Winter here to stay? Andrew Bird is!

There's something about a physical, visual finality of metamorphosis that is so beautiful. Along the Wasatch Front tonight, we were witness to what could be called the end of autumn and the beginning of winter. After weeks of hearing about ski resorts pushing back their opening dates and the predictions of future drought from climatologists, we were finally treated to the first real snow of the season.

Before now, there have been flakes in the air, but not much stuck. While this wasn't exactly a substantial snowstorm, there is a good couple of inches that managed to stick on the ground. It's quite late in the year for the snow to finally signal winter is around the corner, it seems like there's usually a good storm pre-Halloween. But I walked out of work this evening excited and entranced. The snow was falling haphazardly, in a mad rush to get to the ground and make its claim on the season, to show the warm fall days we've been having who owns the climate now.

Autumn is my favorite season - as I've written before - but in the past couple of years, I've picked up snowshoeing, so winter has gotten a passionate boost. I wasn't really prepared for it when I first broke in my new pair a couple of years back, after about two hundred yards up a not-too-steep grade I was gasping and panting. (The first snow hike of the season is always like that and after gorging during the Thanksgiving holiday, I'm ready for a good, cold slap in the face.) But I kept it up and found the exhilaration and solace that the woods in winter time can bring. I love the way the world is muted after new-fallen snow, and outside the confines of the city, the serenity and harmony of things that this brings is magnified. Plus, bombing down a steep slope in your snowshoes with some sturdy snowboard boots to keep the ankles stiff is really something else.

So, welcome Winter, I hope you're hear to stay and bless us in Utah with mounds of that airy, dry snow that you so expertly whip up each year.



Oh, and how about cheering up your day a bit with some Andrew Bird? The folks over at Daytrotter recently lured Mr. Bird into their studio with the band Diagona backing him up and released these songs. If you've never encountered any Daytrotter Sessions before, you should definitely check out the website. A studio located in Rock Island, Illinois, it's enviously fantastic how Daytrotter gets so many relevant and masterful musicians into their quarters to re-work or lay down songs to be released free to the public. Here are the songs from the Bird Sessions. "A Breaks B" is apparently a Diagona original, to be released on a future album and "The Giant of Illinois" is a Handsome Family song, who happen to be currently on tour with Bird. The versions of these other songs are lush, interesting, but still not too-foreign from the album originals. "Fiery Crash" in particular is allowed to take a little more meditative time compared to the more urgent take on Armchair Apocrypha.

Fiery Crash (Daytrotter Sessions)
Lull (Daytrotter Sessions)
A Breaks B (Daytrotter Sessions)
Pasticities (Daytrotter Sessions)
The Giant of Illinois (Daytrotter Sessions)