Self-Absorbed Boomer

Sounds of the Niagara Frontier: the Rockin' Rebels, John Fogerty, and Screamin' Dick Biondi.

2013-06-18T00:21:00.000-04:00

"Wild Weekend" by the Rockin' Rebels was recorded in 1959 by two Buffalo DJs, Tom Shannon and Phil Todaro, for their Mar-Lee (named for their girlfiends) label. Shannon and Todaro had written "Wild Weekend" as a theme song for their radio show on WKBW. It became a regional hit in the Northeast, securing the band a spot on the Dick Clark show. In 1962, it was re-released on the nationally marketed Swann label, and in 1963 it became a major hit, reaching number eight on the pop charts. This makes it, to the best of my knowledge, the only top ten hit to have originated in Buffalo, a city with which I have some familiarity. If you go to YouTube and scroll down to the commentary by oldies60s2, you will get the tangled history of both the music and the band. There's a more elaborate history and discography here.

John Fogerty isn't from Buffalo, but listen to "Rock and Roll Girls." Instrumentally, it's practically "Wild Weekend" redux from the get-go, opening with the same hooky run and with sax accompaniment that sounds very similar to the Rebels'. Fogerty nails it in the vocal toward the end of the song with these words:

If I had my way, I'd shuffle off to Buffalo, Sit by the lake, and watch the world go by....

WKBW, home of Shannon and Todaro, also had for a time one of America's best known DJs, Dick Biondi. There's a sample of Biondi's frenetic style in the video clip above. Biondi's edgy humor--he adumbrated the "zoo" style that became widespread on pop radio in the '70s--was often directed at station management, which frequently led to his being fired. He became best known when he moved from WKBW to another 50,000 Watt platform, Chicago's WLS. Later he had a gig with KRLA in Los Angeles.

Happy Father's Day; happy Bloomsday.

2013-06-16T15:11:00.000-04:00

Today is Father's Day, so best wishes to all my fellow dads. This year it's also Bloomsday, the anniversary of the day in 1904 when Leopold Bloom (sketch by James Joyce at left), father of Milly and mourner of short-lived Rudy, makes his way through various encounters in Dublin, as described in Joyce's Ulysses. The novel also gives us short excursions into the worlds of Bloom's cheating wife Molly (the story climaxes, as it were, with her soliloquy while in the arms of her manager and lover, Blazes Boylan), and of Bloom's bachelor friend (and Joyce alter ego) Stephen Daedalus. Dermot McEvoy has these thoughts:

Happy Bloomsday! “YES!” said Molly Bloom. It’s a day for aimless wanderings, gorgonzola, and, perhaps, a trip to a cemetery—after a neat drop off the 40-Foot in Sandycove. In celebration listen to the brilliant Jonathan Brielle’s “River Liffey,” taken from his equally brilliant musical about James Joyce, Himself and Nora: [Hear it here.]

You can see and hear me reading an excerpt from Jim Quinn's restaurant guide Word of Mouth, which incorporates the Burton Restaurant scene from Ulysses, at a Bloomsday celebration two years ago. Then scroll down to get a much better Joyce reading; Molly Bloom's soliloquy (NSFW!) as interpreted by Aedin Moloney.

Van Dyke Parks, "Donovan's Colours."

2013-06-16T00:45:00.001-04:00

Van Dyke Parkes is a musical genius who surprised and mostly delighted the rock crit world in 1968 with an album titled Song Cycle. My friend Michael Simmons calls it "The Great Overlooked Classic Of American Popular Music." I certainly overlooked it for many years. Before the album was released, one of the cuts, "Donovan's Colours" (video above), appeared pseudonymously as performed by "George Washington Brown." In his story linked above, Michael tells of his and his colleagues', and the members of Moby Grape's, efforts to figure out who GWB was. The Mobys at least had him sending his recordings to Parkes, who was then an in-demand L.A. studio musician. Parkes later said he had it released under a nom de guerre because he "craved anonymity." Here's the original "Colours" by Donovan: Parkes does a classical thing with the song. He begins with a statement of the theme, but at about 1:20 in the video at the top of this post the theme dissolves into variations. The theme is reasserted triumphally at about 2:50. Michael notes the similarity of the sound to that of a music box. I also sensed a similarity to that of a Trinidadian steel band, another musical style of which Parkes was fond. Donovan was also a fan of Trinidad's calypso music.

The (short) life of pie.

2013-06-10T23:02:00.000-04:00

We were expecting company Sunday evening, so my wife made a good sized pie using rhubarb and strawberries sourced (maybe even curated) from our local Greenmarket. In the photo above, it's fresh from the oven.

It didn't take long--maybe fifteen minutes--for six people to reduce it to this.

Then, quick as a wink, it was down to this.

Cape Cod photos: the walk to Skaket Beach and back.

