Diner Review XII: The Crystal Grill

Crystal Grill
North Broadway and North Market
St. Louis

It is always a pleasure to find a jewel. A place real and authentic and old. Not dirty but...old..really old. The Crystal Grill has evidently been around for over 50 years but since I don’t get to North Broadway much and since their signage is so minimal I never noticed the place. It is just north of Downtown, probably a mile north of Dome. It is not quite all the way out where all the warehouses and trucking companies are but it is in a non residential area.

It is a little scary to walk in there at 7:00 A.M. on a weekday. I drove up to the place twice and then went to more familiar ground before I finally mustered the nerve to go in and boy am I glad that I did. I did. On any given morning there is one women working the place and her name is April. She is friendly and talkative without being too chatty. As you sit there reading your paper there are a variety of people who wonder in. Most of them do not appear to be businessmen and at least one looked rather scary...but was not. There is one guy in the kitchen who cooks everything and cooks it fresh. The owner is allegedly a city employee (which explains why health inspectors have not been more diligent about the bathroom) and other then looking like he had been chain smoking and drinking since before he was born is a pleasant enough guy.

The place is set up with one classic diner with one room set up with a counter and about 14 stools set in a U around the waitresses area. There is another large room through a doorway that has a cavernous dining room filled with a bunch of very old tables and chairs and a steam table and although I have not been there for lunch they tell me they pack the place and serve a mean roast beef. Likely I will never know. They also have a back room which she tells me was used by gangsters back in the day. Even if untrue it is very believable and adds to the mystique. This place is old... and cool.

They serve Jimmy Dean’s sausage which they buy at Sams (for God sakes) in bulk and then form into nice 1/4 pound balls. The hashbrowns are shredded, as God intends and although they might be considered slightly greasy they are very tasty indeed. they do not have chili and as such cannot make you a slinger. I questioned her about this and she was rather defensive. Their cream gravy is excellent in color (just off white) and consistency (thick without being gluey) but what makes it different is that it has little bits of ham cut up on it. A very nice touch we have not found in other St. Louis diners. On a recent trip they had run out of biscuits (which they allegedly make from scratch) due an early run at 6 A.M. by some truckers. This caused your diner reviewer to split a biscuit with his companion which still was more then enough. The eggs were cooked to order and seemed fine yet unremarkable (as eggs should be) and the bacon was thick and well fried and was frankly...impressive in it’s grandeur on the plate.

Celebrity Diner Reviewer Sal Pagano had this to say:
"Crystal is basic, personal, conducive to customer interactivity because of the close horseshoe seating, with April in the center position. Like a mother robin, she drops the exact freshly, prepared ordered to her customers in a family sort of way, glad we showed up and eager to serve. It is her raison d'tre. The seats are ancient and worn by the many years and thousands of persons who have patronized the place. The sink is made of PVC legs, by the owner, and April is making a colorful fabric cover to hide the plastic and freshen things up.She is the owner's partner. Crystal is a much appreciated and authentic experience. It has genuineness of the neighborhood and real individuals, compared with the smooth perfection of BreadCo and the ubiquitous Starbucks.
There was a guy telling his story about eating mustard sandwiches during the depression, while he enjoyed a post depression real meat hotdog sandwich; he savored it's juiciness as he reflected on his meatless past. The Crystal was for sale but now the owner, who is 2nd or 3rd generation diner operator, has decided to keep it in it's original state and operate it as a diner. They are trying to attract new business, investing in new signs and painting the place - work in progress. The coffee needs to be upgraded to get my official approval. The service is personal and fast. Lonnie Tettaton, Tettaton Signs, named the number 5 the Bitch Breakfast - "made by a bitch, served by a bitch and eaten by an asshole." April will acknowledge and serve the Bitch with a knowing smile if ordered in this manner. "

Sal has an uncanny ability to chat up people and gain valuable insight into any locale.

If you love diners and ambience and good food this place appears to be a keeper. Make the trip to North Broadway and North market and enjoy a little bit of old school breakfast...a newspaper and a little good company. Say high to April and tell her that we sent you.

Record Review 18: Radiohead: In Rainbows

Soooooo... did Radiohead just suddenly change everything? Somehow it seems unlikely but in any case...how cool was that? On October 10th (my birthday) those pretentious English fucks Radiohead released their brand new CD “In Rainbows” on their own web site. Not on iTunes. Not in stores. Just on their site. Other people, bands etc... have released songs on their own site and sometimes given them away but no one has released a whole CD for free on a web site for nothing. Of course it was not really for nothing and that was the kind of cooler part.

You could pay them whatever you wanted. You just filled in the blanks. How ever much you wanted to pay... in pounds of course. Anyway...once you heard about it and logged on it was rather surreal going and typing in an amount and getting to download the songs. You could also agree to pay a lot more for a special boxed set. But why? The exciting thing and the big difference was because this was one of the most popular bands of all time, arguably at the height of their game. So how did they do? Wired magazine said this:

Estimates: Radiohead Made $6-$10 Million on Initial Album Sales
By Eliot Van Buskirk October 19, 2007 | 11:35:45 Am

Thom Yorke's representative told me that the band have "decided not to give out any figures" for sales of Radiohead's In Rainbows album, but that isn't stopping people from making their best guesses based on what little information is available.
The Seminal estimates that Radiohead sold about $10 million-worth of albums as of 10/12, assuming that their source was correct that approximately 1.2 million people downloaded the album from the site, and that the average price paid per album was $8 (we heard that number too, but also heard that a later, more accurate average was $5, which would result in $6 million revenue instead).
Meanwhile, Forbes and BigChampagne revealed that on the first day the album was available, 240K people downloaded it for free over BitTorrent, and that over the following days an average of 100K people per day did the same, for a total of over 500K BitTorrent downloads over the initial week of its release.  It appears that even though the album was available for free on InRainbows.com, plenty of people preferred to use BitTorrent rather than Radiohead's site, which required an email registration (although some of those BitTorrent downloads may have been the result of slowdowns on the ordering site).
We're working on getting some sales numbers through another channel, and will post those if/when we can.

http://www.radiohead.com/deadairspace/

Wired Magazine cannot be wrong. Can it?
Anyway...what about the CD itself? Radiohead has always been problematic for me. Their “Genius” being somewhat hard for me to get at behind the drum machine and synth heavy tunes. Still, even for me there was no denying “OK Computer” being one of the top indie rock CD’s of all time. Thom Yorke aside from being a pretentious Brit prick has an ear for the tune and through his work has established serious indie cred both for himself and his high school band-mates from Oxfordshire.
“In Rainbows” is in a word... dreamy. I have listened to it about 15 times now ensconced in my office and the same word just keeps suggesting itself. I am still bothered and somewhat distracted by their reliance on electronic effects for percussion and that plays out right away in the opening track 15 step. Something I had not noticed before was how Yorke’s vocals often mimic Ray Davies of the Kinks. I look at that as a good thing. The second song is a rocker with a crunchy guitar called “Body Snatchers” and the Ray Davies thing is reinforced for me pretty dramatically.

The Yorke slows it way...way down with something that sounds like it should be a soundtrack cut because your mind conjures up all kinds of visuals...and then he starts to sing and it is just... a weird song he calls “Nude.” Then the Cd gets really good with a well crafted soft pop tune called “Weird Fishes” and this is classic Yorke for both song style and lyrics:

“I get eaten by the worms
Weird Fishes
Picked over by the worms
Weird Fishes
Weird Fishes
Weird Fishes
I’ll hit the bottom
Hit the bottom and escape
Escape”

That type of shit. But it is compelling and you cannot explain but have to listen. “All I Need” follows up with a plodding synth and drum beat that is very radio ready. It is all symbolism and metaphor with Yorke being... in order

1. The next act waiting in the wings
2. An animal trapped in your hot car
3. A moth
4. In the middle of a picture

Until he starts to tell you as the song winds down...Its all wrong. It’s all right.” No shit.
“Faust Arp” Sounds like a soft Jack White song set to strings. It is really very pretty and Yorkes’ voice is hard to fault. The strings and guitar remind me of a late seventies Fogelberg album and sadly I do not mean that in a big way. In a lot of ways this song like a lot of their songs is just so well put together, so well produced and played that it is just...too pretty.
“Reckoner” has an edgier feel and you really get an appreciation for the brevity of Yorke’s lyrics. There are no sweeping epics. Stories do not get told. He does not take you from point A to point B but each song is like a separate picture hanging in a museum with the words and tune providing color and perspective and sometimes you can even make out a picture. But it is murky. “House of Cards” clocks in as the longest track on the CD at 5:28 and it is just pretty.

“Jigsaw Falling Into Place” other then the drum machine is just an excellent pop song. I like it because i think I can discern what he is singing about which is the bad end of a relationship. That is what music is supposed to be about. Leave the sweeping themes to novelists...that is what daddy says. The end with a dreary little ditty called “Videotape’ which starts with a plodding one finger on one key piano which makes me think Neil Young is about to start singing “A Man Needs A Maid.” But he doesn't. But the song does sound a lot like that tune in style. it is either about dying...or about a great date. I guess they could be the same.

My whole sense of the CD is that is probably more accessible then any of their work since “OK Computer”. perhaps the appearance on Southpark made them take themselves less seriously but with Yorke I doubt it. He is one of those guys that I would be anxious to see what he could do outside the studio sitting at a piano by himself writing and singing all stripped down and unpretentious. There is unfortunately nothing that is uncomplicated by about Yorke and his mates or this CD. You have to listen... and listen again and hope that you can get it...because all the cool kids do. And this album is probably worth the study time.

Concert Review Number 11: Bob Dylan, St. Louis October 22, 2007

Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, Amos Lee
The Fox Theatre



Sooooo...my second $180.00 concert ticket in three days. Who is a millionaire genius? Not me...on either count. There was a chance my wife would eventual start to speak to me again after I paid this much for a concert ticket...several times... but that chance has been...frittered away. Heading out to the Fox on what seems like the first day of winter. I was looking forward to the Fox after having suffered the indignities of U.S. Cellular Coliseum in Bloomington. I was also looking forward to (in no particular order) seeing the hot Elvis Costello set and getting home and being in bed by 11. Such is the life of the sad pathetic 46 year old man.

I have made a strategic decision to Miss the Amos Lee set. As I stated he was deemed non-essential. This is the second harshest epithet I could dump on him but on more careful reflection he is entitled to the number one unkindest thing I could say about ANY live rock show. He was...pleasant. There is nothing more unforgivable in rock then being pleasant. Save it for the Holiday Inn Lounge my friend where people can talk over your set and enjoy a tequila sunrise. Of course that is just my opinion.

We arrive at the Fox and it has been a while since I have been there. I do not remember who I saw there last but every show is an experience just because it is such an impressive venue. It is gaudy and beautiful at the same time with over worked detail in every nook and cranny. there is no plain space in the building and from the moment you walk in... it is just wow. it is also nice because even though it is a pretty venue with nice padded theatre seats you can take e your cocktail to your seat.
We were in row E in the center in front of the stage. Unfortunately it is not the fifth row because the orchestra pit is full of folding chairs. The crowd is an older crowd but full of regular people. I see a few people I know as well as Steve Pick, music critic and Euclid Records clerk...very good guy. It was a fairly mellow vibe when we walked in on the end of Amos Lee’s set. We found our way to our seats and evicted some people who were supposed to be on the other side.

After seeing the show the other night I was really looking forward to Costello. From reading prior reviews I knew that the set, the jokes and the stage patter did not vary a great deal. It didn't. He started off with “Angels Want To Wear My Red Shoes” and other then mixing the order up (slightly) he stayed with the same set i had heard a few nights before. The strange thing was that he was still kind of hypnotic and compelling for me. Once again...I just like to hear the guy sing. He is a weak guitar player but plays well enough to accompany his voice.

He tried to lead a sing along again tonight just like he did in Bloomington on the song “Wake Me Up”. It was a little of a reach there and was a big reach at the Fox in St. Louis. I have seen a lot of bands do this more or less successfully but it is really best done in the intimacy of a bar with a lot of beer involved. It was hard in the Arena atmosphere in Bloomington and was really disconnected in the padded seat theatre of the Fox.

Nothing made his set stand out from the other night. He made references to T-Bone Burnette and Henry Coward (the same person) as writing partners, told the same Schwartzenegger joke and talked faux nervously about his American born kids needing to be in a war. With “Radio Sweetheart” he broke into the Jackie Wilson song “Let It All Hang Out” and attempted another failed sing along but it did not seem to bother him.

He closed once again with “Peace love and Understanding” and a new song I think that was called “Willow From The Rye” which was an anti war song from the point of view of a mother speaking to the country’s leaders since she had lost her son to the war. It was a quality sad, pretty song containing the poignant line “Admit you lied and bring the boys back home.”
Pretty good stuff... then after a short break Dylan came out, just as he had the night before. The thing is... I had just seen him a few days before and he was not that great then. The bad was dressed in leather suits and bowler hats. Dylan was dressed like Dylan still with the big hat and sadly...he still could not really sing. The good news/bad news was that he played a dramatically different set list. That is impressive on a number of different levels:

1. His band can play anything and they could wing almost anything he wanted to play.
2. Dylan has some respect for his craft and his audience and is not mailing it in.
3. He remembers the words to songs like “Visions of Johanna.” (no one else does)

So we got that going for us. Danny on guitar was awesome again and it was not quite the same Soulard Blues Band feel that we had in Bloomington. He also did not play my favorite song “Tangled Up In Blue” so I did not have to suffer through it. he opened with “Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat” which is a classic and went into “It Ain’t Me Babe” which... is a classic. Those classics are from almost 40 years ago. Then he hit some new classics. “Sick of Love” and the still timely “Levees Gonna Break: which he had also performed two nights before and really got the band and the crowd rocking. There was sweet pedal steel guitar through most of the show and it just swung and twanged a little better then the the night before.

“Visions of Johanna”....”Things Have Changed”...”Nadine”...on and on. A little numbing. When I say he cannot sing I do actually mean it. Some people love his voice from when used to be able to sing (me) and some-people think he never could. Now however he really has no lung capacity so every delivery is breathy and forced, jamming words into too small a places and ruining the flow and timing. Still...he is Dylan and on this night Costello came out to join him for a few encores and well...you just do not get to see two members of the holy (little h) trinity sharing a mike for the night.

Anyway... I think I am done seeing that nice Bob Dylan. I am happy I got to see him several times... once with my oldest son and I needed to see him a few times before he croaked. Unlike some of my music snob friends I will miss Dylan...it has been nice to have him croaking around for the last 45 years or so. That is a long ass time. So we got that going for us. Danny on guitar was awesome again and it was not quite the same Soulard Blues Band feel that we had in Bloomington. He also did not play my favorite song “Tangled Up In Blue” so I did not have to suffer through it. he opened with “Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat” which is a classic and went into “It Ain’t Me Babe” which... is a classic. Those classics are from almost 40 years ago. Then he hit some new classics. “Sick of Love” and the still timely “Levees Gonna Break: which he had also performed two nights before and really got the band and the crowd rocking. There was sweet pedal steel guitar through most of the show and it just swung and twanged a little better then the the night before.

“Visions of Johanna”....”Things Have Changed”...”Nadine”...on and on. A little numbing. When I say he cannot sing I do actually mean it. Some people love his voice from when used to be able to sing (me) and some-people think he never could. Now however he really has no lung capacity so every delivery is breathy and forced, jamming words into too small a places and ruining the flow and timing. Still...he is Dylan and on this night Costello came out to join him for a few encores and well...you just do not get to see two members of the holy (little h) trinity sharing a mike for the night.

Anyway... I think I am done seeing that nice Bob Dylan. I am happy I got to see him several times... once with my oldest son and I needed to see him a few times before he croaked. Unlike some of my music snob friends I will miss Dylan...it has been nice to have him croaking around for the last 45 years or so. That is a long ass time.

Concert Review Number 10: Bob Dylan, Bloomington Illinois October 20, 2007

Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, Amos Lee
U.S. Cellular Coliseum
Bloomington Illinois
October 20th, 2007

As you read yesterday and I have explained several times... I am an idiot. Do to my genius I was in possession of two tickets to see this show in Bloomington. There were only three problems with that:

1. The tickets cost 180 bucks each;
2. Bloomington is 160 Miles from downtown St. Louis
3. I also have expensive tickets to see the same show at the Fox on october 22.

Those are three fairly large problems. I have the tickets, I did not get my act together to sell them on line (because i do not know how and because I no longer have an associate working for me (JD Luhning) to whom I can assign the task. The cost of the tickets is of course a sunk cost. I need to decide whether I want to drive 2 1/2 hours and sit through a show I will see 48 hours later. Not being too bright I decided to do so.

The drive north to Bloomington (Illinois, not Indiana) is a painful one up 55 a little over 1/2 way to Chicago. It is flat and windy and has high spots like Benld (look it up) and Funks Grove (not China Grove). I left town at 4 and was comfortably in my 10th row seat to see Amos Lee. Amos Lee had a competent bad and was unremarkable. He will not be having a major recording career despite this show case. Do not worry about him. he came on at 7 and was off at 7:35. A little about the venue. U.S. Cellular Coliseum is about like the Family Arena in St. Charles. Wikipida says:

“U.S. Cellular Coliseum is an arena in downtown Bloomington, Illinois that opened to the public on April 1, 2006. It is on the southwest corner of Madison Street (US-51) and Front Street. It hosts the Bloomington Extreme indoor football team of United Indoor Football and the Bloomington Prairie Thunder of the International Hockey League. The arena's seating capacity is approximately 7,000 for hockey and indoor football games.

