Early Ride

No, I don't do this every time I'm on my bike before 10am. But this morning's ride was so nice, and my new bike so beautiful in the morning sun, that I couldn't resist.

Nice to be back rockin the big wheels. 10 minutes on this bike reminded me why I love the 29ers.

Cheney's Closet

So Dick Cheney had a secret counterterrorism program running through the CIA that had no recourse to Congress or to anyone but Dick Cheney, says the NY Times.

The program has been halted and is being looked into. Not that we'll ever know anything about it.

Really, though, wouldn't we be disappointed if Cheney didn't have secret programs running through the CIA? That involve vampires and the undead?

Palin

Sarah Palin's resignation as governor of Alaska came while I was in Montana, fishing, away from phones or TVs or the interwebs or newspapers. When I heard about it I just laughed. I thought surely it's a stunt, some calculation or gambit on running for a much higher office. Though why so soon?

But I must admit I find the people who support her far more fascinating then I do Palin herself. I mean, how could you, right? If W was a big idiotic joke gone too far, Palin was that and so much worse. And people love her. So who are these people? Frank Rich, though a bit snobby, has it right, I think: "She stands for a genuine movement: a dwindling white nonurban America that is aflame with grievances and awash in self-pity as the country hurtles into the 21st century and leaves it behind."

But it can't be that simple. As he says, a recent poll has 71% of Republicans saying they'd vote for her for president. That's just too stupid to be true.

Then there's this article, detailing all the troubles she's had back in Alaska since the presidential election ended. Ethic complaints, family strife, local and state politicians turning against her, shorter work days, etc. It's almost enough to make you feel sorry for her. Almost, but not quite.

I'm of mixed feelings, myself. If they put her up in 2o12, I don't see that she could actually win, so that's good for the Democrats. But to live through a full campaign with her, to think that so many of my countrymen would accept and confirm her as the leader of this country, is just to depressing to consider.

San Juan Hill

In Non-Palin News:

On this day in 1898, Theodore Roosevelt led his Rough Riders in the storming of San Juan Hill, a turning point in chasing Spanish troops out of Cuba and ending the Spanish-American War.

Read up at Finding Dulcinea, a really cool site.

Montana Fourth

We're headed to Montana for a long weekend to visit friends Kimberly and John in their beautiful cabin in the mountains. That's a picture from their front porch, above. Below is a picture of the West Fork Boulder, just below them, where we'll fish.


Flyfishing, eating, drinking, and more flyfishing. That's the plan. And I can't wait. Happy weekend, y'all.

New on the Range

Oh man. There's so much great new music this week.

Wilco. Tortoise. Dinosaur Jr. Spoon.

There's more, but need I say more? I don't think so. Tune in 5 to 7 mountain time on Wednesday and 1 to 3 on Friday, www.radioboise.org.

Riding the Watchman

I finally got up there. Me and Will today crawled up the spine of 3 Bears to get to the Watchman Trail, the newest addition to the Boise Foothills trail complex.

I've heard it's a good one, and I heard right. Kudos to SWIMBA and Ridge to Rivers for the planning and work they put into this trail. It's a great traverse, a nice chunk of a gathering mid-mountain loop, with awesome views into the valleys below and of the main ridge of the Boise Front.


Today we rode it from 3 Bears over to 5 Mile Gulch. Next time, I'll try it the other way. Good times.

RIP MJ

Callahan Quiets the Lux

Last night had to be one of the couple best-behaved crowds I've ever seen at the Neurolux. Bill Callahan played, and while he brought a band with him and often had some full volume going, much of it was quiet and spare, and for once the guy onstage wasn't competing with the noise of the kids in the back.

Callahan put on a great show. He's an odd duck, stock still mostly, sometimes jogging in place, sometimes doing a weirdly choked endzone-dance-knee-wiggle thing, but his voice is something beautiful and unique, and his songs are amazing almost without exception.

He dug deep into A River Ain't Too Much To Love, his last record as smog., and he also brought out a few classics "from my cassette collection," as Richard said, and a lot of songs from his two most recent records, both recorded under his own name.

Apparently the neighborhood conflict has begun at the Lux, as complaints from the new residential tower across the alley are forcing them to end shows at 11, but Callahan played until about 11:30, coming back for an encore, thumbing his nose at the "fat cat lawyer" who's always the villain.

