Plexi >> When I was looking at you, I didn't mind your foggy weather

California Month, tremor #3:

Plexi - "Forest Ranger"

(Sub Pop Records, 1996)

This song demonstrates every weapon in Plexi's arsenal: catchy choruses, strangely brutish charisma, artsy guitar heroics, leather, a cryptic sense of humor, etc.  The seemingly nonsensical / suicidal / environmental lyrics can be a turnoff to some.  I personally despise Marxist mass murderer Che Guevara, who helped Fidel Castro and other such louts to overthrow and essentially enslave millions of people by deciding that the underclasses would be better off if he removed them from the supposed shackles of capitalist society, and helped to almost bring about nuclear war between the U.S. and Russia, but that's another topic.  For what it's worth, Plexi guitarist Michael Barragan is Cuban, or part Cuban at least, based on YouTube commenter cubanpapi2010, who said "Thanks for posting this..My cousin played Guitar for them..Michael Barragan.....hes amazing:)."  As for Carl Lewis, Phyllis Diller and Salman Rushdie, I'm more open to accepting their contributions to the world.

Note that this is the original 1996 Sub Pop version of "Forest Ranger," not the (slightly inferior) radio remix from the 1997 reissue on Lava / Atlantic.  Hence I feel comfortable in posting it here, as it's a true "indie" recording.  A "forest ranger" is allegedly someone who gets a lot of access to a part of the female anatomy, in the pre-Brazilian-waxing era, to put it politely.  I guess it was SoCal slang back in the day.  By contrast, NorCal is most famous for inventing the extremely irritating word "hella."  This is the music video, which I earlier mentioned aired a whopping one time on MTV, in September 1997:

Bathtubs, leather, and explosions, my friend... I had a little 10-second or so .avi excerpt of this video which I watched for around a decade, until I finally got to see the whole thing on YouTube.  It was directed in Aug. '97 by this guy David Meyers, who went on to direct a lot of famous rap videos (including OutKast's "B.O.B. (Bombs Over Baghdad)," Missy Elliott's "Get Ur Freak On," and Jay-Z's "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)," as you can maybe guess by the gratuitous usage of fisheye lenses, blinding lights, and general chaos.  I guess the world can thank Atlantic Recs. for footing the bill for this video, so that's at least one good thing that came of Plexi's major-label signing.  (I can't think of any others.)

Elaborate 1996 Sub Pop Digipak packaging; the trifold part (at top) folds up and slides into the black outer case (at left).
The Atlantic reissue is pretty much identical, except that the design on the CD itself is slightly different.

Shrinkwrapped 1997 Atlantic CD

Back of 1997 promo CD (mine)

1997 cassette (mine)

Well, the tropical storm damaged several of my trees and killed the power for about 2 hours, but overall we escaped almost entirely unscathed.  Imma go drive around and check the neighborhood for damage now, then shoot some hoops and watch #4 LSU vs. #3 Oregon tonight.  Here's a strange photo I took after Hurricane Gustav (or Ike) (both hit a week apart) three years ago.  No, it's not the name of the latest lame indie rock band... If you live around here, you'll immediately know what it is:

Popeye's Chicken & Biscuits sign; Airline Hwy. near Williams Blvd., Kenner, LA, 9/9/08.
Notice there's a piece of it across the drainage canal in the background.

And in honor of hurricanes, check out the hurricane-esque radial symmetry of this cactus:

Somewhat epic angled closeup of my new Golden Ball Cactus (Parodia magnifica, a.k.a. Notocactus magnificus), on 8/30/11.
This astounding species is hardy down to 20-25º and can be bought at almost any Home Depot or Lowe's, believe it or not.
(Only $5 for this bad boy.  See, Che, capitalism can be fun.)

Planets with similar climates: The Cure - "The Edge Of The Deep Green Sea" & "Open" (1992), The Psychedelic Furs - "Highwire Days" (1984), Film School - "Compare" (2007), Nirvana - "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (1991), Bleach - "Surround" (1991).