I should not be writing anything right now, because I see road in front of me, and feel goofy from too much driving. Had to take 24 hours off because of truly scorching heat in Nebraska on Tuesday. The car I was driving has no air conditioning or even air vents, and there was no escape from the 100+ degree sun over the endless prairie. It set a record for the area of I don't know how many degrees, but a car is a solar collector and it felt like at least 120. A moving oven. I kept buying bags of ice which I threw on top of the dog (this works like magic), but after a while I started feeling faint -- not a good idea at 75 MPH. The realization of what could happen triggered enough adrenaline to get me through to Des Moines, where I hung out until the weather broke a bit. Drove from Des Moines to South Bend, Indiana last night, then today all the way to Philly. But I am a bit spaced. (I have driven across the country more than a dozen times, but never had this kind of serious trouble with heat before.)

Here's a tune which helped keep me going on the road. Good driving music, and while I have a collection of around 750 doowops, this one kept mysteriously replaying itself (too often for "random play") and just followed me across the country. I have one of those MP3 hard drive deals (Creative Nomad Jukebox) and it has a mind of its own. Of course, I like the song, and could have been imagining it. The windows were open and I was broadcasting the CNJ unit through the car's old FM radio, so I often couldn't make out exactly what was playing....

The last time I put a song up on my blog (a favorite by The Students) Chaz at Dustbury.com knew something more about the group; maybe someone will do the same this time. The song is "I Only Love You," by The Passions, a Bronx-based white Doowop group, from 1960. The pizzicato (my blog seemed overdue for a Classical reference) is magnificent, as is the mixing. A thoroughly haunting song, which made me feel that the ghosts were along for the ride.

You can stream it here.

UPDATE: Reading this made me realize that I nearly went the way of the 10,000 dead French! (C'est la morte!)