i wasn't kidding. it really does look like mount saint helens is exploding on the other side of the valley. -d

UPDATE: another much better time lapse of the fires. (thanks roomie)

"Bears are soulless, godless, rampaging killing machines. They are Satan's minions and the true symbol of evil."  -S. Colbert

though the folks at fox news frequently find themselves at odds with mr. colbert's politics, not even rupert murdoch can deny the threat that bears pose to our american way of life. i heard murdoch himself personally shepherded this hard-hitting expose through the necessary hoops to get it to air.  i think he even made the bear.

(note: sorry if this is old news. it just made me laugh so hard this morning that i wept. wept for fear of bears. and for the state of american journalism.)

we've all been there.  you're in the car, you just heard a great song on the radio by one of your favorite bands, and all of sudden the dj comes back on and announces that they're giving away tickets to the first five callers.  for a split second you flail about madly in search of your phone.  but ultimately you think better of it, under the rationale that the slim chances of you beating out tens of thousands of other listeners to nab one of five pairs of tickets just aren't worth the risk of probably driving into oncoming traffic while you frantically try to pair your phone and bluetooth.  well turns out sometimes it is worth it.  a few weeks ago i was careening laterally across the 405 somewhere near the 10 interchange in an effort to win some tickets from KCRW.  it was for a new festival called Wanderlust that was taking place at lake tahoe, and the combination of lineup and location somehow struck me as worth the risk of death. but fate was smiling upon me that day, and not only did i not get into OR cause any fatal accidents, but i got through, won the tickets AND made it to rehearsal on time. those are good days.

and that was just the start of it!  a few fridays later, i found myself in the car with wendy, heading up into the sierras towards tahoe and a weekend of wonder.

for starters, if you've never taken the 395 route up to tahoe or reno, you really ought to do the last 2/5ths of it at least once. (the first 3/5ths, from the valley to bishop, are forgettable if you're lucky. except lancaster. which has a very family friendly in 'n' out.) but the last part really is a smashing drive. full of snow capped mountains to view and cool lakes to swim in. (if you're like us, you'll start feeling the urge to swim right around mono lake, which we found out later is the only alkaline lake in the state. fortunately we didn't indulge our baser instincts, and instead swam in a river that fed into the lake.) we happened to hit a particularly beautiful stretch called monitor pass just as the sun was setting. the orange light illuminated the smoke from a wildfire that was burning on the other side of the valley, which made for an incredible (and incredibly distracting) ascent up into the pass. after once again avoiding any serious collisions, we arrived in markleeville, ca a short while later. my cousin is spending the summer in a cabin there with his wife and was gracious enough to put us up for a few nights. it was lovely. and the only thing more spectacular than the homemade grilled cheese and tomato soup they served us, was the night sky. i haven't seen stars like that in years. maybe ever. endless stars. you could see the milky way before your eyes even adjusted.  if i had learned anything from old jack's stargazers club back at the ohs planetarium (other than a distaste for non-dunkin donuts and an abiding love of led zeppelin), i would have been able to clearly identify every single constellation in the summer sky.  nothing like it.  slept well.

next morning we headed up to the squaw valley resort, where the festival was held. a quick note on wanderlust: it's a music and yoga festival.  there were yoga classes from 6am to noon, then music from noon to 8pm. the passes i got from kcrw were for the music part only, which we were fine with. and given the lineup of bands, we assumed that most people would be attending primarily for the music. we were all kinds of wrong. these people were yoga people. the music was clearly an afterthought, as evidenced by the number of people at the concert stage 10 minutes before the first band went on (PIC). seriously, there were 11 people there, including us. which, again, we were fine with. oh, and a quick note on the stage: doesn't it rule? it was 9000 feet up at the base of a ski slope. we had to take a 15 minute gondola ride to get up to it. the stage was set up at the bottom of a bowl, which created a natural amphitheater. so people just filled in up the slope. here's another PIC. you can't really see it, but right behind the stage, about 20 steps away, there was a lake that you could swim in if you got toasty. so we'd watch a set, then while the next band was setting up, we cruise down to the lake and go for an icy dip.  it was great.  they'd also set up a little village of booths up there, including a giant canvas dome, wherein you could doodle on chairs and silkscreen tshirts, and whereupon you could paint anything your heart desired. (naturally the goatmasters left their mark.) a rather unique experience all around. (for further proof, please enjoy this video, in which wendy tries to not get caught filming crazy hula hoop lady.)

oh, and the music was pretty good too. here are the bands we saw, in order of awesomeness:

1. gillian welch. sweet sweet gill. she and her david rawlings buddy knocked it out of the park.  best part: she, david and jenny lewis did an a cappella version of 'go to sleep little baby' from 'o brother' (VID).
2. andrew bird. all of his equipment had gotten lost in transit. he had to borrow instruments and gear from other bands, and was clearly thrown a bit off his game in the shuffle. and yet he was still better than almost everybody there. best part: watching a bunch of crazy stoned hippies so transfixed by his music that all they could do was drop their hula hoops and stand in stunned silence.
3. jenny lewis. i'm not a huge fan of her music, but she and her band were so energetic and everybody was so into them that it was impossible to not have fun. best part: she, david and gillian welch did an a cappella version of 'go to sleep little baby' from 'o brother' (VID)
4. kaki king. just a strong live show. and that amazing slap guitar thing she does is even cooler and more amazing in person.  best part: that amazing slap guitar thing she does.
5. tie: broken social scene/rogue wave/spoon.  all pretty big bands.  all did pretty much exactly what we expected them to do. played their bigs songs. the same way they sound on their albums. enjoyable but not exceptional. best part: when we went swimming in the lake after broken social scene.
6. common. in the strangest lineup substitution ever, he came in last minute to replace michael franti and spearhead when franti came down w/ appendicitis.  not sure who decided that a huge hip hop star would make a good replacement for a treehugging reggae act...but it seemed to work. the crowd full of white hippies were either really enjoying themselves or so scared of appearing nonsupportive of an african american performer that they totally overcompensated. either way, it was crazy. the only reason he didn't score higher on the list was because about 4 songs in, he started scouring the crowd for attractive "of age" girls to bring on stage and sing to. he settled on a 19-year-old. it was awkward. we left. best part: when he passed on the 18-year-old and told her to come back next year.

we drove back to markleeville sunday night. drove home monday morning, stopping at some lovely hot springs outside of bridgeport to soak alongside a large and friendly naked man in the mercifully murky water.  unfortunately he soon decided the water was too hot, and consequently spent the rest of the time hanging around in the decidedly less merciful fresh air.  but it had been far too nice a weekend for our friendly nudist to be anything other than a funny little footnote. tahoe was stunning. the music, excellent. the company, second to none. so, who's up for next year? -d

PS. there's a little playlist of some wanderlust tunes for you hiding behind that grey tab at the bottom left of the page there for you to enjoy.