Woodpile 2: "Northampton Sun" b/w "Down the Waterline"

Back in '03-'05, at the start of my professorial stint, Miss Oonagh and I spent a 2-year exile from the Pinetree State.  Prior to establishing ourselves back at the luxurious Harpswell Estate, we were living in East Douglas, MA, halfway between Providence and Worcester, down in the MA-CT-RI "metro" area.  Like a lot of places in the historic Blackstone River Valley, East Douglas is a tiny little town with a couple blocks of commerce, but nothing you'd even want to glorify by calling downtown.  It backs up to the "mighty" Mumford River, which is mightily dammed, even there at the headwaters where it's little more than a stream.  There was forestry and some granite quarrying back in the day, and ice production in the winter, but things apparently quieted right down when the woolen mill went down in the post-war years.

Anyway, we were living at the edge of the "main drag" of town, on the main floor of an old Victorian, formerly a funeral parlor.  The trucks would rumble by and shake the house, and that stretch of road was a popular speed trap so there was no shortage of being awakened by flashing blues seeping into the bedroom at all hours.  There was also not a lot to do except cook, play music, quilt, dispose of some wine, and walk the dogs at the State Forest (see the song "Rock n' Roll Town" for all the details).  Many weekends that we for some reason stuck around MA instead of taking up our permanent guestroom at the Samsons' up in Brunswick, it was trips out west to Northampton that kept us sane.  Heading up the foothills on the west side of Worcester, Massachusetts does get a little wilder and scragglier: the Brookfields and Ware, the storied Quabbin Reservoir and its four sunken towns, the trout-laden Swift River, Belchertown (!) and Hadley and Amherst.  We'd stop for a hike at Mt. Holyoke or Mt. Tom, and head over the Connecticut River to kick around Northampton for the rest of the day.  Art!  Music stores!  Vinyl!  Restaurants, plus lots of beer!  Dirty hippies!  Hoo-ray!  And now that the Sorkin-Camachos have relocated to lovely Florence, MA, on the NW side of town, "Northampton Sun" has gotten a new lease on life.

Not to slight the B-side, but not having much to say about it either: "Down the Waterline" is a more resigned number, also written during the Exile Years.  Definitely to be filed under "Plonky, acoustic, obscure, the usual".

Northampton Sun:         https://www.box.com/s/ftib65vzqq5jtfu4xj35



Down the Waterline:     https://www.box.com/s/p63dtyeszxjt4pgjonsv