Set closer "Let Me See The Colts" was the highpoint of the evening, I'd say, working the loud-quiet-loud progression with builds from cello and violin over the evocative lyrics of that song's chorus. A great show.

Bill Callahan Tonight

The very talented, very droll Bill Callahan plays the Neurolux tonight, Thursday. He also goes by Smog., but he's put two albums in a row out under his own name, the amazing Woke on a Whaleheart from 07, and the brand new Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle.

Callahan's music is hard to describe in a way that sounds appealing, but the music itself, and his dry delivery, are very compelling. He's a strange bird, and we're lucky to have him play here at the Lux.

Don't miss this show. And for god's sake, if you do go, don't sit there and yell at your friends at the top of your voice. Boise crowds are notoriously bad for shows like this (see: the travesty that was Califone at the Lux, poor poor Alexi Murdoch, etc etc), and if you're just there to make the scene and be an a-hole, at least do it in the pool room. Kthanks.

Spiral Stairs Solo!

Big news in indie rock geekdom today. Spiral Stairs, that other songwriter and singer from Pavement, is releasing his first solo record, called The Real Feel. It's coming out on Matador, and the cover art is... Well, look. Awesome, eh?

You can download a track at the Pitchfork.

US Beats Spain to Advance to Confederation Cup Finals!

After a 3-0 win over Egypt on Sunday and an unlikely advance to the semifinals after defeats to Italy and Brazil, the United States’ previous caution became assertiveness. Against a team so secure in possession of the ball, the United States dictated the action at times, while Spain seemed back on its heels, out of sorts, its players grumbling and frustrated, raising their arms and leaning their heads back in exasperation.


Check out the full NY Times coverage. An amazing victory for the US side. We advance to Sunday's finals against the winner of Brazil v. South Africa on Sunday. It'd be nice to try for revenge against Brazil, who beat us 3-0 earlier in this Confederations Cup tournament, but better I think to square off against the host nation in what I hope could be a shifting of power for next year's World Cup.

Where Henry Spends His Mornings

Reporters Escape from Taliban

An amazing story in today's NY Times about an American journalist with the NYT and an Afghan journalist who succeeded in a nighttime escape from a Taliban compound in Waziristan.

It's a pretty thrilling narrative of an unlikely escape in a completely hostile area. The stuff of movies.

Saturday Locals

These are great. See what's going on in your town. Click the poster to read the fine print.

Friday Night Soulstice

Come downtown to our party. It's gonna be fun.

Happy Friday

I heart Annie Clark.

St. Vincent "The Strangers" from Lake Fever Sessions on Vimeo.

New Bloc Party

Give a rat's ass? Listen to it here on Pitchfork (via Lala).

Might not be as crappy as the last record. We'll see.

New Tortoise Coming

Other Music's digital store is giving away an advance track off the new Tortoise record, due out next week on Thrill Jockey. If it's any indication of the new release's entirety (and why wouldn't it be?), this one, called Beacons of Ancestorship, is gonna be a rocker.

See you at the Record Exchange on Tuesday.

Iran in Chaos

The fallout from the election in Iran continues. Roger Cohen of the NY Times is on the ground in Tehran, and today's op-ed conjures some frightening images, and some even more frightening possibilities.

She was in tears like many women on the streets of Iran’s battered capital. “Throw away your pen and paper and come to our aid,” she said, pointing to my notebook. “There is no freedom here.”

The Ayatollah has called for an investigation, which is pretty huge considering he called the suspect results "divine intervention." Still, it's hard to imagine this would be anything but going through some motions to tamp down the protests, sparked from landslide results being released to the public within a couple hours of the polls closing.

He won as the Interior Ministry was sealed, opposition Web sites were shut down, text messages were cut off, cell phones were interrupted, Internet access was impeded, dozens of opposition figures were arrested, universities were closed and a massive show of force was orchestrated to ram home the result to an incredulous public.

With foreign journalists mostly slated to leave in the coming days, I fear we have not seen the worst of this. Iran, teetering on the edge of change for the better, turns out to have indeed been too good to be possible.

Cohen's article is powerful. Don't miss it.