2013-06-08T09:48:00.000-04:00

Following our visit to Cape Cod Brewery on Saturday morning, and a satisfying pizza lunch, the sun came out. I decided to take a walk. This sign, near the end of the short road leading to our friends' house, pointed me in the right direction.

On the way to the beach, the road crossed a stream emerging from a swamp.

Farther along, I passed the Captain Linnell House, built in the 1850s by a very successful sea captain who, unfotunately, died in a tropical storm off the coast of Brazil before having much opportunity to enjoy it.

There was a brisk, chilly breeze, and the beach was nearly deserted. This was the view towards the southwest, and the upper arm of the Cape.

This was the view to the east., looking toward Wellfleet and Truro.

Heading back from the beach, I came to Wildflower Lane. What might be growing there?

There were these (can anyone identify?).

And, there was my old friend Rosa rugosa.

This eastern box turtle had just made it safely across the road.

Azaleas were in bloom next to the road.

As I approached our friends' house, I saw a male American robin perched on a fence rail.

Just opposite our friends' door a mourning dove sat on crossbar.

Later we went shopping in downtown Orleans. We visited Main Street Wine & Gourmet, where I got this encouraging message.

Lou Reed and Sharon Jones

2013-06-05T23:26:00.000-04:00

There was good and not so good news last week about two of my favorite musicians. The good news about Lou Reed was that he had a successful liver transplant and is recovering. The video above (based on the credits roll, it appears to have been made at St. Ann's Warehouse, in nearby DUMBO) is of Lou doing one of my favorites of his, "Sweet Jane," originally done with the Velvet Underground, and later on the great album Rock 'n' Roll Animal.

The not so good news is about Brooklyn's own Queen of Soul Sharon Jones. I learned through friend Eliot Wagner that she's been diagnosed with cancer. Fortunately, it's been detected at stage one, so the prognosis is optimistic.
The video above is of Sharon doing her version of Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land," including the often skipped over "Commie" third verse, and a fourth verse evidently of her own composition. You're in my prayers, Sharon.

Cape Cod Beer

2013-06-05T00:23:00.000-04:00

On our Cape Cod weekend, rainy, chilly Friday begat rainy, chilly Saturday, so we headed up the Cape, around the elbow (see my description of Cape geography in my post about Truro Vineyards) to Hyannis, there to visit the Cape Cod Brewery. In the photo above, Tyler, who conducted our lecture and tasting with knowledge and panache, is approaching. The stainless steel tanks in the background are where the brewing is done.

We got an up close look at some brewing ingredients. This is crushed pale barley, which gives beer and ale their malt richness.

These are pelletized hops, which give the brews flavor. According to Tyler these are Chinook hops, native to the Pacific Northwest. The other two ingredients are yeast, which reacts with the barley to cause fermentation in the presence of the fourth, and most voluminous ingredient: water. "Our local water supply is very good," Tyler said. "We use it, and run it through a big Brita filter."

This is one of several brews we sampled. It's the amber ale, which has a deep red color. The brewery calls it "Red Right Return" after the navigational mnemonic that says to keep the red buoys to your right (or starboard) while entering a harbor. I liked it, as I did all of the brews we sampled, which included a blonde ale called "Beach Blonde" which had more flavor than I expected, an IPA, and a porter.

Unfortunately, Cape Cod Beer isn't available beyond an eighty mile radius of the Brewery, as it isn't Pasteurized, and has to be kept refrigerated. The next time we're up there, we'll take a cooler chest so we can bring some home.

A visit to Truro Vineyards, Cape Cod.

2013-06-03T23:08:00.000-04:00

Last summer we visited friends who have a house at Orleans, on Cape Cod. While we were there, I browsed in Main Street Wine & Gourmet, where I bought a bottle of Truro Vineyards' 2009 Cabernet Franc. I wanted to try it on the strength of having recently been impressed by a Cab Franc from the North Fork of Long Island, and reasoned that, if the grape did well in that sandy soil and cool climate, it might do well on the Cape. I wasn't disappointed.

We were invited up to Orleans again for Memorial Day weekend. We'd had good luck with weather on our preceding two visits (including our first one, on New Year's 2012), but this time our luck ran out. Considering things to do on a rainy, chilly Friday, our hosts suggested a wine tasting at Truro. I eagerly seconded, and we headed outward on the Cape. (To visualize the geography of Cape Cod, extend your right arm forward, bend the elbow until your forearm is parallel to your chest, bend your wrist so that your hand points back to your chest, then point your fingers toward your upper arm. Orleans is just past the elbow on the forearm, and Truro is just past the wrist, about at the position of the thumb knuckle.)

Arriving at the Vineyard, we parked facing rows of vines (photo above). Fortunately, the rain had slackened a bit. Going inside, we found a display of the winery's products (photo below).

Truro offers tastings every half hour during its business hours, which are 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 5:00 p.m. Sunday. Tasting tickets are $10.00 per person, and allow you to taste five of the wines on offer. According to the website this is normally ten, but during our visit there were nine wines on the tasting menu. I chose to taste the two dry whites--Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay--and three dry reds--Cabernet Franc, Zinfandel, and Triumph--on the menu. This included three wines made entirely or partially--the Chardonnay and Cabernet Franc, and the Cab Franc and Merlot that is blended with Cabernet Sauvignon to make Triumph--of grapes grown in Truro's vineyard. The Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Zinfandel grapes do, and possibly some of the same varietals grown at Truro may, according to the website, come from elsewhere:

We also source grapes from premium vineyards in Massachusetts, New York and California. This allows us to make a greater variety of wines.

I didn't take notes while tasting, but these are my recollections:

Sauvignon Blanc 2012: The tasting menu described this as "[c]risp, light, with hints of grapefruit and pear." The first thing I noticed was the field-of-new-mown-hay aroma that is characteristic of wine from this varietal, or kind, of grape. It was very pronounced here, which I took as an encouraging sign. As for taste and mouth feel, I agree that it's "crisp," though I wouldn't call it "light," which to me signifies bone-dryness. This wine has a good balance of acidity and fruit, with definite citrus overtones. I bought a bottle.

Chardonnay 2011: The menu said, "Lightly oaked with hints of ripe apple and vanilla." The vanilla comes from the oak, not the grape. My earliest experiences with Chardonnay were of different kinds: very dry, flinty Chablis and Maconnais; and big, buttery, heavily oaked Californians. I liked both for different reasons and at different times. Truro's Chard is an in-between: the oak is noticeable but not assertive, and the fruit--of which "ripe apple" is a fair descriptor--is there, but not overpowering. It's a perfectly pleasant wine, but didn't blow me away. Truro's website also lists an unoaked Chardonnay, which wasn't on the tasting menu. Maybe next time.

Cabernet Franc 2011: According to the menu this is Truro's "signature varietal." I can understand why. The 2011 had more tannin and less forward fruit than the 2009 that I tasted and reviewed last year. Perhaps it will benefit from more bottle ageing, or maybe it just hadn't had enough time to "breathe" before it was poured. The 2009 needed some fifteen minutes or so breathing before it really opened up. Still, this is superb wine. I bought a bottle.

Zinfandel 2011: This wine is way too sunny to have come from grapes grown on the Cape. Nevertheless, it's a tribute to the Truro vintners' art. It's a big wine, edging on Robert Parker "hedonistic fruit bomb" territory, but it's free of the jammy quality that, for me, mars many such wines. It has tannin and acidity to balance the intense, but not overpowering, fruit. At almost 14% alcohol, it also packs a kick. We bought two bottles; one for ourselves and one as a gift for a friend.

Triumph 2011: This is a "Meritage" blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (64%), Merlot (29%), and Cabernet Franc (7%), described on the menu as "big" and "bold." Perhaps I was suffering tasting fatigue by the time it got to me, or perhaps the assertiveness of the pure Cab Franc and the Zinfandel numbed me to its subtleties, but it seemed almost timid to me. Not bad, not unpleasant; indeed, a very drinkable wine. But anything called "Triumph" should make me want to jump up and shout. This didn't.

Truro's 100% Merlot wasn't on the tasting menu when we were there. I hope to try it next time.

To my surprise, my wife, who usually disdains any white wines that aren't dry as the Sahara, elected to try Vignoles, described on the tasting menu as "semi dry." She offered me a taste. I liked it, as did she. As the website suggests, it would go very well with spicy food. We bought a bottle.

On the way out I looked to the right and got this shot of the remainder of Truro's five acres of vines. Truro offers free tours of its winery at 1:00 and 3:00 p.m. every day from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Next time I'll take one.

I wish Truro could produce wine from at least one varietal (maybe they already do this with Cab Franc, Chardonnay, or Merlot) entirely from their own vineyard. If so, I could write knowingly of the Truro terroir. Meanwhile, all I can say is, the wines are well worth trying, and sometimes much more so. I'm looking forward to a Truro appellation d'origine contrôlée.

Update: I've been advised (see comment) that Truro now offers an Estate Grown Chardonnay, made completely from grapes grown in their own vineyard at Truro. This summer they will release Estate Grown Cabernet Franc and Estate Grown Merlot. I'm eager to try them.

Could this year's Mets rival those of 1962?

