Saturday, November 19, 2022
I rarely patronize large chain eating establishments. Their homogenized predictability is not what I am usually looking for. Nevertheless, I went into Smashburger, 671 Eighth Avenue, today for two reasons. I had never tried Smashburger before and the building had a certain allure. Just a few steps from 42nd Street, it has a flashing marquee over the front door. Sure enough, 671 Eighth Avenue had an illustrious past as Show World Center. “In its heyday, Show World Center was called the McDonald’s of Sex, the crown jewel of the NYC sex industry.”
Now, it’s hamburgers. I ate a delicious Double BBQ Bacon Cheddar Burger ($11.49). It had two patties covered with Cheddar cheese, bacon, haystack onions and BBQ sauce. I could not have had more pleasure at Show World Center.
Sunday, November 20, 2022
Last week, I speculated that Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis might request that New York Governor Kathy Hochul return the able-bodied Venezuelans that he expelled, because of the massive amount of manual labor needed to rebuild much of Florida devastated by two hurricanes. DeSantis has pivoted and now is negotiating with Qatari officials to import some of the numerous Indians, Pakistanis, Sri Lankans, Nepalese, Sudanese and Filipinos who worked on the massive construction projects needed to support soccer’s World Cup tournament starting today. The cruel and unusual working conditions in Qatar are considered good preparation for Florida. DeSantis was particularly impressed by Qatar’s “kafala” system, in which immigrant laborers are not allowed to return home or even switch jobs without permission of their bosses.
. . .
In conjunction with the story of the mass shooting at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs overnight, the New York Times published an informal list of mass shootings this year.
What strikes me is the age of the typical murderer. Colorado Springs nightclub, 22; University of Virginia football players, 22; Buffalo supermarket, 19; Uvalde public school, 18; Memphis driving around, 19; Greenwood, Indiana, mall, 20; Highland Park, Illinois, Fourth of July parade, 21. In the halcyon days of flower power, you heard the slogan “Don’t trust anyone over 30.” Now, the telescope has apparently been reversed.
Tuesday, November 22, 2022
“In a ‘Sea Change,’ Women of the Philharmonic Now Outnumber the Men” is the headline today.
As recently as 1962 the New York Philharmonic had no women members; the ratio of women to men is now 45 to 44, with 16 vacancies to be filled. This revolution resulted from a simple change in the audition process, blind auditions, the candidate performing behind a screen. Yet, imbalances still seem to arise; 27 of 30 violinists are female while the percussion section is all male.
Strangely or not so strangely, the color barrier remains firmly intact, even as the gender barrier has mostly disappeared. One Black musician is currently a member of the orchestra, two others having preceded him. (I was unable to find details on Hispanic musicians in the Philharmonic.) Is this systemic racism, natural selection or merely self selection?
Certainly the appearance of classical music as a white, European, upper class domain has had to have influenced vocational and avocational choices of young musicians. However, this is somewhat belied by the substantial Asian-American presence in symphony orchestras, although "in other parts of the industry, including opera, composition, conducting, arts administration and the boards of leading cultural institutions, Asians are scarce." https://nyti.ms/3BAq9wu
I am open to suggested definitions of justice.
. . .
I have acknowledged my aversion to most large restaurant chains. Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen is an exception. Their crispy, greasy fried chicken is a great treat. No home cooking has ever approached it. I am not dismissing the excellent chickens that I‘ve enjoyed in your dining rooms, roasted, stewed, barbecued, braised, sautéed, broiled, baked, but you have to go to a commercial joint to get that crispy crunchy texture.
Popeyes at 934 Eighth Avenue must be their smallest store anywhere. It seats eight people at max, although it does a thriving takeout and delivery business. It’s on a block with McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Dave’s Hot Chicken, Deep Indian Kitchen, Luigi’s Gourmet Pizza, Chai Thai Kitchen and Starbucks, in case you are still hungry.
I had the three piece meal, including a biscuit, French fries and a Diet Coke for $13.99 and, I must admit, I could not make all gone. However, I was able to walk five blocks before catching the bus home.
Wednesday, November 23, 2022
The value of higher education:
"In 2021, 47 percent of college graduates bet on sports compared with 22 percent of those with high school degrees, according to a survey by the National Council on Problem Gambling." https://www.nytimes.com/2022/
. . .
The Riese brothers are credited (debited?) with creating the food court, a collection of fast food restaurants under one roof. While the suburban version usually brought together independent businesses, the Riese brothers relied entirely on operations where they held the franchises for the likes of Roy Rogers, Nathan’s Famous, Dunkin’ Donuts, Baskin-Robbins and Pizza Hut.
Urban Space Vanderbilt, 230 Park Avenue, a useless address to locate it, try 45th and Vanderbilt, has modernized the concept and led to several spin-offs and imitators by housing a dozen-and-a-half local vendors tilting ethnic. It was busy today, but not jam-packed as in pre-pandemic days or was this a pre-holiday slump?
I ordered from Mian Kitchen, featuring Chinese small plates, the #2 combo, two bao and three dumplings ($12.85). Bao are spongy discs folded over their contents, deep fried shrimp, red cabbage, red onion, cilantro, black sesame seeds and spicy mayo, in one case, and braised beef shank, carrot, red onion, cilantro, crispy shallots and Szechuan sauce, the other, both very good. The more ordinary dumplings were smallish chicken pot stickers.
Thursday, November 24, 2022
"The only variable that can explain the high rate of mass shootings in America is its astronomical number of guns."
American exceptionalists might be disappointed to learn, however, that we trail Yemen in the rate of mass shootings among countries with more than 10 million people.
Friday, November 25, 2022
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