Wolfmother – "Sundial" (2009)

The sundial wonders

How could you see nothing at all?

I decided to spend the last day of my recent Cape Cod vacation in Nantucket.  So I woke up early and drove to Hyannis to catch the 8:15 am departure of the M/V Iyanough, a high-speed, passenger-only catamaran that covers the 29 miles between Hyannis and Nantucket in just an hour.  (The regular car ferry takes over twice as long to get to the island.)

The Iyanough was in the news in June when its captain crashed it into the Hyannis harbor breakwater after mistaking two sailboats and a tall metal pole for the buoys that are placed to guide boats to the dock.

Oops!

The ferry was hors de combat for about a month while undergoing repairs, but returned to service just in time for me to go to Nantucket.

The Iyanough is not only fast but also has the world’s coldest air conditioning.  (You could tell who the regular Nantucket travelers were because they came equipped with blankets or hoodies despite the 80-degree temperature.)  Why they can’t turn the A/C down a little is beyond me, but I’m guessing it has something to do with the fact that the Iyanough is owned and operated by a state government agency.

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Once we docked, I headed to one of the nearby bicycle stores to rent a bike for the day.  My first destination was Siasconset, a very picturesque village on the eastern end of the island that is usually referred to as “Sconset.”

The most notable thing you see on the ride to Sconset is Sankaty Head Light, which is located on a high bluff just north of the village:

Sankaty Head Light

The Sankaty Head Light was built in 1850.  It was originally 60 feet high and equipped with a whale-oil lamp that was powerful enough to be seen by ships as far as 28 miles away.  The structure was later made 10 feet higher, and the light was converted to electricity in 1933.

The light, which still operates, is maintained by the Coast Guard.  But the structure was acquired by the Sconset Land Trust, which had raised $4 million to moved the brick lighthouse about 400 feet inland from the eroding bluff.  (The lighthouse was originally built 280 feet from the bluff’s edge, but that distance had shrunk to 76 feet by 2007.)

Here's a dramatic aerial view of the lighthouse and the bluff:

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After a stop at the Siasconset Market for a Dr. Pepper and some chips to go with the sandwich I had brought with me, I got back on my bike and rode to the Cisco Brewery, which is located in a rural area just a couple of miles from Cisco Beach.

The always-crowded Cisco brewery

Cisco Brewery, which is also home to Nantucket Vineyard and Triple Eight Distillery, is always packed.  Visitors can usually purchase viands from three or four food trucks, listen to live music, and choose from an impressive array of Cisco-branded clothing, glassware, and other merchandise.  (The merchandise is nice, but it ain’t cheap – a T-shirt will set you back 35 bucks.)

One of the Cisco food trucks

One of Cisco’s signature beers is Sankaty Light lager, a relatively low-alcohol, low-calorie beer that is very popular in the summer:

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The Sankaty Head Light may be my favorite thing on Nantucket, but this sundial – which is on the side of a Sconset house – is a close second:

Which explains today’s featured song: Wolfmother’s “Sundial,” which was released in 2009 on the Cosmic Egg album.

Wolfmother is a three-man Australian hard rock band that was formed in 2000.  They’ve been compared to a number of classic rock and metal bands from the sixties and seventies.  I think “Sundial” sounds a lot like Black Sabbath.

Here’s “Sundial”:

Click below to buy the song from Amazon: