Greetings and welcome to today's Baja Arizona Kossack's Open Thread. Membership in BAK is now approaching 60. We have a chapter in Flagstaff and, with the addition of Kossack memofromturner, we are now international. We have a growing Phoenix chapter as well. I suppose we'll have to organize some sort of underground railroad after the separation to get those folks out. I have a musical program lined up for this afternoon, but business first.
A Picnic ?
Baja Kossack piratedan last week suggested a picnic/meet-up. I think this is an excellent idea. We need more planning, I'm hoping we can do some of that today. I would be willing to travel to any spot from Catalina State Park to Madera Canyon, but so far, Reid Park seems to be favored as a central location. This is OK with me since I live only a mile away. If we decide on Reid Park, the picnic must take place during April. The Tea Party will be having a big she-bang there on April 29 featuring Andrew Briebart no less. I don't know the half-life of Stupid, but the park may be toxic all 'til 4th of July.
A Flag ?
I don't know what kind of flag we'll want for Baja Arizona after separation. Maricopa County has apparently settled on this one:
On to the Music ...
Tucson Songs
These are all the songs I could think of with "Tucson" in the lyrics. Please post others if you have them. We'll start with Jim Campbell's The Lights of Tucson because I like the pictures that are in the video.
The best-known Tucson song is probably this one by the Beatles:
This one may be my favorite, Willin'. It was written by Lowell George and originally recorded by Little Feat. Here is Baja's own, the lovely and talented Linda Ronstadt:
Linda sings a duet with Paul Simon on this cut from his Graceland LP, my pick for the best album of the 80s:
Intermission
Back to the Songs
Merle Haggard wrote a Tucson song, The Seashores of Old Mexico. He later recorded it with Willie Nelson. Here is his original version:
Mel Tillis had one too:
Tucson gets a mention in this Grateful Dead classic:
And finally, this one from Tucsonan Al Perry. My son and I made the video.
Well, that's all I got for today. Let's talk about that picnic.