Road To Hatteras(Part V): Long Island to NYC in the Rain (listening to 'Pancho and Lefty')
by Dee Dee
(tho a continuation of my travels to Hatteras, just want to be sure to tell all, that this part is about being on the road, listening to music & reflecting about alt.surfing & GP; and tho headed on the road to surfing, there is no direct surfing content): Tho I stayed up late checking the evening news....I still did not hear mention again about
the 15 family memorials to be held in NYC the next day or a # to call to find out more about where they were being held & which ones were ok for the general public to attend.I thought then about whether I would try to drive into the city, park as close to lower Manhattan as was possible & walk as close to Ground Zero as was allowed (without being in the way) to leave roses at one of the places where others were leaving flowers & messages there. I knew I could do my own memorials, somewhere else & have, in Gloucester...but, it wasn't the same as actually going to NYC & showing support, feeling first hand what everyone was going thru and symbolically showing that I was not afraid to go there & pay tribute to
the incredible, undaunting, shining spirit of all in NYC.I decided, finally...that I would instead plan out my trip better, find the best way to drive there, learn where it was ok to park (or maybe take the train into NYC from Boston), sometime in November or early December....maybe bring one of my relatives with me for a night on the town....or try to meet up with Ljs in Manhattan for dinner. I sensed I'd end up getting lost & being of no help to anyone & just add to traffic, if I drove in that day. I didn't (and don't) feel great about my decision not to venture in there on this trip: I feel like I kinda wimped out on going there. [But I will get there very soon.... I understand one of the music stores near WTC, that was almost completely totaled, has already been rebuilt & reopened this week: I'll go there to do much of my Christmas shopping when I get to NYC.]
...So...all of the above is what was going thru my mind as I fell asleep at the East Deck Motel in Montauk. I left the windows partly open & listened to the howling wind & surf as I drifted off....
Woke up to a heavy rainstorm, loaded up the car & hit da trail well before 10 AM check out time. Stopped in Montauk to get take-out coffee & bagel sustenance from the same bakery I had been to the morning before, and was on my way. Though it made my already slow driving, slower, it really was so mighty fine to drive the length of Long Island in that rain..... was just what the doctor ordered for the ol' heart, soul & spirit.
I slipped v.2 of 'Townes Van Zandt: Anthology 1968-1979' into my mini boombox which was sitting under the nose of Todd's 'Big Ass Bad Boy' 10 footer board, which was resting under the glove compartment of my Pa's ol' '96 Ford Taurus sedan for my drive thru Long Island.(I know, I know...da quintessential antithesis of a happenin' surfmobile if ever there was one!... but I do love it, because of all the fond memories I have of exploring New England back roads with my Pa in his last years, and will drive it most proudly for as long as I can keep it rolling).
It was 100% because of JB's (and also Surfgeo's) posts of fellow Texan deeply soulful songwriter/singer/poet/sage, Townes Van Zandt, that I had decided to pick up this CD last winter. I saw how much they respected & loved Townes & his music. I especially will never ever forget the A.S. post last year, that JB made in honor of a surfing brother who had been lost in Mexico, years earlier: in that post he had included the lyrics to Townes' incredible classic, 'Pancho And Lefty'. After reading that post of JB 's, I knew I wanted to delve much more deeply into his music, lyrics & legacy. For the rest of my time here on Da Shinin' Planet Earth, I will always think of JB & Surfgeo (with _much_ respect & fondness) when I hear (or sing) a song by The Irreplaceable Townes Van Zandt.
I knew that driving to Hatteras would give me time to really listen to his lyrics & learn to know them. It seemed to me, that Townes' songs were not meant for background music while doing other things....you needed to give your full attention & heart & soul to them to _really_ hear them. I had been listening to Townes' anthology since I left Boston...trying to listen for a song or two that I could learn to sing for (or more better, _with_) JB, because I was so happy of the prospects of him possibly being at GP2K1!
