talbotlucas.org: a word to the wise is sufficient

jimmy scott: if you only knew

He's been called everything from "the mocha pixie" to "the most unjustly ignored American singer of the 20th Century" (by The New York Times), and those of you who know me know I'm a Jimmy Scott fan. The documentary entitled Jimmy Scott: If You Only Knew is now available as a DVD, and our copy just arrived today. I'm tickled.

Jimmy Scott's story is amazing, just like the sound he produces. His life story makes you shake your head and wonder what planets aligned to make so many things go so terribly wrong. And yet... decades later, he's been rediscovered and given a small part of the credit he's due. I first learned of him completely by chance, but I remember it clearly. I was cleaning our apartment in La Jolla and had Bravo (the cable channel) on the television. Terrence was out of town, so having music or the television on was a nice distraction from the quiet of the apartment.

I turned off the vacuum and heard this haunting voice--I later learned it was Jimmy Scott singing "Day By Day," and went to see who was producing an incredible, and incredibly...s...l...o...w...sound. I found myself watching an assortment of figures from the music and entertainment business talking about this small man who had moved them. (I especially recall Joe Pesci speaking eloquently--something his film persona doesn't suggest) Hell, I was moved just listening to a few bars of a song over the television speakers. I went out and bought a copy of Lost and Found, the album that had been kept off the market for over twenty years because of a contractual dispute with Jimmy Scott's former record label, and it remains one of my favorite albums.

During our time in San Francisco we were fortunate to attend one of Jimmy Scott's concerts at the Masonic Auditorium as part of the SFJazz Festival. I was moved to tears. When he sings, you feel it.

The story behind the making of the documentary is on Rhino's site, as is a Q&A with Jimmy Scott. PBS, which ran the documentary on many stations, also has a microsite on it.

remembering 312

Aaron Freeman speaks of something I remember well: being exiled from the 312 area code. Before I moved from Chicago, the area code of our home phone--which had been 312 since there had been a 312--was changed to 773. And the insult was that the houses across the street were still in the 312 area code. I was livid about the change, but there was nothing I could do.

Is that the reason my current home--in the 310 area code--seems like the next best thing?

zippyweb

On a lighter note, another possibly obsessed corgi owner who documents a day in the life of Zippy, a handsome corgi. It's not too far removed from Wallace's life, although Wallace doesn't have a canine friend here at home, nor do we monitor his nighttime activities in such detail.

I've been thinking, though, about capturing his snoring and offering it as an audio file. Like this, from Zip and friends at Fetchorama. (Make sure your audio is, well, audible, before clicking on the last link.) Wallace comes close to this...

penalized for i.q. points

When writing about what men (seem to) want--specifically, women who aren't as smart as they are--Maureen Dowd refers to:

a second study, which was by researchers at four British universities and reported last week, suggested that smart men with demanding jobs would rather have old-fashioned wives, like their mums, than equals. The study found that a high I.Q. hampers a woman's chance to get married, while it is a plus for men. The prospect for marriage increased by 35 percent for guys for each 16-point increase in I.Q.; for women, there is a 40 percent drop for each 16-point rise.

While I know men who are exceptions to this--indeed, there's one sitting right next to me!--I have no doubt that this really does reflect the majority. Sad, but true.

I've recently talked with classmates and friends who've been advised not to talk too much with men about their interests (because they might be perceived as intimidating or too brainy), not to express opinions, and certainly to dress more provocatively and show a "more feminine" side. I realize I'm not the target audience, but these women all seem really feminine to me, which leads me to believe that the last piece of advice means "giggle a lot and act dumb" rather than a more nuanced view of what it means to be feminine.

Dowd's Thursday column, if haven't seen it already, and the article by John Schwartz that she mentions in the article.

pineapple express?

According to an AP report, the incredible storm here in California (which ain't over yet, folks), is "being generated by a sluggish low-pressure system rotating off California and drawing a flow of moisture known as a 'pineapple express' up from the subtropical Pacific." The report also notes that the average amount of rainfall for the winter season in Los Angeles is fifteen inches, but since last Monday we've had twenty-one inches. Twenty-one inches in a week. And did I mention the storm isn't through with us yet?

