Discovered late last night...
16 November, 2025
Seen in the wild: a spork
A friend and I broke our fasts at Willalby's Cafe yesterday and I had the pleasure of eating with a spork.
I cannot recall the last time I ate with a metal spork.
14 November, 2025
Coming soon, 13 November
Seen before Frankstein at Flix. I greatly appreciate that Flix shows half the number of trailers that AMC and Marcus do. However, I do not appreciate staff walking in front of me to deliver food while I am watching a movie.
13 November, 2025
A perfect pair
After a stop at Player's for dinner, a friend and I went to The Bur Oak to see Justin Adams & Mauro Durante last night. I had never heard of either of them when the invitation was extended to me and, upon investigating, I found myself thoroughly intrigued.
Adams is English and has worked with a variety of people including Robert Plant and Brian Eno on the one hand and African musicians such as Tinariwen and Juldeh Camara on the other. His style was described as a mix of American and desert blues by the articles and press releases I consulted. Durante is Italian and the sites I found noted that he is a master of the pizzica style of violin playing of his native land which, as we learned, was the heel of the boot of Italy. Pizzica is an Italian folk dance from that peninsula.
What an odd yet highly alluring combination.
Adams wielded his electric guitar while Durante alternated amongst violin, frame drum, and tamborello. The performances ranged from what I think of as desert blues a la Tinariwen with American blues inflections to interpretations of traditional Italian folk. Other songs had a rock'n'roll boogie to them. With Durante laying down a beat and Adams picking out a rhythmic melody, the songs would become trance-like and I found myself getting lost inside the grooves.
One of the great things about their performances was how they managed to make a simple, lo-fi setup be so enticing by alternating tempos and some tasteful soloing on guitar and violin. Never did I feel that a larger band was needed for the songs to find their potential. They were raw and the rhythms potent as they seeped into me.
Both Adams and Durante were in good cheer and neither seemed to mind playing for a small crowd. The intimacy factor was high. A fantastic show.
Afterwards my friend and I stopped in for a nightcap at Jan's, formerly Woody Anne's. There was a smattering of people having a relaxing hump day night. Spotted Cow was only $5, a bargain, and the big picture of Lake Mead was aglow with alternating colors.
A Polish bazaar filled with pączki, pierogi, nalewka, and good company
My morning at the Polish Heritage Club's Christmas Bazaar began with a prune pączek to go along with my coffee. They gave me the boost I'd need to spend a few hours cooking and serving food which gave me flashbacks to the days when I cooked for a living.
My fellow kitchen staff and I traded banter for a while but before long it was time to get work and start cooking. I started heating the kraut.
Pots of water were put to the flame for boiling pierogi while hotel pans were laid out for kielbasa. Once things were humming, one of my fellow cooks busted out her homemade nalewka which is basically flavored grain spirits. I'd only encountered the fruit variety previously but can now boast to have had a spiced one.
We were presented a couple varieties of currant.
The nalewka I've had in the past was fairly sweet and such was the case here. I preferred the black currant as it had a more sprightly, berry-like taste. No doubt aging will alter the flavor. The drink's creator touted the medicinal properties of her creations - vitamins, anti-oxidants, and so on, and thusly I felt as if I was engaging in a healthy ritual as opposed to having a little pick-me-up at 9 A.M.
Things got busy - very busy but we found time for a pierogi tasting.
Both brands were potato and cheese. On the left we have Alexandra's and on the right are Tata's. I found them both to be highly tasty with Tata's having a thinner and lighter dough. I found their filling saltier as well more heavily seasoned. Not too salty nor too heavily seasoned; just done with a slightly heavier hand.
Since we were so busy, I didn't have much time to wander and chat with folks. However, I did take the opportunity to check things out before we started cooking and spied some nice Polish pottery. I could use some plates. However, I resisted temptation.
When we were done serving and had shifted into cleaning mode, another of my fellow kitchen staff busted out her nalewka. This was spiced with cinnamon. I liked this stuff as well. A fine way to cap off another Christmas Bazaar.
