Thursday, December 31, 2009

Slave's Lament

Our friend, Ray Grist, has posted Slave's Lament to YouTube.  Edson DaSilva, Salvador DaSilva, Milciades Teixeira.  Video by Ray Grist.

The Fifth Annual Memorial Ride and Walk / Ghostbikes / Street Memorials


Did I mention that I used our new meat grinder for the first time last week?

Jah, it's true.  Made a little forcemeat of chicken and provolone and parsley and sage and hard boiled egg, then rolled that in some cutlets from Flying Pigs.  If I don't know who raised the animal or who ground it, and it ain't cured, I think I'm heading down the road of grinding it myself.

Still resisting building the bunker.

NYTimes reports terrorists in the USDA plotted to kill schoolchildren and fast food customers

Or, as the headline is written at the times, Company’s Record on Beef Treatment Questioned.

Read this damned article, would you?  Take the trimmings from CAFO raised animals, liquify them, separate their parts in a centrifuge, treat them with ammonia, flash freeze and compress it, mix it with other meat, and get the USDA lunch program people to exempt your product from testing & recalls.  Whoo hoo! 

BUT - all hail Custer & Zirnstein:
Carl S. Custer, a former U.S.D.A. microbiologist, said he and other scientists were concerned that the department had approved the treated beef for sale without obtaining independent validation of the potential safety risk. Another department microbiologist, Gerald Zirnstein, called the processed beef "pink slime" in a 2002 e-mail message to colleagues and said, “I do not consider the stuff to be ground beef, and I consider allowing it in ground beef to be a form of fraudulent labeling.”
BUT - 
School lunch officials said they ultimately agreed to use the treated meat because it shaved about 3 cents off the cost of making a pound of ground beef.“Several packers have unofficially raised concern regarding the use of the product since the perception of quality is inferior,” the 2002 memo said. “But will use product to obtain lower bid.”
Ugh.

Farm-boy Dante

Well, I feel a logo change coming on, and I see I never posted the source for Farm-boy Dante. It's this old Mobilgas ad, Some Horse - All Work and No Hay.

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Inglorious batards


Really, at this point I just can't help myself.  Yesterday afternoon I thought, Gee, I haven't made any baguettes yet, and a few hours after dinner I was popping three hopeful batard candidates into the oven.  One turned out nicely, another passable, and one gaphukta.  (I folded it too many times and then it didn't want to stretch for me.)

Soo, this morning I cut the passable puppy in half and grabbed some kippers and that'll be my lunch.  Me love kippers.  Me love sardines.  Me love stinky smelly fishes and almost weep when I can lay them down on my own batard.  (Me only do this when Lota not home or me take to office.)

NYTimes reports al Qaeda backing for NY state plans to drill for natural gas within NY City watershed

Well, maybe the NY Times isn't reporting that.  Maybe I'm making it up.  But only the part about the al Qaeda backing.  While everyone is focused on Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, let's not forget our own seemingly infinite willingness to risk each others lives right here at home for the sake of money.

David Levine


David Levine.  NPR profile / obitGallery at NRB.

Remember the Bottom Line's Downtown Messiah?

Well, I do and it brings a tear to the eye.  Second best - come see David Johansen with us tonight at City Winery.

Monday, December 28, 2009

Krugstah: dah beeg zero

I'm sure Lota & Juju have already read it, but if you haven't, here's Krugman's arithmetic re the ending decade.  The Big Zero.  

Percy E. Sutton

Percy Sutton's name was in the air you breathed growing up in and around New York.  Extraordinary man and life.  New York Times obit.    Daily News, WashPost.

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Who shot rock and roll


The show is winding into its last 4 weeks and we finally got there to see it: Who Shot Rock and Roll, and the Brooklyn Museum.  Quick like a bunny, get there if you can.  Great fun.  NYT article.

And hey, hey, hey, do yourself a favor and jump over to the David LaChapelle site and watch his video of The Vines performing Outtathaway. It was also in the show at the BM, and I watched it there three times. It was never my scene, but, really, if something doesn't stir in you while you watch it, I dunno.

Vic Chesnutt, rest in peace


Back in March I mentioned that we were lucky enough to have seem Vic Chesnutt perform Everybody Hurts at an REM / Athens tribute here in Nueva York.  And last month, on our way home from SeaTac we were on the same flight as a friend whose husband was on tour with Chesnutt, who played that weekend in Seattle.  Well, a few days ago came the sad news that Vic Chesnutt has died.  Article at SpinnerMicahael Stipe on NPR re Chesnutt.

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Yes. But...

Since Juju posted about the Time Mag Decade from Hell, I've been wanting to say, Yes, I know the world's gong to Hell in a hand-basket, but I'm still living a good life.  A blessed life.  And I've started making a list of how & why and maybe I'll post some of it.  But, for now, meaning no disrespect to others less fortunate and less happy, One, Two, Three:

This is the best book about Bigfoot I have ever read, bar none. Ever.


Bigfoot: I Not Dead, by Graham Roumieu.  I laughed, I cried, I shivered, I looked over my shoulder to make sure no one could see what I was reading.  Bubbles of snot formed and had to be whisked away.  Lori picked this up for the two of us for Christmas.  Ho boy.  (Big ups from Juju's local fishwrap - maybe he's read it?)

Right after finishing this miracle of empathetic graphigenic pornoviolent foctobiography -funny! - I tried to pick up Jonathan Nossiter's Liquid Memory.  I tried pretty hard.  Pretty sure this book is the opposite of Bigfoot: I Not Dead.  Pretty sure Bigfoot pop wine-guy head like bubblewrap.  There are no pictures!  None! Dense dense wordy wordy!  I will soldier on.

Thursday, December 24, 2009

You're going down, Mr Mouse!

