#la tuna canyon fire

[darkmaga-returns]

(This is Part-7; for Part-6, go here)

Everyone knows about CONTROLLED BURNS. That’s how you keep fires from spreading in heavily forested areas. By burning, you create “empty channels”—large spaces where fires won’t spread. Fire breaks.

Well, Los Angeles has a whole bunch of these areas. CANYONS.

Here we go. Buckle up.

…they [California as a whole, but primarily in the south] need to burn 4 to 11 million acres every year just to keep the forest in check because there’s so much growing every year. They [California] only burned 36,000 acres last year. And five years ago, four and a half years ago, Gavin Newsom, he had all this fanfare with this press conference where he pledged to burn a million acres every year. It’s not enough, but it’s a start. That’d be great. They’re only burning 36,000. Here we are five years later. They still can’t get their act together. And you wonder... and people are wondering, oh why is there so much fuel it’s because they’re not doing the work... And Malibu in particular is Fire Alley… So this series of canyons from Santa Clarita through Malibu Canyon out into the ocean is where those Santa Ana winds get channeled. So that’s the outflow boundary. And so you go back every 25 years, since the beginning of time, you will see articles about Malibu burning to the ground in one of these fires…

That’s from podcast host Isaac Simpson and guest and documentary film-maker Gabriel Kirkpatrick-Mann (link to podcast via 

Tom Kudla’s substack post, here).

Newsom promised he’d deal with this. He didn’t. Neither did previous Governors.

See, big parts of LA ARE canyons. Mandeville, Benedict, Coldwater, Topanga, Tuna, Beverly Glen, etc. There are streets and homes all over the canyons.

And then in certain places, like the famous elite Bel Air, there are three canyons. I once lived in a tiny one-room annex next to a house at the top northern end of Bel Air:

[getparticulr]

Still Burning by Kevin Cooley

kevincooley.net

via It’s Nice That

[petegans]

Angeles National Forest, September 2017

[thisoldgalsaysno]

Please excuse the shitty gif… this is the La Tuna Canyon fire that’s currently burning. I’m on the other side of the mountains. There’s been mandatory evacuations for some residents and I’m pretty certain I live far enough from the fire but… it’s still pretty unnerving.

[monstersinthecosmos]

La Tuna fire is like, really close to my house. 

[stereobrick]

Burbank’s burning

[formeryelpers]

Stough Canyon, 2300 E Walnut Ave, Burbank, CA 91504

Stough Canyon in the Verdugo Mountains has several trails and you can walk from Glendale to Sun Valley if you have the time and the energy. It also has nice views of the area, including a great vantage point to watch planes land and takeoff at Burbank Airport.

There’s free parking at the lot, a Nature Center, and restrooms. At the entrance you’ll see a helpful sign that says The View 0.6 miles, Old Youth Campground 0.9 miles, The Saddle 0.9 miles, Picnic Table at Vista 1.4 miles, Radio Towers 3.1 miles. Start your hike. You’ll run into another sign with the choice of going left (to the View, Old Youth Campground, the Saddle, towards Sun Valley) or going right (to the Picnic Table at Vista and Radio Towers, towards Glendale).

You can reach “The View” in less than 15 minutes by trekking up the slope. The dirt road is very wide. The incline is the steepest at the beginning of the trail. Once you reach the View, it flattens out. Go back down the hill to continue to the Old Youth Campground. Only the foundation and chimney remain. Of course, those have been covered in graffiti. Continue on and you’ll reach the Saddle. Eventually you’ll make it to Sun Valley or you can turn around at some point and head back.

The wider trails are multi-use – for hikers, horses, dogs and cyclists. The smaller trails are for hiking only. There were several benches and picnic tables in different areas. The trail was quiet.

Last year’s La Tuna fire damaged this area. Most of the shrubs were charred and dead. But the wildflowers have come back – quite a few types of flowers, more than most trails I’ve been to in the area. I also spotted a deer. It’s a quiet trail especially once you get past the View.

