Genre: TV Series
Grade: A
Notable People: Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder, Created by Jen Statsky and Paul Downs
Title: Hacks
Review: Season 3 exceeded even the first two brilliant seasons. Smart, witty, great writing and dialog, amazingly funny cast of ensemble odd-ball characters-and Smart (Designing Women) and the extraordinary Einbinder have a once in a generation chemistry. A half hour not to be missed.
Genre: Film
Grade: A-
Notable People: Clint Eastwood, Dwight Yoakum, Eduardo Minett, Directed by: Clint
Title: Cry Macho
Review: Wow-……Clint is back in his first real western in over 30 years…. WOW……simultaneously released in theaters and on HBO Max, it is the story of a battered and rundown, former rodeo star with demons abounding in his closet…. who takes on the task of finding and bringing back a young Mexican boy to his slightly sleazy rascal of a father, to whom Clint is in a lifetime of debt. It’s a new kinder and gentler Clint and it suits him as he stumbles along the Mexican desert towns (he is well into his 80s, but still gets in one knockout punch). This is actually a quiet, beautiful film. Minett is superb as the 14 year ol recipient of Clint’s efforts and Yoakum, though a strange fit, pulls it off. I had low expectations so was more than pleasantly surprised with great cinematography, crisp dialog and fine sound track. Well worth the watch. Go ahead…make my day….
Bonjour Mes Amis:
“The quieter you become, the more you can hear” …………………………………………………………………………………………Ram Dass
“Each time dawn appears; the mystery is there in its entirety” ………………………………………………………………Rene Daumal
“Did you ever have to make up your mind, to pick up on one- and leave the other behind…it’s not often, easy, it’s not often kind…. did you ever have to make up your mind” ……………………John Sebastian
Get up in the morning, slaving for bread, sir So that every mouth can be fed…. poor me………. Oh, Oh, Oh…the Israelites…………………………………………………It’s been a slow week returning to the Mountain Groove…………The Autumn Leaves…………. Fall is an unpredictable time in the Greens…. came in a rush in early August out of the blue……stopped in its tracks……start-stop-start……. now inching its way towards glory…. each day a new color …. money time in the mounts……days in the low 70s…. chilled nights in the low 50s
Taken advantage of the slow week to get out and explore multiple times this week….a mid-week trip to Middlebury to see the new Shaman, find lunch at the Café Provence in Brandon, visit The Dispensers, take a walk…..then a Friday outing down to Brattleboro, where the 60’s not only live ….but are thriving (the food Co-Op is the biggest building in town)….put on our masks and snuck over to Big-Red New Hampshire for cheap liquor and dirt roads…stopped along the way at huge Orchard store for lunch, apples, trees AND cider donuts….THAT is the sign of autumn……and then, yesterday, a lazy afternoon trip down to quaint Chester for the annual fall festival…with a fraction of the usual mass influx of Jerseyites, due to The Plaque…… and a Soldier-Tent set up to jab arms for the still recalcitrant……
Speaking of tress, The Queen has stayed on her mission…. buckets of trees abound the property waiting to hit the ground….and we now have a mountain of wood chips ready to join the equally mountainous pile of cardboard on her mission to plant every inch of the property and make our tractor redundant…. which does not even account for multiple home improvement projects taking place here and back in the heartland house simultaneously….no sleep for the Nana…….
TQ had a birthday this week…fifty-something….and though Sister Jane was unable to make the visit, as planned, we had quite the surprise b’day dinner….with a gaggle of her bestie lady friends gathering-seemingly out of the blue- to shock the little woman……Papi managed to secretly slave away in the kitchen all day…resulting in a fine birthday dinner of fish cakes with multiple sauces, harvest salad with my home made Maple Vinaigrette, Eggplant Parm with linguine and da famous sauce (just like fat Clemensa would make it), fresh bread…and a series of decadent desserts made/brought by the co-conspirators…………Returning to my Catskill roots…..I cooked to order, served white cloth style, and ate in the kitchen with the bus boys….even managed a mouth – zipping despite having many opinions in response to the sometimes outrageous conversations spewing forth from the candle lit porch…..birthday soiree?…..CHECK!
