Dread Zeppelin at Coach House

I guess this qualifies as my first rock concert ever. A brilliant club act. Really a shame that the place wasn't packed. Of course, it didn't help that they were scheduled behind three mediocre local bands.

During third act (which brought with it a sizeable contingent of high school students -- who promptly filed out as Dread Zeppelin opened with Kashmir), drunk man in bathroom had had enough:

"Three fucking garage bands! Three fucking garage bands!? Dread Zeppelin should have been on an hour ago! You can tell that motherfucker Gary I'm not paying my tab."

Management did kinda screw the pooch with the scheduling.

An unusual week ends

Santa Anas began gusting early Sunday, if I remember correctly. Not the soft, jacuzzi-warm Santa Anas we've been having. These were lip-cracking sandblasters. Gusts over 100mph recorded on some lonely Wile E. Coyote peak. Not hot. But not cold either. Warm, but with the wind chill factor factored in, strangely temperate. By Sunday night, the fires had been lit.

I noticed what has come to be known as the Santiago fire Sunday evening as I was headed home driving east. It was attributed to an arsonist. Fox News couldn't resist raising the specter of an Al-Quaeda connection. Smoke in the office all week had me craving barbecue potato chips.

The winds had calmed by Wednesday, died by Friday. Half of San Diego burned. They even evacuated Del Mar! On my way to work early Wednesday, I looked to the east. Right around sunrise, foothills silhouetted against a brilliant orange sky. Two thin lines of smoke trailing up like the residue of primordial campfires. Ok, the metaphor is a bit overwrought. But there was something Land of the Lostish about it. Full red moon last night in the eastern sky. Full red moon this morning in the western sky.

Rain

Steady rainfall beginning late last night and lasting until this morning. Washed out my morning run. Caused a horrific accident that's closed the I-5. Smelled wet earthy smells I haven't smelled in a long time.

Surf Report: 2-4', 5' sets, Fair

A bit gray. A lot of water. Water just on the verge of ice-cream-headache cold. Steady walled lines on the south side of the Pier as we drove by. Some shoulder high sets. Some Yahoo was talking about Jeffrey's Bay after a pretty good right washed through.

But most waves were too fast and kinda tricky to catch. Surfed about an hour. Caught 3 or 4 waves. A couple decent ones. Nothing fantastic.

A fair approximation:

On Torture

This Washington Post article has been making the rounds on the internet the last couple days:

Fort Hunt's Quiet Men Break Silence on WWII

People debating torture's efficacy miss the true insidiousness of this current administration's obsession with it – or maybe the point is so plain it doesn't need to be made: torture is probably a much better tool for obtaining the information your want to obtain than it is for obtaining the truth.

First Santa Anas of Season

Started about 3am this morning. At least that's when I first noticed them. Pretty stiff -- discovered a downed tree at the neighborhood park down at the corner. (Leafless, it looks like it had died a while ago. Although I run by it every morning, I hadn't noticed.)

Still at the moment. Beautiful day. Warm, dry, staticky. Hotel California weather. You either love it or hate it. Joan Didion's essay I've always thought the best literary treatment. (Funny today to think this first appeared in the Saturday Evening Post.)

It's the reason why I find it so difficult to imagine living anywhere else. Visited my dad this afternoon and could see Catalina offshore from the hills 50 miles away.

A current photo of the Huntington Beach doesn't quite capture the spirit:



Looks like a short-lived Santa Ana.

Swami's Wakes Up

I'd call that overhead.

Autumnesque

Didn't feel distinctively autumnal this morning so much as it felt not-like-summer. There was a west swell in the water and the first real waves at Scripps (albeit sloppy) probably since spring.

Cool and breezy this evening. Getting darker earlier. Carnival at the Catholic Church down the street began this afternoon.