Season of the Fireflies

I don't talk about my band on here much.  I know some guys talk about nothing but their bands, and it gets kind of old.  I want to avoid that, so I will keep it somewhat short.

Back in 2014 I released an album called, "This Divided Highway" by way of my band, "Possum Apple."  I think I have only sold ten copies so far, but hey, you have to start somewhere.  I quickly made two videos for the songs, "Buffalo" and "The Road."  I had always thought about making another video for a song off the album, but never got around to it.

I was inspired to write "Season of the Fireflies" when I was in West Virginia surrounded by fireflies.  So when I was back there this summer I took some film footage for a video.  So here it is.  I hope you enjoy it. 

Hey Mama, Don't Rock Me. Don't Rock Me One Bit.

Have you ever heard a song so much in your life that you wished you never heard it again?  Well, as much music as I listen to it's bound to happen.  But think about this.  Have you ever heard a song so much, but it never actually heard it played on the radio?  That is something to think about it.

I go to a lot of open mic nights and local shows.  So I tend to hear a lot of the same songs.  Here's an example.  Down here in Florida you are guaranteed to hear something from Jimmy Buffett.  It's just gonna happen so get used to it. 

But something struck me kind of strange when I started going to open mics.  I kept hearing this same song that I'd never heard before.  Now admittedly, local radio here in the Tampa Bay area is notorious for only playing classic rock.  So if anything new comes out that isn't Top 40 pop or classic rock, it is lost to the bay area. 

So what is this song I kept hearing? 

It turns out that it's called "Wagon Wheel" from "Old Crow Medicine Show."

Don't get me wrong.  I'm not saying it's a bad song.  It's quite catchy.  But it's very odd that I seem to hear it played out so much, but not on the radio. 

And speaking of radio, it turns out that, "Old Crow Medicine Show's" Ketch Secor wrote the song with Bob Dylan, but lots of other artists have covered it.

Like Darius Rucker (Of Hootie and the Blowfish):

Even Irish singer Nathan Carter got in on the act:

Even Sheryl Crow has played the song along with many, many others.  I won't name everyone since this list will start to get quite long.

When I started writing this blog I didn't realize I wasn't alone in my thought.  My searches took me to the Wikipedia page where it seems a lot of folks agree with me.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wagon_Wheel_(song)

Bans

It has become such a popular cover song at musical gatherings, venues and events that some discourage its performance.


The article also goes on to say that it has become almost as big as "Freebird" in terms of requests at bars.  So again, it seems that I am not alone in my opinions. 

So, in the end, I will leave it at this.  Hey Mama, don't rock me.  Don't rock me at all.  I can go the rest of my life without hearing that song. 

WSTN

When I was younger I had a dream.  A dream to have my very own radio station.  It would not be just any rock radio station.  It would be WSTN, all Satan, all the time.  That's right, I would bring only the hardest, and awesomest death metal, grindcore metal, metal metal, etc.

Of course the main problem would not be the protesters.  No, those are always good for publicity.  It would be that blasted Clearchannel owns everything in the way of radio stations.  The FCC is not handing out any more licences since they say there are too many.  Of course, what they didn't say was that Clearchannel owns them all.

So what would we play?

Well obviously....

I would have different rock shows during the day.  Some mainstream, some punk, some unheard of stuff.  But we would always answer the phones saying this,

"Hail Satan, caller what's your name?"

Then they would say, "Dude my name is Bob, hail Satan!"

"Hail Satan Bob!"

But lets be honest, I know who 90% of the audience would be.

But what would make this job totally worth it?  Well, that would be the other 10%

Also known as "Metal Chicks."

Let's be honest, metal chicks are crazy.  But they are also crazy in bed .... and other places.  

I know the old saying, "It used to be about the music, man!!!!!"  And in the end it would have been about the music.  That is of course, if Clearchannel didn't own everything.

Here's one last really weird fact.  There really is a WSTN.  Here's the Wiki page on it, word for word.  (And I am really not making this up.)

WSTN (1410 FM) was an American radio station formerly licensed to serve Somerville, the county seat of Fayette County, Tennessee. The station was established in 1983 as "WJED", changed to "WSTN" in 1986, and since 2002 its broadcast license was held by Jimmy Swaggart's Family Worship Center Church, Inc. The station went silent on October 25, 2006.