Song about backhoe loader tops music charts.
A song about a boy riding on a JCB backhoe loader with his dad topped the singles charts in the United Kingdom and Ireland in December. Breakthrough pop duo Nizlopi – comprised of Luke Concannon and John Parker, both 27 – wrote and performed the “JCB Song.”
The hit single entered the U.K. music chart at No. 1 on December 18 and is about how Concannon, who is dyslexic, would escape from bullies and frustration at school by going to work with his dad, a self-employed backhoe loader owner-operator. Concannon’s father, Ciaran, would take him to work on days he thought his son needed a break from school. The song tells of 5-year-old Concannon sitting on a toolbox in the backhoe loader, talking with his father and imagining the machines around him morphing into monsters or giant Transformer toys that would vanquish his school yard tormentors.
Paul Keough, vice president of marketing for JCB, said reaction to the song from JCB customers in the United Kingdom and Ireland is one of pride. “Their children now sing the song and are even prouder than ever that their own dads drive a JCB [generic for backhoe in Great Britain],” he said. “It has made being an operator ‘cool’ again.”
Nizlopi’s debut album, “Half These Songs are About You,” included the “JCB Song.” The album will most likely be released in the United States during the second half of 2006, Keough said, as the band is currently looking at a number of U.S. record contract offers.
To listen to the song and watch the video, go to this site.
–Olivia Grider
Demo machine’s 213-foot working range is world’s highest, kobelco says
Kobelco has introduced a demolition machine that can dismantle a 20-story building from the ground. While this capability isn’t in high demand in the United States, it’s welcome in Japan, where extensive urban redevelopment is taking place. Building demolition is a challenge there due to the height of buildings, the use of large concrete foundations and the high strength of concrete used in the structures.
With a working range of 213 feet, Kobelco’s SK3500D demolition machine helps overcome these obstacles. Kobelco says it has the world’s highest working range for a demolition machine and the company has applied to Guinness World Records for verification.
The SK3500D is built on a 200-ton crawler crane carrier. Building demolition equipment is usually assembled using a 40-ton-class hydraulic excavator base machine and normally has a reach of about 82 feet. Even though it was designed for high-rise demolition, with different front attachments the machine can also dismantle smaller buildings.
But don’t expect to see the SK3500D in New York or Chicago. Kobelco is selling them only in Japan.
–Jonathan Menard
“I like animals, and I didn’t want to see it get hurt.”
–Construction worker Jeremy Majorowicz telling the Chippewa Herald why he alerted police after discovering a Siberian husky frozen to a railroad track near his Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, jobsite. The dog was freed 10 minutes before a train passed by.
“It gets the blood
pumping.”
–Luke Russell, vice president of environmental services for Coeur d’Alene Mines, telling the Anchorage Daily News about construction workers’ discovery of a gold vein while preparing the foundation for a concrete plant. Workers took their lunch pails to the area during breaks to do a little prospecting.
“We don’t usually come across scenarios like this.”
–Niko King, battalion chief for the Sacramento Fire Department, telling the Sacramento Bee about finding construction worker and base jumper John Agnos dangling 200 feet above ground after he parachuted off a 2,000-foot television tower to celebrate his 41st birthday. His chute tangled in a guy wire and he suffered minor injuries.
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