Form a line to the throne

Just last month while seeing The New Pornographers in concert in Oakland, ensconced in a corner with Jeff, Chelsea, Ian, and our two new friends, I was describing, less coherently than I would have had Ian not been able to obtain unlimited free beverages using his Visa Signature Card and the indifferent attitudes of Fox Theatre employees--anyway, I digress--I was observing that the best New Pornographers songs all have this section where all the singers erupt into some non-lyrical scat singing or howl. The oo-ooo-oo-ooo on "Letter From An Occupant", the hey-la-hey-la on "The Bleeding Heart Show", the djum djum on "Mass Romantic", the na na na na na on "The Laws Have Changed". It's like they are trying to express to you such incredible bliss, such unrestrained joy that finally they break free of even lyrics and just start shouting nonsense, their pop hooks too powerful, too perfect for any words to contain.


I kind of feel this way about Mineral King, an area of Sequoia National Park that I visited with Ian and Randy last weekend. I could say a lot about the solitude, the stone, the alpine lakes, the endless sunset, the clear air and shooting stars--but honestly, when I tried to do that in an e-mail to my Couchsurfing buddy John, who visited the park a couple days later, all I could come up with was the same phrase he had used in an e-mail to me: "so fantastic". Let's face it--this is probably no more eloquent than my original description of The New Pornographers' boundless energy at The Fox Theatre. Words fail. Hey-la-hey-la.

Mineral King does have an interesting history--miners struck silver there in the later part of the 19th century and named the area according to their hopes of turning it into the most profitable community in the Southern Sierras. However, it turned out that there was actually no ore to refine in the area and all they were left with was a beautiful valley, perhaps a sovereign but not replete with minerals as originally thought. Then Disney wanted to turn it into the largest ski resort in California, lots of preservationists opposed it, and finally Congress was like "no no no!". This was a pretty good idea. It's astounding that places like this exist within the state in which I reside. Ooo-oo-ooo-oo.

Probably my favorite words that I have heard recently were, "I can't believe that real people can make food like this." You know, Jeff and I did pretty well on Saturday cooking for ten people, kind of just throwing stuff together in the kitchen as it came in. Leftover beans, kohlrabi greens, three colors of potato. Oh, blanch this corn and put it in the salad; it's better than the white corn. Let's puree some tomatoes to thicken the dressing. I love this stuff. As long as I had an immersion blender and a cast-iron skillet, I could do this forever. I think that should be my new career path: Iron Chef.