I was working in a warehouse during the summer and driving a passenger van the rest of the year. I purchased a classy pair of soft leather shoes that looked and smelled fantastic. They were luxurious in a way that shoes can be and I enjoyed the way a pair of shoes could make me feel while at school, striding through a city, sitting at a cafe or spending a day at the art museum. If clothes make the man, the same could be said of shoes, in my honest opinion. Those shoes took me everywhere. Walking the Brooklyn Bridge. Strolling through Central Park. I tramped hard in those shoes. One of the best purchases I have ever made. I think because they helped to create in me memories that I will never forget. It is like that with some things in life. You never really forget the things you carried when you climbed that mountain. You always remember what you had in your bag when you set out to see a foreign land.
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Hiking
My favorite form of physical exercise…hmm… Hiking. Nothing beats a strenuous hike in mother nature. I’ve been a hiker and a backpacker since I was little. As a young man, I helped plan and lead backpacking trips into the Bighorn Mountains. I climbed to the top of 13,171 foot Cloud Peak. I was lucky, one might say, to share the experience with my father. I have also enjoyed hiking in Rocky Mountain N.P. in Colorado, the Wallowa Mountains in Oregon and the Canyonlands of Utah. I enjoy the solitude of hiking alone. Now, when I go out to beat the trail, I am accompanied by my furry friend Roper. She enjoys the exercise too. Usually, I like to plan ahead. I wake up and make coffee. I’m out the door before anyone is awake, like 04:30 in the morning. I have studied the map and know the trail I’m on. I know the landmarks and their names. I have orienteering skills. I read the history of the land. I watch for signs of bear. I see the scat of coyotes. The sun has barely risen above the horizon. My nose is cold and dripping but the movement of my body creates warmth. My breath is visible in the crisp air. I see a doe raise her head from the grass she is eating and look at me. She swishes her tail twice and goes back to eating. A yellow-bellied marmot comes out to see me. I hear his claws scratching across the granite rock. I stop for a late breakfast and hydration break. It’s been hours and I haven’t seen anyone else so I decide to do some exploring. I crawl through wind fallen trees careful not to disturb a rattlesnake hiding on the other side of a log. I reach a boggy meadow full of tall grasses where the elk like to drink. Butterflies float on the breeze. I wish I could stay here for days. There is more here I want to see. On the way back to the vehicle, I startle a rabbit from the brush. The rabbit bounds forward in a zigzagging line and stops to watch as I leave. I ask the rabbit to forgive my intrusion on his home.
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Turtle Skull
I first heard Turtle Skull with their latest release Being Here. Their heavy sound reminded me of Black Sabbath with a gentler approach with the vocals. The lyrics are thought provoking and the songs all rip. The lineup has changed throughout their three albums. However, vocalist and guitarist Dean McLeod alongside drummer and vocalist Charlie Gradon have been at the forefront of the band’s music. Also, the artwork for the band is very cool. Artists Davey Fenn, Graham Yarrington and others have created the visual complement to Turtle Skull. I like listening to music that hits me like a wave while recalibrating my thinking. Turtle Skull does that.
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Dostoevsky “Crime & Punishment”, Murakami “1Q84”, Stephen Graham Jones “The Buffalo Hunter Hunter”
I read Crime & Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky. I was delighted with Raskolnikov and the philosophical flights of argument he maintained throughout the story. There is a Russian literary theorist named Mikhail Bakhtin who introduced key elements to the understanding of Dostoevsky’s work. I don’t wish to provide any biographical information about Dostoevsky. Anyone can read more about his tumultuous life on the web. I have read some of his other novels too. There are many great Russian authors and I count Dostoevsky as one of the greatest. To this day, I still enjoy reading his tales.
When it comes to fantastical storytellers, I count Haruki Murakami as one of the best. In my 30s, I read 1Q84. The story switches back and forth between two characters: Tengo and Aomame. Aomame is a female assassin working for a powerful female figure. Tengo is a childhood love of Aomame. The story includes a detective trying to unravel the goings-on of the actions described in the novel including a cult, a best-selling novel, and two moons. While reading Haruki Murakami, I always have a sense that the walls are moving outward. It doesn’t take long to get hooked by this one.
Obviously, picking only three books that have had an impact on me is quite limiting. I think every book I have ever read has had an impact on me. I could list ten and write a paragraph on each before the night’s end. I would like to include the non-fiction work Henry David Thoreau’s Walden on this list. However, the third book I have considered to write about is one I have yet to read: The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones. How could you go wrong with a horror tale that takes place in the American West in the 1900s (with vampires!)? Wow. I’m really excited to read this one.
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Mark Rothko
I’ve visited a handful of art galleries and museums over the years and I’ve found art that I really like, art that disagreed with me, and art that confounded me. The experience I’ve had with a select few have carried with me throughout my life. I once visited an exhibition of a Mark Rothko career retrospective. Large canvases splashed with colored blocks, some with subtler grays and blacks carried a weight of feeling I had never before experienced with a painting. Whatever the artist was doing was definitely working on me. There is a feeling of supreme love or spiritual ecstasy working in the most powerful paintings by Rothko. It doesn’t take long to have one of these profound experiences while viewing the paintings. As in my experience, it might be better to view the work multiple times. I visited the Rothko exhibit several times. Once, on my own. Then, I brought a friend. Later I returned to see some of the works that had performed so strongly on me. The evocations were undimmed.
original posting May 20, 2025
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Car Seat Headrest
I first listened to Will Toledo and Car Seat Headrest on their latest release The Scholars. I listened to it while working out and a few of the songs got my blood pumping. But it’s not really one to casually listen to while doing something else. It’s an album with lyrics that you have to pay attention to. There are lyrical moments that ring loud and true to my own experience. Lines from the track “Gethsemane” are especially poignant. I guess there’s a libretto which is included in the compact disc and record purchase which I don’t yet have. I’ve been spending a little time here and there following along with lyrics posted on the web. The Scholars is an album you can listen to again and again, always gleaning something new from each listen. I don’t want to say a whole lot more about it. I’m still listening to it. Also, I’m just getting started with Car Seat Headrest and there’s a lot to listen to. Guitarist Ethan Ives, drummer Andrew Katz and bassist Seth Dalby form the rest of the band. Another favorite track is The Catastrophe (Good Luck With That, Man).
original posting May 15, 2025
Indiebeats 