are they better than others?

The Eleven watch Tim's Vermeer the other night and it led to some discussion about artistry. One problem right off the bat is that I love Vermeer, always have, so the movie can be a bit of downer when you realize that it's premise - that Vermeer used a bit of technological sleight-of-hand - is more than likely true. What this led to was a spirited discussion of artistry, composition, and what is, no doubt, an endless debate about greatness. If an artist of grand repute (maybe not repute, but whatever) isn't quite what we may have been led to believe, is the underlying work somehow less creative?

I've immediately revisited my long lost "Milli Vanilli Treatise": Does the fact that who we thought was singing the song negate the quality of the song?



Sure, it's not great stuff by many standards, but it's pretty catchy, right? People were burning records when they found out they were lip-syncing (in fact, didn't even sing on the record), which doesn't seem to be much of an issue these days. I think half of the recording industry is full of people who hire songwriting talent - bring back the Brill Building!  - and then overproduce the 'records' and live shows. There's a lot of Milli Vanilli going on these days, we just seem used to it. So, does the fact that Vermeer composed his portraits and them probably used some form of optics to create them somehow violate what we consider great talent? Is the work less beautiful? Do we still believe, as we did/do with Vermeer, that there are actual genius who can see / hear / create beyond the capabilities of their peers?

We  know there are shortcuts in painting and recorded music (and in live musical performance in many cases), so are the two equal? Painting isn't normally done live so what may happen behind the scenes remains (or so it may have seemed ) a mystery. With musical performance we can ask to see or watch a performance to somehow validate skills, with caveats like minimal amplification and electronics. What about writing? Certainly there loads of great writers - Shakespeare being in question - that may or may not have written everything we assign to their genius. Does it matter? Is Hamlet less amazing if we find out it was penned by someone else?

What do I think? I still believe there are geniuses out who walk amongst mortals. Whether they are songwriters, performers, artists, or authors. Some may have an (unfair?) advantage of life lessons that can be encompassed in song or work. Some may have an ability to compose scenes and imagines in a way that no one else can manage. I think I'm aware of technology and tricks, and I'm okay with it.

sibbilance sibbiilance...ah, nevermind.

"Includes the 3 most popular blades (fine, medium ribbon, and ultra coarse) as well as a fourth slicer blade."

This is part of the description for a box grater that X had (broken) and now needs a new copy. I'm trying to come up with the list of ten most popular blades - and the seven that didn't make the box grater cut (ha ha). "Yes dear, I love this box grater, but I was really hoping for one with the large ribbon blade."

I went to see show a Sixth and I in D.C. last night, and couldn't be more disappointed in the outcome. Rarely do I feel like I'm suffering through something - I now have the feeling anew. The performance is hard to gauge, but that portion seemed to not be a contributing factor - the sound man needs to be fired. Probably needs to pay a fine for the shit he put out there. I've never heard such a complete pile of noise at a concert, particularly with an artist who thrives on vocals, lyrics, harmonies, etc. The only things you could actually hear were the 100x too loud drums and the way overamped bass guitar. Voices were completely lost. Banjo lost. keyboard - dude might as well have been sitting in the audience with us. Awful. Listen, I've been in that venue many times and sat in the exact same spot - exact spot - and the sound in the building is excellent. Sound mixes have been excellent. This was pure garbage. Also, worst guitar techs I've ever seen - hey dudes, why don't you stand stage left and stage right in the lights and sight lines and tune fucking guitars all night. Maybe you can crouch down and go back and forth across the front of the stage during songs. Hey, maybe you can not have the guitars ready on time for the the next song....hacks. It really makes me wonder about how few really good road sound engineers there are out there these days. This wasn't some 1,000 CD selling act - they are on a sold out tour across the US - and more will no doubt suffer. Unbelievable.

Find. I'm going to cut the lawn, once I get the damn kids of it.

hstry

I've had any number of discussions about the teaching of history in American schools. It's not like I went to some down-on-its luck high school where there weren't high quality teachers and solid course offerings. Those course offerings, though, were coarse - and a lot of it was just repeated at the college level. Such amazingly deep subjects like America Before 1865 and America After 1865.