Since a fair amount of climbing is involved, I’d call this a moderate hike or easy if you keep it short. The Nature Center staff leads various hikes – including the Full Moon evening hike, hiking for seniors, wild creatures walk, etc.

3.5 out of 5 stars

By Lolia S.

[earthstory]

Timelapse of the La Tuna Canyon fire currently burning inside the Los Angeles City Limits

[bandaidtiits]

🔥

[beyond4a]

Photo by M.M. (La Tuna Canyon fire, September 2, 2017)

https://www.instagram.com/matthewmccullough1/

[krispyweiss]

The Live Music Year in Review

If live music is a drug, Sound Bites is a user and abuser. But, dang, a drug never felt so good and left so little damage (read: none) as live music.

The following are excerpts from the blog’s original reviews and do not include performances at the Nelsonville Music Festival, the Outlaw Music Festival and other difficult-to-encapsulate events.

That said, it’s a fair look at an exceptional year of concertgoing and one of the many things Sound Bites is grateful for in the year that was 2019. These sound bites (lower case) are listed in order of quality; parenthetical numerals indicate the number of times the blog’s seen the act.

A+

Los Lobos (18) at Music Box Supper Club, Cleveland, Ohio, March 1 - This was a band that wanted to be exactly where it was doing exactly what it was doing. And it showed in the music and the on-stage interaction, resulting in what was likely the best of the nearly 20 Los Lobos concerts Sound Bites has experienced since the early 1990s.

Los Lobos (19) at Rose Music Center at the Heights, Huber Heights, Ohio, July 23 - Los Lobos earned multiple standing ovations, created enough energy to make the half-full shed feel like a packed arena and proved once again why on any given night, this is the best live band in America.

Brian Wilson (2) at Rose Music Center at the Heights, Huber Heights, Ohio, Aug. 13 - Wilson’s performance of Pet Sounds and Beach Boys hits wasn’t perfect, yet it was sheer perfection. The concert humanized a musical god; it celebrated of the soundtrack of a generation; and it demonstrated the healing power of music, for both Wilson and his followers.

Wheels of Soul feat. Tedeschi Trucks Band (10), Blackberry Smoke and Shovels & Rope at Rose Music Center at the Heights, Huber Heights, Ohio, July 20 - Tedeschi Trucks Band proved the existence of life after death Saturday night, as the 12-piece killed with song after song after song and the audience came back with increasing enthusiasm each time. And while there is no denying the value in this packed night of music - which ran from 7 to 11 p.m. on a steamy, Southwestern Ohio night - it was the headliners that slayed listeners time and time again.

Livingston Taylor (2) at Thirty One West, Newark, Ohio, Dec. 6 - Livingston Taylor is as well-rounded an entertainer as anyone could ever hope to see, even if his relative obscurity meant only about 80 people turned out to see him put on an outrageously entertaining Friday-night show.

Marc Cohn feat. the Blind Boys of Alabama at Rose Music Center at the Heights, Huber Heights, Ohio, June 19 - Singing with their "Hebrew buddy" Marc Cohn, the Blind Boys of Alabama provided healing salve to the blues that immediately preceded and followed their joint set at the Rose Music Center at the Heights. The unexpected combo stole the night, an evening when Robert Cray was uncharacteristically tepid in his performance.

A

Punch Brothers (4) at Southern Theatre, Columbus, Ohio, March 20 - Even by the Punch Brothers' high standards, the band's March 20 show in Columbus was exceptional and featured a setlist that spurned esoterica for pure musicianship and songcraft. The precision in their performances continues to stagger, even more than a decade in to their career, as the band zigs and zags through various stylistic landscapes, stops on any number of onstage dimes, accelerates from zero to 60 in nanoseconds and demonstrates time and time again that intricate ensemble playing is typically much more effective than even the most evocative solo.

Todd Rundgren (39) at State Theatre, Cleveland, Ohio, May 6 - By the time he closed with “Just One Victory,” fans who had given sporadic standing ovations all evening had crowded up front for a chance to slap hands with their musical hero. Rundgren obliged. But even if he hadn’t, he’d already delivered.

