Kirsty is missed

Merry Christmas and thanks for reading.

Everything but the batteries

Finished most of the Christmas shopping by going to one of the big malls north of Columbus. Got up early, went to the Fox and the Snow cafe to get some sustenance for the shopping ordeal then made the journey up 71 north.

I thought it was going to be a lot like this.



It actually was not unpleasant. We got there early enough to avoid traffic and found a decent parking space. People were in a good mood. The crowd had not grown into a desperate, angry mob so the use of a scythe and taser were not necessary. Had a couple of ideas then and there and found what I was looking for with little trouble. No one was hurt or injured.

Still needed a drink afterwards, and had one.

The biggest hurdle was fighting the traffic out of there, but that's done now. For this year.

The first time

For the last 28 years on his last taping before Christmas, David Letterman has had Darlene Love on as his musical guest and she has performed Christmas (Baby Please Come Home). This was from the first year, 1986.



Letterman is retiring next year and tomorrow night will be the last time Love will perform the song on television, so she claims.

It is a yearly tradition that will be missed. Is Jay Thomas going to throw a meatball on the studio tree?

Best of 2014 - Music

There ware some good tunes on my list this year. I do most of my listening in the car and these records made trips more pleasant. As always, there are plenty of gaps in what I listen to. This list is more or less in ascending order.

20) Jose James - While You Were Sleeping
19) Rosanne Cash - The River and the Thread
18) Bryan Ferry - Avonmore
17) Willie Nelson - Band of Brothers
16) Janiva Magness - Original
15) Happy Tooth & Dug - W.H.Y.G.O.D.W.H.Y.
14) The Cleaners From Venus - Return to Bohemia
13) Sharon Van Etten - Are We There
12) Withered Hand - New Gods
11) B-Movie - The Age of Illusion
10) A/C D/C - Rock or Bust
09) Francois and the Atlas Mountains - Piano Ombre
08) King Creosote - From Scotland with Love
07) St. Vincent - St. Vincent
06) Ex Hex - Rips
05) Beck - Morning Phase
04) Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings - Give the People What They Want
03) Robert Plant - Lullaby and... The Ceaseless River
02) Lydia Loveless - Somewhere Else
01) Nicole Atkins - Slow Phaser

Reaching for the phone, and having to stop

One year ago my Mom died. People have told me it does not get any easier, and they are right. She is on my mind every day as are what my Stepfather and Aunt are going through. And what the other members of my family are going through.



It's hard, you expect that. But you do not know how much.

The fight to save Cafe Edison

For the first half of my life I lived in New York state. I'm not a New Yorker, but from Long Island. No matter what anyone tells you, there's a world of difference between the two. These days, it's a nice place to visit but I would not want to live there.

The city has changed. As rents get too damn high small businesses are folding or forced out and upscale chains continue to be brought in to remove any local flavor the city once had. It's becoming a large shopping mall for tourists and I cannot help but wonder where the locals who are left go to eat.

One such place, 45 seconds from Broadway, is the Cafe Edison. It's been called The Polish Tea Room and has been operating just off the lobby of the Hotel Edison for over thirty years. Click on the link for some very interesting pictures of the inside of the diner and its history.



We ate here a couple of years ago when we visited. Is it the greatest breakfast place in the world? Hell no. Does it have the best atmosphere? It's real New York, a part of Manhattan that is fast disappearing. It is affordable. A place the stagehand and local workers can get a fast and reliable meal at a fair price. A place where a tourist can fuel up on the cheap for a day of sightseeing. And the city is fast running out of joints like this.

The owner of the hotel is trying to evict the current operators of the cafe, and has plans to put in another white table cloth restaurant with a name chef in its place. As if Manhattan does not have enough of them.

There's been a grass roots campaign to petition the owners to stop this, and to give the current operators of the cafe a long term lease on the site. City council members are aware, as is Mayor de Blasio. The story was told on NPR today. People are not giving up.

Because the 80's happened in Italy, too