(Atoms for) Peace

   

    

#58

02.27.10

    

Photo

    

Potter's Marsh, South Anchorage

   
This photo was shot with the iPhone camera before my blog existed, but only by a few weeks.  Though I took it around 2:30 p.m., at that hour so close to Winter Solstice the Sun starts diving below the Chugach Range of the Kenai Peninsula to the South (background of the photo), and about an hour later it disappears for the day into the Pacific Ocean out near the Alaska Range to the Southwest.  
 
On this day the temperatures were subzero, but that didn't deter my fearless co-pilot Q who led me on.
  
It was such a serene scene... I reflect on it often. 

Peaceful.
  
Bonus photos:
     

     

    

   
That's a grimace from the cold; not a smile.

    

Music

    
Almost 60 blog entries, and no Radiohead, no R.E.M., no Wilco.  What a crime!  Three of my favorite bands... probably top 5, certainly top 10, and I'm neglecting them.  Partly because I'm trying to introduce more obscure bands, and partly because I'm trying really hard to make the photos match the mood of the music.  
    
However, I finally get a titch closer to featuring one of those bands with this song Atoms for Peace by Thom Yorke, lead singer of the amazing Radiohead, off his solo album Eraser.  I know there are folks out there that think Thom is a poser; but I emphatically disagree.  I think he is one of the most creative, gifted minds in music from the past 30 years.
   
This song is about getting past self-doubts and breaking free to achieve your inner potential.  It is just beautiful; and if I said Jeff Buckley had the best falsetto in the business, well Thom would certainly be one of two legitimate contenders to dethrone him.  His falsetto is featured so wonderfully in this song.   
    

Parting Comments

    
I'm pretty sure Thom Yorke took the name of his song from a speech Dwight Eisenhower gave before the United Nations in 1953.  In that speech he turned the attention from the potentially devastating and destructive capabilities of atomic power to its more constructive potential and properties.  
  
I don't know exactly how that speech mixes with my interpretation of the song's lyrics, or if they were ever meant to correlate at all.  But the lryics are so amazing that they deserve special attention.  My favorite stanza's are:
   
Peel all of your layers off
I want to eat your artichoke heart

No more leaky holes in your brain
And no false starts
   
I wanna get out
And make it work
    
Only time, reflection, pondering, and more time will get you (past the outer leaves) to the (artichoke) heart of those lyrics, eh?
   
Until tomorrow... Peace.  CCE