Miscellaneous
Outside Counsel 
Occasional Notes on a Glamor Profession
Post Frequency: 46.6/day Last Entry: November 20, 2009 at 09:00:00 Recent Entries: 466
By Bill Altreuter
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I'm very sad to learn that Jeanne-Claude,
Posted on November 20, 2009I'm very sad to learn that Jeanne-Claude, Christo's partner and collaborator, has died. The Central Park Gates was perhaps the happiest public art project I have ever witnessed. She and Christo created an afternoon for our family that I think we will always recall fondly...
New York's Court of Appeals got
Posted on November 19, 2009New York's Court of Appeals got it right, I think, by holding that the State must recognize marriages that are legal where performed, including same-sex unions, and I am pleased that Western New York's own Judge Eugene Pigott wrote the majority opinion...
Every week the Village Voice posts
Posted on November 16, 2009Every week the Village Voice posts a list of the top selling records at a Village music shop. Greenwich Village is one of the few places left that even has record stores, and the feature is as much about the stores and what they feature as anything else, so it is something that I always turn to with some interest...
When I compiled my list for Lawyers
Posted on November 15, 2009When I compiled my list for Lawyers in Movies I left "Philadelphia" (1993) off. Now it turns out to be the movie that a surprising number of the students in the class want to write about. There may be several explanations for this-- one that occurs to me is that its comparatively recent vintage may mean that it is a movie that they are familiar with-- but I'm looking forward to reading the papers they turn in.
For some reason I'd missed this:
Posted on November 14, 2009For some reason I'd missed this: a Bob Dylan interview by Jonathan Lethem. (Actually, I know why I missed it: it was in Rolling Stone.)"Let me take a moment and reintroduce myself, your interviewer and guide here. I'm a forty-two-year-old moonlighting novelist, and a lifelong Dylan fan, but one who, it must be emphasized, doesn't remember the Sixties...
We've had the live album discussion
Posted on November 13, 2009We've had the live album discussion here before, but the reissue of "Get Yer Ya Ya's Out" has me thinking about the subject again. As a pure consumer item this seems like a poor investment- "Midnight Rambler" is the only real standout track from the original album, I'd say...
I took a deposition yesterday in
Posted on November 12, 2009I took a deposition yesterday in a case where we represent the plaintiff, and it reminded me of my early days in this glamor profession. One of the things that is tough when you are starting out is how lonely it is, particularly if you are plaintiff's counsel...
"My Cousin Vinny" is number 3 on
Posted on November 11, 2009"My Cousin Vinny" is number 3 on the ABA list of Top 25 Legal Movies, behind "Mockingbird" and "12 Angry Men". On its face this seems like a peculiar choice for the ABA, which isn't really known for its sense of humor, but I think if you dig into it a little it makes sense...
What with having a philosophy student
Posted on November 10, 2009What with having a philosophy student in the house we find that we have been spending quite a bit of time in the realm of reason. This list of quips ("The ungainly attempt to tackle questions that come naturally to children, using methods that come naturally to lawyers...
Donald Barthelme's Syllabus. A
Posted on November 05, 2009Donald Barthelme's Syllabus. A list of 81 books that Barthelme recommended to his students. As it happens, thanks largely to Clay Lewis and William Ruckert I've read 34 of these. One semester they team-taught a four credit course called "Contemporary Literature" or some such...
It was after seven when I voted
Posted on November 03, 2009It was after seven when I voted this evening. I was number 195-- not much of a turnout.
Walking into the San Antonio Airport
Posted on October 30, 2009Walking into the San Antonio Airport this afternoon I noticed that there was a decal next to the door that said "Threat Level: Orange". What the hell does it mean that this is apparently a sufficiently permanent state of affairs to merit a sticker on the door?I've been on a few planes these past couple of weeks, and I am so sick of the Security Theater I could scream...
The people who somehow come to
Posted on October 27, 2009The people who somehow come to speak for their generation don't seem to relish it much, but at any given moment there's no shortage of people who would really, really like the job. There's been a surfeit of memoirs written over the course of the years since the Baby Boom generation started writing, and even the fiction produced by people more or less my age often seems excessively self-referential...
Interesting piece by Joan Walsh
Posted on October 24, 2009Interesting piece by Joan Walsh in Salon today on the way the media treated Clinton."[F]rom start to finish, President Clinton was besieged by a vicious just-say-no GOP abetted by the perversely, inexplicably, cruelly anti-Clinton leaders of the so-called liberal media -- from the New York Times' lame crusades against Whitewater and Chinese donors and Wen Ho Lee, to the integrity-free "opinion" journalism by Maureen Dowd and, sadly, Frank Rich, to a whole host of other liberal media characters who couldn't shake their feeling that Clinton was a fraud, a poseur, a hillbilly, a cynic...
For a moment I dared to hope.
Posted on October 22, 2009For a moment I dared to hope. When I heard that Ratzinger was opening up Roman Catholic communion to disaffected Anglicans I thought for a minute that the invitation was to the Anglicans that are cool with shamans who are women or gay. I don't know what I could have been thinking...
It's all hindsight, of course,
Posted on October 21, 2009It's all hindsight, of course, but I think we can now say with some certainty that The Mommas and The Pappas were the sleaziest pop group of their time. Keith Richards, Led Zep? Not in the hunt. The Velvet Underground? Art school dandies. Alice Cooper was always a pose, a minister's son out to shock...
The first bit of public art you
Posted on October 19, 2009The first bit of public art you encounter at the Austin Airport is this statue of Barbara Jordan. Later, when I went for a run on the Lance Armstrong Bike Path I saw a statue of Stevie Ray Vaughn. They say Austin is in Texas, and the university is there and all, but none of that is what I expect from the Lone Star State...
"Is there a Halloween event, or
Posted on October 15, 2009"Is there a Halloween event, or any kind of event, for which this would not be inappropriate? Maybe a frat party at the University of Alabama, for ten minutes. It would get you thrown out of a trailer park. It would get you thrown out of a hobo camp. Even on a girl you couldn't ironize this...
The marriage recognition rule seems
Posted on October 14, 2009The marriage recognition rule seems to be tripping up the Court of Appeals. It needn't. "Judge Pigott frequently returned to his point that recognizing out-of-state same-sex marriages would discriminate against the New York residents who are in domestic partnerships or civil unions, but who have not crossed across the border to get married in Vermont or Canada, two nearby jurisdictions where same-sex marriages are now legal...
So what you do is you take a bunch
Posted on October 13, 2009So what you do is you take a bunch of basil, and four or five cloves of crushed garlic, and two tablespoons of dried pepper flakes, and you cover it with olive oil. Put it on low heat. I used canned tomatoes, but fresh plum tomatoes would be better; peel and seed them, then strain the seeds out...
A, EGA and LCA went to visit CLA,
Posted on October 11, 2009A, EGA and LCA went to visit CLA, and I remained here, thinking I'd get a few things done. So far so good with that, but when I went to see about dinner this evening I realized that our freezer is packed with mostly one quart bags of frozen stock, or one quart bags of scraps and trimmings labeled "For Stock"...
You know what? When the radio
Posted on October 09, 2009You know what? When the radio snapped on this morning and announced that Barack Obama had been awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace I felt like I had won it.It seems to me that the people who are responding to this in a negative way may not have a really good sense of how the United States is regarded by the rest of the world...
The other day "Rock n' Roll Hoochie
Posted on October 08, 2009The other day "Rock n' Roll Hoochie Coo" came on the radio, and I started thinking about a flash guitar mix. "Sleep That Burns" belongs on that, and something by Nils Lofgren. Picking the right Jeff Beck number would be an enjoyable pastime, and the right Mick Ronson...
"[V]ideo on demand is something
Posted on October 07, 2009"[V]ideo on demand is something of a conceptual oxymoron, since most people who demand video often don?t know what they want. For the indecisive renter, the video store has been an ideal waiting room." That gets at the heart of it pretty nicely, for video and for music stores...
I really don't want to be second-guessing
Posted on October 06, 2009I really don't want to be second-guessing Frank Sedita all the time; the best thing would be for the Erie County District Attorney's Office to be an efficient, well-run shop, and all this drama is extremely counter-productive. I also don't really care much about Steve Pigeon...
Nobel Prize handicapping. I think
Posted on October 05, 2009Nobel Prize handicapping. I think the IOC's rejection of Chicago reflects a deep seated anti-American sentiment, so sorry Philip Roth and Joyce Carol Oates (and Bob Dylan). If it hasn't happened for Amos Oz or Adonis I don't think it is going to happen this year either...
Under ordinary circumstances I
Posted on October 01, 2009Under ordinary circumstances I wouldn't much care to comment on Taylor Branch's book about his conversations with Bill Clinton, much less Joe Klein's review of it, but like a blind pig Klein comes up with a truffle: the 'great theme' of the book, he says, is "the struggle of a president mostly interested in policy against an opposition party obsessed with regaining power...
Since seeing "It Might Get Loud"
Posted on September 30, 2009Since seeing "It Might Get Loud" I've been trying to remember when it was that I saw U2. I recalled the circumstances-- it was at the Tibetan Freedom Concert, Downing Stadium, Randall's Island-- but I couldn't remember what album U2 was supporting then...
A KRAC outing to "It Might Get
Posted on September 29, 2009A KRAC outing to "It Might Get Loud" last night, a movie I recommend to anyone who likes electric guitar. My problem with both Led Zeppelin and U2 is really with the singers (and the lyrical content)-- this was straight-on guitar, and that was great...
Robert J. McCarthy and Michael
Posted on September 27, 2009Robert J. McCarthy and Michael Beebe's front page story in today's Buffalo News is as good an illustration of the importance of a local press as you are likely to find, and a fine example of what makes the Buffalo News a better than average paper. It may well be that the ADA who is accusing District Attorney Frank A...
This year's nominees for the Rock'n'Roll
Posted on September 25, 2009This year's nominees for the Rock'n'Roll HOF once again illustrate how the institution is flawed: ABBA, Darlene Love, Donna Summer, Genesis, Jimmy Cliff, KISS, Laura Nyro, LL Cool J, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Chantels, The Hollies and The Stooges. What kind of a list is this? Is there anyone on it that deserves to be enshrined in a Hall of Fame? ABBA sold a ton of records, and remain a force...
Here's the Ladbrokes line on the
Posted on September 24, 2009Here's the Ladbrokes line on the Noble Prize for Literature. Philip Roth at 7-1 is tempting, but a 25-1 tingle on Margaret Atwood is really hard to resist. I'd lay off Joyce Carol Oates, though. (Via Expecting Rain, which wants you to know that Bob Dylan is 25-1 too...
Is "Dave Matthews at Our Wedding"
Posted on September 22, 2009Is "Dave Matthews at Our Wedding" the new "Hiking the Appalachian Trail"? Both are good, but the Edwards story strikes me as somewhat less hilarious, maybe because Edwards has been done like breakfast for longer than anybody really thinks. I was surprised to see the story on the front page of the Sunday NYTimes, actually-- who cares? Democrats sleeping around isn't news, is it? (It is only news when Republicans do it because they make such a big deal about not sleeping around...
The problem with all the hand-wringing
Posted on September 21, 2009The problem with all the hand-wringing about the Republican back-bencher with the bad manners is that the discussion has shifted focus away from where it ought to be. Maybe Joe Wilson is a bigot, and I hope his mom called him and told him she was embarrassed, but lost in the uproar was the fact that his assertion-- that the proposed health care bill would guarantee health insurance coverage for persons in the country out of status-- is factually false...
Robert Christgau's quip ("Patti
Posted on September 16, 2009Robert Christgau's quip ("Patti Smith is a better poet. And Lou Reed was a better junkie.") will forever sum up Jim Carroll for me, but it isn't really a fair assessment. "People Who Died" is a terrific song; "The Basketball Diaries" is an excellent memoir (and a good movie)...
Number 79 at 8:30 voting this morning--
Posted on September 15, 2009Number 79 at 8:30 voting this morning-- Kearns was outside canvasing, which makes a certain kind of sense. The Delaware District is probably a swing district, and he will need to carry it if he is going to win.
Last night I thought that this
Posted on September 14, 2009Last night I thought that this waiting room time might be well spent writing about this whole damn thing. I still will, at some point, but for now I will merely report that the surgery went well, and that the pathologist's initial assessment is that there is only normal breast tissue present...
For some reason I don't read fiction
Posted on September 12, 2009For some reason I don't read fiction on the web, perhaps because I don't read all that much fiction these days. Nevertheless, this short story, "Mr. Penumbra's Twenty-Four Hour Bookstore" really grabbed me. I recommend it. "BACK AT SUPPLY AND DEMAND...
One more Beatles post, because
Posted on September 10, 2009One more Beatles post, because the wealth of writing accompanying the re-mastered reissues has been so rich. From Pitchfork's review of "Abbey Road":"The Beatles' run in the 1960s is good fodder for thought experiments. For example, Abbey Road came out in late September 1969...
The Beatles, reconsidered."It is
Posted on September 09, 2009The Beatles, reconsidered."It is not easy to categorize the Beatles? music; more than any other group, their sound can be described as ?Beatlesque.? It?s akin to a combination of Badfinger, Oasis, Corner Shop, and every other rock band that?s ever existed...
Here's a harsh assessment of Norman
Posted on September 04, 2009Here's a harsh assessment of Norman Mailer, from Commentary. I think it is unfair to reduce Mailer's work to its worst qualities. Algis Valiunas can't bring himself to admit that "Armies of the Night" is funny and insightful, or that "Advertisements for Myself" is worthwhile.
Bruce Eaton has been writing about
Posted on September 03, 2009Bruce Eaton has been writing about the concerts he booked as a student at Hobart & William Smith. Today's post is about how he brought Bruce Springsteen into town, and is pretty great.
We went to Julie & Julia over the
Posted on September 02, 2009We went to Julie & Julia over the weekend. Maybe I'm over-thinking it, but my gosh Nora Ephron is a lazy filmmaker. I suppose the critical decision was to use the blog as a hook, rather than just making a movie about Julia Child. I enjoyed the blog when it was an ongoing project, but making a movie about blogging is like making a movie about sending email...
Nice list of things to avoid in
Posted on September 01, 2009Nice list of things to avoid in brief writing (registration required)." Lawyers believe that a formal writing such as a brief must use "official," meaning pompous or inflated, language. Not true. You are writing for a very overworked audience that has no time or patience for inflated language such as "in the instant case" or "in the matter at bar" when "this case" perfectly and clearly expresses the same idea...
A and the rest went peach-picking,
Posted on August 31, 2009A and the rest went peach-picking, and the thought was that peaches would be nice with ribs, so I rubbed a rack down with Cajun spice and put it in the smoker. I melted some peach jam in a little white wine, and added the blueberry compote I had left over from breakfast, then I chopped a jalapeno and threw that in to bring some heat...
Just finished Victor Bockris'
Posted on August 27, 2009Just finished Victor Bockris' Keith Richards: The Biography which is, I suppose, as good as Keef scholarship is likely to get for a while. It's a good read, best, I think, on Richards' early life and the very early days of the Stones; weakest towards the end...
I'm sad about Ted Kennedy, who
Posted on August 26, 2009I'm sad about Ted Kennedy, who was probably no more flawed than most people, although his flaws were more visible. Giving every possible benefit of the doubt Senator Kennedy's death leaves us with eleven senators that are worth a damn, and I'm not seeing a towering leader among any of them...
When TCA was in town she heard
Posted on August 20, 2009When TCA was in town she heard a bit of Bob Dylan's radio program as we were driving around. "Where's he from?" she asked, and when I told her Hibbing, Minnesota, she said, "Then why does he talk like that?" It wasn't really a question: TCA was saying that Dylan's distinctive twang is an affectation-- as phony as the stories he tells about running off with the rodeo when he was 12...
Top Ten Worst Rock'n'Roll Career
Posted on August 19, 2009Top Ten Worst Rock'n'Roll Career Moves. A little too Brit centered (or 'centred') but who could resist this photograph of the Killer and his bride?
The main reason to go to Keggers
Posted on August 14, 2009The main reason to go to Keggers of Yore is to see if there are any pictures of you there. I couldn't find any, but I'm pretty sure I've been to some of those parties.
A moment of silence for Les Paul,
Posted on August 13, 2009A moment of silence for Les Paul, a great musician, and inventor of technologies that made modern music possible.
I have pretty much worked out the
Posted on August 12, 2009I have pretty much worked out the list of what we will be watching in my Lawyers in Movies class this semester. Thanks to everyone who made suggestions; chances are you will recognize your contributions. Subject to last minute fine-tuning, by year of release:Counselor At Law (1933)Miracle on 34th Street (1947)Witness for the Prosecution (1957)Anatomy of a Murder (1959)Inherit the Wind (1960)To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)The Fortune Cookie (1966)The Paper Chase (1973)?And Justice for All (1979)The Verdict (1982)Class Action (1991)My Cousin Vinny (1992)A Civil Action (1998)Legally Blonde (2001)Laws of Attraction (2004)Michael Clayton (2007)Three movies from this century, three from the sixties...
Budd Schulberg's dead. I'd have
Posted on August 07, 2009Budd Schulberg's dead. I'd have guessed that he died years ago. He is a figure from another time, but "What Makes Sammy Run?" has still got to be on anyone's list of great Hollywood novels, and "On the Waterfront" (A's personal favorite movie) is one of those rare movies where the acting, the writing and the direction are all so sublime that the thing can be re-watched for years and still yield new nuances.
Yes' desecration of Paul Simon's
Posted on August 01, 2009Yes' desecration of Paul Simon's "America" came on the radio, and LCA was appalled. I told her Jon Anderson had it in mind to fix the song by adding loads more cow bell, and then she understood.
The other night I was sleeping
Posted on July 31, 2009The other night I was sleeping the sleep of the innocent when I was jolted awake by A's elbow. "There's something flying around," she said. As consciousness gradually dawned I saw that, in fact, there was something flying around-- and it appeared to be quite a bit bigger than anything I was eager to engage...
Lessons learned from the ER."Stay
Posted on July 30, 2009Lessons learned from the ER."Stay away from people named "Some Guy" or "This One Dude", because they for whatever reason, just punch someone in the face or hit them with a crowbar and run off. If I see them on the street, I cross the street to get away from them...
Wishbone Ash. Uriah Heep. Hawkwind.
Posted on July 28, 2009Wishbone Ash. Uriah Heep. Hawkwind. Nektar. Does Humble Pie belong on this list? Who else does?
East Coast vs. West Coast: Neil
Posted on July 27, 2009East Coast vs. West Coast: Neil Young vs. Bob Dylan (via Expecting Rain.)
I think the part I like best about
Posted on July 26, 2009I think the part I like best about the news that the Bush Administration considered bringing in the military to arrest the Lackawanna Six is the Times describing Lackawanna as a "Buffalo suburb". Lackawanna is a Buffalo suburb in pretty much exactly the way the Gary is a suburb of Chicago...
I read the Public Officer's Law,
Posted on July 23, 2009I read the Public Officer's Law, and the applicable provision of the State Constitution, and I am inclined to believe that the Governor does not have the authority to appoint a Lieutenant Governor-- but it seems like a close call. To my way of thinking, a tie goes to the runner, so the stay that Justice William LaMarca issued probably is properly lifted...
It would be interesting to try
Posted on July 22, 2009It would be interesting to try and expand on the idea, but I probably won't. Even so, I'll throw it out there: Sarah Palin lives in something closer to the "old, weird America" that Greil Marcus says is Dylan's great subject than any of us do. Dylan may be an Obama fan, but Palin is closer to his subject matter...
The judicial salary lawsuits are
Posted on July 21, 2009The judicial salary lawsuits are on their way to the Court of Appeals. The Chief Judge is a plaintiff, and has recused himself, but the remaining six will hear the matter under the Rule of Necessity.
"Surface". SURFACE : A film from
Posted on July 19, 2009"Surface". SURFACE : A film from underneath from tu on Vimeo. If you have a high speed connection, I recommend the full-screen version of this. As I continue with my "Lawyers in Movies" project one of the things I've been thinking about is the way we watch videos and movies...
To George Clinton and P-Funk last
Posted on July 17, 2009To George Clinton and P-Funk last night, a show I've really been looking forward to. Apparently a lot of people were-- it was more mobbed than anything at Thursday in the Square I've ever seen. It was also the most racially mixed TATS show I've ever seen...
Pretty much everyone has heard
Posted on July 16, 2009Pretty much everyone has heard that this year marks the 30th anniversary of the Walkman. I like this reminiscence about the cassette format, which really was pretty sweet. Audio gear in general was a lot more interesting back then. You had your metal tapes, and your chrome high-bias tapes, and people had brand preferences (I was a Maxell chrome guy, which to my ears was the best sounding, and the best value)...
At Five Thirty Eight Andrew Gelman
Posted on July 15, 2009At Five Thirty Eight Andrew Gelman writes about Protestants, Catholics, and Jews on the Supreme Court. The whole post is interesting, but what caught my eye was the statement that "there's some ambiguity as to whether Episcopalians should be characterized as Protestant"...
"Take Me To The River" came on
Posted on July 14, 2009"Take Me To The River" came on the radio the other day-- the Talking Heads' cover, not the Al Green original-- and it got me thinking about great second albums. I suppose there are more of them than we think, but the sophomore jinx is certainly real enough for it to be a happy surprise when overcome...
The NYTimes asked seven "legal
Posted on July 13, 2009The NYTimes asked seven "legal experts" what questions they would like to hear Judge Sonia Sotomayor answer at her confirmation hearing. One of these nominal experts is Alberto Gonzales, once thought likely to be the first Latino Supreme Court Justice, and presently occupying the Bobby Knight Visiting Professor Chair in the Department of Political Science at Texas Tech...
We've presently embroiled in a
Posted on July 12, 2009We've presently embroiled in a lawsuit that has me deposing representatives of the Catholic Church, and as I was walking to the office of my adversary the other day I was thinking about the place the Church presently occupies in intellectual discourse...
I am all about Lawyers in Movies
Posted on July 11, 2009I am all about Lawyers in Movies these days, in preparation for my class, and this makes me want to watch any kind of movie whatsoever that doesn't have a lawyer in it. "North by Northwest" doesn't quite qualify-- there is a lawyer on hand to defend Cary Grant from a DWI charge-- but even so, it is close to time for me to watch it again...
Howard Dean tells it like it is,
Posted on July 10, 2009Howard Dean tells it like it is, as is his habit. ESQ: Boil it down, if you would. Why isn't it working even if you do have insurance? HD: Because it's too expensive. The private sector can't manage costs. Health care is one of the few places - defense is another - that the government works more efficiently and more effectively than the private sector...
The simple truth of the matter
Posted on July 09, 2009The simple truth of the matter is that Ghostbusters is the greatest film ever made. And "Be Kind, Rewind" is runner-up. (Via Kottke.)And speaking of movies, there was a time when you could get a pretty lively discussion going over the question of whether Dustin Hoffman or Al Pacino was the better actor...
Interesting (albeit irritating)
Posted on July 08, 2009Interesting (albeit irritating) liquor law decision out of the Second Circuit: Arnold's Wines Inc. v. Boyle. The plaintiffs are a wine retailer in Indiana who would like to sell directly to New York consumers and two New York residents who would like to be able to buy and receive wine directly from out-of-state retailers...
I'm not sure where I found Send
Posted on July 07, 2009I'm not sure where I found Send Me Your Head, and I don't recall when, either, but here it is. Karen Schmidt is an artist who is working on a project that requires her to paint many 3? x 3? portraits, so she is soliciting headshots. I like the fact that she reports what she is listening to and what she is reading as she does each portraits (WHYY and "The View From Castle Rock" by Alice Munro), and I like the way the project combines digital and plastic arts...
Palin and Stanford and Spitzer--
Posted on July 06, 2009Palin and Stanford and Spitzer-- and I'm sure there are others that I'm not coming up with at the moment-- doesn't it seem like there is an unusual amount of crazy going on in the statehouses lately?
The trendy sandwich of the moment
Posted on July 04, 2009The trendy sandwich of the moment is the bánh mì, a Vietnamese composition which includes thinly sliced pickled carrots and daikon, onions, cucumbers, cilantro, jalapeño peppers and meat (or tofu, in theory). Typically the meat is roasted or grilled pork, ham, and/or paté...
"What Would Keith Richards Do?
Posted on July 03, 2009"What Would Keith Richards Do? Daily Affirmations from a Rock and Roll Survivor" is an actual book. I really feel like we were so in front of this thing....The author has a recommended playlist, "[A] little bit of Stones music, a little more of Richards' solo work, but mostly...
Tom Robbins makes a good point:
Posted on July 02, 2009Tom Robbins makes a good point: lost in the story of the New York State Senate's dysfunction is the fact that Steve Pigeon and Tom Golisano's coup has derailed a number of worthwhile progressive changes.Pigeon is the kind of political operative that I find the most despicable-- he's a lever-puller...
This list of The 20 Greatest Dylan
Posted on July 01, 2009This list of The 20 Greatest Dylan Songs was starting to annoy me, but I liked the fact that "Mississippi" made the cut, and I like the surprise ending.
A happy surprise last night, "Counselor
Posted on June 30, 2009A happy surprise last night, "Counselor At Law", William Wyler's adaptation of a play by Elmer Rice, featuring John Barrymore, from 1933.
I was not inclined to write about
Posted on June 29, 2009I was not inclined to write about Michael Jackson. I suppose it is notable that he was some kind of template for so many things-- race, most notably, but sexual persona as well, and other things. How peculiar that a person so unlike anyone else could nevertheless be the focus of so many other people's projections...
The sentencing memo submitted by
Posted on June 27, 2009The sentencing memo submitted by the US Attorney in the Madoff case makes for pretty amusing reading. I'm inclined to believe that the government tends to over-reach when it comes to sentencing. The US routinely imposes terms which are grotesque by the standards of other Western nations...
Top Ten Worst Rock Star Actors.
Posted on June 26, 2009Top Ten Worst Rock Star Actors. With a little work I'll bet you could work out an algorithm which would predict this-- the more iconic as a rock star, the worse the performance. I'm not sure I agree with the ranking here-- I found Jagger surprisingly good in Performance...
Slate has been featuring a week-long
Posted on June 25, 2009Slate has been featuring a week-long discussion among Walter Dellinger, Linda Greenhouse, and Dahlia Lithwick about the Supreme Court term just past, and the Sotomayor nomination. I like Professor Dellinger's observation: "There is no better example of the false triumph of logic over experience than the 1896 decision in Plessey v...
It is early days, but Wilco's "You
Posted on June 24, 2009It is early days, but Wilco's "You Never Know" is a serious contender for My Personal Hit Single of the Summer.
What kind of gonif steals from
Posted on June 23, 2009What kind of gonif steals from Sandy Koufax? The Bernie Madoff kind. I suppose one might argue that he prayed upon the greedy, and no doubt there were people and institutions that should have known better, but at the end of the day the magnitude of the money this guy stole is just so staggering that it takes a special kind of chutzpah to argue that the court should set aside the "hysteria" generated by the largest Ponzi scheme in history and give Mr...
Why didn't I know that the Rolling
Posted on June 22, 2009Why didn't I know that the Rolling Stones had done a Rice Krispies commercial?
Horrible Tattoos. This kind of
Posted on June 20, 2009Horrible Tattoos. This kind of thing is always hilarious. I happened upon the site in the comments to this, from Ann Althouse's site, also funnier than hell.
Heavy Rotation: Twenty Writers
Posted on June 19, 2009Heavy Rotation: Twenty Writers on the Albums That Changed Their Lives sounds like a great idea, but the examples aren't exciting me. I'd say that this sort of thing is better done in the 33 1/3 series. Just the fact that a 33 1/3 author picks the record in question tells you a lot, and then they write about it, sometimes including personal insights, sometimes not...
Timothy Noah provides a good overview
Posted on June 17, 2009Timothy Noah provides a good overview of the world's health care systems by way of a review of T.R. Reid's forthcoming book. It is extremely irritating to consider that the US system essentially combines the worst features of every other plan out there...
Ann Althouse is a law professor
Posted on June 16, 2009Ann Althouse is a law professor at the University of Wisconsin. (According to her Wikipedia entry she worked for a while at Sullivan & Cromwell, and I can't help wondering if her time there overlapped with my time in the mailroom of that firm. Might have...
Words the NYTimes uses that nobody
Posted on June 15, 2009Words the NYTimes uses that nobody else does. Just for fun I decided to see whether I use any of these.I used "sui generis" in reference to a blog that bears that name. (It's a good blog-- I used to have it on my sidebar, and I'll put it back next time I'm revising it...
It is not comforting to me that
Posted on June 14, 2009It is not comforting to me that we seem to be leaving the makeup of the Supreme Court to the admissions committees at the Yale and Harvard Law Schools.".
I should have posted this last
Posted on June 13, 2009I should have posted this last week, when I first saw it, but the fact that it has stayed with me this long means that I really have to mention it now, before it is lost to the shifting sands. I love the NYTimes, for all its stuffiness, but since Russell Baker retired you'd have to say that it is a publication that is sense of humor-deprived...
Naturally enough, I think of Bruce
Posted on June 12, 2009Naturally enough, I think of Bruce Eaton as a jazz guy, but he has written a book about Big Star, and apparently Bruce was a punk rocker.There were some great clubs in Buffalo back then-- The Continental was the one I knew best, but Bruce played with Alex Chilton at McVan's, which was also a magnificently seedy venue...
One of the things that I haven't
Posted on June 10, 2009One of the things that I haven't mentioned here about EGA's cancer diagnosis is that she found a lump some five months before she was sent for further testing. Being EGA, when she found the lump she went immediately to the University clinic, and was told that it was probably nothing...
I made this Rhubarb Ice Cream over
Posted on June 08, 2009I made this Rhubarb Ice Cream over the weekend, and was quite pleased with the results. (I've had good results with Kevin Weeks' recipes pretty generally.) Rhubarb is a funny ingredient-- apart from using it in as a pie filling I haven't worked with it much, but I'll bet there are a lot o cool things it could be used in...
Six hundred miles apart Captain
Posted on June 07, 2009Six hundred miles apart Captain X and I were standing in front of televisions yelling, "Stop the race!". Like Newton and Leibniz we'd independently arrived at a trifecta play that had just pulled around the far turn and was barreling down the home stretch, with just about a furlong to go...
I have a pretty complete Neil Young
Posted on June 06, 2009I have a pretty complete Neil Young set for the period covered in the gargantuan "Archives Volume 1", on vinyl. And I have "Decade" on CD. I've always kind of wanted to see "Journey Through the Past", but I'm thinking that a 10 disk Blu-ray set is kinda like a swimming pool-- it's better if someone you know owns it...
Good article in the New York Law
Posted on June 05, 2009Good article in the New York Law Journal by Edward M. Spiro and Judith L. Mogul on motions to transfer pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §1404(a). Forum non conviens motions have been a staple item in our practice for years, and the law has evolved substantially...
Cory Doctorow makes a good point
Posted on June 04, 2009Cory Doctorow makes a good point when he notes that search algorithms are editorial decisions, and I think that this is something that many of us know on at least a subconscious level. When I hear about a new search engine I make a point of trying for a few days, and I'm in the habit of checking back with some I've tried in the past to see what kind of different results I might get...
A couple of weeks ago I was talking
Posted on June 03, 2009A couple of weeks ago I was talking to a colleague who practices full-time in New York about the quality of the judiciary. The conversation arose in the context of a discussion about the note of issue-- the device in New York practice which signals that a case is trial-ready...
The Second Department declines
Posted on May 29, 2009The Second Department declines to apply the doctrine of primary assumption of risk in a case where the plaintiff was injured while riding a bicycle on a paved public roadway. The plaintiff was the last bicyclist in one of several groups of eight riders cycling on a 72-mile ride...