Its been an adjustment to be away from our passel of granddaughters again after out two weeks of communing, but had a great portal with Sloane this week and the Cross girls Face-timed Nana on her birthday while taking a break from two weeks at Disney……………
Just got a visit from a big Poodle- something (Big Lucy)-who we have never met, but have agreed to take for five days this week……. friend of a friend, of a friend……mountain horse trading…. should be interesting……tall and dainty girl who will be overrun by our Lucy’s total affection…safe to say we will not see Saffron for the duration………
Our TV watching has picked up with the returns of the intense “Billions” and the magnificent “Sex Education” ……plus a new one with Jeff Daniels, American Rust…have even been firing up the eclectic fireplace at night for couch time………
COVID took its toll this week with an old friend of mines dad getting sick and dying within a week…and our decision to cancel out plans to fly to Madison, WI. next week for my other son, Jesse’s, wedding to his lovely fiancé, Jessica. Really bummed about this but could not feel right about a large indoor wedding with a number of unvaccinated folk……The Prodigal is making the trek from Paradise to fulfill his Best Man obligations……Jesse and Max have been besties since toddler-hood…and the Moons are our second family……so especially difficult is this…but that…is the new world we are living in as long as have so many nitwits abounding…………
Yesterday I was assigned to stop to see The Dumpmaster before closing time to pick up another ream of cardboard he was collecting for TQ……and, while there, drifted in to check out the Belmont Mall (at The Dump) ….…came away with a pair of snowshoes, a spanking new snowsuit and gloves for the arctic…gotta love the Swap Shed………
The POND has remained full to the brim all year long….in an astounding shift of the biosphere….and is dispensing little dancing frogs and toads all over the property…. providing Lucy with endless spaz opportunities……Fall tasks are in the air…and a plan is afoot for three 2-3 day treks over the next month…. money time!
And, that seems like enough for a lovely Fall Sunday……. gotta go see a man about a horse……Stay safe, Smile on your Brother………
Love,
Ferlin’
Ba-Ba-Ba-Boom:
“Do anything, but let it produce JOY” …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Walt Whitman
“Autumn mornings: sunshine and crisp air, birds and calmness, year’s end and day’s beginnings.” …………………………………………………Terri Guillemets
“If you’re walking down the right path, and you’re willing to keep walking, eventually you’ll make progress” ………………………………………Barack Obama
Jess Dooit
I am so tired of this, how about you?
I don’t want to be The Lone Ranger anymore.
I want to see your face.
Can we please hug?
Can we shake hands?
Who likes elbows anyway?
I want to go out to eat with my honey.
I want to go to the gym and sit in the steam room.
I want to have people in my house.
I long to go to a diner and languish over the sports page, over lunch.
Take me to the Movies, please…………….
And some music at a Club.
And some music with My Boys,
Yes, I am sure tired of this…all of it…. all of it….
But I am a grownup, a father, an uncle, a brother and friend, a lover……………….
I am a citizen of this country.
I have social responsibilities…not just rights.
Do The Right Thing,
Stand up, speak out against injustice.
Vote………………
Wash your hands,
Stay at home when you can,
Stay ten feet away…maybe twenty,
Wear the Damned Mask………………………………Jess Dooit………….
