Over the past day or so, I have been thinking back trying to figure out when the last time I visited Pennsylvania was. I can remember a long long time ago I went to the Rolling Rock Town Fair 2.1 in Latrobe PA. It was back in 2002, and the lineup included bands such as Godsmack, Outkast, Nickleback, P.O.D., Sevendust, Default, Injected, and Tommy Lee. I honestly wish I remember more about that festival, but it was so long ago that memories are pretty sparse in my old age.
The other time I can distinctly remember visiting Pennsylvania was when I had to do some work in New Jersey, but it was closer for us to fly into Philadelphia, so we were briefly in the state. Oddly enough, that was probably right around the same time frame. The biggest thing I remember about that trip was as we were driving from the airport into New Jersey, we passed a US Navy shipyard, and there among the vessels, I was able to catch a glimpse of my dad's old guided missile destroyer that he served on back during the Vietnam war.
He actually found this old video of them towing it off to scrap online the other day. The ship was in a bit better condition when I saw it, but sadly, this was back before smartphones and everyone having a camera, so I didn't get a chance to capture a shot of it for him.
In case you haven't guessed, the theme this week for #threetunetuesday sponsored by 
I've mentioned this before, but my love of Jazz music started back in high school when I was a member of the band. I was in the percussion section, but on one of the rainy days where we couldn't march and we didn't have much else to do, the teacher had us watch the Glenn Miller Story. It's a great old movie if you ever get the chance to watch it. While I have heard some jazz musicians talk a bit disparagingly about Glenn Miller, he still remains one of my favorite artists and band leaders from the Big Band era. "Pennsylvania 6-5000" recorded by them is a tune I had kind of forgotten about over time. Then of course I was doing the research for this post and everything started to click for me again.
There's something really special about a band playing so tightly in unison. I don't think you can fully appreciate it unless you have been in one before. We had an exceptional band back when I was in school with a fantastic leader. He made all of us better, it was a great time for me.
Finally, in the same vein, we are going to stick with another Glenn Miller tune. You might think it would be hard to find two obscure tunes that both mention Pennsylvania, but here we are. It takes a bit to get to it in this one, but once they get to the lyrics, you will find the reference to the state. I don't really have much to add for this one. It's just a great song. Oddly enough, though I can't remember the last time I went to Pennsylvania, I can remember the last time I was in Chattanooga. My wife and I drove down there from Nashville on Easter Sunday several years ago and we took a nice stroll through the aquarium down there. It was pretty awesome.
Finally, we have someone who is no stranger to my #threetunetuesday posts. I have said it before, but I think no other artist has been featured more in these posts than Billy Joel. I knew before I even started the "A's" that I was going to be using "Allentown" when I finally made my way to the "P's". I actually heard a story about this song a long time ago and they talk about how a lot of the steel and coal production didn't actually take place in Allentown Pennsylvania, but the other towns didn't rhyme as well as Allentown, so he stuck with that despite it not being factually accurate.
I guess a little poetic license should be afforded when you are talking about the Piano Man right?
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