In this issue

• NMT? nbd

• A collection of reader submissions

• The number three-ranked Godzilla

• People who know one of my brothers

• When mysticism concerns tree nuts

Reader revelations

I’ve received an assortment of submissions from you all, but no two are on the same topic. Here are a few.

Carolyn was the only soul who shared her own list of top albums (I have to say, my high school friends were much more responsive to the newsletter when I was 17). Here is Carolyn’s cool Canadian Gen-X-er top albums list. I’ll need to check out a few of these.

“Best albums? A maybe odd collection that leaves me hoping you won't judge 😉 Hard to limit.

• Stephen Fearing - That's How I Walk

• Blackie & The Rodeo Kings - Kings and Queens

• Donovan Woods - Hard Settle, Ain't Troubled

• Tom Petty - Full Moon Fever

• Great Big Sea - Road Rage

• One - A Matter of Truth

• The No Shit Shirleys - Nutrify

• The Housemartins (see the theme tie-in?) - The People who Grinned Themselves to Death

• Barenaked Ladies - Gordon

• I also love BNL's children's album Snacktime. “

The well-read Joel offers a reading recommendation:

“Right now I'm reading Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy, which is one long conversation between a patient and a doctor in a mental institution, and so much of their philosophical dialogue about existence, quantum mechanics, math, and music remind me of your conversation above on God, being, and nothingness. I think you'd enjoy it, although note that it is the second in a linked 2-part novel set that begins with The Passenger (which I also recommend).”

Lisa offered an excellent answer to my request for your favourite organisms:

“One favourite insect is the Jewel Beetle. A favourite plant is Prosartes Hookeri.”

And Dave (who bears complete legal responsibility for everything in this newsletter) wants you to know what he thinks about punctuation and spelling.

“You really are my ‘favourite’ Canadian! Lol.
“There is a very misunderstood punctuation mark: the colon. It is perhaps only slightly less misunderstood than its half-brother, the semicolon; however, one could convince me that no one understands the period.”

A non-motorized bird list

The birds are a walk away

When several years ago I joined the British Columbia Field Ornithologists, I was quickly roped into serving on the board of directors in an organization looking for young blood. (That was the year I was asked to join four different boards and committees when we briefly lived in Creston, BC). For a couple of years, I coordinated the short bird field trips for members, leading or co-leading a couple of them in the BC interior (for those interested, you can see the bird lists from the 100 Mile House area and the Merritt area).

I’m not on the board anymore (nor on any others, but please don’t get any ideas). I am still a subscribing member of the BCFO who reads the quarterly BC Birding member’s magazine. The highlight of the magazine has always been the annual “Lister’s Corner” competition, where birders send in their numbers and see who can out-bird others in a ridiculously long list of list categories and places: BC Winter Seasonal List, US minus Hawaii, Okanagan Valley, Semiahmoo Peninsula, World Bird Families, North Pacific Pelagic Waters, All BC Regional District Area Ticks (ARDAT), and 40 or so other categories.

Having lived in a couple corners of British Columbia (and now in the middle), I usually manage to get my species numbers toward the top of a few regional lists (Creston Valley, Fraser Valley, and Cariboo, though I am the only one who usually submits numbers for my current home). My BC winter list is not quite to coastal birder levels but it’s not too bad. I also score high on the All Regional Districts Added Together category; 2,217 is the number of species in each BC county equivalent I have seen added together, as the category name indicates. This mostly comes from making bird stops while going back and forth between places I have lived or visited.

After a lot of time spent looking for new bird species to play the list game around my home regional districts, I now live in one the size of Switzerland or Sri Lanka. Did a Red-throated Loon and Sabine’s Gull show up at Eagle Lake? Could I hear a Boreal Owl if I went to Wells in March? Do Gray-cheeked Thrushes sometimes sing on the Cariboo side of Lord Tweedsmuir South Provincial Park? I just don’t have the time, drive, or gas money to travel three or more hours to see a rare bird. I’m convinced that chasing rarities will not make me a more observant birder, more acquainted with the identities, habits, and habitats of local species. And more time driving means less time outside, the point of it all.

But I’ve found the list for me: Non-Motorized Transport (NMT). How many species can I find by foot and bike from home? The answer is quite a few, quite a few indeed. Thanks for asking.

I live a short walk from Walker Valley, a series of Ducks Unlimited-managed marshy wetlands along Watson Creek, surrounded by pastures, small riparian patches, Trembling Aspen and Douglas Fir woods, and some fire-burned areas. To the south of the valley is the large Watson lake, with extensive breeding colonies of ducks, coots and grebes. Another direction, I can walk through the residential neighbourhoods to Sepa Lake and 108 Mile Lake. 108 Mile Lake’s deeper water attracts some migrating ocean bird species in spring and fall and the odd gull or tern. The gravel trail system around both lakes surely helps me to access good birding areas. If I’m feeling particularly energetic, I might bike into the logged remains of the 2017 forest fires to the west, with a few standing patches of charred trees and new open brushy grasslands, a different world of cavity-nesting songbirds and woodpeckers and species of open areas.

