The Fallen Friday for today is actually an artist that more likely faded away. I was too young to know who Billy Squier really was, but it doesn’t mean that I don’t like lots of his material. It’s quite the opposite, I like a whole lot of his stuff.
My choice for today stems from an article I read last night about the moon. It seems that there’s a spot in Colorado that was chosen by the Anasazi that is called Chimney Rock. What makes this place special? According to the article its because they built a ceremonial place to view where the moon stands still once every 18 or so years.
What makes that so interesting is that one, someone actually noticed the moon rose in the same spot over the course of three days way back in about the year 1076. That’s a mightly long time ago, and considering the technological advances, I’d say its amazing someone even noticed this about the moon. Chimney Rock is two naturally occuring spires of rock a long way from water and food. So for the indians to build such a place was out of the ordinary.
As I looked on a map, I noticed it’s near Durango Colorado. That’s a place I’ve been to before. It makes me curious as well to know if it’s very far from Dead Horse Point. And well, I then realized that Dead Horse Point is in Utah. The distance between them is roughly 480 miles, that’s a good 6 to 7 hours of driving. I’ve never been to Chimney Rock but I suppose I’ve been close while I was in Durango – that’s a mere 50 miles away. So why would I think about this?
One thing is, I have a facination with ancient indian civilization. It has nothing to do with my last name. Often times people think I’m native American because of the whitesides name. Its not, it’s English, or even Scottish if you go back far enough. It amazes me how in tune with nature they were without the advent of modern science and technology. I’m willing to bet that in some ways they were more advance in their understanding of their surroundings than we’ll ever be. Which in a way is sad.
As for Dead Horse Point. I’ve been there. It’s a huge vision to undertake. I had a road trip once with my mom and it’s one of the stops we made along the way. I freaked her out by standing on the edge of a cliff that overlooks the scenery below. The Colorado river winds through the terrain 2000 feet below Dead Horse Point. Geez, that’s so the opposite of Chimney Rock, which is a point for looking up to the sky, not down at the ground below. Ok, so at some point I will have to make a trip back out to Colorado to make sure I get to see Chimney Rock. The national park there sells tickets, of which there are very few, specifically to watch the moon. Of course it will be another 18 years from now when it will be considered to be standing still. I guess I should mark my calendar now and make plans to be there when that happens.
I imagine that if I had been an indian in a previous life, I was likely a stoic leader who had solitary moments. It’s those solitary moments when you can feel alone; especially at night. While I don’t believe this is what Billy Squier had in mind when he wrote the song. It was his song I thought of when I was reading the article. Thus that’s how I got my crazy connection.
Billy had such a strong sense of great pop rock writing. I suppose he even had some great producers that probably had him at the cutting edge of production when he was a viable artist. If you’ve never heard of him, you should go immerse yourself in what he did. If you’re a musician looking to cop some great ideas for writing a hit song, you can’t go wrong stealing some of his ideas. They’re pure pop rock brilliance. Do yourself a favor and get this disc – Don’t Say No. You won’t regret it. I guarantee it.
(** Disclaimer: Should Billy Squier’s label attempt to make me feel like I should have been alone in listening to this brilliance, I’ll be putting the audio into the straight jacket and putting it where the sun don’t shine. The text will go on alone in this post. **)