Dude, Check This Out: Acid King

Sometimes when fall rolls around you feel different about things. You give up your summer shandy for a dark, dark ale, for example. Or you put away the light, bright summer clothes and get out the earthtone sweaters and flannels. And maybe, responding to that slight feeling of melancholy you just can't shake, you switch from listening to that annoying popular music and settle in with some long, long tracks of stoner metal.

Or is that just me?

Well, if it's you, too, I've got just what you're looking for.

When we lived in Chicago we used to go to Busse (buss-ee) Woods, a Forest Preserve not too far from our apartment. When the boys were toddlers we had expensive bikes and one of those cool bike trailers for kids, and we'd go on long rides through the park. We loved it.

The bikes got stolen. But when the boys were older I used to take them to Busse Woods to fish in the many ponds, which were teeming with stunted bluegill. And yes, I caught them on a fly rod. We had some fun.

Not too long ago I discovered this album. Busse Woods?! Could it be the same Busse Woods?

Yep, it could. This is Lori S. Just Lori S. When she was a teenager she and her friends used to hang out at Busse Woods with their trunks open selling drugs. Until the cops put a stop to it. Or so the story goes. I'm pretty sure there were some other teens carrying on the tradition when we were there.

When Lori grew up she moved to San Francisco and founded the band Acid King in 1993. Hey, beetles!

She is lead guitarist, lyricist, and vocalist for the band. Busse Woods is their second studio album, released in 1999. Interestingly, that's the year we moved to Chicago and discovered Busse Woods for ourselves.

The album was reissued in 2004 with slightly different artwork.

It featured two new songs, both covers: "Motorhead" by Hawkwind, and "Not Fragile" by Bachman-Turner Overdrive, my all-time most-disliked band. See "annoying popular music" above. But I like Lori's version. The original album had another unlikely cover: "39 Lashes" by Andrew Lloyd Weber and Tim Rice from Jesus Christ Superstar.

So go to the woods with Lori. It's not going to be what you expect. But it could be just what you need.