OWS v. FOX

Nice to see this stuff gaining traction. And nice to see the actual peeps on the ground state their case so eloquently, much to the chagrin of the establishment and their fellatiators.

Happy Friday

Stole this from the Facebutts. But is that really stealing?

Future Islands

New album out this week! It's called On the Water, and so far I'm loving it--more of the intense, howling break-up songs that we loved on last year's In Evening Air, but with more mood, more bass, more rending of throat and garment. Great and unique stuff.

Middle Fork Salmon River

We launched on Sunday, 9/25, about 2 in the afternoon. You load your boat up on this humungous ramp and slide 'er on down--or in our case, push hard to get it down the ramp as the boats were so heavy they wouldn't slide.

The clouds and rain that hit us this first day and night would be the last we'd see on the trip.



Spent out first night just a few miles from the put-in, at Gardell's Hole. Very nice site. We got rained on overnight, and in the morning our tents and tarps were coated in frost.

The next day we got into some serious fishing. The rapids were tight and the boulder gardens required much jumping into the water to free up the boats, but that made for an active day in the raft and was actually really fun.







Camp was busy and fun. Always work to do, always cocktails being made.



And there was costume party for Linda's birthday. Derek washes the ball...



And the scenery? Sheesh. Some nice hot springs, too. This is sunflower.



The fishing only got better, too. The cutthroats did not disappoint--they were plentiful, and they were hungry. Most were in the 8 to 12 inch range, but we pulled a few nice ones out, along with a veritable butt-load of rainbows (future steelhead).

I spent a little time on the oars, but our boat was big and heavy, and my skills not quite up to the task of keeping us off the rocks. So, Zach gave me a few turns, but he was at the help for most of the trip. Which, for me, meant more fishing.


The views were amazing, whenever I could look up from reading water or watching a fly to appreciate them.

The camps and sites were fairly spotless, too. Nice to know that rules and protections, when respected and enforced, can work, keeping this stretch of river all but pristine in the face of thousands of visitors every year.


Camped in among the boulders our last night out. Lived like the mountain sheep. And saw some, too.

7 days passed in a flash. We were busy nearly the whole time, but that's the price you pay for going with friends and not on a commercial trip. And it was fantastic. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

I Like My Bike

Time to Get Mad... and Active

About time. The first minute tells it all. (Thanks, Kurt.)

The Best Audience

Dad and grapes from cathy fischer on Vimeo.

Back Home

The overflow pond over in the Military Reserve may be no Middle Fork of the Salmon River, but it sure is good to see these two again. Lucky guy, I am.

Trip report and pics coming soon. And if you're wondering, the fishing was as amazing as you've heard it is.

Gone Fishing

Sunday morning at 7pm we leave town and head up toward Stanley, to Boundary Creek, to launch for a week on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River. 7 days of floating and fishing and oaring and fishing and hiking and fishing.

I've never done this trip--never done any river trip of this length, let alone of this remoteness. And it'd be a gross understatement to say I'm excited.

Full report to come when I return. Have a lovely week.

Kerosene

If you didn't already love Annie Clark (aka St. Vincent), this might convince you. And as her new album drops, it's good to get a sense of what she's capable of outside the bounds of her own intricate, often subtle compositions and performances. Here, covering Big Black's Kerosene, she just rawks.

Freedom

“The really important kind of freedom involves attention, and awareness, and discipline, and effort, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in myriad petty little unsexy ways, every day.”

― David Foster Wallace, This Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life

Two

Just because it's so great.

The Few, The Loud, The Ignoramuses

Here's a breath of fresh air and a trend I hope continues. From an article in the NY Times about slipping support for the Tea Baggers:

Of course, politicians of all stripes are not faring well among the public these days. But in data we have recently collected, the Tea Party ranks lower than any of the 23 other groups we asked about — lower than both Republicans and Democrats. It is even less popular than much maligned groups like “atheists” and “Muslims.” Interestingly, one group that approaches it in unpopularity is the Christian Right.

Their brand is toxic, as the article says, so why is this small but vocal group holding our entire economy hostage? Because Obama has tried too hard and for too long to be bipartisan. Failing to pass reasonable bills would be better than passing any of the garbage that could possibly move through this House's blocked and gnarly digestive tract.

Plus, really, the Tea Party is not all about small government. They're about White America and the intersection of religion and politics.

So what do Tea Partiers have in common? They are overwhelmingly white, but even compared to other white Republicans, they had a low regard for immigrants and blacks long before Barack Obama was president, and they still do.

More important, they were disproportionately social conservatives in 2006 — opposing abortion, for example — and still are today. Next to being a Republican, the strongest predictor of being a Tea Party supporter today was a desire, back in 2006, to see religion play a prominent role in politics. And Tea Partiers continue to hold these views: they seek “deeply religious” elected officials, approve of religious leaders’ engaging in politics and want religion brought into political debates. The Tea Party’s generals may say their overriding concern is a smaller government, but not their rank and file, who are more concerned about putting God in government.

My hope for the upcoming campaign season (I know, it's started already, I just can't acknowledge it for at least a few more months) is that Obama gets mad and goes partisan. It has to happen, because he's working alongside a Republican House (and all Republicans everywhere lately, who all seem terrified of the Tea Baggers) that believes he must fail, and they're willing to take our economy down to see it happen.

Tea Baggers: Party Before Country. It's pretty disgusting. And it's time to stop trying to work with them.

Show them for the fringe element they are and stop pretending they are mainstream America. Get mad. Before it's too late.

Good morning, beautiful

It's a slow start today.

Here's a good way to start your work week. Roll outta bed with this gorgeous video from Matthew Dear for Slowdance, off his latest, Black City.

Back from Montana

What a wonderful trip. Theo started walking (11 steps in a row!), we hung out with great friends, ate great food, drank a beer or two, did some gorgeous hikes, and caught lots of fish.

It's always sad to leave, this year more than ever. But we'll be back.

Right and Wrong

Olbermann is annoying and self-righteous, but there's a whole lotta truth in here.

The shame is that we're all of us so far gone that we can't even see how far gone we are.

Alberto Strikes Back

Kudos to Contador, who gave at least one of these costume-wearing interfering jog-alongsiding douchebags what they deserve.

I mean, dude was trying to pretend to check his heart rate. Seemed like the yahoos went wild this year, moving away from the realm of overzealous support that has always made these mountaintop stages nervy and into the realm of trying to get camera time by being the biggest "look at meeeeee" a-hole on the mountain.

Too bad more of them didn't get this treatment.

Watch the race. Don't be in it.

Theo Meets Nika

John and Tamara got a new puppy and brought her round to meet the boy. They liked each other.

Horseshoe Canyon

I forgot I had these photos. We went to Driggs for the 4th of July, and I got a ride in over at Horseshoe Canyon one day.


It was so gorgeous, we ended up hiking there a couple days later. You can see the Tetons across that valley.

TR Turns 1!

A baby no more. Theo has joined the ranks of kid-dom. He had a wonderful birthday.