Captain X lent me Steve Matteo
Posted on May 28, 2009Captain X lent me Steve Matteo "Let It Be" from the 33 1/3 series (the Beatle's side, not the Replacements-- there are 33 1/3 books on both). For a long time "Let It Be" was the only Beatles' album I owned, so it's fair to say that I'm pretty deep into it...
The New York Law Journal reports
Posted on May 27, 2009The New York Law Journal reports that the confirmation of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court may be administrative complication at the Second Circuit. There is currently one vacancy created by Judge Chester J. Straub to takingsenior status, although Southern District Judge Gerard E...
Judge Sonia Sotomayor works for
Posted on May 26, 2009Judge Sonia Sotomayor works for me. A. has appeared before her, and was impressed, and everything I've ever read by or about her her has likewise been impressive. If I were advising the President I'd keep the short list they used here in my top drawer-- he could go on picking women, and the Court would be the better for it...
In a group of at least 23 randomly
Posted on May 22, 2009In a group of at least 23 randomly chosen people, there is more than 50% probability that some pair of them will both have been born on the same day. For 57 or more people, the probability is more than 99%, and it reaches 100% when the number of people reaches 366.
There's always a lot of talk in
Posted on May 21, 2009There's always a lot of talk in Buffalo about cultural tourism, and most of the conversation is about buildings and art. That's fine-- I like both. Buffalo has plenty of attractive, significant buildings; the unique Olmsted system of parks and parkways is well worthwhile, and our arts scene is deep and varied...
Privacy cases in the US are different
Posted on May 20, 2009Privacy cases in the US are different from the way they do it in the rest of the world-- here they mostly arise in the context of Fourth Amendment jurispudence, a clumsy tool for the job. In People v. Weaver, a case just handed down by the Court of Appeals, we have an example of how easy it is for an apellate court to get it wrong (although the Court of Appeals ultimately got it right)...
I reckon I'm as knowledgeable as
Posted on May 19, 2009I reckon I'm as knowledgeable as most knowledgeable Beatles fans, but Beatles Anecdotes has got tidbits I never knew."On the Fab Four?s 1965 tour of the U.S., Byrd David Crosby introduced George Harrison to both the sitar and the music of sitar legend Ravi Shankar...
My preview of the Thursday in the
Posted on May 18, 2009My preview of the Thursday in the Square/Rocks the Harbor shows, including useful links to the homepages of the artists Buffalo Place has booked this year is up at the Spree blog. Bottom line: best lineup in years. Pick hits: Los Lobos, George Clinton and Neko Case at the Square; The Robert Cray Band with the John Hammond Trio and Indigenous, and Great Big Sea with Kathleen Edwards and Jeremy Fisher at the Harbor.
It's true enough that "[t]he one
Posted on May 17, 2009It's true enough that "[t]he one genuinely unprecedented element of the band's sound is [Dylan's] singing voice, which at this point is a wonder on the order of a wrecked 67 Saab that still manages to start even though the rust has penetrated clear through to the steering wheel...
"So, who do you like in the Preakness?"
Posted on May 16, 2009"So, who do you like in the Preakness?" A asked as we were taking LCA to dance. "I don't know if I'm going to play it," I said. "Why not?" asked LCA."The filly is 8-5. That's no kind of play. She probably is the best horse. Mine That Bird is going to be under a different jock-- Calvin Borel is on the filly-- and people are saying that he got a great ride and a break from the track that he probably won't get today...
Actual Robin Trower lyric heard
Posted on May 14, 2009Actual Robin Trower lyric heard today on the way to work: "We're living in the day of the eagle/The Eagle of Love". So that clears things up. What day is it? The day of the eagle. Which eagle? The Eagle of Love, of course.The song itself is vintaqe Robin Trower-- in fact, it is vintage Robin Trower, since it is the opening cut from "Bridge of Sighs"...
The Hon. David B. Saxe describes
Posted on May 13, 2009The Hon. David B. Saxe describes the internal workings of the Appellate Division, First Department. I love this sort of inside baseball, and not just about law-- descriptions of how people go about their jobs in general are fascinating to me. I was before Judge Saxe pretty regularly back when he was on the trial bench-- he had a deserved reputation of being a law guy, and he was pretty hands-on as well...
Suzanne Vega is the ?Mother of
Posted on May 12, 2009Suzanne Vega is the ?Mother of the MP3?, and Lena Soderberg is why we have digital imaging, sort of. I wonder if there are more examples of this sort of thing? It seems to be a reflection on the essentially romantic nature of scientists, doesn't it?
Neddie Jingo expresses exactly
Posted on May 05, 2009Neddie Jingo expresses exactly how I feel about Yes. A great deal of my music listening occurs in the car, and quite a bit of that time is spent listening to XM Radio's "Deep Tracks". Mostly this works out okay-- it is not as good as my iPod on Shuffle, for reasons I will get into, but they play album cuts from roughly the LBJ Administration through Bush pere, more or less, and that's pretty much where my rock listening is centered...
Jack Kemp was never iconic for
Posted on May 04, 2009Jack Kemp was never iconic for me, but I understand why he would be a figure comparable to Mickey Mantle for anyone who grew up in Western New York, the guy who brought the city the only national championship it has known. By the time I caught up with his career he was a conservative congressman who was working what seemed to me then to be the fringes of the lunatic Right...
To the Hunt Real Estate Art of
Posted on May 03, 2009To the Hunt Real Estate Art of Jazz last night, a double bill with Frank Kimbrough opening on solo piano, then returning as part of the Kendra Shank Quartet.I liked Kimbrough, who we already knew to be a versatile instrumentalist, having seen him in past seasons with the Maria Schneider Orchestra and with Dewey Redman...
I Want Revenge's scratch is going
Posted on May 02, 2009I Want Revenge's scratch is going to move a lot of money around. My plan B was to box Friesan Fire (who I guess I really like) with Chocolate Candy.
April was a lost cause, and now
Posted on May 01, 2009April was a lost cause, and now here it is, Derby Weekend already. I'm boxing I Want Revenge and Friesan Fire.
How to be a Successful Evil Overlord:#
Posted on April 30, 2009How to be a Successful Evil Overlord:# 98. If an attractive young couple enters my realm, I will carefully monitor their activities. If I find they are happy and affectionate, I will ignore them. However, if circumstances have forced them together against their will and they spend all their time bickering and criticizing each other except during the intermittent occasions when they are saving each other' lives at which point there are hints of sexual tension, I will immediately order their execution...
To the Bike Path Sunday, for a
Posted on April 28, 2009To the Bike Path Sunday, for a calibrated four-miler. I was there around lunchtime, and was therefore in the middle of an event I did not know about, the BPAC Six Hour Distance Classic. As I advance deeper into my 50s I find that I still have some athletic goals, but six hours around a 3...
I'm not sure how to write about
Posted on April 20, 2009I'm not sure how to write about this, but I know I will be writing about it more. Last week EGA, who is 23, was diagnosed with breast cancer. She is treating, and in good spirits, and since we got the bad news all of the news we've had so far is encouraging...
Margaret Whiting isn't exactly
Posted on April 09, 2009Margaret Whiting isn't exactly the sort of singer I like, but she's an interesting figure in the history of American popular music. She used to show up on Jonathan Schwartz' WNEW program, where she'd sing a little, and talk about her father, the composer Richard Whiting...
25 great albums that work best
Posted on April 08, 200925 great albums that work best when listened to from start to finish. (Via Kottke.) I am not familiar with a number of these, and of the ones I know, many are not sides that I am inclined to play at all. Pink Floyd give me a pain. Nobody wants to hear "Nebraska" except for "Atlantic City", I don't care how much of a masterpiece it is technically...
Congratulations to EGA, 1:48:14
Posted on April 05, 2009Congratulations to EGA, 1:48:14 in the Bloomington Mini Marathon, 08:15 pace, and a snazzy 11th place in her age group. She knocked six minutes off her PR over a touch looking course:
To The Hold Steady at the Tralf
Posted on April 02, 2009To The Hold Steady at the Tralf last night, sold out to the walls for a band that completely lived up to its reputation as a terrific live act. They have a deep catalog, and they work hard to put each song over-- they weren't just playing, they were performing...
You know what I hate? When people
Posted on April 01, 2009You know what I hate? When people say "arbitration" when they mean "mediation". I also hate it when people say, "sworn affidavit". What the hell is an unsworn affidavit? These are not things laypeople say, for the most part. Laypeople seldom talk about affidavits or alternative dispute resolution...
1001 Rules For My Unborn Son. No
Posted on March 31, 20091001 Rules For My Unborn Son. No reason to limit these to male offspring, generally sound. 334. Unless you served, no fatigues. 325. When excusing yourself from the table, you need not give a reason. 302. Never be the last one in the pool. 282. Never swing at the first pitch.
To Ted Nash and Odeon at Bruce
Posted on March 30, 2009To Ted Nash and Odeon at Bruce Eaton's Hunt Real Estate Art of Jazz at the Albright-Knox yesterday, a show I had been looking forward to that still managed to exceed my expectations. Nash plays clarinet, tenor sax and bass clarinet, fronting a band with a violin, accordion, drums and tuba...
To "An Afternoon with Harvey Pekar"
Posted on March 29, 2009To "An Afternoon with Harvey Pekar" at the Central Library. It was an imperfect format, somewhat by necessity, I suppose. Pekar was interviewed by two librarians-- the Humanities Librarian and the Young Adult Librarian from the Erie County Library. Both were familiar with his work, but the questioning lacked spontaneity...
Some time back, scrolling around,
Posted on March 28, 2009Some time back, scrolling around, I came across the middle part of "The Spy that Came In From The Cold". I watched about ten minutes worth (Burton, sinking into drink, gets into an altercation with a shopkeeper in order to infiltrate the English Communists), then realized that this was too brilliant not to see in its entirety...
Today is the 50th anniversary of
Posted on March 27, 2009Today is the 50th anniversary of Raymond Chandler's death. It is hard to think of a character less Chandleresque than Phillip Marlowe's creator. Here is a set of trailers from movies made of Chandler's work-- I've seen most, but not all. I like Dick Powell's Marlowe, and Elliott Gould's, just about as much as Bogey's, maybe more...
Electronic discovery shouldn't
Posted on March 25, 2009Electronic discovery shouldn't be a big deal, but somehow everyone seems to get it catastrophically wrong. D.C. Appeals Court Affirms Order Requiring a Non-Party to Spend $6 Million, 9% of its Total Annual Budget, to Comply with an e-Discovery Subpoena...
Wouldn't you think that if you
Posted on March 24, 2009Wouldn't you think that if you showed this list to the sorts of Americans that favor the death penalty they'd feel bad about being on a list with these other guys? Why isn't this a persuasive argument? What a classy list of countries, you know? Who's missing? I guess there are appalling sub-Saharan African countries that I'd expect to see, but really this reads like a roster of the worst nations in the world, plus Japan and us...
When I was in high school I commuted
Posted on March 22, 2009When I was in high school I commuted with my father to a summer job in downtown Manhattan. There was quite a bit to like about this, and one of the real pleasures of the experience was exploring the plethora of bookstores-- new and used, but mostly used-- in the area...
I'm not so sure that I'd pay £40
Posted on March 21, 2009I'm not so sure that I'd pay £40 quid for it, but I like this poster, a reproduction of one produced by the Ministry of Information 1939 enough to make it my current wallpaper. Apparently it is a big hit with the Brits right now.
Popdose is an enjoyable site that
Posted on March 20, 2009Popdose is an enjoyable site that features essays and music downloads. Lately it has been running a series of essays by producer Tom Werman about his experiences as an A&R man and in the studio which are right in my wheelhouse. Stories about how bands got signed and the business end of the music business are not common, but I love knowing that Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley were in a band called Wicked Lester, and that when they made it as KISS Neil Bogart bought back the masters of the Wicked Lester side Epic had purchased so that it wouldn't be released.
When my brother lived on the Upper
Posted on March 19, 2009When my brother lived on the Upper East Side Kinsale was his local. It was the real deal then, and apparently still is.
I suppose that fake trend stories
Posted on March 18, 2009I suppose that fake trend stories are such a journalistic staple that they should simply pass without comment, but the notion that the "use of BlackBerrys and iPhones by jurors gathering and sending out information about cases is wreaking havoc on trials around the country, upending deliberations and infuriating judges" is something new is too stupid to let pass...
I'm not going to be wanting confit
Posted on March 17, 2009I'm not going to be wanting confit for a while, what with it being more or less spring and all, but I'll be trying this when October rolls around. And duck pastrami-- I never got to it this winter, but I mean to.
When Rob Rosenbaum is at his worst
Posted on March 14, 2009When Rob Rosenbaum is at his worst he is so insufferable that I wonder why I bother. Here, for example, he goes into rhapsodies over a song called "Choctaw Bingo". This piece nicely captures the Rosenbaum quirks that most annoy. The hyperbole, for example: Ron thinks this number is "New-national-anthem-level genius...
The lid on the jar of the organic
Posted on March 13, 2009The lid on the jar of the organic peanut butter that LCA favors has a drawing of a raccoon spreading the product on a piece of bread with a knife. It's not a cartoon raccoon-- it is realistically rendered, and every time I look at it I marvel at the twisted mind that could conjure a knife-wielding raccoon...
I love it when there is a split
Posted on March 12, 2009I love it when there is a split in the Departments. Because we practice all over New York it means that we have to keep track of what the law is in different places, , but it also means that we can sound erudite. Lots of times that's as much fun as our glamor profession offers...
Good interview/profile of Linda
Posted on March 11, 2009Good interview/profile of Linda Barry. It is interesting to think about people who are uniquely American characters, and Barry is certainly one. In that awkward time leading up to the 21st century we had a number of them, and I connected to quite a few through the Village Voice, which is where I came to know Barry's work...
I like the alternative Shamrock
Posted on March 08, 2009I like the alternative Shamrock course. It is hillier, sort of, but the climbs are shorter, and it took us through parts of the Ward that I'd never seen, past bars I'd never heard of. (Tuni's Tavern looked good.) They should consider alternating this course with the "classic" course-- it would be interesting to have a race with that sort of variety...
Scott Lemieux is good on why the
Posted on March 06, 2009Scott Lemieux is good on why the Yoo memos are so troubling: bottom line, we're lucky the worst fantasies we had about Bush didn't come true, because he was being counseled that he could do anything he wanted. "Among other things, these memos asserted that the "war on terror" might trump first and fourth amendment rights, that the Posse Comitatus Act would not prevent the military from being used for law-enforcement purposes if terrorism was involved, that statutory restrictions on warrantless surveillance could be ignored and that Congress could not in any way regulate the detention or interrogation of terrorist suspects...
This coming fall term I'm going
Posted on February 25, 2009This coming fall term I'm going to be teaching a seminar at UB called "Lawyers in Movies". The idea is to "explore the cultural attitudes towards law and lawyers by discussing the way the profession has been portrayed in movies". I have some movies in mind, but I'd also like some suggestions...
When a vacancy occurs in New York
Posted on February 24, 2009When a vacancy occurs in New York State Supreme Court a merit selection process is used to fill the spot. A judicial screening panel all applicants, then makes a recommendation to the governor. The committee is composed of five appointments made by the governor, two from the Legislature, two from the state's chief judge, one from the New York State Bar Association, one from the presiding justice of the Department of the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court where the vacancy occurred and two from the attorney general...
One more for the Perils of an Elected
Posted on February 20, 2009One more for the Perils of an Elected Judiciary file. According to the Buffalo News "Joseph G. Makowski is expected to resign his seat as a State Supreme Court justice?possibly in the next few days? amid a state judicial investigation and a potential grand jury probe of written claims he made trying to clear a friend in a drunken-driving case"...
