• Posted on 02/19 at 10:42 AM
Sorry to veer from fish talk, but last night Philip Glass came to the Mondavi Center at UC Davis. Despite my longing to relive the epic nights of the once-youthful music journalist Cameron Crowe, I make no impasses at music criticism.
Philip Glass is most likely the most versatile film-score composer America has ever seen. I was first introduced to Glass at the UC Santa Cruz Film School where his pairing of wind instruments and piano in melodic repetition created a stirring backdrop to the conflicting stories of Randall Adams and David Harris in The Thin Blue Line. The film was also my first introduction into the world of Errol Morris, a documentary genius that revolutionized the form to the umpteenth degree in comparison to his more notable colleague Ken Burns.
Luckily for us, the relationship between Morris and Philip Glass flourished and the two reunited on A Brief History of Time and The Fog of War, two superb documentaries.
Labeled as a modern minimalist, Philip Glass helped inspire Palmer Taylor during his work on Rivers of a Lost Coast.
Last night, Glass amazed the eager Mondavi audience with a collection of pieces from his four decades of work. Although his compositions may be heavy for some, we suggest everyone pick up at least a few pieces of Glass.
Posted by Justin on 02/19 at 10:42 AM in
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• Posted on 02/18 at 08:37 AM
Not trying to be on a Lani kick this week, but I met with the man in Novato yesterday before he left for a book signing in Oregon. The rain was pelting and the roads seemed more like rivers on the drive through the valley. We ate lunch at a small Chinese restaurant where the broad-shouldered fisherman managed to fit perfectly, despite dwarfing his chair and wearing sunglasses indoor on a cloudy day.
As seems to always be the case with Lani, fishing conversation quickly turned to larger themes, ideas, concepts. We talked about the Lost Coast about Bill Schaadt, about his time on the Skeena Rivers. We were loud and for the few customers who caught animated pieces of our conversation on “mankind”, “the lost connection” and “an inner desire to return”, I’m sure we seemed a bit off the trail.
Lani passed along a copy of his new book, “A Steelheader’s Way” and told me to take a look at chapter 11. In the same style of his previous work, “River of Dreams” Lani managed to find the mystical connection between the beautiful and the deformed. Traveling with the currents of his British Columbia Rivers, Lani reflects on man’s connections to nature and time through experiences that most of us pass along with little more revelation than whatever ego-stoking thoughts fill our heads. In what he has called “his own path” Lani has come full circle with an honest reflection that to the mainstream probably teeters on the obsessed, if not at least the bizarre. Yet to roaming anglers seeking their own paths, Lani provides a reliable road map through the most unfamiliar and rewarding of territories.
Posted by Justin on 02/18 at 08:37 AM in
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• Posted on 02/17 at 08:50 AM
With the exception of the Smith River, it is illegal to take any wild steelhead from California’s coastal waters. Long before the California Department of Fish and Game passed the no-kill regulation, many anglers, both fly and conventional had taken it upon themselves to stop killing wild steelhead. Moving towards catch-and-release can often mark a transition in an angler’s approach to the sport and to steelhead in general. In this short clip Lani Waller reflects on shifting emotions during the year he transitioned into a catch-and-release angler.
Posted by Justin on 02/17 at 08:50 AM in
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• Posted on 02/13 at 12:12 PM
A heavy rain last night and the promise of seven consecutive days of storms has everyone in California hoping for a Fabulous February. Rivers from the Eel to the Russian took their first big jumps in a long time this past weekend. With ground saturation increasing and the hopes of a few gully washers looming, heavy spikes could provide the water needed for coastal steelhead to reach their spawning grounds just in time.
Fabulous February
Posted by Justin on 02/13 at 12:12 PM in
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