J.J. Cale, 1938-2013

J.J. Cale, the Oklahoma native singer and songwriter whose work was performed by Eric Clapton and Lynyrd Skynyrd, among many others, died today at 74. In the clip above, he performs "Call Me the Breeze," a song recorded by Skynyrd. He's accompanied on this version by Clapton.

Cale's "Tulsa Sound" (not his term) was an amalgam of blues, country, and rockabilly. It was a precursor to what is today called "alt country," "Americana," or "roots" music. He may have been an influence on the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, and others in taking rock back toward its country music partial ancestry.

Richard Wagner, Götterdämmerung, Seigfried's Funeral March

Today is the bicentennial of Richard Wagner's birth. The clip above, thanks to mitjanus, is of Siegfried's Funeral March from Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods), the fourth and climactic opera in Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, or as it's usually called in English, the "Ring Cycle." (Was it an influence on Tolkien? The author of The Lord of the Rings denied it, but as Alex Ross in The New Yorker argued, it almost certainly was.)

The performance is by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, directed by Klaus Tennstedt. The Sturm und Drang is momentarily broken at 5:50 when Tennstedt drops his baton.

Bing and the Duke: "St. Louis Blues."

In 1932, Bing Crosby recorded this with Duke Ellington and his orchestra. An early example of Irish soul music, anticipating The Commitments?

Thanks to old Lion's Head friend Mike Pearl for the link, and nicoley133 for the clip.

Rembrandt van Rijn, 1606-1669

Google's search engine start page today reminds me that this is the 407th anniversary of the birth of perhaps the most celebrated painter in the western canon, Rembrandt van Rijn. Above is a self portrait done when he was about 28. Note the brilliant (in both senses) use of illumination on his face and collar, the almost palpable fleshiness of his face and texture of his garment, and the intensity of his half-shaded eyes.

Although Rembrandt is best known for his portraiture, his landscapes are also sublime. The Mill (1645-48) again demonstrates his skillful use of light, as well as the delicacy and precision of his brushwork, as seen in the cirrus clouds at the top of the painting, the texture of the cliff face, and the woods on the far shore.

Addendum: Michael Sorgatz tells me they've just rehung the Rembrandt gallery at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and that it's "fantastic."

Images: Self-Portrait, Wikipaintings; The Mill, Wikipedia.

Dolly, Faut y croire. Happy Bastille Day!

Dolly was one of France's most popular rock bands from the early 1990s until 2005, when their bassist, Mickaël "Micka" Chamberlin, died in a car crash. After that, the group stopped recording and touring, but later, the surviving three members--Emmanuelle "Manu" Monet, the charismatic lead vocalist and guitarist; drummer Thierry Lacroix; and guitarist Nicolas "Nico" Bonnière--added a new bassist and began performing as "Manu."

I once suggested, not entirely in jest, that the Mets ditch the inane "Meet the Mets" as their fight song, and replace it with Faut y croire, which roughly translates as "Ya gotta believe!"

Addendum: A friend asks this question on Facebook: "Why does it sound like they're saying 'delenda est' after the title lyric?" My reply: "Maybe they are."

I forgot to mention that there are Bastille Day festivities right here in my neck of the woods.

Michael Simmons, "As I Walk by the Moon"

My erstwhile Lion's Head drinking companion Michael Simmons, now living in L.A., has been a steady source of mostly music related material for this blog, including a clip of the song "Instant Forget" by his band Slewfoot that was very popular according to the stats I get from Google. Now I have a clip, thanks to Kassamiia (aka Tiina Bockrath), of a very young Michael's solo performance, accompanying himself on acoustic guitar, of a lovely song titled "As I Walk by the Moon," which he wrote with Barry Parker. The audio is accompanied by a still photo of Michael by John Duke Kisch.

British Pathé Newsreel: S.S. United States wins the Blue Riband on her maiden voyage.

The Blue Riband? It's an award that is not likely ever to be given again. It was for the passenger ship that made the fastest crossings, both eastward and westward, of the Atlantic, measured between the Ambrose Lightship off New York harbor and Bishop's Rock off Cornwall, England. S.S. United States won it on her maiden voyage in 1952, and retired with the title as transatlantic jet service supplanted ships. Queen Mary 2 annually makes one or two  transatlantic voyages between  my beloved Brooklyn and Southampton, England, traditional home port for Cunard liner services. Designed for cruising, Queen Mary 2 is unlikely to challenge any speed records.

Unfortunately, the United States is now in danger of going for scrap. The S.S. United States Conservancy, headed by Susan Gibbs, granddaughter of William Francis Gibbs, the marine architect and engineer who designed the great ship, is trying to raise funds to save her.  I'm hoping she may be preserved as a floating museum and perhaps hotel at a pier along what used to be "ocean liner row" on the west side of Manhattan, where she used to dock.