Tuesday I came home a little early, still light outside, and as I opened the front door I called out for Lori, as I just about always do.  I didn't expect for her to be home, and didn't hear any reply to my call, so went about my doings, putting stuff down, picking stuff up, mumbling and singing to myself.  Then, while I was standing in the doorway between the living and dining rooms, in a moment that seemed to stretch time, I saw the dark gray ass-end of an uninvited guest scootch into the gap between the pine floor and the molding of our 130 year old walls, right at the doorway to the kitchen and where the plumbing runs up from the cellar.  Without thought and, I guess pretty loudly, I shouted, You're going down, Mr Mouse!

What did you say?
, called Lori from behind me.

Freeze.  Babe, I didn't know you were home.

What did you say?

Uh, when?

Just now.  What did you say?

I don't know.  I didn't realize I'd said anything.  I was mumbling to myself.  I didn't realize you were home.

That night, quietly and without familial discussion, I set out a trap.
And yesterday when I got home, Mr. Mouse had gone down.  With PB on his snout.
And when Lori got home last night, I fessed up.
And Lori said, I thought that's what you said!

At least she didn't see the little dance I did when I said it.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

d a m n . . .

well, well, well,
Time Mag pretty much nails it, eh?
the Decade from Hell;
and yourstruly couldn't agree more, 'specially most of the last couple of years. Dreadful months on end, one after another. Not so sure things are going to get much better soon.

jeebus...

Anvil! The Story of Anvil

OK, yes, everyone else saw it last year.  Sweetest movie I've seen in a long time.  Friendship and obsession and aging and metal on metal.  Anvil! The Story of Anvil.  Put another dime in the jukebox, baby.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Diary most dear, 091220, parking, snow, bread

When we stowed Minki in just uphill from the hydrant outside Toto late Friday night and felt all smug about the fine squeezy little spot, the storm was not top of mind.  Little was top of mind.  Fumes were top of mind, vague and lacy, dragging over to moors... hoowwwwwll!.  And at the crack of Saturday dawn, what with the storm now seeming like it really was going to happen here, and already happening in Baltimore where we were supposed to be mid-day, and us knowing we had to be back in Nueva York on Sunday (today), we made the prudent and adult decision to stay put.  And I, Minki's handler, everlasting shame upon my head, never gave another thought to that spot until an hour ago.  Stephen King would have tuned this into The Shining. 

Now that the storm's been here, and I've shoveled out the house and shoveled a path in front of L's (formerly B's), I walked down to Minki's Snugspot.  Uh oh.  Snugspot is on the north side of an westward one-way.  Do you feel my pain?  Do you know that BKLYN plows hang right?  So our parking pride now looks like dig-out hell.  Wall-o-snow to the driver's door and a couple feet high of virgin drift stretched for 20 feet  afore the front bumper.  I put the shovel on my shoulder & walked home, all drag-assed in the mind.

Diary, did I mention that newbie-baker (moi) baked a loaf olive & walnut bread last night?  Shaped as a ciabatta.  Deeeelicious.  Maybe a little too much salt on the surface, but yummalumma.  Crust not nearly as hard as my prior ciabatta (my first) ciabatta but I'm guessing a lot has to do with all the extra moisture from the olives.  This is maybe the 4th loaf of bread I've made in 2 weeks.  I gave one (chocolate cherry - so so) and a half (twisty egg-washed white - pretty good) away.  I can neither figure out what to do with all the bread I want to make nor figure out a time to make it so that I'm not needing to start at real-baker's hours in the AM, or finishing at bed time.  It's a hard life.  Quitting work would make it easier.  Gonna have some bread and coffee right now and think it over.

Friday, December 18, 2009

I got the Diagnosis


Finally got to see a performance of Diagnosis of a Faun (I first mentioned here) and loved it.  & we hear Good Morning America is going to air a piece on the piece (or on Greg & Tamar or on Greg) on Christmas morning.  Nyawkers, try to see it.  Three shows left.  Sex & surgery & Sibelius.

Mitch Montgommery's review in Backstage says:
In Rogoff's loose narrative, two lecturing doctors outline possible treatments for their patients. One doctor, played with stammering charm by actual doctor Donald Kollisch, must operate on an injured ballet dancer (Lucie Baker), while the other (Emily Pope-Blackman) is clearly attracted to the bizarre physiology of her unusual specimen, a 5,000-year-old faun (Mozgala). In both cases the culprit is the go-to literary symbol for weakness, the Achilles tendon: The dancer's exploded ankle has robbed her of her defining characteristic, while the same malformed muscles in the faun afford him his supernatural demeanor and allure. The mission statement couldn't be clearer: Rogoff seeks to provide new context in which to consider weakness and strength.
Whereas the NYTimes reviewer (I link not), says, "There seems to be a message lurking in “Diagnosis,” though it’s not very clear what that is. We all have weaknesses?"  Sigh.  Not very friendly. 

Choose your outlook.  (First see the piece.)

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

like a visit from an old friend...



juju hisowndamnedself was laid up with a bit of a cold this weekend, and when we felt it coming, we dropped into our local video emporium to pick up some DVDs to watch. Lovely to come across recently released Criterion edition of Wim Wenders' marvelous film, Wings of Desire. A.O. Scott makes recent mention of the film at the NYT's Critic's Picks. Oncet upon a time juju's alter ego posted a d'monkey mention of WoD, if ye be interested look for the 6.27 link you'll find at this page...
damn, 1987?
Egads...

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Double liver tonight makes up for the past

The only meat we don't regularly buy from farmers who come to our farmers' market is chicken - me wants that fresh young bird longer and deeper into the year, not just autumn roasters and winter stewers, and so we buy Murray's at a grocer or butcher.

A few months back I bought a Murray's bird, and when I went to clean it and divvy it up... whassup?  No neck or liver or heart or nuthin'!  A mix-up at the farm?  Hanky-panky at the supermarket?  I didn't cry... but close.

