New Music from St. Vincent

New self-titled album coming in February, per PFork.

Basque for a Day!

Saturday and Sunday

Fall Day on the Owyhee River

First time I've ever fished this river. Had a great day, landing 4 browns all over 18" long. Amazingly beautiful fish, perfect fall weather. 

Happy Fall

Henry the Hound, 3/98 - 10/13

I lost my best friend today. Henry the Hound has been a fixture in our lives for 15 years, sharing too many adventures to count along the way. The long decline came to an end this morning, peacefully, humanely, in the best way we could hope for.

When I think back to all the times we’ve spent together, all the places we went and the things we did, I’m truly amazed. And it makes me feel better about things, comforted, to know for sure that he had a life of adventure and destinations.

That dog was there for the best and worst days of my life, always there, ready to sit and be petted and talked to for hours on end, ready to slather my face with saliva to show me that someone cares, a lot. I talked to him about Cathy when we first met. He was waiting for us when we brought Theo home from the hospital. He was happy as always to see me and let me know everything was normal and great as always when I got home from an extended trip to Alabama to be with my dad when he died. He was there when we lost Gus and when we found Josie. For ever, it seems, he’s just been there.

He suckered us in from the get-go, the only silent dog in the cacophony of the Lake Austin Boulevard Animal Shelter where we found him, sitting straight and still as a post, waiting, like it was a matter of time before we’d show up and take him home. We did. And that silence didn’t last.

The boy’s always been a bit much. His first weekend home, the first time we took him for a swim in Barton Creek, he swam around, then swam across, climbed the far bank, and wandered right off into the crowd in Zilker Park.

His personality grew outsized practically overnight. We spent his first year trying to keep him contained in our backyard, which proved difficult no matter what type of fence we rigged to keep him in. One night after coming home late, we had 7 phone messages from people who’d found him, and from whom he’d then escaped. The callers’ addresses mapped a broad circuit of South Austin.

Henry was all dog (“a dog’s dog” as Tim always said), noise and motion and exuberance and a total disregard for propriety and manners. His athleticism was matched only by his complete goofiness. He was a comedian and a machine, and he spent his life teaching me the value of just appreciating this moment right here, where we are, doing what we’re doing, putting everything into it, because that’s really all there is.

And now he is a feeling I share with Cathy and Theo. A collection of moments and memories, some of which will never fade.

How his ears were so big when he was a puppy that he couldn’t keep them off the ground or out of his food.

How his regal bearing completely belied his personality.

How we called him Mr. Heavyfoot because even his footsteps were always so loud.

How docks and waterfalls became his favorite launching pads.

How he used to snore so loudly he’d keep us up from a room away.

How he would always be that dog at the dog park that would annoy all the other dogs into chasing him--but never quite catching him.

How if you rubbed his face long enough he’d fall asleep standing up.

How he could go from full-on wooing to snoring in a matter of seconds.

How he always had to sniff your mouth to see what you were eating and if you had any left.

Henry was a born Texan, exploring the state with me from end to end, a 90-pound black-lab-some-kinda-hound mix who loved trail and water and bed with equal gusto. When we brought him to Idaho, he grew to love snow just as much, and we put a lot of marks on this state map, too.

His incessant baying-woooooooing that so often aggravated me (and our neighbors) is a sound that I will never forget, and will always equate with his unabashed and irrepressible joy about everything.

I miss him already. I miss the whirlwind he was in his youth and the sleeping puddle he was in his last months. It’s hard to quantify what a dog brings to your life. With a dog like Henry, that’s so true in so many ways.

I’m really glad I got to know him, and to spend such a beautiful and difficult and trying and wonderful part of my life with him.

Fall Radiothon is ON!

Hi everyone. It's that time again. 

Radiothon is ON! Tonight's my night, folks. I'll be on the air asking for your support from 8 to 10pm mst. Please call me at 901.8991 or hit us at radioboise.org. Listen in, too--it's gonna be a fun show.

The Finger

This is an art installation in Prague, pointed right at the capitol. The artist is a bit politically disillusioned.

I can think of a few good spots for these. How about the park across from our state capitol?

From the NY Times.

New Sandbox!

Race Day!

Theo raced in his first Harrison Classic this weekend. Rafa and Ruby joined him. Everyone finished on their own feet!

Fever Forms

The Octopus Project have a new album out, and it's worth getting excited over.

Not only is Fever Forms more of everything we've come to love from this Austin 4-piece (frenetic drum-driven instrumental jams, eerie theramin soundscapes, big loud rock tunes that border on dance music), but they've added a huge twist: Vocals. And it works. Some of the songs sound barely like the Octopus Project of old, but they are solid jams nonetheless.

If you haven't dug into this band yet I implore you to do so.

New Boards of Canada!

Oh, man. It's been too long.

James Blake on KEXP

This is good stuff.

This Is Water

Arco::Atoms

Happy Friday AMOK

This is awesome. The bigger the monitor and louder the sounds the better.

Yo La Tengo! Oh, Boise. We have arrived.

I cannot express how happy this makes me. Not only are they coming to Boise, but there is no opener and we get two sets. Two. Sets. YLT. O.M.G.

Unpretentiousil

And thank goodness, just in time for Treefort!

5 Mile Gulch

Nice to have good weather and dry trails again.

Look how TALL that boy's getting!

Hooky

Great morning for it. 

Happy Friday, from K.Flay

A new mixtape from K.Flay, for free at kflay.com.

Finally.

Think Summer

The break from inversion conditions lasted about 2 days.

But screw it--I got a Middle Fork permit! Launching August 17th. This'll get me through this weather.

Snowy Twilight

Finally, the inversion is gone and we're back to normal lovely winter.

The Midwest

Images like this one make me miss Illinois. This is college buddy Barry playing hockey with his daughter Megan and another college bud's son Ryan.

Barry says he dominated. I don't believe it. And I love that Megan kicks a** in pink.

Say what you want about alpine and skate skiing, about winter sports in the west. They're great, all right, but this is what I call making your own winter fun. I just want to know why Macri ain't out on the ice--or is that him, losing the puck to Megan?

Inverted Weekend

Getting pretty sick of the weather around here.

Heading up to Bogus Basin helps. Single digits and steel-colored low-ceiling here in town. About 12 miles up the road, sunny skies and 40F. That's good for the soul.

Bird Dog

Josie came to live with us a few months ago. I've been interested in bird hunting for a while, but never had the impetus to try it out. Now, I do. So our good friend Bill offered to take us to his favorite spot to see how she did. I bought a $1.75 hunting passport, with Bill as my mentor, and off we went.

We didn't get any chukar, but we did see at least a half-dozen covies that flushed from very far away. Not certain if that's because it's late season and they're wary, or because of Josie's unbridled enthusiasm. But, Bill got a couple shots off, and we had a fantastic day hiking this beautiful area for 4+ hours.

Josie did well. The amount of ground she can cover, seemingly effortlessly, is just staggering to me. Amazing energy and speed, and no fear whatsoever of a shotgun blast. It was even more fun than I imagined. I can't wait to get out there with her again.