Freeway Jam

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Time for another installment of Freeway Jam's regular irregular feature, "What were people looking for when they wound up here?"

This is where we profile the search terms people used in Google, Yahoo, or Technorati to find this modest little blog.

When we last tuned in, we were getting the most search engine hits from people entering "Les Fleurs", "Costafine Town" by Splinter, and Bread.

This trend continued until last Friday. On Saturday, those search terms fell to zero; I haven't seen a desperate Splinter fan in a week, and "Les Fleurs" is finally off the charts, just before it wore out its welcome.

Google must've reindexed the site; now we're getting a different sort of seeker.

So, here are the search terms I've seen on the site tracker since the last update, from Google, Yahoo and Technorati (I usually miss the Technorati ones (the tracker doesn't save a list of those), but I've caught a couple):

From Google: doobies keith knudson
From Google: keith knudson
Southern Pacific: Greatest Hits (1991)

Former Doobie Brothers drummer, who passed away this week. I haven't much else to add to Wednesday's post on Keith Knudson/Doobie Brothers. Except that after listening to "Takin It To The Streets" once more, I'm willing to upgrade its Jam Tag from ** to ***. I've never heard his 80's band, Southern Pacific, which had some success on the country charts. But here's a picture. Note the typical dull country music compilation cover art.

From Google: Freeway jam

Last time, we got a hit from Google with jam Freeway. This one is more encouraging. Sure, maybe it's a lost Jeff Beck fan. Yes, it could be a traffic report. I'll acknowledge that it's unlikely this surfer knew what they were doing when they did it. But who knows? Little by little, word is leaking...

From Yahoo: david gates diary wma

Last of the Bread diehards.

From Technorati: Grace Slick
Grace Slick and the Great Society: Collector's Item (1971)

Grace Slick and the Great Society: Collector's Item (1971)

Grace has come up a few times, within context of Jefferson Airplane, in the Woman and Long Time Gone playlist/essays. Her name will be invoked again at Freeway Jam, probably often. For the younger folk, I'll provide a capsule bio here. Her first band was The Great Society, a Haight Ashbury psychedelic folkie outfit best known for the original versions of "White Rabbit" and "Somebody to Love" They also have a mesmerizing raga-rock version of "Sally Go 'Round The Roses". In 1966, she left The Great Society to replace a pregnant Signe Anderson in Jefferson Airplane, where she shared vocal duties with Marty Balin and Paul Kantner (with whom she'd later bear a child). In 1974, the Airplane disbanded and Kantner and Slick formed Jefferson Starship, which enjoyed a decade of AOR success, but little critical respect. Jefferson Starship collapsed in 1984 when Paul Kantner quit, but the remaining members reformed as Starship, and had some cloying adult contemporary hits, including "We Built This City". She participated in the Jefferson Airplane 1989 reunion, and has made rare guest appearances at the reformed Jefferson Starship shows, but for the most part has been retired for over 15 years. She turns 66 this year.

From Technorati: budgie Burke Shelly image
Budgie

Budgie came up in the Back in Black playlist. As a visitor mentioned in the comments, Budgie is known by some here in America, thanks to Metallica's cover of "Breadfan". Sounding like a sped-up Black Sabbath, Budgie was one of the heavier heavy metal bands of its day, in the early 70's. Vocalist Burke Shelly's high-register voice can be best likened to a cross between Robert Plant (Plant had a lot of imitators in those days) and Rush's Geddy Lee. Their best songs are well worth seeking out for dedicated fans of early-70's metal, and Metallica fans ought to pay their respects, too. This websurfer was looking for an image of Burke; their albums always had a parakeet (or budgie) on the cover. So here's a band picture.

From Google: murder on freeway
Edvard Munch, The Scream (1893)

This one was a little chilling. What did he mean by this? I clicked on the referral link and found that Freeway Jam was listed as 91st among his search results. Most of the others were news items about murders and serial killings along freeways. We came up because of the mention of 'murder' in regards to Blue Oyster Cult in the Back in Black playlist. And now he's in here among us...

Jam Tags (1-5 stars):

The Doobie Brothers: Takin' It To The Streets *** (upgrade)
Bread: Diary **
Jefferson Airplane: White Rabbit *****
Jefferson Airplane: Somebody To Love *****
Starship: We Built This City *
Budgie: Breadfan ****
The Great Society: White Rabbit ****
The Great Society: Somebody To Love ***
The Great Society: Sally Go 'Round The Roses *****

¶ 11:35 PM 2 comments

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