R.I.P., Hunter S. Thompson

Bad news this morning.

Hunter S. Thompson, exemplar of a certain style of writing has committed suicide. I wasn't a huge fan, but reading his work as a young man was part of what makes me who I am.

I have to wonder "why?" I'm also interested to watch the reactions.

In My Little Town

Winter days can be very quiet. Even at noon on a Friday I can stand in the middle of the main street and take photos. In February, anyway.

Second Street, Lewes, Delaware. 12:01 p.m., Friday, February 18, 2005

I had just visited the Bakery and Coffee Roastery (out of frame on the left), to treat myself to the only sustenance available after a morning of dental work. Having half of your face numb means anything involving chewing is probably a bad idea. A cafe mocha, however, is fairly safe and an appropriate reward for my dental-chair bravery.

Out of frame on the right is the ATM machine where I had just transferred funds to cover the costs of a crown and a filling.

After taking this photo, it was back to the office. For this round at the dentist's office, I only took the morning off.

Waples Mill Pond. February 17, 2005. 7:15 a.m.

When Hippies and Punks Were One

The item about a locomotive being named for Joe Strummer of the Clash got me thinking about Strummer and the Clash, and listening to the Clash, this week.

I keep the two-disc The Essential Clash in my car. It's great therapy for the ride home after a difficult day at work. Line up London's Burning, English Civil War, and I Fought The Law, for example, and highway driving is blissful. I also found a web site (StrummerSite.Com) with a two-part MP3 of a 2003 BBC Radio profile of Strummer. It was interesting to hear about the process of forming the Clash, their rise, and the break-up. It was also neat to get some details about the music Strummer was starting to make when he passed away, at 50, a few years back.

I was struck by the extent to which Strummer, and the Clash, were influenced by a wide variety of music -- country, ska, reggae, world music. I have the posthumous Strummer album, Streetcore, and it has a very nice reading of a folk tune -- Long Shadow -- and a remarkable version of Bob Marley's Redemption Song.

Of course, I also keep a copy of the great live Dead album The Grateful Dead (Live) -- as opposed to the equally wonderful Live/Dead -- in my car and I've been listening to that a lot lately. I prefer a line-up of Bertha, Me & My Uncle, and the marvelous Not Fade Away/Goin' Down the Road Feeling Bad.

The Dead also had a wide variety of influences, combining rock, jazz, folk, blues and country. And there are similarities between Joe Strummer and Jerry Garcia. Both men were central to the sound of their bands. Both were striking musicians; Strummer in his jagged intensity and Garcia in his fluid, soaring melodic lyricism. Both were at their best as centers of music, providing a base for other players and making possible some of the better moments of Rock music over the years. Both died too soon.

I used to wonder at my equal love for both the Clash an the Dead. There was a time when as a fan of punk rock I would have disdained the hippy-ness of the Dead. As a Deadhead, I should have found the Clash simply noise. But the two bands work well together and they were the music of my youngest adulthood; the Reagan years.

Two forms of musical rebellion. They worked for me. They still do. It's been a good week -- and a loud week - in my car.

Good Advice

"Snake Habitat
Be Careful Where You Step"

This sign is outside a building in Dover where I had a meeting this afternoon. I understand from a colleague who used to work here that a woman who works here one day freaked out about a large black snake that slithered across the sidewalk as she approached the building. The helpful 4-H folks erected these signs to warn people.

A New Reason to Visit the UK: A Ride on the Joe Strummer

I'm a fan of the Clash. I was saddened when Joe Strummer passed away a few years ago. It was nice to see this item (IOL: Locomotive named after Clash legend) about the naming of a locomotive for Joe Strummer yesterday.

New Jersey Ends... Where?

We Delawareans have made New Jersey, or at least some folks in New Jersey, pretty mad (Courier-Post: Line war taken to the banks).

Earlier this month, DNREC Secretary John Hughes ruled that a pier proposed for the Delaware River, and intended for offloading Liquid Natural Gas, is prohibited by the Delaware Coastal Zone Act (DNREC News: DNREC Denies BP's Crown Landing Proposed LNG Pier).

The proposed pier, though it would start from the shore of New Jersey, would extend out into Delaware (PDF site map). The boundary between New Jersey and Delaware, at least at the northern end of Delaware, was established by the US Supreme Court in 1934 as being the mean low water line on the New Jersey side of the river, as it existed in 1934.

The Delaware Coastal Zone Act was passed and signed in 1971 to stop major industrial development in the coastal zone of Delaware (PDF map), which includes Delaware's portion of the River and Bay.

So now some politicians in southern New Jersey are pretty mad. South Jersey Assemblyman John Burzichelli, for example, wants to stop Jersey from using our banks and credit card companies. He's trying to get our attention and convince us to be "more flexible."

"For Delaware to think they have to protect New Jersey from itself . . . is unnecessary and condescending," Burzichelli said Friday. "Our track record on environmental laws is a national model."

Let's set the huge irony of the second part of that statement aside for just a moment. I think what he's missing is that the Delaware Coastal Zone Act is set up to protect Delaware's Coastal Zone. From, in this case, New Jersey.

There is also talk of trying to re-draw the state boundaries. That should be an easy task; the 1934 Court Decision ended something like a quarter century of dispute last time we opened that can of worms.

More troubling, perhaps, is the talk of Congress acting to over-ride state land use controls such as the Coastal Zone Act in the name of National Security. That's the arena we should be watching.

I Wonder....

What's going on with DelaVoice? I know I've been down on the site of late, but I wasn't expecting it to dissappear. The last day or so the link has not been working. Anyone hear anything?

Some Books

I finished Bob Dylan's book the other day. Chronicles, Vol. 1 is an interesting book. It is not a rock-star memoir. Dylan seems to not want to be a rock star, though he writes fascinating details about wanting to sing and play the music.

What struck me about this book is that it holds up as a book whether its author is a famous rock star or not. This is a literate look at the early folk music scene when Dylan was young, his mid-life as a celebrity, and his re-discovery of the joy of performing late in life.

I also took a day or two to read 21, the unfinished few chapters of what would have been the next Aubrey/Maturin novel from Patrick O'Brian. I had been looking forward to this read, and I will say I enjoyed it. It also made me sad, though. I miss O'Brian's writing.

Bethany in Mid-Winter

I had a chance to visit Bethany Beach today. I walked the boardwalk and gazed into windows of shut-down stores.

It was a blue-sky day with some haze.

Winter at the beach.


When only the birds and fish swim in the ocean.

The beach is now deserted, lacking the scores of vacationers, young and old; many in the delightful dream of first love.

It's been just over seven months. Does this person still love Bubick?

I took a few moments to visit North Bethany, where we often swim in the summer. The houses there have been getting bigger and bigger.

I think this is the current size champion.