"The Tsar of Love and Techno"...the Diner Review

Soooo…. the Diner Review has been absent and perhaps…. unmissed.  Perhaps 2016 will be different.  Perhaps not.  The future with this writer is as always…. sketchy.  We are coming up on the year end however and that leads to some reflections, some lists and perhaps even some new year's resolutions.  While not getting to the other two as of yet, you should resolve to read “The Tsar of Love and Techno”.  This 332 page tome by Anthony Marra is the best thing that I read in 2015 and I am grateful that it will be the last thing I finish for the year.  I will bo go back and read his previous novel, “A Constellation of Vital Phenomena” because this was just so good. My devotion to the book is evidenced by my continuation of reading it, even after my dog devoured a portion of it.

The book is more than a little fantastic on a number of levels but follows some nine “related” individuals through 80 years from Stalin to modern (post Chechen) Russia.  It starts with an artist who has found himself in the job of correcting art and photographs of Mother Russia, post revolution where people were, purged, murdered or sent to Siberia.  He erases these individuals images from the state record and does it both quickly and artistically.  For reasons known only to him he replaces the images of these individuals with a picture of someone else, always the same person...artfully rendered.

When he is finally “reported” as a traitor and suffers his fate the story moves to the Arctic Circle and a community that produces nickel for the State in a way that is not totally environmentally friendly and we follow the actors, and a painting down through the generations and the Chechen War and love and death and drug dealing and panhandling and failures… and more failures with very little sense of triumph, other than the spirit or lack thereof of his characters and the sense that every life is a noble struggle, even if the face of relentless marginalization imposed by the State and meaningless related once again to the state.

His characters and tone perfect and he writes with seeming first hand knowledge of the Orwellian society imposed by Communism and even more insidiously… in post Communism.  The Russian people have never really suffered a day of Democracy and although it certainly is not a cure all one wonders whether a real representative government would have made a difference...or not.  The characters are dense and there are a lot of them to follow and with the Russian names and my limited brain plasticity it was sometimes a challenge but in the end… this is a great book and a great read that will take you outside your mind and outside the problems of our own country and maybe to the realization that we continue to be the luckiest people in the world, and yet our lives without all the imposed suffering, might be a little less meaningful.

The Kingside: A Diner Review

Sooooo….If Only I felt that these had been missed but it is time for an actual DINER REVIEW!  Places open, places close and sometimes they open and close without comment but it shall not be the case with The Kingside Diner.  The Central West End has long been underserved by decent breakfast places.  For most of my extensive adult life you could choose between Koppermans and The Majestic.  Koppermans has always been an interesting choice but with limited seating and a staff that was and is...eclectic in regard to their service (sometimes fabulous, often dismissive) it became harder and harder and once I was denied the pleasures of a bagel and cream cheese with smoked trout (due to celiac) to choose.  The Majestic was of course the classic Greek diner, bustling, average food prepared sometimes carelessly but great ambience and alas, now closed.  You could grab a hotel breakfast at the Chase (pricey) and occasionally other places would offer breakfast service but it was always a half hearted effort.

So there was a need… there is a need and based on my first trip I think The Kingside is going to fill those needs.  Although I generally despise the politics and am suspicious of the motives of Rex Sinquefield (our very own, home grown Koch brother) he has done something very interesting and possibly fascinating with his St. Louis International Chess gambit and the devil, indeed must be paid his due… but do not loose sight of the likelihood that he is indeed the devil….but I digress.

The Kingside is a relentlessly interesting, high quality place to grab a little breakfast.  It sits next to the Chess club in the place formerly operated by Lesters (an interesting gambit for a BBQ sports bar location) and Lester Miller did spend some money on a nice build out, a great deal of which still remains.  High quality lighting, televisions, a full bar and modern bathrooms are part of that legacy.  The place over all is very pleasing to the eye and seems very clean and well maintained.  You could do a business breakfast here or bring out of town guests and be very confident of the choice.  You can also sit at the bar which serves as a de facto counter if you want to dine alone and do not want to take up a table.

