Memorial Day Trespassings

What has this Norway Maple on the Amherst Common got to do with Memorial Day?

It was planted 41 years ago to honor the fallen.

My cousin was planning to pick me up in Amherst to go to a cookout on Memorial Day. However, there were no buses, so the only way for me to go to Amherst was to walk. My cousin would have come into Northampton to get me of course, but I welcomed the adventure of travelling the Norwottock on foot.

My quest began in Northampton at the start of the new addition of the rail trail, located by the combination Kentucky Fried Chicken and Taco Bell - or as everybody calls it, Kentucky Taco 

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Here is a view from an overpass looking down North Street towards King Street.

Frankly the new section is not all that scenic, consisting mostly of back views of the businesses on King Street.

While passing behind the abandoned Honda dealership, I noticed that one of the large windows was broken. Indeed, it was large enough so that I could go inside if I wanted to. 

Dare I?

But of course, we citizen journalists routinely go where others fear to tread. 

 

However, once I squeezed my way through the window there really wasn't much worth seeing. Vandals have been through the place, and it's a mess.

The letters that once made up the front sign now lie scattered among the debris. 

A roadtrip poster is all that holds together the shattered glass.

On well, it was time to leave this decaying remnant of the local automobile industry and continue on my merry way. Soon I was on the Norwottock Trail, where I could see the crops rising on the fertile farm fields of Hadley.

All along the way there was evidence of the tree-toppling storm of last week.

At one point on the trail I passed an old abandoned factory - and noticed that a window was open!

Should I commit yet another Memorial Day trespass? I would have, but the window was too small. Yet I did stick the camera through the opening and captured this image of the ruins inside.

It was just as well that I couldn't get in, as it did not look very safe at all. What is very safe and very welcome is the new ice cream place that has opened on the trail by the Maple Farms health food store. I stopped for a vanilla cone.

The man in the mirror.

Finally arriving in Amherst, I waited in the Starbucks for my cousin to arrive. Here is the view through the window of downtown Amherst as it appeared on Memorial Day.

Late that afternoon on the ride back my cousin wanted to stop at the old railroad trestle over the river to watch the sun set. 

As dusk fell upon the mighty Connecticut, I was reminded once again of how our Valley is truly God's Country. 

Jeff Ziff sent along this video showing Memorial Day in Monson.

 



 

Jeff is best known to the Valley blogosphere as the videographer behind one of the most indepth YouTube sites for local music. Alas, his priceless archive of musical performances was wiped out by YouTube recently, as Ziff himself explains:

 

Hi Tom, I saw this sign in Brimfield State forest, I thought you might get a kick out of it.



So...My youtube site has been deleted, all fucking 401 videos.....all 300 subscribers...and the sodafixer name....gone! This was over 4 years of uploading! My first thoughts were....fuck this...Im not even going to bother doing that again, and then of course...I came to my senses...like you the blogger...I have to constantly show the world my videos and my photos..I am hooked. I started building my youtube site again, this time as...what else...SODAFIXER2.
As of this email I have 13 videos uploaded. 1 year ago, I uploaded a video from a local blues band which was thrilled to have me give them exposure, they really liked the video and was happy to see the numbers spinning. Well, it turns out the song they were singing in the video was a Bo Diddley song, and the label (BMG I think) was not as happy as we were to see the video. That was strike one.
Now, I got home from work a few days ago and checked my email as I do, to find one from youtube saying...there has been a complaint against you from Sony records because of copy right infringement on my Johnny Winter Video (when he was at Stearns square 2 years ago).
The very next email says...there has been another complaint against you from Sony on your Johnny Winter video...this is strike 3 we have deleted your account!
Tom, I felt like crying...all of that work....gone. I knew this was a possibility, I know you are supposed to get permission (it has the rules on youtube everytime you upload) but I really thought seeing there were millions of users...what are the chances they would bother me? Well, I guess the bigger you get...the more you are on their radar. DAMN!

Fortunately, Jeff has many of the lost videos on backup at home and will repost them, but tragically there is no way to completely restore the priceless archive of local music that was lost.

