Sun Ra and the Arkestra recorded a song on the album Lanquidity called There Are Other Worlds (they have not told you of).
I grew up thinking the work-a-day world, the world in which every day you get up and head to work,insert yourself into some kind of strange hierarchy and perform tasks of apparently vital importance, was the normal way of navigating this life. That’s what my parents did, although my dad started his own business and did the work-a-day thing his way. Even though I became a painter along the way, I kept up a good job. Ra was right, though. There are other worlds. My pal East Texas Red pointed me to the YouTube channel belonging to one Hobo Shoestring. Here we can follow Shoestrings adventures riding the rails. It is a rough and ready, dangerous life Mr. Shoestring has chosen, but he’s found a way to live free and that’s something, isn’t it?
Here is one of his recent videos…
I suppose there is a part of all of us that yearns to step off the grid and seek adventure, whether it is riding the rails or riding the range, or whatever. Here is Nanci Griffith performing Night Rider’s Lament, featuring the stunning yodeling of cowboy singer Don Edwards.
My Squeeze Box Man stories explore, among other things, a tension between holding down a job and the desire to find a different kind of adventure through music. In the stories, the unionized gig at the Bottle & Can saved his bacon after his first career as a musician ran its course. Later, when he took one more kick at the can in the music biz, he left the Bottle & Can far behind.
27th Street 