Performer: A Perfect Circle
Songwriters: Maynard James Keenan, Billy Howerdel
Original Release: Mer de Noms
Year: 2000
Definitive Version: None
Mer de Noms, the debut album by A Perfect Circle, came out in May 2000. So it was in heavy—if not solitary—rotation on my Discman when Debbie and I went to Alaska around Memorial Day. One of Debbie’s cousins worked for the Alaska state government in Juneau at that time, so we decided it was time for a visit.
Newsflash: Alaska is amazing. No kidding, right? I always like to say it’s like the Rockies plus the ocean minus the people. If you get to Juneau, one thing you have to do is take the day trip up the Tracy Arm fjord to the glacier. Sea lions go there to have their babies—and likely just to hang out—because the mouth of the fjord is too shallow for killer whales to get in and get them. Here’s what we saw the day we went in addition to sea lions seemingly draped over every other iceberg sunning themselves: Parts of the glacier calving (breaking off) into icebergs the size of a tank, a grizzly bear mother and her two cubs way up the mountainside and three black bears taking a drink down by the water. Oh yeah, and bald eagles like you typically see sparrows. No kidding. Once I counted 33 in my line of sight. If you’re there long enough, you simply stop noticing them, because they’re everywhere.
And the whole time you’re surrounded by pristine blue water and more snow-peaked mountains than a Coors commercial. Like I said: Amazing. Obviously, Mer de Noms is the soundtrack to that trip, and in a bit of foreshadowing, I’ll have more to say about it later.
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