Serious comic book fans will tell
Posted on February 18, 2009Serious comic book fans will tell you that what makes the form great is that it is all angst-y, and that as a storytelling medium comics are cinematic, and Marvel was better than DC because Spiderman was such a realistic teenager. I say, sure, okay, but beat the Space Canine Patrol Agency! You can't, can you! What possibly could? I had this comic, and I morn its loss even today...
The revelation that A-Rod was using
Posted on February 15, 2009The revelation that A-Rod was using steroids back in in '03, and the subsequent hubbub has been percolating in my mind for a few days. What is there to say about it? I liked the crack that some sports radio character made: "If he was going to take steroids, why didn't he take the good kind that get you hits after the seventh inning?" That gets close to the problem, but not close enough-- it's a snarky way of saying that Rodriguez has never seemed clutch, but it ducks the statistical reality-- by the numbers he's already one of the all-time greats...
The plane crash is certainly horrible.
Posted on February 13, 2009The plane crash is certainly horrible. In a city the size of Buffalo there's usually only about three degrees of separation from an event like this, which means that just about everyone will have either a personal connection to one of the 50 people that died, or know someone who does...
Governor Paterson was pretty unhappy
Posted on February 11, 2009Governor Paterson was pretty unhappy with the process that brought him Jonathan Lippman as his nominee for Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals, and Wayne Barrett is fuming. It is a little troubling that Judge Lippman has only ever worked in the court system-- some time actually representing clients is a nice qualtity in any judge...
We saw Blossom Dearie play a couple
Posted on February 10, 2009We saw Blossom Dearie play a couple of times with my parents when we were living in New York (I don't think it was at Michael's Pub, but it might have been). We saw her again when she came to Artpark in the Church (she had a cold that night). She was one of those performers that are kind of a test...
I've had a venison tenderloin in
Posted on February 08, 2009I've had a venison tenderloin in the freezer for a bit. I love game, but my politics make it impossible to go get my own-- until I can hunt deer with a brick we are forced to depend upon the generosity of friends. The gift of the tenderloin-- a prize cut-- was pretty special, and I wanted to use it in something good...
When Obama tapped Tom Daschle for
Posted on February 06, 2009When Obama tapped Tom Daschle for Health and Human Services I was disapointed. The pick made sense-- obviously Daschle was being called upon to help move the levers. Obama hasn't logged the kind of Washington time necessary to aquire the backroom arm twisting skills on big stuff like healthcare reform, and he took a lesson from the Clinton crash-and-burn and turned to someone who knew the ropes...
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg underwent
Posted on February 05, 2009Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg underwent surgery today for what is being described as "early-stage pancreatic cancer". This is her second bout with cancer-- She was treated for colon cancer ten years ago. She is 75, and about as tough as can be. From ana actuarial standpoint I think it has been pretty widely assumed that her seat was likely to be one that Obama would have to fill.
This recipe for Cajun Sausage Bread
Posted on February 03, 2009This recipe for Cajun Sausage Bread has a sort of church cookbook style that I like, basically because it uses those bake-and-serve biscuits. The filling is the real deal, aromatic and spicy, and I suppose you could make the dumpling dough from scratch, but why go to that effort? I found the recipe itself to be written in a somewhat confusing way-- what you want to do is set up your mis, with a chopped onion, chopped green pepper, chopped jalapeno, and chopped celery...
The experience of spectator sports
Posted on February 02, 2009The experience of spectator sports is a varied one, I think. I like baseball so much that I'll pause in the middle of a run to watch a few at-bats of a high school game, and there are few pleasures in life greater than settling into a seat at a game with a scorecard in my lap and a beer in my hand...
To Dr. Lonnie Smith, Bruce Eaton's
Posted on February 01, 2009To Dr. Lonnie Smith, Bruce Eaton's Super Bowl Program in the Hunt Real Estate Art of Jazz program at the Albright-Knox. This is the first time we've had organ jazz in the series, which is funny when you think about it. Dr. Lonnie, who is probably the most important musician working in the form today, is from Buffalo, and the city has deep roots in that sort of chitlin' circuit sound...
I know I had occasion to appear
Posted on January 31, 2009I know I had occasion to appear before Charles L. Brieant Jr. at some point, but I never had occasion to hear him tell about this portrait. That's Martin T. Manton, who sat for two decades on the Second Circuit in Manhattan, and who was almost appointed to the United States Supreme Court...
Governor Paterson has been getting
Posted on January 30, 2009Governor Paterson has been getting blistered for his appointment of Kirsten Gillibrand to the Senate seat HRC left to become Secretary of State. It seems to me that he more or less had to pick a woman after he made such a point of criticizing the Commission on Judicial Nomination for failing to include a woman on the roster of candidates to replace Chief Judge Judith Kaye...
I like Neko Case, and I think it
Posted on January 29, 2009I like Neko Case, and I think it is very cool that this for every blog that reposts this song she will make a cash donation to Best Friends Animal Society.
I think what I like best about
Posted on January 28, 2009I think what I like best about the idea of the Presidential vinyl collection is its time capsule quality. Accumulated between 1973 and 1979, and judging from the titles we know about, it probably looks a lot like mine.
The last time I was in New City
Posted on January 27, 2009The last time I was in New City I listened to an interview with John Updike on part of the ride home. He was charmingly self-deprecating, but sincere about how seriously he tried to work at his craft. At one point he joked about the permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy saying that American literature is "too isolated, too insular", and he talked about how he had tried to break out of that mold in some of his work...
Ron Rosenbaum loses it over Billy
Posted on January 25, 2009Ron Rosenbaum loses it over Billy Joel. More than a few rock snobs from Long Island have bemoaned the fact that New Jersey got Springsteen and the Island got Joel, but that's really not a particularly valid complaint. No doubt there are people in Passaic who are upset that the Garden State is Jon Bon Jovi's home, while Lou Reed is from Freeport...
Paterson's kung fu is pretty impressive.
Posted on January 24, 2009Paterson's kung fu is pretty impressive. He got a woman, and upstater who'd made her political bones, and he managed to do it without sacrificing meaningful seniority in the House. And he managed to nudge aside a member of one of America's most powerful political families, without making a big power play...
I've run into the situation presented
Posted on January 23, 2009I've run into the situation presented in Mahoney v. Turner Construction more than a few times. In a multi-defendant action one or more co-defendants settle with the plaintiff on a confidential basis. For some reason it is always my client that is left in the case, wondering how much the plaintiff got...
It seems less vital to me now that
Posted on January 22, 2009It seems less vital to me now that Christgau no longer writes it, and it has been a long, long time since I could be confident that I would be familiar with the majority of the sides listed, but I still enjoy the Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop Poll
What I am excited about when I
Posted on January 21, 2009What I am excited about when I think about the election, and the inauguration and the prospect of an Obama presidency has so little to do with race that I find it a little reductive to discuss that aspect. One of Obama's principle qualifications for the job, and the tasks before him (and us) is his temperament, of course, and his character was formed in no small part out of his negritude...
I for one am excited to read the
Posted on January 19, 2009I for one am excited to read the list of pardons Bush is, I am sure, signing right now. Will Cheney be on it? Rummy? Condi? Scooter? The AP reports that he has commuted the sentences of two border control agents who shot a Mexican drug dealer, and that there are no more acts of executive clemency in the pipe, but I can't believe he'd disappoint us like that.
Nixon slunk away, and Ford pardoned
Posted on January 16, 2009Nixon slunk away, and Ford pardoned him. At the time I think we all felt that the lesson was that the system worked. Crimes were committed, but a penalty was extracted, and there was no long-term damage. What we are looking at now, at the end of the Bush Administration, is something entirely different...
We make a point of telling clients
Posted on January 15, 2009We make a point of telling clients that we will appear anywhere in New York, and that's been a good thing for us over the years, but some corners of the state are tougher itches to scratch than others. Rockland County (county seat: New City) is one of those...
I was pretty sure that Governor
Posted on January 14, 2009I was pretty sure that Governor Patterson would have picked someone already on the Court of Appeals, if only to get another seat to fill. That would have made Judge Jones the likely favorite, a Democrat, and African-American. Instead we have Jonathan Lippman, who was said to be the candidate that Judge Kaye favored...
William Zantzinger, the villan
Posted on January 09, 2009William Zantzinger, the villan of Bob Dylan's "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll", died January 3, 2009. He was 69 years old. I'd known the song for years (it's on "The Times They Are A Changin") before I learned that it was about a contemporary event-- servants being beaten to death by canes just didn't sound like a 1963 sort of event...
Daisy Owl is my new favorite comic.
Posted on January 08, 2009Daisy Owl is my new favorite comic. It approaches "Calvin and Hobbs".
Reading about this guy's lost vinyl
Posted on January 07, 2009Reading about this guy's lost vinyl collection made me sad. My own holdings are nothing like as vast, although I was diligent in amassing my collection. Even so, I never even knew there was an M. Frog Labat album. Why was this kept from me? When it was released Rolling Stone reviewed it: M...
Court of Appeals speculation.
Posted on January 06, 2009Court of Appeals speculation. We'll know soon enough, and I expect there will be howls of upstate indignation if Judge Pigott isn't tapped. He picked the wrong year to be a Republican white guy, I'm afraid.
The New Year brings a new edition
Posted on January 05, 2009The New Year brings a new edition of Professor Siegel's newsletter, always a bright spot in the morning mail. The lead decision under discussion in this month's edition deals with unconscionable fees. In Lawrence v. Graubard Miller the Court of Appeals finds that the question of whether a $40 million dollar fee for five months worth of work on an estate is "unconscionable"...
After a taxing holiday season our
Posted on January 04, 2009After a taxing holiday season our dishwasher is acting fussy. It is getting up in years, and it gets rode hard, but I want more from it. We've discovered a product that seems to goose its performance-- it is a bottle of some sort of undoubtedly extremely caustic something-or-other that you put in the flatware basket...
I've said it here, and I've said
Posted on January 02, 2009I've said it here, and I've said it in the pages of Spree: the best place to hear great music in Buffalo is in the vicinity of Bruce Eaton. Running down the Village Voice Jazz Poll I see that thanks to Bruce we saw Rudresh Mahanthappa (#2) and Vijay Iyer (#4-- same show, actually), as well as Lionel Loueke (#12)...
Running through my archives for
Posted on January 01, 2009Running through my archives for 2008 I was struck by two things: I did less interesting travel than is usual for me, and I seem to have heard less live music. The standouts were the Hunt Real Estate Art of Jazz shows, Willie Nile at the Tap Room, TMBG, Kathleen Edwards and David Byrne...
I've just started using New York's
Posted on December 31, 2008I've just started using New York's e-filing system, and I am pleased to report that many of the things that the federal courts' system gets horribly wrong are corrected here in the Empire State. Civil Procedure geeks (like me) are fond of e-filing because in theory it simplifies the experience...
The "what's on his/her iPod" test
Posted on December 30, 2008The "what's on his/her iPod" test is not very meaningful-- the capacity of the device means that I have quite a bit on mine that is not very indicative of my taste and the fact that I mostly use the device when I'm either traveling or in the kitchen means that the music that I play on it is not necessarily what I generally listen to...
You never reach a place in our
Posted on December 23, 2008You never reach a place in our glamor profession where you've seen it all, but after a few years you start to recognize people's fingerprints. When I saw that counsel for New York County Surrogate-elect Nora S. Anderson is arguing that she should still be sworn in even though the Manhattan district attorney is currently prosecuting her on felony charges of concealing improper political contributions during her campaign for the bench one name popped into my mind: Godosky! As it happens, In re Cornelius, 48 N...
I'm mostly okay with the idea of
Posted on December 20, 2008I'm mostly okay with the idea of Caroline Kennedy being tapped to finish out HRC's senate term, even though the tiny little gene pool of New York politics troubles me. I figure Caroline would be pretty dependably on the side of the issues that I favor, and after racking my brain I haven't been able to come up with the name of another woman or member of a minority that I like better, other than just about any of my friends...
a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2207046/"Bruce
Posted on December 19, 2008a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2207046/"Bruce Reed notes/a, "In the century since the 17th Amendment provided for direct election to the Senate, about 180 senators have been appointed to fill vacancies. When their appointed terms ran out, those senators met with three fates in equal measure...
a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();}
Posted on December 18, 2008a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4EpMXioF7nA/SUppzHft4kI/AAAAAAAAAbE/PbCqG1tSkhc/s1600-h/coa_nominees.jpg"img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 235px;" src="http://2...
I wanted to mail a pair of shoes
Posted on December 16, 2008I wanted to mail a pair of shoes to the White House, but I was concerned that the Secret Service-- a bunch notably deficient in the sense of humor department-- might not cotton to the gesture. A donation to the George W. Bush Presidential Library is what's called for.
Rounding out my "Exile on Main
Posted on December 14, 2008Rounding out my "Exile on Main Street" research I watched "Performance" last night-- the first time I've seen it. It's an interesting document, and a lot better done than I'd expected. Very 60's, but I don't mean to be reductive or dismissive by saying that-- it has the fingerprints of the French New Wave on it, and the fashions are Mod England, but these things still seem fresh...
The Paris Review "Writer's At Work"
Posted on December 13, 2008The Paris Review "Writer's At Work" interview series is great stuff, and one of the things that the interviewer usually gets around to asking is about the actual physical process of putting words to paper. Hemingway wrote standing up, Truman Capote typed in bed, that sort of thing...
A note for our "Perils of an Elected
Posted on December 11, 2008A note for our "Perils of an Elected Judiciary" file: Manhattan Surrogate-Elect Arrested on Campaign Finance Charges. Surrogate's Court-- New York's probate court, although it has slightly broader jurisdiction, is a system for spreading graft, so all that is really surprising about this is that Ms...
I knew that Dorothy Parker had
Posted on December 10, 2008I knew that Dorothy Parker had left her estate to the Rev. Martin Luther King, and that Lillian Hellman, her literary executor, had been a poor guardian of her memory, but I hadn't known the details. In her Paris Review interview she talked about F. Scott Fitgerald: "Terrible about Scott...
So, who's the Lieutenant Governor
Posted on December 09, 2008So, who's the Lieutenant Governor of Illinois, and who do you reckon he's going to pick? Blagojevich makes Spitzer look pretty good, and Patterson looks better by the minute.
I've mentioned If Charlie Parker
Posted on December 05, 2008I've mentioned If Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger, There'd Be a Whole Lot of Dead Copycats previously; every now and then it's fun to dip in and think about what it was like back when men wore hats. The last time I was there I noticed that they have a gallery called "American Mouthpieces", which is where I found this image...
Although Brian Higgins' name is
Posted on December 04, 2008Although Brian Higgins' name is frequently floated as a prospective pick to fill HRC's Senate seat, I don't see it. Higgins is a rising star in the House, and is apparently after a seat on the Ways and Means Committee. With a Representative on Ways and Means, and Louise Slaughter chairing Rules Western New York would have a pretty potent delegation-- and one that would probably be more useful to the region than having a junior Senator.
The 10 things Bush should regret
Posted on December 03, 2008The 10 things Bush should regret most. Why stop at ten? Is there a single thing that he did right? It doesn't have to be a big thing-- maybe he went a whole day remembering to always say "please" and "thank you". Maybe he made his bed for a whole week.
Somewhere I got the notion that
Posted on December 02, 2008Somewhere I got the notion that the Judicial Nominating Committee's list for the spot being vacated by Chief Judge Judith Kaye had already been announced. I was wrong--it came out yesterday. George Carpinello, Evan Davis, Steven Fisher, Theodore Jones Jr...
To David Byrne at UB's Center for
Posted on November 29, 2008To David Byrne at UB's Center for the Arts last night. It's interesting to think about where Byrne has been, and what he has become, because in a funny way it's a journey pretty much everyone in the hall has been on too. Back in 1977 he was gawky and peculiar, and we identified with that, because we were too...
CLA joined the longstanding
Posted on November 27, 2008CLA joined the longstanding tradition EGA and I have shared and participated in her first Turkey Trot. (It's the oldest continually run road race in North America, you know-- and CLA's first road race ever.) Over 10,000 starters this year-- pretty amazing.