Hot Tuna (Acoustic) (9) at Natalie's Coal Fired Pizza and Live Music, Worthington, Ohio, Nov. 5 - Some people say going to concerts is like going to church. Sometimes that church is a pizza shop. And the preachers are occasionally a couple of former psychedelic warriors and Woodstock veterans who have always been grizzled bluesmen at their core.

Darrell Scott (3) at Natalie's Coal Fired Pizza and Live Music, Worthington, Ohio, Sept. 29 - Accompanying himself on hollow-bodied electric guitar, six-string acoustic guitar and piano, Scott previewed tracks from the four albums, including a Hank Williams tribute, he's working on - "It sounds crazy, but it's just music," he said - sung Joe South's "Games People Play” and briefly turned the restaurant into a church.

Steep Canyon Rangers (8) at Midland Theatre, Newark, Ohio, Oct. 24 - To call the show lively would be an insult to the word, as the group moved on and off stage to play in various incarnations with members moving up front to solo and backing off to give their mates their own star turns.

Circles Around the Sun at Woodlands Tavern, Columbus, Ohio, June 11 - The band whipped out a nine-song, nearly two-hour performance that whizzed by in what seemed like 45 minutes as the quartet laid down thick grooves and the audience in the tight, well-sold space stomped around gleefully in them.

Lyle Lovett (4) and His Acoustic Group at Victoria Theatre, Dayton, Ohio, Oct. 18 - No matter whom he plays - Acoustic Group, Large Band, solo or acoustic with friends like Robert Earl Keen and Shawn Colvin - Lyle Lovett is always a wise ticket.

Todd Snider (11) at Speaker Jo Ann Davidson Theatre, Columbus, Ohio, April 10 - For 90 minutes, Snider played a career-spanning set that culled songs from 1994's Songs for the Daily Planet through this year's Cash Cabin Sessions, Vol. 3 and most of his other albums as well. The crowd was small but enthusiastic, singing loudly on old songs such as "Easy Money" and listening attentively to new ones such as "Watering Flowers in the Rain" and "Just Like Overnight."

The Larry Campbell & Teresa Williams (4) Band at Jorma Kaukonen's Fur Peace Ranch, Pomeroy, Ohio, April 13 - The Larry Campbell & Teresa Williams Band can play anything. And they played most of it during a knockout, two-hour show inside the Fur Peace Station. This was one of those concerts - a show rewarded with several standing ovations from the sold-out house as Campbell and Williams - with Williams’ parents on hand - covered the Carter Family (“I Ain’t Gonna Work Tomorrow”), Johnny Cash (“Big River”), traditional songs via the Grateful Dead (“Deep Elem Blues”) and performed originals from their two duo LPs as Jorma Kaukonen joined in for most of the second set.

Joan Osborne (3) at Memorial Hall OTR, Cincinnati, Ohio, Aug. 2 - For 95 minutes, Joan Osborne and her trio played tracks from Songs of Bob Dylan. But it was Osborne, whose voice ranges from soprano cries to deep-throated, bluesy wailing to tender and cracking in a girlish way, who made them work. "Buckets of Rain" was the little girl; "Highway 61 Revisited" was the brassy blues singer. Meanwhile, "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" was a rest on a front-porch swing and "Tangled up in Blue" was a walk through a lifetime - either Dylan's or Osborne's.

Grateful Ball Featuring the Travelin’ McCourys (2) and the Jeff Austin Band at Woodlands Tavern, Columbus, Ohio, Jan. 27 - Bluegrass meets jamgrass meets psychedelic rock ‘n’ roll when the Travelin’ McCourys and the Jeff Austin Band get together for a Grateful Ball. Playing alone and together, the bands treated the sold-out bar to more than three hours of exhilarating, Sunday-night roots music that bled into early Monday morning.

