THE HIGH COST OF LIVING
Jamey Johnson

I was just a normal guy
Life was just a nine to five
With bills and pressure
Piled up to the sky
She never asked
She knew I’d be
Hangin’ with my wilder friends
Looking for some other way to fly

And three days straight was no big feat
Could get by with no food or sleep
And crazy was becoming my new norm

I’d pass out on the bedroom floor
And sleep right through the calm before the storm

My life was just an old routine
Every day the same damn thing
I couldn’t even tell I was alive

I tell you
The high cost of livin’
Ain’t nothing like the cost of livin’ high

That southern Baptist parking lot
Is where I’d go to smoke my pot
Sit there in my pickup truck and pray
Staring at that giant cross
Just reminded me that I was lost
And it just never seemed to point the way

As soon as Jesus turned his back
I find my way across the track
Lookin’ just to score . . . another deal
With my back against that damn eight ball
I didn’t have to think or talk . . . or feel

My life was just an old routine
Every day the same damn thing
I couldn’t even tell I was alive

I tell you
The high cost of livin’
Ain’t nothing like the cost of livin’ high

My whole life went through my head
Layin’ in that motel bed
Watchin’ as the cops kicked in the door

I had a job and a piece of land
My sweet wife was my best friend
But I traded that for cocaine and a whore

With my new found sobriety
I’ve got the time to sit and think
Of all the things I had . . . and threw away

This prison is much colder than
That one that I was locked up in just yesterday

My life is just an old routine
Every day the same damn thing
Hell I can’t even tell if I’m alive

I tell you
The high cost of livin’
Ain’t nothing like the cost of livin’ high

I tell you
The high cost of livin’
Ain’t nothing like the cost of livin’ high

Artist: McMurtry James

Song: Fireline Road

Album: Just Us Kids

My name is Alice Walker, they never told me why
I’m not named for anybody, it’s a name out of the sky
They thought it was pretty I guess, way back when
I’ll change it some day
I like to pretend, I’m Just a visitor here
Like on one of those shows
In a house ful...l of people I don’t hardly know
But we'll all get to home in a week or so
Back to real life



And I’m picking up the carpet in the corner where I crash
I’m too tired to separate the pennies from the trash
And I don’t guess it matters even why Jesus died
I can tell you about sins

They got this duplex up on Fire Line Road
It’s way out from town, so the rent’s pretty low,
Not much more than a cinder block cell
Just like the one next door
And the next one as well

And the bus don’t run out here but three times a day
The 7-11, it’s a full mile away
And there’s a car in the yard, mostly rust and dents
We moved here in it, but it hasn’t run since

Forget my name, can you forget my face
Gonna lose myself in some finer place
Finer Places, where I’ll go
I’ll leave no trace out on Fire Line Road

And there’s a pile of daddy’s quick-picks scattered on the floor
Among the half empty bottles, that chair against the door
In case he comes home drinkin’, with lovin on his mind
I’d never let it happen, but that don’t stop him tryin’
My sister weren’t so lucky, he got to her too soon
She never saw it coming, he knew just what to do
To keep her silent
I swear to god I’ll kill him if I can
He said she made him do it, after all he’s just a man

Forget my name, can you forget my face
Gonna lose myself in some finer place
Finer Places, where I’ll go
I’ll leave no trace out on Fire Line Road

Now she snorts that crank, and stares at the phone
She ain’t big as a minute, just skin on bone
She bites her nails right down to the quick
And they’ve taken her babies, and they won’t give them back
And I know she loves them and god knows she tries,
But when you’re that far down you’re just going to get high
It’s like eating or breathing to the rest of us
She can’t even feel bad without the stuff

Forget my name, can you forget my face
Gonna lose myself in some finer place
Finer Places, where I’ll go
And I’ll leave no trace out on Fire Line Road

My name is Alice Walker, they never told me why

Sweetness

When "sweetness" passed I lost a bit of my childhood...

Ten years to the day he died, Walter Payton was honored by the Chicago Bears with a ceremony at halftime of Sunday’s game against the Cleveland Browns.

The crowd roared during a video tribute that showed highlights of his career and included praise from Mike Ditka and owner Virgie McCaskey. Besides dodging and leaping over defenders, Payton was also known for his work ethic and his tendency to pull pranks.

A tribute video showed Payton running up a hill in suburban Barrington and setting off a firecracker at training camp, as he was known to do. When the tribute was over, his wife Connie asked the crowd, “Wasn’t that awesome?”

Surrounded by their son Jarrett and daughter Brittney, Connie Payton ended her brief speech by saying, “We love you. And one more thing: Go Bears!”

The NFL’s all-time leading rusher when he retired, Payton was first diagnosed with a rare liver disease called primary sclerosing cholangitis and then cancer before he died on Nov. 1, 1999.

As for me, I continue to be a refugee on the other side of the "Cheddar Curtain" living out my days in North East Wisconsin. And one more thing: Go Bears!

Movies Filmed in Uptown V

Above The Law 1988



Eddie Cusack is a Chicago police officer about to bust some members of the Comacho gang when the gang is shot up by a rival drug gang from the neighboring building, led by Tony Luna. Victor Comacho is the only survivor of the Comacho gang and his older brother, Luis, who is the leader of the gang, retaliates by killing Luna's family and kidnaps Luna's daughter, Diana. Cusack must face Tony Luna and Luis Comacho alone because nobody on the police force is willing to help him since he was the only cop who broke the code of silence by testifying against a fellow cop who killed an unarmed teenager, but Cusack is not really alone. A police robot called "Prowler" aides Cusack as he takes down the gangs.

Movies Filmed in Uptown IV

Code of Silence 1985



Eddie Cusack is a Chicago police officer about to bust some members of the Comacho gang when the gang is shot up by a rival drug gang from the neighboring building, led by Tony Luna. Victor Comacho is the only survivor of the Comacho gang and his older brother, Luis, who is the leader of the gang, retaliates by killing Luna's family and kidnaps Luna's daughter, Diana. Cusack must face Tony Luna and Luis Comacho alone because nobody on the police force is willing to help him since he was the only cop who broke the code of silence by testifying against a fellow cop who killed an unarmed teenager, but Cusack is not really alone. A police robot called "Prowler" aides Cusack as he takes down the gangs.

Movies Filmed in Uptown III

The Hunter(1980)

In order to track down bail jumpers, Ralph 'Papa' Thorson goes on a series of routine and not-so-routine searches. Sometimes he takes down his quarry easily. At other times, he's forced to extreme measures which result in the injury or death of a lawbreaker. And then again, there are other moments when his own life is on the line. It's all enough to make Thorson question what he has done with his life.

Biography depicting real-life bounty hunter Ralph "Papa" Thorson and his exploits of bringing criminals to jail who jumped bail. He also has a pregnant girlfriend who's expecting a child soon. Subplot involves an old enemy seeking revenge at Thorson for bringing him to jail.

Steve McQueen's Last Movie

Movies Filmed in Uptown II

Backdraft 1991

Brian McCaffrey's father's a fireman and he was there, as a child, when his father died. When he grew he tried to be a fireman but quit and left town and for a few years tried other jobs. He would eventually return and try to be fireman again. However, he finds himself working under his brother Stephen whom he doesn't exactly have a good relationship with. When Brian gets his picture in the paper and is lauded as a hero when in fact it was a mistake, a politician offers him a job working under the department's arson investigator, Donald Rimgale. It seems that Ringale is working some unusual fires wherein someone is killed. Brian initially refuses but when he has too many confrontations with Stephen, he takes the job. And he gets a lesson on what it means to be a fireman.