Good one, Elmer. Washing dishes is prime time for writing songs. I wrote Ten Pound Radio in completion (not that there's a lot to it) taped it, was playing it back and starting to sing harmonies to it, all while washing a single load of dishes. Admittedly, as a single man working a demanding job and raising two sons alone, my single load of dishes didn't resemble anyone elses...



When The Messengers sang at Dave Para and Cathy Barton's Big Muddy Festival in Boonville, Missouri, Ruth and I went out early, rented a car in St. Louis and took stretches of Route 66 over into Arkansas. There's a new umpteen lane superhighway parallel to the old route 66, and not all of it is still there, but we got off the superhighway every once in awhile and wandered along (relatively speaking) on Route 66, stopping to eat at a diner, and just enjoying an older way of travel.)

I grew up on Highway 51 in Wisconsin, and was talking to Ruth about it when we were visiting my Mother a couple of weeks ago. I used to fool around on a railroad overpass, over Highway 51, and I have a lot of memories about it. My Mother worked at Parker Pen, which was on Highway 51, as well. It's not quite as famous as Route 66, because Nat King Cole never sang a song about it, but Dylan's second or third album was Highway 51 revisted.

Then, I was plunked down last night after a very busy day of singing and family gathering and when I turned on VH1 they were talking about Rockford, Illinois where my youngest son lives, and where I was planning to retire until I met Ruth. The rock group Cheap Trick is from Rockford, and they just released a new album simply titled "Rockford." Not the smartest move commercially, but I thought that it was cool to do it.

Lucky they all weren't from Weehawken.

Jerry