Earth, Wind and Fire.

Ye Olde Atmosphere blowed up real good over Saint Paul at the end of rush hour. Rare for it to move south to north around these parts, but it was the real deal for a while. Black sky, white rain, and VW-threatening hail the size of pinto beans. I got the chariot in the barn, and my rear into the house to find everything as I expected: Calm wife, nervous Golden Retriever, and snoring Labrador. All was fine until I realized I had to make my annual trip out on the roof to clear those God-forsaken Sugar Maple helicopters from the gutter, which was not working as the manual might describe. Went down to Club Fatbody for the usual punishment, and was treated tot he extra punishment of wall-to-wall freakshow post-mortem on nearly every network. When I came out, I pulled out of the ramp and onto Ford Parkway, and that's when it all converged.

One thing I love about my job is that it allows me the occasional opportunity to pair aural to visual, and wallow in pleasure of the rightness I've made. Just as a gourmet will ooze with satisfaction upon pairing right wine with dinner, I have this thing about seeing and hearing the right things at the right times. Examples of this for me are the recutting of the car chase from Bullitt to The Fireballs' "Fireball," and making Filter's "Hey Man, Nice Shot" a soundtrack to Erwin Rommell's fisking at the hands of George S. Patton. I even work in short-form: You should see how well "O Mio Babbino Caro" (Renee Fleming, in this case) makes Neil Mellor's extra-time game winner vs. Arsenal back in November all the more magical.

Well, tonight it was the rain, the wet streets, the lights, the lightning all over the sky, and how easy it was to snake through the Highland Park neighborhood to "Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)" on the Monsoon system . Of course, all art is subjective, and your mileage may vary, but there's just something about the tempo of Jimi's live version. It's measured. It's got swagger. It's just right for coming home in no real hurry, and it's undeterred by a little weather.

Yes, it was raining becasuse I washed the car Sunday.