Not to make you feel all old, or anything, but....

Let's go back in time to 1965, when a young hippie and a friend tossed a VW van-load of trash off a cliff in the western Massachusetts town, creating a stir -- and a song that clocks in at 18.5 minutes long.

Happy 40th anniversary to: Alice's Restaurant Massacree.


I can see you shaking your head. You think I'm off with the time on that song. Believe me, I know exactly how long that Alice's Restaurant is. Why? Because for about 8 years I played it on the radio at least once in the week before Thanksgiving or, even better yet, on Thanksgiving day. (Used to be a noontime staple for rock stations, though I guess it's no longer today)

It's funny about some of those songs. I hear them, and there's an immediate reaction, just like pavlov's dog. Don't believe me? Find an old fm rock jock. Ask them what happens when they hear hear "Stairway to Heaven," or "roundabout." I would bet the house that every single one feels the need to "heed the call of nature." Even if they've been fasting for 40 days and 40 nights, they'll still be compelled to (at least) walk into the bathroom*.

* in the dark ages, they'd also need a smoke. Any kind.

Which brings me to another observation. How do kids these days roll joints? I mean, there's no such thing as a double lp to open up?**.

** this is just an mental observation, purely rhetorical, of course. Having never seen anything with my own little eyes even remotely related to what I'm writing about, I'm not even sure what I am talking about. hello? What?