Russian Ridge

A very nice spot to do some social distancing this time of year. Do watch your step.

Everybody's baking...

... but who can compete with my walnut and dried cherry sourdough country loaf? Tastes as good as it looks... Ha!

We gots da meat!

Thank God for Mr. Trump, and pass the A.1.

Jazz جاز

On Spotify. Some of it is a little schmaltzy, but most of it hits the sweet spot between pleasure, edge, and exoticism. Arab musical styles– and Arab vocal technique especially, with its fluidity and bendiness– are a natural fit for jazz.

Lee Konitz, RIP

Cool jazz was cool, but still, there was something simmering.

Songs for hunkering down

Back in the day, folks would gather around the family radio and listen to live performances at a safe social distance. Popular music, classical music, comedy, drama... and of course Frank Sinatra. As we try to re-learn how to do it, we can enjoy the master, as he came into his prime. Frank Sinatra, Selections from A Voice On Air (1935-1955).

Caroline

What is it about Caroline? She inspired quite a few songs, and some of them are even pretty good, including one of the most beautiful songs ever recorded.

Caroline no, yes, the very best...



Days and weeks and nights... the under-appreciated Silos...



Yeah, Neil, it's undeniable...



Needless to say he inspired covers, this one by the Pride of Oklahoma...



This young fellow Aminé adds a pretty good song to the Caroline canon...



Sarah Makem... what a voice... and a fine old tale indeed...

John Prine, RIP

Shame

Disfranchisement Midwestern style, with a boost from our five hacks on the U.S.S.C.

What is Donald Trump?

"... in the end, he’s neither an autocrat nor an authoritarian. He’s just a sad little man who craves approval but has never gotten it." This seems about right, but the puzzle is how a sad little man manages to attract so many sycophants who have actual authority, and who thus enable all the damage he causes.

Tomatoes

The NY Times / Wirecutter rates this the best canned tomato, and, amazingly, our local independent grocer had a number of cans in stock at a reasonable price just the other day. A good tomato deserves to be made into the best sauce, which is of course Marcella Hazan's. If you live near Palo Alto, do visit our friends at The Market. Mangia!

Bending that logarithmic curve

Dr. Birx: “We have to change that slope; we have to change the logarithmic curve that we’re on,” she said of the steep increases in cases in many parts of the country. “We see country after country having done that, what it means in the United States is not everyone is doing it.”

Maybe if nothing else this experience will lead to a little more seriousness about Algebra II. Whether the curve is bending elsewhere as she claims... we shall see.