Only In A Tiny Town

[millring]

[jdd2]

Not a dairy queen or supermarket, but there's a good movie about the theater closing in a small dying town. Texas, I think it was.

[dradtke]

I grew up in a town of 6,000. Melva grew up in a town of 2,000, and we now live in a town of 2,000. Then again, St Paul is 20 minutes away.

I'm of two minds about small towns. Here's both of them.

[billhammond]

Mar 30, 2023 16:22:38 GMT -5 jdd2 said:

Not a dairy queen or supermarket, but there's a good movie about the theater closing in a small dying town. Texas, I think it was.

Sigh ...

[drlj]

[Hobson]

The town doesn't have to be all that small for those connections (or on the negative side, for people to know your business). When I left my hometown of Billings, MT in 1980, the population was about 67,000. Now it's about 119,000. My brother was born there and never left. He doesn't get things done in the usual way. He always knows somebody who knows somebody.

I spent 25 years in the Phoenix metro area before I retired. Then moved to just outside a city of 50,000 or so. I'm back to living in a big city under protest. Hate the traffic and the crowds. Love being able to get decent medical care and having lots of restaurants to choose from and having Costco just a couple of miles away. When we resume traveling in this post-COVID age, I'll be glad to not have to drive 80 miles to get to the airport.

[howard lee]

Mar 30, 2023 7:35:12 GMT -5 drlj said:

Ii grew up in a backwards town of 9,000. Lived for 25 years in a village of 8,500, and now live in a thriving metropolis of 34,000. This is is biggest city I have ever lived in and, to me, this is a huge place. There are still plenty of rural areas and downtown is old fashioned and attractive due to being situated around the old courthouse. Still, 34,000 seems like a hell of a lot of people.

Shoot, LJ, we probably have 34,000 people in a 5-block radius over here.

[RickW]

I’m now living in what used to be a small town, but is now just a Vancouver ‘burb. Maple Ridge has about 100,000 people now, and is growing like crazy. The old locals think of it as small town still, but it’s not. The Greater Vancouver Regional District is now around 3 million people. I grew up in North Vancouver, lived all my life here. I like the music, the entertainment of all kinds, the restaurants and pubs. Where we are I can get to mountains, hiking trails and lakes within half an hour, and all the amenities I need are within a 10 minute drive.

I wouldn’t be averse to a small town, but our girls are here. If they weren’t, might consider it, but currently, we’re planning on being carried out of here. The one thing that would really make me hesitate about moving to some place smaller is a lack of a hospital. Our friends on Vancouver Island, in Parksville, he just became very ill, and had to go to a hospital about an hour away.

[Village Idiot]

Mar 30, 2023 12:13:22 GMT -5 Dub said:

I’m reminded of an Iowa town called Early.




Here’s a picture I took one time as we were passing through Early, IA. It’s an abandoned and derelict motel I like to call “the late Early motel.”

That reminds me of driving through Ladora on old highway 6. Unless they've torn them down there were three abandoned hotels like that.

[epaul]

Sounds like a cool place. Personally, I've never lived in any place with a population smaller than 320, but I can imagine it must be nice. Provided there is a coffee shop and bar.

[billhammond]

Mar 30, 2023 14:53:39 GMT -5 millring said:

Mr. M is coming to Mpls. next week to play the very large State Theatre. One of our rock writers writ:

The contrarian Indiana rocker arrives for a three-night stand with an unconventional opening act — clips from vintage movies because his tour is sponsored by cable outlet Turner Classic Movies. Then the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer and his band (with fiddler Lisa Germano back in the fold after a 29-year absence) deliver his classics like “Pink Houses” and “Rain on the Scarecrow” plus choice cuts from last year’s “Strictly a One-Eyed Jack.” On the criminally overlooked and highly commendable album, Mellencamp evoked Bob Dylan in more ways than a gravelly voice, and he got Bruce Springsteen to join him on three numbers.

[Marshall]

[John B]

Mar 30, 2023 20:09:14 GMT -5 Village Idiot said:

Mar 30, 2023 12:13:22 GMT -5 Dub said:

I’m reminded of an Iowa town called Early.




Here’s a picture I took one time as we were passing through Early, IA. It’s an abandoned and derelict motel I like to call “the late Early motel.”

That reminds me of driving through Ladora on old highway 6. Unless they've torn them down there were three abandoned hotels like that.

And that reminds me (Early, that is) of hearing Todd sing, "Getting Up Early."

[Dub]

Mar 30, 2023 12:13:22 GMT -5 Dub said:

I’m reminded of an Iowa town called Early.

I realized that this wonderful song that Greg recorded nearly 50 years ago is difficult to understand in the more recent live video with Bo Ramsey.

Here are the lyrics.

Early one morning I walked out alone,
I looked down the street; no one was around.
The sun was just comin' up over my home,
On Hickory Street in a little farm town. And

[Chorus:]
Oooo-ee, ain't the mornin' light pretty,
When the dew is still heavy, so bright and early.
My home on the range; it's a one-horse town,
And it's alright with me.

Plow broke the prairie, the prairie gave plenty,
The little towns blossomed and soon there were many.
Scattered like fireflies across the dark night,
And one was called Early, and they sure named it right.
'Cause

[Chorus]

Many dry summers parched all the fields,
They burnt the fine colors and cut down on the yield.
But the rain has returned to wash away our tears,
It's the fullest green summer that
We've seen for years. And

[Chorus]

[david]

I grew up about 10 miles outside a farm and state college town, Corvallis. It had 20,000 when we moved there in 1960 but currently is over 60,000.

Now we are in Beaverton, a 100,000-person suburb of Portland. The Portland metro area has about 2 million.

I have never liked suburbia and would be happy to move back to the house I grew up in if that were possible.

[Marshall]

The internet is changing a lot in life. It's possible to do office type work from almost anywhere on the planet. And with the Amazons and on-line retailers, you can find a better selection of goods on line than you can find in even the biggest Big-box stores in urban America.

All that negates some of the negatives to living in small-town America.

It's just dining choices and entertainment that is restricted.

[millring]

Mar 31, 2023 13:17:19 GMT -5 Dub said:

Mar 30, 2023 12:13:22 GMT -5 Dub said:

I’m reminded of an Iowa town called Early.

I realized that this wonderful song that Greg recorded nearly 50 years ago is difficult to understand in the more recent live video with Bo Ramsey.

Here are the lyrics.

Early one morning I walked out alone,
I looked down the street; no one was around.
The sun was just comin' up over my home,
On Hickory Street in a little farm town. And

[Chorus:]
Oooo-ee, ain't the mornin' light pretty,
When the dew is still heavy, so bright and early.
My home on the range; it's a one-horse town,
And it's alright with me.

Plow broke the prairie, the prairie gave plenty,
The little towns blossomed and soon there were many.
Scattered like fireflies across the dark night,
And one was called Early, and they sure named it right.
'Cause

[Chorus]

Many dry summers parched all the fields,
They burnt the fine colors and cut down on the yield.
But the rain has returned to wash away our tears,
It's the fullest green summer that
We've seen for years. And

[Chorus]

There's a very nice (though perhaps perceived by some as too squeaky clean) recording of it by Johnsmith. I tried to find a youtube but there doesn't seem to be one.

On edit: I found it...



I would say that if one is used to Greg Brown's gravely delivery, Johnsmith is going to sound like a comparative John Denver....but I could have said the same thing about Michael Johnson's remake of Rooty Toot Toot for the Moon... and I happen to like both equally and for different reasons (and I heard Johnson's recording before I ever heard Brown's).




(okay, I might give a slight nod to the Brown recording)