Overheard at Table 1: Homecoming

My daughter just texted me.   She's not going to homecoming.

Why not?

I dunno, really, she was going to go with her friend.  Wait.  Oh.  Looks like her friend decided to go with someone else.

And just ditched her like that?   Some friend.

I know.   That really sucks.  There. I just told her I'd take her out to Terror World instead.   We always used to go to Terror World years before.

That might cheer her up.

Guess not.  She just texted saying she's going to get a giant bag of Cheeto Puffs and watch the last season of Project Runway.

Poor girl.

I know.  Last season sucks.

Overheard at Table 4: Vivaldi's Four Seasons, Alternative Musicians

Just found this incredible CD of Vivaldi's Four Seasons, look who they got on here:

Spring is done by Death Cab for Cutie
Summer is done by Bela Fleck, Edgar Mayer, Yo-Yo Ma, and John O'Connor
Autumn is done by Fleet Foxes
Winter is done by both the Kronos Quartet and the Modern Mandolin Quartet.

This is some good stuff . . . what incredible bands!  What incredible sound!

At the Counter: Picadilly Afternoon Mix CD

Verble says, when my first daughter went away to college, I bought her some albums to take with her.  It was around 1980 - now, when my other kids went to college, I made 'em some mix tapes.   God that was cool.  I loved those times.

I know a young lady who's now going to school in London, reminds me so much like my daughters, so I thought of this mix CD for her.  Basically, they're songs that remind me of London, for no real particular reason why.   But as I imagined this girl wandering the streets of London, seeking out the crevasses and the history and absorbing this great and ancient city, I imagined this as one soundtrack on one afternoon.

Only, I have to admit, since everything's on a playlist now, she might just add these songs to the great ocean of tunes on her iPod! 

Or not . . . because she might think they suck.   That's all right, though.  One person's rock is another person's schlock, I always say!

This one's for you, Huda!



VARIOUS ARTISTS

Picadilly Afternoon

 

The Woodentops – What You Give Out

Dashboard Confessional – Warmth of Your Soul (acoustic version)

Cake – Federal Funding

Hawk Nelson – Hello

The Who – Magic Bus

Chris Tomlin – Glory in the Highest

Idlewild – Make Another World

Paul Williams – Love is All Around (Theme to “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”)

The Clash – The Guns of Brixton

The Sweet – Ballroom Blitz

The Smiths – This Night Has Opened my Eyes

The Pogues – Rainy Night in Soho

Sigur Rós – Njósnavélin (The Spy Machine)

Kate Bush – This Woman’s Work

Death Cab for Cutie – St Peter’s Cathedral

The Pogues – Lullabye of London

Lyle Lovett – I Love Everybody

Overheard at Table 2: Biden and Ryan

T1: I thought Biden won.

T2: Naw, it was definitely Ryan.  Biden won the smirking game.

T1: He was illustrating what bullcrap everything was that Ryan was saying.

T2: Ryan's trying to get the country moving again.

T1: Biden wiped the floor with Ryan.  He said, "come on over here, little sonny, there's a spot on the floor you missed!"  there!   rubrubrubrub!

T2: See?  You're nuts!  Just like your guy, you're nuts!

T1: rubrubrubrubrub!

T2: Don't even see why I bother?  Can't work with you  . . . might as well go on to work without you.


T1: Exactly the way the Republicans think!

Overheard at Table 4: So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright

Heard today that there's a Frank Lloyd Wright house in Phoenix that's gonna get demolished this week.

That's terrible!

Dam'right.  NPR had this guy on there talking about it, he said that the design was based on the same design that he did for the Guggenheim Museum.

The circular thing?

Yeah, this house was just like it.  It's got no stairs, it just goes around and around in a big circle and all the rooms are one th second floor, none of the rooms are on the first floor.   So the first floor is just to enjoy the foundation that the place stands on, apparently, to get a feel for the rock that it stnads on, and he said it ws designed so that as you walk around the house you get a 360 degree panoramic view of all the scenery around the area.

Sounds beautiful.  Why do they want to tear it down?

Developers bought it and they want to demolish it to build three houses.  Apparently it's in a really rich neighborhood in Phoenix, and these guys just figured they could make some more money.

But that's a landmark.

Seems like they don't have it registered as a landmark.   The story goes he built it for his son. Then when they died it went up on auction.  Some lady bought it two years ago, but she couldn't keep it up, so she sold it beginning of this year, and these two contractors bought it for 1.5 million so they could tear it down and build others.

That's totally wrong.

I think they're bastards.   I think these bastards who just want to make money, even if it means tearing out our national heritage.  Should be criminalized.   I mean, Frank Lloyd Wright is one of those masters, one of those artists, who built houses that no one else could ever build.  He could see things that no one else could see.   He was like our Da Vinci, our Picasso, our Dali.

He was an American Icon.

Right!   And now he's gone, and every single one of his houses should be preserved.

So when are they going to demolish it?

I dunno.  The radio said that they were gonna stop for a few days, and when I looked it up just before I got here there was a blurb that read the Frank Lloyd Wright group in Chicago contacted the city of Phoenix to have it stopped, but I don't know.

That's just terrible.  Beautiful things, all art, anything genius, that's just got to be preserved.

  
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Overheard at the Counter: Victoria on Cumberbatch and Laurie

Verble: I met this fascinating woman today, Victoria, had a wonderful spin on the new BBC Sherlock Holmes, we were discussing how, well, I had mentioned how his take on the Holmes character gave it a "Dr House" spin, and she replied with this fascinating observation that Benedict Cumberbatch's Holmes is actually incapable of normal social interactions, because of his inherent brilliance, while House is perfectly capable, only chooses not to, because he has detached himself morally.

Niall Carter: So House can and doesn't and Holmes can't and thus doesn't.

Verble: Right!

John Steppenwolf: Great.  Sounds like they should be matched up in some sort of pseudo-intellectual Celebrity Death Match.

Verble: There's nothing "pseudo" about their intellect, my friend.

Steppenwolf:  You DO realise you're talking about fictional characters, right?

Overheard at Table 1: Feeling Fine

Ray:  OK only five more weeks to go, debate tomorrow night, after that, we got ourselves a new president.

May: How are you so sure he'll be a new president?

Ray: 'Cause even if Barry wins, he'll be transformed, into a second termer.   Second termers are actually very cool, because they're not looking toward the next election any more, they're looking toward their "legacy."

May: What difference does that make?  They're still in it for themselves.

Ray: Yeah, but at least this self-serving road has a long term view.