Exquisite beauty from our space station, set to inspiring music. Turn it up. Breathtaking!
View from the ISS at Night from Knate Myers on Vimeo.
The Earth. It’s Really Redding.

Life and all in Redding California
Exquisite beauty from our space station, set to inspiring music. Turn it up. Breathtaking!
View from the ISS at Night from Knate Myers on Vimeo.
The Earth. It’s Really Redding.
Friday’s dinner was supposed to be special. But we didn’t know just how special it would be. Earlier, we learned French Chef Reynald Tel was no longer cooking at the By The Way, or Bourbon and Bull bar. Too bad. But we also learned he was trying to expand his catering business. So naturally we invited him over to cook. Just a little French Style tasting. Which turned into 8 courses with appropriate French wine pairings. Oh my. Words fail.
So, watch this in HD for full effect. Originally edited to Edith Piaf “La Vie En Rose,” from 1946, which you would think would be Public Domain or at least fair Use for Non Commercial. But YouTube won’t let you see that version, so here’s an alternate. If you start the video with sound off, then click on link (above) for Edith Piaf, you can almost hear it as intended. It won’t sync up, but you’ll get the gist of it.
As spectacular as dinner was, it was only the prelude the to main event. Unknown to anyone but himself, Aaron Rader planned to propose to Erin Murphy at this dinner. He asked to play a DVD he’d brought with him. And this is what we saw.
She said yes.
It was a fantastic night. Here is the tasting menu, which is a fun read.
TheMenu
And De Reynald Catering can be reached at (530) 710 4098, for events and cooking lessons. Highly recommended, shall we say!

Tyler Faires’ documentary about Redding area local food will spark your viewing pleasure.
To Plant a City – Creating Community Through Our Local Foods from Tyler Faires Productions on Vimeo.
Very well done. Kudos to all involved. Eat local. It’s Really Redding.
Less than that, actually. Here’s a brief experimental video.
Just fiddling with a new production technique on a rainy day.

An appropriately hypnotic video by visual artist Zrnho set the music Craig Padilla and I recorded in 2010 using analog synthesizers.
Set the controls for full screen and full volume, and get ready to space out…
Nice to see this indigenous Redding music translates across the Atlantic. Pleasurable listening right down to the cerebral cortex for me, as it brings back fond creative memories. Thanks Zrnho. Your work is inspiring. Check out many more clips at his prolific online video channel. Gotta love the interweb.
Should mention too that you can buy this CD directly from Craig, and get a better fidelity recording along with the cool cover art. CraigPadilla.com
A little Norwegian time lapse, set to Moonlight Sonata. Perfect before bedtime.
The Water from TSO Photography on Vimeo.
You may have seen it, but I had to share it here. It’s beautiful.
Glowing Man HD from Jacob Sutton on Vimeo.

Ran across this interesting video the other day. Highway 299 is the road from Redding to the coast. The Buckhorn Summit is characterized by some tight corners along the mountainside. This rider strapped a video camera to his bike, and went for a fast ride.

Wow, was it thirty years ago? Looking through an old box in the closet, I ran across these photographs I took at the Redding Civic when DEVO came to town in 1982.
Are we not men? We are DEVO!
Sure, it looks like the singer is wearing a flower pot hat, but DEVO fans know them as “Energy Domes.” I was a fan back then, but not enough to have bought a ticket. A friend gave me the ticket. Her 15 year old daughter won the seats from a radio promotion, and mom really didn’t want to go. Front row! Hence, the good shots. The show was much better than I expected.
This was the era of the “It’s a Beautiful World” single, which was a show highlight.
It’s a beautiful world we live in,
A sweet romantic place,
Beautiful people everywhere,
The way they show they care
Makes me want to say,It’s a wonderful time to be here,
It’s nice to be alive,
Wonderful people everywhere,
The way they comb their hair(Chorus)
It’s a beautiful world (three times)
For you (three times)
Everything I’d heard by DEVO was sort-of deliberately sterile sounding, I think. Art music. Almost a parody of itself. Certainly a sarcastic reflection of pop culture.
The funny thing about pop culture is that even self-parody acknowledgement of its own banality becomes more pop culture, perhaps even the best of it.
What I wouldn’t have guessed was how hard they rocked. Obviously, having risen through the punk clubscene, they’d learned to move an audience. This wasn’t studio music played live. They engaged the crowd, playing it hard with abandon. Up front, and hearing mostly the stage monitors, I was impressed. A tight rock band.
Devo singer Mark Mothersbaugh has gone on to become an accomplished artist in both film scores and visual arts. An extremely impressive list of accomplishments by any measure.
They still play as a band too. The DEVO webiste had recent video from a SF show at the Fillmore.
Amazing.
I like the final image in my series. You can tell this was taken some time ago. Outstretched arms aren’t holding up cell phones recording the moment. They were just in the moment.

All photos by Skip Murphy, 1982. Below, I wanted to post one of their many online videos, but it was so hard to pick one. This one was recorded just few days ago, 1-13-12 @The Fillmore. Impressive longevity for any band!