Whither Petals?

Spring lasts longer in Portland than anywhere else I've lived. Or maybe Winter lasts longer & Spring takes its time getting started. In my neighborhood there are so many people with gardens & so many flowers & so many trees that blossom & get their blossom petals everywhere. They will literally litter the sidewalk. Cars will be covered in them. Frankly they make a mess.

Luckily I guess they're organic.

Someone I know asked me to take some pictures of the flowers this spring to send to her, so I did, & she made a comment about the petals of a particular bloom. The word "petal" got stuck in my head. I know I've done a show about flowers before (where each song was the name of a different flower). (Turns out I've actually done that twice.) I've done shows about roses. About daffodils & sunflowers. & maybe some I can't recall. But have I ever done a show about petals? I have not!

Hopefully there are still some petals around to enjoy it.

It's happening tonight! Midnight to 2am. On KBOO - 90.7fm in Portland, kboo dot fm everywhere.

Preface To Petals: Petaluma

(found on Wikipedia)

So yeah, the show this week is about petals. Looking for songs about petals, I sometimes find songs about Petaluma. Which Wikipedia tells me is "a city in Sonoma County, California, United States, located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area." (I don't think I've ever visited.)

Does the name of the town have anything to do with petals? No, sir. The Wikipedia tells us, "Petaluma's name comes from the Miwok village named Péta Lúuma that was located on the banks of the Petaluma River."

But surely there's someone in that town who may want to make a pun on the "petal" in Petaluma - like maybe having a "Petaluma Petal Festival" or something like that? Nope.

What I did find in my very limited search was a business called Petal Town Flowers. That would be cool, calling Petaluma "Petal Town." I also found an Instagram user called Petaluma Petals whose page announces "I am learning to photograph plants (& other things) in Petaluma, CA & anywhere else life takes me." I don't have an Instagram account so I can't access this page but I applaud this obvious pun. I will almost certainly use it in the show.

But sadly no songs about Petaluma. The town's name has nothing to do with petals, & that's what this week's show is about.