"From the Desert to the Sea, to All of Southern California." - Jerry Dunphy

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Saturday, March 22, 2008

Van Nuys Blvd. Crusing Music


Creating a list of music can sometimes lead to heated discussions more intense than Politics or religion. So here goes, I have put together my list of the music we used to play while cruising the boulevard. It's not a best of list more than a list of what tapes, cassettes and 8 tracks we had in whatever car was available. Since I could not find a suitable cruising picture I posted a picture of my stereo system when Desert Radio Rat and I lived in Newbury Park. Here goes:


Highway Star - Deep Purple
Smoke on the Water - Deep Purple
Woman from Tokyo - Deep Purple

Lest you sense theme here we did play other music:

Karn Evil 9 - Emerson Lake and Palmer
Rock 'n Roll Hootchie Koo - Rick Derringer
Every Picture Tells a Story - Rod Stewart
Midnight Rambler - The Rolling Stones
Crossroads - Cream
Walk on the Wild Side - Lou Reed
All the Young Dudes - Mott the Hoople
Roll Away the Stone - Leon Russell
Whipping Post - The Allman Brothers
Wild Night - Van Morrison
Stay with Me - Faces
I'm on Fire - Dwight Twilly
Sweet Jane - Lou Reed

This is just a taste. So after an unsuccessful night of cruising we usually ended up at Bob's Restaurant at Roscoe Blvd. and Van Nuys Blvd. If that was too crowded we would go a little up the road to Mike's Pizza or back down the road to Lido Pizza on Victory Blvd. I believe Lido Pizza is still at the same location.

Has anyone ever heard the song Van Nuys Blvd. by The Drivers? A curiosity I have but would never be caught playing.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

How many songs were done named after Valley streets (the many songs about Laurel Canyon are about the canyon itself not the street when it goes over the hill?). I guess "Ventura Highway" by America might count. Unfamiliar with "Van Nuys Blvd." the song but given the age you are you may remember the Everly Brothers' "Ventura Boulevard"...

Carey A, Wilson said...

I know songs that mention valley streets such as those by Randy Newman, Tom Petty, Frank Zappa and so on. I don't recall the Everly Bros. song.