George and the Arizona Star

Arizona Star    3:24
(Guy Clark / Rich Alves)

ã 2002 EMI April Music Inc.
& Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. (ASCAP)

Guy Clark: vocal, guitar
Verlon Thompson: guitar
Darrell Scott: dobro
Overdubs:
Verlon Thompson: mandolin
Darrell Scott: accordion, marimbula
Gillian Welch & Dave Rawlings: harmony vocals

‘Twas in the town of Nashville in the year of ‘75
This Arizona star just fell out of the sky
Shinin’ like a diamond she had tombstones in her eyes
She liked drinkin’ she liked smokin’ she liked dancin’ in the aisle

She was a pre Madonna primadonna part time southern belle
She shoulda been an actress she played the part so well
She might’ve been a singer you really couldn’t tell
She was the Arizona star and she was born to give ‘em hell

Chorus
When you’re cool the sun shines all the time
So she always kept her shades on to keep from goin’ blind
She was cool she was out there so far
Nothin’ less and nothin’ more than the Arizona star

She had a girlfriend named George and George carried a sword
And wore purple tights and hung out every night
I’m talkin’ ‘bout a circus I’m talkin’ ‘bout three rings
Four or five clowns in a washing machine

She never met a stranger as far as I could tell
She was the Arizona star Jim McGuire he knew her well
She made real an oxymoron she made mirrors she made smoke
She had a curve ball that wouldn’t quit a girlfriend for a joke

It was in the fall of 1973 that I saw George and the Arizona Star in a club in San Francisco. I think I even shared the stage with them in an open mic night scene at Coffee Gallery on Grant. Either way I was a fan the second I heard the music and humor.  "Mock Rock" is what they called their act. 

I was such a fan that while working at a silkscreen printing company I designed and printed a few George and the Arizona Star tee shirts with a dripping ice cream cone with a cherry on top the was something reminiscent of a Magnollia Thunderpuusy cone from Haight Street. I know I have my wife's original shirt somewhere ... I swear after forty years I'll find it and send it to Girl George who is still rockin' in Berkeley and Nashville. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ka4GICN_ozM

Eagle Joke New Mexico

The Eagle, Ben Franklin, and the Turkey

Franklin’s Letter to His Daughter (excerpt)
“For my own part I wish the Bald Eagle had not been chosen the Representative of our Country. He is a Bird of bad moral Character. He does not get his Living honestly. You may have seen him perched on some dead Tree near the River, where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the Labour of the Fishing Hawk; and when that diligent Bird has at length taken a Fish, and is bearing it to his Nest for the Support of his Mate and young Ones, the Bald Eagle pursues him and takes it from him.
“With all this Injustice, he is never in good Case but like those among Men who live by Sharping & Robbing he is generally poor and often very lousy. Besides he is a rank Coward: The little King Bird not bigger than a Sparrow attacks him boldly and drives him out of the District. He is therefore by no means a proper Emblem for the brave and honest Cincinnati of America who have driven all the King birds from our Country . . .
“I am on this account not displeased that the Figure is not known as a Bald Eagle, but looks more like a Turkey. For the Truth the Turkey is in Comparison a much more respectable Bird, and withal a true original Native of America . . . He is besides, though a little vain & silly, a Bird of Courage, and would not hesitate to attack a Grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his Farm Yard with a red Coat on.”

Santa Fe Plaza Busker Beating

Buskin' their asses. You bet. No guns. You watch. We're not gonna take it anymore. Never did ... never will.

If there is an enemy, it's City Hall ... economic brutes.

Santa Fe busker bleeding