My list so far is something, as far as bird species in a small area of the BC Interior go. Walker Valley attracts occasional regionally rare birds. The most notable include a Lark Sparrow and the (second?) Cariboo record for White-faced Ibis. There are many more regular rarities that have visited the valley, or birds that are just harder to find locally: American Goshawk, American Golden-plover, Stilt Sandpiper, Broad-winged Hawk, Cassin’s Finch, Swamp Sparrow, and Tennessee Warbler included. I never know when I might accidentally spook up a Bittern from the marsh (which I have done).

In that category, I’ve had two yard rarities: an Anna’s Hummingbird and a White-breasted Nuthatch. The latter was calling from the yard next door when I was one day working on some house repairs (with the help from my uncle: thanks Jim!). I said, “I’ll be back in a few minutes,” quickly grabbed my binoculars and camera, and followed the bird around the neighbourhood to get some good looks of the little nasal noisemaker. 

Every spring and fall, I love watching the Scoters, Long-tailed Ducks, Loons and Grebes floating in rafts on the middle of 108 Mile Lake. I have nearly annual sightings of Pacific Loon and Red-breasted Merganser there. I also encountered one migrant Blackpoll Warbler (one of the northern/eastern warbler species) in a mixed songbird flock around the lake trail.

When I venture into the open burns, I occasionally meet endangered Sharp-tailed Grouse, a calling Common Nighthawk, or singing House Wrens, White-throated Sparrows and Alder Flycatchers. And every glimpse of the quiet Three-toed and Black-backed Woodpeckers in the burned trees or even in my neighbourhood is special.

What’s missing? We lack the dense greenery that attracts some songbirds, and other birds of lower elevations or deeper waters don’t stop long. I always hope to hear a Veery in some thicket, glimpse a Glaucous Gull flying over Watson Lake, chance upon a rare shorebird on the August muddy islands, or scope a vagrant Yellow-billed Loon meekly fishing in the middle of 108 Mile Lake. I have considered taking an overnight bike trip east downhill toward Canim Lake, where I might find Magnolia Warbler, Spruce Grouse, and even Harlequin Duck if I go all the way to Mahood Lake (the journey home would really be something). Or I could at least walk into town in 100 Mile House to tick House Sparrow off my list.

But for me, the list keeps me close to home, looking for surprises not far from my door.

What species will be next? I’d be happy to hear your guesses.

Meanwhile, here is my Non-Motorized Transport bird list of 203 species compiled since 2021.

The Best Music of 2024

The other list that matters

I am above-all daunted by the many end-of-year album and music lists I come across on music sites and blogs every November-January. This is the first year in a long time (perhaps since 2006) that I have kept up with new music releases enough to offer a list of my own, in part because I follow some bands, music journalists and other music fans on social media. And I’m glad I have, because this music rocks. I’ve scoured the best of other year-end lists, listened to bands I know, and made some heartbreaking ranking decisions because this is very important business.

1. The Cure – Songs of a Lost World

Who knew that The Cure had something new and compelling to say musically? Songs of a Lost World is a majestic, beautiful, unhurried reflection on loss and age, and among the best albums of one of my favourite bands, perhaps the best since their 1989 masterpiece Disintegration. It is a wondrous, synth-drenched listening journey, with Robert Smith’s mournful vocals at their most tender.

2. A Place for Owls – How We Dig in the Earth
(Bandcamp)

These boys (30-something men) from Denver made a dynamic and gorgeous album turning personal grief into mature melodies of healing. This is slightly emo-ey “generic indie rock” at its best. This is another surprise amazing album, since I mostly listened because they are my brother’s friends. Do you have any more musical connections I should know about, Brian? Kevin, are you holding out on me?

3. Ther – Godzilla
(Bandcamp)

Hushed vocals and harmonies meet big guitars and dynamic mood swings in this nebulous indie rock album that pulls my musical heartstrings.

4. Godspeed You Black Emperor – No Title as of 13 February 2024 28,340 Dead
(Bandcamp)

The titans of instrumental post-rock return to offer a memorial for the many killed in Gaza (a figure that has since doubled). The guitars and strings are intricate, grand, mournful, angry, transcendent and haunting. One of the best bands at their best.

5. Tobe Nwigwe – Hood Hymns

This is a surprise gospel album from one of hip hop’s biggest voices. (And I mean BIG. You really should look up older videos of him rapping with his wife Ivory [stage name Fat] and a huge community chorus backing him up. Try this or this). Nwigwe uses soaring gospel melodies and Pentecostal language to cry for healing and justice for his community and “every hood under sun,” with guests like adjacent gospel-pop-rap MC Chance the Rapper.

6. Half Waif – See You at the Maypole
(Bandcamp)

Gorgeous art pop dealing with the pain of miscarriage, replete with lush nature themes (with imagery from the interior Northwest at that). Also, I hope this album title is a sly nod to the evangelical youth prayer event See You at the Pole. It’s gotta be, right?

7. Navy Blue – Memoirs in Armour

Transfixing, meditative hip hop by Sage Elaesser, with wise spiritual lyrics thoughtfully delivered over beautiful mellow samples.