Speaking of local music, Damon was rocking Sunderland this weekend.

Rail Trail Extension

Exploring the rail trail extension.

 



Coming from the direction of Amherst towards Northampton, the Norwottock Rail Trail comes to a glorious end as you cross the mighty Connecticut River by means of the former rail road trestle (above). However, over the summer they've been working on an extension of the trail, one that requires you to cross busy Damon Road. 

All summer there were no trespassing and construction signs barring the entrance, but recently I noticed they were gone and a ribbon of brand new black top beckoned. I decided to check it out. Of course one must never embark upon unknown territory unprepared, so first I stopped at the rail trail oasis to fill a Coke bottle with some cold, sparkling water. 

In case I got hungry I also brought along some healthful peasant bread from Trader Joe's. Guaranteed to keep ya regular!

Right off you have to pass beneath a I-91 overpass, which is covered with graffiti. Of course with this being the north-Valley, even the graffiti is artistic. 

It sure is peaceful walking along the brand new black top beneath a majestic canopy of trees.

Inevitably, along with all that new black top comes some new stockade fences from the abutting property owners. One person's nature trail is another person's invasion of privacy.

Unfortunately, just a little further on and you hit Woodmont Street. The trail extension is over! While it's a nice little stroll while it lasts, it simply doesn't last very long! It ends by some rail road tracks, so I took this picture. 

Whenever I'm around railroad tracks I'm reminded of the time when I was a boy in old Pine Point and me and some friends of mine were fooling around on the tracks that run between Five Mile Pond and Lake Lorraine. Suddenly we came upon the skeleton of a dog, with one half of it lying on one side of the rail and one half on the other. It wasn't hard to figure out what happened to that poor creature.

Anyway, my adventure on the rail trail extension turned out to be not so adventurous. I didn't mind though. I just headed towards downtown Northampton to see what kind of action was going down at the Haymarket Cafe, strolling along munching on peasant bread and contemplating an adventure of a different sort.

I don't know how funny this will seem to you folks outside Massachusetts, but here's Bo Burnham spoofing a local ad. 

UMass Tie-dye

After getting all heavy on the sexual politics yesterday, I thought I'd go a bit lighter today and show you some stuff that's been accumulating in my camera lately.

At lunchtime the other day at UMass they set up a "Tie Dye Station" by the Student Union where you could get a free tie-dye t-shirt just like in the movie Woodstock. The catch was that you had to make it yourself!

Of course that's pretty easy, since as the name implies all you have to do is tie it and dip it in the dye.

 



Once you've gotten it colored like you want, then you hang it out to dry on this clothesline.

Are you wondering whether I made one? No, I don't like tie-dye particularly, it's too garishly colorful. I know it's meant to mimic the kind of color patterns one hallucinates on LSD, but to me it looks like something a clown would wear - not that I've got anything against clowns. I just prefer my clothes a little more subdued.

Next to the tie-dye clothesline was the always welcome sexual superhero Captain Condoms, doing his good deed of giving everyone free condoms with their free shirt.

The clenched fist "gonzo" symbol of alternative journalist Huntsr S. Thompson adorns this cement flower pot outside - where else? - the UMass journalism department at Bartlett Hall.

On the rail trail I see that the Anarchists continue their spray painting, this time using a stencil on one of the trail's tunnels.

I sympathize with the sentiment, but anarchy is woefully impractical. The end result of anarchy is not freedom but tyranny, since the anarchic chaos eventually results in the most ruthless faction promising order taking over.

 Fortunately it is not chaos but peace that one finds on the rail trail, as demonstrated by this beautiful image I captured just after sunset last week from the rail trail bridge over the Connecticut River. 

Life is good.

 

Have you checked out the hot new website In the Valley yet? Tony Mateus takes you on photo tours of some of our Valley's most beautiful locations, such as Mount Norwottock (below).

I predict this blog will evolve in interesting directions. Check it out yourself by clicking here.

Bewildering Bovines in Hadley

Fear of Cows.



A couple times this summer I tarried too long on the rail trail, and so had to walk the last stretch back to Amherst in the dark. There is a farm in Hadley I must pass where in the daylight you see black cows out in the field. 