Catching up with folks, I told the nalewka makers of my divorce and, since both had gone through it, they offered advice and lent their ears. One's husband had gone through a particularly nasty divorce and she shared their experiences of getting through it, challenging his wife's claims, and navigating the legal system. Lots of good advice, though I hope I won't have the same challenges.
Having written this, I am reconsidering my decision to not buy those plates.
12 November, 2025
Coming soon, 6 November 2025
Seen at AMC Fitchburg before a screening of One Battle After Another.
First was a teaser trailer for Nuremburg.
I think a commercial played next and then the trailers started in earnest.
I had no idea 28 Years Later had a sequel, much less one coming out less than a year after its release.
Also seen were commercials for Cadillac and Rolex. I guess they were expecting an audience of aristocrats.
They did The Musical Box mash
It was only appropriate that The Musical Box had a show on Halloween. No mere Genesis cover band, singer Denis Gagné puts on the makeup and dons the costumes of Peter Gabriel during his time in the group. Actually every member of The Musical Box dresses up like their analogue in the band they so admire.
The show on All Hallows' Eve down at the Arcada in St. Charles, Illinois was billed as a Genesis Live show, i.e. - a show from the Foxtrot tour in early 1973. While I was looking forward to the whole concert, I was extra excited to hear the songs from Nursery Cryme that weren't "The Musical Box".
Having said this, I think that the version of "The Musical Box" they played last night was the best I've heard them do. It was superb. They played with a burning intensity that hit me like a gut punch, especially during the speedy instrumental sections which were positively exhilarating. Despite no old man mask, the final section was as uncanny bordering on frightful as ever.
"Fountain of Salmacis" was great with its intricate, bouncy bass lines. "Return of the Giant Hogweed" was nearly as intense as "The Musical Box" and the ending sent shivers down my spine.
At some point, we got the "unaccompanied bass pedal solo" comment. I cannot recall if it was made just before "The Musical Box" or not.
"Supper's Ready" was awesome as usual. Strobe lights are simple but oh so effective. They never fail to instill a feeling of the strange and uncanny in me. The black lights were also simple but quite effective in creating a mood, a vibe.
Somewhere around the encores, Gagné said that Halloween was the only day of the year that he didn't feel silly wearing costumes. We then had a costume contest. One fellow looked great in the flower mask but the award for best costume went to a woman in the balcony wearing a red dress and a killer fox mask.
As for those encores, we were treated to three and all were unexpected delights. First came "Twilight Alehouse", a song from the band's early days that was played on the early dates of the Foxtrot tour. (Would we hear "Happy the Man"?) "Can-Utility and the Coastliners" was next and the ending jam was fantastic. Finally we got "Seven Stones". (!) What a joy to hear another song from Nursery Cryme. Great harmony vocals.
Gagné also announced that the band's next project would be doing late 70's Genesis songs with perhaps a brief foray into the 80s which I took to mean something from Duke. He made it sound like they'd be doing a variety of songs as opposed to trying to recreate a show from a particular tour. I mean, how could you do anything from Duke when you are out there doing a show from the ...and then there were three... tour? Anything is possible, I suppose.
The music, the costumes onstage and off, and the fact that it was Halloween made for a very special night. There was just something in air, something joyous and convivial, and the show felt like a true celebration.
********
When I got into town, I needed dinner. Rather than the fancy schmancy joints near the theater, I walked over to El Rayo Burritos Guacamole Restaurant, a hole-in-the-wally Mexican joint east of downtown. I've meant to try it out my last several visits but never did, for one reason or another.
I got the fajitas with every flavor of meat they offered.
Very tasty stuff! Well seasoned and with a lot of vegetables, including what I think was a grilled serrano. Their salsas were very good as well. I will definitely be making a return visit.
Lastly, I went to the Binny's in Geneva and found this joint across the street that has a fine name.
Yes, I had heaven
Last week I went to see Yes here in Madison at the Orpheum Theater. The band's stop here was part of their album series in which they play all of an album from their back catalogue. This time around it was Fragile's turn.