Mayor Judy Markowitz, who had championed the project, cast the deciding vote when the City Council was deadlocked at 4-4 on a resolution to initiate its construction.[1] Following the Council vote, a non-binding referendum asking if public funds should be used to build the arena failed by 2/3 of the vote.[2] Even so, the arena was still built.
Currently, the City of Bloomington is searching for ways to fill the budget deficit it faces, due to the facility's operating losses projected to top $1.6 million for this calendar year. Proposals include scaling back public infrastructure repair projects and eliminating staff in order to avoid a tax raise.” Well put.

The Place is a dump. But I am in the 10th row wand am seated in a reasonably padded folding chair. At 7:55 the lights dim and Elvis Costello walks out with an acoustic guitar. He is nattily dressed in a suit and looks a little chunky. He also is kind of charming in his ineffable British way and he kicks off with “Angels Wanna Wear My Red Shoes”, “Radio Sweetheart” and “Alison” and... well... he just sounds great. No band and only an average guitarist (that might be generous) he just relies on that voice that no one gives him enough credit for. he rattles off Alison and leads some sing alongs. Announces it is his dad’s birthday but there is no place he would rather be and then goes into a several song anti war rant. It was some good stuff and capped with “Whats So Funny About Peace love and Understanding?” Indeed.Since he is not a great guitar player he had a large effects array peddled before him and sometimes the volume of the guitar slightly overwhelmed his always strong voice.

We have another break and I try...ineffectively to go to the bathroom. There are approximately twice as many girls rooms as boys rooms. I am treated to the rare sight of no lines in the ladies rooms and thirty men lines up outside the door of the mens room. Did I mention that the place was a dump. I went back to my seat with a full beer and a full bladder. Seeing Dylan is problematic and not always pleasing. he is not a young man and he is at best an eclectic artist. he has toured relentlessly over the last ten years and put out 7 albums during that time and two of them were pretty good. But the shows are not problematic because of the material but just because of his voice. But still... it is Bob freaking Dylan. he came out dressed in his typical cowboy hat which is circa Rolling Thunder Review” from 72 or so. He started with his guitar and ripped through a couple including “Tangled Up In Blue” which were just...to my ears. Awful. he was raspy and seemed to be belching the words out in a machine gun pace to keep up with the song and it is one of my favorites and I just thought... maybe he should not sing pretty songs anymore.

But...as an idiot I am often wrong and this was one of those case. He left center stage and went behind his organ for Tangled and never cam back out and as it went on...he got better and better and stronger and stronger. Really good stuff. Ripping through older songs as well as newer stuff. The set list was very diverse and from looking at earlier reviews he is not holding onto a solid set list. His band was incredibly tight. My only complaint was that they really went to the bar blues of “Modern Times” as much as anything and although it swung nicely... if I never heard a blues riff again my life would be none the poorer. Still....”Highway 61 as a blues rant with a real hot blues guitarist is a treat and Dylan’s voice hit every note hard. The band was tight and his lead guitar Denny Freeman is just awesome to watch and hear. For more on him take a look at Brad Bucholz blog:

http://bobdylantour2007.blogspot.com/2007_09_21_archive.html

Dylan’s ability to find great guitarists to take out on the road with him whether it was the singer songwriter Robbie Robertson and the band or the brilliant T-Bone Burnette he has a knack. Dylan’s two hour set coincided nicely with Costello’s anti war rant and he finished predictably with a nice version of “Masters of War” The Bloomington crowd was able to find their way out of the place... and tired and a little sleepy.... I took a long drive home and anticipated Monday night at the Fox.

http://stldinerreview.blogspot.com/

TicketMONSTER

OK....soooooo.... as we have discussed in the past I am... of course... an idiot. They announced that Bob Dylan was coming to town the 22nd of October WITH Elvis Costello. I do not know from day to day who I like better but along with Neil Young those three make up the Mike Becker Rock and Roll Trinity. So my birthday is on the tenth and I am at work on Saturday and I think “daddy is going to splurge for some expensive tickets.” Why do I need expensive tickets?

Well if you have not been in another time zone this week and you can read and or listen to the news then you now know (because prior to this event I did not know) about the Hannah Montana craze. Evidently she is Billy Ray Cyrus daughter (in what universe can this be considered a good thing? I have never seen the girl but assume she must have back hair.) and is a Disney TV star and is evidently the next big thing. So it is generally not a big deal that in reserved seat concerts (most of the bands I see and venues I go to are general admission) you simply cannot get good seats. I used to blame ticket master (and certainly that is an evil empire that must be destroyed) but they were just a pre-cursor of where we are now. You see formerly with Ticketmaster and now in all reserved seat shows you can get on line or get on the phone, have your credit card ready and at the moment the tickets go on same buy “best available” and find that 1 minute after tickets went on sale you are in the 45th row on the far right. Lining up at the venues ticket window is even more stupider (I love more stupider). The venues are hooked up to the same computers as the ticketmaster people. But where did the tickets go? When you went to the show they were always filled. often with very well dressed middle aged guys and their younger girlfriends. They were “pre-sold” to special clients...for a premium. So, I could never get good tickets.

And neither could anyone else. But really...who cares? There cannot be more then like a 1000 live music junkies in any given has been dying downtown (no matter what anyone sells to you) midwestern city and 80% of those guys don’t vote... or have girlfriends...or jobs and their voices, even if unified cannot be heard that loudly from the muffled, well insulated subterranean bastion of their parents’ basements. So we were ripe for abuse and abuse we received and no one cared when they were just abusing us. But the Ticketmaster model worked too well. Venues and artists took notice and in the name of the true fan they took action...to get those profits themselves. And they have done really well mastering the model. The venue has “special” friends of the venue who pay a premium for the shot at these tics and the artists have their fan club web sites where...they just want to help.

So no one really cared until Hannah Montana. This teen superstar had a base of pre adolescent young ladies who NEEDED those tickets and every lousy suburban mother and father, trying to buy their children everything their little blond heads might desire NEEDED these tickets. “What if the neighbor girl got to go and our Brittany didn’t?” Disaster! I can see boob jobbed housewives telling their husbands with their words, eyes and body language that daddy better score some tickets. What can a man do under that kind of pressure? Stand in line? Call ticketmaster? Go on line with ticketmaster? No, no and once again...no. None of those places had tickets. No normal vendor had tickets because the ticket-brokers had learned how to game the system with their computers and their shills so that whenever the tickets went on sale...none really went on sale. They flooded the computer with a Million ticket requests for 15,000 seats against the requests of 45,000 people who want the tickets what happens? you do the math. And these tickets turn up quickly on Stub Hub. Right now for this show: Hanna Montana / Miley Cyrus - Best of Both Worlds Tickets 11/7, you can buy tickets for $9,630.00. Each. Nice.

They have tried all kinds of things including allotting tickets for real fans and putting them on sale where the buyer has to come pick them up but not much has worked. Real fans do not matter. Cash matters. So in this unhappy circumstance I decided I was going to acquire some expensive tickets and got on the Dylan web site and popping and clicking and pressing and reading through all the BS I thought I had purchased two tickets for the Fox on October 22nd for 180 bucks each. Pricey indeed. I immediately got a notice saying my card was being dinged for $760.00. When tried to rescind the transaction I was told ALL sales were final. I figured I had somehow clicked for 4 tickets and perhaps I could find some clients to take and have the firm pick up part of the cost.

But... 10 days before the show I received a little box containing two tickets, two pocket watches and some beautiful lanyards with hard plastic passes which made very clear they were not backstage passes and provided no special access or anything. The pocket watches looked like they might bring 5 bucks each in a pawn shop. I think these special tchotkes are the rationalization for the high price. They just make me feel like more of a prostitutes “john”. My wife solved the riddle about why I only had two when she said “these tickets are for October 20th”, which caused me to ask “are they even for St. Louis” and she said...”no...they are for Bloomington Illinois.” I still do not know how I did it but it has permanently soured me on expensive tickets. Some people like myself are not meant to live well. The good news.... two Dylan Concert reviews.

Errata

Errata:




So.... I have begun after 45 years to floss. I don’t know how it happened. Whether it is because of age and maturity? Seems unlikely. It might be because I have started to get things stuck between the awkward spaces between my teef. I mean big things...things that look like...well...you know those hay things....not bales...they don’t do that anymore...but those big rolled up things that look like tank size pieces of shredded wheat....THAT’s what daddy gets stuck in his teeth.
I have been doing it for several weeks and after a few weeks of bloody and distressed gums it seems like it is a good thing but seriously....the crap that pops out of my mouth is unbelievable. Next time I lose my wallet....thats the first place I am looking. Where does the idea of flossing come from? Wikipedia is always helpful http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dental_floss Thy explain a great deal. Levi Spear Parmley invented the stuff using silk. Johnson and Johnson stole and patented his idea and then realized nylon would work better and...well that is where the dream starts. Wikipedia further advises that:
“The American Dental Association (ADA) advises to floss once or more per day. It should be noted that overly vigorous or incorrect flossing can result in gum tissue damage. For proper flossing, the Association advises to curve the floss against the side of the tooth in a 'C' shape, and then to wipe the tooth from under the gum-line (very gently) to the tip two or three times, repeated on adjacent tooth and on all other teeth too.”
Good stuff. This from the American Dental Association web page:
How do I floss my teeth?

• Break off about 18 inches of floss and wind most of it around one of your middle fingers. Wind the remaining floss around the same finger of the opposite hand. This finger will take up the floss as it becomes dirty. Hold the floss tightly between your thumbs and forefingers.
• Guide the floss between your teeth using a gentle rubbing motion. Never snap the floss into the gums.
• When the floss reaches the gum line, curve it into a C shape against one tooth. Gently slide it into the space between the gum and the tooth.
• Hold the floss tightly against the tooth. Gently rub the side of the tooth, moving the floss away from the gum with up and down motions.
• Repeat this method on the rest of your teeth.
• Don't forget the back side of your last tooth.
BRILLIANT!
Soooo...even after two months of flossing I finally go to the dentist for the well overdue cleaning. I know there is nothing interesting about hating the dentist. it does not even interest me but jeeeez I hate the dentist. I always wonder where they get these women with these powerful hands, wrists and forearms who can apply 600-700 foot pounds of pressure to bare in your mouth. Do they breed them somewhere? And they always seem surprised when you thrash around like a fish, gaging on your own bile... do they really do any good?
They are kind enough to tell me in no particular order that:
1. It is great that I am flossing and my gums bleed less;
2. My gums are still receding everywhere and I should be able to expect a major root canal in the future; and
3. My teeth grinding has raised itself to a new level and I am doing major damage to my gums and lower teeth and that I probably need a serious shrink and some medication if I am grinding them that much.
Great News!

****
Sooooo....happy birthday to me...whatever. 46. Seems old. I never met to live this long. Is that an old line? I think so. My dad always said that “only the good die young” and he is still playing tennis at 80 while I seem to be “deteriorating” at every turn. It is weird living this long, but sometimes it is a good type of weird. I hear people talking about this age as “half time” and while that seems like bull shit to me it makes some sense to me as well and I have after all been working for 20 years....and it looks like I will be working for at least another 20 with social security all gone by the time I get there and the fact that “retirement age” will likely be 70....I am not even too half time yet. Shit. That really sucks.
But maybe it does not. Who says that I have to spend the second half the way I spent the first half. My wife doesn’t. She wants me to be happy. My parents won’t make me...they are tired and reasonably pleased with the fact that I have not had to move back in with them. Even my in laws are really happy generally that I have held a job for a period of time. My kids... I need to think about them a little...I am not sure what they want. dad as a lawyer was not a bad gig but i think they too just would like me to feel happy. So, re-reading that paragraph I guess what I am saying is that I am a pretty Blessed (capital b) guy.

Money. Money could be the issue... or at least an issue.... but maybe...maybe that can be gotten around. Maybe not. Money is indeed the route of all evil. Money also offers the chance to make things better for other people and to do some good things for them once in a while. So making money can be a good thing. So is there a way to make enough money to do that stuff and still do something fun or rewarding in the second half? Probably not. But why not take a whack at it anyway.
The family is OK. My problem at half time is all in my head. What if everything I have got is not enough? Does that make me an immature, unappreciative shit? I think the answer could very possibly be yes. What if i am just unhappy with my first half career because I have developed an overdeveloped ability to be unhappy. Would I be unhappy if I did it all differently but in the way I think I would have liked to? I think there is a pretty good chance that the answer would be a great big strip club HELL YES!

Sooooo what to do? I know I like dealing with people on a counseling basis. I know I really have an empathy for high school kids. I know I really like to speak (and listen to myself talk) and I like to write although the last 9 months have satisfied me that I will never be a “writer”. So what do I do with that information or that self knowledge? That is what the future will tell but I am a lot closer to moving back home to my parents basement then I am to winning the lottery.
Possible careers for Mike Becker at 46:

1. Drug Dealer
2. Rock Star
3. Pastor
4. High School teacher
5. Strip Club Bouncer
6. Investment Banker
7. Lawyer
8. Pimp
9. Serial Killer
10. Judge

Thoughts?
46 seems old at this point. Very old. But it seems that there are a lot of choices here. Almost all of them...well... that is not fair...all of them are good. So what does one do with so many good choices?

1. Go back to school
2. Move back in with my parents
3. Go live under a bridge (with my troll friends)
4. Continue practicing law
5. Becoming a handler for Britney Spears or Paris Hilton or...even Nicole Richie or Lindsay Lohan.

The last are not really career choices but weigh stations and what type of 46 year old goes through the process of a weigh station? I mean seriously...how does that happen? Is it just self involvement and immaturity? I think maybe so but even if that is true...here I am. Lets figure this out.

*****

Ahhhhh the KUDZ Force. it is time to scare us again. Time for Cheney and Bush through the good soldier Petraus to frighten us into not only “staying the course” but taking action against Iran as well. it is important that we be frightened. it is important that we believe that a country with a homicidal mullah and a crazy President can threaten us and our country in a meaningful way. it is important that we be scared so we do not ask why if we pull out Iraq that “the terrorists will follow us home”. That is frightening, where would they sleep? What would they eat? it is important we be afraid so we do not ask why the administration really wants us to believe that by fighting them there we are keeping them another 9-11. Are THEY that easily distracted? And who is “they” anyway? Al-Quaida? A group who pulled off a tremendously criminal and murderous act which we made glorious by.... invading Iraq? Seriously...what were we thinking of? And now the drum is beating for Iran with Cheney, Bush and the Republican (read southern conservative Christian coalition) leadership in Congress in their own new age drum circle...pounding the beat. The nukes in Iran thing did not have traction with the people so now we are trotting out THE KUDZ FORCE again. They are coordinating attacks against our troops. They are deadly palace guard of the Mullahs. I am convinced the only reason we trot them out is because it sounds like they must be nazis.

Anyway...I know most of the oil comes from the middle east and we do not want crazy people able to halt the supply but...isn’t that really the problem? These people have NOTHINg but oil that will run out in 50 or 60 years. Their dictators want to make hay while the sun shines. Seriously...if not for the oil how could we be afraid of these people? They are good with bombs and killing civilians but since we have stepped up our vigilance here...nothing. And shouldn’t we as a country grow up about this terrorism thing? it is a reality for us and our children. We need to recognize that you cannot wage a war on terrorism anymore then you can wage a war on drugs or...the dreaded FOX invented WAR ON CHRISTMAS. You fight wars against countries. Not crazy people. Crazy people will always be able to kill people and as the technology gets better and better, more people each time.

We need to pay attention but we cannot be afraid. We need to stand up, protect ourselves and start to lead by example. Attacking or bombing Iran will not advance the ball. Staying the course will not advance the ball. How about if we spend all that money on health care and on training the next generation for their challenges? That would be something to lead on. But we need to stand up to our leaders right now and refuse to be manipulated by them trying to scare us. We have to.

Record Review 17: Steve Earle "Washington Square Serenade"

Steve Earle
Washington Square Serenade





I listened to this CD for the first time in my car on a beautiful trip down to Ozark Missouri to appear in a workers compensation hearing (glamorous legal stuff). One would think it was a perfect day to enjoy a new CD by one of rocks great modern troubadours. Earle has had an interesting if somewhat checkered history. He hit the airwaves by storm as the next big thing and his critically acclaimed CD “Guitar Town” which was about Nashville and “the business”. Later he had a moderate FM hit with “Copperhead Road” which was about his parents running moonshine and about changing the family business to growing weed. Good stuff. he drove his life far off the road, developed some serious drug habits (primarily heroin), carried a pistol and was generally a fuck up on his way to killing himself before... miraculously, he straightened himself out.

He has dropped three or four albums since then that I think are brilliant and of late he was one of the earliest and harshest critics of the Iraq war and our idiot President. So I was really looking forward to this CD which was coming after an unusually long 3 year break from recording. I have seen him live a few times in that period and each time he appeared with a brilliant band which included Eric “Roscoe” Ambel and put on great shows. He moved back to Nashville and it appeared he would live happily ever after there.

Well, that was not to be and this CD is about his move to NYC. Arguably he had already recorded this CD in one song off an earlier album which was aptly titled...NYC. Well, listening to that CD on a beautiful day I started skipping songs and coming back to them and had one unifying thought. This sucks.

It just seemed like there was nothing there. It sounded like Earle but the songs were weak and uninspired. Looking at the jewel box he looked fat an unkept and I figured that he had just moved there to die or something and needed some cash. But, out of respect for his body of work I took it into the office and gave it three or four listens and like all good music, the more I listened to it, the better it got.

This guy is the real deal. A tortured, self schooled artist who creates a lot of his own problems (see prior referenced drug addiction and 7 wives...one of them twice) and although it is a trite thing sometimes it is an all American story, a real American story and his songs as you listen to this album become a reasonably brilliant ode to the midlife crisis by an intelligent guy in a country that our leadership has lost it’s way. It starts out with “Tennessee Blues” which is a not so wistful goodbye to Nashville and Guitar Town as he heads for NYC presumably with new wife Allison Moorer. it is a fine song but it has been done before and he keeps in the same done before vein on “Down Here Below” from the perspective of a metaphorical hawk (at the top of the food chain) in NYC and those living their lives as prey... on the streets “down below”. it laments the loss of the old Coffee House East Village NYC.....yawn.

On “Satellite Radio” where he digs in and starts to ask whether anyone is listening which is always a tough question for a guy who feels like he has a lot to say. The he rolls into the pretty “City of Immigrants” which evokes Guthrie and Seeger in a song that celebrates the diversity of his adopted city. Sure it has been done before too but rarely as heartfelt and timely a manor as this. He follows with “Sparkle And Shine” which is a pretty love song and likely an ode to the aforementioned Moorer. he follows that with a weaker still “Come Home To Me” and then ups the ante.

“Jericho Road” is as good of a song as he has ever written. The Jericho Road was where the parable of the good Samaritan takes place. It was the back road short cut from Jerusalem to Jericho and was famous for lawlessness and danger and Earle takes us down the road where he meets along the way his mother, his father, his sister and his brother and all have a message for him. The Jericho Road is a heavy metaphor and he uses it well. He then tears into “Oxycontin Blues” and from a liberal like Earle you would expect some lambast of poor drug addled demagogue Rush Limbaugh but instead he seems of alcoholism, addiction and self destruction accompanied plaintively but a hard strumming mandolin that evokes some of his best early work.

He backs off and goes into “Red Is The Color” which is a lament...and nothing more but well struck. After that break he takes us to “Steve’s Hammer” dedicated to Pete (presumably Seeger) and he gives us what really seems to be the anthem for this life of his. he will put his hammer down when the world is without suffering and injustice. The song is song with a bright hopefulness that belies the utter hopelessness of the task. it is worthy of appearance on ANY folk collection from the Smithsonian.

“Days Are not Long Enough” is a song he pens and sings with Moorer and it sweet and nice but... it does not really fit and then surprisingly he finished with Tom Waits “Down In The Whole” with some of the spooky voice effect he likes to use sometime. It is a fitting end to a bleak yet hopeful album

This is a guy who could sit back, get fatter and hang out... but he cannot. And somewhere we all need to appreciate an artist who is willing to do what I fail so often to do and that is to speak truth to power. You gotta give it up for that.
9 Slingers Out of Ten

Diner Review XI: The Overland Diner

The Overland Diner





it is always a pleasure to hit a new diner. there is always the feeling that there is nothing new under the sun but nothing proves that a lie better then a brand new experience of eating comfort food with strangers among the cigarette smoke. While some might see it as pathetic... it sometimes feel like it is all you got and a lot of time it is more then enough. Good pork and good hash browns sometimes transcend all.

Sooooo on a recent week day my breakfast companion informed me of a destination which I had spied but was not on my radar screen for a visit. Happily I turn this space over to handsome Sal Pagano:

“Overland Diner, at 2539 Woodson, is really George Rivolo Diner. They serve decent coffee and Edmunds Chili. I sampled each. Not bad. The chili will make a great Slinger! The Diner looks like a White Castle and George says it is the way White Castle started out but realized quickly that the limitation of seats also limited their income. The diner was built early 1930, has white porcelain interior walls, has counter stools, and is equipped with the traditional juke box.The Diner has never been remodeled or updated, as far as I can tell. It needs new signs and a good cleaning!

I met George, (age 83) on Saturday as I did a reckon of the area. George likes the diner business and has owned this one for thirty years. He bought it to have a little income after retiring from Metropolitan Life. My dad's cousin worked with him for his entire career. My dad was his dentist! He told me that the dentures he was wearing were made by my dad and they were close to twenty five years old. Can you imaging not going to the dentist in 25 years! Linda works the afternoon shift and Cindy has the morning. They are open 24 hours with Breakfast anytime, of course! “

This is good stuff people. this is the type of concise, insightful review that summarizes the place well. I have a little to supplement this with but there are a few cogent facts Sal left out.

1. There are no booths. This is stools only.
2. A good regular crowd parked on the corner of the counter and dominating conversation but...nice people. Have a cig.
3. Aside from the jukebox they have the dreaded 40 year old pinball machine.
4. The regulars come in the back door.
5. It does NOT look like a White Castle. There is nothing prefab about this thing and it looks filthy and like it could fall down at any moment.

Simply put the place had a good feel and good food. Right down the street from the original Hacienda and their tortilla factory and across the street from Piazz’s Pawn Shop. Piazza used to come into the Courtyard in South County where I worked to have breakfast but you have to wonder why he would not have gone here every day. The Overland Diner is a fairly centrally located place...reasonably close to the airport and should be visited...and revisited again and again. This will definitely make a top 10 diners of St. louis list at the end of the year.

Record Review 16: The Good Life, "Help Wanted Nights"

The Good Life
“Help Wanted Nights”




There is always a question which can only be important to a music head, but a question never the less about whether you are better when a band has a new CD out to be familiar with the CD before you see them in concert, or see them and then get into the CD. Sometimes you have no choice is the case recently where The Good Life put out “Help Wanted Nights” on September 11 and then basically opened their tour in St. Louis on the 26th of September. So I did not have a chance to buy or get into the CD prior to the show and in fact bought it at the show. There is a pleasure to buying a CD at the show because you know the band swallows the profit directly and it only costs 10 bucks.

I like this CD. If you read my Rilo Kiley review this CD is everything that one is not. Although cutting their teeth in that same Omaha scene Tim Kasher and his band are stripped down. His voice is very limited but is plaintive in tone and the backing of the band with some tasty chops and a slight Alt-country feel make it a pleasure. His Cd from a few years ago, "Album of the Year" was one of the gems from 05. Well produced and not a weak song in the bunch.

The CD opens up with “On The Picket Fence”...almost solo acoustic, song to a girl as in, “Don’t you leave me on a picket fence.” Nice. Next is “A Little Bit More” which is a classic troubled relationship song...coarsely worded:

“I wanted just a little more, you loved me and you locked the door.
Lured me into thinking I was special...but your a liar and a whore.
It made me want you just a little bit more.”

Touching.”Sure Your Heart IS Breaking Too” is full of irony and it is a nice song and kind of a throwback kind of like Weezer’s “Buddy Holly” or the Pixies “Here Comes Your Man.” It resonates and he pulls it off. Next he goes to “Your Share of Men” with he and his guitar... “I am sure you have had your share of men...I am honored to be one of them.” Nice play on words...nice irony. Good stuff. the CD keeps going on with quality songs, “You Don’t Feel Like Coming Home To Me.” which has elegant, simple production and a great chorus. It is a good CD. The band plays tight. the songs are well written and hold up well to repeated listening and Tim Kasher’s voice holds up really well in a studio even though it is a limited one. I like this band. The Good life is Kasher's project along with his band Cursive both of which errupted from the Omaha mope rock scene spawned by Bright Eyes and their "genius" Connor Oberst. Although Oberst went back to a mellower sound again on Cassadega The Good Life never leaves solid country roots. Steel guitars and bad relationships. It does not get much better.
7 Slingers on a 10 scale.

Book Review 13: "A Scanner Darkly"

A Scanner Darkly
Phillip K Dick
278 Pages
Vintage Books

OK....so I have been trying to follow through on reading Phillip K. Dicks whole catalogue but it is challenging to do so. The nice thing is that every Borders carries 7-10 of his paperbacks and so there is always a selection since he has about 30 or so books in print. This time I grabbed “A Scanner Darkly” which I knew had been made into a movie but the only thing I remembered was an exploding head. Which showed when i did my research that I did not know anything as i was thinking of the movie “Scanners”. This book was made into a movie in 2006 and evidently it flopped. I will, however go out and rent it now after reading the book.

I did not know what to expect of the book and it was some dense reading. 50 pages into it I had been introduced to 6 or 7 characters but without realizing it I had only really been introduced to 5 or 6 since one guy was the two main characters. The main guy was a drug dealer and was also a drug officer working on behalf of the government.

The drug in question is Substance D or “Death” and it appears a lot of our nation is hooked on it as the government battles its sale, distribution and consumption. Our hero lives in a house with two or three other people (one gets carted away early) and they have strung out conversations covering numerous aspects of life and they all have strong opinions. Anyone who has ever been in a room with several stoned people discussing anything can relate and the dialogue rings true and hard. The America portrayed is frayed and disoriented itself and you are never sure whether the government is the enemy or a protector. The book through it’s characters makes a lot of societal statements including one of the guys remembering a girl who told him, ““If I would have known it was harmless, I would have killed it myself”. This kind of becomes their summary for all that is wrong in society and in the Bush/Cheney era it resonates.

This substance D over time causes the lobes of the brain to stop seeing things in the same way and so presenting distorted reality to the person on the drugs. This lobe separation appears to be irreperable and the main character who becomes an addict in order to bust the bad guys ends up a destroyed husk. There is no question that this is a bad thing. Everyone seems to know the drug gorks you out but everyone keeps taking it.

In the middle of the book I thought paranoia was the main theme as the main characters were always thinking that pople were watching them, coming to get them, manipulating them, using them for some grand ineffable purpose. The paranoia is as well written as anything I have ever read. It resonated and even reading it kind of made you uneasy as you contemplated the filter that you view everything through and the spector of being controlled or victimized. By the end of the book you realize that is was not paranoia. The scenes where the drug officer part of his personality are watching videos of the drug dealer are creepy.

Equally creepy is the place they take him away for “rehab” which is not really rehab at all...just some place to store bodies until they die and then you find out that maybe...they have a more sinister purpose, You also find out that what happened to our main character was no accident but part of some bigger government plan including his addiction and including his relationship to his girlfriend. They take hinm to a “rehab” center run by the people who are dealing the stuff, hoping he will recover and gain information for them. His girlfriend Donna is the most striking character as you start to see her as this pathetic strung out whore...morphing to physically remote girlfriend... morphing to drug agent/actor and person full of self knowledge and self loathing.

I am normally not all that big on authors notes but this book intruiged me so much that I had to read them and after all, they were not that long. The notes are a homage to his friends who he based the book on who had all been killed or badly gorked out do to drug use and and exhortation that drug use is a “choice”. It was kind of touching and kind of sad...but most of all kind of scary that his experiences could lead to this book.

The book was one of the best things I have read in a long time and is much better then his other work I have read to date. Troubling and disturbing with sweeping themes and stark conclusions Dick contemplates the world where the technology allows us all to be watched...and sometimes used. No happy endings here. Just a lot of questions.
9 Slingers on the 10 scale!