Leo Kottke (5) at Thirty One West, Newark, Ohio, April 21 - Leo Kottke held the audience at in rapt silence as he demonstrated what an acoustic guitar - two, actually; a 12-string and a six-string - can sound like in the right hands. And in Kotte's hands, the guitar can sound like a bass, a dulcimer and multiple guitars all at the same time.

Dom Flemons Woodlands Tavern, Columbus, Ohio, Nov. 23 - Touring behind his Black Cowboys LP, the bespectacled Flemons looked as if he’d just walked off the ranch with a hat, suspenders holding up his blue work pants and a pocket watch on a gold chain. The former Carolina Chocolate Drop, known as "the American Songster," was the consummate entertainer and played in the style of De Ole Folks at Home-era Taj Mahal.

A-

John Oates with the Good Road Band at Victoria Theatre, Dayton, Ohio, Jan. 15 - A blind person attending this show would have spent most of the 110 minutes not realizing this was the same John Oates who is most famous for playing pop music with Daryl Hall. This was music culled mostly from the first half of the 20th century, when blues, country and jazz were still a melting pot of Americana and hadn't yet separated and led to rock 'n' roll.

Crash Test Dummies (2) at Memorial Hall OTR, Cincinnati, Ohio, Sept. 21 - On the road celebrating 25 years of God Shuffled His Feet, four of the five original band members played 10 of God's dozen tracks and offered others from 1991’s The Ghosts that Haunt Me through 2010’s Ooh La La!

Jeff Lynne's ELO at Nationwide Arena, Columbus, Ohio, July 30 - Jeff Lynne's ELO ended the show where the former Electric Light Orchestra's career began to take off, playing a rambunctious version of "Roll Over Beethoven" - replete with its quotations of the composer's famous 5th symphony found on ELO 2 - and wrapping a night full of highlights with one of the brightest of all.

Lake Street Dive (2) and the Wood Brothers (7) at Fraze Pavilion, Kettering, Ohio, June 15 - Though they’re a disparate pair, Lake Street Dive and the Wood Brothers displayed shocking congruity during sit-ins and while playing alone across their rain-soaked, co-headlining sets.

Dead & Company (8) at Rouff Home Mortgage Music Center, Noblesville, Ind., June 12 - Like a young relative you see only occasionally, Dead & Company seems grow by leaps & bounds in between its annual summer tours.

Chicago (13) at Rose Music Center at the Heights, Huber Heights, Ohio, May 5- Down to three original members in keyboardist/guitarist/vocalist Robert Lamb, trombonist James Pankow and trumpeter/vocalist Lee Loughnane, the recently expanded, 10-man Chicago recreated the original septet’s sound via standout performances by all as they focused mostly on their first decade of recorded music.

Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets at Palace Theatre, Columbus, Ohio, April 7- For 110 minutes, the former Floyd drummer and his outstanding band plumbed the early-Pink discography, plucking songs from every album (except Ummagumma) from 1967's the Piper at the Gates of Dawn to 1972's Obscured by Clouds. These weren’t covers so much as interpretations and the band gave the music enough of a contemporary nudge to keep it from sounding too dated.

It Was 50 Years Ago Today at Akron Civic Theatre, Akron, Ohio, Sept. 28 - The Fab Faux Five consisted of a Utopian (Todd Rundgren), a Monkee (Micky Dolenz) with a Badfinger (Joey Molland), a dude from Chicago (Jason Scheff) and Christopher Cross. Motley and, unbelievably, well-matched, the group was backed by a stellar four-piece band who provided essential vocal backing and played synths, keys, drums, guitars, harmonica and bass as needed. They didn’t get a break, while the stars spent little time on stage all together (now), instead coming and going to play 23 of the Beatles' 30 tracks and two solo/band songs apiece.

Bob Dylan (12) and His Band at Mershon Auditorium, Columbus, Ohio, Nov. 4 - Never one to stand still or rest on his legacy, Dylan starts futzing with songs almost as soon as he commits them to tape and continues to do so basically forever.