Update: The Conservancy has a Facebook page. Please consider giving them a "like."

Messrs Shreve, Lamb and Harmon, and Usher, wish you a happy Fourth.

Shreve, Lamb and Harmon's 1931 masterpiece, still the world's tallest art deco building, is resplendent in its Independence Day illumination. William F. Lamb, the building's principal designer, used his  design for the 21 story Reynolds Building in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, completed in 1929, as a starting point for his ESB plans. He was also inspired by the 49 story Carew Tower in Cincinnati (W.W. Alschlager & Associates/Delano & Aldrich, 1930).

Here's Usher, in the ESB's gorgeous lobby, turning on the lights. Have a happy holiday!

Pirates best in MLB?

My Mets have been showing some signs of life lately, so my earlier speculation that they might give the 1962 Mets a run for the season loss record has pretty much gone a-glimmering. Right now, they're at bat and leading the D-backs 2-1 in the bottom of the seventh with the bases loaded and no outs, and there's a rain delay. If they manage to win, they'll be ten games under .500 and in fourth place in the NL East, a familiar place for them. I can take some comfort in the fact that the Yanks are now in the same position in the AL East.

This would seem to be a good time to stop thinking about baseball and concentrate on important stuff, like the question posed by Dennis Overbye in his New York Times column yesterday:

Is the truth of the world to be found in the ways things change, like the river that you cannot step into twice, or the ways they remain the same, like the law of gravity or, indeed, the name of that river?

Well, "the way things remain the same" brings me back, unhappily, to the Mets. But "the way things change" brings to mind this startling fact: the Pittsburgh Pirates now have the best record in Major League Baseball. I can remember, back in the late 1980s and early '90s, when the Pirates were a respectable team, my thinking, "If only the Mets could have Bobby Bonilla." Since 1992, when they finished first in the NL East (they have since been moved to the Central) the Pirates have had twenty straight losing seasons, an MLB record.

We're not quite to the All Star break yet, and things could change drastically between now and October. Still, I can't help but think about 1960 when the "Beat 'em Bucs!" Pirates, emerging from another long period of mediocrity, won the NL pennant, and took the heavily favored Yankees to game seven, decided by Bill Mazerowski's walk-off homer (see video above).

Should the Pirates win the Real Baseball League pennant, as a Pennsylvania native I'll root for them against just about any Phony Baseball League champion.  Possible exceptions are the Red Sox, out of spousal loyalty, and the Rays, out of old hometown loyalty, although Tampa had no Rays until long after I left and had formed my loyalty to the Mets.

Neil Young sings Ian Tyson's "Four Strong Winds." Happy Canada Day!

One great Canadian singer and songwriter performs a song by another, with some help from Willie Nelson.

The Texas Archives War

The statue in the photo above is of Angelina Eberly.  I'd never heard of her until I read Gail Collins's column Wendy and the Boys in Wednesday's New York Times. The column focuses on Texas State Senator Wendy Davis's filibuster that succeeded in stopping a bill that may have effectively outlawed all abortions in Texas. Ms. Collins began it thus:

There is an old saying that Texas is “heaven for men and dogs, but hell for women and oxen.” But the state’s history is chock-full of stories of female role models. Barbara Jordan. Ann Richards. In downtown Austin, there’s a statue of Angelina Eberly, heroine of the Texas Archives War of 1842, firing a cannon and looking about 7 feet tall.

Collins then says she doesn't have time to explain the Texas Archives War, although she goes on to say, "it's an extremely interesting story." It seemed most interesting to me, as my wife is an archivist, and through her I've met many other archivists and learned a little about that fascinating profession. ("So, you're an archivist. What exactly do you do?" my mother asked my wife-to-be. "I read other people's mail and I don't have to answer it," was the reply.) Although I once had a silly fantasy about a comic book series called Action Combat Archivists, the notion of an "Archives War" seemed, well, bizarre. I had to look it up. The Texas State Historical Association website tells the tale:

In March 1842 a division of the Mexican army under Gen. Rafael Vásquez appeared at San Antonio demanding the surrender of the town; the Texans were not prepared to resist and withdrew. On March 10 President Sam Houston called an emergency session of the Texas Congress. Fearing that the Mexicans would move on Austin, he named Houston as the meetingplace. The citizens of Austin, fearful that the president wished to make Houston the capital, formed a vigilante committee of residents and warned department heads that any attempt to move state papers would be met with armed resistance. President Houston called the Seventh Congress into session at Washington-on-the-Brazos and at the end of December 1842 sent a company of rangers under Col. Thomas I. Smith and Capt. Eli Chandler to Austin with orders to remove the archives but not to resort to bloodshed. The Austin vigilantes were unprepared for the raid, and the rangers loaded the archives in wagons and drove away, but not before Mrs. Angelina Eberly fired a cannon at them. On January 1, 1843 the vigilance committee, under Capt. Mark B. Lewis, seized a cannon from the arsenal and overtook the wagons at Kenney's Fort on Brushy Creek. Only a few shots were fired before the rangers gave up the papers in order to avoid bloodshed. The archives were returned to Austin and remained there unmolested until Austin became the capital again in 1844.

