HOMELAND of the Brave New World

The 4th of July is always a fun holiday for most of America, and especially in our family because Mighty Mo celebrates her birthday on the 4th. This year (her 44th) - our agenda was fourfold, 1) To photograph California Central Coast lighthouses; 2) To provide a field test for Mighty Mo's new Canon PowerShot SD 1400 IS - that some really nice guy gave her for her birthday - and compare it to our older model camera, the Canon PowerShot A710 IS; 3) Visit some California State Beaches for the first time, and use some of the passes we purchased to support the financially crippled California State Parks; 4)And maybe most importantly : ) to review Laurie Anderson's latest and timely release, appropriately called HOMELAND. What a perfect theme for our West Coast tour, and the lighthouses that stand as the sentinels to our homeland.

The Lighthouses

Lighthouses are kind of mysterious... almost magical. Their never-ceasing watchfulness always peering through the darkness and fog directing the mariners upon the black deep.

When I was in sixth grade, our teacher selected a handful of kids in the class to take turns reciting the same poem about a lighthouse. I nervously waited as the other kids presented the poem as best they could. I had to go last, and felt a little self conscious about reading aloud. I was, however, a confident and talented singer. Therefore, rather than suffering humiliation in front of class, I hid behind my strength, and sang a rousing version (to the tune of the Beatles', "Don't Pass Me By"). When I was done, the class erupted with hoots, hollers and applause. The teacher liked it too, and even called for an encore. The entire class joined in the singing of the lighthouse song. It's been a million years, but even now, whenever I see a lighthouse, I think about that day in sixth grade.

I'd like to be a lighthouse
All scrubbed and painted white
I'd like to be a lighthouse
And stay awake all night

To keep my eye on everything
That sails my patch of sea
Oh, I'd like to be a lighthouse
With the ships all watching me
(author unknown)

First, we stopped at California's newest lighthouse, right here in Santa Cruz. We have a cool hyperbolic million photos of this lighthouse, but not many from this perspective taken from across the mouth of the harbor with the new Canon PowerShot SD 1400 IS.

This photo of the familiar Santa Cruz Lighthouse was taken with the new Canon PowerShot SD 1400 IS, and features the old building in a rarely-photographed perspective.

We then headed north, and inserted the new Laurie Anderson CD. The fog wisped and flowed like smoke as we traveled north. Fields alive with colour surrounded us. Before long, we had arrived at Pigeon Point Lighthouse, a most impressive, and picturesque structure located near the quaint little town of Pescadero, where we had lunch. The Pigeon Point photo was taken with the older camera, the Canon PowerShot A710 IS.

We almost missed this cute little lighthouse at Point Montara. We actually did pass it and had to turn around. I'm glad that we did because it was well worth seeing, and we had the entire place basically to ourselves. I took the photo with the old Canon PowerShot A710 IS.

I spotted this pseudo lighthouse in San Francisco. It looks pretty good considering I got the shot through the dirty windshield while sitting at a red traffic light, and with plenty of overhead power lines in the way.

On HOMELAND's first track, Transitory Life, Ms. Anderson masterfully and tenderly blends the netherworldly sound of Tuvan throat singers with her own unique style to create a surrealistic soundscape that seemed perfectly suited for our beautiful drive along California's spectacular coastline. "It takes a long time for a mouse to realize it's in a trap," says Ms. Anderson. It seems strange to be able to relate to that enlightened mouse. Such awareness seems to make the colours, hues and highlights of the nature all around me even more vibrant, impressive and appreciated. A wonderful distraction from the maze. A beautiful theme for a HOMELAND drive.

I've always thought of Laurie Anderson as being covertly humorous, even subtly hilarious at times. She never fails to make me smile in an "I get it" kind of way. Sometimes, Ms. Anderson's poignancy reminds me of those amusing apocalyptic musings of Isaiah, (another funny guy), whose literary message is layered with meaning. Ms. Anderson is no shallow gal. Her clever choice of words always seem to resonate on many levels, too. Her words are carefully crafted, with content, timing and inflection... and no one can tell a story like Laurie Anderson.

