When my lovely wife Debbie & I bought our new (used) car in early 2025, the salesman waited until all the paperwork was signed and checks handed over to inform us that it was not equipped with Sirius/XM radio capability, but that we could run that off of our cellphones, or buy an aftermarket Sirius unit.
Now, I don’t know how many of our Pencil Storm readers are aware of the technical limitations Mr. Ricki C. exhibits on any given day, but let’s say I’m lucky if I can get signed into this blog and type my stories and that’s about it.
And regarding Sirius/XM, when we bought our previous car (which indeed WAS equipped with S/XM, but turned out to be a lemon of a car) in 2023, I was all excited about it and gushed to Mike “Biggie” McDermott - Watershed’s resident computer genius/jack-of-all-trades - “Biggie, we got Sirius/XM in our new car” like I had just invented AI technology. Biggie just looked at me and delivered the definitively deflating reply (in these days of streaming entertainment), “Congratulations, Ricki, you are now only TWENTY years behind the times.”
Anyway, the point is, now that we’re back to terrestrial radio in the car I have little-to-no access to new music of any kind. (Other than I guess whatever the equivalent of “Top 40” radio is these days.) (Man, I am REALLY showing my age even making a REFERENCE to Top 40 radio.)
(Ricki, will you PLEASE get to the fricking POINT?)
Okay, okay, okay. Last week I heard This Song! by 7Horse on WCBE, Columbus’ Board of Education/NPR station. (One last digression, I genuinely fear for ‘CBE’s future and my ability to hear ANY new music amidst fucking Trump’s billion dollars-plus NPR/PBS and Department of Education cuts.)
The song is from 2016. I had never heard of the band, but it’s a great, great tune and I love it. Thank you, WCBE. Lyrics follow the video. Enjoy.
Two-Stroke Machine
My dad pulled a gun on my grandad one day
Said old man I’m leaving don’t you stand in my way
I saw him wheel away on a two-stroke machine
Next time I saw him I was turning eighteen
Said why don’t you ever wanna spend the whole night
In the trailer that I live in in the shadow of the light
He had an old shoebox lid filled with stems and seeds
Just the kind of thing that a growing boy needs
Just the kind of thing
Just the kind of thing
Just the kind of a thing that a growing boy needs
Took a part time job reading the news
On a low-wattage station with a case of the blues
New Mexican sunsets never held any feeling
He did six months in county for the shit he was dealing
The next time I saw him I was twenty six
I had a big-break gig and a radio hit
We met on the road backstage at a club
He said son I can’t stay but I give you my love
Whoa oh oh oh whoa oh oh oh oh...
Could’ve held it all against him
Would've been justified
But you’ve only one daddy and you’ve only one life
Now he ain’t breathing good
He ain’t moving easy
Think his time is running short and it makes me uneasy
So now we get together whenever I can break free
Grab a little lunch and hit up the pharmacy
Hit it up, yeah hit it up
Whoa oh oh oh whoa oh oh oh oh...
My dad pulled a gun on my grandad one day
Said old man I’m leaving don’t you stand in my way
My dad pulled a gun on my grandad one day
Said old man I’m leaving don’t you stand in my way
- © 2016 Albert Phil Leavitt and Joie Calio
Ricki C. is 73 years old. He has been involved professionally in rock & roll in some capacity - performer, roadie, rock writer - since 1968 when he sang his first song for pay in public; “Magic Carpet Ride” by Steppenwolf at a classmate’s birthday party. Today he takes a great new song wherever he can find it.