About the Book
I wound down the hill in my root beer brown ’57 Chevy wagon, slid the end out a little, looked in the rearview mirror to see if my pomp had shifted, then white-knuckled it halfway down the road, sweat dripping down my brow. A gray ‘55 Chevy that looked like it came out of a swamp was on my ass. I passed the ‘55, turned the radio on and Dion and the Belmonts were playing ‘Teenager In Love’. I slammed the gas pedal, jerked the car forward, tires screaming, and we were off. I jumped a speed bump or two, and just kept going—up the road and out of Carkeek Park. I was fourteen years old.
When I grease my hair now, roll the cuffs of my jeans and slip on my leather jacket, I am transported to the 1950s; drag racing, copping a feel in the back seat of a hotrod, smelling fires burn along the beach as music blasts on car radios, music that turns us back to the atomic age, the age of big-finned cars and Melmac plates, meat in a can, pointed bras and girdles, tight skirts, kids high on glue and beer as they pieced together their latest Ed “Big Daddy” ratfink models. A time when cars were longer, faster, brighter. Carl Perkins busy writing the songs that would make Elvis, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee dancing on his piano, famous. When I watch Big Sandy belt whiskey on the stage while Billy Joe of the Dusty 45s lights the bell of his trumpet on fire as he plays Miserlou at the Tractor Tavern in Seattle, I am transported. When the rockabilly cats gather at a show, at some point in the evening a portal opens and we dance through it. No cell phones, no cable television, just music flowing through us, standup bass beat and sweat, all of us young for a moment in another era. A time warp of now huge dimensions. A lost scene that we make our own. This book is a testament to that culture.
When I grease my hair now, roll the cuffs of my jeans and slip on my leather jacket, I am transported to the 1950s; drag racing, copping a feel in the back seat of a hotrod, smelling fires burn along the beach as music blasts on car radios, music that turns us back to the atomic age, the age of big-finned cars and Melmac plates, meat in a can, pointed bras and girdles, tight skirts, kids high on glue and beer as they pieced together their latest Ed “Big Daddy” ratfink models. A time when cars were longer, faster, brighter. Carl Perkins busy writing the songs that would make Elvis, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee dancing on his piano, famous. When I watch Big Sandy belt whiskey on the stage while Billy Joe of the Dusty 45s lights the bell of his trumpet on fire as he plays Miserlou at the Tractor Tavern in Seattle, I am transported. When the rockabilly cats gather at a show, at some point in the evening a portal opens and we dance through it. No cell phones, no cable television, just music flowing through us, standup bass beat and sweat, all of us young for a moment in another era. A time warp of now huge dimensions. A lost scene that we make our own. This book is a testament to that culture.
Features & Details
- Primary Category: Arts & Photography Books
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Project Option: Standard Landscape, 10×8 in, 25×20 cm
# of Pages: 88 - Publish Date: Aug 05, 2012
- Language English
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About the Creator
Page Loudon
Seattle, WA, USA
Page Loudon lives in Seattle. He surfs the Washington and Oregon coasts and is the owner of HepCat Photography.