Month: May 2011

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Whiskeytown Sailing Regatta 2011

Here’s a 3 minute video I took of Sunday at the Whiskeytown Sailing Club’s Memorial Regatta. That’s their big annual race. This year it drew about 70 boats. Always a beautiful setting for an amazing race.

Whiskeytown Sailing Regatta 2011 from Skip Murphy on Vimeo.

Whiskeytown Lake is located just west of Redding California.The Regatta always brings back fond memories. Karry and I used to sail our little yellow sailboat in the 1970’s on Whiskeytown. I rummaged around and found a couple images from slide film. Back when my beard wasn’t white, and when getting some sun was good for you. Good times!
Skip Murphy on Whiskeytown Lake in the late '70s
Sailin on Whiskeytown in the 1970s

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Paddle boarding on the Sacramento River in Redding

Sacramento River in Redding
Our local river is deceptively unforgiving. Yesterday from the Sundial, seeing these two with no life jackets on sent chills. Tourists maybe? I haven’t seen anyone do this here before. Perhaps paddle boarding on the river will be an extreme sport that gains some followers, but people please! The river is calm and serene, until abruptly it isn’t. Then, its deathly cold grasp drags your body where it wants. Not where you want. Even with a life jacket, I hope your affairs are in order.
Paddle Boarding the Sacramento in Redding
Common sense is unfortunately rare. But do have a care for your family, and for the first responders charged with your rescue. Or recovery.
Use a lifejacket please
I hope I’m wrong, but I predict dark clouds on the horizon for this sport, on this body of water. It’s Really Redding.

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Are we going this direction?

40,000 “patients” of the 17 local marijuana collectives, we are told. Economic activity that remains mostly untaxed, while we as a community close fire stations and lay off cops. Economic activity fueled by artificial demand, since the war on drugs only serves to increase their black market value.
This isn’t local, but I think it should be more widely seen.
“Five men were in a base of pirate taxis which was apparently about drug sales were shot by gunmen in two vehicles going in the La Estanzuela, south of Monterrey.” A kindergarten teacher calms and protects her students, while the gunmen outside shoot 5 people within earshot. Is this our future too? Drug money changes everything…


English translation: “Yes my love, everyone on the floor. Mandy, no, nothings happening just put your little heads down. Precious put your little heads on the floor, nothing is happening, just don’t put your heads up please!..Lets sing a song? Class says yes, Lets sing…I know which!
“/The rain drops are made of chocolate, I would love to be there, who wants chocolate!? Opening our mouths to taste the flavor/Put your heads down yes? Now put your heads on the floor and lets open our mouths /(Aahh sound)/ Are you guys opening your mouths? You have your little mouths open facing up? So the rain drops can fall into your mouths! Miguel you havent opened up your mouth?”

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For first responders

“Can you help me clean the puke out of the Durango?”
She stood wavering, ever so slightly. Maybe a little pale, but definitely with that far away look in her eyes.

River, river carry me on
Living river carry me on
River, river carry me on
To the place where I come from

As a member of the Grand Jury this year, ordinary tasks call for observing some Shasta County operations. I’m remembering her description of the Shasta County jail tour, and about the food.
Today, the schedule was to take her to the Coroners office.

So deep, so wide, will you take me
on your back for a ride
If I should fall, would you swallow me deep inside?

“You know,” I said earlier that morning, “they’re gonna have that kid there today. The child that drowned in the Trinity. Maybe you should ask for a different day.”

“When is it a good day to witness an autopsy?” she said. “I think I can handle it.” So confident. A false bravado, I’m thinking.

River, show me how to float
I feel like I’m sinking down
Thought that I could get along
But here in this water
My feet won’t touch the ground
I need something to turn myself around

Shasta County Coroner

Going away, away toward the sea
River deep, can you lift up and carry me

“She looked like a doll, I…”

“…I thought I was okay. But then I just started sweating. It was hard to breathe. I said I had to go. Then, I just lost it in the car.”

Oh roll on though the heartland
‘Til the sun has left the sky
River, river carry me high
‘Til the washing of the water make it all alright
Let your waters reach me like
she reached me tonight

“How could…” her unfinished words slowly evaporated.

