Saturday, November 25, 2017

Ryan's Hope

Monday, November 20, 2017
Almost every New Yorker is amazed at how expensive her neighborhood has become, whether resulting from new construction or upgrades to existing properties.  I was surprised though by a survey of where the hot neighborhoods are at present.

The good news is that widely scattered areas of the Holy Land are proving attractive; the bad news is that there are probably few bargains left.
. . . 

I found another real estate story to be particularly interesting, but I can't explain what it all means. 

First, the idea that New York State and Mississippi share the same data point in any regard is startling.  Second, my romantic view of the past had Bubbe or Zayde (the Survivor) on the same premises as Momma and Poppa and Tataleh and Bubbeleh (Jewish Dick and Jane), in contrast to the anomic existence of modern life.  Instead, the movement in recent times has been toward multigenerational households.  "In 1980, 12 percent of the country’s population lived in such households. By 2014, that number had grown to a record 60.6 million, or 19 percent."  

Wednesday, November 22, 2107
America's Loveliest Nephrologist and the Oakland Heartthrob (OH) arrived late last night or maybe early this morning (we were sound asleep) for a Thanksgiving visit, to the delight of both of us.  To begin the celebration, OH and I went to lunch at La Salle Dumpling Room, 25 West End Avenue, notable not only for its convenience, but the quality of its food.  

We shared most of the items that I have been eating on earlier visits, cold sesame noodles ($7.95), 6 pan fried pork dumplings ($8.50), 6 steamed chicken dumplings in spicy sauce ($8.50), and scallion pancake ($7.95).  Everything was good, the scallion pancake exceptionally so, somewhat balancing its high price.  La Salle has a small menu, but what it does, it does quite well.

Thursday, November 23, 2017
Lambert, Hendricks & Ross released their first recording in 1958, "Sing A Song of Basie."  I was blown away when I heard it, probably on Symphony Sid's afternoon show on WEVD, 1130 AM on your dial.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_Sid   Backed by a simple rhythm section and using multi-track recording, they recreated some of Count Basie's best numbers using their voices instead of the instruments of the band.  

The obituary today of Jon Hendricks, the brilliant lyricist who found the words to fit the music, brought back memories of that early excitement, which continued into other recordings of Basie's music, as well as Duke Ellington's and others.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/22/obituaries/jon-hendricks-96-who-brought-a-new-dimension-to-jazz-singing-dies.html

Hendricks's passing reminds me of another loss.  His work, along with that of hundreds of other musicians, is contained on long playing record albums, stuck in the bottom of our hall closet.  They sit there unused, because I discarded my last turntable some years ago, whether as a result of a move or a paint job or mechanical failure, I can't even remember.  For years, the acquisition of compact discs became the focus of my music collecting and enjoyment.  Sometimes, I bought CDs that duplicated LPs that I owned.  But, not everything in one medium was available in the other and, at other times, I felt that one version was enough.

I never bought Lambert, Hendricks & Ross on compact discs.  Harry Poloner made the helpful suggestion that contemporary music streaming services might fill the gap, but he acknowledged that they usually substitute convenience for sound quality, so, with Symphony Sid gone even longer than my turntable, I'll try to keep their music alive in my head.   

Friday, November 24, 2017
Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul D. Ryan, said in a recent speech that “fixing the business side of our tax code is really all about helping families and workers.”  He also claimed that filling a trench is all about helping the shovels.

No doubt Ryan's concern for the have-less is based on his concern that the gap with the have-more is reaching an unconscionable level.  https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/17/upshot/income-inequality-united-states.html

Do you think the fact that the pattern of our income growth since 1980 most resembles Russia's haunts this son of the Midwest and impels his desire for tax reform?
. . .

Football Scoreboard 
Columbia University      8-2 
New York Jets               4-6
New York Giants           2-9
With the New York Giants making a faint reappearance Sunday, beating Kansas City 12-9, only to lose to Washington last night, 20-10, and the Ivy League football season over, we are closing down the football scoreboard until next year. 
. . .

Other sports, fortunately, continue to provide us some opportunity to experience the thrill of victory.  Accordingly, OH and I went to the Rangers-Redwings game, after having dinner at Ben's Kosher Delicatessen, 209 West 38th Street.  We both had a pastrami/corned beef combo on rye, of course, and shared an order of French fries, welcoming the Sabbath in appropriate fashion.  We were rewarded with an overtime victory, again demonstrating the power of religion.
. . .

The New York Times reports that "the most extremist voices in the country seem to be moving more into the mainstream," but no, it was only referring to Pakistan.





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