Hawleyblog

Two Great Albums by Singer-Songwriters With a Christmasy Song on Them

If it were possible, I'd have worn a digital groove in my iPhone listening to the great new albums by Matt Alber and David Mead over and over again.

I really enjoyed Alber's first album, Hide Nothing, and his second album, Constant Crows, is a very successful follow-up. It starts off with the fantastic "Velvet Goldmine," whose second verse mentions Christmasy things like letting it snow, tinsel, and angels getting wings. And he sings Who-ish syllables toward the end of the song, after the listener has been swallowed up in gorgeous strings and horns.

Another favorite song from the album is "Brother Moon," a fun and sweet number Matt performs with his brother, Bryce. I had assumed that was who his singing partner was and confirmed it by asking Matt on Facebook. Look at me doing original reporting for this review. :-)

The river in question from the title of the second song on the album isn't named until the last three syllables. Read all about it here, if you're a geography buff. It's the longest river in North America but only the 13th largest in terms of discharge of water because it drains from rather dry parts of the U.S. and Canada.

Other highlights are the beautifully produced "Wallingford" and a fantastic cover of Madonna's "Take a Bow" that ends the album.

A couple of quibbles: I would have welcomed some more uptempo songs—after "Brother Moon," the rest of the album is decidedly slow—and some more songs period. There are only 10.

But I'm happy to have this new material from Matt, and I'll definitely try to catch him when he performs in New York in 2012.

***

Even though most of the songs are bro-centric, there's quite a bit of variety in the subject matter of the lyrics on Mead's Dudes. There's a tune about a guy who comes out of the closet with the help of dude named Bob, whom he meets at a bar called The Golden Knob ("Guy on Guy"). One about hanging out with a couple of old guys* who talk shit while playing bocce ball and drinking beer ("Bocce Ball"). And a saxaphone-rific number about the "King of the Crosswords."

The opener, "I Can't Wait," gets the album off to an invigorating start. And "No One Roxx This Town No More" is as fun as it sounds like it ought to be.

"Tell Me What I Gotta Do," "Don't Forget," and the title song are beautiful, contemplative songs, as is the heartbreaking Christmas tune, which has the very unexpected title "The Smile of Rachael Ray." "TSORR" has gotten some well-deserved publicity thanks to being named NPR's Song of the Day on Wednesday and to Ray's appreciation of the song.

*At first, I pictured these dudes as being a bunch of Jewish alter kockers** because one is named Sol and says "Oi vai." But after listening to the lyrics some more, I realized there are only two guys, and the other one is an Italian named Vito who has agita from eating eggplant parmigiana.

**I love that the mascot for this Yiddish glossary site is a yarmulke-wearing basset named Howard.

Note: Mead has also just released an album of five more Christmas songs called Instant December. I like the three tracks that can be heard here; I'm not sure what the other two are.

Crossposted at Queer New York

A Science-Based Weekend With the 'Phews

When the nephews visited me two weekends before Thanksgiving, one of the highlights was a Saturday visit to the New York Hall of Science museum in Queens. Whenever I mentioned the museum by name, I insisted on saying "THE HALL OF SCIENCE" in a weighty tone while raising my right arm in the air with my right index finger pointing upward. Comedy!

The night before, we had gotten dinner with Tony at our perennial favorite, gluten-free-friendly pizza joint Slice. And the 'phews and I had gotten breakfast Saturday morning at Bonsignour, which is right next to our building and has fantastic whole-wheat muffins. The guys got egg sandwiches.

Mike, Matt, and I took a taxi to the museum because it would have taken a long time to get there by subway: the A-C-E from 14th Street to 42nd Street/Port Authority Bus Terminal and then the 7 to 111th Street, almost to the end of the line.

The first cabby who picked us up said, "I can't go to Queens today." And then he hailed us another cab. The new guy wasn't happy about driving us out there either, but he did. He complained that he would have to drive back to Manhattan with an empty car, and as we got closer to the museum, he complained about the traffic. I gave him a generous tip, and as luck would have it, there was a guy in desperate need of a ride to the airport when we got out of the cab at the museum. That guy's cab driver had gotten lost on the way to the airport, and our driver knew how to get there from the NYHS. And I imagine our cabby was able to get a fare from the airport back to Manhattan. So everyone won.

