The palm tree as we know it is, for all practical purposes, non-native to Southern California. It requires a great deal of water, which is generally imported.
Last week I noted the disturbing analogy of 1976-77 for the Colorado River Basin, a year eerily similar in the early months of snowpack development to 2017-18.
In addition to the major drops in reservoir levels, 1976-77 produced four of the eight best-selling albums of all time:
- Meat Loaf: Bat Out of Hell
- The Eagles: Greatest Hits (1971-75)
- Fleetwod Mac: Rumours
- The Bee Gees and others: Saturday Night Fever
Also, Frank Zappa appeared in December 1976 on Saturday Night Live. Zappa played Peaches En Regalia from his album Hot Rats, which did not sell as well as Bat Out of Hell and the others but was not without its charms.
Finally, something on this blog I actually know something about, namely being alive in 1976 and listening to/watching Frank Zappa. I’ve since read that Mr. Zappa did not exactly endear himself to the SNL cast, but I could be wrong. What I do know/remember for sure about that SNL performance is being 15 years-old, watching “I am the Slime…” with Don Pardo doing some great MC action, and that Candice Bergen was host, which was extremely important to me as well, when I was 15.
I honestly cannot recall the Colorado River Basin snowpack situation back in 1976-1977, but can report the green “slime” oozing from the SNL studio TV monitors that night was plentiful.
also the year of 2112 (one of Rush’s albums).