I visited on Labor Day and it was quiet but several people were availing themselves to the outdoor seating which seemed perfect on a hazy, holiday Monday.  I would imagine it picks up pretty heavy traffic for brunch and certainly for lunch but, breakfast it our thing here at the Diner Review. My server was very polite and paid good attention though he might have had slight Brit affectations.  I think my wife would have found him charming.  I was seated by the window with a view of the street and sidewalk and watched a lot of dog walkers and morning people putting on the CWE show which is just different than anywhere else in the Lou.  They quickly brought me my iced tea and it was properly brewed and delightful.  The menu for breakfast is ample…

http://www.kingsidediner.com/menu/

...including a Piggies in Blanket Sandwich, Bagels and Lox and Quinoa Pancakes and “Cheddar Drop Biscuits” all of which seemed interesting.   They also sport the:

Kingside Slinger

Hash

chorizo chili, your choice of toast $10

I will definitely give that a try some morning.

But I was there to same my breakfast staple of two eggs over easy, hash browns (crisp) and sausage or bacon. The over easy eggs are always a good test and these were perfect.  Also, their hash browns were shredded (as God ordained for “hash browns”) and properly browned.  The portion was pleasingly small leaving me satisfied but wanting more.  The sausage was frankly like the relatively bland but unobjectionable sausage of the old Majestic (small tear in my eye).  The whole plate was hot and delicious and I think if you can do this meal well it bodes well for the rest of the menu.

I am going to urge you to try this place.  Bring a date, bring a friend and come before the parking on Laclede goes to hell (so come early).  There is a paid lot next store but it increases the breakfast cost dramatically.  Tip well and become a regular, I am considering doing the same.  I think with the quality of food and service and the deep pockets of the owner that this has the possibility of becoming a long St. Louis tradition.  We need more them.

Taco Circus!

Sooooo….Long time no hear and I know...probably not missed.  I have been lazy and distracted and probably too opinionated to be doing my job and keeping the world safe for diners in St. Louis.  There have been a LOT of great developments in town in the last year on the low and intermediate “culinary” spectrum.  Today we discuss and disect Taco Circus.

If you had the pleasure (because it a delightful town for food, music and weather) and or misfortune (because it has become a city replete with traffic jams and angry Republicans) of going to Austin in the last few years you will hopefully availed yourself of the pleasures of their two GREAT taco chains.  Those are Tacdeli http://www.tacodeli.com/ and Torchys http://www.tacodeli.com/.  It is a matter of fighting words to chose one over the other but the fact is that they are both….absolutely fucking great.  Mexican street tacos… fanccified up for the family and made simple and exotic at the same time.  I would like to have the local franchise but… no one has called me and of course… I dont have any money.

So I eat a LOT of tacos in town.  Most of them are nice mexican places on Cherokee, up in Overland or over in beeeeeeutiful Fairmont City.  So when a culinary expert (Commissioner of my Fantasy Football League) told me about Taco Circus...on Morganford… I was intrigued.  Morganford by Bevo Mill has lapsed from its Germanic heritage and now is a bastion of Bosnian culture.  I dont know anything about Bosnian food but have not been impressed with my limited culinary tastes but tacos? In Bevo?  So I went.

I was… not impressed with the location.  It seems neither smart, nor particularly well thought out. I assume one of the partner’s mother must own the building.  It is slightly omantic just because it is positively off beat but… that front porch is positively not up to code.  

I was espcially intrigued however because they advertised “BREAKFAST TACOS!”  So I went and found their egg and chorizo was unstoppable.  Small and easily edible and easy to eat two.  They claim to have good coffee but I cannot speak to that.  There is on the other hand a slight problem with their brewed iced tea and their styro-foam cups but… the breakfast tacos were worth overlooking.  I cannot speak to the rest of the tacos in the morning but…

Everything they make is cooked right behind the counter.  There are normally two guys.  One cooking and the other taking orders and doing a little bit of prep.  Everything seems very fresh and they after several visits I believe they have good quality control as they turn out a consistent product and it is a nice quality product.I think breakfast tacos are only served until 10:00 and they dont compromise.  

Lunch...lunch is excellent at well.  They make their bones on a pork steak taco.  Obviously the pork steak taco is a St. Louis favorite and they sell a ton but I have a strong CHRISTIAN bias against the St. Louis pork steak.  There is always a tough bite and I have NO patience for anything tough in my tacos.  They were really good but… I also have a bias against ground beef tacos (I think Taco Bell) but these are to die for.  They reminded me of Delta Hot Tamales and i dont think they use Frank’s hot sauce but they make a hot sauce that goies on the ground beef tacos that make me eat 3 of them and three equals a belly ache… but damn their good. The chicken fajita taco is also excellent and flavorful as well.  