Chris Smither and Sierra Hull at Jorma Kaukonen's Fur Peace Ranch, Pomeroy, Ohio, Sept. 7, 2019 - Chris Smither mic'd his boots, played bottom-string-heavy, country blues on his acoustic guitar and solicited a lot of laughter. Sierra Hull played mandolin, octave mandolin and guitar and was mostly serious, eliciting a few gasps of disbelief.

B+

Bruce Hornsby (10) & the Noisemakers at Rose Music Center at the Heights, Huber Heights, Ohio, July 16 - Though the Rose's sound system was typically muddy and Hornsby and company seemed to be at about 88 percent of their capability, they shouldn't have been opening for Amos Lee, whose mix of soulless soul and funk that wasn't funky caused dozens of Hornsby partisans - Sound Bites included - to bail after four songs.

Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band (3) at Nationwide Arena, Columbus, Ohio, Jan. 19 - The show came 18 months after back issues forced a last-minute postponement of his previously scheduled Columbus show - and eventually, his entire 2017 tour. And though Seger was noticeably less powerful than he was during his 2015 visit, he was also was visibly happy to be performing on what he says will be his final outing.

Mark Lanegan Band at MAPFRE Stadium, Columbus, Ohio, May 18 - Sound Bites ducked in and out of Sonic Temple Day 2 to see Lanegan after scoring a $1 dollar ticket. A $25 parking spot and a bottle of water priced at $5.50 negated some of the value, but Lanegan’s nine-song set was worth every dollar and every hassle to get inside the sold-out soccer stadium for his 35 minutes of stage time.

B

Bob Weir and Wolf Bros at Taft Theatre, Cincinnati, Ohio, March 6 - This Bob Weir and Wolf Bros performance is best described as a solid, Weir-led Grateful Dead spin-off show that was more successful than RatDog in its later years, but much less exciting than Bob Weir & the Campfire Band.

Rory Block and Cindy Cashdollar at Jorma Kaukonen's Fur Peace Ranch, Pomeroy, Ohio, Oct. 19 - A show that reached its apex - and potential - late.

B-

The Richie Furay (2) Band at Jorma Kaukonen's Fur Peace Ranch, Pomeroy, Ohio, Aug. 10 - With his voice in sick bay, Furay didn't even attempt his signature songs, "Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing," which would have seemed too ironic, and "Kind Woman," which he couldn't have pulled off in his diminished state.

Funky Feat at Jorma Kaukonen’s Fur Peace Ranch, Pomeroy, Ohio, June 16 - Ultimately, Funky Feat provided an opportunity for Little Feat fans to hear the music they love played by some of those who made it - and that makes the group a worthwhile endeavor. But folks unfamiliar with Feat’s music should turn to the original recordings for their primary education.

Experience Hendrix at Taft Theatre, Cincinnati, Ohio, March 17 - There's no shame in being unable to play like Hendrix. And most of the performers were unable to muster what was needed to make covering him for more than 180 minutes worthwhile. But the exceptions - including Zakk Wylde, Eric Johnson, Mark Nanji and Doyle Bramhall II - were exceptional.

Martin Barre (3) at Athenaeum Theatre, Columbus, Ohio, May 8 - Narrated by a disembodied voice that was piped in every few songs to tell the story of Jethro Tull's evolution, the concert was a little too contrived for its own good.

C+

Elizabeth Cook (4) and Will Hoge at Natalie's Coal Fired Pizza & Live Music, Worthington, Ohio, Oct. 30 - Each performer played 50 minutes; too long for Hoge and too short for Cook, who seemed like she wanted to be anywhere but on stage.

C

Blues Traveler at Columbus Commons, Columbus, Ohio, May 17 - The free concert had its moments. And the tickets were worth every penny.

12/18/19

[petegans]

Sunland-Tujunga, September 2017

[jessebalmer]

La Tuna Canyon Fire, Burbank, CA

[emergencymanagementnews]

There were no civilian injuries, no structures damaged and no need for evacuation — though two firefighters suffered non-life threatening injuries. One returned to duty after being treated on scene and the other was taken to a local hospital.

[streetzen]

La Tuna Canyon Fire | 2017