While many gripe that this isn't really Yes as neither Chris Squire nor Jon Anderson are present, I personally am enjoying this line-up. Jay Schellen has brought a new energy to the drums as Alan White was slowing down in his last days, presumably due to illness. And Billy Sherwood is reverent on the bass but not an imitator, although his sartorial taste is very Squire-esque. These guys have breathed new life into Yes.
The first set was odd. It featured three songs from Tormato and was very mellow in the middle with "Onward", "Madrigal", and "Soon" having been played in succession. I adore Tormato so it was neat to hear the trio from '78 but the mellower tunes slowed things down and the set only recovered on its last song, "Tempus Fugit".
They did play one song from their latest album, Mirror to the Sky, "Circles of Time". I think the title track is a near classic - Downes cedes too much of his role to an orchestra to reach classic status - and I love "Luminosity", but "Circles of Time" is the weak link. Not bad but it never quite gets there for me. Lastly, I'll note that, in a show filled with beautiful moments, "Wonderous Stories" was a few minutes of sheer bliss.
After the intermission the band came out and did Fragile in its entirety. I shall repeat what I said above: I am not enamored of these shows where a band plays an entire album from their glory days. Yes has so much great material that it's a shame that they limit themselves in this way rather than plunder a lengthy back catalogue and, in this case, give short shrift to some worthy new material. Still, it was fun. "Roundabout" got people moving including a couple women who abandoned their seats for the aisle and proceeded to cut a rug. "We Have Heaven" was just gorgeous and Schellen added some work on the toms to give the song a little muscle as it weaved its way to a conclusion. "South Side of the Sky" just rocked.
Finally, despite Steve Howe being seventy whatever, the man was an endless well of energy and joy. His playing was marvelous and he doesn't seem to have slowed down much. He went from electric guitar to pedal steel effortlessly and he propelled many a song onwards. (Ahem.) Long may he continue.
Not finally, I also want to say Geoff Downes continues to impress. Sometimes he's more of a utility player but, when he steps up front, it's glorious. Jon Davison has gotten better. He seems less restrained in his delivery these days, more confident. There's a lot of Jon Anderson to him but he has carved out his own niche in Yes and the band is better for it.
I hope they come around again and, seriously guys, play "Mirror to the Sky". Just as good an opener as "Siberian Khatru".
Lockean anthimeria
I have started listening to Charles Anderson's ILS 206 lectures from, oh, the late-80s. ILS is Integrated Liberal Studies and the course is called "Western Culture: Political, Economic, and Social Thought". I took one of Anderson's classes back in 1995 or thereabouts - PoliSci 45something - and it was fascinating. That course picked up where ILS 206 leaves off, although there was a little overlap, and examines modern iterations of Liberalism. Liberalism as in prioritizing freedom and giving government a minimal role.
I listened to ILS 205 earlier this year and read the required readings listed in the syllabus. Reading Plato's Republic was fascinating, even if not particularly fun. I got to read the bit which, I presume, influenced Wells' The Invisible Man about how, if a man were invisible, he'd act with impunity like a god. Plus the Cave Allegory, the biggie. Aristotle (and Aquinas too) was confusing, though I found the concept of the polis interesting. The whole "man is a political animal" idea was explained which I found fascinating. It is natural for people to form communities for the common good. Furthermore, it is by being a member of such a community that a person becomes good and cultivates virtue. (Or was this Socrates?) Regardless of any confusion, it was a most interesting few months of reading and listening about the origins of Western thought and its early incarnations.
ILS 205 ended with the Scientific Revolution and 206 picks up on it namely in the form of social contract theory. I read some selections from Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes and just finished John Locke's Second Treatise of Government. The Declaration of Independence reads a lot like its early parts and later Locke inveighs against taxation without representation.
Aside from the familiarity of some of his propositions, I have to say that he doesn't justify the use of the State of Nature well nor the idea of the social contract. That people come together and enter into a social contract in order to establish a government essentially comes down to "Well, Rome and Venice were founded by free, equal men coming together and a bunch of folks in the Americas practice something like that too."
