Send a city kid to camp...Going up the country...

Thomas Tittmann
Aug 20
4 min read

Captain’s Log Stardate 08202025:06:30

Hi! I’m just waking up from what one singer calls “that secret space of dreams…” and decided to share some thoughts with you - my kinfolk.

“Me and Bobby McGee” is a favorite that the Grateful Dead performed many times. Originally penned by Kris Kristofferson, Janis Joplin's version became her only #1 single.

From somewhere in my distant memory I recalled that someone - maybe your Dad - my Uncle Bob - affectionately called Margie “McGee”…

...So, my brain connected Janis’s tune with another Grateful Dead fan favorite - “Me and My Uncle”…yielding “Me and Bobby McGee.”

Like "Me and Bobby McGee", "Me and My Uncle was penned elsewhere:

"Me and My Uncle", often also written as "Me & My Uncle," is a song composed by John Phillips of The Mamas and the Papas, and popularized in versions by Judy Collins and the Grateful Dead. It relates the journey of a narrator and his uncle from southern Colorado towards west Texas, involving standard cowboy song themes like a poker game in Santa Fe, accusations of cheating, gun play, gold, and death. [Wikipedia]

That said, Grateful Dead's Bob Weir did most of the vocals for both songs.

“ANALYZE THIS”

A funny DeNiro/Crystal movie (see trailer link at the end under "Extra Helpings")…

...as I wandered and wondered about my mind’s early morning melding that created “Me and Bobby McGee” - I thought it might have something to do with it recently being Margie’s birthday and cousin Bob’s current medical adventures. 🤔

Nights in White Satin

Recently, I’ve become more aware of places I go in my dreams - some fanciful and some real. I realize that the fanciful ones are often due to the movies ("reels") Eileen and I watch before going to bed...and the “real” ones…are likely evidence of what the medical field says that our long term memory is the last to go…kinda like the stuff stored in our attics (song link at end)…

“We decide which is real and which is an illusion…”

My surfer friend Steve - the guy who, as he says it: "taught me to play with cars” - he gave me my first automotive Bible:

Steve has another memorable quip:

"there’s a Grateful Dead song for every occasion”…

...well, today’s early morning reveries have proved him right again…Here are some of these early AM cortical connections across the synapses of time and space...

Me and Bobby McGee
Me and My Uncle
Attics of My Life

Skip below to the "Road Trip Playlist" to listen.

SEND A CITY KID TO CAMP

You’re probably wondering why this title…

Shrub Oak…Mahopac…upstate…Riding on the New York Central Railroad…getting picked up at the Peekskill station in a Ford Country Squire Station Wagon…

...playing in a huge backyard…bedding down in sleeping bags with my cousins - my only cousins…

The Davis Family generously provided their kinfolk with annual summer camp experiences…Ahh! I’m still grateful!

Another I recalled is that cousin Bob played piano and even had one in their house.

Adult Camp - 1

Once I could drive, I availed myself of my Uncle Bob's Motor Pool experience with the NYS Police. One day "at camp" I decided to buy his 1977 Mercury Cougar XR-7 to replace Eileen's VW Bug. I still have the ornament:

As we worked together under the hood, we got a little under the weather as we came under the influence of a critter known as the "Moscow Mule"...sure could kick ass.

This became apparent, as I backed down the driveway and over the air cleaner cover I had neglected to reinstall. In the following years in her tan saddle, I recalled this lapse of judgement every time I went under her hood.

Adult Camp - 2

CANNED HEAT - Going up The Country (1969) (02:52)

ROAD TRIP PLAYLIST

Janis Joplin - Me and Bobby McGee (Official Music Video) (04:30)

Grateful Dead - Me and My Uncle / Big River (Raleigh, NC 7/10/90) (08:33)

This next was

performed a mere 2 years before Jerry's passing...

Grateful Dead - Attics of My Life (Live at Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, CA, 8/25/1993) (04:49)

This favorite version is performed by Texas kids in a choir that's DEADicated to the band.

'Attics Of My Life' live by the Barton Hills Choir (03:56)

EXTRA HELPINGS

A few days ago as I was out on my daily patrol of the neighborhood, I met a young Orthodox kid selling drinks on sidewalk to raise money for summer camp. After I moved on, I remembered this classic (SEE...long term memory still intact)...