So, there you have it. A war in which the first shot was fired by a woman, and in which nobody gets killed, or even hurt. And all over archives. Well, to be fair, really over what was to be the capital of the then independent Republic of Texas. Another reason, along with Wendy Davis (and many others; see the addendum to this post), for me to love the Lone Star State.

The photo is from the home page of an Austin based "psychedelic Americana band" called Archive War.

Sounds of the Niagara Frontier: the Rockin' Rebels, John Fogerty, and Screamin' Dick Biondi.

"Wild Weekend" by the Rockin' Rebels was recorded in 1959 by two Buffalo DJs, Tom Shannon and Phil Todaro, for their Mar-Lee (named for their girlfiends) label. Shannon and Todaro had written "Wild Weekend" as a theme song for their radio show on WKBW. It became a regional hit in the Northeast, securing the band a spot on the Dick Clark show. In 1962, it was re-released on the nationally marketed Swan label, and in 1963 it became a major hit, reaching number eight on the pop charts. This makes it, to the best of my knowledge, the only top ten hit to have originated in Buffalo, a city with which I have some familiarity. You can get the tangled history of both the music and the band and a discography here.

John Fogerty isn't from Buffalo, but listen to "Rock and Roll Girls." Instrumentally, it's practically "Wild Weekend" redux from the get-go, opening with the same hooky run and with sax accompaniment that sounds very similar to the Rebels'. Fogerty nails it in the vocal toward the end of the song with these words:

If I had my way, I'd shuffle off to Buffalo, Sit by the lake, and watch the world go by....

WKBW, home of Shannon and Todaro, also had for a time one of America's best known DJs, Dick Biondi. There's a sample of Biondi's frenetic style in the clip above. Biondi's edgy humor--he adumbrated the "zoo" style that became widespread on pop radio in the '70s--was often directed at station management, which sometimes led to his being fired. He became best known when he moved from WKBW to another 50,000 Watt platform, Chicago's WLS. Later he had a gig with KRLA in Los Angeles.

Happy Father's Day; happy Bloomsday.

Today is Father's Day, so best wishes to all my fellow dads. This year it's also Bloomsday, the anniversary of the day in 1904 when Leopold Bloom (sketch by James Joyce at left), father of Milly and mourner of short-lived Rudy, makes his way through various encounters in Dublin, as described in Joyce's Ulysses. The novel also gives us short excursions into the worlds of Bloom's cheating wife Molly (the story climaxes, as it were, with her soliloquy while in the arms of her manager and lover, Blazes Boylan), and of Bloom's bachelor friend (and Joyce alter ego) Stephen Daedalus. Dermot McEvoy has these thoughts:

Happy Bloomsday! “YES!” said Molly Bloom. It’s a day for aimless wanderings, gorgonzola, and, perhaps, a trip to a cemetery—after a neat drop off the 40-Foot in Sandycove. In celebration listen to the brilliant Jonathan Brielle’s “River Liffey,” taken from his equally brilliant musical about James Joyce, Himself and Nora: [Hear it here.]

You can see and hear me reading an excerpt from Jim Quinn's restaurant guide Word of Mouth, which incorporates the Burton Restaurant scene from Ulysses, at a Bloomsday celebration two years ago. Then scroll down to get a much better Joyce reading; Molly Bloom's soliloquy (NSFW!) as interpreted by Aedin Moloney.

Van Dyke Parks, "Donovan's Colours."

Van Dyke Parkes is a musical genius who surprised and mostly delighted the rock crit world in 1968 with an album titled Song Cycle. My friend Michael Simmons calls it "The Great Overlooked Classic Of American Popular Music." I certainly overlooked it for many years. Before the album was released, one of the cuts, "Donovan's Colours" (video above), appeared pseudonymously as performed by "George Washington Brown." In his story linked above, Michael tells of his and his colleagues', and the members of Moby Grape's, efforts to figure out who GWB was. The Mobys at least had him sending his recordings to Parkes, who was then an in-demand L.A. studio musician. Parkes later said he had it released under a nom de guerre because he "craved anonymity." Here's the original "Colours" by Donovan: Parkes does a classical thing with the song. He begins with a statement of the theme, but at about 1:20 in the video at the top of this post the theme dissolves into variations. The theme is reasserted triumphally at about 2:50. Michael notes the similarity of the sound to that of a music box. I also sensed a similarity to that of a Trinidadian steel band, another musical style of which Parkes was fond. Donovan was also a fan of Trinidad's calypso music.