I have not tried the burritos because they flour tortillas (of course) but every taco is offered on soft corn, soft flour and hard corn.  They also seem pretty “clean” from a gluten free/celiac front.  I have not had any bad reactions other than the one brought on by eating 3 ground beef tacos.  

The place is not perfect.  It is small.  It has two picnic tables outside and likely seating for about 6-8 comfortably inside.  It is hot.  No airconditioning or weak air conditioning but over all, this place is a gluten free winner and I strongly reccomend!  

Additionally… here is a picture of my daughter with our late and much lamented rooster.

Spring Break 2015: "The Delta Hot Tamale Tour!"

“We were always looking for true north

With our heads in the clouds, just a little off course

I left the motor running, now if you're feeling down and out

Come on Baby drive south, with the one you love

Come on Baby drive south, with the one you love”-Drive South by John Hiatt



 

Soooo…. I am used to being lied to.  The government...Lawyers…. as a younger man occasionally women and certainly by my children.  Still, even at 53, even after watching Missouri’s Republican Legislature for several years, I can be shocked by the lies I am confronted with even (GASP!) on the Internet.  That is right, lies on Al Gore’s own Internet!

Perhaps the rest of you have not had these occasions and if you have avoided the heartless cruelty of being misled on line I urge you to close your computer browser now and keep it closed forever to avoid the heartache which has indeed cut me so close to the bone.
 

As some of you might know I have a penchant for tamales.  Going to school in Texas we would drive north to a place called Picks Tamales in Ardmore Oklahoma.  We would drive north and get a sack (about 40) and a case of beer and drive back to Fort Worth.  Tamales in St. Louis are limited to the ones you can find at good Mexican Restaurants that have popped up around town over the last 10 years.  Cherokee Street and Overland have places and I am told about a place called Mamis down on Bayless that I have not tried https://plus.google.com/116281950888952263616/about?gl=us&hl=en

but generally the tamales tend to be fairly bland but are given flavor by the tomatillo or other suaces that they come with.  This had driven me to make my own tamales from a web recipe which have been excellent although time consuming to make and also of the same masa heavy (though mine are spicy) recipe.
http://www.sonofthesouth.net/tamales/Gather_Tamale_Ingredients.htm
 

But I had done some reading and the reading had led me to a holy grail chase for the the “hot tamale” of the Mississippi Delta and that led me to a web site that was the answer to my prayers! The Southern Food Alliance had put together a history and explanation of the Delta Hot Tamale! http://www.southernfoodways.org/oral-history/hot-tamale-trail/ ,  Along with it they had provided me with a map!

The map was beautiful!  It was interactive!  You click on a star and it tells you about the proprietor and gives a cute history of how they came to be making tamales and gave their address and their phone number, the proprietors name!  Why...for a 53 year old white man with too much time on his hands this was a “vision quest”... a reason for living.  Unfortunately, for those of you not familiar with the Mississippi Delta… it is a long way from St. Louis.  It takes a commitment to get there and there is no other reason to ever go there.  Poverty wise, economy wise, tourism wise… there ain't no reason to go there.  It runs like the river from Memphis down to New Orleans.  The ONLY reason tourism wise to go is to follow the Blues Trail which charts black musicians as they fled the Delta to head north to Memphis, St. Louis and Chicago.  That is not much motivation… even for a person as abjectly pointless as myself.

But just look at this map!  It is an enticing prospect!

But why?  Why dear reader would I ever have motivation to travel 250-300 miles south along the river.  Memphis is 5 hours south of the Lou.  If I want to go to New Orleans I fly over this alluvial plain.  The answer was one you would expect.  My 22 year old daughter, a senior in college had no Spring Break plans.  We now have relatives in Baton Rouge so… why not a little drive south?

I was not at all certain this attempt at child abuse with my daughter would work but I sweetened it with:

1.    I would pay for everything

2.    We would spend 2 days in Nashville with friends getting drunk and listening to music.

3.    She could take a friend along

4.    I would pay for everything;

5.    After staying in Baton Rouge, I would fly home and she and her friend could return north without me! ;and

6.    I would pay for everything.

Pretty tempting.  And although I can only think of a handful of people, including my son Jon and of course sick, sad people like Rodney Barodte, who would make this trip, my daughter is if nothing else, cheap.  So we left Nashville and headed for Memphis taking LOOONG way to Baton Rouge.  We headed down Highway 61 which follows the Delta Blues Trail.  Robert Johnson, (as we all know) sold his soul to the devil to learn how to play guitar as he did at the intersection of Highway 61 and Highway 49...the crossroads.  Johnson also loved hot tamales and recorded a song enshrining them in history:

