June 15, 2022 • 45 mins
Two years have passed since Covid brought production of Not Lost to a screeching halt. In that time, Brendan has turned norm-core: he gets a steady job, a live-in partner, a car, and becomes a viewer of prestige cable dramas. But the show must go on, so he and his friend, audio producer John DeLore, head to a place Brendan considers the opposite of the Big Apple — Big Sur, California. A couple days of redwoods and Pacific air give rise to fresh questions: How is traveling different when you have someone waiting for you back at home? And what if you discover your soulmate is an elephant seal named “1885”?
Not Lost is a co-production of Pushkin Industries, Topic Studios and iHeartMedia.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:15):
Pushkin. Yeah, have you ever done like an RV trip
Lan life? You mean Van Life? Yeah, I think we
can't do van life. I go, van life got ruined
this summer COVID. You can't get a sprinter or a
VW like in any reason price. And then it became
like a hashtag Instagram tiktoki thing like van life. Right,
(00:39):
it just feels like the van life got gentrified. I
hope you enjoyed. These five highly produced episodes of Not
Lost in between seasons will be tackling such diverse topics
as the gentrification of van Life. Turn in next week
for a conversation. This is Not Lost California so far,
(01:06):
how everybody feeling. I'm Brendan France has new him feel
great that it's not New York. That's my friend, the
audio producer John Delor, just like it is an incredible
joy to just be out of the city. It's April
twenty twenty two, and after a two year hiatus spent
hunkering down in New York City due to COVID, we're
heading toward the opposite of the Big Apple, Big Sir,
(01:29):
eighty miles of vodness along the rugged coast of Central California.
Look at these beaches, taking in the coastal beauty. It's
hard to remember why I ever left California, Like, what
do we do in their lives? Oh, that house is
for sale. Maybe the world speaking to me? Live right there,
(01:51):
work remotely, make podcasts, eat soup. So you've been to
Big Sir? How many times I was thinking about on
the plane. I think like eleven or twelve times. What
was the first time? Big Sir is not new to me.
Years back, when I lived in California, I would visit
it all the time, and like many before me, I
(02:11):
was seduced by the areas looming redwood forests and mountains
on one side, the bananas wow and the drama of cliffs,
rock and ocean on the other. Look at the shoreline.
It's accessible for like a stretch, and then it just
turns into the sort of cliffs. It is hard to
overstate house dunning, Big Sir is. It is an Edenic wilderness.
(02:33):
It is Beethoven, the taj Mahal for let Mignon, Queen
em On, all of it all in one. And yet
what really makes the special for me are the thinkers,
artists and writers who live and visit here. Despite being
remote in Big s a book of poetry or a
good conversation are not hard to find. I can't believe
I can't find parking in Big s Okay, come on out,
(02:57):
you lay in your horn, no want to You can
take the guy out of New York City. I'd rather
live a life that's a little on edge, like wildfires,
mountain lions, and then paradise and elation, those two ends
of the spectrum, then this monotonous middle of the road
(03:18):
stuff that I was ever mentioned. When we arrive in
Big Sir village, we strike up a chat with a radiant,
even beatific looking stranger named Jake Podour. How did you
end up in Big Sir? I ended up here by accident,
which most other residents of Big sur will say the same.
They didn't actually try to live here. Jake is young,
has a short beard and baggy clothes, with the touch
(03:39):
of Bohemian flair, music and spirit. If I do say so,
is really the reason why I ended up here? Yeah?
I found myself in La trying to do the music
thing and it just was making me feel lost, and
I was luckily cradled by this beautiful land. I mean
is there enough to do as just a big sur
like young guy living here, Like you can get off
(03:59):
work to get by? Oh now I can before you know,
living in my car saving money on rent. That made
it work out for me in that sense. But are
there there a lot of car life going on? There is.
There's a lot of car life, a lot of transients,
and a lot of multi millionaires and not much more
in between. But right now I have a work trade situation.
(04:20):
I garden for this lady's property and live in a
little shack and play music, and people seem to enjoy that.
My journey is I ended up in the middle of
the road, and I've kind of been digging it because
I spent so much time not but I'm remembering those
old feelings of what it's like to be on the
(04:42):
road and to be someplace so dramatic. How is how
what is it like being in a place where people
are like travelers like us are coming through constantly, constantly,
Like is it it's a beautiful or is it it's invigorating.
I'm meeting people from all over the world. I feel
like I'm touring through vast lands, but really I'm just
on this eighty mile stretch of coastline, and I'm just
(05:04):
meeting all the most wonderful characters. As Henry Miller said
in Big Sirs, they put and watch the world go
rounds to these people who are going to be here
for decades. Who knows it's transitory, as you said to me,
it is. It's it's fun to think about some visions
or the future. But um, I notice, I'm happiest one.
I'm just right here right now. Yeah, day by day,
(05:25):
hour by hour, moment by moment. When we left Jake,
his words rang in my ears. Yeah, let's be right
here right now, which I interpreted to mean let's get
into the nature we travel so far to explore. Took
(05:46):
it right off the one. It was time to visit
the beach, driving directly off the continent of North America, said,
come up to the edge. Do you know this one?
Beach Boys? Right? So I found this song when I
was making a playlist for the trip. I knew one
(06:06):
of them lived up here, but I didn't know they
were in a song about it. Yea, before we can
hit the beach, we stop at a little gatehouse to
buy a day pass for our car. Good morning, twelve dollars. Yeah,
we take cash or card whatever. Okay, is it busy
or slow today? Starting to pick up a little bit? Yeah,
(06:27):
slower than it was yesterday at this time. Right, still
a weekend. All right, thank you for this, got a problem.
You guys are all set to go have great afternoon?
All right, thank you you. What do we think his
life out of a scott one to ten? I'm thinking ten? Right,
It seems like super happy. He seems happy. He's like
living near the beach. I'm trying not to be jealous.
(06:50):
Oh wait, oh dick, I'm gonna go put my feet
in the water. Okay, yeah, all right, let's do it.
But we're gonna have to. It's not sure it's what
we're gonna show some calf all right, urt your eyes
(07:13):
because my calves have not seen the sun and years.
Oh yeah, wow, this feels like the opposite of a
zoom call. It's good to touch the water. That sounds
a little bit like the beginning of creation. There's like
(07:35):
mist these beautiful flowers, these purple piano, the edges in
the green right into the water. It looks like this
is where man sprung forth. Yeahs such an interesting beach. Experience.
Though you come here, you're not swimming today because it's cold.
I don't think you could swim here, could you? Are
the waves too much? You can do whatever you want here.
(07:56):
But it's so goddamn beautiful that that is enough. There's
something something about over there. I can't tell if it's
a lot you actually look up right, if that's a
piece of driftwood or crazy seaweed. The large brown thing
(08:21):
down there, Yeah, that it's moving. I don't think that's
a long Let's go check it out, all right, Oh,
check that out. Those are the elephant seals. Wow, Oh
my god, look at these these things are massive. Wow.
(08:53):
Like when you come up to this, it looks like
a battlefield with all these like fallen soldiers. Yeah, you
see battlefield. My read is like Rockaway Beach, like sort
of mid August on a Wednesday, when there's not too
many people and everyone's really quiet. Everyone's got enough space
for their blanket, but everyone they're just all very chill.
(09:13):
Right now. I feel like they just parted their brains
out right. It's got that five what I'm saying. Trapsing
between the blobs of napping elephant seals was a figure
holding a clipboard. John and I waved and they approached us.
I'm Brendan Arena. John. Nice to me, what are you
doing here? So? I'm currently working on my PhD, and
(09:35):
this morning I was actually just out doing recites, and
so I was out looking at their flipper tags. Oh
no way, Well, look at this guy scratching his side.
Get How do they move? It's like such a dumb
basic How do they move? We have a very scientific
term for that on land. It's called glumping. So it's
(09:56):
galumping galumping. Have you ever seen that dance move the worm? Yeah,
really looks like that. That's incredible. So why do they
come here this spot? Yeah? So they actually come back
to each of these colonies because that's where they were
born and that's where they know to go. Is there
(10:17):
a scientific word for that sort of thing, like that
behavior of like going back to where you came from. Yeah,
it's known as like Philopatrick, Philopatrick. I like that. It's
like like after college, I was Philopatrick. I just ended
up in my dad's basement. And so where do they
(10:44):
go when they're not here? So they spend most of
their time out at sea? Okay, the adult females will
go out to the middle of the Pacific Ocean. I
think their round trip can come in at about ten
thousand kilometers that they're doing, and then after about two
months they come back to molt and while they're on land,
(11:05):
they're fasting the entire time, and then they'll go back
out to see for seven months, putting on a ton
of mass to then come back for the breeding seasoning.
I'm looking at them, I'm like inspired, Like I feel
like I moved way too much in New York that
I need to spend a little bit more in my
life focusing on the basics, which is napping. It looks
to me, maybe finding a good mate, maybe having some
(11:28):
kids for me. I was drawn to them by what
they can do out in the sea, because that is
really like how they make a living out there, you know,
Like it's really if they don't do well out there,
they're not going to be able to come back on
land and do well online. Right, So this is classic me.
I'm looking at them just chilling out after the result
of all their hard work, and I'm like, I want that.
(11:51):
I don't want to do the ten thousand hours of
work that allows this to happen. It's pretty amazing. Do
you know any of the like these ones that are
laid on the beach, any of them are familiar? We
do have. Yes, there is this one girl eighteen eighty
five who I believe is twenty this year, all right,
and I think she held the record for the deepest
(12:13):
dive of the seals that we've instrumented, Yeah, which was
about two hours and down to one thousand, seven hundred meters.
That's so cool. We know we have her her track
from that year, and then we actually chacked her several
years later. It seems like she's doing the same thing
every year. And it was where to go. The idea
(12:34):
that they keep coming back to where they came from,
like ISRAELI intriguing to me. But thank you so much
for yeah, sharing your work with us. Yeah, this is beautiful.
Thank you so much. Yeah, it's nice to be able
to come out on the beach and run across someone
who just hangs out with these credits all the time.
You guys are heading south, right, Well, we might go
to there's this place in Pescudero. Have you ever been
(12:56):
to Duarts? No? Oh my god, it has He's got
this supup So there's this soup I used to again
every time I visited Big I might have mentioned it
once or twice while planning for this trend inflatable soup
cream of artichoke made from artichoke they pick in the cart,
(13:17):
cream of vartach utter garlic. I first encountered it in
years two pounds of artichokes, and now I make a
pilgrimage to eat it anytime I'm nearby. If you know,
if you've been there, you can order off menu the
fifty fifth blended with this chili verde soup, which is
more pecant and spicy, chick in stock, heavy cream, salt, pepper.
In my mind, it contains more than just neutri super
(13:37):
grounding and almost woods like a metaphor for the ideal life.
It contains wisdom for living. You know, the soup's grounded
but spice. I've kind of been thinking about this soup
for five years, and soup is not the main reason
I decided to visit California. Soup that you talk about
all the time, but I just want to make sure
we hit it if we're traveling there, certainly played a
role in my decision. You gotta do the math this
(13:59):
even makes sense to go back. Unfortunately, because we have
to backtrack and go the other way, we didn't have
time to stop there. On the way down to being Soup,
and after our jount to the beach, the jet lag
hit us like a wave of molasses. So we checked
into the cabin, unpacked the car, and when we were
(14:21):
settled it was dark, and not bluish city dark, but
squid ink black dark. We lit a fire, opened a
bottle of mescow, and continued to try to be in
the present. Big God plans and mine, I'll go into
(14:49):
ourselves to your Dave two Walmond cappuccinos. Some people know
(15:22):
the best fishing spots or a good place to catch waves,
to surf. I'm like that for coffee shops. Even in
the wilderness, I can hear the siren call of a
milk frother. And thus the next morning we proceeded to
Big Sur Bakery, a casual eatery nestled in the hills
off of Highway One. So, John, I've been to Big
(15:45):
Sur Bakery dozens of times. What was your what's your experience?
All right? So, first of all, it's across from the
most beautiful gas station of all time, like it makes
gas look probably good for the planet, Like you imagine
that the person who works in there is like extremely
fit and doing yoga in between a humping gas bakery
(16:07):
is good. I mean, I've got like this, what is it?
What did you order? Why am I? It's a blueberry
strudle bluebers at least like two pounds of blue blueberries. Seriously,
but I had to give it to you because they
did not announce there was almond flower, right, and you
you like you threw it down like like it was
like a wet ragular. This is going to close off
(16:28):
my throat. But yeah, or you could just say I
threw it down like what you know. Either way you
could act like I'm being pretentious, or we can talk
about a medical condition. Yeah, but no. The pastry cabinet
here is like of the gods, and there's like a
little pursudo greer cheese loaves and vegetable for tatas. Let's
(16:49):
since you have a question though, you so when I
gave you my blueberry, it's going due to my medical emergency.
You were like, oh, well you can eat my ginger skull,
which is very generous of you, right, but ginger is
like kind of a coffee killer, you know. I mean
it's like the flavored ginger intersecting the coffee. To me,
it feels like I'm taking a pill. It's like gingers.
So huh. I don't know. I found the collision a little.
(17:12):
I think it's like having like a cookie or like
a you know, it's like it's like here toothpaste in
our shoes. But thank you, You're welcome, You're welcome, Thanks
for this. It's good. It's good. I'm sorry about the
almond flower thing. Like all your glance is your throat
closing up at all. John snark rolls off me as
(17:33):
I happily watched the line of people in yoga pants
and hiking boots stifle yawns while waiting for their coffee orders.
Often there's a flat white John Diggins texting his wife
in New York, who he left home alone with their
two kids. You can almost feel the like, as I'm leaving,
like I'm just taking this huge like sixty pound like
(17:53):
flak jacket combination like old hair shirt. You know, it's
like uncomfortable and it's heavy. I just like take mine
off and like, all right, you're gonna have to wear
both of them five days already, Like I can just
feel the space or it's it's like it's quieter in
my head because there's not that like it's like you
(18:14):
need to get up now, you need to get their pajamas,
and then like you wake up and you open your
eyes and you're like, oh no, no, I'm in California. Yeah,
I don't have to do that today. Yeah, all right,
let's um get out here. Let's go check out Henry
Motor Library. And it's a little nonprofit because Henry Moller
used to live here. And so we'll take with Magnus,
who I've known over the years. He's seen me in
different states with different hairlinths, different partners, in different cars,
(18:39):
and now it's years on and I'm still still here.
You'll be the harriest partner I bring to him yet. Amazing,
Let's do it. I'm glad you're here with me. Yeah,
I'm glad. We got you out black coffee for Chelsea.
(19:00):
Anaphylactic shock avoided, bellies full. We hop at our rig
and mosey further down Highway one. But it's that same thing,
like do you go to those natural places to recharge
and come back Yeah, but I think like if you
do the opposite, where you're living in the country most
of the time and then going to city and coming back,
that's just like it's like the inverse of like the
(19:22):
thing that I think I aspire to. That's that's like
the chili verde soup is the majority and in the
middle is just a little bit of artichoke. Right, you're saying,
I'm just trying to figure out, like, if I acknowledge it,
does that mean we're going to keep talking about the soup,
or if I just we come to a little turnout
(19:43):
where a tiny cabin sits amidst redwood trees at the
edge of a shady glade. This is perfect. Look, there's
this old wooden sign painted yell at Henry Miller Library,
Book Music, Art. All right, let's go check it out.
The Henry Miller Library is not an actual library. It's
(20:06):
a nonprofit art center, bookstore, and performance space set up
as a kind of memorial to the writer. Miller had
had his fill of city life and moved to Big
Serve back in the nineteen forties. Yeah. I'm just so
happy to be here, man. I think this is the
first trip in two years and I wanted to come
right to the most beautiful place I could think of,
what do you mean, first trip in two years because
(20:28):
of COVID, because so the show we were making it
and then stopped right And then in that time I
got a normal job, got my hair cut, my girlfriend
moved in, bought a car, started watching TV, became an American. Yeah,
and now it's kind of tapering right, and I'm back
out here. My name is Magnus Taurum, and I've been
here at the library since nineteen ninety three, and I
(20:49):
come I came here from Sweden. Magnus is tall, Cladden
Denham and has a full head of silver hair doing
this kind of cool scarecrow shag thing. All right, so
can you give us a lay of the land here? Um? Well,
the library is here. It's been like this since nineteen
eighty one. Very few things have changed. People don't like
(21:11):
things changing here. Oftentimes people would comment on a rock
that used to be in one place and now it's moved,
and they get slightly perturbed. See that railroad tree right
there is actually classic redwood that. See how the branches
are drooping, like really drooping, hanging down. That's like the
cover tree for a book about Sequoia Sampavillians, which these are.
(21:32):
And when when David Crosby did his concert, which was
not that long ago, he stood on this stage and suddenly,
in the middle of the concert he stopped like this,
and they looked up and he suddenly noticed that tree,
and he said, this song is for that tree. Do
(21:54):
you mind telling John the story of how you ended
up in Big Sir? Initially? Initially I hitchtaged down the
coast in the nineteen seventy eight the first time, and
then I sailed for seven years in the mainliness of Pacific.
And then on August twenty eight, nineteen eighty four, I
had a motorcycle accident right outside of Fernwood here in
the valley, right in Big righting A downtown the valley,
(22:16):
Big Sir. And I lost my consciousness and I was
laying I sprawled myself on the hood of this car,
bleeding profusely out of certainly my nose and mouth. And
I wake up and I'm holding somebody's hand, and I
opened up my eyes and I see this beautiful young woman,
and I said, how did you get here? And then
(22:40):
she went with me in the ambulance, and I'm still
with her a four months south of here on Parlington
Ridge where she brought me up. So that was that's
the reason I'm here is having met her, it fell
in love completely and fell in love with her and
the place. And I had so many stitches on my
lips that it took it took three weeks for us
(23:01):
to finally be able to come gently kiss. Magnus walks
us around the grounds of the library. There's a ping
pong table, a small stage for performances, and various folk
art sculptures nestled beneath redwood trees. This is the iconic thing.
This piano has been taking a beating for years. Yeah,
(23:22):
it's entropy. It's a it's a piano that's slowly rotting
in front of our eyes. Here, I had three of
those mannequins surrounding a redwood stump on which I had
a cup, and in the cup I had a Rubik's cube.
So a lot of these are is you bathe these
and they're kind of just ready maids inspired by your
wild mind. Yeah. Now that orange thing there that actually
(23:45):
comes from the bowling alley where they shot with the
Botskid movie. Yeah, Yeah, that's from the big sort of
fashion show that we have here, like jellyfish. All right,
And now we approached the the mL White House, which
as we converted into this beautiful little library and bookstore.
I've been poking our heads in here. So we're basically
(24:12):
in this place and it's like a really handsome bookstore
in a cabin, but this kind of nice warm lighting.
Is there an organization, what's the what's the roads, the selection?
It's a little bit. It's you know, they're on the shelf.
We have books that are essentially by author, pretty much alphabetical,
and then we have displaced on the tables and they
they change all the time depending on how we feel. Yeah,
(24:35):
but the books themselves are all kind of rotating in
and out modern classics, moniting classic classics. Yeah, it's like
an education humanities on one level. And this poster here
is from the Wild Year of twenty eleven where we
had she like Peppers and John Waters and oh my way.
So this is these are people performed at the library.
(24:56):
Red Hot Chili, Peppers, John Waters, MGMT, Henry Rollins. Remarkable
three and a half hours Wow. After our chat with
Magnus we Linger on at the library. This tree is
probably what about a thousand years old? How is the Redwoods?
John finds a spot of cell reception and calls his
(25:17):
kids before nightfalls on the East Coast. Hi, guys, where
am I? I'm in California? Hi Indi boo? How are you?
Are you tired? You're busy right now? Are you too
busy to say hi? Yeah? Meanwhile, I browsed the bookshop
(25:39):
and find a copy of Big sur and The Oranges
of Hieronymous Bosh Henry Miller's memoirs from when he lived here.
I sent you a video. We saw an elephant seal.
It's really big and it makes a noise like it's burping.
We whiled away the day. How tall do you think
it is? It's like a It looks like, Oh, here's
how I could do it. It looks like a fifteen
story building. Right after a while, we got ourselves together,
(26:02):
Hi guys, and pushed off to another iconic big surf spot.
So we're in Nepente. It's a little bit foggy out,
but we will there will be a shift when this
goes down in about a half hour's time. Designed by
a student of Frankloyd Wright, a Pente Restaurant was built
(26:22):
around the cliffside cabin in nineteen forty nine. In any
other setting, it's modern redwood structure and expansive terrace would
catch the eye. But here it's beauty is dwarfed by
the views in the wake and there is something stinking
set up over there, whether it's a whale or we'll seal.
Nepente's perch on a cliff allows a miles long view
of the horizon out there. See that bump, yeah, believe.
(26:46):
In eighteen eighty five, John and I stare males the
gape and Napente's greatest attraction the sunset. We've got sunsets
on lakes in the Midwest, which are nice, but they're
like a specific thing. This is just huge. The thing
about it for me that strikes me as like how
far it goes from left to right? Do you know
(27:07):
what I mean? Because the body of water is so
much larger that that pink band it's along the water
for a lake. It's like you know that big in
your in your view, like, but this is like left
to skit of two inches. It's like absolutely the entire screen,
the entire screen the Penthe pulls off the rare trick
of being a tourist destination as well as a spot
(27:29):
where locals meet and mingle. What is it, Jade, Jade? Yeah? Nice?
People looked at me now they go, God, Rudy, you
are local. Sometimes they even talked to each other, Alexander,
do you live in Big thir two? No, I don't.
I live in Santa Barbara. Actually, Santa Barbara is beautiful.
Yesterday I put out a prayer because I knew I
was gonna go jan thing today. Yeah, what about you? Nice? Yeah?
(27:52):
New York seems really inspiring. Three different people over the
day brought me jee like. One guy gave me one,
one guy gave me two, and then the other guy
gave me like. I don't think I would survive there intense.
As I sat into penthe I thought out of a
passage I'd read in Miller's memoirs earlier that day. Surely
(28:13):
everyone realizes, at some point along the way that he's
capable of living a far better life than the one
he has chosen. Those words stirred up an old feeling
deep inside of me. Before COVID, I had a raging
case of wanderlust. I spent years thinking there was a
better life somewhere else, if only I could find it.
(28:34):
But the fourth stillness of the early pandemic seemed to
inoculate me from the need to rome. I began to
enjoy the quieter pleasures of domestic life, the burble of
a stovetop espresso maker, reading on a couch with my
partner's legs in my lap, a day on a park
bench instead of a day or airplane. But here in
the penthe I was getting a sort of contact high
(28:55):
from past memories of when I was more footloose and
fun seeking. I mean, if you want to get drunk
or smoked ope and get high, you come to big Shirt.
And I have to admit, that's been a big shirt
for the weekend. Okay, that's good with me. I did
feel pretty good. Something's never changed. John was enjoying himself too.
But this is great. I mean, look at that fucking sunset.
Man his dad brain on pause, if only for a
(29:18):
brief moment. Living on the East Coast, he's seeing the
world closed for the day on the West coast once
in a while, like I think, kind of it's grounding
(29:50):
another beautiful day. Yeah, those red woods. If we get
out for a walk on the glade side, A walk,
a hike on the glade side. Those trees are just
I don't know what they are, but they're they're such
a presence. After a good night's sleep, our bodies felt refreshed,
and it was time to tend to our spirits. Now.
(30:12):
I don't necessarily believe in the New Age spirituality that's
as plentiful here as sunshine and poppy flowers. But I
would be remiss if I came through Big Sir without
checking in on the neu veaux hippie scene you see
at Big Presence Here is the Esslin Institute, a kind
of bougie New Age resort founded in the sixties that
involves a lot of bodywork and hot springs. But John
(30:34):
and I weren't going there. Nope. I like John, but
not enough to spend nine hundred dollars to hang out
with him in a towel eating macrobotic food. Instead, we
were heading for some bespoke spiritual maintenance. So we're going
up this hill brandcho Rico. If forgot sound healing session.
(30:59):
It's a little bit mysterious, the healing part. If even
if this had been called a sound bath, I would
have done it, but it happens to be called a
sound healing session, right, and I'm sure I could figure
something that needs to be healed. Paused on that and
just like look to the right, like maybe don't drive
a Ship's just beautiful, beautiful hills and their mountains right
are these mountains mountain the mountains, they're Satia mountains. Hills
(31:22):
is not doesn't do it? And this is again one
of those roads I would appreciate you in a little slower.
I'm afraid of heights and the fact there's no guardrail
to our right. It makes me feel a little bit nauseous.
What do you need to heal today? We'll just the
nausea from the drive up your driveway, I know, and
you're gonna lose all the things you gain when the
drive down away. I think left, but but that doesn't
(31:47):
look safe. Doesn't proceed about a mile and that the
three way forks stayed in the far right. This feels
like it's not the three way fork. That doesn't even
look like it's drive. We want to drive on it,
like I think this is yeah, followed this right? I
mean this looks like a road, right, That's what I think.
All right, I guess we got to just choose pick one, right,
(32:09):
I mean hashtag not going there half while cattle grade,
that's the cattle gray big Sir, fiddle camp. That's the
worst that could happen. We end up like in a
field of kids practicing fiddles. Well, I need to go here,
but I need to do a k term without falling
(32:30):
off that cliff. Yeah, I don't do that. You want
me to get out of the car first. That was
a journey. Sorry, we're late. Really, this is such a
beautiful little place in the way you're in the Shangari
Lana devil Mine is the owner of Sacred Sound and Wonder,
where she does sound healing sessions and sells crystal singing bowls.
(32:50):
Her home. She calls it the Starbarn is on a
huge ranch, and if John weren't feeling woozy from the drive,
he could look out and see a stunning view of
the ocean raging one hundred feet below us. I should say,
we're now peeking out of the ocean, which is just
on the other side here of sunrise sunset. It's kind
of the place to be foot So where are we?
(33:15):
What is ramcho Rico, which is my dear friend's family ranch.
How long have you been up in Rancho Rico? A
little over nine years now. Yeah, And I started off
living in a small cabin with a murphy bed, and
then I moved to an old renovated wine barrel. Did
(33:35):
you say renovated wine barrel? That's like van life, but
Diagnet doesn't move with the ocean views. That's square footage
than a New York apartment. Deva has long brown hair,
blue eyes, skinny jeans that flare at the bottom, and
the easy manner of someone who has nama stayed her
way around a yoga mat once or twice. Every culture
(33:57):
has some form of sound that they use in their healing.
Just shamanstrum rattles are another one that are really odd.
She gives us a sonic tour of her audio healing tool. Kid.
This one is called a sharkunak from Russia. And this
(34:17):
one's from the most recent ones that I got. Are
the Egyptian systems that won't feel so satisfying. I don't
know the same. That's like my favorite so far. There's
something about the tone of it. And today we're going
(34:39):
to You're going to deploy bowls, so if you guys
are ready, We're ready. So here's my question before we
begin this journey. Do are we supposed to think about
what we need here? Like? What? How are we supposed to? Yeah?
It helps because intention is everything. Right, just to name
what is an area that you're seeking harmony in your life?
(35:04):
Over the course of COVID, I feel like I've become
normal and it's been pleasant and some ways, and I'm
not completely chafing against it, but coming out to big Sir,
I'm remembering the kind of more adventurous, the wonderlust, the
kind of more roaming free character I was previous. And
(35:25):
I just want to make sure I calibrate properly so
I don't find myself too much one or too much
the other. All right, If I give you one that's
like an opposite flavor, is it going to muddy the
sound healing? You know what I mean? Like? No, they're
kind of like adaptogens that okay, they'll work towards your
(35:45):
individual constitution. I think probably my top line anxiety right
now is just like pure mortality, fear of death. I
was like never afraid of death until after I had kids,
So that's just like I think about death way more
than I ever have in my life. Is that why
(36:06):
you had a salad for lunch? Yeah? Right, Yeah, that's
a really big one for people right now. Is facing
our mortality. Well, if you could just solve all those things,
we could get thanks. Let's you know, we'll dive in
and see where it takes you. Well, go ahead, and
(36:27):
I'm going to invite you to take three nice long, deep,
slow belly breasts inhaling deep into your belly and as
you exhale, letting out a side or a sound, releasing
your jaw. Maybe rock your head just a little side
(36:49):
to side, and again, nice deep, full belly breaths, bringing
through great clarity balance being a little too hot, inner
(37:13):
peace and tranquility, Bay by day, hour by hour, mom,
by mom, and by mom, and by mom and my
mom and my mom, and in beauty we begin again
and it want to become right, Yeah, those beautiful place
I can think, so may be and so it is
God Mother, god Father, gond of Iceberg already where to
(37:34):
just feel the basically, I love all these purples and people.
Whereas it's like it's quiter sameles s tranquil. You want
to get drunk or Spain. How you come to big
sixty fast time? What is it? Ja? Yeah? Redwood trees,
(37:57):
a pure mind. I see this beautiful young woman in
the endless joy he be and I said, how did
you get here? Here? Is this one be et faboush free?
(38:20):
This one girl? Eighteen eighty five? I am can you
tell me that word again? Like why they come back
to the same place? And Philip Patrick Patrick both didn't
you find bashi below or something? Every year? And knows
where to go? So we had plans. I'm gonna go
(38:44):
put my feet in the water. Well that rabbit tisted
to take mountain night studio beaches avoid for reces, must
(39:12):
go back to a t the giant prize, screeching sirens
and back home in New York seems really inspired. That's
not an uncommon thing in New York to go drawn
(39:33):
to it. Now you're a New Yorker, I mean, there's
no doubt about it as a city that fits you. Well.
Are you too busy to say? Hi? Black coffee for Chelsea? Okay?
The wind is he at fifty fifty? Do you go
to those natural places to recharge and come back? What
are we going in our house that's got a big
share for the weekend. Okay, that's good for me. For me,
(39:58):
while in Big Sir, I communed with nature, vibrated away
some city grime, and marveled once again at this area's
utopic vistas. I I also realized that traveling feels different
from me now. The pandemic forced me to stay in
one place, and during that time I began to lay
down some roots. I still find roaming around exhilarating and
(40:21):
mind expanding, but I no longer see it as a
trial subscription to living in a new place. So instead
of going back to New York, now that my trip
is over, I'm returning home. So that's rapid tested to beaches.
(40:51):
Flood rush is oh myself, it's not. Oh but first
(41:17):
So John, I don't know if you can understand. You
had one more stop to make. How excited for two
miles to be entering Pascadero. Remember I told you about
this little roadhouse pretty much because du Art's tavern. This
place's got a good look. Oh it's got that like
sort of old L shaped spot tavern sign on the
(41:39):
first car. Look at these people already line it up.
It doesn't know until noon. Do you think these people
are here for the soup. They're here for the soup.
You look at those people, Look at old They are
gonna tell you guys about this soup. So can I
get the soup? And do you still don you do
half and a half? Yeah? Yeah, thank you. I'm gonna
do the exact same thing. That's the right move. Yeah. Yeah.
(42:03):
See how it's in the middle it's like light green,
and then in the middle it looks like a little
bit of Florida lee. All right, all right, that's the
heat art choke on the outside, Thank you very much.
You gotta get a little bit of both in this boon. God,
this has been a long time coming. Man, you have
no idea. All right, it's a good, sue, Oh fuck
(42:27):
you good? That's good sounds. The lead producer on this
episode of Not Lost was the brilliant Bart Warshaw, who
also sound designed to mix the episode like what I say,
(42:48):
it's good, sue, Like that wasn't me? A good is
not a lesser adjective than great, it is said. The
show was also produced and written by me Brendan Francis Newnham.
Our associate producer was the wonderful Amy Gaines. Editorial guidance
was provided by Julia Barton. Production assistance on this episode
(43:09):
also came from the unflappable Jacob Smith. Literally, but this
is the big Thanks to my friend and this episode's
travel partner, John Delore, I can say this. I could
say it's great soon you know argue that is good too.
If you'd like to hear one of our earlier collaborations,
head to the Parish of You podcast. If you check
(43:29):
out season one, you will get a sense of his
sound design brilliance. Or you could say he's son of
a bitch. You were so right. I underestimated you. His
studo Slafe changing but not lost. As a co production
of Pushkin Industries, Topic Studios and iHeartMedia, was developed at
Topic Studios. The show's executive producers are me Christy Gressman,
(43:51):
Maria Zuckerman, Lisa Lyne Gang and Lata mullad. Our theme
song was created by Alexis Georgiopolis aka ARP. He has
a new album coming out this July on Mexican Summer.
It's called New Pleasures. There's a single out now, be
sure to check it out. I've never had anything like it.
It's become CREAMA artichoke is like a mushroomy hug, but
then it's gotten this, like this little vinegary like little
(44:15):
sass mushroom. And a special thanks to everyone in Big
sur who made us feel at home while we were
away from home. Jake Badour, Arena Favilla and the Coastal
Lab at the UC Santa Cruz Deva Mune, my friend
Magnus torn at the Henry Miller Library, and of course
do Art's Tavern for making great soup. Thank you. It's
(44:39):
a thing, people, please check it out. Plus a special
thanks goes out to eighteen eighty five, who at this
point has returned to See to attend her epic dinner
party for one. Good luck out there. If you want
to see some pictures or learn something about our guests,
you can head to not Lawshow dot com. And if
(45:00):
you're still listening to this, you've either fallen asleep or
you really like it. And if it's the latter, do
us a favor. Head to Apple Podcast and Radium View.
It does seem like a silly thing, but it's actually
an important thing. It helps us stay on the charts,
and also I get to peak at them every once
in a while and see what you guys think so,
I'd really appreciate it. And after that, if you still
(45:22):
want more information, you can learn more about Topic Studios
at topic studios dot com and to find more Pushkin
podcast And there's a lot of great podcasts happening over here.
Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
listen to podcasts. I'm Brendan Francis, Newnham. Until next time,
bon voyage. I could have a good life from Bascadero.
(45:59):
You could have a great life Pascadero
Pushkin. Yeah, have you ever done like an RV trip
Lan life? You mean Van Life? Yeah, I think we
can't do van life. I go, van life got ruined
this summer COVID. You can't get a sprinter or a
VW like in any reason price. And then it became
like a hashtag Instagram tiktoki thing like van life. Right,
(00:39):
it just feels like the van life got gentrified. I
hope you enjoyed. These five highly produced episodes of Not
Lost in between seasons will be tackling such diverse topics
as the gentrification of van Life. Turn in next week
for a conversation. This is Not Lost California so far,
(01:06):
how everybody feeling. I'm Brendan France has new him feel
great that it's not New York. That's my friend, the
audio producer John Delor, just like it is an incredible
joy to just be out of the city. It's April
twenty twenty two, and after a two year hiatus spent
hunkering down in New York City due to COVID, we're
heading toward the opposite of the Big Apple, Big Sir,
(01:29):
eighty miles of vodness along the rugged coast of Central California.
Look at these beaches, taking in the coastal beauty. It's
hard to remember why I ever left California, Like, what
do we do in their lives? Oh, that house is
for sale. Maybe the world speaking to me? Live right there,
(01:51):
work remotely, make podcasts, eat soup. So you've been to
Big Sir? How many times I was thinking about on
the plane. I think like eleven or twelve times. What
was the first time? Big Sir is not new to me.
Years back, when I lived in California, I would visit
it all the time, and like many before me, I
(02:11):
was seduced by the areas looming redwood forests and mountains
on one side, the bananas wow and the drama of cliffs,
rock and ocean on the other. Look at the shoreline.
It's accessible for like a stretch, and then it just
turns into the sort of cliffs. It is hard to
overstate house dunning, Big Sir is. It is an Edenic wilderness.
(02:33):
It is Beethoven, the taj Mahal for let Mignon, Queen
em On, all of it all in one. And yet
what really makes the special for me are the thinkers,
artists and writers who live and visit here. Despite being
remote in Big s a book of poetry or a
good conversation are not hard to find. I can't believe
I can't find parking in Big s Okay, come on out,
(02:57):
you lay in your horn, no want to You can
take the guy out of New York City. I'd rather
live a life that's a little on edge, like wildfires,
mountain lions, and then paradise and elation, those two ends
of the spectrum, then this monotonous middle of the road
(03:18):
stuff that I was ever mentioned. When we arrive in
Big Sir village, we strike up a chat with a radiant,
even beatific looking stranger named Jake Podour. How did you
end up in Big Sir? I ended up here by accident,
which most other residents of Big sur will say the same.
They didn't actually try to live here. Jake is young,
has a short beard and baggy clothes, with the touch
(03:39):
of Bohemian flair, music and spirit. If I do say so,
is really the reason why I ended up here? Yeah?
I found myself in La trying to do the music
thing and it just was making me feel lost, and
I was luckily cradled by this beautiful land. I mean
is there enough to do as just a big sur
like young guy living here, Like you can get off
(03:59):
work to get by? Oh now I can before you know,
living in my car saving money on rent. That made
it work out for me in that sense. But are
there there a lot of car life going on? There is.
There's a lot of car life, a lot of transients,
and a lot of multi millionaires and not much more
in between. But right now I have a work trade situation.
(04:20):
I garden for this lady's property and live in a
little shack and play music, and people seem to enjoy that.
My journey is I ended up in the middle of
the road, and I've kind of been digging it because
I spent so much time not but I'm remembering those
old feelings of what it's like to be on the
(04:42):
road and to be someplace so dramatic. How is how
what is it like being in a place where people
are like travelers like us are coming through constantly, constantly,
Like is it it's a beautiful or is it it's invigorating.
I'm meeting people from all over the world. I feel
like I'm touring through vast lands, but really I'm just
on this eighty mile stretch of coastline, and I'm just
(05:04):
meeting all the most wonderful characters. As Henry Miller said
in Big Sirs, they put and watch the world go
rounds to these people who are going to be here
for decades. Who knows it's transitory, as you said to me,
it is. It's it's fun to think about some visions
or the future. But um, I notice, I'm happiest one.
I'm just right here right now. Yeah, day by day,
(05:25):
hour by hour, moment by moment. When we left Jake,
his words rang in my ears. Yeah, let's be right
here right now, which I interpreted to mean let's get
into the nature we travel so far to explore. Took
(05:46):
it right off the one. It was time to visit
the beach, driving directly off the continent of North America, said,
come up to the edge. Do you know this one?
Beach Boys? Right? So I found this song when I
was making a playlist for the trip. I knew one
(06:06):
of them lived up here, but I didn't know they
were in a song about it. Yea, before we can
hit the beach, we stop at a little gatehouse to
buy a day pass for our car. Good morning, twelve dollars. Yeah,
we take cash or card whatever. Okay, is it busy
or slow today? Starting to pick up a little bit? Yeah,
(06:27):
slower than it was yesterday at this time. Right, still
a weekend. All right, thank you for this, got a problem.
You guys are all set to go have great afternoon?
All right, thank you you. What do we think his
life out of a scott one to ten? I'm thinking ten? Right,
It seems like super happy. He seems happy. He's like
living near the beach. I'm trying not to be jealous.
(06:50):
Oh wait, oh dick, I'm gonna go put my feet
in the water. Okay, yeah, all right, let's do it.
But we're gonna have to. It's not sure it's what
we're gonna show some calf all right, urt your eyes
(07:13):
because my calves have not seen the sun and years.
Oh yeah, wow, this feels like the opposite of a
zoom call. It's good to touch the water. That sounds
a little bit like the beginning of creation. There's like
(07:35):
mist these beautiful flowers, these purple piano, the edges in
the green right into the water. It looks like this
is where man sprung forth. Yeahs such an interesting beach. Experience.
Though you come here, you're not swimming today because it's cold.
I don't think you could swim here, could you? Are
the waves too much? You can do whatever you want here.
(07:56):
But it's so goddamn beautiful that that is enough. There's
something something about over there. I can't tell if it's
a lot you actually look up right, if that's a
piece of driftwood or crazy seaweed. The large brown thing
(08:21):
down there, Yeah, that it's moving. I don't think that's
a long Let's go check it out, all right, Oh,
check that out. Those are the elephant seals. Wow, Oh
my god, look at these these things are massive. Wow.
(08:53):
Like when you come up to this, it looks like
a battlefield with all these like fallen soldiers. Yeah, you
see battlefield. My read is like Rockaway Beach, like sort
of mid August on a Wednesday, when there's not too
many people and everyone's really quiet. Everyone's got enough space
for their blanket, but everyone they're just all very chill.
(09:13):
Right now. I feel like they just parted their brains
out right. It's got that five what I'm saying. Trapsing
between the blobs of napping elephant seals was a figure
holding a clipboard. John and I waved and they approached us.
I'm Brendan Arena. John. Nice to me, what are you
doing here? So? I'm currently working on my PhD, and
(09:35):
this morning I was actually just out doing recites, and
so I was out looking at their flipper tags. Oh
no way, Well, look at this guy scratching his side.
Get How do they move? It's like such a dumb
basic How do they move? We have a very scientific
term for that on land. It's called glumping. So it's
(09:56):
galumping galumping. Have you ever seen that dance move the worm? Yeah,
really looks like that. That's incredible. So why do they
come here this spot? Yeah? So they actually come back
to each of these colonies because that's where they were
born and that's where they know to go. Is there
(10:17):
a scientific word for that sort of thing, like that
behavior of like going back to where you came from. Yeah,
it's known as like Philopatrick, Philopatrick. I like that. It's
like like after college, I was Philopatrick. I just ended
up in my dad's basement. And so where do they
(10:44):
go when they're not here? So they spend most of
their time out at sea? Okay, the adult females will
go out to the middle of the Pacific Ocean. I
think their round trip can come in at about ten
thousand kilometers that they're doing, and then after about two
months they come back to molt and while they're on land,
(11:05):
they're fasting the entire time, and then they'll go back
out to see for seven months, putting on a ton
of mass to then come back for the breeding seasoning.
I'm looking at them, I'm like inspired, Like I feel
like I moved way too much in New York that
I need to spend a little bit more in my
life focusing on the basics, which is napping. It looks
to me, maybe finding a good mate, maybe having some
(11:28):
kids for me. I was drawn to them by what
they can do out in the sea, because that is
really like how they make a living out there, you know,
Like it's really if they don't do well out there,
they're not going to be able to come back on
land and do well online. Right, So this is classic me.
I'm looking at them just chilling out after the result
of all their hard work, and I'm like, I want that.
(11:51):
I don't want to do the ten thousand hours of
work that allows this to happen. It's pretty amazing. Do
you know any of the like these ones that are
laid on the beach, any of them are familiar? We
do have. Yes, there is this one girl eighteen eighty
five who I believe is twenty this year, all right,
and I think she held the record for the deepest
(12:13):
dive of the seals that we've instrumented, Yeah, which was
about two hours and down to one thousand, seven hundred meters.
That's so cool. We know we have her her track
from that year, and then we actually chacked her several
years later. It seems like she's doing the same thing
every year. And it was where to go. The idea
(12:34):
that they keep coming back to where they came from,
like ISRAELI intriguing to me. But thank you so much
for yeah, sharing your work with us. Yeah, this is beautiful.
Thank you so much. Yeah, it's nice to be able
to come out on the beach and run across someone
who just hangs out with these credits all the time.
You guys are heading south, right, Well, we might go
to there's this place in Pescudero. Have you ever been
(12:56):
to Duarts? No? Oh my god, it has He's got
this supup So there's this soup I used to again
every time I visited Big I might have mentioned it
once or twice while planning for this trend inflatable soup
cream of artichoke made from artichoke they pick in the cart,
(13:17):
cream of vartach utter garlic. I first encountered it in
years two pounds of artichokes, and now I make a
pilgrimage to eat it anytime I'm nearby. If you know,
if you've been there, you can order off menu the
fifty fifth blended with this chili verde soup, which is
more pecant and spicy, chick in stock, heavy cream, salt, pepper.
In my mind, it contains more than just neutri super
(13:37):
grounding and almost woods like a metaphor for the ideal life.
It contains wisdom for living. You know, the soup's grounded
but spice. I've kind of been thinking about this soup
for five years, and soup is not the main reason
I decided to visit California. Soup that you talk about
all the time, but I just want to make sure
we hit it if we're traveling there, certainly played a
role in my decision. You gotta do the math this
(13:59):
even makes sense to go back. Unfortunately, because we have
to backtrack and go the other way, we didn't have
time to stop there. On the way down to being Soup,
and after our jount to the beach, the jet lag
hit us like a wave of molasses. So we checked
into the cabin, unpacked the car, and when we were
(14:21):
settled it was dark, and not bluish city dark, but
squid ink black dark. We lit a fire, opened a
bottle of mescow, and continued to try to be in
the present. Big God plans and mine, I'll go into
(14:49):
ourselves to your Dave two Walmond cappuccinos. Some people know
(15:22):
the best fishing spots or a good place to catch waves,
to surf. I'm like that for coffee shops. Even in
the wilderness, I can hear the siren call of a
milk frother. And thus the next morning we proceeded to
Big Sur Bakery, a casual eatery nestled in the hills
off of Highway One. So, John, I've been to Big
(15:45):
Sur Bakery dozens of times. What was your what's your experience?
All right? So, first of all, it's across from the
most beautiful gas station of all time, like it makes
gas look probably good for the planet, Like you imagine
that the person who works in there is like extremely
fit and doing yoga in between a humping gas bakery
(16:07):
is good. I mean, I've got like this, what is it?
What did you order? Why am I? It's a blueberry
strudle bluebers at least like two pounds of blue blueberries. Seriously,
but I had to give it to you because they
did not announce there was almond flower, right, and you
you like you threw it down like like it was
like a wet ragular. This is going to close off
(16:28):
my throat. But yeah, or you could just say I
threw it down like what you know. Either way you
could act like I'm being pretentious, or we can talk
about a medical condition. Yeah, but no. The pastry cabinet
here is like of the gods, and there's like a
little pursudo greer cheese loaves and vegetable for tatas. Let's
(16:49):
since you have a question though, you so when I
gave you my blueberry, it's going due to my medical emergency.
You were like, oh, well you can eat my ginger skull,
which is very generous of you, right, but ginger is
like kind of a coffee killer, you know. I mean
it's like the flavored ginger intersecting the coffee. To me,
it feels like I'm taking a pill. It's like gingers.
So huh. I don't know. I found the collision a little.
(17:12):
I think it's like having like a cookie or like
a you know, it's like it's like here toothpaste in
our shoes. But thank you, You're welcome, You're welcome, Thanks
for this. It's good. It's good. I'm sorry about the
almond flower thing. Like all your glance is your throat
closing up at all. John snark rolls off me as
(17:33):
I happily watched the line of people in yoga pants
and hiking boots stifle yawns while waiting for their coffee orders.
Often there's a flat white John Diggins texting his wife
in New York, who he left home alone with their
two kids. You can almost feel the like, as I'm leaving,
like I'm just taking this huge like sixty pound like
(17:53):
flak jacket combination like old hair shirt. You know, it's
like uncomfortable and it's heavy. I just like take mine
off and like, all right, you're gonna have to wear
both of them five days already, Like I can just
feel the space or it's it's like it's quieter in
my head because there's not that like it's like you
(18:14):
need to get up now, you need to get their pajamas,
and then like you wake up and you open your
eyes and you're like, oh no, no, I'm in California. Yeah,
I don't have to do that today. Yeah, all right,
let's um get out here. Let's go check out Henry
Motor Library. And it's a little nonprofit because Henry Moller
used to live here. And so we'll take with Magnus,
who I've known over the years. He's seen me in
different states with different hairlinths, different partners, in different cars,
(18:39):
and now it's years on and I'm still still here.
You'll be the harriest partner I bring to him yet. Amazing,
Let's do it. I'm glad you're here with me. Yeah,
I'm glad. We got you out black coffee for Chelsea.
(19:00):
Anaphylactic shock avoided, bellies full. We hop at our rig
and mosey further down Highway one. But it's that same thing,
like do you go to those natural places to recharge
and come back Yeah, but I think like if you
do the opposite, where you're living in the country most
of the time and then going to city and coming back,
that's just like it's like the inverse of like the
(19:22):
thing that I think I aspire to. That's that's like
the chili verde soup is the majority and in the
middle is just a little bit of artichoke. Right, you're saying,
I'm just trying to figure out, like, if I acknowledge it,
does that mean we're going to keep talking about the soup,
or if I just we come to a little turnout
(19:43):
where a tiny cabin sits amidst redwood trees at the
edge of a shady glade. This is perfect. Look, there's
this old wooden sign painted yell at Henry Miller Library,
Book Music, Art. All right, let's go check it out.
The Henry Miller Library is not an actual library. It's
(20:06):
a nonprofit art center, bookstore, and performance space set up
as a kind of memorial to the writer. Miller had
had his fill of city life and moved to Big
Serve back in the nineteen forties. Yeah. I'm just so
happy to be here, man. I think this is the
first trip in two years and I wanted to come
right to the most beautiful place I could think of,
what do you mean, first trip in two years because
(20:28):
of COVID, because so the show we were making it
and then stopped right And then in that time I
got a normal job, got my hair cut, my girlfriend
moved in, bought a car, started watching TV, became an American. Yeah,
and now it's kind of tapering right, and I'm back
out here. My name is Magnus Taurum, and I've been
here at the library since nineteen ninety three, and I
(20:49):
come I came here from Sweden. Magnus is tall, Cladden
Denham and has a full head of silver hair doing
this kind of cool scarecrow shag thing. All right, so
can you give us a lay of the land here? Um? Well,
the library is here. It's been like this since nineteen
eighty one. Very few things have changed. People don't like
(21:11):
things changing here. Oftentimes people would comment on a rock
that used to be in one place and now it's moved,
and they get slightly perturbed. See that railroad tree right
there is actually classic redwood that. See how the branches
are drooping, like really drooping, hanging down. That's like the
cover tree for a book about Sequoia Sampavillians, which these are.
(21:32):
And when when David Crosby did his concert, which was
not that long ago, he stood on this stage and suddenly,
in the middle of the concert he stopped like this,
and they looked up and he suddenly noticed that tree,
and he said, this song is for that tree. Do
(21:54):
you mind telling John the story of how you ended
up in Big Sir? Initially? Initially I hitchtaged down the
coast in the nineteen seventy eight the first time, and
then I sailed for seven years in the mainliness of Pacific.