2013-05-28T20:11:00.001-04:00

A bright start to this season led me to some very qualified optimism. The Mets managed to stay at or above .500 for most of April, but it's been pretty much downhill since then. Last week I got to wondering how this year's team compares to the notorious 1962 first edition, which set a Major League 20th century record by losing 120 games. This year's Mets have played 48 games and have a record of 19-29, for a winning percentage of about .388. The '62 Mets didn't get to game 48 until June 6 because the season started later. At that point, their record was 12-36, putting them at .250. So the 2013 Mets are, at this moment in the season, decidedly ahead of the '62 gang. With 162 games in the current season, if today's Mets keep to roughly the same performance level, they should lose about 100 games. Should they get worse, they could challenge the 120 loss record.

The video above tells me a lot about why I love the Mets. One commenter complains that it's unfair to "Marvelous Marv" Throneberry who, apart from his mishaps in fielding and base running, managed to smack 16 homers for the Amazins in '62. I think Throneberry has his revenge in the banner shown at 3:10: "Cranberry, Strawberry, we still love Throneberry."

I started to write this post last week. Since then, the Mets avoided a sweep by the Braves, then won the opening game of their four game series with the Yankees. From this I know two things: the Mets this season can occasionally beat their traditional nemeisis in the NL East, and their season record with the Bronx Bullies won't be 0-4. I'm keeping my enthusiasm in check.

Update: Mets score a second 2-1 victory over the hated Yanks, thereby sweeping the home end of their four game series. The remaining two games are in enemy territory, but at least we're assured of an even split of the season's series. I'm trying very hard not to get too enthusiastic.

Update-update: It's sure getting hard to curb my enthusiasm now that the Mets have swept their four game season series with the Yanks. I'm telling myself that this is as good as it's going to get this year, and I'm satisfied. Yanks fans will no doubt fall back on their tired "Got rings?" meme, but so what?

Update cubed: Reality bites. Back in play in their division, Mets get speared by Marlins for three straight.

The Amygdaloids, "Mind-Body Problem"

2013-05-21T23:45:00.000-04:00

Kids were very different then. They didn't have their heads filled with all this Cartesian Dualism.

--Monty Python, Episode 14

I've posted before (also see here) about the Amygdaloids, a rock band made up of Joseph LeDoux (lead vocals and rhythm guitar) and Daniela Schiller (drums and vocals), both neuroscientists at New York University; Tyler Volk (lead guitar and vocals), a biology professor at NYU; and Amanda Thorpe (bass and vocals), a neuropsychologist and music therapist who has done graduate study at NYU. The video above (sorry for the bit of herky-jerkiness in the first few seconds) was made this past Saturday evening (May 18, 2013) at the Second Annual Heavy Mental Variety Show, held at the New York Psychoanalytic Institute and sponsored by The Helix Center.

When the band took a break, magician Mark Mitton put on a very entertaining show, and taught us all how to look and sound like we were catching falling objects in paper bags. "Mind-Body Problem" was the band's finale for the evening. Below is a video of a discussion about the mind-body problem (in the Cartesian sense) between the Amygdaloids' Joe LeDoux and NYU philosopher Ned Block. The video ends with a segue into the Amygdaloids doing "My Mind's Eye."

Tampa comes to Brooklyn

2013-05-14T23:44:00.000-04:00

The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Tampa, WMEC 902, named for my old home city, was docked at Pier 7, Brooklyn, my adopted home, last weekend. I shot this photo from Pier 6 in Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Tampa has come to Brooklyn in another respect: you can now get a good Cuban sandwich (which may have been invented in Tampa) at the Brooklyn Heights Wine Bar. And, next season, when the Islanders move from Nassau Coliseum to Barclays Center, the Lightning will be making visits here.

Grand Central's Centennial Parade of Trains

2013-05-13T23:11:00.000-04:00

Grand Central Terminal recently celebrated its one hundredth birthday. As part of the centennial celebration, this weekend there was the "Parade of Trains," an exhibit of past and present day rolling stock that has visited the terminal over the years. Your correspondent couldn't miss this. Entering the exhibit, on the left was Tonawanda Valley, a Pullman observation and sleeping lounge car built in 1928 that served as the tail-end car for the Twentieth Century Limited, the New York Central's premier New York to Chicago train, in the late 1920s and '30s.

Across the platform from Tonawanda Valley was Metro-North Railroad's (MNRR is one of three commuter railroads--the others are the Long Island, also part of the Metropolitan Transit Authority, and New Jersey Transit--serving New York City) Engine Number 402, built for work train service and using "co-gen" power--see here.

Here's a look at the guts of co-gen power, in a sister loco parked behind 402.

Metro-North's 605 is an ALCO RS-3 type, built in 1952. "RS" meant "Road Switcher," indicating that the loco could be used for shunting cars in yards or for light road service. Metro-North may have used it as a switcher or on work trains, or both. Here is a look at the instruments inside 605's cab.

Here is a look at 605 from the front end. A handsome locomotive, in my opinion.

I may well have seen this Railway Post Office ("RPO") with the markings of the Pennsylvania Railroad some time during my childhood when visiting my grandmother in Tyrone, Pennsylvania, on the Pennsy's then four track main line. RPOs would pick up mail at stations along the way, and the mail would be sorted by Postal Service personnel in the car for delivery to other places further along the train's route.

Here's a view inside the RPO, showing the bags in which the mail was collected or distributed.

Another interior RPO view, showing the cubbyholes into which the mail was sorted.

For some time until the early 2000s Metro-North used General Motors Electro-Motive Division's ("EMD") FP-9 type diesel locomotives on commuter trains that ranged into non-electrified territory. Some of these bore "heritage" paint schemes, i.e. those of railroads that ran the commuter services before they were taken over by Metro-North. For example, 2013 wears the colors of the New York Central. Others (actually similar FL-9s that were equipped to run on third rail electric where available) wore the bolder livery of the New Haven.

While Tonawanda Valley served as an observation car for the prewar Twentieth Century Limited, the streamlined Hickory Creek was built in 1947 for the postwar version of the Central's best known train. On the left, locomotive number 202 is a General Electric Genesis, a type that has replaced the EMD FP-9s on Metro-North.

George Jones, as remembered by Lacy J. Dalton

2013-04-26T23:56:00.000-04:00

Lacy J. Dalton's album Hard Times was a comfort to me back in the spring of 1980, when I was going through the emotional backwash of a nasty break-up. I knew her song "Old Soldier" had to be about George Jones, who died today at 81. Back then he was in his 50s, but old enough for "the warm amber lights [to do] a lot for his age." The reference to "battles" sealed it:

To top it off, here's a duet between the two of them on "That's Good; That's Bad":

Cockney rhyming slang.

2013-04-26T12:07:00.000-04:00

So, what's a Godiva? It's a five pound note, or, in Cockney speech, a "five-ah," which rhymes with "Godiva." This is Cockney rhyming slang at its most basic--for the word intended, substitute another word with which it rhymes. There is another, more meta (to use a Greek-rooted prefix recently made into an adjective) version in which, instead of the word that rhymes with the intended word, another word associated with the rhyming word is used. For example, instead of "Godiva" for a five-ah, say "Lady," a word usually yoked to Godiva, as in, "That'll cost you a Lady."

I was introduced to the meta version some years ago at the bar of the Bells of Hell. I was chatting with an English friend when a--how you say?--well-endowed young woman walked by. "Nice set of Bristols," my friend said. His meaning was obvious to me, but the usage wasn't. "There's a football club called Bristol City," he explained, "and city rhymes with... ."

One Briticism that piqued my curiosity is "Gone for a Burton." Having seen this in Private Eye, I asked another English friend what it meant. "It means he died," was the answer. "How does it mean that?" I asked. My friend didn't know. I later read that it may have originated with Royal Air Force flyers in World War Two, to refer to a comrade who hadn't survived a mission. Burton, or Burton-on-Trent to give its full name, is a city known for its breweries, as acknowledged by A.E. Housman in A Shropshire Lad:

Say, for what were hop-yards meant,

Or why was Burton built on Trent?

Oh many a peer of England brews

Livelier liquor than the Muse,

And malt does more than Milton can

To justify God’s ways to man.

A plain meaning of "Gone for a Burton" then would be "Gone to the pub for a pint." Regarding a deceased friend, it could mean "Gone to that big pub in the sky." Still, I wonder if it might not be an instance of Cockney rhyming slang. Burton doesn't have any obvious rhyme relating to death, nor does Trent, nor ale, the brew that made Burton famous. But it occurred to me that a properly drawn pint of ale has a head, which rhymes with dead. If this is in fact the origin of the expression, it could be an instance of meta-meta rhyming slang, going from Burton to ale to head. If, however, Burton is taken as a synonym for ale, then it's only a single meta.

Regarding the sign in the photo at the top of this post, I found translations for "monkeys" (hundred pound notes) and "ponies" (twenty-fivers) in this glossary. I don't know the meaning of "edges" or of "carpets." Perhaps one of my English friends can help. "Visa," I presume, means just what it is.

Neil Diamond singing "Sweet Caroline" at Fenway Park, April 20, 2013.

2013-04-21T18:34:00.001-04:00

For my wife, a cradle Red Sox fan, and for Boston. I've never been much of a Neil Diamond fan, and don't know why this song became a tradition at Fenway, but I admire him for doing this. Thanks to Eliot Wagner for the link.

Addendum: David Ortiz, uncensored:

Puss N Boots--Norah Jones, Catherine Popper, and Sasha Dobson--do Neil Young's "Down By the River" at Bell House.

2013-04-05T23:55:00.000-04:00

During my last year of law school I bought Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere by Neil Young and Crazy Horse. I knew of Young from Buffalo Springfield, a group I liked for their easy, country influenced rock. But when I put Everybody Knows on, I knew I had, if you'll forgive the obvious, a horse of a different color. The first two cuts, "Cinnamon Girl" and the title cut, could have been Springfield songs. They're lively, and the second, despite its despairing title (actually the lament of a homesick Canadian), has a sweet country lilt. But they both have an edge I hadn't heard on most Springfield songs. The third cut, "Round & Round (It Won't Be Long)" has a nursery rhyme cadence but the lyrics are truly despairing.

The final cut on the first side, "Down By the River," was for me a mindblower. It starts with some nervous guitar chattering while Billy Talbot's bass provides an ominous counterpoint, then Young's keening voice sings what at first seem reassuring words--"Be on my side, I'll be on your side; there is no reason for you to hide"--in a precatory minor key, but after a few more lines this resolves into the chorus in a crashing major: "Down by the river, I shot my baby" (complete lyrics are here). After the first verse and chorus, there's a long bridge in which Young's and Danny Whitten's guitars exchange staccato notes, like a couple having an extended quarrel. The second verse has some words of existential angst that hint at a motive for the violent act: "This much madness is too much sorrow; it's impossible to make it today." After the second verse and chorus comes another long guitar break, a little more intricate than the first, then comes a repeat of the first verse and chorus, and fade out. Hear it here.

Thanks again to Eliot Wagner I have the video at the top of this post, of Puss N Boots, a trio consisting of Norah Jones on guitar and lead vocal, Catherine Popper on bass and harmony vocals, and Sasha Dobson on drums and harmony vocals, doing "Down By the River" at The Bell House, my favorite Brooklyn rock venue. While I can't say this cover cuts the original, I found it thoroughly enjoyable. Having the solo guitar, Jones has to do double duty, which she does well by stretching some of the notes beyond the staccato, while Popper's bass fills in with some lively interplay. Jones's sultry voice imparts to the lyrics less of an angst-ridden and more of a world-weary quality. Like all recorded songs that end in fadeouts, there's the question of how to end it in live performance. Puss N Boots just ends it, which seems appropriate to me.

Perfect ending to a perfect baseball opening day.

2013-04-01T23:53:00.000-04:00

The Staten Island Ferry glides past Ellis Island as the sun sinks behind New Jersey's First Watchung Mountain; taken from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade.

Mets trounce Padres in season opener: a bad omen?

2013-04-01T16:38:00.001-04:00

As I've noted before, my wife, a lifelong Red Sox fan, is convinced that a hot start is always a prelude to a bad season, and vice versa. As for winning the opener; well, the Mets won it last year--against the Braves, no less--as well as the next three games, and we know how that season turned out.

Still, there was much to like about today's 11-2 victory over the Padres, especially, from my point of view, starting pitcher Jon Niese's (photo) performance at the plate as well as on the mound. Niese went to bat twice and got two hits, including one RBI, thereby leaving the game with a 1.000 batting average. This is baseball as it should be: pitchers should bat as well as pitch.

Addendum: Red Sox beat Yanks 8-2, so it's a perfect baseball day for my household. Yes, my wife is happy. She'll get worried if the Sox go on an early winning streak.

Second addendum: Friend Eliot sez:

As far as wins or losses in the first game or early in the season, I will disagree with your wife. A win or loss early on will look exactly like every other win or loss on the last day of the season.

I don't think that my wife would disagree with the observation that all wins and losses, whenever they occur in the season, count equally in the final reckoning. Her sense, as a long time Red Sox observer, is that if the team gets off to a roaring start, this typically presages a vertiginous collapse that makes late season losses outnumber early season wins.

As a bonus, Eliot--God bless 'im--gives us a link to "Opening Day" by Dan Bern with Common Rotation.

J.S. Bach, O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden.

2013-03-29T00:22:00.002-04:00

Five years ago I posted a video of Paul Simon singing his "An American Tune." I noted that the melody was based on Tom Glazer's "Because All Men Are Brothers," and in turn on Bach's great passion chorus O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden from his St. Matthew Passion. The video above is of O Haupt sung by a choir conducted by Phillipe Herreweghe.

As was also mentioned in my Simon post, Bach got the melody for O Haupt from a sixteenth century composition by Hans Leo Hassler. O Haupt is also the basis for the English passion hymn "O Sacred Head Sore Wounded."

Great moments in movies: Meg Ryan's fake orgasm at Katz's Deli.

2013-03-25T14:40:00.003-04:00

From When Harry Met Sally (1989; directed by Rob Reiner, screenplay by Nora Ephron, co-starring Billy Crystal). I hadn't seen this classic until this weekend. I'm glad I did. It's director Reiner's mom who says "I'll have what she's having."

The infant (and lopsided) universe.