What gets taught - drilled, roted - to youth is a timeline that looks something like this:

Columbus and the Pilgrams to America (at about the same time) > Revolutionary War and cruddy details > Eli Whitney and the Cotton Gin > Slavery > The Civil War > maybe a mention of Teddy Roosevelt > Pearl Harbor / WWII > the Kennedy assassination and other Kennedy stuff  > Vietnam >  Nixon / Watergate > Reagan > Some stuff up until the first Gulf War.

That's it, don't kid yourself. It's too easy to look back at what we may have read and learned since our high school or college days and think that we learned it way back when. Or, to think that our educational institutions weren't better or different than the majority of what's out there. We didn't learn anything in context to the events across the rest of the World. What was the state of the rest of the World during the Revolutionary War - and by that I could easily just mean the Western World since we don't spend any time learning about Asia. Africa? Nothing. I'm always amazed and full of wonder to listen to X riddle out some historical figure and associated time period through a process of costume and fashion. "Well, the collars, fabric, and hairstyles indicate the blah blah period, so the Han Dynasty would have been in power in China." I think that she can sort history by looking at someone's pants. But, that's exactly how history should be learned: what aligns with what across the globe.

The reason I'm back on this subject is because I've starting listening to Dan Carlin's Hardcore History podcast. Brilliant. He's got tons of episodes, but I'm into the ongoing series he's doing on WWI, Blueprint for Armageddon. It's absolutely stunning. Each podcast is over 3 hours long - he's just posted the fourth in the series - and they are addictive. It's the way history should be taught, even if this is a very specific period you get the idea that there is so much a student could take from just that four-year period and extrapolate associated subjects that provide areas of understanding and research. I can't recommend it enough. Of course, I have two hours of driving a day so I've got the time.

I'll eventually go back and listen to his other Hardcore podcasts, and probably his Common Sense offerings. Sometimes you find what appears to be the most amazing thing.

By the way, Columbus and the Pilgrams didn't come over together. Who doesn't know that?

from darkness

It's a bit of a music and show assemblage these days. We covered the Wilmington / Dennan gig already. I'm slated for Angus and Julia Stone on Saturday night with a friend. We have theatre on Friday night at Signature Theater, and I still need to talk a bit about Brandi Carlile's show
 at the Barns at Wolf Trap a few weeks ago.

Carlile's now complete Pindrop tour gave us her and the 'band' (Twins plus strings) playing small theatres with no amplification. Nothing was plugged in aside from some Edison lights strung about the stage. As she relayed during the show, they'd been thinking about a tour like this for any number of years and finally managed to pull if off - perfectly. There are only a handful of artists with the chops to do this, and by artist I include the Twins (Tim and Phil Hanseroth), and the wonderful string trio they brought along. You have to have serious oomph to play and sing in a room that holds 285 people - it's not for the meek projection. Carlile easily carried the room with her voice.

Last winter we had a power outage that started in the late afternoon, and as the sun was dipping down I was heading out the door to work. I'd gathered some 'hurricane lamp' candles and two flashlights as I was compiling what I needed for my workaday in the wilds of southern Maryland. All these beacons were gathered on the table and I pointed at them as I let the only teenager in the house know that , "There are candles and flashlights here on the table. You may need them as it gets darker. Your mother won't be home for a few hours."

"I don't need them. I want to maintain the integrity of my night vision." Okay pal, good luck with that plan.