Late this afternoon when our weekend guests got picked up to be taken off to JFK, we decided to go shop for dinner.  Bought a Murray's bird, and as I was prepping it.  Whoa!  Mega!  Two necks, two sets of gizzards, livers, and everything!  I immediately set about doing up the livers with itty-bitty dice of red onions, then I chopped that greeny pinky brownie meat and salted it and set aside as the chef's reward.  (Lota is repulsed, but I swoon.)

Now, laddies and lassies, let me say, it was worth suffering through that dark day of cooking this late summer or early autumn, liverless, to get to this bonanza.

But just this once.  OK?

Ginger Cardamom Relapse


Xmas is almost here, and the first batch of gifts is coming together.
(I nearly called this Sister Juana's Ginger Cardamom Relapse, which I love the sound of, but... it would be wrong.  And I'm afraid Sor Juana might be capable of enacting punishment.)

Sor Juana Ines De La Cruz

Yesterday at Unnameable I picked up a copy of the poems of Sor Juana Ines De La Cruz in a a translation by Margaret Sayers Peden.  Knowing nothing about older Mexican or New Spain lit, when I read Bolaño I couldn't quite tell if the Sister was a character of Bolaño's or real.  Now I know - Bolaño is a character of the Sister's.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

The letters


Yes, I spent a week in Amsterdam last month, with not a single responsibility, and never made it to the Van Gogh museum (or any other museum, for that matter, except FOAM).  But now I'm browsing the Van Gogh letters, annotated, searchable, and all that.  At the Van Gogh Museum, where I probably could have seen the darned things in the papery flesh.  Via the WSJ via Arts & Letters Daily.

Green Porno

Everyone knows about this except me, right?

Saw this ref in Brooklyn Based:
WEDNESDAY: Birds Do It, Bees Do It
Tonight, join the ever-fabulous Isabella Rossellini at Coco66 for a screening of Green Porno, a book signing, a Q&A session, and truffle popcorn. The acclaimed actress wrote and acted in this series of short films for the Sundance Channel; each segment features Ms. Rossellini in elaborate costume explaining and reenacting the sexual proclivities of creatures from snails to starfish. The event, put together by WORD, celebrates the release of the shorts on DVD, as well as an accompanying book; $25 gets you two tickets to the event and a copy of the book, and of course the aforementioned gourmet popcorn. Date night?
and of course I popped right over to Green Porno itself, where lots of episodes are on line.  Gonna watch them all.

The other white meat (with tarragon)

On pp. 94 of my copy of Beard's Delights & Prejudices:
Here one of the features is duck with tarragon which I consider superlative, being devoted as I am to that herb.  I believe if I ever had to practice cannibalism, I might manage if there were enough tarragon around!
I love the exclamation mark at the end of that last sentence. 

The other dough (D'oh!)

Homeland Security Newswire  posted an article today entitled D'oh! TSA Posts Airport Screening Procedures Online.  But that article has been, apparently, taken down.  Jeepers.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

$2.69. Bread vs lots of bread

My corner grocer (which I call Tazio's, but it is not) sells very nice baguettes from Tom Cat and from Amy's for $2.69, and their 3-pack of active dry yeast for the same price.  Just saying.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

A. Dobrov Dante

I feel a logo change coming on, but never did say where the current Dante header came from.  From this A. Dobrov poster.  That's where.

Diary, most dear, Dec. penta 2009

Was feeling overwhelmed by the relentless crazies of Already Dead, and rummaged about the shelves for something else.  Ahhh, James Beard's 1964 memoir, Delights & Prejudices.  Perfect.  I'll go back to Mr. Johnson when I'm a little less broken.

Hey, what's that tucked between pages 128 and 129?  A folded page of Lota's handwritten notes, planning a dinner party menu.  Looks like there were 10 of us.  One of couples on the list broke up years ago, and one the dear friends on the list passed away longer ago than that.  But that planned-for & no longer remembered (by me) night sure looked like we were bound to eat well.  Starting with an eggplant and country bread deal (this was ages before I started making my now famous-in-my-own-home caponata).  1st course was either mussels w/ginger & lemongrass or a fennel / mushroom / Parmesan salad or crab chevre ravioli.  Main course was either whole snapper w/ dill & peppercorn or grouper w/ fingerlings & morels, plus a veg and Lori's grandmother's cole slaw.  I've tucked the notes back where they were.  Check in with me after the twenty-teens, and we'll see if they are still there.

& food-wise, it's been a pretty perfect day, Diary, hasn't it?  In the morning I made the dough I prepped yesterday it into a ciabatta.  Mmmm, fresh baked salty bread for breakfast.  And because Lota is shooting this evening, I made dinner at lunch-time: chicken with ginger-scallion sauce, edamame and brown rice.  And this evening, the reverse-lay-up-lunch, more of the ciabatta with some of the cheese I brought back from Amsterdam and some left-over kielbasa from Flying Pigs.  And a generous dose of Luzon Verde.  (Mourvèdre.  I woke up early on Friday to Mourvèdre the car.  Nu?)  Have I mentioned, Diary, the Amsterdam salamis that were confiscated from me in Customs?  I was scolded.  I had put my country at risk!  Weep!

What with all the running around and worries these last weeks, I never got started on the liqueurs I was expecting to make for X-mas gifts.  Well, I started a couple this evening, an anisette and a ginger-cardamom concoction.  Double-sized batches.  Both will be ready around X-mas or New Years.  I feel like maybe I've made these just for me, rather than for giving away.  I'm awfully thirsty, Diary.  Well, invite whomever you like to come over and share them .  xoxoxo.

Diagnosis of a Faun

Lori has posted about this (and the film she is producing) at her Hard Working Movies site.  In addition to the NYTimes piece, CBS news has done a piece.  Tonight's the opening at LaMama.

From the Times article, Learning His Body, Learning to Dance:
Gregg Mozgala, a 31-year-old actor with cerebral palsy, had 12 years of physical therapy while he was growing up. But in the last eight months, a determined choreographer with an unconventional résumé has done what all those therapists could not: She has dramatically changed the way Mr. Mozgala walks.

In the process, she has changed his view of himself and of his possibilities.

Roger & Dave: A Benefit For Yoko Ono

Yes, the lads are following last year's benefit for Warren Buffet with this year's Benefit for Yoko Ono.  Beatles complete on ukulele @ the Brooklyn Bowl.  Comeoncomeonnowbabaynow.  All about it on their blog.

Friday, December 4, 2009

Government Comics Collection

Oh, my god, everything I'll ever need.  And another reason for Nebraska.  Government Comics Collection at UNL, via the Scout Report.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Everybody's talkin' at me


And in the words of the poet,
Who-o-o-a whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa...
Whoa-whoa whoa-whoa whoa-whoa-whoa...

Thursday, November 26, 2009

I looked at a heck of a lot of bikes in Amsterdam



Looked at them both on the street and in bike shops and gave serious thought to whether I should maybe pursue buying a Dutch bike.  Thankfully the current answer is no - but I would love to make some changes to my Bianchi Milano that would make it, I don't know, more sensibly dutchy.

Virtually every bike I saw in Amsterdam has a bell, has lights - almost always hooked up to a generator, either an old friction generator or a generator front hub - has fenders and rear side splash guards, at least one rack, a kickstand, a rear wheel hand-cuff style lock mounted to the frame, and a second lock, more often with a chain than a long U.



The bells are used sensibly to shoo pedestrians out of the way on bike lanes and in the narrow streets and alleys.  The lights are used primarily to be seen, not to see, though I saw a couple (out of thousands) of bikes with lights meant to brightly illuminate the road.  The kickstands are to keep the bike upright when parked, and the racks are for carrying stuff.  Saying these things sounds kind of morinic, I know, but might be revalatory to most of my fellow Brooklonian bike riders, who primarily yell at people to shoo them out of the way, ride invisible after dusk, hardly ever stand a bike on its own, and generally like to emulate bike messengers and sling their loads, if any, around their shoulders.

I particularly liked the mid-frame kickstands that sit under the bike and have two feet.  The seem more stable and more usable in the city.  I also particularly like the front racks on many of the bikes I saw, and of these I particularly liked the frame-mounted racks rather than the handle-bar mounted racks.  


Some of the frame mounted racks (like on this three seater stretch baby limo) mount to either extensions of the down-tubes, or insert into holders welded onto the down-tubes.  Gonna talk to bro re whether he thinks he can add these holders to my bike.  Bikes at Het Zwarte Fietsenplan, like the (I wet myself) NX7, have them.  Looks like they also sell bolt-ons...

An amazing number of the bikes I saw had second and sometimes third seats on them, and I saw lots of kids in these - the seats are not for show.  I also saw a fair number of older folks getting transported, sitting side-saddle in the rear.  Also lots of cargo bikes, with kids sitting in the front-mounted truck.


Saddles.  Ah, saddles.  I should say now that I saw two, exactly 2, fixies in the 6 days I just spent in Amsterdam, and these two bikes were maybe the only ones I saw that had hard, skinny seats.  For all I know lots of folks have sporty second bikes at home with spartan seats, but that's not what they use every day for in-town.  I saw lots of sensible, cushy, waterproof seats.  Top-o-the-line bikes tended to have Brooks saddles.  A few bikes have these button seats that completely eliminate the technical hoops and fire for avoiding numbnuts: they just put the seat under your sit-bones and no where else.  (Do they work on bikes that are less upright than the oma and opafietsen?  Dit is het perfecte zadel voor dames met (korte) rokjes is what I hear.)

And the people I saw kept their butts in the saddles.  Hardly anyone posted.  Here in BKLYN, people post out of most stops.  Is it just part of looking cool?  In Amsterdam I only saw the most hurried riders do so.  Amsterdam riders are more likely to rock around in their seats to get up steepest rises at the canals rather than post.  Could also be because Amsterdam riders so often have a cell phone or (in November) an opened umbrella in one hand.

Blah blah blah.  Here's my to-do list:
  • Put bell on bike;
  • Check w/ Het Zwarte Fietsenplan if their bolt-on mount will work on my big-round aluminum down-tube, and if not maybe trick Bro into helping, or look at something from Steco that will bolt on to the head tube;
  • Start looking into getting a front wheel built around a generator hub.

    Buh Bye, IDFA

    We had a blast.

    I've moved the IDFA side-post I put up last week into this post.

    Aside from that, I have one word for you all: jenever.

    (PS: The cheeses, jenever and chocolates have all made it through. The dried sausages were stopped at the border, and I was lectured on meat-borne diseases.)


    IDFALori has two films she produced this year at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam - The Kids Grow Up, directed by Doug Block, and The Edge of Dreaming, directed by Amy Hardie. I'll be adding details here.

    Sunday, November 22, 2009

    Twirling on Ferdinand Bolstraat


    I'm embarrassed to say that I didn't make a note of the name of the shop, but there's a record shop on Ferdinand Bolstraat near the Ablert Cuyp market that has old turntables in the window, and on each of them is a twirly gizmo. Most were mirrored Disney-like things, but these dancers really caught my eye. Shooting through the window wasn't great. Please, don't fire me I'll do better next time.

    Dear diary, wish you were here


    Here, generally in Amsterdam, but specifically here, too, at Kapitein Zeppo's, where I am fortifying myself with a few pilsner, what the Dutch call young cheese, and an espresso.  Oh, hey, the gypsy jazz trio is about to come on...

    Both of the openings last evening were fab.  Lota's busy busy busy and I'm, uh, scouting dinner and drink locations.  Research.  Wearing my bone to the bone.

