Monday, March 18, 2024

Find!

$3.99 for one of the all time classics of jazz. Unscratched and unblemished. Half Price Books didn't know what they had! This live album by Erroll Garner is considered one of the greatest live recordings in jazz history. An old man who was subbing at Highland Park High School when I was working there in 2004 told me about it and loaned me his CD copy. It blew my mind. I've always kept an eye out for an original vinyl version and twenty years later found it last week.


 

Sunday, March 17, 2024

The Dispossessed


A towering achievement of speculative science fiction. Ruminations on anarchism, capitalism, socialism all told in clear prose of a personal story. Le Guin is a master storyteller and conveyor of ideas. I greatly enjoyed this work. 

Saturday, March 16, 2024

Her Right Foot


One of my favorite authors, Dave Eggers, wrote an all-ages book about the meaning of the Statue of Liberty. They were selling copies of it on Liberty Island when I visited a few days ago. Just read it and it is fantastic.

Something all Americans should read. It is a book about the meaning of America.

Friday, March 15, 2024

The Warwick


While in New York we stayed at the Warwick. It was quiet, clean and in a great location. Kim enjoyed getting coffee across the street at The Blue Bottle every morning. We often ordered breakfast for pick up at a Fresh&Co a block away. There was a subway stop on the corner although we didn’t make use of it due to Ava’s injury. We were just a couple of blocks from Central Park, Carnegie Hall, Rockefeller Center and Times Square. 

The Warwick was built in 1926 by William Randolph Hearst to be a place to stay for his girlfriend who was performing in the Ziegfeld Follies a block away  Cary Grant lived here for 12 years and you can rent out his suite. Elvis stayed here many times and this is where The Beatles were staying when Bob Dylan came to visit them. Many celebrities and historic figures have frequented the place and it is still in top shape. If I return to NYC this is where I would like to stay again.





 

Tuesday, March 05, 2024