Track five - Only and Expert, is a snappy and catchy little ditty about how Americans have become addicted to experts and how the experts use their authoritative expertise to fleece the actively complying public. In the second to last verse, Ms. Anderson seems to take a shaky expert-trusting stance when she says, "But when an expert says it's a problem, and makes a movie about the problem, and gets the Nobel Prize about the problem, then all the other experts have to agree, it is most... likely... a problem." (No doubt a reference to Al Gore and the so called, global warming problem.) Unfortunately the experts who make the official global warming claims have been exposed for committing fraud for discouraging and disallowing any scientific data that hasn't complied with their "sky is falling" agenda. They've threatened and even destroyed the careers of experts who present alternatives. I'm no expert, but I'm amazed that people are still trusting global warming models based on incomplete and hand-picked data... but it seems there's nothing I can do from inside this maze anyway, especially when everyone believes that 2+2=5. Amazing! Masterful marketing though.

Many years ago, Ms. Anderson created a character through whom she could view the world differently. A clone of herself... a stature-challenged, chain-smoking male clone. Lou Reed, (Ms. Anderson's hubby of nearly two decades), recently gave the clone a name, Fenway Bergamot. Today, Fenway has grown older and wiser and shares some of his perspectives on HOMELAND. One of Bergamot's observations concerns his admiration of the stars in the sky. He said that what he loves most about the stars, is that we can't hurt them. Their distance ensures that we'll never damage them. His attitude is a bit reminescent of the wide-eyed naive nature of Don Van Vliet, a boy who never had to grow up. I'm curious about Bergamot's query about his mother and father, "Are those people over there really my parents?" he asks. An interesting question for a clone to ask.

HOMELAND is Ms. Anderson's first studio recording to be released in a decade. It was a blast to listen to over and over again as we toured this region of California. HOMELAND sounds like a Laurie Anderson album. There are no big surprises, or new revelations here. It's kind of like "fun meets melancholy" and have a great time hanging out together for an afternoon at Rocket Park. At the end of the day, they part, knowing that they may never enjoy another such occasion. I give HOMELAND ***** five stars, and will probably listen to it a hundred more times before 2012.

I hope there will be many more Laurie Anderson performances and new music. She's done so much already, we may never see all of it. Bravo


We stopped at Ano Nuevo State Park to hang out with the Elephant Seals who live there. The cute little guys are good eatin' too.
This one looked just like Scratch!
A Bumble Bee carrying a huge bulky payload of collected pollen bounces from flower to flower in search of more pollen at Pigeon Point. I shot this photo with my Canon PowerShot A710 IS.

Pillar Point Radar Station near Half Moon bay was difficult to photograph because I was in motion and had to hold the Canon SD1400 IS out the window.
The fog was nearly as thick as the traffic when we arrived at the Golden Gate Bridge. I took this photo through the dirty front windshield with the Canon SD1400 IS. We spent the afternoon at China Camp State Park, where there was no traffic. We had a wonderful time driving around the peninsula. Passing the Stanford Satellite Dish means that we'll be home within the hour. Also, as we passed the Lark Avenue Exit on Highway 17, we heard Laurie Anderson's Story of the Lark again (for the seventh time).

Twas a fun trip. The new camera fared rather well. The old camera has a view finder, is easy to hold, manage and operate with one hand, and takes rechargeable AA batteries. The batteries make the old Canon a bit heavier and larger than the new SD1400 IS. The rechargeable battery on the new SD1400 IS makes the new camera much lighter and smaller, but limits the time it can spend in operation. We'll have to get a spare battery to have on hand. I purchased two nickel cadmium AA batteries with a charger for the old Canon for $12, but will likely pay more for an extra rechargeable for the new camera. The mount on the new camera is more centrally positioned which means that it will work better on my bicycle attachment. . . but just pry it from Heidi Mighty Mo's hands. : )