Talk On Indolence | NY Transit Museum (Vol I) | Jets-Giants | YouTube Rabbithole
Alright @YouTheReader,
Talk of Indolence by The Avett Brothers is the opening song on their album Four Thieves Gone, which came out in ‘06, but listen to the Live, Vol 3 version. While I’ve always been a fan of their work, I’ll be honest I only really knew a handful of their songs such as I and Love and You & Murder In The City. This song was recommended my way which is always appreciated!
The songwriter has locked himself inside his house to presumably write songs. As the seasons go by he is still in search of the reasons behind the songs, he is so wrapped up in his own head that instead of completing the four seasons he just says snow instead of winter. Not only do songwriters write lyrics but of course they also have to know when to start and stop instruments.
This further illustrates what it’s like in his house, all the latches are locked, and the windows are shut. While he is inside his own house and head, his dog is coming in and out of the house thinking to himself, “Man, my owner is a weirdo.” (I actually don’t know what the dog is thinking, I shouldn’t assume the thoughts of a K-9.)
The writer is drinking coffee as a stimulant of ideas and then taking a shot of alcohol to further enhance the creativity of said ideas. While he’s yipped up on caffeine and drinking a depressant, the paranoia of what he’s working on any good sets in. Consuming these substances could be a distraction but he is so consumed by his work that the cycle continues.
Confidence being on and off, sink or swim, bottom and top, are all dichotomies. Even though he is in his own head a lot, he is still self-aware enough to know that he experiences these highs and lows with his work.
While he’s bunkered down Zero Dark 30 style writing up songs, the world is still spinning and he’s witnessing it from his window. The Three, Four are the timing for when the song switches up.
This is a shift of the narrator’s paranoia of his own thoughts inside his head to worry about his outward appearance. I haven’t gotten raging drunk in a while but I’m sure I’ve gotten pretty drunk with plenty of you reading this at one time or another.
At this point, the narrator is clearly going on about his past experiences of fun times partying, but it is pretty unclear if the reference is about New York like he mentioned in the previous verse, or an Italian city. Either way, during his party phases, he and his friends made whatever city they were at their own playground.
Like anything in life, especially alcohol, too much excess fun can lead to sorrow, which is how this verse is sung.
The narrator is facing the fact that he can’t drink, party, and be as carefree as he used to be during his youth. Indolence means laziness. Hangovers come from excess drinking, the narrator has more responsibility than he once had.
So in my opinion this ending means he had shed the indolence of his youth. This is a cool song to do annotations to because it really makes you think about what the deeper meaning in the lyrics could be. The first verse is hilarious and I really feel like I can relate to it a ton, as I’m sure anyone who’s been consumed with something they’re passionate about can too. You can get caught up in your own head and notice that life outside of your work is passing you by. If you allow me to put on my tinfoil hat, the way it starts off very fast and intense could represent the beginning of a night of drinking and by the end he’s drunk - everything slows down as they come to a realization. Could be reaching, who knows.
On to the Stumblin’ Along…
NY Transit Museum (Vol II)
This fine Sunday is the 2nd part of Stumblin’ Along at The New York Transit Museum. If you’re interested in Biggie Smalls or how the Subway system was initially built check out Stumblin' Along 8/20 '23. Located in Downtown Brooklyn, there was loads of cool stuff at the museum that anybody could check out on their own at $10 for adults and $5 for children. The entrance to the museum is authentic in that it’s an old subway stop.
On October 27, 1904, the first subway line ran from City Hall to 145th Street and Broadway. To “the tooting of whistles and the firing of salutes,” according to the New York Times’, as Mayor George B. McClellan rode the first subway cart. Not only did Robert Van Wyck, the mayor who started this project, miss out on cutting the tape, but Mayor Seth Low who took over for Van Wyck, missed out on it too. Mayor McClellan apparently had so much fun running the controls on the initial subway train ride that he ended up zooming past what was supposed to be the stop and headed to 103 Street Station. Over 150,000 New Yorkers rode the Subway the day it became open to the public. It was almost like a tourist attraction.
This is one of the large format cameras similar to what was used by photographers documenting the construction of the subway. Both the front and rear of the camera could be moved in several ways, allowing the photographer a precise level of control over the image, such as correcting perspective and focus -useful when photographing tall buildings. Making an image with an 8” X 10” camera could require as much as an hour to set up, and thus a photographer could make far fewer images in a day than today's photographers. I guess that’s why people weren’t taking too many selfies back in those days. Especially the two men behind the camera who captured the majority of the birth of the subway, the Pullis Brothers.
Not much is known about the Pullis brothers. Pierre and Granville were two of six children, born in 19th century New York to parents Peter and Mary. They lived in Harlem for most of their childhood. By 1910, both brothers had started their own families -Pierre in Queens, and Granville in Staten Island. Pierre remained in Queens until his death, moving to Ozone Park and later Jamaica. Granville moved to Jersey City for a time, and retired to New York, to the village of Athens, a small town on the Hudson River. The brothers journalized the birth of the subway by writing down notes of date and location.
The Pullis Brothers had handwriting as neat as mine. This is how they would date and locate where every picture was taken. Good record keeping, impressive.
