Cooperstown 2017

We went to Cooperstown NY with our friend Tom and his wife. We had originally planned to also go with George Bean and his wife but they cancelled at the very last minute because of an illness. 

We met up with Tom and Joanne at the Bed and Breakfast where we were all staying for the weekend. We arrived Friday afternoon and went out to dinner at the Bocca Osteria. We had a great time catching up.

We spent most of the second day Saturday at the Baseball Hall of Fame. We really enjoyed ourselves. Becky had never been there before. I had been there with Sean about ten years earlier. The exhibits were amazing. 

We also enjoyed walking around the town.

Later we went to the Blue Mingo Grill for dinner.

On the third day I was disappointed to find out that the Ommegang Brewery in Cooperstown was not open to the public because of a private event. If I had known ahead of time about this situation then I would have gone there on Saturday and saved the Hall of Fame for Sunday. So I didn't get to tour the brewery and have a meal at their famous restaurant. Bummer. Next time.

So instead we took a boat tour on Otsego Lake and up to the Glimmerglass State Park and had a very nice time but I would have liked to had visited Ommegang Brewery.

Graham Nash: Wild Tales

Wild Tales: A Rock and Roll Life by Graham Nash, 2013

I’ve been reading a few rock star memoirs recently and this one by Graham Nash was one of the best. Wild Tales: A Rock and Roll Life, 2013. Nash is very good at telling a story. His descriptions of the early career of The Hollies and the British Invasion was fascinating as was his accounts of his years with Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. He was especially good at describing the animosities and conflicts within the group. I also thought he did a wonderful job talking about his relationship with Joni Mitchell and her subsequent illness. I have the recent biography of Joni Mitchell and will be reading it soon.

We saw Graham Nash in concert recently on his concert tour a few months after reading his book. It was a great show with just him and a supporting guitarist. He played the wonderful concert venue at Asbury Hall where he was also a very entertaining storyteller between songs.

I had also seen him in concert with CSN&Y in Chicago in 1970 at one of the shows used in the Four Way Street live album. I then saw him one more time with CSN&Y in 1974 in Philadelphia at the Spectrum which was one of the last rock shows I’ve seen in any arena sized venue. I just stopped going to those big stadium and hockey arena concerts. I haven’t been to any more over the years and have instead preferred to see performances in clubs, theaters and occasional small outdoor concerts. Seeing Graham Nash at Asbury Hall was the perfect venue.

You Belong to Me

You Belong to Me by Colin Harrison, 2017

Read this book in four days in September 2017.

A very well written nasty but fascinating NYC noir thriller. I couldn't put it down. Has a main character obsessed with maps. Lots of sharp turns in this story. Highly recommended.

Please Kill Me... Punk

Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain, 1996.

Read this book for a couple of weeks in September 2017.

"Who would have ever considered white punks on dope could make you proud to be an American?" This book was full of fascinating stories...

Many famous and infamous people from the punk music world lent their voices to this definitive account of that era. I enjoyed this book very much and although I was familiar with a lot of what when on here there were still plenty of interesting unique stories throughout the book by the people who made it all happen.

The focus was on the early American punk scene and groups like The Stooges, MC5, Velvet Underground, New York Dolls, The Ramones, etc.

I'm glad to have experienced CBGB's back in the day.

Soul Survivor - Al Green

Soul Survivor: A Biography of Al Green by Jimmy McDonough, 2017

Read this is September 2017.

After reading this biography I have strongly mixed feelings about Al Green now. An amazing singer and performer… an awful nasty person with moments of empathy. He was mostly a cruel person after those hitmaking years and his life was like a tv soap opera drama. He was terrible with women and incredibly cheap with his money. His Christian ministry was a bogus money making attempt after his hits dried up.

Despite that he was an incredible performer and singer in his time. I love his music and even some of the later comeback albums. I guess I could say I was a die hard Al Green fan but it was very painful to read about his personal life.

Al Green albums in my collection:

• Back Up Train, 1967
• Green Is Blues, 1969
• Al Green Gets Next to You, 1971
• Let's Stay Together, 1972
• I'm Still in Love with You, 1972
• Call Me, 1973
• Livin' For You, 1973
• Al Green Explores Your Mind, 1974
• Al Green is Love, 1975
• Tokyo Live, 1981
• I Can't Stop, 2003
• Absolute Best, 2004
• Lay It Down, 2008

Bed-Stuy is Burning

 

The What When Book List

Bed-Stuy Is Burning by Brian Platzer, 2017

Read in August 2017

An interesting novel about race relations and the gentrification of the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of New York City. It seemed to successfully depict the climate and culture of a city and neighborhood under siege as long time residents try to protect their homes from the encroaching wealthy "urban pioneers". It explores very complex issues and develops into a very powerful and timely book.

The Sail

 

One Year and Reading

Today it’s been one year of retirement and folks have been asking what I’ve been doing… Ongoing work on the house and backyard, gardening, traveling, our first grandchild and apparently a lot of reading. I checked my Good Reads app this morning and realized I’ve read 67 books since last September 1 including 35 novels, 6 biography/memoirs and the remaining were assorted history, political, social and music non-fiction. And listening to a lot of music of course.

Some novels by old favorite authors… Richard Russo’s Everybody’s Fool, Tana French’s The Trespasser, Benjamin Black’s Wolf on a String. Also Laila Lalami’s The Moor’s Account, Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad and Colum McCann’s Let The Great World Spin. I also read a lot of SF and dystopian stuff like the Expanse series and the Red Rising series that held my attention over multiple books. Over the years I’ve read everything by Neil Stephenson but somehow missed Snow Crash which I remedied last spring. Also Paulette Jiles' News of the World.

I read a lot of political books too… an essential that everyone should read is Ibram X. Kendi’s Stamped From The Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America. Also Arlie Russell Hochschild’s Strangers In Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right, Noam Chomsky’s Who Rules The World, George Packer’s The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America, and Jane Mayer’s Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right.

Some other great reads from my list… Patti Smith’s M Train , Blair Tindell’s Mozart in the Jungle, Graham Nash’s Wild Tales, Bruce Springsteen’s Born To Run and David Hajdu’s Love For Sale: Pop Music in America. Also William Knoedelseder’s Bitter Brew: The Rise and Fall of Anheuser-Busch and America’s King of Beers.