This show was a bit like that teenager's dream: integrity of the music. I was in the front row of the balcony and as I checked out the room pre-show, I wondered just how the instruments and voices would carry. Clearly, they had a plan and had done the legwork (or studywork, or booking work...) to know that the 6 or 8 venues on order would provide the sound and clarity needed for the show. It all harkened back to seeing a bluegrass show - in particular, Steve Earle and the Del McCroury Band in London - that first showed me, with amplification in that case, that movement and projection is / was how musicians actually control who or what is out front: moving to and fro the microphone. I felt like I felt like Carlile was telling me that "we don't need amps, we want to maintain the integrity of the music." And that they did. It took half a song to realize that your ears adjust almost immediately to what level of sound is provided. Granted, it won't work in a 1,500 seat venue, but it will work in anything up to 300-400 in a designed venue. The notes and voices were so crystalline and pure that the next thing you realize is that all the electric-y stuff - wires, amps, volume knobs - each take away a little bit of the integrity of music. Don't get me wrong, I'll line up just as quickly for a rampaging Slobberbone show in a bar as I will for Brandi Carlile. But, this was pretty special. Damn, I wish I could sing.

Oh, if you're wondering how the night vision thing ended, it ended in the dark. X got home two or three hours later - illumination lost to the blinded - with a lone teenager declaring, "Where is everyone, I can't see anything! I've been here in the by myself for hours!"

Integrity indeed.

wilmington, redux

X thinks that the return to Wilmington was for the sole purpose of righting the dining wrong from our last visit. Sure, we did have reservations at La Fia this time - and yes, it was very good - but there was an interlude for music (Brett Dennen), and a return to the overly comfortable Hotel du Pont.

La Fia turned out to be exactly what I'd hoped: great atmosphere, excellent food, hip views of Market St. We opened with an order of scallops and the tart/quiche special, mains were gnocchi for both, desserts were the caramel pudding and the pumpkin creme brulee. Here's a great tip for restaurants out there that serve gnocchi - don't overdo it, especially with butter. I know that it's easy to think you'll get some taste with butter, but it simply drowns out whatever fresh tastes you're hoping to blend. Across our entire meal there was a welcome lack of butter, oversalting, and trickery used to hid mediocre cooking. After all, sauces were invented way back when to cover up bad product - stay away from it. Everything was excellent and they hit the killer in/out points perfectly: good bread, good coffee. Hey, it's the first and last impression you'll give me so why give me crappy dohack on the way out the door. I will never understand crap coffee. If you are even in Wilmington, I can hook you with where to say, where to eat (dinner and breakfast), and cool places to hang out.

The show was an acoustic shindig by Brett Dennen at Wilmington's World Cafe Live. We've been the WCL in Phlly, and the Wilmington venue is quite similar - at both places we had front row balcony seats, and at both shows the digs were good. I've gotten to the point where nice seats are more important that the great rock n' roll lifestyle. Well, unless Slobberbone is playing a bar near me. The show was great once Brett coyly put the 'talking' crowd in shape via some humorous ju-jitsu. Anyway, he's a much better guitar player than I expected, and as great a singer as I knew:


 

fare thee well...

We all have a few things in our lives that hold the center; you know, your favorite music, favorite lines of code, and favorites sandwiches. The Eleven swung by Song Que today - on a lark - to grab a #9 sandwich, one of the great sandwiches of the day. It's actually a banh mi, the #9 being a barbecued tofu version. They also have the best taro bubble tea around, and that's saying something considering it's located in Eden Center, the midst of the Vietnamese community. I guess something called us there on a Monday afternoon, and what luck, since they are closing after today. The deli is owned by a relative (I think a brother) of the same family that runs Four Sisters in Falls Church. It has long been a favorite deli not only for the sandwiches and bubble tea, but myriad fruits and offerings that you don't see anywhere else. Sad to see them pull up stakes, but glad we had dozens of great sandwiches there.

Off to quiz for the evening. We are three-member team these days so we've tumbled back to our lower top ten position when we make it out. I'm drinking a mug of Brain Food tea...this may work out.

L. is back from Victoria. Maybe I'll have her guest blog since she won't blog on her blog. Blog on your own blog! Here are some shots of her and the birds of prey she was hanging around with in Victoria.

tap tap tapas

Last week the 51 ventured out to the pastoral wilds of northern Virginia. It was planned, no worries. We were destined for a morning visit to Red Truck Bakery – our second visit – in order stock up on whatever might be on offer. Last visit it was the rum cake; this visit it ended up being a lovely lemon cake, two focaccia loaves for dinner, and a few snacks. Even though the bakery was pre-planned, what drove us outside the Beltway was strawberry season, particularly the pick-your-own operations. We targeted Hollin Farms for the mid-week visit. The farm sits in an amazingly beautiful valley surrounded by some early Shenandoah low mountains; a valley full of orchards and vegetables. We ended up with eight-and-half pounds of berries that primarily served the house as strawberry shortcake. We’ll certainly be back out later in the season for peaches and pears.

Mid-week took the 61 to Woolly Mammoth for The Totalitarians – a pretty hilarious yarn about politics based in Nebraska. When one of the leads points out that it has the only unicameral statehouse it harkened back to my youth. Well, that and the huge state capitol prop, mentions of Broken Bow and Blair, and what was a general Nebraska vibe. Since we also marry up activities we were forced to down tapas and awesome drinks at Jaleo. It’s not hard to spend two-and-a-half hours eating and gabbing in a place like that; probably our most reliable destination in D.C.

Moving toward Vermont….only ten days.

Oh, there they are…

i was spinning 'round a dead dial

I’m constantly amazed at how much I enjoy listening to radio shows. No, not “The Big Party” morning show blasting out of Omaha on 94.1 FM. Listening to Prairie Home Companion or This American Life when driving home from work stills puts me in a solid state of mind. Give me some David Sedaris with a story and I’m doing just fine. There is a local show in D.C., The Big Broadcast, which is four hours of old radio serials and which seems to align the shows with my drive so that I always get replays of “Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar”on the way home. I’ve become quite fond of Johnny Dollar, but am still amazed that the idea for a show about an insurance investigator on the road solving ‘crime’ actually came to fruition. The tagline….”"the transcribed adventures of the man with the action-packed expense account — America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator,” is priceless. Action-packed expense account? Sweet. Of note, it’ll be pretty sad when Car Talk wraps up next year – what I know about cars, and that’s precious little, I learned from that show. Sort of like what I know about religion I learned from Dogma.

best...

I drove by an auto shop the other; a shop I drive by often and always think about giving my custom. The Versa that I use for commuting needs a tune-up,  just a run-of-the-mill tune-up that will probably sort a few little things that bother me. The shop, Japanese Auto Repair Specialists, was at one point named the “Best in Arlington,” so that’s promising. What I wonder is this: are Japanese cars any different these days? There must have been a time where Japanese cars were built with square screws and trapezoidal axels because ever since I was young there have been Japanese auto specialists. I don’t actually understand how the original Honda Civics and Datsun B210s differed, but I am willing to bank that there’s precious little separating the mechanical needs of a Camry and a Lumina (do they still make those?). On the other hand, there is clearly something different in working on a Mercedes, primarily what appears to be a massively inflated exchange rate.

We are in the dead zone run-up to the summer’s vacation in Vermont. Not quite close enough to do serious menu and packing planning just yet. I think the three-week mark is when it all starts coming together. The plan is up through eastern NY start – the Binghamton/Schenectady route – and then ferrying over to South Hero. Return will be via Vermont so that I can bowl. We do have to sort which kids are flying up and back since Galactica can’t comfortably carry what are now five adults.

Last night, as you do, we gathered the gang and went to pick up a pile of rock out in Vienna. Someone was feeling a bit lost at the cube of bricks have gradually disappeared from the driveway. There was a deal on hundreds of pounds of stones that seem to be destined for a corner rock border. This was a perfect scenario for having three teenagers accessible. Didn’t take long, and we all got ice cream afterwards...

duck!