    Tuesday, November 17, 2009

    Dear diary: I ate till I busted a gut

    Well, I thought, I'd like to have a meal just like we would order at Albano's Amorina, but I don't want to go out tonight.  So I decided to cook one.  When we go to Amorina, we always split a salad or two, then we split a pasta, and then we split a pizza.  Sooo... I made Bittman's Brussels sprouts & bacon (I used pancetta) and figs salad; then, with pesto Lota made and froze this summer, a dish of orecchiette with peas and pesto; then, with some leftover pizza dough I made a week or two ago, froze, and slipped out of the freezer last night - just in case - a pizza tre formaggi, with fresh mozzarella from Russo's, asagio and teleggio.

    And, Lordy, after Lota stopped eating and flopped around gasping for breath, I just kept on going.  Until....

    Yes, the fabulous International Notebook Collection of Jennie Maneri!

    AND, as if that wasn't enough, the crowning of Miss G Train!!!!

    from JM:
    Come see my International Notebook Collection on display at the City Reliquary Museum in Brooklyn!! Bring your friends, family and anyone I forgot.

    Where: The City Reliquary, Williamsburg, 370 Metropolitan near Havemeyer 

    When: This Thursday, November 19th, 7:00 - 10:00

    What: In case you didn't know, I have a huge collection of notebooks from all over the world.

    If you haven't been to The City Reliquary, it is truly a unique experience. 
    In addition to my notebooks being displayed in the Community Collections front window, the museum is holding The Miss G Train Pageant. So come on over for $3 beers, notebooks and the crowning of the new Miss G Train.

    Saturday, November 14, 2009

    I'm going to have to get to know Lambchop much better


    Lambchop - Give It from Merge Records on Vimeo.
    Via Aquarium Drunkard.

    Micro! (from MaLu)

    Just in from MaLu, now of Oh Hi Oh, formerly of Hawaii, formerly of Seattle, formerly our downstairs neighbor, lo those many years ago, in the County of Kings:



    As always, I have to recommend this gig. It will be a lot of fun, regardless of your music preferences.

    xxx
    M

    What: The Microscopic Septet
    Where: 92YTribeca, 200 Hudson St. New York, NY 10013
    When: Saturday, December 5, 2009, two sets starting at 10PM
    Price: $18/adv $20/door
    http://www.92y.org/92yTribeca/

    ....

    The music of The Microscopic Septet is the sound of jazz in 20th century America: all of it, from Ellington to Ayler, bebop to Zorn,  Dixieland  to experimental, captured in a microcosm.  It distills the essence of jazz as a popular music into a sound that swings, a music that is intelligent, sometimes smart-aleck,  and always good fun. [Joyce Nalewajk]

    In 2009 Cuneiform Records released Lobster Leaps In, the first newly recorded Microscopic Septet CD since the late 1980s.             Here is what critics had to say:

    Downbeat: “As always with the Micros, it’s gloriously, delightfully and inappropriately right. Welcome back.”

    Jazziz: “…brings a renewed sense of fun to the often-humorless jazz milieu.”

    AllAboutJazz: “Packed with soaring melodies, jubilant riffs, joyous shout choruses, infectious rhythms and incisive solos, Lobster Leaps In is the most fun one can have listening to contemporary jazz.”
     
    The Philadelphia Inquirer
    : … swinging, infectious, and full of wit.”
      http://www.microscopicseptet.com
    http://www.myspace.com/themicroscopicseptet
    ...

    www.phillipjohnston.com
    www.myspace.com/phillipjohnston88
    www.microscopicseptet.com

    Friday, November 13, 2009

    Thursday, November 12, 2009

    Tree of Smoke

    This Veterans' Day found me aptly reading Denis Johnson's Tree of Smoke.  150 pages in, and I hadn't read any reviews until just now when I started to post.  Yowza the first paragraph of Jim Lewis' review of the book in the NYT:
    Good morning and please listen to me: Denis Johnson is a true American artist, and “Tree of Smoke” is a tremendous book, a strange entertainment, very long but very fast, a great whirly ride that starts out sad and gets sadder and sadder, loops unpredictably out and around, and then lurches down so suddenly at the very end that it will make your stomach flop. It comes with the armor and accoutrements of a Major Novel: big historical theme (Vietnam), semi-mythical cultural institution (military intelligence), long time span (1963-70, with a coda set in 1983) and unreasonable length (614 pages), all of which would be off-putting if this were not, in fact, a major novel, and if Johnson’s last big book hadn’t been the small collection of eccentric and addictive short stories called “Jesus’ Son” (1992). “Tree of Smoke” is a soulful book, even a numinous one (it’s dedicated “Again for H.P.” and I’ll bet you a bundle that stands for “higher power”), and it ought to secure Johnson’s status as a revelator for this still new century — a prediction I voice confidently but reluctantly, and with a little disappointment and dismay.

    Tuesday, November 10, 2009

    Far away, and only yesterday

    LH's life is much more interesting than mine right now.  (Makes me wonder how the blog can grow old without a "plumbing" tag.)
    The second night was at Tintale, which is quite high at the top of a long, exhausting upward slope. We stayed at a kind of lodge / house. I talked with a handsome guy who was a teacher at a private English medium school, seemed to be well-off, and when I asked if he read Nepali novels, it turned out he had read ALL of the novels I've translated (in Nepali, of course) and seemed genuinely impressed to meet the translator! The proprietor of the "inn" (I'm not sure what to call it - they serve dal bhat and provide space for sleeping) was a very jolly Rai guy, and we had lots of laughs. He urged us to stay another day so we could "dance and sing together." We were informed that Tintale gets knee-deep snow in the winter. The way to the outdoor bathroom was so treacherous I peed in the road during the night rather than attempt it (it required going out through a room of sleeping travelers in the dark trying not to wake them, opening a creaking front door, stepping over a plank across the threshold, going to the street, going down a steep slope with uneven steps, being careful not to trip on a 2' high hose in the path, hopping down a 3' step (all slippery mud), negotiating the toilet door locked with a tiny lock - all while holding a flashlight and toilet paper, then dealing with a squat toilet. Luckily I didn't have the runs). Dinner was a noisy affair, as a couple of the guests had drunk a lot of rakshi and got a little noisy and obnoxious, but they soon went to sleep.