Yet as the sun sinks, they drift closer, ever closer to the fence that divides them from the rail trail. 

What is it that draws them to the fence as the sun sets? Perhaps they are frightened in the day by all the traffic on the trail, and as dusk falls maybe they realize that the humans are leaving and they can come to the trail in peace and remain undisturbed until dawn.

Or maybe that explanation is too logical. It might be something we humans can not fathom, some mysterious bovine ritual. In any case, it sure is creepy when I have to walk past their hulking presence in the dark.

It may seem silly, but I actually sometimes sweat with fear when walking past those cows at night. I don't know what I'm afraid of. I guess I'm afraid that the cows will actually be on the trail itself, although there is a fence that should prevent that. Yet I never quite trust it to keep the beasts at bay.

My nephew Ryan was in West Brookfield recently and saw two female cows trying to hump one another. He took this picture:

Cows are queer? Now I feel in even greater danger!

In a nightmare I see myself walking along the rail trail. It is pitch dark, only the feel of the pavement beneath my feet keeps me on the trail. Suddenly I walk into the solid wall of flesh of a big black cow! The collision startles the cow into shitting on the spot before fleeing across the field. The fright of it all causes me to have a massive heart attack and I'm dead before I hit the ground.

The early morning rail trail joggers find me the next day, lying next to the cow excrement. When people read about my demise in the paper, they shake their head and say, "Poor Tom Devine, his bullshit finally caught up with him."

There was a big display outside the University Library today of all the clubs on campus who were trying to recruit members. For those who like a lot of action, there was the flying feet and fists of fury of the Karate Club.

At the other extreme, there was the nerd heaven of the Chess Club.

 



The Republicans were on hand, waving a sign featuring right-wing sex symbol Ann Coulter.

I was told that an angry leftist came storming up and told them that the image was "misogynist and pornographic." The GOPers laughed in his face and the leftist walked away in a huff.

One person's turn-on is another person's obscenity.

The Summer of Love 40th Anniversary tour which passed through Northampton in July reached its climax this weekend in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. Among those performing was Taj Mahal (below) who grew up in Springfield's Mason Square and who even has a street named after him in that neighborhood.

Speaking of San Francisco music, someone sent me these old Jefferson Airplane/Starship bubble gum cards in the mail. Whoever you are, thanks! 

 




Finally, here is the Jefferson Starship performing recently on The Today Show in New York City. 

Norwottuck Trail Snaps

Assorted Photos.

I have occasionally gone rail trailing between Amherst and Northampton this summer, and I've sometimes taken pictures as well. These snaps have been accumulating in my camera, so it's time to clear them out. Recently there were vandals afoot on the trail. Apparently they were spraycan wielding Anarchists calling for chaos!

The Anarchists seem to have been accompanied by their close friends and allies the Dadaists and Absurdists, who used the spray paint to write - what else?

Lest anyone object, someone (an Arts Major?) wrote this warning:

This graffiti is a call for courage.

While this one reminds us of what we too often forget.

All the farms in Hadley have switched from growth to harvest mode, as evidenced by this truck parked along the rail trail overflowing with fresh potatoes. 

The only place to buy any refreshments on the rail trail is at Sophia's Polish Restaurant which has this giant Coke bottle ad outside. It is quite effective, whenever I see it I feel compelled to go in and purchase some of the world famous caramel colored sugar water. 

If you like your rail trail refreshments free and lo-calorie than go on a bit and you will come upon the public fountain and air-tire oasis located behind Country Nissan on Route Nine. 

No one minds this graffiti, scrawled as an expression of gratitude.

 



The Springfield City Council recently took away the license of a trouble-making store. Yet the store owners apparently have kept operating anyway. Good citizen Bill Dusty however used his trusty camera to record the violation for all to see. 

 

This may not seem like an earth shattering issue, but here again is a perfect example of the new citizen media - we are armed (with cameras) we have access to mass audiences and we are determined to expose wrong doing in every field. Evil politicians, crooked business people and bad actors everywhere beware! Your day is done.