Dan trip part 2: Lost in the ozone

I don't know how I managed, but I navigated through various detours to East Ohio and then finally to merge onto 28 toward Etna and Sharpsburg. I kept going and lo and behold I arrived in Blawnox, which seems to be a Allegheny River town with a wide-open zoning for bars and nightclubs.

Moondog's was a likable music bar/roadhouse place. There was an extra buzz with a national act playing instead of the usual local bands. I had missed only about 30 minutes of the show, but they went on for more than an hour more after that, and held back most of their hit songs to the end, so I was happy.

If you don't remember them, Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen had a kind of hippie rockabilly sound in the 70s--a few successful albums and one big hit in "Hot Rod Lincoln." Commander Cody is actually named George Frain. He plays a boogie-woogie electric piano and fronts a hot band featuring a pedal steel guitar that adds a western swing flavor to the proceedings.

Frain at this point looks beaten down from a lifetime of playing in smokey bars--maybe something like Keith Richards. He has a bad limp, and he kind of stumbles around on stage. At one point, he knocks over his piano stand. Despite that, his strong voice and stage presence command attention and the songs got the place rocking.

About half the songs were old favorites: "Smoke That Cigarette," "Down to Seeds and Stems Again," and others. But there is also a brand new album with some great new material. He was working from a set list that was taped to his keyboard, and at one point he showed the list to the audience who were calling out songs he planned to do later in the program, as he called it. When he finished the last song of the evening, "Lost in the Ozone," he tossed the list out to the audience and I snatched it. Later on, it will be worth a scan.



Okay, time to sleep. My plan for tomorrow is to visit GVD starting at 9. I have to make my way over there via Guys Run Road. I imagine I'll figure it out. After all, I'm here for to learn orienteering. (I studied up on it on the plane, having picked up a Silva compass and a book on orienteering from the REI outdoors store the other day. I mean, I've only begun to learn but I think I get the basics of how to use contour maps with this special kind of compass so that you can determine the direction and distance to a point on the map.)

Anyway, with luck I'll have a couple of hours to photograph houses and say hello at the Seidels before heading on the event at Hartsdale. I might have another hour afterwards before heading back to the airport Saturday afternoon.

As I said, I hope to post photos in the morning. Otherwise, I won't be able to post again until sometime on Sunday. I hope this will do till then.