Saturday, May 06, 2006

Shiny, shiny pants and bleach-blond hair
A double kick drum by the river in the summer
She fell in love with the drummer
Another and another

Once again, I woke up obnoxiously early.

I'm killing time before the pre-hike rendezvous.

Looking out the window here at The Dude Abides headquarters, I cannot see a single cloud in the hazy, blue early morning sky.

Of course, that could all be different over the Gallatin mountain range in Paradise Valley (the Yellowstone River valley), which is where we will be hiking. Paradise Valley is framed to the West by the Gallatin Range and to the East by the Absaroka Range. It's pretty stunning, hence the name and the multi-multi-multi million dollar homes.

My sister Liz says all my geography lessons are kind of boring. I'm kind of geeky about maps. I USED TO read the Atlas over my coffee every morning and imagine what different places were like.

This made me laugh:



Another thing that made me laugh:

While I was running yesterday and listening to my resurrected iPod (it fixed itself... don't ask me how... but it fixed itself), I looked down and saw:

James Brown

The Grunt (Parts I & II)


OK, it's funny enough that James Brown named a song "The Grunt," but he elevates it to another level by dividing it into subparts and using roman numerals like it's some kind of symphony. But I guess that is why he is Soul Brother #1, the Hardest Working Man in Show Business, and getting arrested in the most rock-n-roll fashion in history, and I'm sitting here writing a blog.

History lesson- maybe 12 years ago, James Brown was arrested after leading the cops on a high-speed chase (across state lines... but these are only arbitrary, imaginary lines to James F-ing Brown) in which the cops blew out his tires. He continued driving on rims. When they finally pulled him over, they discovered he had a ridiculously young teenage girl in his car and some PCP, some of which he had taken prior to this innocent little joyride. Because simple marijuana, booze or cocaine isn't quite enough when you're James F-ing Brown, so when you party, you take Elephant Tranquilizer.

If that ain't rock-n-roll, I don't know what is.

Time to go.

News and pictures at 11.