At some point about a month ago I got duckpin bowling on my brain brought on by a local NPR story about a house and its owner. He'd started out as a pinboy (a term I'm making up), eventually moved on to manage a number of houses, and then bought White Oak Lanes in Maryland. I've bowled - lots - but have never seen duckpin bowling. (As an aside, some research led directly to the New England cousin  - candlepin bowling - of which we will partake next month.) On my off day, the 51 headed north to Maryland for a few lines of duckpin bowling at White Oak. Our reward was one of the coolest games ever - better than regular bowling. Sure, it's basically the same sport,except you get three balls per frame with the same basic scoring requirements, but it's a much more technical game. Add in the fact that these lanes are such a throwback to the great days of self scoring on paper, pinball machines, and that bowling alley feel, and I was in heaven. L. was quite impressed by the entire situation and was right up for the challenge of three games - the final two being a pitched battle between us for high score. It was more than one could hope for, and we'll return often.

After our expedition we snuck back into DC for a first visit to the (somewhat) new Union Market in NE.  Since it's only a block from Litteri's ("Kings of the World"), we knew we could get a two-fer. The market is nice, particularly on a quiet Thursday afternoon with no crowds, and it stands out for the new (to me) cheese place, Righteous, and a branch of Peregine Coffee (best DC coffee, hands down). Righteous hooked me up with long-lost and hard-to-find Sofia goat cheese (from here); Peregrine treated me to a lovely latte. The rest of the market is acceptable enough with a cool kitchen/home shop on one end, and a knife/monger that caught my attention. Beyond that there are some wine places, eating place, butchers, and a few other unmemorable businesses. It's nice, but not stunning - I'll drive to Florida Ave. for Litteri's, probably not for the Market. That said, they'll get some collateral visits.

Oh, there they are.

green, my ass

It's been a good while since I got a parking ticket in DC. About ten days ago they hit me while the 51 was at Eastern Market on a Sunday. I can almost guarantee they've changed the parking regs on 6th St NW since we've parked on all those blocks on Sundays at least 15 times. Fine, I'll pay.

I was impressed with the "Go Green option" on the tickets. For some reason, e-mail notification does not interest me at all...

the great southwest

My weekend in Tucson was lovely. Even the long flights worked out well enough with only my final return leg from DFW to DCA being a big uncomforable (leg room issues). I'd certainly fly American again before considering another airline for cross-country travel.

I had cocktails and dinner with Mr. and Mrs. Smith on Saturday night at Scott &  Co. (return visit) before dinner at Poca Casa across the street (another return visit). Hopefully, it was welcome break for the Mister, who is in the midst of working loads of hours while piling on 12 or 16 hours of college - admirable, if debilitating. Company and cocktails were excellent; I'd been longing for some Campari and/or bitters so the Lying Bastard served me just fine. Dinner was good, if not as excellent as it was during our December visit - my tamale was good, not great; service wasn't up to par. I won't not go back, but they get one more chance to tip the scales. On Sunday the missus and I met at the Heirloom Farmers Market for some coffee, brunch-y stuff, and a bit of shopping; we had a nice long chat over her waffle and my coffee. I actually did some wandering and shopping before we met: great Mexican chocolate, bags of heirloom beans, hand ground flour, some pepper, and a fine locally roasted bag of decaf French Roast beans. I always forget the limits on volume when flying - I managed to get everything in my bag along with the two bottles of Arizona Stronghold wine which is nearly impossible to find here (they also don't ship to Virginia.) Sunday night we did a melodrama - impossible to find just about anywhere in America these days - at the Gaslight Theatre. It was a wonderful visit and an enjoyable journey that I'd let slip over away over the years.

Oh, there they are:

I stay two nights in the Catalina House at the Azure Gate Bed and Breakfast - top marks. The house had a loft bedroom over a comfortable living room and half kitchen. Fantastic breakfasts created by chef/owner Dennis complemented a beautifully conceived layout and accessories. It will certainly be my base of operations for future Tucson trips.

the longer walk of consideration

I know, nitpick-y. When I'm waiting to turn right at a crosswalk I often encounter the ped who is trying to be helpful - and that should be good enough, right? - by angling his path further down (away from me) the target sidewalk. I appreciate the effort, but I'd be better served (and it's all about me) by you doing the old straight across the walk. It's math. I know you're saying, "Well, maybe he also picks up this pace; starts doing that officeworker jog." If that's the case, just do the officeworker jog straight ahead.

Hey, it's my Monday.

omar's coming!

A quick follow up to our Wilmington trip. Wilmington has its issues like any number of older East Coast cities, but it also has a great vibe. In particular, the North Market Street area that is home to the Grand Opera House where we saw our show, and the Queen which hosts Wilmington’s World Café Live shows. There are also loads of restaurants, a great bookstore, and any number of new shops and cafes opening that are clearly tapping into what appears to be a new growth area. It is also not white – yes, people white. You learn quickly in Wilmington that it has a history of culture and music, a lot of which falls under not only rock and roll, but blues, soul, and a questionable claim to Bob Marley. As I was writing some Yelp! Review – yes, I do those – there was a review for The Grand from two days after we were there. Here is an excerpt:

“I am saying this because this venue has no parking what so ever. We witnessed several open air drug transactions as we looked for parking.  I was afraid to park my car and walk blocks to the door in broad daylight.  I can only imagine how scary it would be in the dark at night.”

He gave it one star. And they turned around and went home, eating their tickets.  I passed this nugget along to X who immediately dropped something along the lines of, “What? I felt perfectly safe and we there at night.” And then the coup de grace on this guy, “What exactly does an ‘open air’ drug deal look like?” Well, it looks like non-white people on street corners, apparently. Or, it looked like this, and this guy was all in the know on drug deals. Open air drug deals – MULTIPLE open air drugs deals. During the day!

Come to think of it, it’s probably time to go back and watch the entire run.

mise en place

Piles of work. You know how you feel when you are trundling to the gym for the eleventy-millionth time? At some point, shouldn’t some number of trips hold you for the rest of your life? 

“Hey guys, I just found out that once you hit the gym 1,000 times then your body will stay as it is from any point after that. Do 1,500 if you want, but you’ll never be in less shape than you were at visit 1,000.”

There was some work being done to the exterior of Winterthur this spring. All about the outside of the house were piles and piles of unassembled scaffolding ready to be, well, assembled. Remembering that I have zero skills when it comes to toolery or building, I was a bit in awe of the amount of pipe/structure, connections, and other stuff needed to build scaffolding around a four-story mansion. I should have taken a picture – would have made the story better, right? Anyhow, thinking about a job like repainting an abbey seems like trouble enough. Having to assemble and unassemble all the damn scaffolding makes it three times the work.

Every spring we begin to see the endless creation and de-creation of festival needs across DC. The Cherry Blossom Festival is the first that requires the standing of all the temporary fencing along busy, Mall-adjacent roads; keeps the tourists from darting across Ohio Ave. while I’m drinking my coffee and chauffeuring my better half to work. The fences will come down and a week later they’ll go back up. The temporary tents and stands go up; they come down. They will go up again. Just the areas that I see require at least six or seven different ups and downs over the summer, and this is some major construction. It may be the worst job I can think of, “Todd, go put up the massive tent in the open space near the Bureau of Engraving.” So, I take my truck, gather that huge tent and get it up and ready. “Todd, go take down the same tent and put it back in storage.” Good news, it’s down and stored. One week later, “Todd, go put up the massive tent in the open space near the Bureau of Engraving.” Are you fucking kidding me? I just took it down!” Over and over and over. “Hey, fence-erector guy, can I swap with you? I hate that tent.” I wonder what chores they have over the winter?

Of course, X pointed out that cooking dinner is the same process. You think to yourself,, “I’ll make some chili tomorrow night, easy peasy.” Well, aside from shopping (if needed), cutting, prepping, cooking, setting the table, serving, clearing, washing dishes, and wiping down the kitchen.  I guess this is why the answer I get from H. is “about 20 minutes” when I ask him how much time does he think making dinner takes. Not that he should really know, but it seems to reflect on about everything in life.

I can only think that getting in bed at night doesn’t require more than just getting in bed.

This all means nothing. Unfortunately, you’ll now just aggravate yourself adding up the steps required to do what you think is just one item on your checklist.

You’re welcome.