these guys were a favorite of mine in the seventies. at the time i first discovered the joys of Panama Red, they had already put out four or five albums.

this was my favorite album -- their first. on this album, my favorite song was this one. (clickable link to have a listen.)

"Farewell, Angelina", from this album (written by Bob Dylan) is also a favorite.

i have nothing but very pleasant associations with this music. i was very young, then -- seventeen, just starting a summer of clinicals for nursing school. i hung around with a Wild Irish Rose, cutting up in and out of class.

we used to hitchhike to Weedsport (ironic name, that, especially in the seventies, and i know you know what i'm talking about) and chill out with a bunch of hillbillies boys in a shack behind the big red barn. we'd have NRPS blasting, and play backgammon, cards, and there might have been some mackin' goin' on. or, we'd drink beer and take turns singing to these records over and over.

i have all three of them in vinyl. i never could let them go.

it was a lot of fun. nothing bad happened there. it was warm, and comfortable. kinda like an oasis in that crazy summer, when i was learning how to pass meds, catheterize patients and clean up shit. that summer i witnessed a stillborn birth, saw a woman die, and assisted at a thoracentisis that made me feel woozy. in the space of that summer i was told i would never be good enough to be a nurse, and by the end had found some redemption to pass my clinicals with a B+. it was nuts.

i went to clinicals, worked, studied. the Wild Irish Rose and i would tear off once a week or so, and It Was Good.

****

Watergate and the Viet-Nam War were constantly in the news. Bruce dropped Born To Run and Pink Floyd blew me away with Wish You Were Here. Sweet was all over the place with "Fox On The Run" and "Ballroom Blitz". i still went skating now and then.

the summer before was a nightmare and the next summer would really, really suck, but this one was a keeper. i wasn't easy in my mind, but i was cool. i was cool.


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