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Wednesday 19 June 2019

State of the Union - Florida


George writes:
Florida, home of Mrs Shouty (Judge “beauty fades, dumb is forever” Judy). Well, one of her houses is there. For some reason I am expecting there to be many many fine songs to choose from, unlike those rubbishy states like Maine and Montana. Speaking of rubbishy things, “she comes from Tallahassee, she’s got a high flyin’ chassis” will not be featured here. Neither will Clapton’s “Mainline Florida”.. And there is a song by Whiskeytown that cannot feature because the place it references is not in this state.


Things I associate with Florida: oranges, a huge retirement community, the everglades & alligators, hysterical Cubans, CSI Miami, dubious electoral outcomes  (Bush, 2000) There are probably many more delights, but that what’s springs to mind.


First song, an old old blues track by Blind Blake, who might have been born in Jacksonville (Florida) or Newport News (Virginia) (but a la Schrodinger, not both).




Looking at the picture, I suspect Mr Blake was visually challenged. As was one of my grandfathers, blind in one one eye, and visually challenged in the other. He was a lollipop man. He was, no joke.



(Above is Blind Blake, not my grandad)

In Tampa Bay it is illegal to eat cottage cheese after 6pm on sunday. And as I was typing that I wondered what cottage cheese was. I do remember that in the late 1970s in Dundee you could buy small plastic tubs of what was called cottage cheese, small white lumpy stuff in a white creamy sauce. I used to quite like it.

The first song was the blues, and the second is a sort of rock/blues song, by Joan Osborne from her first album Relish. That’s the album with that rather annoying “one of us” track on it, but the rest of the album is quite good, shades of Lucinda Williams (to these ears).


Pensacola is the largest city on the Florida panhandle. Of course I knew not what was meant by a panhandle. But I do now. And so will you if you read this next bit (unless you already knew): it is a narrow strip of land connected (in this case) to a state only one side, like the handle of a frying pan. Look!

(it’s that bit stuck on the left)

See what you’re getting, a good education here and good music. Like my lessons.

And an alert for tree-huggers out there, do not go wrapping your arms around the manchineel tree, it carries loads of toxins and the sap will give you blisters.

But we should all be ranking Florida as one of our top five favourite states, certainly musically, as Gram Parsons was born there.

CC writes: 
From Loose :New Sounds of the New West Vol 3 here are The Shallows with a song about the State capital

16 comments:

  1. Inspired by this article I'm planning a holiday in Sopchoppy, a handy 45 minute drive south of Tallahassee International Airport and only ten miles from the unincorporated community of Panacea.

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    1. George is obviously doing a grand job for the US tourist industry

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    2. Handy for the Ochlockonee River State Park Ernie which I'm sure was the deal clincher

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    3. You know me so well. The park offers the rare chance to see the red-cockaded woodpecker in its natural habitat, and the river's deep brackish waters make it a paradise for fishermen

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    4. Have you two not got work to do?

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    5. I can't speak for Ernie but I am extremely busy

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  2. The Flamin' Groovies released a version of Tallahassee Lassie which was the B-side to "Slow Death". I think both those songs are terrific.
    Still, what can you expect from a man who brazenly admits to liking cottage cheese...

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    1. I brazenly admit to liking Judge Judy (the show), but not cottage cheese, a foodstuff I have not eaten for over 35 years.

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    2. It's not particularly vegan friendly.
      It is also disgusting!

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    3. "It's not particularly vegan friendly." which is why I have not eaten it for 35+ years

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  3. Lots to enjoy in today's post.

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    1. I hope that includes the music, Adam, not just the inane ramblings

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  4. I love your so-called 'inane ramblings', George.

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  5. George really does love his Judge Judy. It has come up in our conversations quite a few times through the years. As a Yank, there is something about having anyone from across the pond watching her program that leaves me a bit uneasy. We have enough PR problems right now.

    Florida is sometimes referred to as a poor-man's paradise, and America's most bizarre stories seem to come from there, but I love it anyway. I have been going there since childhood, and now I take my family there. Not sure I have a thing from a Florida band on the shelf, however.

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