8. Haley Heynderickx – Seed of a Seed
(Bandcamp)

The tension of the opening driving acoustic song (one of my favourites of the year) resolves into a cascading series of melodious folk songs in the vein of Joni Mitchell.

9. Parannoul – Sky Hundred
(Bandcamp)

Beautiful piano-driven rock melodies rise above a backdrop of every noise imaginable. This is maximalist and sometimes overstimulating, but the unique layers and pretty songwriting had me consider this for the top spot. Oh, and it’s in Korean.

10. Advance Base – Horrible Occurrences
(Bandcamp)

Country-style ballads with shimmering quiet guitars and keys about the fictional midwestern city of Richmond, in the Bonnie Prince Billy meets Pedro the Lion sweet spot. You will cry, you will laugh, etc.

11. Ben Seretan – Allora
(Bandcamp)

At the very high end of guy-making-creative-and-dynamic-Stratocaster-indie-rock-with-a-slight-90s-alternative-pall music.

12. Adrianne Lenker – Bright Future
(Bandcamp)

The Big Thief singer offers a collection of beautiful folk songs that land just right.

13. The Reds, Pinks and Purples - The World Doesn't Need Another Band

Dreamy San Francisco late 80s/early 90s-style jangly rock that is tender and lush.

14. Revival Season – Golden Age of Self Snitching
(Bandcamp)

Brash and energetic hip hop with unique synth rock and post-punk beats.

15. Fred Thomas – Window in the Rhythm
(Bandcamp)

These unassuming Y2K crescendo indie rock songs are just my jam.

16. Mk.gee – Two Star & the Dream Police
(Bandcamp)

Stunning guitar-driven, reverb-soaked R&B and soft rock, occasionally invoking Prince or Phil Collins, but with an impressive idiosyncratic style.

Here is a list of honourable mentions in alphabetical order (if you have certain styles you are looking for, I’m happy to make recommendations).

Ahem – Avoider
Anna McLellan – Electric Bouquet
Bat for Lashes – The Dream of Delphi
Blue Ranger – Close Your Eyes 
Cindy Lee – Diamond Jubilee
Flight Mode – The Three Times
Good Looks – Lived Here for a While
Kendrick Lamar – GNX
Midwife – No Depression in Heaven
Nina Sinephro – Endlessness
Pedro the Lion – Santa Cruz
Phoenix Pagliacci – Dichotomy
Samora Pinderhughes – Venus Smiles Not in the House of Tears
Share – Have One
Silly – 0 Views 
Starflyer 59 – Lust for Gold
The Innocence Mission – Midwinter Swimmers
Trace Mountains – Into the Burning Blue
Unwed Sailor – Underwater Over There
Wild Pink – Dulling the Horns

Music Mix of the issue

It’s just some great songs from 2024, with music from albums mentioned above and a few others. Give it a try on Apple or Spotify.

Snarky poets among scholars among mystics

A book review is usually a straightforward affair, with a summary, a few points of critique, a generally worded recommendation for the book (or, more rarely, a warning to stay away). I have and plan to engage in this sort of thing, including in this newsletter. Clarity and summary are important.

But aesthetics are more important (or more fun, anyway). Occasionally a review is its own kind of ecstatic experience. In this spirit, I heartily recommend poet and novelist Patricia Lockwood’s review of Simon Critchley’s On Mysticism: The Experience of Ecstasy to you all.

Lockwood leads a meandering journey with historical mystics, the ghost of William James, and sometimes Critchley’s book itself. Critchley, according to Lockwood, engages in “endless throat-clearing and adjectival gooeyness and such a tendency for his mind to explode whenever he encountered a juxtaposition like ‘the ravishing far-near,’” but this is just on account of him being a philosopher, who as a requirement of the profession needs to “say every word three times, its opposite twice and then the original word again, italicised.”

Does Critchley’s menagerie of mystics keep Lockwood’s attention? No. She is ever disappointed.

If Critchley pits the modern world of digital technology and health consciousness against the possibility true contemplation, Lockwood will have none of it.

But Critchley’s cloud of witnesses does inspire in Lockwood some serious thought. “I wonder how often these things involve nuts,” she reflects, regaling readers with her own strange childhood visions of acorns and chance glimpses of glowing words popping out of books.

Lockwood concludes that Critchley’s own disclosures of firsthand spiritual experience may matter much more than his scholarly detachment. “Writing may be ridiculed, quibbled with, even dismissed,” she states. “But the real search cannot be. Far more embarrassing to have written a book, any book, than to confess to a vision of angels in Canterbury Cathedral.”

You should probably read the review.

Stuff of the issue

• Onomatopoeia: Chortle

• Bird insult: Pine Grosbeak

• Book: Fred Darvill, Hiking the North Cascades

• Highbrow takedown: "In other words, Hegel can only be understood when one is drunk on laughing gas.” - Simon Critchley, 2009

• Lichenized fungus: Icmadophila ericetorum (Candy Lichen)

• Song: Auld Lang Syne

• Birding hotspot: Walker Valley, 108 Mile Ranch, BC

-Paul