This is a fella by the name Christian Kopp (1893 - 1930), pictured here at 138th Street, who was studying Engineering at City College when he got a job as an engineer for the Public Service Commission. After working on various subway construction sites, he was hired in 1920 by the Westchester County Parks Commission. During his decade of service there, he designed many parks including the Saw Mill River Parkway, a nearly 29-mile roadway in Westchester County, which provides an essential link from New York City to the New York State Thruway.
After The City built much of the subway systems in Manhattan, New Yorkers started to move upwards into The Bronx. Here are pictures taken in 1906 of the 1 Line, IRT Broadway - 7th Avenue Local Line.
This picture was taken in front of E 138th Street, between Cypress Avenue and 3rd Ave-138th Street stations along the IRT Pelham Line (the 6 train). The line was filled with merchants of all kinds, including a chop house, clothing stores, and specialty food stores.
Here is a bit of some early 20th-century billboard advertising that was set up along the train routes. Very clickbaity.
This store’s sole purpose was as a coupon dealer. The way people shopped in the late 1800s and early 1900s was very different from how we shop today. Most people bought food and clothing on credit, deferring payments. In 1896, Sperry & Hutchinson, a company based in Michigan, developed a rewards program where merchants could give green stamps to loyal customers who paid their tabs fully. and in cash. Customers could collect the stamps in books and redeem them for household goods chosen from a catalog. Coupons first appeared in the United States in 1887. issued by the Coca-Cola company to help advertise its drink. In 1909, the C. W. Post company offered 1-cent coupons to encourage people to buy their cereal. (Source: NY Transit Museum)
Workers faced challenges when digging the subway system because of sewage and pipelines. If I had to guess, everything underground before the subway system was an absolute free-for-all. This picture gives you a bit of a snapshot of how deep they’d dig in comparison to street level. Also, that is a ton of wood platforms that the horses are wagoning.
Workers assigned to tunnels wore badges bearing the location of the correct hospital to take them to in case of compression sickness. It was basically a way to ID workers in the case of catastrophe.
This is Jerome Avenue in the Bronx without its elevated train. In 1914 it was still being planned and it just looked like woods which is wild to comprehend.
The 161st Street station opened in 1917, six years before Yankee Stadium opened. Part of the IRT Jerome Avenue Line (the 4 and 5 trains of today), it was a key location for the expansion of rapid transit into the Bronx, which had been clamoring for better transit options for decades. I had to end Stumblin’ Along at the NY Transit Museum (Vol II) with Yankee Stadium. Next week is about the buses!
Notes Nobody Asked For
Jets vs. Giants | 8/26 ‘23
- The Flying Cock in NYC setting. The bar is packed. I just did a Guinness Review that you probably won’t read about until sometime in the fall. Also, I felt obligated to order a 2nd Guinness because I was watching the game. The food there is rather pricey for a pub grub but I won’t mention that when I do their Pint&Pen&Paper.
- Sauce gets tested deep on the 1st play of the game. Giants’ speedy rookie WR Jalin Hyatt had a step on him there, but incomplete pass.
- Jermaine Johnson gets called for a stupid late hit out of bounds. Doesn’t matter, the Giants end up punting on the possession 3 plays later.
- 1st Aaron Rodgers pass is a quick throw to Garrett Wilson for 15 yards. Rodgers walked up to the line of scrimmage, saw the CB was 10 yards off of Wilson, and just slung it to him. Definitely wasn’t the designed play but these sorts of plays are what veteran HOF QBs do on instinct. Wilson got another catch on this drive, looks like Rodgers likes throwing to him.
- Drive stalls and Jets punt. Tyrod Taylor again tests Sauce Gardner with a throw to Hyatt, this time Sauce breaks it up. The very next play Jermaine Johnson gets a sack.
- Jets drive down the field and the drive ends with a beautiful Rodgers to Wilson back shoulder fade for a TD.
- Jets starting defense is now sitting. The Giants also took out Tyrod Taylor and put in Tommy DeVito who is from Cedar Grove and played for Don Bosco Prep.
- Jets CB Brandin Echols Pick-6. Echols had a great jump on the ball.
- Jets Edge Rusher Bryce Huff sack. Huff had a great jump-off-the-ball snap.
- Zach Wilson is now in at QB. Completes a 1st down pass to Jeremy Ruckert. 1st Quarter ends.
- Tommy D is making some plays for the G-Men. This kid has got some moves and spunk.
- The Jets have hit both extra points, I have to Note that Leg-a-Tron looks good.
- The Giants Head Coach Brian Daboll is incensed in regards to the David Stills drop that was overturned. Bryce Hall, the Jets CB, not the lame TikToker, made a nice play.
- Notre Dame vs. Navy in Dublin was a 42-3 win for the Irish. I went 2-0 on the spread and over/under to start the college football picks. Huge win for the program. This is me giving myself a pat on the back because preseason football can be boring.
- Zach Wilson threw a deep bomb to Mecole Hardman that the Giants made a nice play on. Let Wilson keep airing it out. End of the 1st half. Left the Flying Cock at half.
- During the postgame press conference Robert Saleh announces that Mekhi Becton will be the team’s starting Right Tackle. Good for Becton, he has come a long way with injuries and the sky is the limit for him if he can stay healthy.
- The Jets starting defense only played 7 snaps all preseason. Coach Saleh, “They’re ready.”
- Jets won 32-24.
- Next up: Week 1 against the Buffalo Bills. Monday Night Football on 9/11.
YouTube Rabbithole
Talk On Indolence (Live at Bojangles Coliseum 2009)