The Philter

Strange normal word choices

Song of the Week, 8/27/2017

by | Aug 28, 2017 | Song of the week | 0 comments

So here was my eclipse experience: Come the morning, Arcata was totally socked in with fog, as per usual. So I had decided I would just watch the whole thing online.

Then, about 9:30 — with the start of the show about 45 minutes away — my stepdaughter came in saying that according to her dad, the fog cleared if you went out past Blue Lake. So we jumped into the car, and in my haste I whacked the corner of the car door into my head, causing blood to stream down my forehead as we drove east on 299 in search of clear sky.

We did eventually find some, clear enough anyway that we could make out the moon biting into the sun. We watched through tiny, dark panes of glass as the sun grew dim — the eclipse never achieved totality here, getting to I believe 86% — then brighter again. Then we jumped back into the car to beat the crowd home — about 90% of Humboldt County was lined up along 299 with their eyes to the sky.

I still have the mark on my forehead.

Song of the Week, 8/13/2017

by | Aug 13, 2017 | Song of the week | 0 comments

Between 1988 and 1994 Charles Thompson — working under the noms du rock Black Francis and Frank Black — recorded six amazing albums, four with the Pixies and two as a solo artist. Of these, Teenager of the Year was the last and in some ways the best. It’s awfully hard to pick a favorite among them but Teenager, if nothing else, is the longest, comprising 22 songs and 63 minutes.

Those 63 minutes are crammed full of delicious, noisy, poppy goodness, and again it’s hard to pick a favorite among the 22 songs. But this week I’ve been digging this one, an exuberant exhortation to get out and enjoy the wonders of nature: