Welcome! "The Evening Blues" is a casual community diary (published Monday - Friday, 7:00 PM Eastern) where we hang out, share and talk about news, music, photography and other things of interest to the community.
Just about anything goes, but attacks and pie fights are not welcome here. This is a community diary and a friendly, peaceful, supportive place for people to interact.
Everyone who wants to join in peaceful interaction is very welcome here.
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Hey! Good Evening!
Its time for some magic, Magic Slim that is, at the first annual Vermont Blues Festival in 2009
I don’t want realism. I want magic!
-- TENNESSEE WILLIAMS, A Streetcar Named Desire
Photos From Joe on the Road
We got this note from joe (and some pictures) late Friday night:
i am now in moses lake, washington. i spent the past couple of days camped out in olympic national park, which is an amazing place. it is probably the most biologically and physically diverse place i've seen in my travels. it's a fairly large park with a couple of large, temperate rainforests, mountains, glaciers and ocean beaches all in one park.
the last time i checked in was in issaquah, so picking up from there,
i drove around puget sound from issaquah, wa to olympic national park, by way of port angeles, wa for lunch at a seafood joint on the docks facing victoria on vancouver island. we drove around the to the north side of the park to check into the camp that we're staying in on crescent lake. the lake and the view from where we are on the lake with mountains behind it is outstanding. after we checked in, we drove around to another section of the park and took a hike through and old growth forest with some trees that are estimated to be 3-500 years old. this forest is just incredible, trees whose trunks would take 4-5 average sized people to encircle and whose tops are so high up and the canoply is so dense that it is impossible to see the tops of the trees. after that we headed up the road to a hot springs and ms. shikspack took a nice long dip while i did a little more hiking and had dinner.
the second day, we visited the hoh rainforest, which was dense with huge douglas firs, sitka spruce, hemlocks and all sorts of beautiful mosses, mushrooms and critters. from there we went to check out the pacific ocean. it had been gorgeous, with temps in the low 70's all day and a cool breeze blowing and bright sunshine overhead. i had visions of hanging out on the beach and photographing one of those incredible pacific sunsets, but nature had other plans... when i got within about a quarter of a mile of the beach, i saw a huge fog bank ahead, and by the time i got down to the beach it was total pea soup. so, i got some wonderful pictures of the pacific northwest looking like the pacific northwest. B) then we drove back to camp and into a gorgeous sunny evening.
anyway, we're headed east now so i'll be checking in probably a little more regularly now, though i won't have cell access to the web until we get much further east.
lake crescent, olympic national park:
July, 2012, by joe shikspack
this is how blue and clear the water is at lake crescent:
July, 2012, by joe shikspack
view from our campsite at sundown (lake crescent):
July, 2012, by joe shikspack
dinner visitor at lake crescent, olympic national park:
July, 2012, by joe shikspack
port angeles looking toward victoria, canada where agathena is waving:
July, 2012, by joe shikspack
roadside flowers in olympic national park:
July, 2012, by joe shikspack
July, 2012, by joe shikspack
big stands of purple foxglove were everywhere:
July, 2012, by joe shikspack
lily:
July, 2012, by joe shikspack
salmonberry:
July, 2012, by joe shikspack
rugosa:
July, 2012, by joe shikspack
assorted flowers:
July, 2012, by joe shikspack
trail into an old grove:
July, 2012, by joe shikspack
enormous douglas fir:
July, 2012, by joe shikspack
550 year old, 270 foot tall sitka spruce:
July, 2012, by joe shikspack
our picnic lunch spot on the hoh river, this beats the hell out of the lunchroom at work B):
July, 2012, by joe shikspack
madison falls:
July, 2012, by joe shikspack
it was a beautiful, clear, sunny day at olympic national park, then we drove down out of the higher elevations to the ocean and a pea-soup fog came in...
here's a bunch of shots from ruby beach:
July, 2012, by joe shikspack
July, 2012, by joe shikspack
July, 2012, by joe shikspack
red squirrel on dungeness spit:
July, 2012, by joe shikspack
dungeness spit:
July, 2012, by joe shikspack
[ Editor's Note: joanneleon and KBO will be holding down the Evening Blues fort while joe shikspack is on his roadtrip vacation. When we can, we'll post photos and messages that he sends in and put them in this section of the diary. He'll be checking in regularly when he has connectivity, so feel free to leave him some greetings in the comments. Also, we would love to have your help with ideas for Evening Blues topics while he is gone, so feel free to lend your Blues and Roots music expertise and ideas in the comments! ]
News
Iceland Has Hired An Ex-Cop To Hunt Down The Bankers That Wrecked Its Economy
His job description:
"On one hand, we have to investigate all suspicion of fraud and offences committed before 2009, on the other hand, we bring the lawsuits against the suspects to court ourselves," Hauksson explains. This is a 'totally new' method which allows the investigators to "follow the case" and the judicial system to "know the cases like the back of their hand". This is indispensable in order "to compete with the well-prepared defence attorneys".
Every Money Professional Knew Libor Was A Scam
I don’t believe that there is a money pro on either the buy or sell side over the past thirty years who didn’t understand that the Libor Fixing was “fixed”. If they claim to be “shocked” today, they are either lying or stupid. The same goes for every central banker and treasury official that knows the way to the bathroom.
Abandoned Walmart Recycled As Public Library
In recent years, there's been something of a grassroots backlash against Wal-Mart Inc., as people have started to realize the damage a single Walmart can do to the small businesses that make up a local economy. In a few cases, there's even been news of Walmart stores closing, effectively run out of town by citizens strongly opposed to its economic, environmental, and social practices.
Arts & Culture
Barbara Kruger and Catherine Opie resign from MOCA board
In another vote of no-confidence in the current direction of the [Los Angeles] Museum of Contemporary Art, prominent Los Angeles artists Barbara Kruger and Catherine Opie have resigned from the museum board.
John Baldessari left Thursday, making Ed Ruscha [who is out of the country and unreachable at this time] the only remaining artist-trustee on the MOCA board.
The resignations follow the recent ousting of chief curator Paul Schimmel, who had closely shaped MOCA's exhibition program until gallery owner Jeffrey Deitch was hired two years ago as museum director.
Opie is known for her photographic portraits. Kruger's billboard-style works combine text and images. Neither shies away from political content in their art.
A photo gallery from London
Cultural Olympiad hits stride as London Summer Olympics near
As part of the Cultural Olympiad, 12,000 cultural events are taking place across Britain to celebrate the London Olympic Games. They could also help attract future tourists.
Blog Posts of Interest
(h/t to Agathena)
What's Happenin'? 7.16.2012
Tom's Dispatch
The Lily-Pad Strategy
How the Pentagon Is Quietly Transforming Its Overseas Base Empire and Creating a Dangerous New Way of War
By David Vine
[Caution explicit description of the wounded in the intro, and then:]
I asked a member of the Air Force medical team about the casualties they see like these. Many, as with this flight, were coming from Afghanistan, he told me. “A lot from the Horn of Africa,” he added. “You don’t really hear about that in the media.”
“Where in Africa?” I asked. He said he didn’t know exactly, but generally from the Horn, often with critical injuries. “A lot out of Djibouti,” he added, referring to Camp Lemonnier, the main U.S. military base in Africa, but from “elsewhere” in the region, too.
Yale's 360
Maya Lin: A Memorial to a Vanishing Natural World
The designer of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is now focused on the mass extinction of species,
a threat she is highlighting on an interactive Web site. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, Maya Lin talks about her “What is Missing” project, which she calls her “last memorial.”
By Diane Toomey
Jesus Loves the Little Children by OPOL
Crashing Vor has a new ad "Wink", how 'bout some more eyeballs and clicks for his good work! ~LL
Weaving Reality by rserven on dailykos, including a great Richard Farina quote, imagine that... serendipidty!
Why burn your candle at both ends, when you can attack it in the middle with an acetylene torch. There's less aesthetic value, but twice as many people can see the flame.
--Richard Fariña
A Little Night Music
Crazy Woman
And more magic, from the 2009 Portland Waterfront Blues Festival
And when Slim was slim here’s Teardrop from 1975
At the Zoo Bar
From the 2011 Pennsylvania Blues Festival
Let me Love you Baby
Sunny Road Blues
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