Hot tamales and they're red hot, yes she got'em for sale

Hot tamales and they're red hot, yes she got'em for sale

I got a girls, say she long and tall

She sleeps in the kitchen with her feets in the hall

Hot tamales and they're red hot, yes she got'em for sale, I mean

Yes, she got'em for sale, yeah Hot tamales and they're red hot,

yes she got'em for sale

Hot tamales and they're red hot, yes she got'em for sale

She got two for a nickel, got four for a dime

Would sell you more, but they ain't none of mine

Hot tamales and they're red hot, yes she got'em for sale, I mean

Yes, she got'em for sale, yes, yeah Hot tamales and they're red hot,

yes she got'em for sale

Hot tamales and they're red hot, yes she got'em for sale

I got a letter from a girl in the room

Now she got something good she got to bring home soon, now

Its hot tamales and they're red hot, yes she got em for sale, I mean

Yes, she got'em for sale, yeah Hot tamales and they're red hot,

yes she got em for sale

Hot tamales and they're red hot, yes she got em for sale

(spoken) They're too hot boy!

The billy got back in a bumble bee nest

Ever since that he can't take his rest, yeah

Hot tamales and they're red hot, yes you got'em for sale, I mean

Yes, she got'em for sale Hot tamales and they're red hot,

yes she got'em for sale

(spoken) Man don't mess around em hot tamales now

(spoken) Cause they too black bad, if you mess around em hot tamales

(spoken) I'm onna upset your backbone, put your kidneys to sleep

(spoken) I'll due to break away your liver and dare your heart to beat bout my

Hot tamales cause they red hot, yes they got em for sale, I mean

Yes, she got em for sale, yeah Hot tamales and they're red hot,

yes she got'em for sale

Hot tamales and they're red hot, yes she got'em for sale

You know grandma left and grandpa too

Well I wonder what in the world we chillun gon do now

Hot tamales and they're red hot, yes she got'em for sale, I mean

Yes she got'em for sale Hot tamales and they're red hot,

yes she got'em for sale

Hot tamales and they're red hot, yes she got'em for sale

Me and my babe bought a V-8 Ford

Well we wind that thing all on the runnin board, yes

Hot tamales and they're red hot, yes she got'em for sale, I mean

Yes she got'em for sale, yeah Hot tamales and they're red hot,

yes she got'em for sale

They're too hot boy!

Hot tamales and they're red hot, yes, now she got em for sale

You know the monkey, now the baboon playin in the grass

Well the monkey stuck his finger in that old 'Good Gulf Gas', now

Hot tamales and they're red hot, yes she got'em for sale, I mean

Yes she got'em for sale, yeah Hot tamales and they're red hot,

yes she got'em for sale

Hot tamales and they're red hot, yes she got'em for sale

I got a girls, say she long and tall

Sleeps in the kitchen with her feets in the hall

Hot tamales and they're red hot, yes she got'em for sale, I mean

Yes she got'em for sale, yeah.  -Robert Johnson

A troubling version of this song by the Ukulele Orchestra may be found here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dhnxi1BX4uI

I think it is supposed to be about 8 hours and 45 minutes from Nashville to Baton Rouge.  We would see about that.  I had contemplated starting the tour at Pasquales in West Helena Arkansas but that was judged a (Mississippi) bridge too far and adding Arkansas to the tour seemed excessive, even for me.  So we (me) decided to begin the tour at Buds in Tunica.  

BUDS!  Now the virtues of casino gambling in a community are well known.  I have personally seen how adding casino gambling rockets the Missouri Schools with all the extra income and the tourism related to these behemoths is without question and obviously, there are no social costs to legalized gambling.  While I thought I understood what a boon it is to any economy I really had not prepared myself for Tunica.  Tunica really, at the head of highway 61 is the gateway to the Delta and their could not be a sadder or more representative place to begin the festivities.  Now on the Southern site they admonish to call ahead but once I committed to highway 61… were going to pass a dozen of these places and if one or two were closed… so be it.  But nothing prepared us for the glories of Buds…

Surprisingly, at 1:30 on a Monday… Bud’s appeared closed.  Maybe on another trip?  It appeared from broken down ramp to the front that Buds might at this point be waiting for a fire.  Tunica from Highway 61 is nothing but a ghetto with breaks for casino entrances and the vision of the large casinos on skyline to the west.  Other than to take another stab at Buds… I cannot imagine making it back though I am sure the casinos are lovely, unique and represent the best of the Delta.  To a large extent the trip to Bud's really set the tone for the entire tour.
 