A slow catch-up week sandwiched by two splendid events:
Bronx Redux- The Boys of Childhood (and their sweeties) gathered by Zoom…. Boomers out of their element……Sunday gathering……the Masters of the Stoop, the Sultans of Stickball, the Scions of the Street……six of the ten original Sedgwick Stinkies……still laughing after nigh sixty years…still holding the Secrets of Teen Angst……still standing…. maybe strange, maybe ecstatic……but PRICELESS……
Adventure Dinner…………………for The Queen’s birthday………driving up the elegance of Route 100- Vermont’s showcase road….through the mountain passes…through the remnants of Autumn Glory…….a mountaintop barn, circa 1909….the culinary stations of the cross…..twinkling barn lights, smells of organic butter being churned, strangers in Masks, four courses of gastronomical delight, matched cocktails of the heart, the wind howls at the ancient windows overlooking the Maple valleys, musical tones sway softly in the background……how privileged, we are……an adventure only in Vermont…..
Weekly Word Association
Leaves………………………Falling
Heat…………………………Dropping
The Pond…………………. Dwindling
Daylight……………………Fading
Autumn……………………Sliding
Granddaughters……… Sprouting
Stick Season……………. Coming
The Donald……………. Bronzing
Uncle Joe………………. Masking
The Streets………………Exploding
Justice……………………. Hovering
Lunatics…………………. Raging
Cases………………………Spiraling
Love…………………………Hiding
What more is there to possibly say?………………………………Sunday, Sunday………………………………………off to The Islands this week for Leaf Chasing Number Two………………
Smile on your brother…………………………..
Stu
Bonjourno:
“The concept of global Warming was created by and for the Chinese” ……………………………………………………………………………………Donald Trump
“Before I traveled my road, I was my road” ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. Antonio Porchia
“You can’t make this shit up” ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………Papi’s daily mantra
What can I say……not a lot going on in Corona-Land……….
A-Amazon…. life saver or what?
B-Bebe: doe quarantine elbow with photo of Nana and Papi…. watch the short video attached
C- Corona goes nuts as country continues to insist on going back to normal…. The Leader of the Free World tells us this is all a problem of doing “too much testing” (see Papi quote above)
D- Dump master Reunion this week, whispers to Papi, gazing at TQ…” I dreamt about her every night”
E- Ethnic foo sighting…. found a new Indian restaurant in a grocery store in an old bank drive thru at the far end of Rutland…. Whoo-We, ride me high…. called in order –brought it to our car, drove 15 miles’ home like banshees……piece of Heaven……
F- FDR……been watching this extraordinary American leader on Ken Burns series on The National Parks: America’s Best Idea (most likely is) ……the man led us through The Depression and the War of the Worlds with calm, aplomb, grace and character…. makes me weep….
G-first Grocery trip in four months this past week….it was like going to Vegas for the first time…. lights, people, glitz, muzak, masks…. had to drag TQ out of there kicking and screaming after an hour plus…. thought they would shoot us
with our two brimming (wiped down) baskets at the self-express checkout line……where do you store that much food?
H-Haircuts not had since the start of the year…. starting to resemble late 70s Orlando of Italy look…. The Queen has had enough of hair bunchies and getting an outside masked- haircut this week from our personal Cockney stylist
I-Idiot- fill in the blank______________
J- Jenn: up at six today to work on the gardens…. now putting the kayak racks on the Subaru….to stay on until The Pandemic gone…. relentless……
K- KFC….is it socially acceptable to make under cover of night trip to get this in Vermont?……………..feeling the Jones….
L- Leaking is our life (not bodily….at least not as of today) …. finally got all our house leaks fixed and immediately sprung new ones in basement from heavy rains and poor grading…. earth moving is in our immediate future….