    Thursday, November 5, 2009

    No nuthin'


    1st Ave, East Village.  Sent via thingy

    I'm feeling all aflutter about the Batavus BUB


    The article at Bicycle Design is particularly interesting, I think, describing contemporary bike culture in the home of Batavus.   Lota and I will be in Amsterdam in a couple of weeks - and I'll probably be pretty glad that the BUB is not available yet.

    Wednesday, November 4, 2009

    I really just can't talk about this redding thing


    Somewhere between $90,000,000 and $140,000,000 gets you 50,000 votes more than $9,000,000.  I bet that causes the spender some mixed feelings.

    Anyway, right here in the hood, I'm way happy for Bill de Blasio and Brad Lander.  (Brad, update the site - you won!)  And for the health of both the NYC Dems and Working Families Party.

    (I'm linking to the Post from the map, though it's a Times graphic.  You know, I tried real hard to find a link on the NYT site to the full NY election results, and couldn't - had to back into it from Google news searches.  Then I grabbed the graphic and altered it for posting and had to go through the Google search again and the Post results came up higher, etc.)

    Illuminated Manuscripts: Alexandre Singh's "Assembly Instructions"


    Tuesday, November 3, 2009

    By then I would have read John Barth's Chimera (da da dum, etc.)

    (... speaking of Scheherazade:)  At wiki.  And pages at Google.  Comments by Harold Augenbraum at the National Book Awards site: "When I was coming of age in the 1970s, if you didn’t read John Barth you weren’t a young reader."

    Dah da-dum, da-da-da-dum, da-da-da Dum Dum (dum dum)

    Caught a cold yesterday or the day before on the plane and last night was pretty miserable.  Slept in exile with the radio playing very softly next to me, and at some point before dawn I stirred to Dah da-dum, da-da-da-dum, da-da-da Dum Dum (dum dum).  Which brought my fevered brow back to back to a summer some +360 odd moons ago when for a short time I didn't have a place and was sleeping at work on the floor of an office, in a sleeping bag and every night on the cassette deck next to my ear, soft and low, I'd play either Joe Jackson's Look Sharp or Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade.  (They were the two tapes I owned.)  JJ, LS.

    Monday, November 2, 2009

    All of Joe Nardiello's campaign calls for the 39th District in Brooklyn come from a Seattle based war-dialer

    Uh... dude.

    Flowery nose, creamy texture: more northwest chanterells & more pizza



    Well, I know, you're sick of hearing it, but I'm not yet sick of eating it.  We were in the northwest again this last weekend (WA, this time), and again there were wild chanterelles at the farmers' market.  Bought some, and some garlic and red cippolini onions, some canned San Marzano tomatoes.  And a pizza stone since our host didn't have one.  We bought a handful of bottles at Patrick Hub's fabulous Olympic Wine Merchant (noo, laddie, no web site, you just have to go there).  (My fave was a Buty Sémillon, Sauvignon and Muscadelle blend. Oh, slay me, I am a pig of a pig of a pig.)  Lota made a salad, C made an apple crisp, and we stuffed ourselves!

    Wednesday, October 28, 2009

    EFF Takedown Hall of Shame

    Ah, near and dear to the old Stumpy, Dante, Jane Thane of Ohio, and Billy Sam Donnelly crowd:  EFF's Takedown hall of shame.
    "Bogus copyright and trademark complaints have threatened all kinds of creative expression on the Internet. EFF's Hall Of Shame collects the worst of the worst."

    Worlds collide, in the nicest way

    I decided to have a sonnet writing contest in the tech group I manage, requiring a $1 or equivalent entry fee for each sonnet submitted.  The prize is the pot of all the entry fees, plus a diorama submitted by NY staff of a certain tech giant company in a diorama contest I ran last year amongst the various tech companies with which we spend gazillions of dollars.  (The theme of that contest, which had many, many rules, was the Mamas & Papas.  See here for a few images from that contest.)

    With some prodding my folks ground out 20 sonnets in a couple of days.  The site I'm posting them to (which will come down in a week) has become the #11 site via google for the surname of our tech-giant rep of the prize-pot diorama.  (Oh, yeah, one of the rules of the contest was the inclusion of his 4 syllable Armenian surname.)  It's a little odd.

    I came so close to making another pizza for breakfast - BAM Next Wave

    Had the oven fired up.  Was going to go super minimal - seasalt and olive oil.  Then I remembered, Dude, you don't eat breakfast...

    Will have to console myself with looking forward to this evening's doo.  Hope to see you local yokels there.

    The Long Count

    Part of the 2009 Next Wave Festival

    Oct 28, 30 & 31 at 8pm

    Bryce Dessner, Aaron Dessner, and Matthew Ritchie

    In an inspired collision of creative worlds, three inexhaustibly original artists—brothers Bryce Dessner and Aaron Dessner of indie rock band The National and omnivorous visual art phenomenon Matthew Ritchie—combine talents to create a song-filled myth about the beginning of time. A feast of images, instrumentals, and songs thick with primordial mystery, The Long Count pairs Ritchie's protean forms with a twelve-piece orchestra and the Dessners' gothic mix of electric and orchestral sounds.

    Guest vocalists Kim and Kelley Deal (The Breeders, The Pixies), Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond), and Matt Berninger (The National) round out the line-up in this visionary collaboration between music and art.

    Tuesday, October 27, 2009

    Pizza, I am thy slave

    Nuff said.  Refer to Charles & Michele Scicolone's Pizza.  This evening's experiments were a part whole wheat crust with tomato, garlic and anchovy (you can tell Lota was not at home), followed (because there was more dough, not because I could possibly stuff any more food into myself) by a tomato garlic and mozzarella pie. 

