Lionfish of (the Great) Salt Lake

  

  

#41

02.10.10

  

Photo

 

I took this photo of a very beautiful (and venomous) Lionfish at the Living Planet Aquarium in Salt Lake City, Utah, just this past December 2009.  It's one of those fish I've seen many  times in books, magazines, and perhaps even movies.  But to stand in front of a real one swimming in a smallish tank was a surprisingly amazing experience.  The thing is off-the-charts magnificent, and made for a fine iPhone photo subject.

 

I hope one or two images I've captured and presented in this blog to date have persuaded you that spectacular images can be achieved with a simple camera phone.  In my mind, this Lionfish shot is just such an example.  I like the color, the contrast, the focus.  And the event was so spontaneous that an added second or two trying to get my Canon Xsi set-up for the shot would have likely resulted in "no shot at all", as the fish stayed in this pose just long enough for one photo, and then it was off behind some coral to hide from the humans (smart move, fish!).

 

At the Living Planet I also caught these photos that I am rather fond of:

 

Scarlet Skunk Cleaner Shrimp

Ugh... I'll pass on shrimp next dining experience.

It's pretty enough, but "cleaner shrimp"? I don't think we have to ask what it's cleaning.  No thanks, Waiter!

 

Dwarf Cayman Crocodile

I have a particular interest in this Croc... as some of you may know.

 

  Lionfish Puzzle

I was almost done with this blog entry when I went in to the kitchen for a drink, and look what Q had on the table?  Amazing little harmonic coincidences in this everyday life... 
 

Field Guide to Ocean Animals

This is the book Q was working with coincidentally while I was preparing the blog.  It's really a cool book.  My mother got it, and others like it featuring land animals, dinosaurs, etc., at Costco in SLC.

Music

 

Today's song is The Great Salt Lake by Band of Horses.  This is another group I heard first on SomaFM Indie Pop Rocks! (Thank you, cybermusical-soul-mate DJ Elise!), and this was the first song I heard by them.  I assumed at the time that they might be from SLC, because... why would any non-SLC native sing a song called the Great Salt Lake?!

  

It turns out that the amazing lead singer and guitarist Ben Bridwell is from South Carolina, and he formed Band of Horses in Seattle.  Go figure!  I still don't know the reason he wrote this song, and based on the  bizarre lyrics, I don't know if he knows why, either.  I've hunted down message board reviews of the song, and it seems not only does no one know what the lyrics are in the first place, no one knows what they mean. 

I like the repeated phrase:

 

If you find yourself falling apart

I'm sure... 

I could stand... 

on...

  

the Great Salt Lake.  

  

The hesitations are amazing, and suggest he is coming up with the boastful idea on the fly.  I think there are biblical allusions here, too; if his friend needs saving, then Ben offers the miracle of standing on water for him/her.  What he doesn't tell his friend is that he can only do it specifically on the Great Salt Lake due to the super-high buoyancy from it's high salinity and it's extreme shallowness.  I suppose he should have also told his friend that he still wouldn't be able to stand on the water, but I like his confidence.

  

I really love Band of Horses.  They are Indie Rock all the way, but with a southern edge.  Therefore they are compared to My Morning Jacket, and I prefer BofH over MMJ.  I hope you like them, too.  If you want to check out a  solid BofH album, Everything All The Time is where you want to start.  Rumor has it they're working on a new album called Night Rainbow.  Oh, and guess what their label is?  By now you should know that "if it's good... it's probably SubPop".

  

Parting Comments

   

Wikipedia says the salinity of the Great Salt Lake is around 25%, compared to the world's oceans at 3.5%, and the Dead Sea at 30.4%.  The Red Sea approaches 80%, I read. I suppose one could cure a pork roast in just a few minutes in that Sea!

 

Growing up in SLC through the 70's and 80's was a blast.  It was a unique place and time, and I'd bet it isn't the same now that it has exploded in size.  I grew up with a real close group of friends, and we've stayed connected all these years later (mostly through fantasy football).  My folks still live in the home we moved in to when I was 7, and I love that stability.  Many of their neighbors remain there, too.

SLC is the birthplace of fry sauce, pastrami burgers, and those non-biodegradable styrofoam Big Mac containers.  And you simply haven't lived until you've played tackle football with your brothers and pals on M.R.B.'s front yard (with thorn bushes as one end zone, and a wood fence as the other...) when suddenly a southeasterly breeze brings the smell of "lake stink" to your nostrils, forcing a "game's over" whistle and everyone scrambles to the nearest friendly domicile for a nice jello cup and some orange tang.

 

The inspiration for today's post was actually a lovely phone conversation with my mother in law this evening, and I just felt like it would be really nice to be in SLC with her, and the rest of our family and friends, more often.

 

Keep fighting the good fight, R.R.O.!  We're all behind you and love you.

 

Until tomorrow... thank you for looking, listening and reading.  CCE