emigrants would get across this desert country without it.”
The 80 miles or so from Duck Lake Station until the Green River Station - and Green River itself - offered little comfort and much danger to passers-through and the Overland employees who lived here. The Overland Central Route ended somewhat past the Rock Springs Station where it re-joined the original Northern Road and the California/Oregon Trails. The country was still desolate; none of the towns of today existed before the railroad came through in 1868. Even "Little America" did not yet exist. :)
These four sections take the story through and past the Bitter Creek country and on to Fort Bridger - the trading post and "meeting of the trails" established by the mountain man Jim Bridger in 1844.
Coming up next: Fort Bridger to Weber Station ... and the end of this tale.
A sample of some obscure – and some maybe not obscure – tunes from my strange and off-the-wall collection.
Today’s selection: Waterboys - Red Army Blues
I changed my mind about this week's tune. I kept the Russia theme - inspired by a comment by John Fleming about Stalin in last week's tune post: "That evil demon Stalin used Russian patriotism to keep himself in power. May he reside in the nethermost circle of Hell where Satan chews his bones with that of Judas Iscariot for all eternity."
A 17yo Russian joins the army in 1943 as a patriot, is part of the conquest of Berlin - and after the war, is sent to a gulag by Stalin because he might have become Westernized for having mingled with Americans.
When I left my home and my family My mother said to me "Son, it's not how many Germans you kill that counts It's how many people you set free!"
*******************
"Dressed in stripes and tatters In a gulag left to die All because Comrade Stalin was scared that We'd become too westernized!"
"Used to love my country Used to be so young Used to believe that life was The best song ever sung I would have died for my country In 1945"
Two books, "The Forgotten Soldier" written of the German view, and "The Day of Viktenty Angarov", the account of a Russian soldier, inspired Scotland's The Waterboys' Mike Scott to write the song.
We didn't win the European war, the Russians did - but our help shortened the effort.
I hope Trump and Putin can finally put an end to this century-long mess. It's not the Soviet Union anymore. Hell, if we can be "friends" with Japan and Germany (maybe). And China and Saudi Arabia ...
An old gold-mining town in eastern California. Not far from Aurora Nevada where Samuel Clemens - before he became Mark Twain - almost made it rich as a miner, not writer. Prospectors were in the area by the late 1850s; it became a formal town in 1876. The population peaked near 10,000 people during the boom years of late 1870s/early 1880s. The mines were productive up to the beginning of WWII but the population had fallen to below 700 by 1910. Considered a semi-ghost town by 1915, a fire destroyed much of the town in 1932, the last resident left in 1943, and it became a California State Park in 1962.
Coming down off the route over Bridger Pass, the stage stopped at Sulpher Springs Station - one of the best defended stations along the line. After Sulphur Springs, travellers had to be prepared for the 80-mile stretch through the Bitter Creek division - alkali water, alkali dust, Indians, bandits, and the never-ending boredom of the bouncing, jarring ride.
Coming up next: Duck Lake Station to "Fort" LaClede
