Report #10 - 13 APR 2009

This week's episode features the poem "A Night Without Sirens -- Scalplock Lookout" by Montana poet David E. Thomas from his book Buck's Last Wreck; 1996, Wild Variety Books. I can't find much online about Thomas, but this is from the book cover:

"David E. Thomas was born and grew up on the Hi-Line in Northcentral Montana. Following his graduation from Chinook High School he entered the University of Montana where his life began to change in unexpected ways. Initially an enthusiastic ROTC cadet, he won a scholarship for his junior and senior years, but as the Vietnam War ground on and on his conscience demanded a shift in perspective and he found himself part of the psychedelic movement on the streets of San Francisco. There he became acquainted, through their work, with his immediate literary forebearers, Jack Kerouac, Gary Snyder, Richard Brautigan, Allen Ginsberg and many lesser lights prowling the Haight-Ashbury and North Beach in the late sixties and early seventies. Economic realities drove him to seek and find work, first on railroad gangs, but also on big construction projects like Libby Dam. He has also worked on a potato ranch, picked cherries on Flathead Lake and traveled extensively in the United States, Mexico and Central America with brief visits to Columbia and Ecuador. He currently lives in Missoula, Montana, eking out an existence as a janitor and odd job man while writing continuously."

This week's music is the Einar Aaron Swan standard "When Your Lover Has Gone" from the album Jazz Giants '58. Musicians on this release are Stan Getz (tenor sax), Gerry Mulligan (baritone sax), Oscar Peterson (piano), Harry Edison (trumpet), Herb Ellis (guitar), Ray Brown (bass), and Louie Bellson (drums).

Listen to the full episode here:
reportfromthemountains10.mp3