Realistically, I knew there was just a 50/50 chance that JB (and one of his surfing brothers, Eddie) would be able to make it to GP. So _very_, _very_ much had happened & changed, since GP2001 had first started in the planning stages: first, the location & time of GP
had to be changed, due to the Tory House in Buxton being out of commission (_Major_ kudos to Team GP for finding another, even _more_ perfect place to stay, right away!)...then the _profound sadness_ of Surfgeo losing his dear & beautiful sister....then _unfathomably_ the
tragedy of Sept. 11th....it was truly mind-blowing, all that had happened, since the fruition of this year's GP.We had learned in recent weeks, that Surfgeo would not be able to make it there.....after being stranded in the NW, not able to get a flight back home, shortly after Sept. 11th & all that had happened in his family...he knew instinctively, that it was best not to chance waiting
for a flight to GP (and _most_, _most_ understandably so!!). You were 200% there with us in spirit, Dear Stokin' Surgeo!....Ferg & I raised a glass of rum & strawberry sodee (Thank You, Ferg!!!), in honor of you all & the spirit of Panamasolas 2000! [and we also learned, shortly
thereafter, that Rico would not be able to be there ....but, he contributed _so much_ to GP, even so ...and like Surfgeo, was there with us in spirit 200%!....as will become very apparent, in Part 9 (or 10) of my extensive ramblings about this event].I knew that JB would be chancing that same long flight from Texas to the East Coast....and after surfing in El Salvador just a few days before (so _very_ glad you both were able to get there to surf JB!!!). I knew it could be a long driving sojourn to Hatteras...after all of that.
Tho it did ultimately turn out that JB was not able to make it to Hatteras, to me, he was also there 200% in spirit!!.....I've mentioned many times at alt.surfing, just how much I love & appreciate JB and his lively, good fun humor; and I will not ever stop loving him for how much he has made me smile, laugh & raised my spirit during some challenging times. I thought of GP as a chance to meet him, give him a friendly hug & thank him for being such a great friend of mine thru da ascii. ....So.... all this is the long story of why I wanted to listen in depth to Townes Van Zandt's songs, to see if there was one or two of 'em I might learn to sing for (or with) him (at GP, or another time).
After giving a good, long listen to all the songs on this 2 CD anthology....I decided that Pancho & Lefty, If I Needed You & Heavenly Houseboat Blues; were the songs which I could
most easily learn to sing for when I might get to meet JB in Hatteras (or if not then, maybe another time down the road) which happened to conveniently be tracks # 8, 9 & 10 of v.2....all in a row.I came to this 'epiphany', just before I had reached the beginning of my trek along the roads of the famed 'The Hamptons', of Long Island. It was only because of my time at alt.surfing, that I had learned that there was such a place called 'The Hamptons'....before that, I had
cluelessly thought that The Hamptons meant the area surrounding Hampton Beach, just north of where I live, in New Hampshire.As I entered East Hampton, the song 'Pancho & Lefty' came up on the boombox....so I pressed 'repeat' & listened to it 20 or so times in a row, as I drove thru the Hamptons into the outskirts of NYC, in the wind & rain. Tho I had heard the song sung by Emmy Lou Harris, Willie Nelson & coffee house friends of mine many, many times over the years....no versions could come even close to the deeply soulful-to-the-core way that Townes was singing it (which reminded
me quite a lot, of the singing of Woody Guthrie, Hank Williams & Jimmie Rodgers)....it was then that I _really_ learned to love that song.....and also, _really_ came to hear the story for the first time: all this time, I had felt I understood what happened to Pancho....but, had never grasped the part about Lefty. With all the elements of a most incredible, classic, very fine story....I realized that Townes left us all guessing about the full extent of the real story....but,
to my clueless ears & perception, I thought the answer might especially lie in this verse (and JB & Surfgeo, if I ever get the honor of meeting you both....I'd love to hear more about your insights into the songs):'The poets tell how Pancho fell
And Lefty's living in a cheap hotel
The desert's quiet and Cleveland's cold
...So the story ends we're told...'
-------
Next Up: NYC to Cape May Ferry....
(and thinking lots 'bout Mark 'n' Surfsarge
of Stokin', Rippin', Chargin' Team New Jersey!!!!).Love (& G'Night All!),
Dee 'Motormouth' Dee!
(very special thanks to all who have read to this far
...and to those who haven't: I fully understand!!:o)
Posted to the alt.surfing newgroup
From: corrall@mediaone.net (corrall@mediaone.net)
Subject: Road To Hatteras(Part V): Long Island to NYC in the Rain(listening to 'Pancho and Lefty')
Newsgroups: alt.surfing
Date: 2001-10-29 23:37:28 PSTSearch the thread at: http://groups.google.com/groups?q=Road+To+Hatteras(Part+V):&hl=en&group=alt.surfing.*&rnum=1&selm=3BDE5795.6E4717CA%40mediaone.net