Fun New Website

OK, maybe it's just new to me.

Below is a link to the"Blurb" website that will give you a preview of the 40 page book I just made. It's got a selection of photos from the 2007 holidays through our trip to the Carolinas in May.

It's fun to design and very inexpensive. Seems like we're all taking digital photos these days but never get them printed. I think this is a fun and easy way.

Hope you like it. Maybe there's a picture of you in there.

2007 - 2008

San Francisco to th...

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Book Preview

April Is The Cruelest Month

I mean, other than my anniversary, it doesn't have a lot going for it. So, to celebrate, I've got a short list of things we need to get rid of as soon as possible.

1.) Dick Vitale and John Madden. I can't possibly be the only person tired of Vitale's cutesy little phrases that he's been using since the '70's. Madden's the only person who does an NFL game and, after 3 hours, I actually feel like I know less about football.

2.) The term "Nation". When did this start? Red Sox Nation, Raider Nation, Live Nation, LSU Nation. It has all the cache of a Sam's Club membership.

3.) Movie stars with first and last names that rhyme. OK. There's Jack Black. I can't think of anyone else right now.

4.) Superdelegates. Is that one word or two? Do I need a hyphen?

5.) Any movie or music review with the words "ubiquitous", "eponymous" or "seminal" in it.

6.) The Travel & Leisure "World's Best Hotels" issue. Does this come out weekly? They're all Four Seasons hotels, anyway. Oh yeah, how about the 1,000 places to see before you die? The 1,000 movies to see before you die? The 1,000 presidential debates to see before you die?

7.) The Sports Illustrated Jinx. Yeah, that's working. Tiger Woods is on every third cover.

I have plenty more, but I'll stop now. I have an anxiety class to attend tomorrow.

LITTLE GIRL LOST

How old is Nellie McKay? When her debut album “Get Away From Me” came out, I read everything from eighteen to twenty-two. Not that it mattered, as it was an impressive debut (a double album, no less). Last year she left her label over a dispute as to how many songs should be on her next cd, “Pretty Little Head”. The album was delayed a year to accommodate her demand to release another double cd. This was followed up just a few months later with another release “Obligatory Villagers” that only had nine songs. Hmmm.

I always felt that her talent needed focus. One song sounds like something from “Pirates Of Penzance”, followed by a rap number, a humorous folk song and then a cover version of something written during the depression. Sometimes she sounds like Joni Mitchell, then Doris Day. She’s even written a soundtrack for a Rob Reiner movie.

The in-store was Nellie and a keyboard, with selections from her cd’s, and then some. If there was a set list, either written or in her head, we missed it. While very engaging and likeable, she would forget lyrics to her own songs. At one point, Hope and I whispered something to each other and, in the middle of a song, Nellie commented on how she wondered what we said to each other.

The 45 minute set was attended by about 50 people who, surprisingly, turned off NPR for that long to attend the event. A crowd far too small to represent a city as large as Long Beach.

Ms. McKay’s talent deserves a much larger audience. I think she’ll get it, but she’ll have to earn it by giving us a more cohesive version of her music. The percentage of the music-buying public that likes every kind of music is quite small. I’m guessing about 50 people in Long Beach.

She hung out for a signing afterward and, in unsurprising fashion, agreed to write anything we requested on the posters. Ours says, “Hope and Tony. Why is this poster hanging in the bathroom? Love Nellie McKay.” You’ll see it there the next time you’re over.

THE BEST OF 2007

(I stole this idea from Mrs. L.)

We've spent January catching up with the girls, home from college for the past few weeks, and watching the daily Presidential debates. Anyone excited yet?

BOOK OF THE YEAR - Although I enjoyed the exhaustive biography of Truman by David McCullough and the Eisenhower bio by Michael Korda, my book of the year was the biography of Walt Disney by Neal Gabler. I'd read a few Disney bio's over the years, but this was the first that didn't have an agenda. A fair portrait of the artist, quirks and all. Incidentally, Walt was cremated two days after his death. He is not frozen and stored under the "Pirates Of The Caribbean" ride. Maybe I should start reading some fiction.


MOVIE OF THE YEAR - I think I'm supposed to pick something that was nominated today for an Oscar, but I'm going with "Other People's Lives", an incredible psychological thriller from Germany, "3:10 to Yuma", and, my favorite, "The Bourne Ultimatum". You can rent all three on DVD.

ALBUM OF THE YEAR - If you've been paying attention, it was "The Trumpet Child" by Over The Rhine.

CONCERT OF THE YEAR - Zucchero at The Grove in Anaheim. I think every song was sung in Italian. I also think that Hope and I were the only people in attendance who didn't speak Italian. One of the more exciting live events I've seen in a couple of years. He is the Bruce Springsteen of Italy, ya know?

HOTEL OF THE YEAR - We were lucky to use all of my frequent stayer program points at some great hotels in Spain, but I gotta go with the "Hotel 1898" in Barcelona. Great room, right on Las Ramblas, pool, spa, and a great bar.

RESTAURANT OF THE YEAR - I hate driving to Los Angeles. Even on a weekend, I'll get stuck in an inexplicable traffic jam somewhere on the Harbor Freeway. Mozza's worth the wait. A pizzeria that requires reservations a month in advance. That Mario Batali knows his stuff.

ART EVENT OF THE YEAR - After 15 years of looking at the print in the kitchen, we finally got to see Manet's "Bar At The Folies Bergere" at the Getty. On loan from the Courtald Institute in London, the exhibition consisted of the one painting. The girls loved it.

SPORTING EVENT OF THE YEAR - This was tough. Was it my father's first baseball game? Angels vs. somebody at Los Angeles Angels Of Anaheim Stadium of Orange County, California? Was it the bullfight in Seville? I have to go with the game at Yankee Stadium. Yankees, White Sox, 8 home runs. Thanks, John.

WIFE OF THE YEAR - Who else would put up with my nonsense? And doesn't the hair look great!

ALBUMS OF THE YEAR

1.) The Trumpet Child / Over The Rhine – Where have I been? According to their website, this Cincinnati-based duo has been recording for 15 years. I won’t even try to describe their sound, only to say that it is distinctly American. Songwriter Linford Detwiler was recently named to as one of the 100 best living songwriters by Paste Magazine. Vocalist Karin Bergquist is truly amazing, particularly on the cut “I’m On A Roll”. If you could make love to a lyric, I think this is it. Incidentally, they also released a Christmas album this year, “Snow Angels”, that I can’t get Hope to stop playing.

2.) Back To Black / Amy Winehouse – Do ya like classic Motown, Stax and the Phil Spector girl-groups? Not a dog in the bunch, and she writes the songs! If you haven’t heard “Rehab” yet, you probably haven’t listened to much music in 2007.

3.) Magic / Bruce Spingsteen – Even better than it was last month.

4.) Time Being / Ron Sexsmith – If you don’t know his music, and this is album #8, you’ll feel as I did after listening to “Over The Rhine”. Clever songwriting with sparse arrangements, continuing in the fine Canadian tradition of Neil and Joni.

5.) Surrender / Jane Monheit – Still not a career-defining disk, but a good mix of contemporary and traditional jazz vocals with a few Brazilian songs that she has shown a fondness for over the past few years.

MUSICIAN OF THE MONTH

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN

About three months ago Starbucks started selling CD’s under their own label. The first release was Paul McCartney’s “Memory Almost Full”. Signs were everywhere proclaiming that this recording was “worthy of his musical legacy”, I guess suggesting that it was on a par with anything he wrote as a Beatle with the exception of “Rocky Raccoon.”

“I have nothing left to say
But I'm going to say it anyway
Thirty years upon a stage
And now I hear the people say
Why won't he go away?”

After repeated listenings (two), I swore I’d stop buying any new releases from these tired warhorses that I keep giving $15 to every couple of years. Of course, we’re not counting the annual “Greatest Hits” concerts of everyone from the Eagles to Elton John who haven’t written a new song since the Carter administration. Oh, I almost forgot the repackaged-remastered-40th anniversary edition-deluxe collectors edition of “The Best Of Fill-In-Any-Name-Here”. Does anyone not have a copy of “Won’t Get Fooled Again” by now, or did you just decide to buy it since you heard it on a Levitra ad?

“I have a family to support
But surely, that is no excuse
I've nothing further to report
Time you spend with me
Is time you lose”

We’re so desperate for crumbs from artists who wrote and performed the soundtracks of our baby-boomer adolescence that we’ll buy anything they put out decades after their creativity has gone. By and large, rock-and-roll has been a game for twenty-somethings. I’ll bet that 95% of the rock/soul songs you love were recorded before the artist was 35.

“When will I end this bitter game?
When will I end this cruel charade?
Everything I write all sounds the same
Each record that I'm making
Sounds like a record that I made
Just not as good!”

In the late seventies and eighties, a Springsteen release was always purchased on a Tuesday, the day it was available at the record store. His first record of new material since 2002 came out two weeks ago. No hurry. When I get a chance I might listen to a few samples on iTunes. How good could it be? He gets the AARP magazine just like the rest of them. Maybe there’ll be some outtakes from “Darkness On The Edge Of Town” or a new version of “I’m In The Mood For Love”. Has he done a duet with Tony Bennett yet?

I broke my promise and downloaded the album yesterday even though I’d already heard the first song “Radio Nowhere” a month ago and thought it sounded eerily like “Jenny (867-5309).”

I’m here to tell you that no one who released their first album in 1973 can even approach this level of writing and recording. My limited faith in artists slightly older than me has been resurrected. You’ll hear the tightest band in America stealing their own licks with sounds reminiscent of every Springsteen album from “Born To Run” through “The Rising”. Overall, it reminds me of “The River” with everything from the nostalgic ‘60’s sound of “Girls In Their Summer Clothes” to the social commentary of “Gypsy Biker”.

“Long Walk Home” is part 2 of “My Hometown” and pairs perfectly with “Last To Die”. It starts out with the feel of “Thunder Road” but presents us with adult questions instead of the statements of youth. “Who will be the last to die for a mistake?”


(Lyrics from “I’m Dead” by Randy Newman)