He quotes Josephus Acosta, whom I just looked up, a Spanish missionary:
"'There are great and apparent conjectures,' says he, 'that these men [speaking of those of Peru] for a long time had neither kings nor commonwealths, but lived in troops, as they do this day in Florida - the Cheriquanas, those of Brazil, and many other nations, which have no certain kings, but, as occasion is offered in peace or war, they choose their captains as they please'".
I'm not sure the governments of Rome and Venice were constituted by a group of men who were completely free and on equal footing. (Something about 2 brothers suckling at the teat of a wolf comes to mind.) And these American "troops". Are their situations really analogous to anything in Europe? OK, sure. Small towns in Switzerland, perhaps, but we haven't gotten to Rousseau yet. How much can the lessons of tribes in the Americas be applied to the cities of the Enlightenment? Color me skeptical.
Towards the end in a section on the dissolution of government, Locke, who credits legislatures with having the most power, comments on situations in which it is legitimate to disobey a king. He quotes William Barclay, who had a hard-on for monarchies, at length. In Latin. Locke then presents the quotation in English.
Notice his use of the converse of a gerund, a noun turned into a verb, whatever that's called. So, for all the old duffers who recoil at Facebook users asking to be "friended" or liberals decrying a conservative who was "platformed", know that it's an established practice and even a man of letters such as John Locke did it.
Rousseau is next and I presume I'll hear all about deliberation and social contracts in the cantons of Switzerland.
Woodman's continues to be Ideal
Woodman's continues to stock Ideal Bakery's delicious breads and sweet treats. I am pleased that they rotate the varieties of sweets and found pound cakes on offer last weekend. I got the German one.
It is very tasty, as expected, and I really enjoy the dried fruits. A prelude to stollen season.
Domesticity
My new apartment inches towards feeling like a fully armed and operational domus. When that chill descended upon us a few days ago, I made apple beer cheese soup. Of course I made a mess on the kitchen floor which received its first vacuuming just a couple days previously.
I used rye flour for thickening and Phase Three's Rye Lager because rye rulez. (Speaking of rye, I made another loaf of rye bread and used more of the precious and less wheat. It turned out well. My next goal is to find out how to make the bread lighter, to have a more spongy texture.)
I bought a TV since my DVDs were on their shelves impatiently waiting to be played. Many thanks to my friend who donated the stand.
Mind you, I haven't actually watched any yet. However, I did put on a CD after everything was hooked up. I hope my neighbors downstairs didn't mind a little Hound Dog Taylor played at a moderate volume. It sounded alright to me.
Perhaps I will resurrect the tradition from 20+ years ago of watching Zatoichi on Saturday mornings. Regardless, I need to start patronizing Four Star once again.
For her part, Piper is being Piper, cuddling on my lap as I relax on my new couch.
My bed frame arrived and I assembled it last night. Along with a night stand that I found at a thrift store the room is coming together. Slowly. At some point I shall bring the stand over to a friend's garage where I will lovingly sand it before applying a new shade of paint.
I was given a fleece blanket so I am washing my bedding before giving it a trial run. Piper will no doubt approve. Oh, I finally got my grandmother's pitcher and wash basin out and on display once more.
It snowed! Well, flurried. We didn't get much schnee but it made things look pretty for a while.
This Santa is a bit menacing, as if he was taking part in a holiday cage match. "Let me tell ya something brother! The North Pole madness is coming for ya!"
Walk, 12 November 2025
Not much daylight for my pre-work walk this morning. Orion was in the sky but he was all fuzzy as I didn't wear my glasses. I traipsed down the bike path to Commerical and took it to the dead end to the east and found a path through the shrubbery to East Washington. It's fun getting to know the new neighborhood. I also found a small but lovely little pine stand at the end of Oak Strasse.
07 November, 2025
Fud
One of things I've done a lot the past few weeks is eat out. Well, maybe not a lot but a lot for me.
