Fillet of Soul

Here Goes!

At last (which was, incidentally, the only cover played last night), I saw Sofia Sunseri at the Temple Bar in Santa Monica, after about five years of wanting to. It was a stripped down set -- only her on vocals, her husband Rick on guitar and stand-up bass, and Hiro Goto on violin and Apple computer, but fantastic! Interesting thing, though -- Rick's a lawyer by day, who was recently looking into assisting the Indian groups involved with the dig I'm working on in an effort to close the site down and stop the exhumation of the Indian burials there. I suppose it could have been an awkward moment, but Rick's a great guy, and I'm a great guy, and we were two great guys appreciating the crazy morally ambiguous world we live in. And I got a couple of hugs from Sofia. It was a good night.

And bringing in the issue of morally ambiguity about the site, here's an editorial about the excavation from the LA Times, an opinion (along with Rick's, and a part of my own) that's hard to disagree with on the whole. The minority's getting screwed once again, and in grand fashion, by a developer and constructor of million-dollar condominiums. Contract archaeology does often seem to be a very melancholy occupation -- I've seen clips of archaeologists with mere hours to collect as much information as possible, digging literally in front of the bulldozers eradicating whatever they don't time to get to. And when you throw in issues like Native American land and burial rights and gargantuan ethical and legal dilemmas, it's hard to feel entirely good about one's role in the effort, even when the goal is to salvage what would have, not long ago, been plowed under. I don't really know what the Native Americans' legal options are in this case -- the fact that the land is private goes a long way in giving the developers control over the proceedings. I can only assume that the Tongv'a tribe would rather suffer the excavation and reburial elsewhere than see the remains summarily shoved into a pile by an earthmover. I hope so, anyway -- if not, the only ones who are benefiting from this exercise are us archaeologists and the very few whities who are interested what's coming out of the ground here.

And next, it looks like Pittsburgh has been chosen to host the 2004 Bockhorst family, effective anytime from next month to September. With a wedding around the same time. With me in LA for a lot of the time. I'm driving back to Tucson to plan and commiserate with Janine this weekend. Holy shit, YOU THINK YOU'RE BUSY?!

And last weekend's trip to the Sequoia National Park kicked ass; made me feel about thaaaat big, a very Alice in Wonderland sensation. And yes, Caren, that is some big wood. The biggest wood in the whole world! And believe it or not, I did not even see that one coming. I felt like a guy asking directions in a boxing ring. I tittered my ass off.

Big wood. Jeez.

Oh yeah, from Stacy's page
1. Who are you?
2. Have we ever met?
3. Give me a nickname and explain why you picked it.
4. Describe me in one word.
5. What reminds you of me?
6. If you could give me anything, what would it be?
7. Ever wanted to tell me something but couldn’t?
8. Are you going to put this on your weblog and see what I say about you?
9. What do you love like a fat kid loves cake?
10. What makes you come back here?