Monterey Travel Missive #3

I was too dismissive of 1410 KRML-AM yesterday. I've spent more time listening to them than any other local station at this point. While KKUP may hav esome stand out programs, it really is reggae all damn day, KRML-AM is varied but in an intelligent programmed way. I also noticed that they also offer cable radio (a medium I thought was extinct) on Comcast at 93.7. That pipes their signal loud and clear into 90,000 homes. They also claim to be the only radio station broadcasting jazz 24 hours a day. While that claim is somewhat spurious, they are still a great jazz station. They also were featured in the 1971 Clint Eastwood flick Play Misty for Me, for whatever that's worth.

While I'm on the Jazz tip, I finally caught a music show that held my attention on 88.9 KUSP. http://www.kusp.org/ I'd written them off as a NPR talk outlet until I caught this one show today around noon. The program Cintinental drift was truly inspired. It was a mix of old and new blues, jazz and even funk. But it was kind of tied together in an organic way. Leon Red Bone, 30 s blues, the meters and Jimmy Smith aren;'t normally in the same program... but hey can be. It's beginning to make sense that Monterey is the home of the Monterey Jazz Festival.

I got into Recycled Records today and picked up a copy of an older Bakomono record. I paid $8.00 and just realized I could have bought it used online for 3 cents + shipping... This is why small record stores are going out of buisness. But it's a good band, and a long out of print record, it was worth the 8 clams.

Today I ate lunch at El Torito and sat in the bar overlooking Monterey Bay. The food was largely unimpressive but the view was great. I sat a a table smaller than half a newspaper and overlooked the incoming waves. The Pacific was very active and would shake the building at times as it rushed over and under the rock that Monterey sits upon. It is very striking how much more active the Pacific is than the Atlantic. I was warned many times by many locals about the tourists that get swept out to sea right off th ebeach because they didn't know how violent and powerful El Océano Pacífico is. The salsa was good and used excellent tomatos which made me remember harvesting them, and made me hungry for good vegetables.