LETTER FROM ELK

M. and I just got back from a dirty weekend in Elk, CA. We stayed at the Griffin House, where I found the restaurant/bar to be better than expected, but the accommodations somewhat worse. (Still, it was just about the cheapest I found on the Mendocino coast.) Here are some impressions.

Jeez. They really don't like President Bush up there. Makes San Francisco look like Fort Worth. Saw one Bush bumper sticker in Mendocino, but not sure the driver made it out of town alive.

I forgot how cool rural public radio stations can be. We listened quite a bit to KZYX (studios in Philo, CA, somewhat inland). Big city public stations get all the fun sqeezed out of them. KZYX, on the other hand, played a great variety of music, and did lots of local news. Can you remember the last time you heard a 10-minute news report on CalTrans plans to build an bridge embankment? Also, those who think that the mainstream media is "liberal" have never listened to this station (just to the left of Radio Moscow in the '80s). Very refreshing.

In a related note, I heard a musical group that I'd never heard of that I really liked -- on a radio-receiver! The Flatlanderswere on Prarie Home Companion. Never heard of them -- some sort of Austin super-group. I bought one of their albums, and really liked it. (I'm sure if I listened to KEXP enough I would have heard of them earlier.)

In the town of Mendocino, I discovered a really fun store called Lark in the Morning. It's a small chain that grew out of a mail-order business speciallizing in every wierd-ass (and not so wierd-ass) musical instrument in the world. They carry everything from the cheap and mearly novel, to the expensive and truly exotic. It turns out their other locations are Seattle (near Pike Place) and San Francisco (near Fisherman's Warf). I had to restrain myself from buying Slovakian bagpipes or the Swedish bowed hurdy gurdy, and settled for a great encyclopedia of musical instruments. (PWP: this is a MUST for the Nutmeg.)

I enjoyed terribly (and sufferred terribly from) imbibing the local Increadibly Strong Ale. The Irish bartender at the B&B told me that he's avoided the stuff ever since he got drunk on it one night and woke up doubled over a pile of wood with his boots on fire.

NEXT: The Greatest Living Slabjack Pumper?