King of the Slot Car Track - by The Reach Around Rodeo Clowns

[oldweirdherald]

The great author Stephen King tweeted about this video and said it was very cool as was the song!

Except from The Portland Press Herald

November 9, 2014

BY RAY ROUTHIER

STAFF WRITER



Stephen King’s appetite for pop culture King-sized tooAt 67, the best-selling Maine author is still a tastemaker, tweeting about whatever inspires him.

Quentin Jones, guitarist for Reach Around Rodeo Clowns, says King’s tweet recommending his band’s music shows that King appreciates a wide range of art and creativity, even if it’s not in the mainstream. King himself, earlier in his career, had been considered a lesser author by some critics because he wrote horror, and because he was so popular.

“He appreciates the real art of what he does. I’m sure he’d be a writer whether he got paid for it or not,” said Jones, 52. “And I think he appreciates that in others when he sees it. Why else would he be giving a nod to us, an underground band from Pennsylvania?”

King explains his tweets by saying he likes talking about young writers and talented artists. He likes the fact that if he recommends a book by a lesser-known but talented writer, people might go out and buy the book.

“I get enthusiastic about a lot of stuff. So when I watch or read stuff I like, I just wanna tweet about it,” King said. “If I get a funny thought, or something fascinates me, I’ll mention it. Like that GEICO pig, he just fascinates me so much.”

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Quentin Jones, guitarist for Reach Around Rodeo Clowns writes:

"Last week I was at a mall outside of Philadelphia with a buddy when we came across a real live slot car track. We went in and to my surprise, they were packed with moms, dads, kids, a grown up racing slot cars around a giant track, and I thought good, it's about time people start doing real things again.

It was great that these kids were racing slot cars and not playing video games. They were going out of their minds they were having so much fun. Each car was different, each lane was slower or faster, some crashed, some needed to be fixed, some won and some lost, just like in real life, just like real people.

When I was a kid there was a slot car track in my town. My brothers and I use to go there when we were kids. Wendell being around 13, had a pretty cool set up, a car or two, some tools and a cool wooden tool box/slot car carrying case with all his "stuff" in it. The place was called Fry's Hobby Shop, and let me tell you if you stepped out of line, old man Fry would toss you out of there so fast it would make your head spin.

I remember the older kids around 15 and 16, I thought they were real grown up! They went to high school, smoked cigarettes, and had girlfriends that we thought were hot, and a few even had real cars! I would see kids that were drafted and on their way to the army or shipping out, playing quietly with their cars, some I never saw again, some never came home.

And that is the real story about the song King of the Slot Car Track I wrote for the new Reach Around Rodeo Clowns album, Rockabilly Deluxe. It is not a joke song or even us trying to sing about something that was cool years ago. It is about the kids being drafted and sent to Viet Nam from my home town. I remember worrying that my two older brothers would get drafted and sent away. This was a real concern back in the early 70s.

Here is my guerilla video showing what my life was about in those days long ago when we would work on the farm, play hard, and hope not to get sent away to the war. It's filled with real footage of the crazy Jones boys, hot Go Go dancers, and wild slot cars."

Video published on:
The Lanark Records Video Channel
Dec 20, 2013

Stephen King’s appetite for pop culture King-sized too
At 67, the best-selling Maine author is still a tastemaker, tweeting about whatever inspires him.

BY RAY ROUTHIER - STAFF WRITER
www.pressherald.com

Read the Press Herald full article here: https://www.pressherald.com/2014/11/...ing-sized-too/

[Sam pan]

WOW...

I knew that whoever wrote that song had to be right there in the heyday of it all. I can appreciate the song even more now that I know the back story.

Now will somebody tell me the backstory on how the band got it's name?

Can the RARCs be booked for the next Nats?

[orangecrate]

That is so cool, great slot car theme song and played at all slot car races.