Sunday, July 31, 2011
Too optimistic
Sure, political dysfunction, economic disaster, but he didn't even mention global warming...
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Friday, July 22, 2011
Hey Rocky...
... watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat!
I keep hoping that Obama will produce the debt ceiling rabbit, but Prof. Krugman seems to think the GOP bear is more likely. I fear he is correct. He usually is.
I keep hoping that Obama will produce the debt ceiling rabbit, but Prof. Krugman seems to think the GOP bear is more likely. I fear he is correct. He usually is.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Charlie Hunter and Scott Amendola
Heard them from the second row at the Dana Street Roasting Company, a smallish coffee house in Mountain View. Wow. You should catch them if they visit your neighborhood. They play, and they play, as in playful.
If you are unfamiliar, Hunter finger-picks a 7-(or 8-)string guitar, thumping out the bass line while improvising on the higher strings. His technique is kinda superhuman, although it does impose some limitations on the fluidity of his solo lines. Amendola is a jazz drummer in the modern mold, specializing in Caribbean-tinged grooves and funky backbeats. Good with the brushes as well. The highlight of the night for me was his quiet solo on "Body and Soul" (I think): the sticks swishing and tapping the cymbals, maintaining an evolving ringing tone while he explored the rhythm on the skins.
Kudos to Dana Street RC for bringing real music to our boring little suburb.
If you are unfamiliar, Hunter finger-picks a 7-(or 8-)string guitar, thumping out the bass line while improvising on the higher strings. His technique is kinda superhuman, although it does impose some limitations on the fluidity of his solo lines. Amendola is a jazz drummer in the modern mold, specializing in Caribbean-tinged grooves and funky backbeats. Good with the brushes as well. The highlight of the night for me was his quiet solo on "Body and Soul" (I think): the sticks swishing and tapping the cymbals, maintaining an evolving ringing tone while he explored the rhythm on the skins.
Kudos to Dana Street RC for bringing real music to our boring little suburb.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Beautiful Chicago
Highlights of my latest (and Laura's first) visit included...
...the extraordinary Chicago Cultural Center with two (count 'em) spectacular stained glass domes, one surrounded by intricate Tiffany glass mosaics...
...the glorious prairie gardens in Millennium Park...
... caldo with Alexi at Rick Bayless's Xoco...
...staying in the Burnham Hotel, in Atwood, Burnham, and Root's extraordinary 1895 Reliance Building...
... funky blues at Kingston Mines...
By the way, the Chicago climate sucks...
...the extraordinary Chicago Cultural Center with two (count 'em) spectacular stained glass domes, one surrounded by intricate Tiffany glass mosaics...
...the glorious prairie gardens in Millennium Park...
... caldo with Alexi at Rick Bayless's Xoco...
...staying in the Burnham Hotel, in Atwood, Burnham, and Root's extraordinary 1895 Reliance Building...
... funky blues at Kingston Mines...
By the way, the Chicago climate sucks...
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Budget politics
Maybe I'm missing something, but it seems the recurring pattern is that each time the parties are near "agreement" on a plan for raising the debt limit, Congressional Republicans introduce new demands, and the President gets a little petulant, but then, statesman that he is, he "compromises" by capitulating to the previous set of Republican demands. This is not a good dynamic.
Monday, July 4, 2011
Most reliable music genre
Say you are browsing internet radio by genres. What genre of popular music is most likely to be quite acceptable, or LEAST likely to be unlistenable? I vote for "alt-country." You?
Top underpaid players
You really do have to feel for LeBron, underpaid to the tune of $20 million a year. I wish someone would do this sort of calculation for university faculty... I am sure I must be underpaid by at least $20 a year.
Saturday, July 2, 2011
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