The (short) life of pie.

We were expecting company Sunday evening, so my wife made a good sized pie using rhubarb and strawberries sourced (maybe even curated) from our local Greenmarket. In the photo above, it's fresh from the oven.

  It didn't take long--maybe fifteen minutes--for six people to reduce it to this.

Then, quick as a wink, it was down to this.

Cape Cod photos: the walk to Skaket Beach and back.

Following our visit to Cape Cod Brewery on Saturday morning, and a satisfying pizza lunch, the sun came out. I decided to take a walk. This sign, near the end of the short road leading to our friends' house, pointed me in the right direction.

On the way to the beach, the road crossed a stream emerging from a swamp.

Farther along, I passed the Captain Linnell House, built in the 1850s by a very successful sea captain who, unfotunately, died in a tropical storm off the coast of Brazil before having much opportunity to enjoy it.

There was a brisk, chilly breeze, and the beach was nearly deserted. This was the view towards the southwest, and the upper arm of the Cape.

This was the view to the east., looking toward Wellfleet and Truro.

Heading back from the beach, I came to Wildflower Lane. What might be growing there?

There were these (can anyone identify?).

And, there was my old friend Rosa rugosa. 

This eastern box turtle had just made it safely across the road.

Azaleas were in bloom next to the road.

As I approached our friends' house, I saw a male American robin perched on a fence rail.

Just opposite our friends' door a mourning dove sat on crossbar.

Later we went shopping in downtown Orleans. We visited Main Street Wine & Gourmet, where I got this encouraging message.

Lou Reed and Sharon Jones

There was good and not so good news last week about two of my favorite musicians. The good news about Lou Reed was that he had a successful liver transplant and is recovering. The video above (based on the credits roll, it appears to have been made at St. Ann's Warehouse, in nearby DUMBO) is of Lou doing one of my favorites of his, "Sweet Jane," originally done with the Velvet Underground, and later on the great album Rock 'n' Roll Animal.

The not so good news is about Brooklyn's own Queen of Soul Sharon Jones. I learned through friend Eliot Wagner that she's been diagnosed with cancer. Fortunately, it's been detected at stage one, so the prognosis is optimistic.
 The video above is of Sharon doing her version of Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land," including the often skipped over "Commie" third verse, and a fourth verse evidently of her own composition. You're in my prayers, Sharon.

Cape Cod Beer

On our Cape Cod weekend, rainy, chilly Friday begat rainy, chilly Saturday, so we headed down the Cape, around the elbow (see my description of Cape geography in my post about Truro Vineyards) to Hyannis, there to visit the Cape Cod Brewery. In the photo above, Tyler, who conducted our lecture and tasting with knowledge and panache, is approaching. The stainless steel tanks in the background are where the brewing is done.

We got an up close look at some brewing ingredients. This is crushed pale barley, which gives beer and ale their malt richness.

These are pelletized hops, which give the brews flavor. According to Tyler these are Chinook hops, native to the Pacific Northwest. The other two ingredients are yeast, which reacts with the barley to cause fermentation in the presence of the fourth, and most voluminous ingredient: water. "Our local water supply is very good," Tyler said. "We use it, and run it through a big Brita filter."

This is one of several brews we sampled. It's the amber ale, which has a deep red color. The brewery calls it "Red Right Return" after the navigational mnemonic that says to keep the red buoys to your right (or starboard) while entering a harbor. I liked it, as I did all of the brews we sampled, which included a blonde ale called "Beach Blonde" which had more flavor than I expected, an IPA, and a porter.

Unfortunately, Cape Cod Beer isn't available beyond an eighty mile radius of the Brewery, as it isn't Pasteurized, and has to be kept refrigerated. The next time we're up there, we'll take a cooler chest so we can bring some home.

A visit to Truro Vineyards, Cape Cod.

Last summer we visited friends who have a house at Orleans, on Cape Cod. While we were there, I browsed in Main Street Wine & Gourmet, where I bought a bottle of Truro Vineyards' 2009 Cabernet Franc. I wanted to try it on the strength of having recently been impressed by a Cab Franc from the North Fork of Long Island, and reasoned that, if the grape did well in that sandy soil and cool climate, it might do well on the Cape. I wasn't disappointed.

