Hidden desert

Today is another windy day, blowing in one last storm. The tortoises were up this morning, but they went down again early. We even have a chance of rain tomorrow. The last two years, I think the last rain came in February! And here it is April. Funny year.

I'm sitting here looking at my to-do list, checking off what I've done and wondering what else I'll do today. Making dinner is probably not avoidable, working on taxes definitely is. As I ponder my list, I'm listening to "Hidden Desert: a Tribute to Thin White Rope." http://thehiddendesert.blogspot.com/ This requires a little explanation.

The first time I came to Ridgecrest, in 1979, for a punk rock concert, I met some pretty cool guys, friends of the friend who'd invited me down. (Actually I invited myself, but whatever.) I lost touch with my friend a few years later and thus with his friends. Flash forward 31 years to last summer, when I wrote a memory piece about that trip. The story is called "Ridgecrest Revisited" and it's included in an anthology my writing club is publishing, Planet Mojave (http://planetmojave.com/).

Anyway, it turned out that another member of my writing group actually knew most of the people I mentioned in the story, because her son was in their circle. She noted that one of them, Guy Kyser, had played in a fairly successful band. After a bit of detective work I discovered that Guy's band was called Thin White Rope, and it was quite popular during the 1980s and early 1990s, especially in Europe.

So I watched videos of TWR on YouTube, and ordered a few of their CDs from Amazon, but I have to admit that what I like best (so far anyway) is this tribute site. Most of the bands who contributed songs are actually European -- French, Italian, German, British, even Serbian. So you get these amusing pronunciations and little funny bits, like the singer counting "One two three, eins zwei drei" as the song begins. The Italian guy who sings the "Triangle" song has a particularly lovely accent. Guy Kyser had a very distinctive voice -- "gravelly" doesn't even begin to describe it -- and I find him a little hard to listen to. Most of these tributes are easier. What can I say? I'm old, I don't do punk anymore (though TWR's sound is actually described as "desert rock").

But Guy's songwriting skills were impressive. Some of the songs are really disturbing and/or moving. I like "The Red Red Sun," "Hidden Lands," "Sack Full of Silver," "Astronomy," and "Up to Midnight." Remember that Guy grew up in Ridgecrest. Many of his songs sound like they're about his hometown.

This little town
will drag you down
Your old car
has broken down
On your right
is everyone
On your left
the red red sun

Welcome to Ridgecrest. I feel as though I've found another key to this place.

And now, for the wildflower enthusiasts among you, here are a few more photos from the field near our house.

This is probably Fremont pincushion. It's something pincushion anyway (there are several varieties).

This is called Brown-eyed primrose (sorry, not a very good shot, but on the positive side, you get to see a little bit of Baby A's shoe).

And this, this is impressive. It's some kind of a Sunray, possibly a Panamint daisy (I need a more comprehensive wildflower book). We were in Death Valley on Sunday, driving on the Wildrose Canyon road into the park, when suddenly I saw this enormous flower sticking out of a rock. I hit the brakes, pulled over, and Rocket Boy and I got out to take a look at it. That's a measuring tape next to it. The thing was nearly 2 feet tall!