1956 is the year!!

[Anonymous]

lol,

Well, that is my entire point, each generation comes along thinking that all of eternity took until them to discover "good" music, and they will feel comfy with that notion till the next "new generation" comes along... playing their "rubbish"

I'll bet you "perry" fans really hated Elvis when he came along, didn't ya? ......;-)

[Anonymous]

No, Antigates, I never hated him or his music, if fact, i like Love me Tender and a few others, but I'm an "easy-lisnin" music man myself. But I like the Dave Clark Five and a good bit of the British Invasion.

[Anonymous]

Interesting perspective......

When I read the "AL Pearlman" feature in trains, imagine my total shock to read about the man I have worked for,for 27 years, in such stunning detail.

Especialy since my boss has never worked a day on the railroad in his life.

How so? you ask... Well, the excentric personality, devoted to the well being of the company was such a "straight on" clone of our owner, right down to the "lets teach incompetance a lesson, so it never rears it's ugly head again" methodology of training people, my jaw just dropped when reading the article.

I made half a dozen photocopies, and passed em around to my co-workers, just saying "read this, then tell me if it reminds you of anyone"

Their responses the following day were classic.

Among those who have endured the brunt close hand, there is never any doubt that such acts are only the product of a desire to not be beat, and as such are commendable in their own right.

I'll bet if I and that Flannery guy could sit down and share some war stories, we would have pattern after pattern in common.

Pearlman made some mistakes,.....most noteably in his thrift oriented disdain against buying adequate numbers of motive power, early on with NYC.

But, given my own experiances with my own "Pearlman" (he's been on the Forbes 400 for something like 35 straight years, not MANY can make that claim) I'd hitch my wagon to his, any ol day...

After the abuse of each day draws to a close, you realize there aren't many men who he would even look forward to having on his team the following day, and just being one of those is one heck of a compliment, once you learn to read the language.....

[Anonymous]

OK cool, but as a harbinger of change, my bet is a good many of the "big bands" fans rued the day the the "Crooners" captured the imagination of the youth of their day, much as many of them found contempt for Elvis et all, and many of the latter found contempt for the Beatles.

It's almost been a tradition, since Mozart..;-)

[edblysard]

Well, the other choices I had were Beethoven's symphony #4 in B flat major, or Vivaldi's Concerto for Cello, but that one depresses me.
Or Schumann- sonata for piano and violin, but I have to explain that one to my wife, and Whole Lotta Love sorta explains itself.
If your into classical guitars, I could do you Beethoven"s Fur Elise, or Minuet De Devisee,
or Debussy's Pavane in E Minor, but thats a really fussy piece, leaves you wondering where he was going with it...
I know, how about Dave Mason's Classical Gas?
Lots of strings, great beat, modern, sorta, everyone would reconize it, and you dont have to sing along?
Every song the Beatles did, all of Neil Diamond,
anything from Santana to Simon and Garfunkel, Garth Brooks, and maby the most sexy voice I have ever heard, Celine Dion.
I have a few of Old Blue eyes early ones, but their on old Victory disks, and I can't find a turntable that still has 78rmps.
I do have Andy Williams last christmas album.
And Mom and Dad were Lawrence Welk junkies. You know his shows are still on a cable channel somewhere..
Stay Tuned,
Ed

[Anonymous]

Thanks, Ed.

You brought me back to pacing RI E's from "downtown" Tinley Park to 167th street, then backtracking, pacing smoky GE's back to Harlem Avenue with "The Song Remains the Same" providing the soundtrack.

Tom Klimczak
Lemont, IL

[Anonymous]

I always saw 1958 as a watershed year for the RRs. That's when the federal Interstate Commerce Commission took control of passenger train-off petitions from the states. In a period of 18 months, the number of passenger trains in the U.S. was cut in half. Until then much of the railroads' operations, employment, and publicity were tied to passenger trains. Spiraling labor costs were a big factor in the demise of private passenger train operations along with competition from airlines and autos. Even today Amtrak trains lose money, despite fairly good passenger loadings.

John Baie, author of Two Track Main