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Sunday, December 28, 2008

Favorite Albums of 2008


“Cardinology,” Ryan Adams & the Cardinals
Adams hands over the reins to his great backing band, who help the ADD-prone songwriter to focus and produce his most consistent and satisfying album yet.

“Tell Tale Signs,” Bob Dylan
Bobby Z’s left-overs (this CD of outtakes and live versions) are better than your “A” material…but then again, you didn’t have Daniel Lanois producing your stuff.

“Mudcrutch,” Mudcrutch
Tom Petty gets his old band back together for an album and tour. The result? Top-notch psychedelic country-rock, ala Gram Parsons and vintage Neil Young.

“Gift of Screws,” Lindsay Buckingham
Hook-y tunes and Pro Tools twiddling from pop’s genius guitarist. Great.

“Viva La Vida,” Coldplay
Get the repackaged set that includes Prospekt’s March, a disk of remixes, etc.

“Live in Gdansk,” David Gilmour.
Gilmour’s endless repackaging of Pink Floyd highlights—great as they are—is thankfully augmented here with the entire “On an Island” song list. Still the best Strat player out there.

“Where the Light Is,” John Mayer
Would have preferred an another studio album like the briliant 2006 “Continum,” if only to prove to us that he’s finally forsaken the sensitive acoustic guitarist/pretty-faced pop singer shtick in favor of wicked good blues hooks. Time will tell.

“Seeing Things,” Jakob Dylan
While we wait for a new Wallflowers CD, we’ll settle for Jake’s acoustic set here, covering some of Dylan Sr.’s ground with protest songs.

“Snakes & Arrows Live,” Rush
Cool-hunters' "best-of" lists found in all the newsstand rags would never dare include a 30 year-old prog rock band, but the jaw-dropping musicianship here is matched by a fan-challenging set list of new material coupled with more obscure catalogue cuts. Check out the stage props in the DVD version.

Friday, December 26, 2008

Happy Day-After-Christmas


Got a medical call at 4 a.m. this morning.
The patient's chief complaint?

She couldn't sleep.

Now my crew has it...

Monday, December 22, 2008

Waiting for Rain


Outside my window, it’s overcast and cool.

Not yet Christmas, but I’m already looking back on 2008—I was going to write one last snarky post for Switch 2 Plan B in the form of a year-end review. We’ll see.

It’s been a difficult year…

But it’s quiet this morning.

I’m taking most of the week off, but have to work on Christmas day. Until then, I’ll be doing a little more of this: sitting by the fire with my laptop.

I wrote about 146 blog postings this past year. Not bad. This past month, I got over 500 hits in a single week, but for a blog, that’s not really saying much at all. Every week I ask myself the same question: Should I keep blogging, or just shut it down? Is there are point to all this?

I’m waiting for the rain. It never rains here on Christmas…

But sooner or later, everything must go...




Monday, December 15, 2008

Last Strike Team of 2008



There are two seasons here in So Cal: fire season and mud slide season. I finished up the former on our department’s new OES rigs.

For a couple of days, we drove up and down Topanga Canyon and Mulholland highway to recon the area in case the red flag winds stoked one last major fire for the year.

The engine is a brand new International model 34, four-wheel-drive. It’s designed for off-road driving—and let me tell you, it’s a blast.



I put a lot of miles on the rig during those two days: Fernwood, Malibou Lake, and even a quick stop on PCH to snap a picture of the crew, using the Pacific Ocean as a backdrop.
Do I look fat in these pictures?
I think I know what my New Years resolution is going to be this year...

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

New OES Rigs


They give us introductory training (mandatory) on these new OES (California Office of Emergency Services) rigs on Monday. On Monday night they tell me I'll be assigned to it the next day--and with the unpredictability of staffing policy, that means I'm either in the middle of a 36-hour shift, or starting a 21-day stint out-of-county...
Classic...


Wish I'd paid attention in class...

Monday, December 1, 2008

Take Back the Season


No, wait…this isn’t one of those blog postings about the over-commercialization of Christmas, and that whole “reason for the season” rant. I mean, let’s get real: Retailers do most of their business during these next few weeks. Sometimes it seems like the Lord created Christmas just to keep our economy afloat. So Happy Holidays, Best Buy!

No, this post is about something far more important…

The weather.

Every year here in Cali, we’re subjected to miles and miles of front yard tableaux, replete with cheap plastic statues of carrot-nosed snowmen and prancing reindeer. In the malls, an unending soundtrack of cheery winter songs like “Let it Snow!”

Here, sing it with me: “Oh, the weather outside is frightful…”

You want frightful weather? How about a snappy melody extolling temperatures in the 80s and 90s? Relative humidity dropping into single digits? Santa Ana winds out of the northeast at 60 miles an hour? Now that’s frightening Christmas weather! It’s called “Red Flag,” jolly St. Nick!

When will the rest of this country stop those on the East Coast from dictating the mood for the holidays, with their depressing motifs of snow and cold?

It was probably 72 and sunny in Bethlehem that day, for cryin’ out loud! If the baby Jesus wanted to become God incarnate in snow pack, he would’ve picked Oslo, Norway.

Jesus wants you to celebrate his birthday as it really happened: Hot and cloudless. He doesn’t even like the East Coast. Ever read a Bible story that depicts the Son of Man ice-skating? “Blessed are the snowboarders?”

No!

Take back the season

Instead of heading up to the local mountain resorts, drive out to the desert and come back with your pick-up truck bed full of sand and creosote bushes. Decorate your front yard with plastic camels and sweaty Bedouins. For that big holiday meal, serve up roasted roadrunner and cactus. “Let it blow, let it blow, let it blow!”

That’s what Jesus would do for the holidays.