I Forgot I Had This Blog

Recently, several friends mentioned that they thought I should write a blog. One thought it should be pop culture focused. Another thought that it should be all about traveling and where to go eat. It  never occurred to me to mention that I started a blog three years ago and quickly abandoned it. That is not the plan if you want anybody to read the damn thing. A lot has happened over those three years - some of it good, some of it awful. This week, I thought I might give the blog another shot. I want a forum to gasbag about things I care about - food, booze, movies, music, books, TV, gardening, travel, education, newspapers. Can't say I won't give it up again, but I'll try to remain loyal true and steadfast.

Things I Dig

• The Wire, the best television series ever made
• Mad Men and Deadwood, damn close to being the best television series ever made
• Hearing my wife say hi at the other end of the phone
• Hearing my wife say goodnight before we fall asleep
• Bobby Keys' saxophone solo on "Brown Sugar"
• My recliner
• Whenever my brother Rob does an imitation of my nana or my Uncle Tony
• DeNiro and Scorcese together
• Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee together in Do The Right Thing
• The Coen Brothers and anybody (although the one with Tom Hanks didn't work so well)
• Annie Hall
• Hearing my father recount the plot of any episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm"
• Paris in late spring or early summer
• Anthony Bourdain - on TV and in print
  
• Playing the bass and jamming with friends
• Otis Redding singing "These Arms of Mine"
• TEVA sandals
• Stand-up comedy live at a comedy club with a fake brick backdrop on the stage
• Wilson Pickett's cover of "Hey Jude"
• The Black Keys cover of "She Said She Said"
  
• Medium rare rib eye with a baked potato
• Turner Classic Movies
• Steely Dan
  
• The first cup of coffee
• Cargo pants (sad but true)
• San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood
• Hell, every neighborhood in San Francisco
  
• The perfection that is nine innings with three outs per side and 90 feet between home plate and first base
• Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail. Nobody nails down Nixon quite like the good Dr. Thompson
  
• Red Rocks Amphitheater
• Blue cheese (Gorgonzola and Stilton especially)
• Salman Rushdie
  
• Greenwich Village
• The sound of my nieces and nephews singing Christmas carols
• Kalamata olives
• All manner of Japanese cuisine, be it sushi, sashimi, teriyaki, soba, or tempura
• High quality bourbon (especially this one and this one) served neat or with a splash of club soda
• My wife's fried chicken
• Junot Diaz' amazing novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
• Cheeseburgers from 5 Guys
• Dinner out - especially if we are going here, here, here, here or here
• The "Restaurant Wars" episode of Top Chef
• Extra thick chocolate milkshakes
• Richard Ben Cramer's What It Takes (extraordinary political reporting and writing)
  
• The sound of a 12-string Rickenbacker and two-part harmony
• Any music that is designed to remind the listener of "Paperback Writer" or The Byrds' version of "Chimes of Freedom"
• My Kindle
• Buying Girl Scout cookies from plucky little salesgirls who set up card tables in front of the King Soopers
• Any opinion column written by the legendary Christopher Hitchens

That ought to do for now.

Happy Valentines Day

Yeah I know I'm late. Been busy. Please forgive me. Settle in, pour a glass of pinot noir, snuggle up to the one you love and enjoy one of the greatest slow jams ever.

Our Nation's Capital

Spent a weekend in Washington DC - a city that gives new meaning to the phrase urban renewal. Seems like every time I'm there another section of town is in the midst of a gentrifying renascence. My close friend Dave lives there and my Christmas gift from my fabulous wife was a President's Day weekend trip to visit. Short but enjoyable. We spent lots of time in Dave's living room having a few cocktails and playing records. Other highlights:

• Taking in the sold-out Drive By Truckers show at DC's legendary 930 club - they played a tight, energetic set of music that I enjoyed but Dave thought was too much "jam band noodling"

• Following up the rock show with a couple of half-smokes with chili at Ben's Chili Bowl on U Street - a DC institution famous for its catering to tipsy concert goers in need of greasy sustenance. (For the uninitiated - a half-smoke is a smoked beef sausage)

mmmm....chili

• An afternoon at the extremely well-worth visiting Newseum, which is Nirvana for a news junkie. Beautiful facility located right off The Mall and really terrific interactive exhibits and artifacts that help tell the story of American journalism - warts and all. My favorite exhibit was the collection of historic newspapers going back to the Colonial Era.

a history of the United States told by the front page

• An evening spent in the Capitol Hill neighborhood dining at the spectacular Ted's Bulletin on 8th St. SE. Really cool 1930s pharmacy interior mixed with high end home-cooking. I ate roast chicken with a side of the most delicious brussels sprouts ever made. Yeah I said brussels sprouts and delicious in the same sentence. Of course, they were made with bacon and a bit of Maytag blue cheese

John F. Kennedy famously poked fun at DC - calling it a "model of Northern charm and Southern efficiency" It doesn't deserve that reputation and hasn't for some time. It is hip and fun to walk around in and truly beautiful to look at - with one of the best public transit systems in the US. Perfect for a quick weekend.

Boston

I don't apologize for how much I love this band - even though it has been fashionable to make fun of them for years. This was the first rock album I bought with my own money. I play it regularly even today and am surprised at how catchy the tunes are and how well produced a record it is. Boston sounds goods. While grading papers during a planning period, I was enjoying a little Don't Look Back when a student came in my office for something. He asked who I was listening to and I told him. He took note of it and went on his way. Today - almost a month later - he wore the t-shirt with the above logo. Guess it took

Whatever happened to...

The Smithereens? I always thought they were one of the great power pop bands of the 80s, which was a golden age in many ways for catchy melodic rock and roll that sounded like The Beatles and Cheap Trick had a baby. I once saw them play to 35 people in Greenville, SC supporting their greatest hits album. They had just played the same town and the same club three months before and, mysteriously to all concerned, were booked there again. In spite of the sparse crowd, they played their hearts out. They opened with a blistering version of this song - my favorite from them hands down

Tonight at The Mayan

A month-long Scorsese film festival kicks off with his first great film, Mean Streets. I'm looking forward to seeing this on a large screen. I haven't seen a great DeNiro performance in a movie theater in years. His choice to become a buffoon (and not a particularly amusing one) saddens me a bit. I think I'll have more to say on that later.