No answer. What separates any of us from hearing voices in our heads? Maybe just some few brain chemicals, keeping things rational. I look away.

Letting go, it’s so hard
The way it’s hurting now
To get this love untied
So tough to stay with this thing
‘Cause if I follow through
I face what I denied
I get those hooks out of me
And I take out the hooks that I
sunk deep in your side
Kill that fear of emptiness, loneliness I hide

“It must have been terrible for the first responders, the rescuers, the searchers. Whoever pulled her out of the river will have that image.”

And so we are thinking of you today, Search and Rescue, First Responders, and Coroners. All very needed. All quietly going about your very necessary work. You are in our thoughts. Whether in Trinity County, Shasta County, or Joplin Missouri.

River, oh river, river running deep
Bring me something that will let me get to sleep
In the washing of the water
will you take it all away
Bring me something to take this pain away

Lyrics: Washing of the Water, Peter Gabriel

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April showers bring May flowers

And then May showers beat them up. Here are a few images of Karry’s flower garden that I took yesterday, before it rained again.
Redding Ca snapdragonRedding ca Poppy
Redding CA pollenRedding CA geraniumflower in redding caPoppy stamen in redding caA city of spring flowers, it’s Really Redding.

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My video of the Asphalt Cowboys Pancake Breakfast

We’ve been going to this annual fundraising breakfast for as long as I can remember. I think it’s really unique to our town. It sets the tone for the Redding Rodeo going on this weekend.

Breakfast with 10,000 or so of my friends and neighbors. It’s Really Redding.

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New Urbanism in Redding California

Redding sprawls out in suburban, automobile centricity. Over the last few years, we had a couple of developments aimed at a more human centric design, most often referred to as New Urbanism. All of the examples have met with mixed success. Perhaps the lack of eager adoption has more to do with the recently depressed housing market conditions than the appeal. But change is hard anyway, and in this housing market, it’s brutal. So what building we do see going on in 2011 tends to be very similar to what we have seen for the last few decades. Suburban, auto based housing. The market speaks, and those that don’t listen do so at their peril.
Still…

I took this video below of the block and a half of the completed Parkview neighborhood yesterday. And seeing it I was pleasantly imagining our town laid out for walking, with small community parks, and tree lined streets of front porches. $4 gas surely takes a huge bite out of our local economy, but it wouldn’t matter all that much if you could walk to a marketplace or work. I wonder if we haven’t built ourselves into a suburban box, from which escape will be difficult.


Driving around to shoot video of a walkable neighborhood. That’s Really Redding.

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Manifestations -new unreleased old Redding music

Here’s another work from Craig Padilla that I performed with him back in the mid-1990s. I pulled this from the archives along with the piece I shared a few days ago, Snowfall. This Craig composition music is more symphonic electronica, although it builds gradually from a very spare rhythmic improvisation. It picks up with a perky bass line and breaks through with a very cinematic crescendo and overture. At 24 minutes long, it’s more typical of our work together at the time than the last piece. I adjusted the overall levels to conform to modern expectations of relative volume, but aside from that, it’s just like we played it around here back in ’94 or so. Very nice. Please enjoy. Music from Redding Ca
Manifestations2011 by SkipMurphy
Image of a Barn in Eastern Shasta County by Skip

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Newshour changes for KIXE in Redding

Here’s an informative short video explaining recent changes at PBS Newshour. The Newshour is our primary source for national and international TV news.

Poignant journalistic quality at moment 3:44: “No one should ever be allowed to attack another anonymously.” If only our other news sources were so principled. I am so proud of our local PBS station KIXE. We’ve volunteered, and been members always. I hate to imagine a world without free broadcast TV for our community, and especially for our children. And if the only free TV content was commercial offerings, we would locally suffer enormous cultural loss. We are so fortunate to have KIXE in Redding.
Culture in Redding CABTW, I was also very happy as a member of the Board of Directors of the Shasta Association of Realtors to approve a request that we sponsor some programming this year at KIXE. These are tough times for our Realtor membership, but all of us felt strongly that KIXE is an essential part of our community, and deserving of our support. Thanks, Shasta County Realtors, and thank you KIXE!