Last month I made my first stop at the standalone Athens Grill in Waunakee and I got their deluxe gyros or whatever they call it. The Grecian-American delight had the added bonus of diced cucumber and feta cheese. Well worth the extra couple bucks.
As a new resident of Eken Park it was only a matter of time before I'd make my first foray to Ogden's North Street Diner. As I write I can now boast that I've been there twice.
It's been the go-to spot for my friend who lives nearby and me for a quick lunch during the week when we're working from home. I've done the sesame chicken salad both times.
And on my most recent venture, the vegetable chili.
The salad is fine but it wouldn't hurt to have more vegetables beyond lettuce. A little cucumber, a smidge of cabbage would do me just right. The chili was a veritable cornucopia of vegetables but was rather bland. It seemed all but bereft of any kind chili seasoning, oddly enough.
Last week I made my first appearance at Bierock. The restaurant's namesake is an Eastern European pasty.
The evening sun cast an orange-tinted yellow glow about the room.
I ordered an Oktoberfest from Hop Haus in Middleton. This turned out to be a big mistake as it tasted not good. Maybe this stuff had been sitting around since July and had started going bad; or perhaps they just don't know how to make a beer where malt is the star instead of covering up the grainy goodness with hops.
I ordered a classic bierock which was filled with ground beef, sauerkraut, and onion. Very tasty! The dough was less flaky than the pasties I've had and, while the filling was basic, it satisfied. The mustard vinaigrette that came with it was also very good.
A couple weeks or so ago I accompanied a friend and her friend out on a thrift store shopping excursion. We hit the shops in Sun Prairie and a couple on Madison's east side. This, of course, made us hungry and so we stopped in at the food hall at Global Market.
Despite having shopped at the market several times, I'd never eaten at the food hall mainly because I tend to shop early and so the restaurants have always been closed when I've been there.
Glazed had mochi doghnuts on offer. I believe they're made from rice and tapioca flours.
My friend's friend is Hmong so she stopped in at Hmong Kitchen.
It was nice to see her again as it had been years. Upon hearing that I needed to move out of the marital residence ASAP, she immediately offered a room to Piper and me in her home. Even though I didn't take her up on it, I am so grateful and humbled by her kindness and generosity.
She ordered this:
Not seen is a green papaya salad.
My friend and I put in an order here:
We split this:
Tastilicious!
Tonight as I heated my meatballs, I ate the salad I brought to work but didn't eat as I had forgotten to bring my new bottle of dressing.
Why yes that is a Dovetail Grodziskie. I found some left over from the spring while I was down in Illinois last week. It still tasted wonderful. Light and smoky and smoky.
Better Late Than Never
Well, it finally arrived.
I ordered it from Mystery to Me (thanks!) back in August and here we are nearly 3 months later. I wonder what makes it so hard to get a hold of. After 1 month of waiting I found myself in the UK so I sought it out. However, neither the Waterstones on High Street in Birmingham nor the bookstore at the Birmingham airport had it.
At least I have it now. But it'll have to wait to be read. Right now I am plowing through Locke's Second Treatise of Government and this follows on the heels of selections from Leviathan as I am reading and listening along to a recording of a semester of ILS 206 (Western Culture: Political, Economic, and Social Thought II) as taught by one of my old profs, Charles Anderson, back in, oh, the late 1980s.
After reading bits of Hobbes I've decided I need to start using the word "peradventure" more often. Locke is interesting. A couple parts read just like the Declaration of Independence. Or vice versa. And when he goes on about men owning the fruits of their labors I can understand how Marx was influenced by the man.
I expect to get caught up with the Rivers of London series just in time to find out that Aaronovitch has released a new novella.
Last gasp of fall color?
The autumnal colors are slowly but steadily falling to the ground here. But these trees were holding on as of yesterday.
When your wife thinks you are stupid
I guess receiving mail addressed to me is just too much to bear. Ha! She truly has turned into her mother.
06 November, 2025
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