Here's an amusing Court of Appeals
Posted on November 26, 2008Here's an amusing Court of Appeals decision that says that service in a foreign country need only comply with CPLR 313 and not that country?s requirements-- unless a treaty is implicated. Why wasn't the Hague Convention implicated here? Because Brazil is not a signatory to the Hague Convention...
The other highlight of the weekend
Posted on November 25, 2008The other highlight of the weekend just past was that we went to the Burchfield-Penny opening. The organization really deserves a great deal of credit-- from a small gallery in converted classroom space it has now become a major museum. I feel somewhat proprietary about the place because they gave us the run of it to do a fashion shoot for Buffalo Spree, but that was before they moved the art in...
Captain X lent me Robert Greenfield's
Posted on November 24, 2008Captain X lent me Robert Greenfield's "Exile on Main Street: A Season in Hell With the Rolling Stones", a good supplement to Robert Janovitz' 33 1/3 volume on the same subject. Greenfield is more gossipy-- who slept with who, and who the Euro-trash hangers-on were; Janovitz approaches the side as a text, and breaks down the songs' meanings...
To the Dave Liebman Quartet last
Posted on November 23, 2008To the Dave Liebman Quartet last night at Bruce Eaton's Hunt Real Estate Art of Jazz program at the Albright-Knox. I have posited that many jazz performances can be described to someone who wasn't there by referencing a specific period in Miles Davis' career; a corollary proposition may be that playing with Miles is something like having been on the Harvard Law Review...
To a lecture and wine tasting last
Posted on November 19, 2008To a lecture and wine tasting last night, put on by Alliance Française de Buffalo. A. has decided to take French language lessons, and learned about this event, which would be, she reckoned, amusing, or possibly diverting. We entered a lecture hall at Buff State and took our places...
John Edwards is not useless, and
Posted on November 18, 2008John Edwards is not useless, and I believe he is well-intentioned. He's not helping, though, and someone should tell him that. When Edwards was a trial lawyer he worked to secure justice for people who had been injured through the carelessness of others...
Most media descriptions of New
Posted on November 16, 2008Most media descriptions of New York judicial selection refer to our process as a hybred, because some of our judges are elected and some are appointed. This is true enough, as fear as it goes, but it is not a very accurate description of how the process really works...
HRC as Secretary of State? A couple
Posted on November 15, 2008HRC as Secretary of State? A couple of thoughts. First, I'd be a bit surprised if it was a job she was really interested in. She has a sweet deal in the Senate now, and an office in Foggy Bottom wouldn't appreciably improve her visibility. If she is still interested in running for President she has to be thinking that it has been a long time since someone got there by serving in the Cabinet...
You wanna know from chutzpah? Harold
Posted on November 13, 2008You wanna know from chutzpah? Harold Ickes says the results of the election last week are a "partial vindication" of Howard Dean. Careful followers of the past season may recall Mr. Ikes as the guy who was working for the campaign that thought the Democratic caucuses and primaries were winner-take-all (even though he helped write the rules) and counseled Hillary Clinton accordingly...
I'm not sure what I was reading--
Posted on November 11, 2008I'm not sure what I was reading-- The Atlantic, maybe?-- but some months back I came upon an appreciation of G.K. Chesterton, and I realized that I'd read little, if anything at all, of a writer that sounded interesting. I'm easily provoked when I encounter that kind of gap, and the author of the essay knew exactly how to get to me-- Chesterton, he wrote, was probably best known for "The Man Who Was Thursday", but there were other works that should also be read...
Excellent essay (from the Wall
Posted on November 10, 2008Excellent essay (from the Wall Street Journal, of all places) about how the American Conservative movement destroyed itself by becoming anti-intellectual."Most are well-educated and many have attended Ivy League universities; in fact, one of the masterminds of the Palin nomination was once a Harvard professor...
I love maps. I have always been
Posted on November 08, 2008I love maps. I have always been the sort of person who could spend hours gazing at an atlas. On the left is the an electoral map from the 1968 Presidential Election. Nixon states are blue, Humphrey states are red, and Wallace states are green. What's wrong with you, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana?
I was thinking about David Crosby
Posted on November 06, 2008I was thinking about David Crosby the other day. Is there, could there be a bigger horse's ass, out of all the notable musicians that came to prominence in the 60's? I suppose Stephen Stills might give him a run for the money, but Crosby was pretty remarkable, particularly when you consider that his overall creative output was so thin...
We are extremely fortunate. We
Posted on November 05, 2008We are extremely fortunate. We are getting a guy who is maybe the smartest person to run for President ever, but is not arrogant about it. Obama is serious about consensus building, but he's also serious about getting the job done. He is deft as a surgeon when it comes to the knife-fighting skills, and my hunch is that he is going to use the ground game that his community organizer background helped him build to help motivate Congress...
A bit slow off the mark today,
Posted on November 04, 2008A bit slow off the mark today, the line was out the door, 15 deep at our polling place at 7:43. At 8:04 we were 140 and 141.
Here are my Upset Specials: Obama
Posted on November 03, 2008Here are my Upset Specials: Obama takes the Kerry states plus Virgina, North Carolina Indiana, New Mexico, Colorodo, Nevada, Ohio, Iowa, and Georgia. The last is my big longshot-- I just have a hunch.
The Buffalo News' candidate endorsements
Posted on November 02, 2008The Buffalo News' candidate endorsements for judicial races illustrate one of the many reason that judicial elections are a poor method of selecting judges. Tracy Bannister and Jeffrey Voelklest are running for the one contested seat this year. There is no way that any voter, even the best informed voter, could have any insight into what sort of judges either would be, unless you happen to be a lawyer who has dealt with them...
Here's a happy thought: after this
Posted on November 01, 2008Here's a happy thought: after this election we should be pretty much done with the Vietnam War. Who went, who didn't go, what they did or didn't do-- that generation will be mostly aged out of national politics. I predict that the next cycle will be all about Punk Rock vs...
George Will says, "Tuesday's probable
Posted on October 30, 2008George Will says, "Tuesday's probable repudiation of the Republican Party will punish characteristics displayed in the campaign's closing days." This is because he is a moron. To be sure, the McCain people have run a catastrophically poor campaign, but the repudiation isn't going to be over tactics, it will be because the policies of the Republican Party have been established as completely wrong, and because the Republican party has demonstrated that it is not competent to govern...
People ask me, when people read
Posted on October 29, 2008People ask me, when people read Outside Counsel what were they actually looking for? (Actually Dave asked me. Once. And it was years ago.) Sometimes what they are looking for is me-- I have lately been back in communication with a friend from college days, a nice surprise, who found me by way of this toy...
Amusing piece on the flap over
Posted on October 28, 2008Amusing piece on the flap over the "Deluxe" version of "Tell Tale Signs". Good check off on some of the more unusual live re-workings Dylan has officially released:"Over the years, concertgoers have been treated to, for example, reggae versions of ?Don?t Think Twice It's Alright? (1978 tour, officially available in Live at Budokan), a vicious rewrite of ?Lay Lady Lay,? where the titular lady?s wooing has degenerated into ?let?s go upstairs, who really cares? (1976 tour, Dylan was going through a difficult divorce at the time), and a stately, almost unrecognizable 7-minute-long ?Blowin? In the Wind? (2000 tour, officially available on a UK bonus disc with Best of, Vol...
It is interesting to think about
Posted on October 27, 2008It is interesting to think about how the Obama campaign has worked, because it suggests that the same approach will be taken to governing the country. Obama has been a meticulous, careful planer, who consulted with legitimate experts, not just pols. He has been inclusive, campaigning everywhere, rather than targeted...
Sometimes you need a judge fast,
Posted on October 25, 2008Sometimes you need a judge fast, and it doesn't always happen during business hours. There are, I've heard, judges who have made it known that they are available for emergency applications, and one could, I suppose, scour restaurants and country clubs until you find someone to sign your TRO, but now there is a better way...
I'm just shy of old enough to
Posted on October 24, 2008I'm just shy of old enough to remember this poster, I think, but it is now officially my favorite thing about Joan Baez. Or Mimi Farina, for that matter. I like the update too. It is interesting that sex and sexuality have played such a big role in this election-- HRC, of course, and the Obama Girl...
Worst Supreme Court decisions.
Posted on October 23, 2008Worst Supreme Court decisions. Bush v. Gore is pretty bad for a number of reasons, starting with its outcome and all that flowed from it. What makes it really bad is that it is so clearly an outcome-determinative set of opinions. The justices would never have taken those positions, on both sides, if the dispute had been over anything else, and that's pretty disgraceful...
Ron Rosenbaum and friends muse
Posted on October 21, 2008Ron Rosenbaum and friends muse over "Mississippi". I haven't popped for "Telltale Signs" yet, but I will. I'd thought about pre-ordering it, but got hung up on the various configurations. In the final analysis going for the "limited edition" three disk set is a chump move, and I am vexed by it its existence...
So Colin Powell has endorsed Obama.
Posted on October 20, 2008So Colin Powell has endorsed Obama. I really don't see how this helps, and I can imagine it hurting. Powell's credibility was shot when he took his PowerPoint to the UN to lie deliver flawed intelligence as a ploy to justify the Iraq invasion. The satellite photos that he said were WMD manufacturing sites looked like the back of Wegmans to me, and wouldn't have fooled a Buffalo jury for a minute...
To The Cindy Blackman Quartet the
Posted on October 19, 2008To The Cindy Blackman Quartet the opening show Bruce Eaton's Hunt Real Estate Art of Jazz series at the Albright Knox last night, a terrific set. About midway through, struck by Ms. Blackman's athletic rhythm and pinpoint control it occured to me that most jazz performances can be described to someone who wasn't there by referencing a specific period in Miles Davis' career...
Mad props to EGA, who turned in
Posted on October 18, 2008Mad props to EGA, who turned in a snazzy 1:54:36.9 (08:44 a mile, 31st in her age group) at the Indianapolis Half Marathon. 13.1 is a lovely distance, and she reports that the weather was ideal. Hal Higdon got her there, but the real secret was training on the Bloomington hills...
I have been liberal enough with
Posted on October 15, 2008I have been liberal enough with my criticism of Kings County Supreme Court in the past, so I think it is only fair to comment when I encounter something positive. When your case is on the calendar in Brooklyn it is called in a central jury part, where it is assigned for jury selection, and then sent out to an IAS judge...
Something I have long puzzled over
Posted on October 13, 2008Something I have long puzzled over is how it is possible for Republicans to be in a majority. Over the course of my lifetime the GOP has always done the exact opposite of what its candidates promised. Nixon escalated the war, and instead of fighting crime appointed actual criminals to office...
Jimmy Cobb is the last surviving
Posted on October 10, 2008Jimmy Cobb is the last surviving musician from "Kind of Blue". Has been for quite a while, actually. Trane died in 67. Paul Chambers died in 1969, Wynton Kelly died in 1971. Cannonball died in 1975, Bill Evans in 1980. Miles died in 1991. Teo Macero, who deserves to be included on the list died just this year...
Let me be one of the first to admit
Posted on October 09, 2008Let me be one of the first to admit that I am too isolated, too insular to have any idea who Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio is. I'm not proud of it. I had head of Dario Fo before he'd won The Prize, and I figured that Fo was the gold standard for obscure in these matters and that I was safe this year...
The Observer reports that "During
Posted on October 08, 2008The Observer reports that "During the first presidential debate in Mississippi, [Mccain]persistently avoided eye contact with Mr. Obama despite the moderator?s entreaties for the candidates to engage directly with one another. Mr. McCain?s advisers said afterward that he had done so deliberately in order to avoid becoming enraged...
Whenever people talk about Woodstock
Posted on October 07, 2008Whenever people talk about Woodstock as a defining cultural moment I remind myself that among the acts that performed there was Sha Na Na. What I didn't know until now was that the group was made up of Columbia undergrads. This article, about the invention of history, almost reads like a parody of a parody...
I've been saying it for a while,
Posted on October 06, 2008I've been saying it for a while, and now Birch Bayh is saying it too. According to FiveThirtyEight.com Indiana could tilt this year. My hypothesis was based on a couple of things. First of all, although it hasn't tended to go to the Democratic candidate, its congressional delegation is evenly split...
Yesterday morning, from out of
Posted on October 02, 2008Yesterday morning, from out of the blue, I got a call from an old friend I haven't heard from since undergrad days. Out of the blue was always his style, and it was a treat to hear from him. His sense of humor often seemed under-appreciated in that time and place, and it wouldn't surprise me to discover that it still is...
I am delighted to report that Michael
Posted on October 01, 2008I am delighted to report that Michael Bérubé has reactivated his blog. Today he links to this excellent discussion on the cynicism of the Palin nomination, which captures precisely what I have been trying to articulate."The Palin pick was the most crassest, most bigoted decision that I've seen in national electoral politics, in my--admittedly short--lifetime...
I have argued for some time that
Posted on September 30, 2008I have argued for some time that Bruce Springsteen long ago sank into irrelevance, but I was trying to be provocative. Now he's gone and proved it by signing on to play the Super Bowl Halftime show. Man, I feel old.
To Kathleen Edwards last night,
Posted on September 29, 2008To Kathleen Edwards last night, at the Ninth Ward in Babeville. It is a smaller space than I would have anticipated, in the basement, and about the size of a basement rec room, but nicely done. The audience was mostly a mix of old hippies, Canadians and old Canadian hippies, and although I think of Kathleen Edwards as a personal discovery, these people felt far more proprietary...
To LCA's parent/teacher night the
Posted on September 27, 2008To LCA's parent/teacher night the other evening. They say you know you are getting old when cops start looking young, and I think there must be a similar principle at work here: for the first time I was older than all of my kid's teachers. (Maybe not the Music Theory teacher...
It is difficult or me to imagine
Posted on September 26, 2008It is difficult or me to imagine McCain being particularly coherent on the intricacies of the "bailout"-- I doubt that he has a very good grasp of the subject, and I suspect that he may well have blown it up as a deliberate ploy to avoid having to discuss it in anything more than soundbite depth...
The death of David Foster Wallace
Posted on September 23, 2008The death of David Foster Wallace has meant that I have been reading obits of David Foster Wallace, and revisiting some things that I hadn't seen the first time through. GJA twigged me to "The Broom of the System" when it came out, but Wallace* was a prolific guy, so there is quite a bit (including "Infinite Jest") that has gotten by me...
This headline: "Run-D.M.C., Metallica
Posted on September 22, 2008This headline: "Run-D.M.C., Metallica nominated for Rock HallThe Stooges, Chic, Jeff Beck, War also among possible inductees" very nicely captures why the whole idea of a rock hall of fame is stupid. To the extent that the contributions of particular artists are even sufficiently quantifiable to make such an award, how bizarre is it to see a sentence that lumps these artists together? And how nuts is it that Jeff Beck, indisputably among the greatest rock instrumentalists is relegated to the "also" sub-head?
Mad props to GJA, who completed
Posted on September 21, 2008Mad props to GJA, who completed the Sydney Marathon in a family record 4:32.37.
Isn't it interesting that this
Posted on September 19, 2008Isn't it interesting that this year the Presidential race has such a Western orientation? McCain, of course, even though he isn't really of Arizona (born in the Canal Zone, a military brat who went to Episcopal High School in Alexandria and Annapolis for college...
Shea Stadium is the second oldest
Posted on September 17, 2008Shea Stadium is the second oldest ballpark in the National League. Just a fluke, really-- Wrigley is the oldest, of course, but the Nationals went on a building spree in the 60s and 70s. The Mets came into the league at the same time as the Houston Colt 45s, who played at Colt Stadium until the Astrodome was finished...
The way it works with Netflix in
Posted on September 16, 2008The way it works with Netflix in our household is that I'll see a reference to a movie that looks like it might be interesting and add it to the queue. Then A. will think to herself, "It has been several months since we have seen X," and she will add something...
What did yesterday's primary tell
Posted on September 10, 2008What did yesterday's primary tell us? Well, starting with the 144th Assembly District, maybe people are telling the truth when they say that they don't care about the sex lives of their elected officials. When Barbara Kavanagh announced that she was running against Sam Hoyt I was puzzled...
There's been more than a little
Posted on September 09, 2008There's been more than a little bit of snark in the air about the new Burchfield-Penny Art Center. Actually, people have been complaining about it for a few years. A lot of the bitching has to do with the fact that the museum presents a blank wall towards Elmwood Avenue...
A. was in Chicago for a DRI meeting
Posted on September 08, 2008A. was in Chicago for a DRI meeting last week. She had a positive experience, but noted that the other lawyers from Buffalo-- one of whom she used to practice with-- were distinctly chilly in their demeanor. This is something I've noticed too, and it seems unusual...
Joe Biden proves his worth. This
Posted on September 07, 2008Joe Biden proves his worth. This campaign is smart, I'm telling you. Obama stays the course, he keeps it classy, and they stay on message. I'm no kind of Biden fan-- I think he is Exhibit A in how the Senate can turn a right thinking cat into a glad-handing pile of fluff...
Shawn Matlock's observation about
Posted on September 05, 2008Shawn Matlock's observation about the effectiveness of billboard advertising is spot on. Mr. Matlock, a Fort Worth criminal defense attorney comments that the billboards in his area that say ?Drink. Drive. Go to jail? are not really intended to be informational-- in fact, the information which they convey is incorrect...
On our sojourn into the heart of
Posted on September 04, 2008On our sojourn into the heart of Red State America last week included attending a performance of "The Day Boy and the Night Girl" a musical based on a story I'd never heard of by George MacDonald, a Scottish writer from the nineteenth century who I am mostly unfamiliar with...
About a year ago we settled an
Posted on September 02, 2008About a year ago we settled an infant's case. It wasn't a lot of money; it wasn't much of a case. When you settle a case brought on behalf of a minor the court has to approve it, and the money has to be put in a trust until the child turns 18. The ordinary practice is to have the money deposited in a savings account with the bank and a parent as co-trustees, but when we can we like to purchase an annuity for the kid...
I get a 73 out of Omnivore's Hundred;
Posted on August 30, 2008I get a 73 out of Omnivore's Hundred; some I've never heard of, and there are a few that I can't eat for one reason or another. It doesn't impress me as all that challenging a list, actually. Many of these things are staple items in our menu rotation, and quite a few are regular treats...
Governor Palin is only slightly
Posted on August 29, 2008Governor Palin is only slightly more qualified to be President of the United States than my mom. TCA is a restless soul, and when she and my father retired to the Tarheel State she got the itch and went into politics. She was a town council member and then mayor of a town more or less the size of Wasilla, and there was talk at one point of a run for Congress...
man, ol' Bill Clinton can rally
Posted on August 27, 2008man, ol' Bill Clinton can rally bring it, can't he? I'd forgotten how much I enjoy watching him turn it on.
To Geneseo over the weekend to
Posted on August 26, 2008To Geneseo over the weekend to drop off CLA, her many, many possessions and her porcupine. I was impressed with the system they had devised for this process: historically drop-off day at most colleges somewhat resembles a reverse re-enactment of Dunkirk performed with station wagons, but this was pretty orderly...
I'm not sure I know how I feel
Posted on August 25, 2008I'm not sure I know how I feel about Buffalo being portrayed as the next Greenpoint. Good, I guess.
What I like about the Biden pick
Posted on August 24, 2008What I like about the Biden pick is that it says that Obama isn't going to run away from being a liberal Democrat. Michael Moore is right-- if the Democrats are going to win they are going to have to do it as Democrats. There is no reason to vote for any Democrat if they can't understand that...
An interesting thing about McCain
Posted on August 22, 2008An interesting thing about McCain is that he really does have a terrible temper. Some of the things he has said to his wife have been quoted elsewhere and are remarkably nasty-- I wouldn't be sleeping on the couch in any of my wife's houses if I'd said that kind of stuff...
Interesting piece on the reasons
Posted on August 15, 2008Interesting piece on the reasons Hillary Clinton's campaign failed. Loss of momentum from Iowa was critical, but you really can't criticize the decision not to start there earlier: she'd have taken a drubbing if she'd made her move there before she locked up her Senate re-election...
Madonna turns 50 this Saturday,
Posted on August 14, 2008Madonna turns 50 this Saturday, an event that will keep any number of cultural commentators busy. The thing they are all bound to note is that La Ciccone has reinvented herself time and again. It's the thing you say about Madonna, isn't it? The funny thing is, it doesn't seem to be true, at least not as far as her work goes...
FiveThirtyEight is the sort of
Posted on August 13, 2008FiveThirtyEight is the sort of thing I love: statistical analysis of the polling data for the election. Pundits and talking heads (like the late Tim Russert, or Cokie Roberts) like to talk about polling data, but they seldom delve into what the data means, or how it was derived, or whether what the numbers seem to indicate even makes sense...
Should I feel bad about thinking
Posted on August 11, 2008Should I feel bad about thinking of John Edwards as the white Jessie Jackson? I suppose I should. For all his grandstanding over the years, the Rev. has a genuine track record. He's walked the walk, and accomplished way more than Edwards, and I say that as someone who completely buys into the notion that plaintiff's lawyers really do fight for victims rights, and work for greater economic justice...
If Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger,
Posted on August 10, 2008If Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger, There'd Be a Whole Lot of Dead Copycats. Pop culture iconography that's right in my wheelhouse, Dean Martin to Tom Verlaine; Lauren Bacall to Jean Seberg. Catherine Deneuve to John Coltrane. Categories: They Were Collaborators...
As Teresa Nielsen Hayden put it,
Posted on August 09, 2008As Teresa Nielsen Hayden put it, "I hate it when the government makes me feel like a nutbar conspiracy theorist." Even so, I will confess that I have long harbored the notion that the anthrax letters were a Bush Administration scheme to provoke a war against Iraq-- and then the planes hit...
It is better for plaintiff's to
Posted on August 08, 2008It is better for plaintiff's to settle than to go to trial; it is much better for defendants to settle than to go to trial. I'd say that this is pretty consistent with the way most trial lawyers think, for a number of reasons. The economic analysis is interesting-- I'd like to see more studies like that...
The Dystopic Earths of Heinlein?s
Posted on August 07, 2008The Dystopic Earths of Heinlein?s Juveniles. It seems to me that in some sense most SciFi concerns itself with Dystopias. Most detective fiction is about crime and corruption. Westerns are about societies that are wild and lawless, or have wildness and lawlessness inflicted upon them...
If for no other reason than to
Posted on August 06, 2008If for no other reason than to be publicly wrong, I'm going to say that my hunch is that Evan Bayh will be standing on a platform next to Barack Obama when the VP announcement is made. He's not necessarily who I'd pick-- as an old Birch Bayh hand I've followed Evan's positions over his career with some disappointment, although I agree with Scott Lemieux that context is important...
Scrolling around the other night
Posted on August 03, 2008Scrolling around the other night I came upon "The Benny Goodman Story", which I'd never seen. It was late, but I got sucked in by the credits, which promised that a lot of Goodman's cronies would be appearing, and then because John Hammond was a prominent character...
A bit of trivia that's being trotted
Posted on August 02, 2008A bit of trivia that's being trotted out quite a bit lately is that only three US Presidents have been sitting Senators when elected. The last one was JFK, and I sat down with a pencil the other night to try and figure out who the other two were. The first order of business was to list them...
Over the past few months I have
Posted on August 01, 2008Over the past few months I have been doing a bit of formal Dylanology, and I expect that the fruits of this will see publication before the year is out. For the project I conducted a survey of the commercially available live Dylan sides, and concluded, inter alia, that the interesting re-working of his material that he has been doing in recent years is unfortunately under-represented...
An amusing piece on writing for
Posted on July 31, 2008An amusing piece on writing for lifestyle magazines."Not too long ago, I was at a party with a number of people who have successful careers in lifestyle journalism. I was chatting with a beautiful, sexy friend who writes for a magazine that covers luxury spa vacations...
Alberto Gonzales hasn't had a full-time
Posted on July 30, 2008Alberto Gonzales hasn't had a full-time job since his resignation. He's been scraping by giving a handful of talks at colleges and before private business groups.And I say good. There are almost too many ways that the Bush Administration has damaged the country to properly number, but among the most prominent is the degradation of our international reputation...
I didn't watch as much of the Tour
Posted on July 29, 2008I didn't watch as much of the Tour de France as I'd have liked to this year, although I did follow it. It's good viewing when giving blood, I've found: soothing and exciting at the same time, the way a baseball game can be. Part of what makes it so much fun is the lore: we all know about the yellow jersey, but the other traditions, like the polka-dot King of the Mountains jersey and the Lanterne Rouge are just as cool.
Useful guide to avoiding bike accidents.
Posted on July 23, 2008Useful guide to avoiding bike accidents. Bottom line: people in cars can't see you. It is your job to (a) realize that they are idiots; and (b) proceed accordingly. The right turn is what I fear the most. (Via Flutterby.)
Although it is past mid-July the
Posted on July 22, 2008Although it is past mid-July the search for my personal hit single of the summer continues. A current contender is "Sequestered in Memphis" by the Hold Steady (which you can listen to here). The number gets bonus points for dealing with legal issues in its hook: "Subpoenaed in Texas/Sequestered in Memphis"-- what's not to like about that? And it's not even the best line in the song.
Up early yesterday to take CLA
Posted on July 21, 2008Up early yesterday to take CLA to the airport for her Dutch adventure. When I got home I didn't really feel like running. It was one of those days where it was either going to be raining or so humid that rain would be a welcome relief, and hot on top of it...
I was interested, but hardly surprised
Posted on July 18, 2008I was interested, but hardly surprised by yesterday's NYTimes article about the problems the American Red Cross is experiencing with its blood collection services. Because I'm a platelets donor I get called once a month or so, and have had a chance to regularly observe the inefficiencies in our local operation...
EGA invited me to join Goodreads,
Posted on July 17, 2008EGA invited me to join Goodreads, a site that is something like Facebook, I suppose, dedicated to what you and your friends are reading or have read. It kinda looks like EGA is using it to procrastinate, but I am living in a glass house myself on that score...
Facestat is a site that allows
Posted on July 16, 2008Facestat is a site that allows one to upload a headshot for others to evaluate. The site allows you to select some questions that call for one-word answers. Political affiliation, for example. (Apparently I look conservative.) How old do you think I am? (Big winner here: 45...
I've been reminded that I have
Posted on July 15, 2008I've been reminded that I have not mentioned seeing "King Lear" at Shakespeare in Delaware Park two weeks ago. We were at the "streaker show" and if the Buffalo News thinks that couple was in their 30's they have a very different body image for the typical Western New Yorker than I do...
I was a pretty deft hand at the
Posted on July 11, 2008I was a pretty deft hand at the skillet this week, but due to a series of miscommunications not everybody got to enjoy it. Earlier my sister-in-law and her children stopped at Mighty Taco on their way over to our house; they missed out on a nice grass-fed London broil with a Bernaise sauce that came out rather well...
Judge Skretny has ruled that the
Posted on July 08, 2008Judge Skretny has ruled that the Seneca's downtown Buffalo Buffalo casino was not properly authorized by the Department of the Interior to run gaming operations-- the land is theirs, and it is "Indian country" but it is not "gaming eligible". In order for the Buffalo property to have been gaming eligible under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act the Buffalo parcel had to have been acquired pursuant to the settlement of a land claim, but the Seneca Nation Settlement Act was not enacted to settle a land claim...
I was sorry to learn that The Honorable
Posted on July 07, 2008I was sorry to learn that The Honorable David J. Mahoney died over the weekend. If there was ever a judge that deserved the honorific "honorable" it was Judge Mahoney, who was liked by everyone, and who, throughout his career on the bench and at the bar, worked to diminish conflict rather than foster it...
I was trying to work Jessie Helms
Posted on July 05, 2008I was trying to work Jessie Helms into yesterday's post, and couldn't turn the corner. I like the headline in the Village Voice: Jesse Helms Finally Dies; but I think this obit, from the Guardian, really captures how destructive the hateful son of a bitch was: not only did he stand for just about every despicable quality embodied by the American Right, he devised a corrupt system of campaign finance to promote it...
To the Bison's game last night,
Posted on July 04, 2008To the Bison's game last night, our first time this season. It was a 13 inning barn burner which the Herd lost, 7-6, after tying the game with a four run ninth inning charge. They lost the crowd as soon as they went into extras-- it was a full house, but most people were there for the Philharmonic and the fireworks...
It is embarassing to be scooped
Posted on July 01, 2008It is embarassing to be scooped on this, but it's a great story nevertheless: Adam Liptak reports that Justice Roberts incorrectly quotes "Like A Rolling Stone" in his dissenting opinion in Sprint Communications v. APCC Services. Per Roberts:"The absence of any right to the substantive recovery means that respondents cannot benefit from the judgment they seek and thus lack Article III standing," Chief Justice Roberts wrote...
Al Kooper's "Backstage Passes and
Posted on June 29, 2008Al Kooper's "Backstage Passes and Backstabbing Bastards: Memoirs of a Rock 'N' Roll Survivor" assumes that we're more interested in Al Kooper than perhaps we really are. Kooper is at pains throughout the book to point out that many rock histories are written without talking to people who were in the room, and that many inaccuracies are perpetrated as a result...
Just because I was first doesn't
Posted on June 26, 2008Just because I was first doesn't make this Observer article wrong-- Howard Dean was had the right strategy, and if he hadn't become the target of mockery he'd have been a stronger candidate than Kerry. Dean was a target of a press that was still in a swoon over Bush, and yes, I'm thinking of St...
One of the things that I like about
Posted on June 25, 2008One of the things that I like about judging moot court is that it gives you an advance look into the issues that the real courts are dealing with. Unless you follow the Supreme Court a lot more closely than most people the tendency is not to notice what cases the justices accept, so when the decisions are made we don't really have the background on them which might put the law in better context...
Although a bit too Brit oriented,
Posted on June 24, 2008Although a bit too Brit oriented, I thought this piece on books that haven't survived their time is provocative. "This was an interesting, if not entirely scientific, exercise. For many, it provided the opportunity to wallow in what we might call antinostalgia; the shaking of the ageing head and the muttered ?My God, were we stupid enough to fall for all that claptrap??...
I rode by the stable on my way
Posted on June 23, 2008I rode by the stable on my way home from the City Honors Bike Trip. There was a woman standing across the street with a petition to save the stable, so I signed it, but I have no idea what is proposed. As you can see there is little left beyond the facade, and even that is much more badly damaged than is often shown.
Last evening I had a meeting down
Posted on June 19, 2008Last evening I had a meeting down by Kleinhan's, so I took a moment to ride my bike past White's Livery on the way. As it happens I was only familiar with the back of the building before this, but these past few days this formerly obscure structure has been the topic of a fair amount of discussion...
I've been a Willie Randolph fan
Posted on June 17, 2008I've been a Willie Randolph fan for a long time, and I was thrilled when he was tapped to helm my Metropolitans. For years Willie was the African-American coach that got interviewed when teams needed to make it look like they hadn't already decided on some white guy, and it has to have rankled...
My roadtrip reading this past week
Posted on June 14, 2008My roadtrip reading this past week was Brendan Gill's "Here at the New Yorker", his 1975 memoir about his time at the magazine. I was an undergraduate so long ago that getting into law school was by no means a sure thing. It was competitive, (only two other people from my graduating class went on), and it made sense to at least think about alternatives...
Background on how the cover of
Posted on June 13, 2008Background on how the cover of Blood on the Tracks was shot and processed. (Via Dreamtime.)
I had a mediation with this guy
Posted on June 12, 2008I had a mediation with this guy a month ago.
Listlessly scrolling around the
Posted on June 11, 2008Listlessly scrolling around the dial these past few nights I came across a couple of artists I hadn't thought about in a while. The first was James Taylor-- it's funny to think about how he was once just about as big a name as there was in the biz, and then dropped off the table...
What I think is the saddest part
Posted on June 09, 2008What I think is the saddest part is that people are still in denial about the energy crisis that we're in. I hear folks say all kinds of dumb stuff about energy costs, but my two favorites are, ?It?ll go back down,? and ?They?ll come up with alternatives to oil...
I'll take Holland in the Euro Cup.
Posted on June 08, 2008I'll take Holland in the Euro Cup. I like Rumania's song, though.
I am troubled and puzzled by the
Posted on June 07, 2008I am troubled and puzzled by the idea that some HRC supporters are having a difficult time coming around to supporting Obama. Although I found her platform and her record profoundly flawed, and although she has been a disappointment as my senator, the idea of Hillary Clinton is not something I have a problem with...
15 Republican Rumors about Barack
Posted on June 06, 200815 Republican Rumors about Barack Obama."10. He?s never around when Frozone appears."(Popdose is indispensable.)
Submitted without comment. (Found
Posted on June 04, 2008Submitted without comment. (Found on No Smoking in the Skull Cave.)
Howard Dean's leadership of the
Posted on June 03, 2008Howard Dean's leadership of the Democratic party seems to have accomplished several subtle goals-- and if the Beltway insiders are whining, maybe what that tells us is that they still don't understand what Dean has set out to do. First, for the first time that I can recall, every primary has been contested, and every primary has mattered...
The Bo Diddley beat is so primal
Posted on June 02, 2008The Bo Diddley beat is so primal that it's a little odd to think of it as having been invented, but it was, and it's inventor died today.Buddy Holly?s ?Not Fade Away,? Johnny Otis?s ?Willie and the Hand Jive,? Steppenwolf?s ?Magic Carpet Ride,? The Who?s ?Magic Bus,? Bruce Springsteen?s ?She?s the One?, U2?s ?Desire?-- think about the songs that Bo Diddley didn't get credit for writing...
How much discomfort would you go
Posted on May 29, 2008How much discomfort would you go through rather than see Sex and the City?
At Lawyers, Guns & Money, a discussion
Posted on May 27, 2008At Lawyers, Guns & Money, a discussion on the perils of an elected judiciary.
We had a party for the board and
Posted on May 24, 2008We had a party for the board and staff of SqueakyWheel at Big Pink last week, which turned out rather well, I think. I didn't really have a clear vision of the menu until a couple of days before-- all I knew I was that I wanted to smoke a bunch of salmon, because that could tend to itself pretty much, while I did other stuff...
I despise Surrogate's Court, and
Posted on May 23, 2008I despise Surrogate's Court, and never go there. I have said for years that it exists to concentrate graft adn to steal the pennies from dead men's eyes, but my witicism pales compared with Robert F. Kennedy's remark. He called Surrogates "a political toll booth exacting tribute from widows and orphans...
When I worked for Elinore Klein
Posted on May 22, 2008When I worked for Elinore Klein she would sometimes teasingly mock my efforts at legal research on those occasions when I cited a case that was ten or twenty years old. "Where'd you find this?" she'd scoff, "One Hun?". New York's legal reporters-- the books that decisions were published in-- used to be named for the editor that compiled them...
EGA has observed that when you
Posted on May 21, 2008EGA has observed that when you ask someone about their tattoo they can tell you a long story about the significance of whatever it is, but they can't tell you why they went and got inked in the first place. "Because it's awesome" doesn't count, and "Because I think it's pretty" is ridiculous...
Congratulations to CLA, who learned
Posted on May 20, 2008Congratulations to CLA, who learned this morning that she has been accepted into the Edgar Fellows Honors Program at Geneseo. It's pretty impressive to pull that off on top of a challenging first year-- the program admits twenty students a year, ten as incoming freshman and ten as rising sophomores...
Interesting article on what went
Posted on May 19, 2008Interesting article on what went wrong with the Clinton campaign. "Running as the incumbent" and not having a start to finish plan in place are probably two different ways of saying the same thing, but it is still surprising that someone with her experience-- and detail oriented background-- would approach the project in that way...
I'm not a huge fan of Steve Banko,
Posted on May 17, 2008I'm not a huge fan of Steve Banko, who is one of those guys that reckons that because he was in the military his opinion has greater value than it would otherwise, but from time to time he makes a valid point. His "My View" column in yesterday's Buffalo News is one of those times...
Bob Dylan's "Theme Time Radio Hour"
Posted on May 16, 2008Bob Dylan's "Theme Time Radio Hour" has an old-timey sound- hardly surprising when you consider that 50% of the material was recorded before 1960. Makes sense in the context of his life and work, too. What did Bob listen to when he was growing up, after all? Buddy Holly was the fresh new sound on the radio, and the airwaves would have been filled with a lot of the country sounds he still favors...
The bench and bar in Britain want
Posted on May 15, 2008The bench and bar in Britain want to update their look. This is a very bad plan, as the illustration accompanying this post demonstrates. It is true that the horsehair wig Brit barristers wear resembles a dead cat. It is also true that the English legal tradition, and the quality of English lawyering in general have a legendary status that gives them the sort of brand name recognition that is unique in the world...
David Remnick's list of the top
Posted on May 14, 2008David Remnick's list of the top 100 jazz sides. 28 are on my shelves, in part because Remnick over-relies on box sets; more notably, there are 20 artists that aren't represented as leaders on the list but not in my collection. The nice thing about music is that there are always subjects for further research.
The Champions League final is May
Posted on May 13, 2008The Champions League final is May 21, Chelsea v. Man U, the first time the match will feature two English teams. Because I am a proud American, any reference to Manchester United must include a comparison to the New York Yankees, and this article presents Chelsea as scrappy underdogs in the tradition of the Mets...
I like cartoons, but what I really
Posted on May 09, 2008I like cartoons, but what I really like is the over-analyzation of cartoons. I also like comics that are waaaay too over-analyzing, like this fine example, from Living Between Wednesdays.. Of course, what makes this panel so terrifically great is that it shows Cyclops doing what Cyclops does better than almost anything: being consumed with self-pity...
From Esquire, The 75 Skills Every
Posted on May 08, 2008From Esquire, The 75 Skills Every Man Should Master. 75 is a lot, but I think I'm okay. (Via Flutterby.)
I'm not seeing the breakdown by
Posted on May 06, 2008I'm not seeing the breakdown by district, but if Lake County isn't in, I don't think HRC can claim to have won Indiana. As I write this I am listening to her speech, and I think she knows she has lost. She's running for VP right now.
I'm not sure how to categorize
Posted on May 04, 2008I'm not sure how to categorize this. Don't read it if your laughing will disturb anyone.
When I saw this picture on the
Posted on May 02, 2008When I saw this picture on the front page of the NYTimes Arts section today I knew I was lost. The trailer was great, but great trailers for comic book movies don't always mean that I'm there for the opening night-- sometimes I want to share the experience with my daughters, sometimes I'm traveling and my faithless family sees the movie without me-- what I'm saying is, circumstances can intervene, but for "Iron Man" I was going to be there...
I should get back to writing something
Posted on April 29, 2008I should get back to writing something about the Law sometime. Would it count if I complained about the single-spaced papers I got the other day? What about if I added that the author of these papers turns out to be one of those people who put things between quotation marks for emphasis? Don't you "hate" that? On top of that, this character is one of those people who never learned the rule about "its"...
Dylan's Greenwich Village time
Posted on April 28, 2008Dylan's Greenwich Village time is probably the most over-documented phase of his career, but I'm interested to read what Suze Rotolo has to say about it. She has kept her silence well, and if she wants to write about Dylan now, some fifty years on, well it hardly seems as though she is taking advantage of a long-ago lover
Although I haven't made a dedicated
Posted on April 23, 2008Although I haven't made a dedicated point of it the way Buffalo Pundit once did, I find that I have directed my share of snark at Buffalo News columnist Mary Kunz Goldman. The other day Pundit reported that she is now blogging, and that her site is "well written and funny, and well worth the addition to the blogroll"...
And speaking of the music biz,
Posted on April 13, 2008And speaking of the music biz, it is early days yet, but a contender for my Personal Hit Single of the summer is Duffy's "Mercy". (There's a fun video here.) This is the kind of thing, it seems to me, that it takes a label to break, and I'm fine with that...
Interesting article on the changed
Posted on April 12, 2008Interesting article on the changed business model for popular music. Older acts are the big concert attractions, and touring is where the money is. This has probably been true for jazz musicians for a couple of generations, of course, and is probably more true than ever for jazz, but it's a reality for rock too, and it's the "heritage acts" that are cashing in...
Chief Judge Judith Kaye and her
Posted on April 11, 2008Chief Judge Judith Kaye and her judge pals are suing the State of New York over judicial salaries. You know what? Nobody puts a gun to your head and makes you become a judge. In fact, it goes the other way: when someone wants to become a judge, that person goes around to all of his or her friends and asks them for money...
I've been liberal in my praise
Posted on April 10, 2008I've been liberal in my praise of Ron Rosenbaum in the past, and I was sorry when he and the New York Observer parted ways. He is a versatile journalist, and a spellbinding Dylanologist, and the every-other-week format of his Observer column, "The Edgy Enthusiast" was perfect for him, and if he occasionally lapsed into a piece about his cat, well, it happens to everyone, I suppose...
Since I have just been informed
Posted on April 08, 2008Since I have just been informed that I came in dead last in the NCAA Pool I was in (picks and analysis here), I am pleased that my abilities as a prognosticator have been somewhat validated by the announcement that Bob Dylan has been honored with a Pulitzer Prize.
The hilarious part about a McCain-Rice
Posted on April 07, 2008The hilarious part about a McCain-Rice ticket is that it would make sense in terms of their policy goals. Those policies are demonstrably disastrous, and unpopular to boot, but that really wouldn't be the point, would it? It seems to me that the notion that this tandem would have cross-over racial appeal is off the mark, although I suppose if HRC somehow got the nomination she'd really only have one option to fill out her ticket...
What does it tell us that the presumptive
Posted on April 06, 2008What does it tell us that the presumptive Republican nominee for President graduated at the bottom of his class? I mean, I suppose it all has something to do with normal bell distributions, maybe, although it seems to me that fifth from the bottom is pretty far down the curve...
In 1892 Cincinnati Reds pitcher
Posted on April 05, 2008In 1892 Cincinnati Reds pitcher Bumpus Jones threw a no-hitter in his major league debut. (I'd be willing to bet that contemporary accounts would have said he "twirled" it). I just mention it because Bumpus Jones is such a great name.
I'm in the process of finalizing
Posted on April 04, 2008I'm in the process of finalizing papers in a case that has been unusually contentious. This may be because I'm a jerk, but I think actually that it is because my adversary is a sociopath. We'd had something together about ten years ago, but my partner had done most of the work on the thing and I didn't really get the full brunt of his personality...
Decent deli is an endangered cuisine.
Posted on April 03, 2008Decent deli is an endangered cuisine. Even in New York there are really only about a half dozen places that do it right. You can't always get to Katz's; the Carnegie is always jammed, and is a bit of a tourist trap (and expensive). Juniors would be great if it was in Buffalo...
I don't necessarily hold with the
Posted on April 02, 2008I don't necessarily hold with the notion that it is a senator's job to bring home a lot of taxpayer-supported projects-- I'd be fine with senators that voted against stupid, mendacious wars, and worked to make sure we have a quality judiciary and justice system...
I like Jeffrey Steingarten's pizza
Posted on April 01, 2008I like Jeffrey Steingarten's pizza recipe, but it is a very difficult dough to work with, so I don't make it as often as I'd like. This recipe, while not quite as yeasty, produces a dough that is far less wet, and a lot easier to control, while still yielding an admirably thin crust...
Of the 2000 Presidential election
Posted on March 31, 2008Of the 2000 Presidential election it has been said that the margin of error exceeded the margin of victory-- an interesting thing, since what it means is that the ability to accurately count the votes cast was too complex for our existing computational methodologies...
Judged a couple of moot court rounds
Posted on March 29, 2008Judged a couple of moot court rounds this morning, this time the Herbert Wechsler National Criminal Law Moot Court competition. I like the inter-scholastic moot court competitions because the level of advocacy is strong, and because it is interesting to see how other law schools approach it...
I put AI on the Netflix queue because
Posted on March 28, 2008I put AI on the Netflix queue because LCA and A were going out of town, and I though it would be funny to have a movie about robots arrive so I could listen to them complain. I complain when they get movies that don't have robots, so this would be perfect...
As we pulled in front of our house
Posted on March 27, 2008As we pulled in front of our house last night we saw Southtowns congressman Brian Higgins drive by in a big ol' SUV. "Now we know what his energy policy is," A. said.
Jonah Keri is doing a series on
Posted on March 26, 2008Jonah Keri is doing a series on failed dynasties. His piece on the '86 Mets captures exactly what is was like to be in the stands from '83 on, watching as it came together, then watching as it came apart. Those Mets were so good that the pieces that were traded away went on to bring championships for a lot of other clubs: Rick Aguilera, Lenny Dykstra, David Cone (acquired in '87...
The founder of Popeyes, my favorite
Posted on March 25, 2008The founder of Popeyes, my favorite fast food chain has died. Popeyes red beans and rice are a wonderful thing, and unlike a lot of fast food the portion is exactly right. Come to find out that he named the restaurant for Popeye Doyle, the hero of "The French Connection...
You know what might be useful?
Posted on March 24, 2008You know what might be useful? I propose that the media start reporting the total number of casualties in Iraq, not just the number of US military personnel killed. I realize that there are epidemiological issues presented by this, and I certainly realize that the number of US casualties is a horrifying number, but it is well past time for us to be candid about the cost in lives that this obscene war has incurred...
I like the fact that Obama invoked
Posted on March 22, 2008I like the fact that Obama invoked my favorite fictional lawyer in his speech on race. Gavin Stevens is a complicated man. He's been out of Yoknapatawpha County, and is frequently scorned by its denizens, but he is an honorable cat, dependable, and forthright...
A couple of weeks ago LCA and I
Posted on March 21, 2008A couple of weeks ago LCA and I scoured the shoe stores of WNY looking for a pair of red Chuck Taylors. I forget when I bought my pair-- it must have been sometime in the late 80's. Even then they were not really sports shoes. You'd cripple yourself playing hoops wearing them...
The morning jock on WFUV said something
Posted on March 19, 2008The morning jock on WFUV said something inexcusably stupid, so I switched over to WKCR and caught Phil Schaap's "Birdflight". I guess Schaap makes some people crazy, but I think his show is cool-- a good example of the sort of thing public radio used to do, and now really never does...
Slate is marking the 5th Anniversary
Posted on March 17, 2008Slate is marking the 5th Anniversary of the Iraq War by having columnists write pieces on the theme "How Did I Get It Wrong". Count on it, nobody is going to say, "It was a stupid idea. I'm sorry." Nobody will say, "I now realize that we had no business invading a sovereign nation with no provocation...
One more Spitzer post, and then
Posted on March 15, 2008One more Spitzer post, and then we'll move on. I haven't heard anyone say anything about it, but isn't interesting to think about the arc of this story? It was such a stunner-- hard-nosed prosecutor brought down by his own hypocrisy-- that I'm not sure anyone has thought about it much, but consider this: Spitzer wasn't charged with anything when the Times released the story...
I want a bumper sticker that says,
Posted on March 11, 2008I want a bumper sticker that says, "Don't Blame Me, I Voted for Suozzi". I am of half a mind to haul my Suozzi lawn sign out of the basement, actually. A. says, "I am trying not to see this as an example of why change is impossible," and that more or less captures my mood about the whole mess...
I was awoken yesterday to a news
Posted on March 10, 2008I was awoken yesterday to a news report about a local judge who was implicated in a prostitution investigation. My mind raced, but it turned out to be a judge I'd never met.I've never met Client 9, either, but I had been optimistic about Eliot Spitzer...
I was just thinking about "The
Posted on March 07, 2008I was just thinking about "The Capeman", actually. Derek Walcott, with whom Paul Simon collaborated on the doomed Broadway project is coming to Buffalo as part of Just Buffalo's Babel series, and I was thinking about at least checking my calendar for it...
I am having a real hard time getting
Posted on March 05, 2008I am having a real hard time getting my mind around the notion that somehow Hillary Clinton is Fritz Mondale and Barrak Obama is Gary Hart, but that seems to be how it is shaking out. It is interesting that HRC continues to confound conventional polling methodology, and it is extremely interesting that both Clinton and Obama seem to attract highly motivated voters...
What's on Bruce Springsteen's iPod?
Posted on March 04, 2008What's on Bruce Springsteen's iPod? And also a pretty good interview with The Boss. (Via Bill Simmons'column.) "I always look at my work as trying to measure the distance between American promise and American reality," Springsteen says. It is an interesting statement- certainly a very self-aware thing for a guitar player to say, and as I think about it, it seems true...
I have given up resisting Bill
Posted on March 03, 2008I have given up resisting Bill Simmons. He can call himself The Sports Guy, he can be a big Boston fan, he can write columns that are five times longer than they need to be-- at the end of the day he is plain funny, and I can forgive a lot if you are funny...
We always had the National Review
Posted on February 27, 2008We always had the National Review around the house growing up, a magazine that I dipped into but never got into, if you know what I mean. William F. Buckley, though, he was cool. He'd loll back in his chair and absolutely drill some hapless sap who'd agreed to come on "Firing Line", and he did it with that Larchmont lockjaw accent-- even if you disagreed with him-- as I always did, you had to admire his style...
Scrolling around for something
Posted on February 26, 2008Scrolling around for something to watch before going to bed last night, I came upon Game Three of the 1969 World Series. Jackie O and John-John were in the stands, sharing a box with Jerry Lewis. Nelson Rockefeller was there. And the Metropolitans blew past the Orioles 5-0...
To the Tap Room Saturday night
Posted on February 25, 2008To the Tap Room Saturday night to see Willie Nile. I stand by my assessment from two years ago: Nile is certainly a pro, but he only has warning track power. On the way home A. asked, "So what's his claim to fame, exactly? Was I supposed to know any of those songs?" "He came along too late to be a New Dylan," I told her, "But once he was going to be a Next Springsteen...
For a long time I resisted the
Posted on February 22, 2008For a long time I resisted the sides Miles Davis made after "Jack Johnson" on the grounds that I couldn't tell where Miles ended and Teo Macero began. I am more open minded now-- fact is that jazz is a collaborative art, and although Miles is (properly) viewed as a leader, he was a collaborator throughout his career...
We got a marketing call from AARP,
Posted on February 21, 2008We got a marketing call from AARP, who wanted us to buy advertising in their directory. "So, we could get injunctions to get those kids off the lawn?" I asked.
I don't know what it is about college
Posted on February 20, 2008I don't know what it is about college basketball. College football is obviously every bit as corrupt, but hoops seems more exploitive to me somehow. Sure, there are "clean" programs-- I hate to admit it, but Duke seems like one-- but the whole set-up looks kinda dodgy to me...
We saw short ribs at Wegman's late
Posted on February 19, 2008We saw short ribs at Wegman's late last week, but the weekend did not yield an opportunity to cook them, so last night I made two dinners. Working with LCA to prepare my mise en place, on one burner I prepared a sort of pork chops Lyonnaise, and on the other I made the short ribs, in a Provençal manner...
Although ordinarily I am pretty
Posted on February 18, 2008Although ordinarily I am pretty much strictly an IPA man, something about the quality of the light this time of year stirs a Guinness tropism in me. In a similar way, I sometimes feel a vague inclination to read something Irish. A few pages into "Ulysses" and the urge generally passes, but on occasion I'll take a run at "The Third Policeman" and marvel at how wierdly funny it is, like Kafka on 'shrooms...
Earlier in this political season
Posted on February 15, 2008Earlier in this political season I think it was easier to remember that one of the nicest things about the Democrats' field of candidates was that the array of choices looked so appealing. Now that we are down to the last two chocolates in the Whitman Sampler box it is easy to lose track of the fact that what we have is still a lot more appealing than the stale, fused together after-dinner mints the Republicans are offering...
In another context altogether King
Posted on February 13, 2008In another context altogether King Kaufman writes, "I have a bootleg recording of a concert at which a woman yells out "I love you, Bruce!" After a little cheer dies down in the crowd, Springsteen says, "But you don't really know me."Kaufman is talking about the fact that we can't know public figures through their portrayal in the media, although it seems as though we do, an interestingly clear eyed observation, and an important one in the context of our civic lives this electoral cycle...
A weekend characterized by three
Posted on February 11, 2008A weekend characterized by three or four weekends worth of stuff. CLA and the rest of the Geneseo Warthogs were in town for Winterfest, a Sevens tournament sponsored by the Buffalo Rugby Club, played at Front Park, on the shores of Lake Erie. There's a lot more sports that goes on than anyone knows about-- this thing, which was crazy Rugby, played in snow and mud, had forty teams, from all over-- Potsdam and Albany, Syracuse and South Buffalo...
So many things were responsible
Posted on February 08, 2008So many things were responsible for the failure of Mittens' campaign for the Republican nomination, but I feel a little bad about the fact that a big part of it has to be ascribed to religious intolerance. That's the hell of being a liberal, I guess-- Romney gets to make a speech full of bigotry, and we get to feel remorse over the fact that it didn't work...
As the New York Observer notes,
Posted on February 07, 2008As the New York Observer notes, "calling for debates is something you do when you're behind." So is loaning your campaign money. Still, I think HRC is a long way from finished. Obama's edge may be that his contributors haven't been maxed out, but the fact that he did so well in the caucus states this week suggests to me that he has an advantage that other "insurgent" (if that's the word) candidates for the nomination have not had in the past-- he plainly has strong organizers working for him...
This is the sort of toy I have
Posted on February 06, 2008This is the sort of toy I have wanted on election nights my entire life. I really thought Obama had a better shot at New York than it turned out, but California didn't surprise me. Missouri is an interesting development-- I think he's got a long road, but I like his chances in Maryland and Wisconsin...
I was number 44 at my polling place
Posted on February 05, 2008I was number 44 at my polling place this morning at about quarter to seven. We expected a line, but there wasn't one-- I don't know if that means anything. My college chum Joe Morelli was on the ballot as a Clinton delegate-- I wanted to vote for him, but went straight line Obama for maximum effect...
LCA had a group of her friends
Posted on February 01, 2008LCA had a group of her friends over the other night. Because they are high school girls and Unitarians they are also vegetarians, so A. bought some hummus for them. They didn't eat it, probably because there was nothing to put it on, so last night I made pita bread...
I'm sorry to see John Edwards drop
Posted on January 30, 2008I'm sorry to see John Edwards drop out-- I was working up to voting for him, and although I still can, of course, there's not really any point to going with a candidate that really represents such a significant compromise on what I'm really looking for...
I've been proclaiming my support
Posted on January 29, 2008I've been proclaiming my support for Mike Gravel since last Spring, but I just checked the New York ballot, and he's not on it. It is kind of a dilemma for me. I want to support the available candidate who is the furthest left on the spectrum, on the theory that this pulls the party ever so slightly in the direction I want it to move, but that means I am now looking at voting for Dennis Kucinich...
There are a lot of things that
Posted on January 28, 2008There are a lot of things that are hilarious about Rudy Giuliani's strategy, but the best, I think, is that it is apparently based on John V. Lindsay's plan. Can't you just hear Wallace Shawn sputtering in the background? "You fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous is never get involved in a land war in Asia, but only slightly less well-known is this: the New Yorkers who moved to Florida all did it because they hated you!"
I'm a proud alum of the University
Posted on January 22, 2008I'm a proud alum of the University at Buffalo School of Law, but it seems to me that they can be a bit pusillanimous when it comes to honoring other graduates. I boycotted the dinner for Dennis Vacco-- a thug; and Dale Volker was an outrageous choice...
A funny sort of weekend, over which
Posted on January 21, 2008A funny sort of weekend, over which we did a great deal, and yet felt as though little was accomplished. Saw the Sabres score 10 goals, and as I write this I hope that someone who needs it more is enjoying the yellow Bill Rogers touque-- LCA complained bitterly whenever I wore it, and I must admit that although it was soft and warm, it was also hideous...
I'm terribly sad that New World
Posted on January 18, 2008I'm terribly sad that New World Records is closing up shop. They were always good corporate citizens, for one thing, happy to come through with donations for arts organizations' fund raisers, and pleased to promote local musicians. I felt their absence immediately when they moved from Elmwood to Hertel-- the store was a haven, a place to duck into if you were kicking around Elmwood, and if I walked out with a new side eight or nine times out of ten, so much the better...
People who talk about "Dylan's
Posted on January 17, 2008People who talk about "Dylan's sense of humor" can sound as stuffy as people who discuss the same thing about Shakespeare, but the fact remains that "As You Like It" really is pretty funny, and Bob gets a nifty joke off from time to time also. He was in fine form on "Theme Time Radio" this week...
It'll be a while before I'm on
Posted on January 15, 2008It'll be a while before I'm on a bike again, and I miss almost everything about it. Just about the only thing I don't miss are Buffalo drivers, who are unusually unpleasant, and stupid and also wicked fat. I'd like to see Queen City cops on bikes, since this would be comical, and because it might bring about more aggressive enforcement of cyclists' rights...
Shopping for CDs with EGA just
Posted on January 13, 2008Shopping for CDs with EGA just before Christmas she made a crack about how my music presents have an "eat your vegetables" quality. Coming from her this was less like calling the music I give my kids Brussels sprouts than it sounds, but even so, I have to admit it stung just a tad...
For some time now I've been wanting
Posted on January 11, 2008For some time now I've been wanting to write something about mediator confidentiality. If I do Olam v. Congress Mortg. Co., 68 F.Supp.2d 1110 (N.D. California, 1999) would be a good place to start.
Since it came out I've been meaning
Posted on January 05, 2008Since it came out I've been meaning to get my father Gary Giddins' Bing Crosby bio, "A Pocket Full of Dreams", but I could never remember if I had already done so. This year he broke the logjam and got it for me, and I've been digging it since Boxing Day...
The interesting thing about the
Posted on January 04, 2008The interesting thing about the Iowa Caucus outcomes is the turnout: 100k more than ever before in history on the Democrat's side. That's pretty significant, as is the fact that on both sides the turnout favored the, you should excuse the expression, dark horse...
Excluding New York State and Southern
Posted on January 03, 2008Excluding New York State and Southern Ontario-- which are too much of a part of my regular circuit to really count-- here's where I went in 2007: Miami, LA, Detroit, Northampton, Baltimore Pittsburgh, Ketchum, Laguna Beach, Bloomington, Holland (Michigan), Laguna Beach, New Orleans, Jacksonville...
The Court of Appeals says that
Posted on December 20, 2007The Court of Appeals says that Supreme Court properly exercised personal jurisdiction over defendants, an individual and corporation, both residents of California, who retained a New York attorney to represent the corporation in an action brought in an Oregon federal court because the defendants' retention and subsequent communications with the plaintiff, a New York lawyer, established a continuing attorney-client relationship and thereby constitute the transaction of business under CPLR 302(a)1)...
For the past couple of years I've
Posted on December 19, 2007For the past couple of years I've been carrying a pocket notebook around, to take notes and jot down things I want to remember. Like my brain, my notebook is kind of a whore's top drawer, full of useless odds and ends-- even more so, if you can imagine, than Outside Counsel is...
It has long been an item of faith
Posted on December 13, 2007It has long been an item of faith with me that Ike Turner recorded the first rock'n'roll record-- "Rocket 88", with the Kings of Rhythm at Sun Studio in 1951, under the name Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats. Just last night I read in Dave Marsh's Rock'N'Roll Confidential that some historians say that Roy Brown's 1948 single, "Good Rocking Tonight" deserves the title, and this morning I learned that Ike is dead...
New York does not recognize all
Posted on December 12, 2007New York does not recognize all that many privileges. Attorney-client; spouse; Physician, dentist, podiatrist, chiropractor and nurse; clergy; psychologist; social worker; Rape crisis counselor. (Library records are confidential, but subject to release pursuant to authorization or subpoena...
I'm not familiar with City Journal,
Posted on December 10, 2007I'm not familiar with City Journal, but apparently my brother is, and he passed along this article about the Queen City of the Lakes.
The Scottish Diet is an ingenious
Posted on December 03, 2007The Scottish Diet is an ingenious nutritional system invented by the Scots to keep their pension funds in balance by reducing the number of people who make it beyond the age of 60. Like many of the world's smartest inventions (most of them invented by the Scots), it is devilishly simple...
I've been thinking about Jerry
Posted on December 02, 2007I've been thinking about Jerry Sullivan's column on why college football should have a playoff structure, and it seems to me that he got it exactly wrong. College sports do not need to be more like professional sports-- college sports should be less like the pros...
It's funny how sometimes a very
Posted on November 30, 2007It's funny how sometimes a very little thing can really mark an improvement in my life. For example, I love that there is a Papaya King in the JetBlue terminal at JFK. A Papaya King hot dog and a regular papaya drink is just the right snack-- and if I get it with slaw, or sauerkraut it's high in health fiber!
Interesting decision by the Court
Posted on November 27, 2007Interesting decision by the Court of Appeals in Arons v. Jutkowitz (pdf file)today. It has been the practice among medical malpractice defense attorneys to request an authorization permitting an ex parte interview with the plaintiff's treating doctor after the plaintiff has filed a Note of Issue placing the case on the trial calendar-- and to make a motion compelling the production of such an authorization if such is not forthcoming...
As we did last year we are renting
Posted on November 19, 2007As we did last year we are renting an apartment in Manhattan for Thanksgiving. There is a great deal to like about this arrangement: it is a more or less central point for our household and my parents; it is easy to travel for my brother and his wife-- and for EGA-- but it does present us with a problem common to vacation rentals-- Other People's Kitchens...
I had, as Vice President Cheney
Posted on November 16, 2007I had, as Vice President Cheney says, "other priorities" last night, so I didn't watch the Democrats' debate. I like this summary from Firedoglake, though:"Clinton proved once again why she?s a formidable candidate. Her two closest challengers may have lost their edge, while three second tier candidates ? Biden (foreign policy expertise), Dodd (education and constitutional issues), and Kucinich (got it right the first time) ? did well...
Reading about Mailer took me to
Posted on November 14, 2007Reading about Mailer took me to Vidal, which took me to William F. Buckley, who also ran for Mayor of New York. Buckley did it first, in 1965, four years before Mailer and Jimmy Breslin. (For some reason I thought they both ran the same year, which would have been awesome, instead they both ran against-- and in some way contributed to the victory of John V...
I've read what William F. Buckley
Posted on November 12, 2007I've read what William F. Buckley and Gore Vidal had to say about the famous exchange in which Vidal called Buckley a "crypto-Nazi", and Buckley offers to sock Vidal in the face, but I'd never seen it. This is why the World Wide Interweb is so great...
To the Tord Gustavsen Trio last
Posted on November 11, 2007To the Tord Gustavsen Trio last night, part of Bruce Eaton's Hunt Real Estate Art of Jazz series at the Albright-Knox. Because his style is quiet and contemplative Gustavsen draws comparisons to Bill Evans, but although anyone who likes Evans would probably enjoy Gustavsen the comparison falls down when you consider the way the two pianists swing-- Gustavsen's swing is elongated, and is as much about the space around the composition as it is his left hand-- a common quality among the artists on the ECM label, as Bruce pointed out in his pre-show talk...
Norman Mailer is a writer everyone
Posted on November 10, 2007Norman Mailer is a writer everyone has an opinion about, but I have never had any difficulty persuading anyone who has ever read him of his greatness. In a way the fact that he was so prolific may have been part of the problem; he was outsized in both his output and his personality, and it often seemed as if people formed their opinion of this nuanced, meticulous mind by measuring the quantity of output, rather than by evaluating its subtle qualities...
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