I’ve been posting about politics and music lately, obsessed by the one and trying to use the other to chill out. Here’s a much more useful, incalculably cooler Latin combination of the two, from Jose Conde y Ola Fresca. The … Continue reading
It was another beautiful crisp morning, and when Paul and I got over to the cemeteries at perhaps 7:45, here’s what we saw, lifting off from the unused part of New North: There were four or five of these fellows—the … Continue reading
James Wolcott wrote yesterday in his Vanity Fair blog that John McCain’s speaking style “on the page would look as dashy as a paragraph from Tristam Shandy or Byron’s letters. No architecture, no sense of swell and ebb, no buildups … Continue reading
Writing the other day about Lionel Hampton’s lyric on “Vibraphone Blues” got me thinking about other lyrics I especially like. The first one that came to mind wasn’t a lyric, per se, but a set of responses. One of Frank … Continue reading
Paul and I are back to walking together every morning. Here he is, strolling through dry-at-the-moment Lake H. I’d been away, and he’d been sequentially cosmopolizing and under the weather. It’s been chilly the last few mornings—just about at freezing, … Continue reading
I often have music on while I write, but I play it low and zone it out. Some things won’t let me ignore them, though, and late this afternoon I was returned to consciousness by the Benny Goodman Quartet doing … Continue reading
Old but no less interesting posts here and here on the Obama campaign’s much-admired logo, some cool variations on which you can see here. My favorites are the ones for kids… and, tellingly, Republicans. In my very Republican town, it … Continue reading
I like the jazzier end of swing, so I’m not a big Glenn Miller fan. But I love the Nicholas Brothers on the Chattanooga Choo-Choo, and I’ve always loved Dorothy Dandridge’s bit, partly for the way it wonderfully finesses that … Continue reading
Stung by key injuries, the Red Sox couldn’t get over the hump, and the amazing, heretofore terrible Tampa Bay Rays won the Eastern Division by two games. The Sox did make the playoffs as the wildcard, and they’ll begin their … Continue reading
I haven’t been able to run with H because of TABBS (Temporary Ancient Body Breakdown Syndrome), but we’ve had some good walks together. My primary walking partner, however, continues to be sweet B, with whom I carry on mostly one-sided … Continue reading