We were invited up to Orleans again for Memorial Day weekend. We'd had good luck with weather on our preceding two visits (including our first one, on New Year's 2012), but this time our luck ran out. Considering things to do on a rainy, chilly Friday, our hosts suggested a wine tasting at Truro. I eagerly seconded, and we headed outward on the Cape. (To visualize the geography of Cape Cod, extend your right arm forward, bend the elbow until your forearm is parallel to your chest, bend your wrist so that your hand points back to your chest, then point your fingers toward your upper arm. Orleans is just past the elbow on the forearm, and Truro is just past the wrist, about at the position of the thumb knuckle.)

Arriving at the Vineyard, we parked facing rows of vines (photo above). Fortunately, the rain had slackened a bit. Going inside, we found a display of the winery's products (photo below).

Truro offers tastings every half hour during its business hours, which are 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 5:00 p.m. Sunday. Tasting tickets are $10.00 per person, and allow you to taste five of the wines on offer. According to the website this is normally ten, but during our visit there were nine wines on the tasting menu. I chose to taste the two dry whites--Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay--and three dry reds--Cabernet Franc, Zinfandel, and Triumph--on the menu. This included three wines made entirely or partially--the Chardonnay and Cabernet Franc, and the Cab Franc and Merlot that is blended with Cabernet Sauvignon to make Triumph--of grapes grown in Truro's vineyard. The Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Zinfandel grapes do, and possibly some of the same varietals grown at Truro may, according to the website, come from elsewhere:

We also source grapes from premium vineyards in Massachusetts, New York and California. This allows us to make a greater variety of wines.

I didn't take notes while tasting, but these are my recollections:

Sauvignon Blanc 2012: The tasting menu described this as "[c]risp, light, with hints of grapefruit and pear." The first thing I noticed was the field-of-new-mown-hay aroma that is characteristic of wine from this varietal, or kind, of grape. It was very pronounced here, which I took as an encouraging sign. As for taste and mouth feel, I agree that it's "crisp," though I wouldn't call it "light," which to me signifies bone-dryness. This wine has a good balance of acidity and fruit, with definite citrus overtones. I bought a bottle.

Chardonnay 2011: The menu said, "Lightly oaked with hints of ripe apple and vanilla." The vanilla comes from the oak, not the grape. My earliest experiences with Chardonnay were of different kinds: very dry, flinty Chablis and Maconnais; and big, buttery, heavily oaked Californians. I liked both for different reasons and at different times. Truro's Chard is an in-between: the oak is noticeable but not assertive, and the fruit--of which "ripe apple" is a fair descriptor--is there, but not overpowering. It's a perfectly pleasant wine, but didn't blow me away. Truro's website also lists an unoaked Chardonnay, which wasn't on the tasting menu. Maybe next time.

Cabernet Franc 2011: According to the menu this is Truro's "signature varietal." I can understand why. The 2011 had more tannin and less forward fruit than the 2009 that I tasted and reviewed last year. Perhaps it will benefit from more bottle ageing, or maybe it just hadn't had enough time to "breathe" before it was poured. The 2009 needed some fifteen minutes or so breathing before it really opened up. Still, this is superb wine. I bought a bottle.

Zinfandel 2011: This wine is way too sunny to have come from grapes grown on the Cape. Nevertheless, it's a tribute to the Truro vintners' art. It's a big wine, edging on Robert Parker "hedonistic fruit bomb" territory, but it's free of the jammy quality that, for me, mars many such wines. It has tannin and acidity to balance the intense, but not overpowering, fruit. At almost 14% alcohol, it also packs a kick. We bought two bottles; one for ourselves and one as a gift for a friend.

Triumph 2011: This is a "Meritage" blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (64%), Merlot (29%), and Cabernet Franc (7%), described on the menu as "big" and "bold." Perhaps I was suffering tasting fatigue by the time it got to me, or perhaps the assertiveness of the pure Cab Franc and the Zinfandel numbed me to its subtleties, but it seemed almost timid to me. Not bad, not unpleasant; indeed, a very drinkable wine. But anything called "Triumph" should make me want to jump up and shout. This didn't.

Truro's 100% Merlot wasn't on the tasting menu when we were there. I hope to try it next time.

To my surprise, my wife, who usually disdains any white wines that aren't dry as the Sahara, elected to try Vignoles, described on the tasting menu as "semi dry." She offered me a taste. I liked it, as did she. As the website suggests, it would go very well with spicy food. We bought a bottle.

On the way out I looked to the right and got this shot of the remainder of Truro's five acres of vines.  Truro offers free tours of its winery at 1:00 and 3:00 p.m. every day from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Next time I'll take one.

I wish Truro could produce wine from at least one varietal (maybe they already do this with Cab Franc, Chardonnay, or Merlot) entirely from their own vineyard. If so, I could write knowingly of the Truro terroir. Meanwhile, all I can say is, the wines are well worth trying, and sometimes much more so. I'm looking forward to a Truro appellation d'origine contrôlée.

Update: I've been advised  (see comment) that Truro now offers an Estate Grown Chardonnay, made completely from grapes grown in their own vineyard at Truro. This summer they will release Estate Grown Cabernet Franc and Estate Grown Merlot. I'm eager to try them.

Could this year's Mets rival those of 1962?

A bright start to this season led me to some very qualified optimism. The Mets managed to stay at or above .500 for most of April, but it's been pretty much downhill since then. Last week I got to wondering how this year's team compares to the notorious 1962 first edition, which set a Major League 20th century record by losing 120 games. This year's Mets have played 48 games and have a record of 19-29, for a winning percentage of about .388. The '62 Mets didn't get to game 48 until June 6 because the season started later. At that point, their record was 12-36, putting them at .250. So the 2013 Mets are, at this moment in the season, decidedly ahead of the '62 gang. With 162 games in the current season, if today's Mets keep to roughly the same performance level, they should lose about 100 games. Should they get worse, they could challenge the 120 loss record.

I started to write this post last week. Since then, the Mets avoided a sweep by the Braves, then won the opening game of their four game series with the Yankees. From this I know two things: the Mets this season can occasionally beat their traditional nemeisis in the NL East, and their season record with the Bronx Bullies won't be 0-4. I'm keeping my enthusiasm in check.

Update: Mets score a second 2-1 victory over the hated Yanks, thereby sweeping the home end of their four game series. The remaining two games are in enemy territory, but at least we're assured of an even split of the season's series. I'm trying very hard not to get too enthusiastic.

Update-update: It's sure getting hard to curb my enthusiasm now that the Mets have swept their four game season series with the Yanks. I'm telling myself that this is as good as it's going to get this year, and I'm satisfied. Yanks fans will no doubt fall back on their tired "Got rings?" meme, but so what?

Update cubed: Reality bites. Back in play in their division, Mets get speared by Marlins for three straight.

The Amygdaloids, "Mind-Body Problem"

Kids were very different then. They didn't have their heads filled with all this Cartesian Dualism.

--Monty Python, Episode 14

I've posted before (also see here) about the Amygdaloids, a rock band made up of Joseph LeDoux (lead vocals and rhythm guitar) and Daniela Schiller (drums and vocals), both neuroscientists at New York University; Tyler Volk (lead guitar and vocals), a biology professor at NYU; and Amanda Thorpe (bass and vocals), a neuropsychologist and music therapist who has done graduate study at NYU. The video above (sorry for the bit of herky-jerkiness in the first few seconds) was made this past Saturday evening (May 18, 2013) at the Second Annual Heavy Mental Variety Show, held at the New York Psychoanalytic Institute and sponsored by The Helix Center.

When the band took a break, magician Mark Mitton put on a very entertaining show, and taught us all how to look and sound like we were catching falling objects in paper bags. "Mind-Body Problem" was the band's finale for the evening. Below is a video of a discussion about the mind-body problem (in the Cartesian sense) between the Amygdaloids' Joe LeDoux and NYU philosopher Ned Block. The video ends with a segue into the Amygdaloids doing "My Mind's Eye."

Tampa comes to Brooklyn

 The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Tampa, WMEC 902, named for my old home city, was docked at Pier 7, Brooklyn, my adopted home, last weekend. I shot this photo from Pier 6 in Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Tampa has come to Brooklyn in another respect: you can now get a good Cuban sandwich (which may have been invented in Tampa) at the Brooklyn Heights Wine Bar. And, starting in 2014, when the Islanders move from Nassau Coliseum to Barclays Center, the Lightning will be making visits here.

Grand Central's Centennial Parade of Trains

Grand Central Terminal recently celebrated its one hundredth birthday. As part of the centennial celebration, this weekend there was the "Parade of Trains,"  an exhibit of past and present day rolling stock that has visited the terminal over the years. Your correspondent couldn't miss this. Entering the exhibit, on the left was Tonawanda Valley, a Pullman observation and sleeping lounge car built in 1928 that served as the tail-end car for the Twentieth Century Limited, the New York Central's premier New York to Chicago train, in the late 1920s and '30s.

Across the platform from Tonawanda Valley was Metro-North Railroad's (MNRR is one of three commuter railroads--the others are the Long Island, also part of the Metropolitan Transit Authority, and New Jersey Transit--serving New York City) Engine Number 402, built for work train service and using "co-gen" power--see here.