    Hey, I'm also reading (and eating through) Elizabeth David's 1954 Italian Food, in a recent (10 year old) Penguin edition.

    Monday, October 26, 2009

    Young at Heart

    I'm pretty sure the first time I heard this - or the time I first remember hearing this - was Pooky singing to Soupy...  Damn if this doesn't have a lot more than three chords!


           A              A9           A        AM7
    Fairy tales can come true, it can happen to you
    A7        Bm7-5      E7
    If you're young at heart;
              E7           Bm7-5       E7        E7+5
    For it's hard, you will find to be narrow of mind
               A
    If you're young at heart.
           C#m7-5       F#7          C#m7-5            F#7
    You can  go  to extremes with im - pos - si - ble schemes,
     B7/9            B7          B7/9         B7 
    Laugh when your dreams fall apart at the seams;
         E7       Gdim    E7    Gdim      E7
    And life gets more exciting with each passing day,
         A6      Fdim   A6     Fdim     Bm7-5     E7
    And love is either in your heart, or  on  its way.

                A             A9          A          AM7
    Don't you know that it's worth ev'ry treasure on earth
     A7   Bm7-5     E7
    To be young at heart;
            E7         Bm7-5          E7       E7+5
    For as rich as you are, it's much better by far
           A
    To be young at heart.
           B7/9           B7       B7/9         B7
    And if you should survive to a hundred and five,
           B7/9           B7          E      Em
    Look at all you'll derive out of being alive.
         A                      E7          Bm7-5   E7
    And here is the best part - you'll have a head start
    A           D9            Bm7-5      A
    If you are among the very young at heart,

    A          D9             Bm7-5  E7   A
    If you are among the very young  at heart.

    Clearly, the dogs will need to eat the SUVs to survive

    Uh... save the planet, eat a dog.  Via /.

    Friday, October 23, 2009

    Thursday, October 22, 2009

    Larry => Manjul => Simone = plus ultra

    Larry's back in Kathmandu and urging us to get there, too. I keep asking him, Where exactly in Brooklyn is that? (Juju keeps asking me, Where in Berkeley is Brooklyn?) Anyway, Larry says "My next task is to set up some trekking, probably to the East, to retrace the itinerary of Manjul toward Bhojpur." So I had to learn who Manjul is. And that also lead me to Susan Simone's photographs. And to Bhojpur Ke Marda. Give it a go.

    Tuesday, October 20, 2009

    considering how much happiness...

    ju ju's experienced watching Austin City Limits, it be easy for us to celebrate thirty five years of that wonder of television...

    Winter squash

    Dear diary, last night Dante came over and cooked dinner for us -
    delicata squash from Bradley's cut up and sauteed in butter and rosemary and sage and then braised in cider and a little vinegar until that reduced to a glaze, and some of Mike's (Yezzi) grandma's hot Italian sausage that Dante put on a toasted Tom Cat baguette.

    Dante also brought this photo with him, taken in 1925 at the BBG.

    Which of course reminded me of the pic I'd seen of Stumpy's Dad, taken, what? 15 years later? Up in Hunts Point.

    Thursday, October 15, 2009

    Bikes, Cameras, Beers - and you!!

    Bikes, Cameras, Beers: PSA Tickets on Sale Now


    Transportation Alternatives presents a special evening screening of Public Service Announcements to promote why Biking Rules in NYC! Over 80 artists submitted new and creative images, documentaries, narratives and animations that promote safe, civic-minded cycling as part of T.A.'s Biking Rules campaign.

    Come see the premiere of jury-selected PSA entries at BAMcinématek. The evening will include prizes and a special reception afterward with free beer courtesy of the Brooklyn Brewery.

    The Biking Rules PSA Competition and Festival
    Tuesday, November 17th
    7:00 pm
    BAMcinématek
    30 Lafayette Ave
    Brooklyn, NY
    Advance tickets available at: bikingrules.org/tickets

    Proceeds from advance tickets support Transportation Alternatives.

    Cantharellus cibarius and the nice BC airport lady who searched through my luggage

    She confiscated my nail-clippers. But didn't look in the bag filled with chanterelles.
    Night one we did up a batch with shallots and corn as a side to a roasted chicken (oil, rosemary, salt, black pepper, and that special voodoo paprika that the Bradley Farm makes in New Paltz every early autumn). Night two, the shredded leftover chicken and another batch of chanterelles, tossed with some orecchiette. All gone. Sigh.

    Wednesday, October 14, 2009

    Tuesday, October 13, 2009

    Monday, October 12, 2009

    DeHavilland Beaver, our new best friend

    Me having lived largely in Neuva York and it's immediate environs, and Lori largely here or in the desert, we haven't had all that much experience with float planes. And I get queasy on merry-go-rounds, you know?

    But... all that's over now. We had a couple of float plane flights as part of this past weekend's journey. Think Teletubbies. Again again again again!

    We love you, DeHavilland Beaver!

    Bike shop, Ganges, Salt Spring Island, BC

    Thursday, October 8, 2009

    The Alara is going to show itself as a very reasonable facsimile

    I don't have a clue what this means, but I found myself repeating the phrase over and over in my head. I'm going to try to work it into a conversation today. You should, too.

    Wednesday, October 7, 2009

    NYC threatens to rip Garment District

    Ah, Lorishki knew her when. The days of sample sales and N. Lapore's sassy jackets & Nick Thatos' jewelery. Nice Marketplace / American Public Media segment featuring Nanette L: NYC threatens to rip Garment District.

    What if Stell D'oro left the Bronx? Who would that child I was be?

    From our friends at the Working Families Party / Democracy in action. I know our host here has some professional conflicts about this, but I also know that Stella D'oro anisette toasts and a cup of coffee mean the world of memory to him:
    It's a story we've heard too many times before. Wall Street firm buys a family owned business, sells its assets and throws the employees onto the street.