And then on August twenty eight, nineteen eighty four, I
had a motorcycle accident right outside of Fernwood here in
the valley, right in Big righting A downtown the valley,
(22:16):
Big Sir. And I lost my consciousness and I was
laying I sprawled myself on the hood of this car,
bleeding profusely out of certainly my nose and mouth. And
I wake up and I'm holding somebody's hand, and I
opened up my eyes and I see this beautiful young woman,
and I said, how did you get here? And then
(22:40):
she went with me in the ambulance, and I'm still
with her a four months south of here on Parlington
Ridge where she brought me up. So that was that's
the reason I'm here is having met her, it fell
in love completely and fell in love with her and
the place. And I had so many stitches on my
lips that it took it took three weeks for us
(23:01):
to finally be able to come gently kiss. Magnus walks
us around the grounds of the library. There's a ping
pong table, a small stage for performances, and various folk
art sculptures nestled beneath redwood trees. This is the iconic thing.
This piano has been taking a beating for years. Yeah,
(23:22):
it's entropy. It's a it's a piano that's slowly rotting
in front of our eyes. Here, I had three of
those mannequins surrounding a redwood stump on which I had
a cup, and in the cup I had a Rubik's cube.
So a lot of these are is you bathe these
and they're kind of just ready maids inspired by your
wild mind. Yeah. Now that orange thing there that actually
(23:45):
comes from the bowling alley where they shot with the
Botskid movie. Yeah, Yeah, that's from the big sort of
fashion show that we have here, like jellyfish. All right,
And now we approached the the mL White House, which
as we converted into this beautiful little library and bookstore.
I've been poking our heads in here. So we're basically
(24:12):
in this place and it's like a really handsome bookstore
in a cabin, but this kind of nice warm lighting.
Is there an organization, what's the what's the roads, the selection?
It's a little bit. It's you know, they're on the shelf.
We have books that are essentially by author, pretty much alphabetical,
and then we have displaced on the tables and they
they change all the time depending on how we feel. Yeah,
(24:35):
but the books themselves are all kind of rotating in
and out modern classics, moniting classic classics. Yeah, it's like
an education humanities on one level. And this poster here
is from the Wild Year of twenty eleven where we
had she like Peppers and John Waters and oh my way.
So this is these are people performed at the library.
(24:56):
Red Hot Chili, Peppers, John Waters, MGMT, Henry Rollins. Remarkable
three and a half hours Wow. After our chat with
Magnus we Linger on at the library. This tree is
probably what about a thousand years old? How is the Redwoods?
John finds a spot of cell reception and calls his
(25:17):
kids before nightfalls on the East Coast. Hi, guys, where
am I? I'm in California? Hi Indi boo? How are you?
Are you tired? You're busy right now? Are you too
busy to say hi? Yeah? Meanwhile, I browsed the bookshop
(25:39):
and find a copy of Big sur and The Oranges
of Hieronymous Bosh Henry Miller's memoirs from when he lived here.
I sent you a video. We saw an elephant seal.
It's really big and it makes a noise like it's burping.
We whiled away the day. How tall do you think
it is? It's like a It looks like, Oh, here's
how I could do it. It looks like a fifteen
story building. Right after a while, we got ourselves together,
(26:02):
Hi guys, and pushed off to another iconic big surf spot.
So we're in Nepente. It's a little bit foggy out,
but we will there will be a shift when this
goes down in about a half hour's time. Designed by
a student of Frankloyd Wright, a Pente Restaurant was built
(26:22):
around the cliffside cabin in nineteen forty nine. In any
other setting, it's modern redwood structure and expansive terrace would
catch the eye. But here it's beauty is dwarfed by
the views in the wake and there is something stinking
set up over there, whether it's a whale or we'll seal.
Nepente's perch on a cliff allows a miles long view
of the horizon out there. See that bump, yeah, believe.
(26:46):
In eighteen eighty five, John and I stare males the
gape and Napente's greatest attraction the sunset. We've got sunsets
on lakes in the Midwest, which are nice, but they're
like a specific thing. This is just huge. The thing
about it for me that strikes me as like how
far it goes from left to right? Do you know
(27:07):
what I mean? Because the body of water is so
much larger that that pink band it's along the water
for a lake. It's like you know that big in
your in your view, like, but this is like left
to skit of two inches. It's like absolutely the entire screen,
the entire screen the Penthe pulls off the rare trick
of being a tourist destination as well as a spot
(27:29):
where locals meet and mingle. What is it, Jade, Jade? Yeah? Nice?
People looked at me now they go, God, Rudy, you
are local. Sometimes they even talked to each other, Alexander,
do you live in Big thir two? No, I don't.
I live in Santa Barbara. Actually, Santa Barbara is beautiful.
Yesterday I put out a prayer because I knew I
was gonna go jan thing today. Yeah, what about you? Nice? Yeah?
(27:52):
New York seems really inspiring. Three different people over the
day brought me jee like. One guy gave me one,
one guy gave me two, and then the other guy
gave me like. I don't think I would survive there intense.
As I sat into penthe I thought out of a
passage I'd read in Miller's memoirs earlier that day. Surely
(28:13):
everyone realizes, at some point along the way that he's
capable of living a far better life than the one
he has chosen. Those words stirred up an old feeling
deep inside of me. Before COVID, I had a raging
case of wanderlust. I spent years thinking there was a
better life somewhere else, if only I could find it.
(28:34):
But the fourth stillness of the early pandemic seemed to
inoculate me from the need to rome. I began to
enjoy the quieter pleasures of domestic life, the burble of
a stovetop espresso maker, reading on a couch with my
partner's legs in my lap, a day on a park
bench instead of a day or airplane. But here in
the penthe I was getting a sort of contact high
(28:55):
from past memories of when I was more footloose and
fun seeking. I mean, if you want to get drunk
or smoked ope and get high, you come to big Shirt.
And I have to admit, that's been a big shirt
for the weekend. Okay, that's good with me. I did
feel pretty good. Something's never changed. John was enjoying himself too.
But this is great. I mean, look at that fucking sunset.
Man his dad brain on pause, if only for a
(29:18):
brief moment. Living on the East Coast, he's seeing the
world closed for the day on the West coast once
in a while, like I think, kind of it's grounding
(29:50):
another beautiful day. Yeah, those red woods. If we get
out for a walk on the glade side, A walk,
a hike on the glade side. Those trees are just
I don't know what they are, but they're they're such
a presence. After a good night's sleep, our bodies felt refreshed,
and it was time to tend to our spirits. Now.
(30:12):
I don't necessarily believe in the New Age spirituality that's
as plentiful here as sunshine and poppy flowers. But I
would be remiss if I came through Big Sir without
checking in on the neu veaux hippie scene you see
at Big Presence Here is the Esslin Institute, a kind
of bougie New Age resort founded in the sixties that
involves a lot of bodywork and hot springs. But John
(30:34):
and I weren't going there. Nope. I like John, but
not enough to spend nine hundred dollars to hang out
with him in a towel eating macrobotic food. Instead, we
were heading for some bespoke spiritual maintenance. So we're going
up this hill brandcho Rico. If forgot sound healing session.
(30:59):
It's a little bit mysterious, the healing part. If even
if this had been called a sound bath, I would
have done it, but it happens to be called a
sound healing session, right, and I'm sure I could figure
something that needs to be healed. Paused on that and
just like look to the right, like maybe don't drive
a Ship's just beautiful, beautiful hills and their mountains right
are these mountains mountain the mountains, they're Satia mountains. Hills
(31:22):
is not doesn't do it? And this is again one
of those roads I would appreciate you in a little slower.
I'm afraid of heights and the fact there's no guardrail
to our right. It makes me feel a little bit nauseous.
What do you need to heal today? We'll just the
nausea from the drive up your driveway, I know, and
you're gonna lose all the things you gain when the
drive down away. I think left, but but that doesn't
(31:47):
look safe. Doesn't proceed about a mile and that the
three way forks stayed in the far right. This feels
like it's not the three way fork. That doesn't even
look like it's drive. We want to drive on it,
like I think this is yeah, followed this right? I
mean this looks like a road, right, That's what I think.
All right, I guess we got to just choose pick one, right,
(32:09):
I mean hashtag not going there half while cattle grade,
that's the cattle gray big Sir, fiddle camp. That's the
worst that could happen. We end up like in a
field of kids practicing fiddles. Well, I need to go here,
but I need to do a k term without falling
(32:30):
off that cliff. Yeah, I don't do that. You want
me to get out of the car first. That was
a journey. Sorry, we're late. Really, this is such a
beautiful little place in the way you're in the Shangari
Lana devil Mine is the owner of Sacred Sound and Wonder,
where she does sound healing sessions and sells crystal singing bowls.
