Things haven’t been normal around NCS the past couple of days, and I thought I’d explain why. As I mentioned earlier this week, I’ve been in south central Idaho (near Ketchum) since Monday on a day-job thing. That alone has cut into the time I usually spend on NCS. But I’m also having some trouble getting home.
I’m supposed to fly out of here and back to Seattle early evening today. But flights all day long have been delayed and canceled because there’s a fire nearby (the “Beaver Creek Fire”) that has burned 38,000 acres so far, and for the last 2 days this valley where I am has been blanketed in heavy smoke blowing in from the fire area, with an intermittent dusting of ash. It’s gotten so bad that I can’t see the surrounding mountains and I can smell the smoke even when I’m indoors.
The local airport is currently closed down due to the smoke, though my own flight hasn’t been canceled yet — they seem to anticipate that the smoke will clear in time to resume operations by the time my flight is supposed to take off. So maybe the wind direction will change and things will clear up. And maybe it won’t. I’m now debating whether to drive 3 hours to Boise and fly out of there later tonight. The Boise airport seems to be working okay, but there’s an enormous fire blazing about 70 miles east of Boise called the Elk Fire that has already burned about 100,000 acres of land, and it’s nowhere close to being contained.
And there’s another fire called the Pony Fire Complex near Mountain Home, Idaho that has consumed about 144,000 acres. Basically, big chunks of of Idaho have become an inferno. The Governor has declared the entire state a disaster area.
Anyway, I haven’t figured out what to do yet, but I’m going to be spending time on that project for the rest of the day — and a drive to Boise is probably in my near future.
Since I’m thinking about hellish things, let me leave you with a bit of appropriate music. This is an advance track by Dutch death metal band Bodyfarm from their new album, The Coming Scourge, which is due for release by Cyclone Empire on September 20. The song is “The Well of Decay”, and it’s both bone-smashing and catchy as the common cold.
With luck, I’ll get home and things around here will start getting back to normal tomorrow.
13 Responses to “BURNING (WITH BODYFARM)”
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‘The Governor has declared the entire state a disaster area.’
and that’s different from any other day, how?
HIIIIIYYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
I’ll see myself out.
HIIIIIYYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Yep…its been so hot and dtry that you can’t fart without burning something. But its like this every summer here. 100 degrees wih thick smoke. Also, if you are planning to drive to Boise, there are large fires burning where they have shut down portions of highway. Sounds like you might be stuck there [maniacal laugh].
Fuck. Well, I wondered about that. I think I’m going to stay here, keep my fingers crossed, and hope my flight is able to leave. I did hear the gratifying news that it’s unlikely the Beaver Creek fire will reach this valley because in between us and the fire there’s mainly land that has already been burned black by earlier fires. Hell of a place. So to speak.
Man, this sound sucky: being stuck between a fire and a flight that might be cancelled. I hope you get out of there safe and sound! Godspeed.
Thanks — I’ve had good luck. At the Sun Valley airport now and looks like the flight will make it out. I took some scary photos from just outside the airport though. I’ll probably post them tomorrow. I’m glad I’m getting out of here.
Sorry to hear about your crappy situation, that sure would stress me out. Stay safe and, if hell breaks loose, stop drop and roll!
i forgot to add, the Bodyfarm song sounds awesome!
Bodyfarm are really growing to be a beast to consider. I’ve followed them since the demo days and they’re really moving in the right direction. Is it just me or does Thomas sound a lot like Kam Lee here?
The perfect music to accompany this post would have been some GY!BE or Abigail Williams:
“…We’re trapped in the belly of this horrible machine
and the machine is bleeding to death…
…The skyline was beautiful on fire
all twisted metal stretching upwards
everything washed in a thin orange haze
I said: “kiss me, you’re beautiful –
these are truly the last days…”
(Godspeed You! Black Emperor, “Dead Flag Blues”)
-or-
“…We’ve been trapped in the belly of a leviathan
But the beast is now bleeding out slowly into the cosmos…
…The earth was beautiful on fire. Now purified.
These are truly the last days of time.”
(Abigail Williams, “Beyond the Veil”)
Oh man, I love those lyrics! And absolutely perfect for my last few days in Idaho. In this post are a few pics I took as I was getting the hell out of there. I should have taken more of the area around where I was working — except all you’d have seen was smoke.
Forgot to add the link for those pics:
https://www.nocleansinging.com/2013/08/16/seen-and-heard-broken-hope-glorior-belli-and-bombus/
You could probably add Altar of Plagues’ “Earth II: As a Furnace” to the soundtrack to your adventure. And it’s a bit of a stretch, but I’d go with Falls of Rauros” “All That Howling Fog” just because the lyrics are so awesome: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Falls-of-Rauros/197095916993311 (see August 9).