More rain, sometimes heavy, predicted for tonight and tomorrow. We're still hoping for a bit of relief on Wednesday.

mudslides have begun

We've had a lot of rain since Christmas, and it's been raining almost nonstop since Thursday evening. How much? Five plus inches today alone. When I say torrential, I mean it. Up until today it's been more of a nuisance, forcing us to put towels around certain windows and to time our Wallace walks for the occasional lightening of rainfall. Today we're finally seeing the effects: more cracks in our windows, more water, and in the general area, the effects of saturated ground. Mudslides are threatening the canyon areas and Mulholland Drive, lots of roads are closed, and ... there's more rain in the forecast for tonight, tomorrow, and Tuesday. Right now there are still areas that are getting 1"-2" of rain per hour, but the hope is that Wednesday should bring a few days' respite.

sherlock holmes

If you agree with Christopher Morley and many Sherlockian scholars, you'll be celebrating Sherlock Holmes' birthday today (6 January 1854). On the subject of the Baker Street Irregulars, this by Otto Penzler, and the New Yorker piece he references about the death of noted Holmes scholar Richard Lancelyn Green. (More thoughts by David Grann, the author of the piece, here.)

If all this tickles you, there's a new, impressively annotated edition of the 56 short stories in the Sherlock Holmes canon, edited by Leslie Klinger (whose day job is--ta da!--a lawyer who lives in Los Angeles).

sontag's word to the wise

Lots of obituaries and personal recollections of Susan Sontag have been published since her passing, but this quote from Sontag in an appreciation by Patrick Giles really wowed me. After discussing his Catholicism with him and grilling him on his knowledge of major Catholic writers and thinkers, Sontag said,

Whatever you do, don't misuse what you believe so that it gets in the way of the truth. That's so easy to do, especially when so much around us encourages us to.

Words to remember her by.

timely lyrics

Can't get the Albert Hammond song ("It Never Rains in Southern California") out of my head today...you know the one: "It never rains in California/but girl, don't they warn ya/it pours...man, it pours"

Finally bought the song in iTunes...

the upcoming inauguration

I don't read Frank Rich's column all the time, but his piece in today's Times caught my attention. In it he writes:

Washington's next celebration will be the inauguration. Roosevelt decreed that the usual gaiety be set aside at his wartime inaugural in January 1945. There will be no such restraint in the $40 million, four-day extravaganza planned this time, with its top ticket package priced at $250,000. The official theme of the show is "Celebrating Freedom, Honoring Service." That's no guarantee that the troops in Iraq will get armor, but Washington will, at least, give home-front military personnel free admission to one of the nine inaugural balls and let them eat cake.

My day-to-day life hasn't changed since the war in Iraq began. My father, who served his time during World War II, describes the changes the average citizen had to make, changes that would be unthinkable now--can you imagine the S.U.V. set being told that their gas and tires were being rationed? I'd certainly accept limitations of those sorts if it meant that the men and women whose lives are on the line could have the equipment they need, and it's a shame that our president and his cronies won't put aside their revelry when American troops are dying every week to implement their ill-conceived plans.

organizing for the new year

Not everything at Ikea floats my boat, but I really like their Grundtal line of kitchen accessories. We've used several of the rods and shelves in our kitchen and office, and they're durable, well sized, and very cost effective. Our new additions are an extra rod (at top) and magnetic knife rack (at bottom), two pieces which will help us free up counter space but still keep what we often need within reach. Since we use our counters for preparation and plating, having a few extra inches helps.

We've also added to the cookbook collection this holiday season. As gifts (thank you!) we received Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles Cookbook, James Peterson's Glorious French Food, the new Gourmet cookbook, and on their way are Thomas Keller's Bouchon and the new edition of Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking. Plenty of reasons to keep our knives honed and our taste buds happy this year. We've already been paging through Anthony Bourdain's book, chuckling out loud and marking pages, so I think that one (and Bouchon, of course) will have to go on the special shelf just outside the kitchen.

2005

To those who read our rants and musings, our wishes for a happy and healthy 2005. Cheers!