ERVINS!  

We moved on with high hopes to Ervins in Sledge Mississippi.  Surprisingly it too was closed.

Hicks Clarksdale!

We scored at Hicks.  Although unpromising from the front it sported a drive through window but I needed to use their facilities after all the excitement in Sledge and Tunica and when I went to the front door it was locked but a nice young man opened it.  I got to take in the ambiance.  He assured me the original location at the Clarksdale Grocery was much nicer but I orders a half dozen and I have to tell you, even with the over all failures of the tour I was extremely pleased to make the trip for the experience of these beauties.  I mean… BILL CLINTON ATE HERE!  That man knew food better than any other President since Chester Arthur!
 

The tamales were different then anything in my experience.  I got them to go in a nice clam shell.  Styrofoam seems to be doing well in the Delta.  These babies were hot and succulent.  Much smaller in volume than the behemoths I eat and make back home and at authentic Mexican places.  These were dripping with spices that were redolent of Franks and good chicken wings and it was a surprisingly delicious combination with the tamale meat.  I scarfed down 4 under the mistaken assumption that I needed to save room for later on in the trip but I can say, without reservation...GO TO HICKS.  I am going to see if they ship them frozen.  I mean, these would be world changing bar food back in the Lou!

From Clarksdale I rolled south and after my initial tasting of the delicacy I was pretty excited but over and over again the Tamale Trail disappointed and frustrated.  We were now headed for Cleveland Mississippi and although Stewarts Quick Mart was long boarded up, we missed the Airport Market but at least found Delta Foods.  Delta foods appeared to be a former gas station and it also appeared there was an active chop shop in back for stolen cars.  As I exited a young woman who appeared drunk or high veered by our vehicle but thought nothing of it and went inside to find myself a lone white man in a somewhat suspect environment.  I heard (but did not see) pool balls clacking behind a wall and the proprietor was on an important call he never got off of nut I signaled my interest in a ½ dozen tamales and after 5 minutes or so i had my prize and was headed out the door to see my daughter and her friend in my locked vehicle pointing towards the young women and now a gentleman caller (friend) and they appeared to be in an altercation.  My daughter texted me (although I did not see until I cam out) the following:

“SOS”

“Please come back soon”

“We are witnessing a fight”

“I’m a little scared.”

“We might leave you here.”

“You could come back now.”

“It’s time for you to come back”.

All of these texts were sent between 2:59 PM and 3:03 PM.  Needless to say no one died but in retrospect lets label Delta Foods in Cleveland Mississippi as “sketchy”.  The tamales were not heated but were similar in style to Hicks though not as tasty.  In light of the threats of physical violence towards my daughter I will give them a bad YELP review and not go back.

From there we continued south and although we considered stops in Greenville and Greenwood (yes, they are different places) we headed instead for “Pea Soups Lott-A-Freeze”.  Although it sounded promising and indeed was still operational it appears that they were closed on Monday leading to a very personal and very serious devastation of my psyche.  Pea soups is also famous for their “floating burger” but alas… I may never know it’s joys.  We made lots of phone calls to other establishments but indeed found disconnected numbers or disconnected people answering the phone.  The tamale trail was indeed badly outdated.

We eventually hoped for the best in Yazoo City Mississippi (indeed what could go wrong in such a place?) but the Yazoo Market and Hariss’s Hot Tamales were nowhere to be found although the town did seem charming in that “oh my God I want to kill myself because I am in Yazzoo Mississippi” type way.  Instead we could find none of the promised tamale havens and were left empty...distraught and deeply, deeply troubled.

“Her brothers and her sisters drove down from Jackson, Mississippi

In a great green Hudson driven by a Gentile they knew.

Drinkin' rye whiskey from a flask in the back seat

Tryin' to do like the Gentiles do

Christ, they wanted to be Gentiles, too.

Who wouldn't down there, wouldn't you?

An American Christian, God damn!

On the Dixie Flyer bound for New Orleans

Back to her friends and her family in the land of dreams” -Dixie Flyer/Randy Newman

We had been in the car approximately 9 hours at this point.  My daughter and her friend had been very patient but we were still several hours from baton Rouge and as such a key decision was made to head for Jackson, Tony’s Tamales and the relative safety and speed of highway 55.  Tony moved over to Jackson from Greenville (which evidently hosts a tamale fest each year! http://www.hottamalefest.com/schedule.html,) the Hot Tamale Capital of the Delta and wanted to run his own business.  Although I believe Tony’s might have two locations in Jackson we opted for one in a strip mall that was similar to a coffee kiosk with two drive up windows.  

The girls had sadly ordered a pizza rather than sample these delicacies. They ere fabulous.  Wrapped tightly in tin foil six delectable morsels of flavor hot and slightly drier and even spicier than those of Hicks.  At this point in my limited hot tamale experience I think these were my favorites but by going to strip mall in Jackson you give up a lot in ambiance, and the adrenaline of being afraid for your life.

Bottom line is that this was a great excursion.  The Southern Foodways people need to hire me or some other incompetent boob to update this list.  The making of the tamales is clearly an art handed down in families and these families are obviously not always the best business people.  Based on that the places will move but there should be someway to track the openings and closings of these Jewels of the Delta and I would strongly urge you if ever driving to the Gulf Coast, take the detour and see part of America that you will not see otherwise.  You can combine the trip with the Delta Blues Trail and make a long day of it.  it is a great country and there is great food everywhere… you just got to look...and drive.

Decluttering Diary Volume I: Beginning To Sell My Children

Soooo…. I am old.  Recently my wife and I have come to the conclusion that we have too much stuff.  Looking around our home and in our basement it is hard to deny.  As discussed over the last several years I like music.  I listen to a lot of music.  I like to go to shows and historically I have liked to “buy” and “own” music.  I have come to realization that this is dark ages stuff.  Streaming has won and my 1500 (or so) CD’s will one day be of all the value of 1500 8-Tracks and it is going to happen sooner rather than later.  My albums… they are different at least for now. They have art and liner notes my 53 year old eyes can read.  But CD’s?  They never had any magic.  They were beautiful and functional but… they seemed like a logical place for me to start the decluttering process.

I have over the years ripped many of these onto various computer hard drives and subsequently lost some of the libraries when i got new computers.  iTunes solved that storage dilemma but only up to 25,000 songs so there was a picking and choosing process while also adding new audio files and downloads instead of actually buying new CD’s.  When I decided that this would be first test of my resolve I asked my son for my birthday to put together ripping machine and hard drive to rip all CD’s to hard drive and up into the cloud.  He built me a pretty little two disk drive Hacintosh and wrote out detailed instructions for how to rip and I have now started the process in earnest.

I type this after ripping (with Jon giving me a head start of doing 50 or so about 100 CD’s.  It is interesting and it is painful.  Interesting to see how many jewel boxes had concert tickets stuffed into them, a quaint habit I picked up somewhere along the line.  Interesting because he also hooked me up with something called “Delicious Library” which allows me to scan the barcodes of the ripped CD’s and it creates visual library of art together with information on the Cd as well as current value of CD on Amazon.  This “value” proposition remains to be tested.  But it was interesting too to see how the market has “valued” my collection (more on that later).  Painful is just because I love the music and I am a hoarder.  Seeing that I have 11 Yo La Tengo CDs is a thing of awe and beauty to me and the fact that 80% of you reading this have no idea who Yo La Tengo is magnifies my sense of the “importance” of my “collection”.

So I sit in front of my machine I load, I open as audio file in something called XLD, I get the track names downloaded and then I rip something called a FLAC file which my son tells me can then convert into an MP3 file.Each one takes about 10 minutes and I can do 2 at a time. I tried to find a high school kid to do this but couldn't and now realize that it would take all the profit out of it.  I have opened up an EBay account and I think I need to open Amazon account as well to sell.  

I took 96 CD’s to Euclid records and they were very professional with me.  I advised that I was coming in to sell my children.  The young lady did not seem sympathetic or interested but she was polite.  I left them my name and number and about ½ hour later she told me they wanted 26 of them and would pay me 72 dollars.  I had priced them Amazon as being worth about 300 total.but was looking at this first batch as an experiment.  She explained  that the ones I saw as “valuable were worth 5 bucks to them, the rest were either two dollars or one dollar,  That just happened.  I feel somewhat violated but I think when you sell your children you feel that way.  There is a site called Decluttr which will pay me .40 each for them and handle shipping but I think I try my hand at Amazon and/or Ebay and maybe make a trip to Vintage Vinyl.  I will report.  The process should take me well into the Spring and as of this point for CD’s that probably cost me 1000 bucks I am 72 dollars to the good but I still have 70 of them to get rid of. I have opened a special account for the liquidation of my “treasures” starting with the CD’s, followed by the books I am embarrassed of (Dick Francis, John Grisham and what not) and then...the comic books...scrap metal...who knows.  This might be an interesting obsession…. maybe a sad little book…”The Baby Boomers Guide To Selling Your Children, (Decluttering)”.  What could go wrong?

Diner Review : Best of 2014

Soooo… 2014 is over and it is time for the much anticipated “best of” for music.  OK, so maybe no one anticipates it.  I don’t blame them.  My tastes are well known and fairly limited but… consistent.  There has been a ton of good music in 2014.  That is the problem. There is literally good music everywhere.  It has never been easier for a talented artist to put music out where everyone has access to it.  It should be awesome but instead it has produced a numbing glut of music because there is no “talent filter”.  Everyone can make music and put it on iTunes or Spottify or anywhere else.  Everyone has a “voice” or a “vision” and they just want you to listen to their “album”... 12-14 songs that they want you to sit through and “get it”.  Anyone can buy “Pro Tools” and share their “vision”.  But the world has passed them by.  I don't just mean my generation.  Most of my heroes are still insisting on cranking out albums (CD’s whatever) and our children for the most part are stuck in that mode.  Everyone is crying about how the Internet ruined music with no appreciation of the fact that they would not have “made it” under the old model either.  With so much music out there, no one has time or interest in anything but the brilliant.  You can access the great instantaneously.  No one has time to wade through your vision or listen over and over again to understand your muse.  

So we have two problems:

1. Two much music; and

2. Too many artists stuck in the old (moldy) model of making “albums”.

This year, I was going to  not list any CD’s or Albums of the year but instead just name a few with several great tracks and other than that I just wanted to give you a play list, give you some tunes, but… when i got into what I listened to this year I real;ized… I too am still stuck in the old model.

One more observation before we start though.  Streaming has won.  In five years they will not have a CD player in the car anymore.  It will go the way of the 8-Track and then the Cassette.  Additionally, iTunes is in the midst of dramatic decline.  My generation of Bushies (The Ownership Society) is on the way out.  The kids are not going to buy music for their hard drives or to burn into CD’s.  That is like… soooooo 2009.  Still, God Blessed us with a lot of good music this year and music...music makes life better and in 2015, you can get a few smiles by enjoying some of the greats of 2014.

Toward the end of the year, Lost on the River, an amalgamation of some of my favorite artists putting lyrics to and music to Bob Dylan.  Evidently when ensconced at “The Big Pink” with The Band he wrote and then performed a brilliant Album know as the basement tapes.  Also during those months and years in northern New York he wrote another 100 or so other songs, lyrics, snippets and these were given to a collection of musicians under the guidance of genius, muse, manager, parent, T-Bone Burnett.  The musicians:

Elvis Costello

Jim James

Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes

Marcus Mumford and

Rhiannon Giddens.

I was not familiar with Giddens.  Giddens was violinist, singer in The Carolina Chocolate Drops.  Anyway, if you get a chance watch the Showtime Special “The Lost Songs”.  It is awesome and will really give you some insight into the brilliance of what they did.  If you don't get a chance to watch that, do download or stream the following songs:

“Married To My Hack”

“Kansas City”

“Spanish Mary”

“Liberty Street”

They all are to nuanced to describe.  Just do it.  Seriously.  The whole CD is worth a listen.

***

In my normal pedigree, the Felice Brothers new CD “Favorite Waitress” is another winner.  Quality all the way through with the right quality of lightness and darkness and the always perfect time and heart ache and beauty that their lyrics and their years of playing together bring.  Recorded with the Omaha Genius Mike Mogis as producer it is a dance hall, and a party and carries on their brilliant discography.  Download or stream:

“Bird on a Broken Wing:

“Cherry Licorice”

***

Rosanne Cash surprised and delighted this year.  She has always had the pedigree with spots of brilliance always promising more but she never has put out anything even close to this years “River and a Thread”. If you like female singers and songwriters this is a great album and if you just like great music this is...a GREAT album.  The whole thing is good but download or stream:

“A Feathers Not  A Bird”

“Modern Blue”
"Will you still be there when I round the curve?
Will you hold my hand when I lose my nerve?
I went to Barcelona and my mind got changed
So I'm heading back to Memphis on the midnight train

I keep my head down, I keep my eyes on you
It's a big wide world"

***

My old Heroes The Old 97’s got together for another sing along.  The Band has always been a Rhett Miller vehicle but there is something special about the way the boys sing together.  20 years gone from Dallas they know their game and still seem to enjoy it.  I would argue that this is the best pure Old 97’s CD since “Too Far To Care”.  The Cd is is called “Most Messed Up” and the theme, politely is summed up by the song “Let’s Get Drunk and Get It On”.  It is a really good Old 97’s Cd and if you love them, you will really love this return to form.  The themes are somewhat distanced from Christian rock though i would still hold that it is, good for the soul.  Download or stream:

“Longer Than You’ve Been Alive”

“Let’s Get Drunk and Get It On”

“Wasted”

“This is the Ballad”

"I’m not crazy about songs that get self-referential

and most of this stuff should be kept confidential

but who even gives half a fuck anymore

well you should know the truth it’s both a blast and a bore

rock stars were once such mythical creatures

up there with presidents playmates and preachers"

***

Local and personal favorite Sleepy Kitty killed it with their sophomore release.  The band from Cherokee street runs a art printing shop that puts out some great stuff and the two of them,  Evan Sult and Paige Brubeck moved to the Lou from Chicago 4 or so years ago and are a brilliant example of a national artist who decided that we have a lot live ability and “scene” here and they are helping to make it so.  Evan Sult was formerly with indie rock demigods Harvey Danger who had a nice hit when radio was still something called “Flagpole Sitta”.  Anyway, their debut CD was awesome, this is more of the same.

“Dont You Start”

Hold Yr. Ground”

“Batman The Ride”

This is loud music for my taste which makes it even better.  Her voice aches and his drumming…”spot on”.

“To whoever stole the Dodge Caravan,

In December 2010

I hope you graduated High School

And your not doing 12th grade again.

What do you do

when your born in 63118?

Where do you run to,

when you get out of the starting gate?”

Ultimate questions memorializing one of what has become the epidemic of touring band van thefts in out beautiful little city.

***

OK, the Last CD is probably not going to be for most of you but… Su Kil Moon (Mark Kozelek) is likely an acquired taste for moth but if you love atonal, brilliant (heart wrenching) songs about life and...life, the CD “Benji” cannot be beat.  He played for years to critical acclaim with The Red House Painters but his solo stuff with Sun Kil Moon is just stripped down and painful.  The songs are like Springsteen Nebraska without… Springsteen.  Download or stream:

“Richard Ramierez Died Today”

“Pray For Newtown”

“Carissa”

“Richard Ramirez died today of natural causes

These things mark time and they cause pause

Think about we were kids scared of taps on the window

What’s under the bed and what’s under the pillow

And the jim jones massacre got in our heads

And the TV headlines elvis presley's dead

And the ayatollah who too many? committed(?) hostages

and ronald regan died of ---”

As Omar from “The Wire” would say…”Indeed.”

***

Laundry List of other artists and songs who did great stuff in 2014:

1. Kurt Vile:  He just rocks and rocks hard in a Lou Reed patois that I love.  His CD KV Crimes is good all the way through but download or stream “Walkin On A Pretty Daze”.

2. Lydia Loveless:  Sweet heart wrenching, rocking country.  Tanya Tucker on steroids and not over produced.  Download or stream “Hurt So Bad”.

3. Curtis mc Murtry:  Son of the brilliant and (by me) lionized James Mc Murtry debuted with a really solid freshman effort that continues to prove that good genes count for a lot.  the kid is a thoroughbred songwriter.  Dowload or stream “Ghost In My Bed”.

4. My fave Mike Doughty (Soul Coughing) came out with “Live at Kens House”.  Download or stream “St. Louise is Listening.”

5. Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) came out with a great CD showing he is still cat fucking Stevens.  Download or stream “You Are My Sunshine”.

There is more but folks… you gotta put in the work.  Let’s see what 2015 brings but follow my advice and buy the upgraded Spotify and cur commercials out of your life and stream whatever you want, whenever you want.  I will be posting a best of 2014 play list for streaming to all comers.