(32:50):
Her home. She calls it the Starbarn is on a
huge ranch, and if John weren't feeling woozy from the drive,
he could look out and see a stunning view of
the ocean raging one hundred feet below us. I should say,
we're now peeking out of the ocean, which is just
on the other side here of sunrise sunset. It's kind
of the place to be foot So where are we?
(33:15):
What is ramcho Rico, which is my dear friend's family ranch.
How long have you been up in Rancho Rico? A
little over nine years now. Yeah, And I started off
living in a small cabin with a murphy bed, and
then I moved to an old renovated wine barrel. Did
(33:35):
you say renovated wine barrel? That's like van life, but
Diagnet doesn't move with the ocean views. That's square footage
than a New York apartment. Deva has long brown hair,
blue eyes, skinny jeans that flare at the bottom, and
the easy manner of someone who has nama stayed her
way around a yoga mat once or twice. Every culture
(33:57):
has some form of sound that they use in their healing.
Just shamanstrum rattles are another one that are really odd.
She gives us a sonic tour of her audio healing tool. Kid.
This one is called a sharkunak from Russia. And this
(34:17):
one's from the most recent ones that I got. Are
the Egyptian systems that won't feel so satisfying. I don't
know the same. That's like my favorite so far. There's
something about the tone of it. And today we're going
(34:39):
to You're going to deploy bowls, so if you guys
are ready, We're ready. So here's my question before we
begin this journey. Do are we supposed to think about
what we need here? Like? What? How are we supposed to? Yeah?
It helps because intention is everything. Right, just to name
what is an area that you're seeking harmony in your life?
(35:04):
Over the course of COVID, I feel like I've become
normal and it's been pleasant and some ways, and I'm
not completely chafing against it, but coming out to big Sir,
I'm remembering the kind of more adventurous, the wonderlust, the
kind of more roaming free character I was previous. And
(35:25):
I just want to make sure I calibrate properly so
I don't find myself too much one or too much
the other. All right, If I give you one that's
like an opposite flavor, is it going to muddy the
sound healing? You know what I mean? Like? No, they're
kind of like adaptogens that okay, they'll work towards your
(35:45):
individual constitution. I think probably my top line anxiety right
now is just like pure mortality, fear of death. I
was like never afraid of death until after I had kids,
So that's just like I think about death way more
than I ever have in my life. Is that why
(36:06):
you had a salad for lunch? Yeah? Right, Yeah, that's
a really big one for people right now. Is facing
our mortality. Well, if you could just solve all those things,
we could get thanks. Let's you know, we'll dive in
and see where it takes you. Well, go ahead, and
(36:27):
I'm going to invite you to take three nice long, deep,
slow belly breasts inhaling deep into your belly and as
you exhale, letting out a side or a sound, releasing
your jaw. Maybe rock your head just a little side
(36:49):
to side, and again, nice deep, full belly breaths, bringing
through great clarity balance being a little too hot, inner
(37:13):
peace and tranquility, Bay by day, hour by hour, mom,
by mom, and by mom, and by mom and my
mom and my mom, and in beauty we begin again
and it want to become right, Yeah, those beautiful place
I can think, so may be and so it is
God Mother, god Father, gond of Iceberg already where to
(37:34):
just feel the basically, I love all these purples and people.
Whereas it's like it's quiter sameles s tranquil. You want
to get drunk or Spain. How you come to big
sixty fast time? What is it? Ja? Yeah? Redwood trees,
(37:57):
a pure mind. I see this beautiful young woman in
the endless joy he be and I said, how did
you get here? Here? Is this one be et faboush free?
(38:20):
This one girl? Eighteen eighty five? I am can you
tell me that word again? Like why they come back
to the same place? And Philip Patrick Patrick both didn't
you find bashi below or something? Every year? And knows
where to go? So we had plans. I'm gonna go
(38:44):
put my feet in the water. Well that rabbit tisted
to take mountain night studio beaches avoid for reces, must
(39:12):
go back to a t the giant prize, screeching sirens
and back home in New York seems really inspired. That's
not an uncommon thing in New York to go drawn
(39:33):
to it. Now you're a New Yorker, I mean, there's
no doubt about it as a city that fits you. Well.
Are you too busy to say? Hi? Black coffee for Chelsea? Okay?
The wind is he at fifty fifty? Do you go
to those natural places to recharge and come back? What
are we going in our house that's got a big
share for the weekend. Okay, that's good for me. For me,
(39:58):
while in Big Sir, I communed with nature, vibrated away
some city grime, and marveled once again at this area's
utopic vistas. I I also realized that traveling feels different
from me now. The pandemic forced me to stay in
one place, and during that time I began to lay
down some roots. I still find roaming around exhilarating and
(40:21):
mind expanding, but I no longer see it as a
trial subscription to living in a new place. So instead
of going back to New York, now that my trip
is over, I'm returning home. So that's rapid tested to beaches.
(40:51):
Flood rush is oh myself, it's not. Oh but first
(41:17):
So John, I don't know if you can understand. You
had one more stop to make. How excited for two
miles to be entering Pascadero. Remember I told you about
this little roadhouse pretty much because du Art's tavern. This
place's got a good look. Oh it's got that like
sort of old L shaped spot tavern sign on the
(41:39):
first car. Look at these people already line it up.
It doesn't know until noon. Do you think these people
are here for the soup. They're here for the soup.
You look at those people, Look at old They are
gonna tell you guys about this soup. So can I
get the soup? And do you still don you do
half and a half? Yeah? Yeah, thank you. I'm gonna
do the exact same thing. That's the right move. Yeah. Yeah.
(42:03):
See how it's in the middle it's like light green,
and then in the middle it looks like a little
bit of Florida lee. All right, all right, that's the
heat art choke on the outside, Thank you very much.
You gotta get a little bit of both in this boon. God,
this has been a long time coming. Man, you have
no idea. All right, it's a good, sue, Oh fuck
(42:27):
you good? That's good sounds. The lead producer on this
episode of Not Lost was the brilliant Bart Warshaw, who
also sound designed to mix the episode like what I say,
(42:48):
it's good, sue, Like that wasn't me? A good is
not a lesser adjective than great, it is said. The
show was also produced and written by me Brendan Francis Newnham.
Our associate producer was the wonderful Amy Gaines. Editorial guidance
was provided by Julia Barton. Production assistance on this episode
(43:09):
also came from the unflappable Jacob Smith. Literally, but this
is the big Thanks to my friend and this episode's
travel partner, John Delore, I can say this. I could
say it's great soon you know argue that is good too.
If you'd like to hear one of our earlier collaborations,
head to the Parish of You podcast. If you check
(43:29):
out season one, you will get a sense of his
sound design brilliance. Or you could say he's son of
a bitch. You were so right. I underestimated you. His
studo Slafe changing but not lost. As a co production
of Pushkin Industries, Topic Studios and iHeartMedia, was developed at
Topic Studios. The show's executive producers are me Christy Gressman,
(43:51):
Maria Zuckerman, Lisa Lyne Gang and Lata mullad. Our theme
song was created by Alexis Georgiopolis aka ARP. He has
a new album coming out this July on Mexican Summer.
It's called New Pleasures. There's a single out now, be
sure to check it out. I've never had anything like it.
It's become CREAMA artichoke is like a mushroomy hug, but
then it's gotten this, like this little vinegary like little
(44:15):
sass mushroom. And a special thanks to everyone in Big
sur who made us feel at home while we were
away from home. Jake Badour, Arena Favilla and the Coastal
Lab at the UC Santa Cruz Deva Mune, my friend
Magnus torn at the Henry Miller Library, and of course
do Art's Tavern for making great soup. Thank you. It's
(44:39):
a thing, people, please check it out. Plus a special
thanks goes out to eighteen eighty five, who at this
point has returned to See to attend her epic dinner
party for one. Good luck out there. If you want
to see some pictures or learn something about our guests,
you can head to not Lawshow dot com. And if
(45:00):
you're still listening to this, you've either fallen asleep or
you really like it. And if it's the latter, do
us a favor. Head to Apple Podcast and Radium View.
It does seem like a silly thing, but it's actually
an important thing. It helps us stay on the charts,
and also I get to peak at them every once
in a while and see what you guys think so,
I'd really appreciate it. And after that, if you still
(45:22):
want more information, you can learn more about Topic Studios
at topic studios dot com and to find more Pushkin
podcast And there's a lot of great podcasts happening over here.
Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
listen to podcasts. I'm Brendan Francis, Newnham. Until next time,
bon voyage. I could have a good life from Bascadero.
(45:59):
You could have a great life Pascadero
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