Hanggai

Well another EFMF is in the can. Great show, great weather, great times! One of the things I love about the EFMF is that sometimes I see a group that I never heard of before that I love. This year was one of those with the appearance of Hanggai. These Chinese/Monmgolian guys are fabulous! I'm not a big fan of "world" music, but these guys make it worthwhile to wade into alternatives once in a while. I checked them out on the web, and there's not much out there yet. I did take a video of one of their songs, and was surprised at how well it came out. I'm sure the sound is crappy, but I'll try and post it when I get back to Seattle.

Hal and I hope to get on the road today sometime, but we still don't know if Hal's bike is ready yet. If all goes well, we'll be back on Wednesday.

EFMF Day #1

There was supposed to be a 90% chance of precipitation yesterday, but either we beat the odds or the weather gods lied. The evening was cool and clear, with nary a raindrop in sight. Breabach, Kathleen Edwards, Steve Earle, and Boz Scaggs supplied the evening's entertainment. Breabach is a decent Celtic group, and Boz Scaggs is the guy that did some funky, smooth-jazzish disco back in the early 80's. They were both OK, but not exactly my cup of tea. Kathleen Edwards is a pretty good folky, alternative-country type, but the highlight of the evening was Steve Earle, unplugged and by himself. He sang a bunch of songs from his Townes Van Zandt tribute album, plus a few of his own best songs. Good stuff!

Tonight, the must-see group is the Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir. With a name like that, they've gotta be good.

The EFMF advernture so far

So far we, or maybe I should say I, have had a pretty good trip. Hal's had some issues. First off, as we got on to I5, Hal goes roaring off at 80+mph. I had meant to tell him not to speed on I5 because if the traffic isn't clogged to a stop, the State Patrol is out raising revenue for the government coffers. We passed a couple of people who were pulled over, and Hal slowed down to 70+. I followed Hal at a discreet distance so as not to be associated with him. Near Everett we came over a rise to see a motorcyle cop with radar. He immediately hopped on his bike, gave chase (passing me by without any sign that I was
wanted) and signalled to Hal and the SUV to pull
over. He signalled them to pull over on the left, but Hal pulled over on the right so the cop frantically signalled the SUV guy to pull over on the right. I sailed through the mess at the speed limit, and didn't stop to wait for Hal until I thought I'd be well out of the cop's area. Well, Hal had added another $110 episode to his recent trail of wallet-draining woes.

We carried on more or less uneventfully to Clearwater, BC where we spent the night. The next day, we donned our raingear and continued our trek east. There wasn't much rain, but there was enough that we were glad we had the gear on. We went through Jasper and stopped at Hinton for my favorite L&W pizza before heading on to our least-favorite town, Edson (It's always raining and cold whenever we go through there). The weather wasn't too bad this time, but Edson wasn't done with us yet. We left town at a fairly high rate of speed with me in the lead, but it wasn't long before I lost Hal in the rearview mirror. I kept watching, slowing down a bit, but he wasn't there. I finally stopped to wait for him, but no Hal. I checked my phone, and sure enough there was a text from Hal about 30 miles back. I turned around and found the scene in the first photo. He'd thrown his chain and somehow lost all his engine oil. (The big black blotch on the pavement is his oil) Not good. But there's always some silver lining in every cloud, right? The good news was that Hal had opted for roadside protection, and his insurance company paid for a tow all the way to Edmonton. About a $500-600 value!

So now Hal is waiting somewhat patiently for the news from the local Triumph dealer. The news will determine his mode of travel back to Seattle.

Later this afternoon, we're off to the first sessions of the EFMF. It looks like a good lineup this year. Who knows, There may be a song in Hal's adventures. He could be a star!

Americans wander into Iran

Hypothetically, who would you rather be with, a group of 20-something American hikers who wandered into Iran, or a group of 20-something Iranians who wandered into, say Alaska, while hiking in the Yukon?

Strange Americans

There are an awful lot of willfully ignorant Americans. And they are an awful lot. These people have lots in common and keep resurfacing again and again. I think the first time I really noticed them was during the Clinton era when Bill was accused of being a major drug dealer and responsible for the deaths of scores of people. Hilary was supposed to have killed Vince Foster. These people were well funded by right wing whacko billionaires like Richard Mellon Scaife. Most of the whackos were on the fringe, but they had enough influence in Congress to force the Whitewater investigations which resulted in Clinton being impeached for lying about a blowjob in the Oval Office.

Remember the 2000 elections when a horde of "Brooks Brothers" protesters shut down the recount in one Miami office by beating on the doors and windows of the office where part of the recount was taking place?

They again surfaced when John Kerry was swiftboated during the 2004 campaign. It was an unlikely campaign to smear a decorated authentic war hero as a traitor who was running against a candidate who skipped out on his own National Guard service. How could that be? But Bush was successful in his re-election bid.

Now we have the tea-baggers, the birthers, the Palin lovers, and the Obama haters. What do all these folks have in common? They are all willfully ignorant Americans who allow themselves to be used entrenched political and business interests. They are a bunch of low-life, mostly white-trash, racist, and armed thugs. Both the tea-baggers and those currently disrupting townhall meetings on healthcare are organized by Freedomworks, a lobbying organization run by former GOP congressional whip Dick Armey, and funded by the usual rightwing whacko billionaires. Here are the written suggestions for disrupting meetings. These people are crazy, violent, and intimidating, and the nice guys on the left are too nice (or scared) to fight back.

I hope that at the Democratic leadership dumps the search for a bipartisan healthcare bill and uses the power they have in the White House and Congress to force through a bill that at least covers the basics and has a public option.

But in the meantime, I've had enough. I'm leaving tomorrow and heading back to the Old Country for the Edmonton Folk Music Festival. But maybe I'll buy a gun when I get back.

Another Day in Paradise

Another gorgeous day, another great hike! This time was to the imaginatively named Lake No. 22, not too far from Granite Falls. We were going to go up Mt. Pilchuk, but the access road was closed due to a missing hiker on the mountain. So we went down the road a little further to this little gem of a hike. The area hadn't been totally logged out, so there were some old-growth trees on the way up to the lake. Along with multiple waterfalls and a lovely lake at the end, it was a great way to spend a Sunday. Even the dip in the lake was refreshing. No really. The water was cold, but not ridiculously so. And you'll note that the picture is of only my head. Megan took a few more shots with my body exposed, and Holy Cow! I didn't realize I was getting so fat. Oh well. I guess it's not too bad if I can still drag my butt up these mountain trails without killing myself.

Waveguide, the media star

Remember last spring when my boat was in a photo shoot for the Sperry Top-Sider catalog? Well, for some reason I thought I'd take a look around on the web and see if any shots of my boat had made it into any ads. Well glory be! Here's at least one photo that made it on to Sperry's site.