One of the main reasons we had decided to go to the NYHS is its rocket-themed, nine-hole miniature golf course. It succeeded in being fun and educational too, demonstrating concepts such as escape velocity and gravitational assist. However, I must complain to the U.S. ProMiniGolf Association about the hole shown in the photo at right. The stupid, immovable flag is planted right in the path the ball must take to land in the hole. That's cra cra. *fires off angry e-mail to the USPMGA* Our scores were all in a row: Mike won, with a 26; I got a 27; and Matt came in right behind, with a 28.

We were also interested in catching the Wild Minds: What Animals Really Think exhibit. One part of that exhibit showed videos of children and apes trying to figure out how to get at a peanut that was floating in a shallow column of water. Younger kids got angry and frustrated, but a girl of, I believe, 8 figured out that she could get the peanut to rise to a height where she could reach it if she added water from a handy pitcher. A momma orangutan did the same thing, and a smart but gross chimpanzee achieved the same effect by peeing into the container. Eww. *crinkles nose*

There was a display about a very smart dog. Click on the photo, if the type isn't large enough to see clearly, to read about Chaser, a border collie who learned the names of 1,022 toys:

There was also a showing of the winners of the 2011 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition. Here's a photo of me pretending to pet a freshwater water flea, Daphnia magna, that was magnified 100 times and that won Joan Röhl of the University of Potsdam 10th place:

This demonstration of probability used balls falling down a grid of pegs. It was strangely fascinating to me, even though it was basically just a variation of the Plinko board from The Price Is Right:

We also had fun with a whole bunch of optical illusions, a hall of mirrors, and a large ant farm that housed leaf-cutter ants.

That evening, after taking a car service home, Mike helped me make dinner. Matt had some cold symptoms, so he said he didn't think he should prepare food. We roasted chicken breasts with garlic and tarragon, like I made when Jack and the Heskins came over, and some roasted, spiced butternut squash and roasted, garlicky romanesco and cauliflower, like we had later, though earlier in Hawleyblog time, on Thanksgiving.

M&M have been taking cooking classes and making dinner for Tracey and David pretty much every Sunday. They had just finished a class on Mexican food. They're now taking an Italian cooking class.

For dessert, M&M and I had mini pies that we'd bought at the Abingdon Square Greenmarket: lemon (Matt), sweet potato (Mike), and key lime (me).

We all went to bed pretty much right after dinner, which ended pretty late.

The next day, I made the guys scrambled (chicken) eggs seasoned with winter savory and roasted potatoes sprinkled liberally with Cajun seasoning for breakfast. The potatoes were Ozettes.

We played video games and card games until Tracey arrived with the guys' best friend, Matt. We then all met Tony, who had gone into the office to do some work, for brunch at Bell, Book & Candle.

M&M's buddy Matt is a lot of fun. He wants the phrase "Oh My Lanta!" to catch on. So start using it!

We all enjoyed our food, though Tony said his steak and eggs dish was smaller than he thought it would/should be.

Afterward, we walked down the street to Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks. I had been meaning to go back there after having ventured in once looking for the Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home book, not knowing that Bonnie sells only vintage cookbooks; I thought she sold both old and new. Bonnie and I also had a great time one afternoon this summer talking about dogs and petting on Emme, who was sitting with me in our usual hangout spot, outside Juicy Couture.

Mike got a Cooking With Mickey book. Unfortunately, the first recipe he and Matt tried from it—that night, in fact—was a disappointment. The Italian Potato Soup called for what turned out to be way too much salt. Oh My Lanta!

And now, of course, I've got some more photos from the weekend:

Matt putting on the 4th hole, with Mike standing closer to me

Romanesco and cauliflower awaiting Mike's chopped garlic. I was impressed with his knife skills.

Mike also chopped some bell pepper for the salad. Matt liked my citrus dressing so much that he drank the last of it from his bowl.

Tony outside in the greenhouse for Saturday night's dinner. We had to wear coats because it was kinda chilly but not so bad that our food got cold fast.

My dinner plate

And—wasn't it inevitable?—my breakfast plate

And—the last of the food shots—my brunch: French Toast With Caramelized Banana, Toasted Almonds, and Whipped Butter with a beautifully plated turkey sausage patty on the side

And, finally, MM&M at BB&C. Mike looks a little surly in this photo, but I ran with it because buddy Matt had his eyes closed in the other one I took of the three of them.