2013-03-23T00:44:00.001-04:00

This image, which was spread across four columns of the front page of Friday's New York Times, is of the universe (our universe, for you multiverse fans) at an age of about 380,000 years. In terms of human lifespan, this is but a microsecond after birth. Indeed, this image enabled scientists to estimate the age of the universe with more precision than before: about 13.82 billion years old.

The image comes from the European Space Agency's Planck spacecraft, built to to provide the best images yet of the cosmic microwave background radiation, our memoir of the Big Bang.

What's especially significant about this image, according to this Slate blog post by Phil Plait, is that it shows the young universe to be slightly asymmetrical. Note the concentration of brightness at the right of the image above. According to Plait, this could just mean that "dark energy" (which Planck's measurements tell us makes up 68.3 percent of the universe) is changing over time or, more excitingly, that "we’re seeing some pattern imprinted on the Universe from before the Big Bang."

Vivaldi, "Spring," from The Four Seasons.

2013-03-20T15:08:00.000-04:00

From a conservatory in the National Botanical Gardens of Wales, the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields performs what is perhaps Antonio Vivaldi's best known piece, featuring Julia Fischer on violin.

Why did the white ibis cross the road?

2013-03-18T00:47:00.000-04:00

(A) Julene was giving her secret ibis call.

(B) Ennui.

(C) Better bugs on the other side.

(D) To get away from that scary guy with the camera.

Update: My daughter was right! She said this was an ibis, and I thought it was a cattle egret. I looked at photos of both birds online, and they seemed to confirm my identification. But friend and avian expert John Hunt weighed in on my daughter's side, so I've corrected the post.

The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, "Brennan on the Moor."

2013-03-17T00:02:00.000-04:00

It's hard for me to believe they're all gone now. Liam was the last; he died just over three years ago. I had the pleasure and honor of meeting Paddy some years ago at the Lion's Head bar and harmonizing with him on a song. I went to a memorial concert for Tommy Clancy, hosted by Frank McCourt, at which Frank asked,

How do you tell an Englishman from an Irishman? It's in how they propose marriage. An Englishman says, "Dahling, I love you. Will you marry me?" But an Irishman says, "Mary, how would you like to be buried with my people?"

Happy St. Patrick's day.

Morning walk over the Brooklyn Bridge, with iPod log.

2013-03-13T00:35:00.000-04:00

My Saturday morning walk took a different route than usual: the weather was good and I had some time, so I decided to go over the Brooklyn Bridge. Along with photos, I'm going to include a log of what was playing on my iPod as I walked, with links to video or audio where possible. There were still patches of snow on the Promenade, and not too many people were out enjoying the weather.

Victoria Spivey and Lonnie Johnson, "Idle Hours": a classic woman/man blues duet from long ago. There's no video or audio available, but here's a recording of "There's No Use of Lovin'" from 1926, with a still photo of Ms. Spivey.

Sue Foley, "Careless Love": the iPod stays in a blues mood, but comes to the present time with this Canadian singer's rendition of "a traditional song of obscure origins" (Wikipedia) that has been sung by such diverse artists as Bessie Smith, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, and Siouxsie Sioux. Hear it here.

I've long been fond of this bit of art deco ornamentation on the Cranlyn apartment building at Cranberry and Henry streets.

East Village Opera Company,: Au Fond du Temple Saint redux: EVOC do opera arias to rock arrangements and instrumentation, which mightily offends some opera traditionalists. I love EVOC. This is their nail-you-to-the-wall rendition of an aria from Bizet's Les pêcheurs de perles. Hear it here.

Buds in a garden next to the Whitman Close townhouses show early promise of spring.

Billie Holiday, "You Don't Know What Love Is": from the Lady in Satin album. Audio, with still photo.

Patti Smith Group, "Till Victory": the opening cut on her Easter album. Audio, with photo montage.

While the Promenade had not attracted a crowd, lots of people were walking on the Brooklyn Bridge.

Schubert, String Quartet in D Minor, "Death and the Maiden," D810, Scherzo, allegro molto; Amadeus String Quartet: Here's a video of the Borromeo Quartet performing the same movement.

John Fogerty, "Rock and Roll Girls": from the Centerfield album, which I play a lot at this time of year. Live performance video here.

Looking down from the east tower of Brooklyn Bridge at Pier 1, Brooklyn Bridge Park, and beyond. Compare with these shots from four years ago.

Martha Reeves & the Vandellas, "Heat Wave": '60s Motown at its sizzling best. Lip-synch video here.

Looking from the other side of the tower towards the DUMBO shoreline and Manhattan Bridge, with Jane's Carousel at lower left.

Fairport Convention, "Restless": I was hooked by the opening line of this song, "Born between a river and a railroad...", which is sort of true of me. There's no video or audio available, but you can hear a sample of "Rising for the Moon," the title track of the album, and another of my favorites.

Tourists jammed the middle of the bridge.

Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles, "Ride With Me": I first heard this thanks to fellow Brooklynite Eliot Wagner of Now I've Heard Everything. There's a live performance video here, albeit with lots of chatter at the beginning and sub-par sound quality. Still, I think it's worth watching.

The Brooklyn Bridge's west tower was completed in 1875. Construction of the Bridge began in 1870; it was not completed until 1883.

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band: "Lost Highway": my version of this Hank Williams cover is from the Dirt Band's magnificent Will the Circle be Unbroken, with contributions by a stellar group of country musicians. There's no video of that, but there is an audio only YouTube clip of the Dirt Band's Jimmy Ibbotson and John McEuen doing it with the late Florida fiddle sensation Vassar Clements.

An artist sells his works under the west tower.

Tampa Red, "Denver Blues": scarifyingly good slide work by "The Guitar Wizard." Here's a YouTube clip with audio accompanied by an NSFW still photo.

Frank Ghery's 80 Spruce Street shows off its Bernini drapery; in the background is One World Trade Center (Daniel Liebeskind; David Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill), approaching its ultimate height of 1,776 feet.

Johnny Cash, "I Still Miss Someone": live performance video here.

The Brooklyn Bridge cactus looked pathetic after a bout with winter weather, but this is a most resilient succulent. After my customary namaste, I turned and headed toward home.

Flying Burrito Brothers, "Close Up the Honky Tonks": the iPod stays country with Chris Hillman's and Gram Parsons' post Byrds group. This YouTube clip, (audio with still photo) was made three years after Gram's fatal night in the Mojave, but it's still good.

Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, "Peggy Gordon": I learned this song from Turner & Kirwan of Wexford. Hear the Clancys--Liam on lead vocal--on this audio clip.

This yellow metal plate marks the center of the Bridge. I always jump over it.

Neil Young, "Cortez the Killer": "Very bad man." Live performance video here.

Aretha Franklin, "I Never Loved a Man (the Way I Love You)": my favorite of her many superb songs. Here's a live performance video.

This could be your home for a mere $18 million.

The Chieftains, "O'Keefe's Slide/An Suisín Bán/The Star Above the Garter/The Weavers." Lively Irish dance tunes. Listen here.

Vampire Weekend, "A-Punk": My commentary and VW's video here.

More harbingers of spring in Cadman Plaza Park.

The Hillmen, "Come All You Fair and Tender Ladies": Chris Hillman's pre-Byrds bluegrass group does a traditional Appalachian ballad, probably with Irish or Scottish roots. Listen here.

Vince Martin and Fred Neil, "Weary Blues": I fell in love with Vince's and Fred's album Tear Down the Walls in 1967 when my college roommate played it for me. Fred's deep voice takes the lead on this track. I met Vince sometime around 1980 in the upstairs room at the old Lone Star Cafe on Fifth Avenue, when Rick Danko played "Cindy Oh Cindy". I said, "That's a great old Vince Martin song," and Vince, who was sitting next to me, introduced himself. We then sang a duet on "Dade County Jail," another song from that album, with me trying to sound like Fred. Hear "Weary Blues" here.

Trees, Cadman Plaza Park.

Jefferson Airplane, "Martha": from the splendiferous After Bathing at Baxter's. YouTube audio clip here with still of album cover. I don't love this song just because it's my wife's name. Honest.

Rolling Stones, "Happy": from Exile on Main Street, contenduh for Best Rock Album of All Time. Live performance video.

Football players were on the Cadman Plaza athletic field, where snow still streaked the artificial turf.

Tinsley Ellis, "Double Eyed Whammy": a white guy from Florida; who'd a thunk it? Live performance video.

Fairport Convention, "Fiddlestix": I first heard this in concert at Carnegie Hall in 1974 with Dave Swarbrick bringing down the house on solo fiddle. On this live video Dave, in white, does a fiddle duet with Ric Sanders, who joined the group in 1985.

Top of the Franklin Trust Company Building (George W. Morse, 1891), a "wonderful Romanesque Revival office building" (Francis Morrone in An Architectural Guidebook to Brooklyn), now expensive condos, at 164 Montague Street, corner of Montague and Clinton streets.

Kitty Wells, "Making Believe": we lost this country legend just last year. Video (probably from Grand Ole Opry) here.

James Brown, "Hold My Baby's Hand": an early hit for the Ambassador of Soul. Juke box video here.

St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church (Minard Lefever, 1847), across Montague from the Franklin Trust Building.

Handel, Music for the Royal Fireworks, HWV 351, La Rejouissance, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra: Handel heralds arrival home. Here's a YouTube audio clip with mountain scenery, orchestra unspecified.

Say, for what were hop-yards meant,
Or why was Burton built on Trent?
Oh many a peer of England brews
Livelier liquor than the Muse,
And malt does more than Milton can
To justify God’s ways to man.