M-Music-less without my Band buds……reverted to working on songs I started to write in 1973 (like Neil Young- see below)
N-Neil…. WOW…. releases “Homegrown” album from 1975-apparently it as to personal then, but who gives shit now……Papi resurrects his turntable to listen to it (birthday gift from Max) the old fashioned way
O- Our house is a very, very, very fine hose……but no one will buy it…. wasting away again in Bunty-ville…. open house #3 today……
P- Our (House) Plants continue to be boarding at their winter residence…. can’t bring them home until we figure out how to put a mask on them…
Q- the Queen has once again taken up her rightful throne as the Imperial Mother of the Mount Holly Community Association
R- Roads of dirt…. had three long walks this week through mountain tundra on offbeat- out of the way mountain pathways…. Lucy made friends……all the joys of trails sans ticks and Lyme…
S- Swings: went from 94 one day this week- to 42 the next night…. heat wave…cold front…heat wave…cold front…
T- the Trout King made an unheard of personal visit/delivery to The Pond to bring us the gold standard, three-hundred-dollar bucket of Pond Bacteria
U- UNBELIEVABLE……. see Papi quote at top……Moron-in –Chief holds rally in Phoenix with 3000 young people in a church, and suggests they don’t need to wear no stinkin’ masks
V- Vacations……are they just gone now?
W- Walmart…. put on our masks, gloves and goggles and ran in and out of the local old style Mart to pick up online order…. could see the cooties in the air……parking lot observation: men in large pick up trucks do not wear masks…
X- Xcellent……the view from the front door of The Inn of the waxing and waning moon over the mountain pines…
Y- YIKES……45 thousand new cases a day…and Europe is banning us from coming…even without a wall
Z- Zenni Optical…have you tried it…. on line glasses for around $30…. working on potential concept of never going into a store again…
Got to go trim my eyebrows now……Love you all….from a distance…..Papi
Sunday greetings in bleak times:
“Wheel’s on fire
Rollin down the road
Let’s notify my next of kin
This wheel shall explode” ………………………………………………………………………………………………………. Bob Dylan and
Richard Manual
“In the course of my life I have often had to eat my words, and I must confess that I have always found it a wholesome diet.”………………………………………Winston Churchill
“His rise to power was mostly based on his excellent oration and manipulation skills.
He understood very well the politics of his time and based his propaganda on hatred towards other countries, blaming them for any instability of his own country” ……………………Description of Adolph Hitler
I was born and raised in the mean streets-shtetl of The Bronx
With many people of many places and many colors
My schools were the halls of diversity
Amongst the first” bussing” schools in our nation
I had the fortune of experiencing a giant shift in culture when I left at a tender age
To find a new life in the heartland, far from the skyscrapers and teeming streets of the metropolis
I have made many, many mistakes
And I can’t change them, I acknowledge them, I live with them
I have traveled the world over
Yet here, amongst the amber waves of grain, is where I love- and live
Living in to beautiful places
A blessing-and a curse
I have three children, who I love and admire beyond words
I have three granddaughters, who are teaching me a new meaning for love
I have three houses and three cars…which are a burden
I have a partner who is both the challenge and the love of my life
I have suffered great loss…and strive to be better for (or despite) it
With occasional success
I have brothers and sisters who I make music with
That sustains me and keeps me alive
I have the privilege to do work (still)
That gives me a platform to speak out for children and families
I have lifelong friends from childhood, from college, from travels
That I continue to draw strength from
Sometimes life is a real ball buster
But I would not trade it for anything
To live here, to live now
In the country of my dreams.
What MY America can be:
What MY America Cannot be:
C’mon people now, smile on your brother, everybody get together, try and love one another RIGHT NOW……………………
Stu
Delaware, Ohio- May 31, 2020
Mes amigos:
“Normality is a paved road. It’s comfortable to walk, but no flowers grow”…………………………………………………………………………………………Vincent Van Gogh
“You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf”……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..Jack Kornfield
“Slow reading is like boulabaise”……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….John M.
“Hava nagila,
hava nagila, hava–
enough already”…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..Haikus for Jews
Well, this a shift…blogging from the friendly confines of Baltimore-Washington International (known to the commoners as BWI)….en route from the mountains to the Columbus heartland…no, not it’s yet baby time….actually sneaking in under the dark of night to do a couple of days of training and then sneaking back to the mountains…
This is basically my third work trip in ten days- enduring the heat in both St. Lou and Baltimore (it’s called Charm city for a reason….have you watched The Wire?)….so much for my fabled semi- retirement…
But what a drive…down Route 7 through the splendid Greens on one of those God-like early Fall days that only happens at elevation…mid 70s, big, big, blue skies, puffy clouds and just the hint of foliage busting out all around…we seem to have stalled on the foliage front, and looks like it’s going to a pretty late peak this year…and… love the little airport at Albany when I can manage to find flights out of there…$9/day for valet garage parking may be the deal of the century….AND….did you know that Albany airport was the first municipal airport in the country???
Yesterday was another perfect day for the Mountain Queens’ BIG 55 birthday…in typical mountain fashion, we started the day with mower repair and then a trip to The Dump, where Dumpmaster Kevin proceeded to give Jenn several surreptitious birthday squeezes. He then instructed me (while she was perusing the massive metal junk pile -see the website cover page) on what I should do to get Jen “in the mood tonight for some birthday fireworks”…The Dumpmaster is truly our sage in the woods…. and on top of that he gifted us an almost new massive carnival tent that someone had dumped at the dump…
From there we headed out for a birthday lunch, which in the mountains has an interesting twist, taking us to the Tinmouth Snack Bar (more than it seems….but not that much more)…where we dined al fresco in their backyard surrounded by mountain beauty….then on to find the proverbial dirt road for a leisurely midafternoon hike through the silent countryside…you can see it was a darn good walk from the photo of Lucy with her gigantic tongue droopfully hanging from her mouth…..
And also…. at 8 am this morning (on a Sunday no less) our cantankerous mountain plumber showed up with his SHIT-expert (Bill and Phil…nice ring, no?)….and have collectively determined our septic system reparable without cashing in our 401Ks…so we’re keeping our fingers crossed that this week may be the end of six weeks of water rationing….and the end of showering/laundering at whoever’s house will have us…carting dishwater out to the yard and the infamous once only a day flush (which sometimes provides some unique surprises). I think our months long septic trauma is best captured by the photo at the end of this diatribe (parents-do not let your kids see this)…which more or less captures the whole shebang (if you don’t read The Blog on e-mail version, you’ll have to go through the photo gallery to find it, as I did not think having it on the cover of my web posting was quite in bounds (Bet that has your attention) ….but to e-mail friends….let’s hope so)…
With being gone most of the past week, you would think I would not have anything to say…shame on you…but I am limited…..so maybe briefer than usual…maybe not….
Friday brought the return of our Boston Shanty (but…NOT Southies) friends John and Lydia, who invited us up the hill for dinner and drinks (a euphemism for getting bombed)…we should know by now that these events require sleeping the entire day in preparation and then having nothing to do until midafternoon the next day…but we do not learn well on this…and the usual debauchery presented itself….with the notable addition of meeting our new best friends, Hench and Heather……it is kind of hard to describe what these evenings are like (Phil might be able to chime in here after having the experience this summer)…but it is somewhere between a carnival, a 60s “happening”, performance art and watching/being gladiators…..maybe best captured by some of the quotes of the night…….”I drop acid and I want to kill my husband”…”You’re a big fake on the intoxicant front”…”I really just want to be making pickles”…though, maybe, you have to be there and keeping up to appreciate these…
And finally, I am thrilled to get around to providing the elusive link to the Bunty Station Vermont 2018 studio sessions, that we did last month…if you are so inclined to listen…enjoy….and let us know what you think… https://vimeo.com/album/5415238
And that is about it…Jenn is now a legal senior…I am casting my shadow around various airports…Tess is 25 days out but on day to day watch….and autumn soon abounds….what’s not to like?
Papi
Genre: Album
Grade B+
Notable People: Aaron Neville
Title: Apache
Review: Still one of the great tenor/falsetto voices in all of music, Aaron provides an album of familiar kinds of music. Some N’Awlins funk, some Neville Brothers like R&B and some very sweet ballads, which is his forte. Nothing really new here. Good arrangements, good musicians, GREAT voice. Would still rather hear him with brothers.
