Another Anniversary - Forty-Four
The Last Days of Night, Anniversary Meals, Beach Boys, Spencer Torkelson, Discarded Desk
Welcome to my weekly newsletter. This issue includes five performances I saw in the last week, historical fiction featuring Edison/Westinghouse/Tesla, lunch and dinner on our anniversary, the legendary band with three Wilson brothers, a Tiger first-baseman who bounced back after hitting rock bottom, and a perpendicular piece of furniture. I hope you like the picks and pics.
The above photo of Barb and me was taken 50 years ago at 419 Polo Drive (my parents' house), just up the street from 427 Polo Drive (Barb's parents' house) in Clayton, Missouri. We're leaning on my green 1975 Ford Pinto and Barb's yellow 1975 Ford Pinto is in the background in front of her parents' house. We called Barb's Pinto the Deathmobile. It had the exploding gas tank and Firestone 500 radial tires, both of which resulted in massive recalls. Mine just had the bad gas tank, but it leaked oil so much that I had to add oil at every fill-up.
Barb and I celebrated our 44th anniversary on Friday. Barb surprised me by driving us to lunch at one of her favorite places, Shake Shack, in Livonia. For dinner, I had reserved a 5 pm table at Coeur in Ferndale because it was five minutes away from the Pleasant Ridge Community Center, where we planned to participate in David Osher’s singalong after dinner. The staff at Coeur signed an anniversary card for us, which was a nice twist.
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Fave Five 140: Another Anniversary - Forty-Four
Electric Eccentrics (The Last Days of Night), Anniversary Meals (Shake Shack, Coeur), Beach Boys, Tigers’ Tork (Spencer Torkelson), and a Discarded Desk.
Fave Five List: Five Performances in Six Days
A year ago I listed five concerts I attended in five days. Over the past I went to four concerts in six days featuring five different performances.
Joe Hertler at Sonic Lunch last Thursday: Joe normally is a headliner fronting the Rainbow Seekers, but this time he opened as a solo performer.
Mike Posner at Sonic Lunch last Thursday: Mike is the son of our friend Barbara Osher’s first cousin, and through the Oshers, I was able to meet Mike after his performance inf front of a huge crowd in Ann Arbor on Thursday.
David Osher’s Singalong at Pleasant Ridge Community Center on Friday: Our friends Ann and George Kruszewski joined us for this regularly recurring event.
DuPont Phillips (Chris DuPont and Kylee Phillips) at Garfield House Concerts on Saturday: The couple put on a fine show for 50 guests in our living room.
Leo Kottke at The Ark on Tuesday: Leo will turn 80 on September 11 this year. He delighted a sold-out crowd with his stories, humor, guitar playing, and singing. He can’t play all of his great fingerpicking tunes any longer, and his voice has lost a bit, but he is still a joy to see and hear. He sang many of his classics, including Julie’s House, Pamela Brown, and Louise. He played beautifully many of his familiar instrumentals. My friend David Esper joined me, and he and I both were grateful to have been there.
Book Best Bet
The Last Days of Night by Graham Moore
This is an excellent historical novel featuring Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse, and Nikola Tesla. It’s entertaining, gripping, and fascinating.
A world of invention and skulduggery, populated by the likes of Edison, Westinghouse, and Tesla. — Erik Larson
A model of superior historical fiction . . . an exciting, sometimes astonishing story. — The Washington Post
A satisfying romp . . . Takes place against a backdrop rich with period detail . . . Works wonderfully as an entertainment . . . As it charges forward, the novel leaves no dot unconnected. — Noah Hawley, The New York Times Book Review
From Graham Moore, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of The Imitation Game and New York Times bestselling author of The Sherlockian, comes a thrilling novel—based on actual events—about the nature of genius, the cost of ambition, and the battle to electrify America.
New York, 1888. Gas lamps still flicker in the city streets, but the miracle of electric light is in its infancy. The person who controls the means to turn night into day will make history—and a vast fortune. A young untested lawyer named Paul Cravath, fresh out of Columbia Law School, takes a case that seems impossible to win. Paul’s client, George Westinghouse, has been sued by Thomas Edison over a billion-dollar question: Who invented the light bulb and holds the right to power the country?