Here's a look at the guts of co-gen power, in a sister loco parked behind 402.

Metro-North's 605 is an ALCO RS-3 type, built in 1952. "RS"  meant "Road Switcher," indicating that the loco could be used for shunting cars in yards or for light road service. Metro-North may have used it as a switcher or on work trains, or both. Here is a look at the instruments inside 605's cab.

Here is a look at 605 from the front end. A handsome locomotive, in my opinion.

I may well have seen this Railway Post Office ("RPO") with the markings of the Pennsylvania Railroad some time during my childhood when visiting my grandmother in Tyrone, Pennsylvania, on the Pennsy's then four track main line. RPOs would pick up mail at stations along the way, and the mail would be sorted by Postal Service personnel in the car for delivery to other places further along the train's route.

Here's a view inside the RPO, showing the bags in which the mail was collected or distributed.

Another interior RPO view, showing the cubbyholes into which the mail was sorted.

For some time until the early 2000s Metro-North used General Motors Electro-Motive Division's ("EMD") FP-9 type diesel locomotives on commuter trains that ranged into non-electrified territory. Some of these bore "heritage" paint schemes, i.e. those of railroads that ran the commuter services before they were taken over by Metro-North. For example, 2013 wears the colors of the New York Central. Others (actually similar FL-9s that were equipped to run on third rail electric where available) wore the bolder livery of the New Haven.

While Tonawanda Valley served as an observation car for the prewar Twentieth Century Limited, the streamlined Hickory Creek was built in 1947 for the postwar version of the Central's best known train. On the left, locomotive number 202 is a General Electric Genesis, a type that has replaced the EMD FP-9s on Metro-North.

George Jones, as remembered by Lacy J. Dalton

Lacy J. Dalton's album Hard Times was a comfort to me back in the spring of 1980, when I was going through the emotional backwash of a nasty break-up. I knew her song "Old Soldier" had to be about George Jones, who died today at 81. Back then he was in his 50s, but old enough for "the warm amber lights [to do] a lot for his age."  The reference to "battles" sealed it. To top it off, here's a duet between the two of them on "That's Good; That's Bad":
 

Cockney rhyming slang.

So, what's a Godiva? It's a five pound note, or, in Cockney speech, a "five-ah," which rhymes with "Godiva." This is Cockney rhyming slang at its most basic--for the word intended, substitute another word with which it rhymes. There is another, more meta (to use a Greek-rooted prefix recently made into an adjective) version in which, instead of the word that rhymes with the intended word, another word associated with the rhyming word is used. For example, instead of "Godiva" for a five-ah, say "Lady," a word usually yoked to Godiva, as in, "That'll cost you a Lady."

I was introduced to the meta version some years ago at the bar of the Bells of Hell. I was chatting with an English friend when a--how you say?--well-endowed young woman walked by. "Nice set of Bristols," my friend said. His meaning was obvious to me, but the usage wasn't. "There's a football club called Bristol City," he explained, "and city rhymes with... ."

One Briticism that piqued my curiosity is "Gone for a Burton." Having seen this in Private Eye, I asked another English friend what it meant. "It means he died," was the answer. "How does it mean that?" I asked. My friend didn't know. I later read that it may have originated with Royal Air Force flyers in World War Two, to refer to a comrade who hadn't survived a mission. Burton, or Burton-on-Trent to give its full name, is a city known for its breweries, as acknowledged by A.E. Housman in A Shropshire Lad:

Say, for what were hop-yards meant,
Or why was Burton built on Trent?
Oh many a peer of England brews
Livelier liquor than the Muse,
And malt does more than Milton can
To justify God’s ways to man.

A plain meaning of "Gone for a Burton" then would be "Gone to the pub for a pint." Regarding a deceased friend, it could mean "Gone to that big pub in the sky." Still, I wonder if it might not be an instance of Cockney rhyming slang. Burton doesn't have any obvious rhyme relating to death, nor does Trent, nor ale, the brew that made Burton famous. But it occurred to me that a properly drawn pint of ale has a head, which rhymes with dead. If this is in fact the origin of the expression, it could be an instance of meta-meta rhyming slang, going from Burton to ale to head. If, however, Burton is taken as a synonym for ale, then it's only a single meta.

Regarding the sign in the photo at the top of this post, I found translations for "monkeys" (hundred pound notes) and "ponies" (twenty-fivers) in this glossary. I don't know the meaning of "edges" or of "carpets." Perhaps one of my English friends can help. "Visa," I presume, means just what it is.

Neil Diamond singing "Sweet Caroline" at Fenway Park, April 20, 2013.

For my wife, a cradle Red Sox fan, and for Boston. I've never been much of a Neil Diamond fan, and don't know why this song became a tradition at Fenway, but I admire him for doing this. Thanks to Eliot Wagner for the link.

Puss N Boots--Norah Jones, Catherine Popper, and Sasha Dobson--do Neil Young's "Down By the River" at Bell House.

During my last year of law school I bought Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere by Neil Young and Crazy Horse. I knew of Young from Buffalo Springfield, a group I liked for their easy, country influenced rock. But when I put Everybody Knows on, I knew I had, if you'll forgive the obvious, a horse of a different color. The first two cuts, "Cinnamon Girl" and the title cut, could have been Springfield songs. They're lively, and the second, despite its despairing title (actually the lament of a homesick Canadian), has a sweet country lilt. But they both have an edge I hadn't heard on most Springfield songs. The third cut, "Round & Round (It Won't Be Long)" has a nursery rhyme cadence but the lyrics are truly despairing.

The final cut on the first side, "Down By the River," was for me a mindblower. It starts with some nervous guitar chattering while Billy Talbot's bass provides an ominous counterpoint, then Young's keening voice sings what at first seem reassuring words--"Be on my side, I'll be on your side; there is no reason for you to hide"--in a precatory minor key, but after a few more lines this resolves into the chorus in a crashing major: "Down by the river, I shot my baby" (complete lyrics are here). After the first verse and chorus, there's a long bridge in which Young's and Danny Whitten's guitars exchange staccato notes, like a couple having an extended quarrel. The second verse has some words of existential angst that hint at a motive for the violent act: "This much madness is too much sorrow; it's impossible to make it today." After the second verse and chorus comes another long guitar break, a little more intricate than the first, then comes a repeat of the first verse and chorus, and fade out. Hear it here.

Thanks again to Eliot Wagner I have the video at the top of this post, of Puss N Boots, a trio consisting of Norah Jones on guitar and lead vocal, Catherine Popper on bass and harmony vocals, and Sasha Dobson on drums and harmony vocals, doing "Down By the River" at The Bell House, my favorite Brooklyn rock venue. While I can't say this cover cuts the original, I found it thoroughly enjoyable. Having the solo guitar, Jones has to do double duty, which she does well by stretching some of the notes beyond the staccato, while Popper's bass fills in with some lively interplay. Jones's sultry voice imparts to the lyrics less of an angst-ridden and more of a world-weary quality. Like all recorded songs that end in fadeouts, there's the question of how to end it in live performance. Puss N Boots just ends it, which seems appropriate to me.

Perfect ending to a perfect baseball opening day.

The Staten Island Ferry glides past Ellis Island as the sun sinks behind New Jersey's First Watchung Mountain; taken from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade.

Mets trounce Padres in season opener: a bad omen?

As I've noted before, my wife, a lifelong Red Sox fan, is convinced that a hot start is always a prelude to a bad season, and vice versa. As for winning the opener; well, the Mets won it last year--against the Braves, no less--as well as the next three games, and we know how that season turned out.

Still, there was much to like about today's 11-2 victory over the Padres, especially, from my point of view, starting pitcher Jon Niese's  (photo) performance at the plate as well as on the mound. Niese went to bat twice and got two hits, including one RBI, thereby leaving the game with a 1.000 batting average. This is baseball as it should be: pitchers should bat as well as pitch.

Addendum: Red Sox beat Yanks 8-2, so it's a perfect baseball day for my household. Yes, my wife is happy. She'll get worried if the Sox go on an early winning streak.

Second addendum: Friend Eliot sez:

As far as wins or losses in the first game or early in the season, I will disagree with your wife. A win or loss early on will look exactly like every other win or loss on the last day of the season.

I don't think that my wife would disagree with the observation that all wins and losses, whenever they occur in the season, count equally in the final reckoning. Her sense, as a long time Red Sox observer, is that if the team gets off to a roaring start, this typically presages a vertiginous collapse that makes late season losses outnumber early season wins.

As a bonus, Eliot--God bless 'im--gives us a link to "Opening Day" by Dan Bern with Common Rotation.

J.S. Bach, O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden.

Five years ago I posted a video of Paul Simon singing his "An American Tune." I noted that the melody was based on Tom Glazer's "Because All Men Are Brothers," and in turn on Bach's great passion chorus O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden from his St. Matthew Passion. The clip above is of O Haupt, sung by the choir of Concentus Musicus Wien under the direction of Nikolaus Harnoncourt.

As was also mentioned in my Simon post, Bach got the melody for O Haupt from a sixteenth century composition by Hans Leo Hassler. O Haupt is also the basis for the English passion hymn "O Sacred Head Sore Wounded."