    Workers at the Stella D'oro cookie company have been fighting for months to keep their Bronx bakery open and save 136 jobs. After an 11 month strike and a court victory, work at the bakery was supposed to resume. Instead, the owners - private equity firm Brynwood Partners - announced their intention to sell the bakery and move the jobs to Ohio.

    We're fighting back. Join the WFP and Stella D'oro workers in a rally at City Hall demanding that the bakery stay in New York.

    WHAT: Rally in support of Stella D'oro workers & demand that the bakery stay in the Bronx.
    WHEN: Thursday, Oct. 8, 1pm
    WHERE: City Hall
    Subways: A, C, M, R, W, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

    Stella D'oro received more than $400,000 in tax breaks since 2006, meant to modernize the factory and keep jobs in the city. Goldman Sachs owns a significant chunk of Brynwood Partners, and it too has received millions of dollars from the city. It should be obvious: Companies that receive taxpayer dollars meant to sustain good jobs should not be allowed to destroy them while keeping the money.

    Join the Stella D'oro workers and supporters from across the city in a rally at City Hall this Thursday at 1pm.

    Thank you,

    Bob Master & Sam Williams
    WFP Co-Chairs

    Help Working Families fight for the little guy: We can't count on Wall Street. We rely on contributions from ordinary people like you to keep the WFP going. If you'd like to support our work, visit: http://www.workingfamiliesparty.org/contribute.php

    Friday, October 2, 2009

    Other Muslims who might wet Juju's wiki

    Totally coinkydinky to Juju's RT post and 3,000 miles to the right, Lota and I (and Bunny & Bunny) will be swinging by Powerhouse Arena tomorrow night for some of the Taqwacore night. I've already looked in at the Muslim punk photo exhibit, and love it. See you there?

    my favorite muslim...

    aka Richard Thompson: link to today's Fresh Air (NPR) show on RT and release of new boxed set celebrating his 40 year career. Juju only wishes he could play with half the dexterity and ability that RT makes look so easy, and on top of all that, RT be one hell of a songwriter.

    add'l linky bits:
    BeesWeb, official RT website;
    halfway decent RT guitar tablature site;
    YouTubeish linkage - RT Guitar School
    (more related video on the page);
    from Guitar Player online - Richard Thompson;
    via Innerviews, Richard Thompson, Narrative Journeys;
    R. Thompson, Sway into Emotion;
    the Night Light RT interview;
    via The Hook, Oct 2006,
    1000 years, Thompson's Long Look at History;
    RT, Master Craftsman, from Performing Musician;
    13 Conversations about Richard Thompson;
    a personal tribute to RT c.1997;
    a fan's notes, c.2007;
    HuffPost, Sept 2007, Publish & Be Damned;
    Salon, Aug. 1999, Everyone has their own cliches;
    mess o'misc RT related items via Acoustic Guitar online

    Wednesday, September 30, 2009

    Koskiousko and Gowanus top list of bad bridges, roads

    Oh, golly, it's shocking news. The bridge that spans the nations worst oil spill, on the highway that has to be the universe's most frightening place to encounter cocaine abuse, has now been sited as being in the worst condition of all in NY. No! Poor General Koskiousko, he deserves better from us. (And better spelling.) Crains: Koskiousko and Gowanus top list of bad bridges, roads.

    Vendy, my mouth, she waters

    Bikey buzzsaw nightmare

    O, brothers and sisters. You lock your bikey tighty to the pole, u-lock and cable, but when you comes back the pole is gone... and where's your bikey!!!

    Turns out the DOT guy was just as concerned as I (the innocent bystander) was. I saw what was going on (and covertly snapped pics), and decided I'd wait by the bike in case it was a messenger's and he / she'd return soon. DOT guy was just following instructions to remove the dead pole, didn't want to see the bike get ripped off, and after removing the pole he placed the bike next to a safe pole and metal-strapped it to that pole. When I saw him do that I approached him and thanked him. Bikey's owner will have a heck of a time getting the strap off, but that's way better than losing the bike. (BikeMacho will have thought DOTMan shouldn't have taken the pole - maybe just told his boss No? Get real.)

    De Blasio and Liu Win in N.Y. Democratic Runoffs

    NYT article by By JULIE BOSMAN and KAREEM FAHIM (photo by Michelle V. Agins/The New York Times).

    Money quote:

    The decisive showings by Mr. de Blasio and Mr. Liu were also a victory for the Working Families Party, the labor-backed group that endorsed both candidates and that mobilized its formidable field operation to turn out voters on a day when most polling sites were largely empty.

    And both Mr. Liu and Mr. de Blasio, unlike their opponents, were vocal critics of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s successful effort to persuade the City Council to amend the term limits law so he could run for a third term.

    Me love WFP.
    OK, now I can go back to wine making and navel gazing.

    Tuesday, September 29, 2009

    No whining, NY Dems - get out there and vote for de Blasio in the run-off. Now!

    In my mailbox today from Betsy Gotbaum:
    Dear Steve,

    Today is the runoff and I wanted to tell you why I believe Bill de Blasio is the best choice to be New York City’s next Public Advocate.

    Throughout Bill’s eight years in the City Council, I have seen first-hand the leadership and dedication he will bring to the Public Advocate’s office. We worked together to increase access to food stamps for hungry New Yorkers and provide better resources for the homeless. I stood with Bill as part of the coalition he led to stop the Mayor from undemocratically extending term limits.

    I have joined the New York Times, Citizens Union and many other prominent elected leaders in endorsing Bill because of his exceptional record of independence and integrity. I know without a doubt that Bill has the best temperament and record to be our next Public Advocate. Please join me in voting for Bill TODAY. New Yorkers need a Public Advocate who offers new solutions for the future of our City and to keep this vital office strong.

    Polls are open across the City today from 6AM (now!) until 9PM tonight. To find your polling location, please visit Bill's website. I hope you will join me today in voting for Bill de Blasio for our next Public Advocate.

    -Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum