Show #173 September 14, 2019

We're heating up for Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori!
 
Summer Elaine And Drunk Dori- Weezer Weezer (White Album)
Black Summer- Cherry Twister At Home With Cherry Twister
Good Times- Ex Hex It's Real
King Size Cigarette- The Law King Size Cigarette Plus Three Other Big Hits Ep
On The Rocks- Bash and Pop Anything Could Happen
Entitlement Crew- The Hold Steady Thrashing Thru The Passion
Fresh As A Daisy- Emitt Rhodes Emitt Rhodes
Tell Me- Kwyet Kings Cherrypie
^The Other Side Of Summer- Elvis Costello The Very Best Of Elvis Costello
His Last Summer- The Barracudas Drop Out
It Must Be Summer- Fountains Of Wayne Utopia Parkway
There's No One Like You- Redd Kross Beyond the Door
Forget About You- The Motors Approved By The Motors
I'll Get A Hold On You- Jetz The Anthology 1977-79
*I Can't Wait For Summer To End- The Trilobites I Can't Wait For Summer To End
*Summertime Sucks- The Infidels Mad About That Girl
*Summer Job- Art Brut Art Brut Vs. Satan
*Weird Summer- Velvet Crush Teenage Symphonies To God
Talk Too Much- The Dollyrots Daydream Explosion
C'mon- Artists Teen Line no. 6
Beg to Borrow- Kurt Baker Combo Let's Go Wild!
How Fast- The Rubinoos From Home
Whiteout Conditions- The New Pornographers Whiteout Conditions
She Satisfies- Shoes Shoe's Best
>Bummer In The Summer- Love Forever Changes
>Summertime Blues- Alex Chilton Bach's Bottom
>Summer's Gone- The Leopards Kansas City Slickers
I Hate Tourists- The Freeze I Hate Tourists 7"
Brunette Summer- Chixdiggit! Double Diggits!
End Of The Summer- The Wellingtons End Of The Summer

^Power Pop Peak:  #40 Billboard Hot 100 6/1/1991

*SacroSet:  Bummer Summer Songs

>Power Pop Prototype:  1967, 1981, 1977

Sonoma Plaza October 12, 2017

We moved to California in 1993, just missing the historic drought of 1986 to 1992.  There were floods in 1995, 1997, 2017 and 2019 but we weren't directly affected by a natural disaster until the North Bay Fires in October 2017.  We lost power and had to evacuate but luckily the fire was stopped on the outskirts of Sonoma.  In November 2018 the Camp Fire ravaged Paradise, CA and from 150 miles away covered our valley in smoke for three weeks.  This fall the ironically named PG&E "Public Safety Power Shutoffs" added a whole new level of stress.

I say "ironically named" because the "PSPS" is really about indemnifying PG&E against more lawsuits- like they are holding us all hostage in a game of chicken with the Governor.  Way back when, someone decided it would be a good idea to allow this monopoly to be a publicly traded company.  Today we are paying the price for decades of maintenance deferred to pay executive bonuses and shareholder dividends.  This maintenance includes trimming back trees near thousands of power lines and transformers.  Thanks to climate change we are facing longer, later high temperature/high wind/low humidity "red flag" conditions during which trees fall, wires spark and fires start.  What's worse, these winds can carry flaming embers several miles starting more fires.  

Last January PG&E declared bankruptcy in the face of numerous lawsuits from fire victims.  This past September they started threatening us with the "PSPS,"  finally pulling the trigger at midnight on October 9.  We were without power for three days- just long enough to have to throw out everything in the refrigerator.  This was a HUGE power outage affecting over 2 million people!  The forecast high winds didn't materialize for 24 hours, blew for about 4 hours and there was no fire.
 

Had dinner at El Coyote on October 9 during the "PSPS." This picture
of the food truck appeared in the New York Times the next day.  Based
on the light, we missed the Times photographer by about 30 minutes.

 

A Times photo of Sonoma Plaza during the PSPS with the
Sebastiani Theater on the left

Needless to say, people were outraged at PG&E- the blackout seemed much larger than it needed to be and some had to wait several days to get their power back.  There were deaths attributed to the "PSPS," so no doubt more lawsuits are on the way.  On October 27 PG&E did it again, cutting power to 940,000 people.  This time the Kincade fire was burning 50 miles to the north in Geyserville so the "PSPS" seemed slightly more justified but some people were without power for a full week!  Luckily we were only out 12 hours this time.

Fire season ended with the November rains leaving us all wondering about the future.  September and October have traditionally been big tourist months in the North Bay so I can only imagine how many millions were lost due to the "PSPS."  Our theater, Sonoma Arts Live, lost a single performance in October yet some of our competitors lost entire weekends- money they can never get back.  We hosted a displaced Geyserville wedding at the theater on October 26 but how many other weddings weren't as lucky and just think about all those venues suffering lost revenue.  

Now we're all wondering is this the new normal?  Should we even try to schedule shows in October?  That means no summer vacation as rehearsals for a show that goes up in early September would have to start in mid-July, immediately after the prior show closes.  In any case, this whole climate change/fire season deal is the inspiration for the "Bummer Summer" theme for this week's show.   I've always loved summer- it's the only time I'm consistently and reliably warm.  Sonoma is great in the summer too, no matter how hot it gets during the day, the temperature usually drops at night and the humidity is always manageable.  I'd be hard pressed to find another place that has year round weather as nice so I can't imagine leaving, but check with me again after a few more fire seasons and perhaps I'll feel differently.

Click the link below to download this week's show, or to stream right click and "Save Link As:"
ALL KINDSA GIRLS #173