Day of the Dead
Face-Time, Deadwood Bar & Grill, Grateful Dead, Luis Tiant, Little Lions
Welcome to my weekly newsletter. This week’s issue includes the fourth in a series of five favorite kinds of sandwiches, a novel about a presidential affair, a post-walk dinner, the favorite band of Deadheads, the late pitching great known as El Tiante, and two toddler trick-or-treaters. I hope you like the picks and pics.
On Halloween, our east coast grandchildren trick-or-treated in Silver Spring, Maryland. Sommer was Zipp from My Little Pony and Kieran was Sully from Monsters, Inc.
Not to be outdone by their cousins, our west coast grandchildren trick-or-treated in Santa Barbara, California. Noah was Mickey Mouse and Julian was Aladdin.
On October 20, 2024, a local couple won their respective races in the Detroit Marathon: Ferndale couple crowned Detroit Free Press Marathon Champions
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Fave Five 109: Day of the Dead
Presidential Politics (Face-Time), Rustic Retreat (Deadwood Bar & Grill), Lesh’s Legacy (Grateful Dead), Newly Nominated (Luis Tiant), and Little Lions.
Fave Five List: My Favorite Chicken Sandwiches
Hot Chicken
Crispy Chicken
Grilled Chicken
Chicken Salad
Chicken & Waffle
Honorable Mention: Chicken & Donut
Book Best Bet
Today is election day, so I chose a political novel that I recall liking when I read it in 1998. Washington has changed a bit since then.
From Amazon: What if your girlfriend is sleeping with your boss? And what if your boss is the President of the United States?
These provocative questions are at the heart of Face-Time, a compulsively readable, devastatingly insightful, and darkly humorous morality tale about how celebrity, sex, power, and ultimately love collide in the corridors of the White House.
Face-Time is the story of Ben and Gretchen, two young political activists who meet and fall in love while working on a presidential campaign. When their candidate wins, both are given jobs in the new administration, his as an increasingly prominent speechwriter and hers in the Office of Social Affairs. But then Ben finds out that Gretchen has been sleeping with his boss, the president, and he confronts her. Gretchen swears her love for Ben and vows to do anything to ensure their future happiness together...except end the affair. She has gained the ultimate Washington prize: one-on-one face time with the president. And, perhaps not coincidentally, Ben's stock as a speechwriter has never been higher. But is the professional success worth the personal price?
Far more than an echo of recent headlines, this thoughtful, riveting novel by Washington insider Erik Tarloff is an important work of politically inspired fiction that poses a fascinating and culturally resonant question: In a society that venerates power and celebrity, how far are we willing to go to bring ourselves in proximity to them? With the inside-the-Beltway appeal of Primary Colors coupled with the literary distinction of All the President's Men, Face-Time is a perceptive entertaining examination of the seductive power, both personal and professional, of position and status at the highest altitudes.
Restaurant Recommendation
Deadwood Bar & Grill 18730 Northville Road, Northville, Michigan 48167
As promised in the last issue, here is the meal that we enjoyed following the annual Max Bromley Memorial Walk. There were six adults (and one baby) who shared a variety of appetizers, followed by individual main dishes. My turkey dinner was a special of the day, and I was able to have two additional meals from the leftovers. Our waitress took great care of us, including bringing a complimentary dessert lit with a sparkler in Max’s memory. Max’s wife Sandy said that this rustic retreat would have been his kind of place.
Southwestern Egg Rolls
Potstickers
Braided Hot Pretzels: Two soft pretzels, whole grain mustard, tangy cheese
Classic Maurice Salad: Iceberg lettuce, ham, turkey, Swiss cheese, gherkins, green olives, tomato, hard-boiled egg, traditional house-made dressing
Turkey Dinner: Roast turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, cranberry sauce
Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies: A whole platter! Made from scratch and brought to your table while still warm
From the restaurant: A rustic retreat. Take a walk on the wild side at Deadwood Bar & Grill. Mountain-inspired decor meets hearty, adventurous cuisine inside our cozy, log cabin restaurant.
Marvelous Musicians
Phil Lesh passed away on October 25, 2024. In 1970 I fell in love with Workingman's Dead and American Beauty, which differed from the band's previous albums. My favorite songs are “Uncle John’s Band,” “Box of Rain,” “Friend of the Devil,” and “Ripple.”
Phil Lesh, Bassist Who Anchored the Grateful Dead, Dies at 84 by Jim Farber of The New York Times
Phil Lesh, whose expansive approach to the bass as a charter member of the Grateful Dead made him one of the first performers on that instrument in a rock band to play a lead role rather than a supporting one, died on Friday. He was 84.
In addition to providing explorative bass work, Lesh sang high harmonies for the band and provided the occasional lead vocal. He also co-wrote some of the band’s most noteworthy songs, including ones that inspired adventurous jams, like “St. Stephen” and “Dark Star,” as well as more conventional pieces, like “Cumberland Blues,” “Truckin’” and “Box of Rain.”
Key to the dynamic of the Grateful Dead was the way Lesh used the bass to provide ever-shifting counterpoints to the dancing lines of the lead guitarist Jerry Garcia, the curt riffs of the rhythm guitarist Bob Weir, the bold rhythms of the drummers Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann, and, in the band’s first eight years, the warm organ work of Ron McKernan, known as Pigpen.
