Eyesight to the Blind by Sonny Boy Williamson on Grooveshark

I’m frustrated by having so much material to post, but so little time to do so. So, rather than let it all slide, here are snippets from my trip last week to Mendocino and Humboldt counties:

On the road to Petaluma, Nicasio Lake is looking dry, and it’s only June…the Russian River valley looks dry, except for the verdant vineyards, sucking all that river water up, there’s widespread overplanting of grapes in California…A hand painted sign by the river said “Salmon can’t drink wine.”…On my way back from Arcata, I came down Hwy. 101, a lot easier driving than heading back down the coast…went swimming in the Eel River again…a lot of logging trucks on the road…a spiffy little Porsche passed me, it had a GoPro camera mounted on its roof…all these people cluttering YouTube with GoPro videos of whatever…then jumped into the Russian River (above) — there are nice pools south of Hopland at Indian Rock — the water is a nice temp this time of year, no algae buildup yet…then a pint of dark Monster Ale and fish tacos at the Ruth McGowan Brewery in Cloverdale…the next day I went out to Ocean Beach in SF, it was foggy, the surfers looked like ghosts in the mist…2 lifeguards in their trucks, reminded me of my lifeguarding years at Lake Tahoe, Santa Cruz, and Stinson Beach — what a great job!…fog on the Waldo grade, and a thin finger of white fog reaching into Mill Valley…saw some young people crossing street in MV, looking smug…young, rich, entitled:

“Dinner for 2 at the French Laundry, $700 — yeah, baby!”

“Blinded by my Beemer’s high-intensity headlights — tough shit!” Sorry, they just piss me off…our local lagoon has 1000 faces, and Friday it was sparkling in the afternoon sunlight…I’m goin’ home, bome, bome, bome-bome-bome,
Home, bome, bome, bome, back home…

Music del Semana: On most of the trip I played The 2 Tone Collection, a kind of remarkable blending of ska and punk that went on in the UK in the ’80s and somehow was never picked up on in the USA.

0602. Let's Do Rock Steady by The Bodysnatchers on Grooveshark