Four Seasons in One Day
Boys in the Trees, Gold Baby Biscuits, Passion Fruit Boys, Bruce Sutter, Skeletal Swinger
Welcome to my weekly newsletter. I hope you enjoy the picks and pics.
Fave Five 3: A musical memoir (Boys in the Trees), a restaurant pop-up (Gold Baby Biscuits), a debut album (Passion Fruit Boys), the passing of a great relief pitcher (Bruce Sutter), and a Skeletal Swinger.
Four Seasons in One Day is a 1992 song by Crowded House, referring to both the changeable weather in Australia and the range of moods that Neil and Tim Finn were experiencing. This Thursday, there will be games that count in all four of the major sports leagues in North America. The NBA regular season will be underway, the NHL regular season will continue, the NFL regular season will offer the next mediocre Thursday Night Football game, and the MLB postseason will have Game 2 of the American League Championship Series. Thus, we will be able to watch games from four seasons in one day.
Book Best Bet
Boys in the Trees: A Memoir by Carly Simon
My sister Joan recommended this book to me. She listened to the audio version, narrated by the author. I bought the printed version and enjoyed reading it. It was interesting to learn that Carly had relationships with many prominent men, including Cat Stevens and Warren Beatty. She also deals frankly with her psychological demons.
The book focuses on her youth, the start of her musical career, and her relationship with James Taylor. There are insights into some of her hit songs, including You’re So Vain. But she does not identify all of the subjects of that famous song. And I would have liked to have learned more about her life after James, how she raised their children, and details of her later career.
From Amazon: Simon's memoir reveals her remarkable life, beginning with her storied childhood as the third daughter of Richard L. Simon, the co-founder of publishing giant Simon & Schuster, her musical debut as half of The Simon Sisters performing folk songs with her sister Lucy in Greenwich Village, to a meteoric solo career that would result in 13 top 40 hits, including the #1 song You're So Vain. She was the first artist in history to win a Grammy Award, an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award, for her song Let the River Run from the movie Working Girl.
The memoir recalls a childhood enriched by music and culture, but also one shrouded in secrets that would eventually tear her family apart. Simon brilliantly captures moments of creative inspiration, the sparks of songs, and the stories behind writing Anticipation and We Have No Secrets among many others. Romantic entanglements with some of the most famous men of the day fueled her confessional lyrics, as well as the unraveling of her storybook marriage to James Taylor.
Carly Simon Playlist
Carly’s Guest Appearance on thirtysomething (aired January 31, 1989)
Restaurant Recommendation
Gold Baby Biscuits (currently at Raduno, 545 E. Eighth Street, Traverse City, MI 49686)
This outstanding establishment was open for far too short a time in Suttons Bay, Michigan, where we were only able to eat once. Now it operates as a Sundays-only pop-up in Traverse City, currently at Raduno, which we have heard is also an excellent place to dine.
When Barb and I were planning our recent trip up north, we placed an advance pickup order. In addition to the two biscuits shown below, we also enjoyed a turkey bacon cheddar biscuit and an order of banana pudding. All items were delicious.
Sausage, egg, & cheese biscuit sandwich
Sausage patty made with Beeler Farms pork, soft scrambled eggs, and cheese, all on a fluffy biscuit.
Hash browns, egg, & cheese biscuit sandwich
Crispy hash brown patty, soft scrambled eggs, and cheese, all on a fluffy biscuit, served with a side of pickled pepper aioli.
Marvelous Musicians
The Nashville-based duo of Duncan Shea and Conor Belcher just released their first, self-titled, LP. Duncan’s mom, Cheryl (Lilley) Shea, was my classmate at Tenafly High School from 1967-1970. She sat behind me in history class our junior year. We reconnected over Facebook, met up at our 40th reunion in 2011, and have stayed in touch ever since. She is very proud of Duncan and his music, and rightly so. This is a wonderful debut album.
Passion Fruit Boys Work Through It in ‘Easy’
Listen to their eponymous album:
Sports Star
One of the greatest closers of all time died last week. He was the first pitcher elected to the Hall of Fame who had never started a game in his career. He was part of a long-gone era when closers routinely pitched more than one inning. Bruce often entered games in the 7th inning to earn a 3-inning save.
I lived in St. Louis in 1963-64 and 1970-86. It’s a baseball town where almost everyone is a Cardinals fan, and I was no exception. When Bruce pitched for the hated rival Chicago Cubs, he was a Cardinals nemesis. The late Jack Buck used to fret on the air when the Cards were trailing the Cubs. He would say, “If the Cards don’t get some runs before the 7th inning, it will be Sutter time, and that’s all she wrote.”
On December 9, 1980, the Cubs traded Bruce to the Cardinals for Leon Durham, Ken Reitz, and a player to be named later (Ty Waller). This was the second time the Cardinals fleeced the Cubs, the first being when they obtained Lou Brock for Ernie Broglio on June 15, 1964. Both trades led to World Series championships for St. Louis (Lou in 1964 and 1967 and Bruce in 1982). Thanks, Cubbies!
Through the help of our friend, Tim Poor, Barb and I were able to attend Games 1, 2, and 7 of the 1982 World Series. When Bruce closed out the Milwaukee Brewers on October 20, 1982, we went crazy in our center field upper deck seats. We celebrated with Tim at Dressel’s, where the only non-baseball fans in St. Louis seemed to be and who were unaware of what had just happened.
For more about Bruce, see:
Picture Pun
Sat down to briefly take a load off and then lost track of time.
