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.

*     *     *     *     *

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:

*     *     *     *     *

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:

*     *     *     *     *

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:

Gene Krupa and his Orchestra (feat. Anita O'Day) – "Massachusetts" (1942)

How my heart will knock, Massachusetts

To see Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts

Want to roam around, Massachusetts

In Nantucket town, Massachusetts

I’ve been vacationing on Cape Cod for close to 40 years, but have never visited the island of Nantucket, which is about 30 miles south of the Cape.  

Since I’m at the age where I need to start doing things now rather than putting them off and assuming that I’ll be able to do them sometime in the indefinite future, I decided to visit Nantucket when I was on the Cape last month.

It was a spur-of-the-moment decision that was made late one evening.  There’s a high-speed ferry that transports passengers from Hyannis to Nantucket in only an hour, which made it reasonable to go over and back the same day.

So I crawled out of bed the next morning in time to get myself and my bicycle on the 8:15 am ferry.

After the ferry docked, I stopped at a local bike store for a map of Nantucket’s network of hiker-biker trails.  I decided to head west to Madaket Beach, which was about a seven-mile ride from the town of Nantucket.

Madaket was a nice beach if you’re into that sort of thing, but there wasn’t a lot to see on the ride there.

Madaket Beach

After a brief stop at Old North Cemetery (which I’ll have more to say about in a future 2 or 3 lines), I visited the Jethro Coffin House, the oldest house on Nantucket.  

It was built in 1686, a few years before Nantucket islanders began to hunt whales.

Jethro Coffin House (1686)

I saw this dead chicken on the Coffin House grounds:

That chicken wasn’t just dead – someone or something had f*cked it up.

Exactly what happened to the chicken is a mystery.  I’m guessing that a hawk snatched the chicken but then had to drop it because it had been too heavy for the hawk to carry very far.  

Of course, there’s an even bigger mystery here.  Who the hell is raising chickens on Nantucket, where the real estate is extremely pricey?

I next rode to Brant Point, which is home to a Coast Guard station and a lighthouse that guides ships safely into Nantucket’s harbor.     

The Brant Point lighthouse

Nantucket was the whaling capital of the world in the early 1800’s, and there’s a whaling museum in the town.  I ate a sandwich on a bench across the street from that museum, then headed east to ‘Sconset on the bike trail that parallels Milestone Road.

‘Sconset (which is short for Siasconset) is a small village on the eastern end of Nantucket.  (Putting an apostrophe in front of the abbreviated version of the village’s name is a big affectation, but I’m all about affectations.)

‘Sconset had quite a few precious little rose-covered cottages:

One ‘Sconset house featured a vertical sundial, which worked perfectly:

I stopped for a Cisco “Whale’s Tale” pale ale – which is brewed on Nantucket -- at an outdoor bar and restaurant, then hit the bike trail for the eight-mile return trip to the town.

My next stop was the Cisco microbrewery, which was a short ride south of the town.

A few of Cisco's beers

Cisco – which has a winery and a distillery as well as a brewery – was mobbed.  There were three or four food trucks on the premises, a band playing, and a guy making balloon animals for kids.

I had a Scotch ale and a “Grey Lady,” which is an unfiltered Belgian-style wheat beer made with herbs (including coriander and chamomile) that give it a somewhat floral character.

Then it was time to ride back to the Nantucket ferry dock, where I grabbed a slice of pizza and got in line for the 6:15 pm trip back to Hyannis.

My ferry departing from Nantucket

After disembarking in Hyannis, I headed for Spanky’s, a clam shack overlooking the harbor.  I grabbed a seat at the bar, devoured a huge order of fried clams and a Cape Cod Red amber ale, and struck up a conversation with four ladies from Minneapolis, who had spent the day sightseeing on Martha’s Vineyard.

It was obvious from the women’s accents that they were Minnesotans.  I told them that they sounded exactly like Marge Gunderson in Fargo, which seemed to rub them the wrong way.  (So much for my chances for a five some!)

Am I glad I went to Nantucket?  Yes.  Will I ever go back?  Probably not.  It was nice, but it didn’t really have anything that isn’t available on Cape Cod (except $3.57-per-gallon gasoline).

* *      * * *

Drummer Gene Krupa left Benny Goodman’s band in 1938 to form his own group.  He hired Anita O’Day to be his vocalist in 1941, and she recorded 34 sides with Krupa before his orchestra broke up in 1943.  (Krupa had been arrested for possession of two marijuana cigarettes and sentenced to 90 days in jail.)

A Krupa-O'Day compilation album

In addition to “Massachusetts,” O’Day also recorded “Georgia on My Mind” and “Just a Little Bit South of North Carolina.”  (As far as I know, she did not record “California, Here I Come,” “The Yellow Rose of Texas,” or “Tennessee Waltz.”)

Here’s “Massachusetts”:

Click below to buy the song from Amazon: