In celebration of our one-year anniversary, York Staters is proud to announce the creation of a new semi-regular column, similar to Tastes of the Region or our County Courthouse Series. Called “Stops Along the Way,” its purpose is to highlight those places in the paths of our lives where we pause. These are the little spots in life where we rest for a moment, gain knowledge, joy or assistance before continuing upon our myriad of journeys. These places are not destinations in the proper sense of the word, but are the planned or unintented links in the chain that makes up a trip.
These “Stops along the Way” can be literal—the physical places we visit on our journies- or metaphoric. Or both. The purpose is simple: to expand our appreciation for the unique landscapes of our Upstate communities and the effect that they have upon our lives. What types of places can be included? A big tree that you always pass while walking the dog, the diner that you always stop for lunch while driving to your parent’s house or that spot where you always slow down the drive so that you can see the lake—covered in morning mist or glistening in the moonlight. It is these places that enrich our lives as much as any, but are ones that we rarely take the time to fully appreciate.
“Stops along the Way” celebrates the journey itself and hopes to call into question the goal-driven values that speed up and depersonalize our lives. Instead it promotes a view of life as a process—one in which we do not always have a goal in mind and never know the fully control the direction of.
To submit your Stops along the Way, please email us at york.staters (at) gmail (dot) com. Please feel free to visit our Mission Statement and Submission Guidelines with any of your questions. We look forward to hearing from you.
-Jesse
What are “the little spots in life where we rest for a moment, gain knowledge, joy or assistance before continuing upon our myriad journeys?” For me it’s usually during snatches of songs where I’m either singing along or playing a mean air guitar. These are some of my more memorable stops along the way:
ReplyDeleteAC/DC, “Highway To Hell”: Angus Young last 45 seconds of song, dragged out guitar riff before last chorus.
B-52’s: “Love Shack” Cindy Wilson shrieking “Tin Roof. RUSTED!”
Beck: “Where Its At”--the chorus when my wife deliberately sings the wrong lyrics--substituting “Where it’s at/ I got two televisions and a microwave” for “two turntables and a microphone.”
Ben Folds Five, “Steven’s Last Night In Town”: trying to hold the 10 second long note on the word town at end of song.
The Clash: “Brand New Cadillac” both the guitar solo 50 seconds into song and the half screamed, half strangled lyric “Jesus Christ, where’d you get that Cadillac?”
Aretha Franklin: “Climbing Higher Mountains”, after song is over one voice calls out louder than everyone “That’s ALRIGHT Aretha!
Jimi Hendrix, “Red House”: lyrics talk about his bad feeling that his baby don’t live there no more: Jimi says “that’s alright, I still got my guitar, look out now!” into cool solo
Queen, “We Will Rock You” Brian May squalling guitar solo segueing into “We Are the Champions.” (I don’t really like either song, just the connecting riff!)
Bob Seger, “Night Moves”: vocalizing every partial phrase, groan, whoop and shout for the final 1:45 minutes after final verse
Bruce: “Jungleland” intro--strings to solo piano, slowly building up to crescendo where we all scream in unison “as we make our stand, DOWN IN JUNGLELAND!” Fist pump optional.
Congratulations on your first anniversary of blogging. Yorkstaters is a great blog.
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