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Posts published in August 2009

Woodstock At 40

Along with 499,999 others on a countercultural pilgrimage 40 years ago, I was heading for the Woodstock Festival of Music & Love. I was wearing my yellow leather fringe jacket for the first time. In…

Kind Of Blue At 50

Miles Davis’ “Kind of Blue” was released 50 years ago this coming Monday: August 17, 1959. That was ten years after, and ten degrees cooler, than the little big band of Miles’ “Birth of the…

Lives & Times of Anderson Valley Folks: Kirk Wilder

On a gloriously sunny afternoon in Boonville, and following a brief tour of his workshop and hangar with two small airplanes, Kirk Wilder and I sat down to chat on his deck overlooking the airport…

Mendo In New Mexico

It is no mystery why so many people love Santa Fe, New Mexico. High altitude cities always have a mystical air, and Santa Fe is more mystical than most. At 7,000 feet, Santa Fe’s sky…

Farmers Market Report

The Ukaholics provided a musical backdrop for the Boonville Farmers' market on Saturday morning. They entertained the throngs of shoppers with their barbershop quartet style harmonizing and slapstick theatrics. Actually there were no throngs. The…

Septic Easements & Other Effluent

Mendocino County is broke and getting broker by the week. Just last week the State announced that it was “borrowing” another $3 million from Mendocino County and proportionate amounts from all the other counties in…

Bird’s Eye View 8/19/2009

Greetings one and all. My apologies for the absence of a Bird’s Eye View last week. Many of you have written to me wondering why and expressing concern. I was touched. I did send in…

Health Plans & Death Plans

The first illusion to chase off the stage is that the great debate here has much to do with health. So far as public health is concerned, many of the biggest battles were fought and…

Off the Record 8/19/2009

A VERY CRAZY MAN, a literal tin foil hat guy, named Anthony James Pelfrey, has been sentenced to 13 years in state prison for attempted murder. Pelfrey was chattering to imagined presences at the defendant's…

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