From Wikipedia: The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, country, jazz, bluegrass, blues, gospel, and psychedelic rock; for live performances of lengthy instrumental jams; and for its devoted fan base, known as "Deadheads." These various influences were distilled into a diverse and psychedelic whole that made the Grateful Dead "the pioneering Godfathers of the jam band world." The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 and a recording of their May 8, 1977 performance at Cornell University's Barton Hall was added to the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress in 2012 for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". In 2024, Weir, Lesh, Kreutzmann, and Hart were recognized as part of the Kennedy Center Honors.
The Grateful Dead was founded in the San Francisco Bay Area amid the rise of the counterculture of the 1960s. The founding members were Jerry Garcia (lead guitar, vocals), Bob Weir (rhythm guitar, vocals), Ron "Pigpen" McKernan (keyboards, harmonica, vocals), Phil Lesh (bass, vocals), and Bill Kreutzmann (drums). Members of the Grateful Dead had played together in various San Francisco bands, including Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions and the Warlocks. Lesh was the last member to join the Warlocks before they became the Grateful Dead; he replaced Dana Morgan Jr., who had played bass for a few gigs. Drummer Mickey Hart and non-performing lyricist Robert Hunter joined in 1967. With the exception of McKernan, who died in 1973, and Hart, who took time off from 1971 to 1974, the core of the band stayed together for its entire 30-year history.
Other official members of the band included Tom Constanten (keyboards from 1968 to 1970), John Perry Barlow (non-performing lyricist from 1971 to 1995), Keith Godchaux (keyboards and occasional vocals from 1971 to 1979), Donna Godchaux (vocals from 1972 to 1979), Brent Mydland (keyboards and vocals from 1979 to 1990), and Vince Welnick (keyboards and vocals from 1990 to 1995). Bruce Hornsby (accordion, piano, vocals) was a touring member from 1990 to 1992, as well as a guest with the band on occasion before and after the tours.
Uncle John's Band
Box Of Rain
Friend of the Devil
Ripple
My Playlist
Sports Star
Luis passed away on October 8, 2024. I admired both his pitching style and his outsized personality. He was nominated today for the Hall of Fame, which should have admitted him while he was still alive. Here’s hoping that this time, he makes it.
Luis Tiant, Crowd-Pleasing Pitcher Who Baffled Hitters, Dies at 83 by Bruce Weber of The New York Times
El Tiante, as he was known on the sports pages — or Loo-ee! as stadiums full of fans would often chant while he was on the mound — won 229 games over 19 big-league seasons, playing for teams in six cities, notably Cleveland and Boston, where he led the Red Sox to a World Series and became one of the most beloved players in the team’s storied history.
In a career that necessitated a long separation from his family and from Cuba, his homeland, and that was bifurcated by a serious shoulder injury, Tiant won 20 or more games four times and threw 187 complete games (more than Don Sutton, Don Drysdale, Lefty Gomez or Dizzy Dean) and 49 shutouts (more than Roger Clemens, Whitey Ford, Catfish Hunter, Sandy Koufax or Bob Feller).
But beyond his achievements, he was one of the game’s memorable showmen, distinctive in almost every way — from his Fu Manchu mustache, barrel-shaped torso and ever-present mammoth cigar (ever-present, that is, except on the field, including in the locker room shower) to his dizzying repertoire of breaking balls and delivery angles, as well as perhaps the most elastic, twisty-turny windup in history.
‘Like a rollercoaster’: For Luis Tiant’s son, HOF nomination comes at bittersweet time by Steve Buckley of The Athletic
While El Tiante always believed he was worthy of being inducted into Cooperstown, his love of the game was on a separate level from everything else. Which should come as no surprise. From the way Tiant walked and talked to the fluky manner in which he pitched the ball, the man’s very presence was a love letter to the game, so much so that I don’t think there was ever a fan in any big-league city that disliked him. Tiant left the Red Sox after the fateful 1978 season to sign with the Yankees and still got cheered at Fenway Park.
From Wikipedia: Luis Clemente Tiant Vega (born November 23, 1940 in Marianao, Cuba; died October 8, 2024 in Wells, Maine), nicknamed El Tiante, was a Cuban Major League Baseball (MLB) right-handed starting pitcher. He pitched in MLB for 19 years, primarily for the Cleveland Indians and the Boston Red Sox.
Tiant compiled a 229–172 record with 2416 strikeouts, a 3.30 earned run average (ERA), 187 complete games, and 49 shutouts in 3486+1⁄3 innings. He was an All-Star for three seasons and 20-game winner for four seasons. He was the American League (AL) ERA leader in 1968 and 1972. He also was the AL leader in strikeouts per nine innings pitched in 1967 and the AL leader in shutouts in 1966, 1968, and 1974.
Tiant was inducted to the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame in 1997, the Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum Hall of Fame in 2002, the Venezuelan Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in 2009, and the Baseball Reliquary's Shrine of the Eternals in 2012. He was considered for election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame via voting of the Baseball Writers' Association of America from 1988 to 2002, and by the Hall of Fame's era committees in 2011, 2014, and 2017, falling short of the required votes for induction each time.
Remembering Luis Tiant
Picture Pun
Our two favorite Lions (since Barry Sanders retired) are the pride of our family.
