KLADESHOLMEN, Sweden----The mind can drift when you travel alone.
I was having lunch on the outdoor patio at the acclaimed Salt & Sill, a restaurant and floating hotel on the Marstrand Fjord about an hour northwest of Gothenburg.

Kladesholmen is a fishing village that dates back to the 15th century when its winding streets were lined with salting houses and canneries. The Salt & Sill restaurant is only 10 years old but it celebrates one of Sweden's oldest food traditions:
Herring.

So I had to have the Sillplanka (pickled herring board) with a half dozen very unique herrings (195 SEK; or $25.31 USD).
There was a wonderfully rich blackcurrant herring, homegrown dill and lemon snap herring, "The Herring of the Year" (homegrown malt whiskey snaps and mustard) and horseradish and bacon herring.......

Fine Sun-Times photo by Tom Cruze.

A decade after his death, Mavis Staples still pictures her father Roebuck "Pops" Staples standing to her right during a performance. He cast a regal shadow.

The Staple Singers formed 60 years ago this year on the floor of their south side home and Pops seemed to be in full force Friday afternoon when Staples made her Lollapalooza debut. Staples hour-long set was heavy on material from her upcoming "You Are Not Alone" record for Anti-, produced in Chciago with graceful integrity by Wilco's Jeff Tweedy.

Tweedy made a guest appearance for two songs from the record, due out Sept. 14. Dressed in black with black sunglasses he played acoustic guitar on the title gospel ballad which he wrote and played guitar and sang subtle background on John Fogerty's tempered "Wrote a Song For Everyone"........