The case affords Paul entry to the heady world of high society—the glittering parties in Gramercy Park mansions, and the more insidious dealings done behind closed doors. The task facing him is beyond daunting. Edison is a wily, dangerous opponent with vast resources at his disposal—private spies, newspapers in his pocket, and the backing of J. P. Morgan himself. Yet this unknown lawyer shares with his famous adversary a compulsion to win at all costs. How will he do it?
In obsessive pursuit of victory, Paul crosses paths with Nikola Tesla, an eccentric, brilliant inventor who may hold the key to defeating Edison, and with Agnes Huntington, a beautiful opera singer who proves to be a flawless performer on stage and off. As Paul takes greater and greater risks, he’ll find that everyone in his path is playing their own game, and no one is quite who they seem.
Graham Moore
From Wikipedia: Graham Moore (born October 18, 1981 in Chicago) is an American filmmaker and author. He is best known his screenplay for the historical film The Imitation Game (2014), which topped the 2011 Black List and won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. His novels:
The Sherlockian (2010)
The Last Days of Night (2016)
The Holdout (2020)
The Wealth of Shadows (2024)
Restaurant Recommendations
Anniversary Meals
Shake Shack 39300 7 Mile, Livonia, MI 48152
The limited-time only shake was the highlight of our lunch.
ShackBurger: A made-to-order quarter pound of 100% Angus beef with American cheese, lettuce, tomato, and ShackSauce on a toasted potato bun.
OREO Cookie Funnel Cake Shake: OREO Cookies and funnel cake crunch hand-spun with vanilla frozen custard, topped with whipped cream and OREO Cookie crumbles.
Coeur 330 W Nine Mile, Ferndale, MI 48220
Barb and I liked the pizza-like garlic bread. She was happy with her ravioli, and I loved my steak. It was a very fine meal, with great service in a pleasant setting.
Garlic Bread: parmesan, parsley, sun-dried tomato basil oil
Coulotte Steak: long beans, jalapeño chimichurri, smash-fried marble potatoes, pickled peppers
Marvelous Musicians
The death of Brian Wilson was announced yesterday. I love all of the Beach Boys' hits, especially their great vocal harmonies. I saw Brian with Al Jardine, Blondie Chaplin, and a large band on Cayamo 2020. The music was great, but Brian's performance was a bit weird. His death is a sad end to the brilliant but bizarre career of a musical genius.
From Wikipedia: The Beach Boys are an American rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Distinguished for their vocal harmonies, adolescent-oriented themes, and musical ingenuity, they are one of the most influential acts of the rock era. They drew on the music of older pop vocal groups, 1950s rock and roll, and black R&B to create their unique sound, and under Brian's direction, often incorporated classical or jazz elements and unconventional recording techniques in innovative ways.
Brian Douglas Wilson (born June 20, 1942 in Inglewood, California; died on or around June 11, 2025) was an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer who co-founded the Beach Boys. Often called a genius for his novel approaches to pop composition, extraordinary musical aptitude, and mastery of recording techniques, he is widely acknowledged as one of the most innovative and significant songwriters of the 20th century. His work is distinguished for its vocal harmonies, complex orchestrations, and introspective or ingenuous themes. Wilson was also known for his formerly high-ranged singing and for his lifelong struggles with mental illness.
Surfin’ Safari
Surfer Girl
Little Deuce Coupe
Fun Fun Fun
I Get Around
My Playlist
Sports Star
Spencer hit his 15th home run of the season on June 6, our anniversary. He hit one more since then, and holds the leads in homers (16) and RBI (47) for American League first basemen. This is a remarkable turnaround for a player who was not expected to even make the squad this season. I admire his ability to return from his struggles of last season to winning back the first base starter’s job on the Tigers. He has been one of the keys to the Tigers success so far this season.
From Wikipedia: Spencer Enochs Torkelson (born August 26, 1999 in Petaluma, California) is an American baseball first baseman for the Detroit Tigers. Torkelson was selected first overall by the Tigers in the 2020 Major League Baseball draft.
Tork bomb on June 6, 2025
Picture Pun
This will be perfect for when I am given the corner office.
Congratulations! 44 years is a good start!