Jinx and Jazz
The Other Einstein, Breakfast and Lunch, Herb Alpert, Ichiro Suzuki, Magnificent Michelada
Welcome to my weekly newsletter. This issue includes female folk duos, historical fiction, breakfast in Summerland and lunch in Santa Barbara, a trumpeter who will turn 90 in March, a new Hall of Famer, and a cup that runneth over. I hope you like the picks and pics.
On Saturday I watched the first half of the Detroit-Washington NFL playoff game with Noah and Julian before getting them ready for bed. They didn’t pay any attention to the game itself, but they watched the commercials intently (see above). It’s just as well that I missed the second half, as the Lions suffered a disappointing end to what had been a record-setting season.
Jinx
Last week’s list of successful Michigan teams served as a jinx for some of them. The top-seeded Lions lost to the Jayden Daniels-led Commanders. The Pistons went 1-2, the Red Wings went 1-3, Michigan State Men’s Hockey dropped to #2 in the poll, and Michigan Men’s Basketball lost to Minnesota (previously winless in the Big Ten) on an overtime buzzer-beater. On the plus side, Michigan Women’s Basketball moved back into the Top 25.
Jazz
This week’s marvelous musician is Herb Alpert. He performs on my brother David Garfield’s latest single, “Rainy Day Song.” This is a new version of a song David wrote, arranged, and recorded with the late, great jazz trumpeter Freddie Hubbard in 1977.
2025 Version with Herb Alpert on trumpet and David Garfield on keyboards
1977 Version with Freddie Hubbard on trumpet and David Garfield on keyboards
David will perform at Herb Alpert’s Vibrato Grill Jazz on February 7, 2025. Barb and I will be there, along with our daughters Kathy and Tracy and three of our LA friends.
Thanks to subscriber Jann Cantelon for sharing details about an upcoming jazz show in Plymouth, Michigan and the honor recently bestowed on the headliner:
A night of jazz at the Penn Theatre with Patrick Prouty on March 22, 2025
Detroit announces Patrick Prouty as city's new composer laureate
Interviews
I was interviewed this week by Fahad AlWala, a 14-year-old student in Pakistan. I talked about my time as a computer programmer and how that evolved into my eventual career in knowledge management:
At KMWorld 2024, I was interviewed by Dan Rasmus, and it was just published in KMWorld Magazine:
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Fave Five 120: Jinx and Jazz
Mileva (Mitza) Marić (The Other Einstein), Summerland Breakfast/Santa Barbara Lunch (Summerland Beach Café, Yona Redz), Tijuana Trumpeter (Herb Alpert), Seattle Superstar (Ichiro Suzuki), and a Magnificent Michelada.
Fave Five List: Female Folk Duos
I previously featured favorite male folk duos. This week I offer their female counterparts, excluding sister duos, whom I will include in a future issue.
Indigo Girls
The Story
Silly Sisters
disappear fear
Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer
Secret Sisters
Amy Fradon and Leslie Ritter
The Ditty Bops
Emma’s Revolution
Overcoats
Book Best Bet
The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict
After reading The Paris Wife about Ernest Hemingway’s first wife, I decided to read a similar work of historical fiction about Albert Einstein’s first wife. I also watched the first season of Genius which covered similar ground. The challenges faced by a woman in physics were daunting, and I admired Mitza Marić’s accomplishments.
From Amazon: From beloved New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Marie Benedict comes the story of a not-so-famous scientist who not only loved Albert Einstein, but also shaped the theories that brought him lasting renown.
In the tradition of The Paris Wife and Mrs. Poe, The Other Einstein offers us a window into a brilliant, fascinating woman whose light was lost in Einstein's enormous shadow. This is the story of Einstein's wife, a brilliant physicist in her own right, whose contribution to the special theory of relativity is hotly debated and may have been inspired by her own profound and very personal insight.
Mitza Marić has always been a little different from other girls. Most 20-year-olds are wives by now, not studying physics at an elite Zurich university with only male students trying to outdo her clever calculations. But Mitza is smart enough to know that, for her, math is an easier path than marriage. And then fellow student Albert Einstein takes an interest in her, and the world turns sideways. Theirs becomes a partnership of the mind and of the heart, but there might not be room for more than one genius in a marriage.
Marie Benedict illuminates one pioneering woman in STEM, returning her to the forefront of history's most famous scientists.
Heather Terrell
From Wikipedia: Heather Benedict Terrell (born November 24, 1968) is an American novelist and lawyer who writes some of her novels under the pen name Marie Benedict. Terrell's "mission is to excavate from the past the most important, complex and fascinating women of history and bring them into the light of present-day where we can finally perceive the breadth of their contributions as well as the insights they bring to modern day issues." Later in her career, Terrell began writing about women who were often overshadowed by the men in their lives, including Mileva Marić (The Other Einstein, 2016), Hedy Lamarr (The Only Woman in the Room, 2019), Clementine Churchill (Lady Clementine, 2020), Belle da Costa Greene (The Personal Librarian, 2021), and Rosalind Franklin (Her Hidden Genius, 2022).
Restaurant Recommendations
Breakfast in Summerland and Lunch in Santa Barbara
Summerland Beach Café 2294 Lillie Ave., Summerland, CA 93067
On a Saturday, we drove to the beach at nearby Summerland so Julian and Noah could enjoy the playground, and we could take in the view of the ocean. Then we walked a few blocks to this spot and had a fine breakfast at an outdoor table.
Bodacious Cinnamon Roll
Crabby Bills Benedict: A true Maryland crab cake benedict made with sweet jumbo lump blue crabmeat. Two crab cakes, two poached eggs and Jesse's hollandaise, served with O.P. potatoes. It keeps Bill happy!
Yona Redz 1230 State St, Santa Barbara, CA 93101
Barb and I walked up and down State Street in downtown Santa Barbara. It was Taco Tuesday, so we stopped here for a quick, inexpensive, and tasty lunch.
Birria (shredded beef) De Res Taco: Double Corn Tortilla (soft taco), red onion, cilantro
Pastor (pork) Taco: Double Corn Tortilla (soft taco) red onion, cilantro
Marvelous Musician
I was brought up in a home where music was loved, but not pop, rock, or jazz. Classical, opera, folk, Broadway, and humor records were frequently played on my parents' huge hi-fi system. When they would entertain company, the evening would often conclude with my dad playing records for the guests.
My parents and oldest sister did not like popular music. So when The Beatles invaded, my other sister and my brother got on board, but I resisted, being loyal to my parents. The first dent in this armor came when I was given a record for my bar mitzvah: Neal Hefti's Batman Theme and 11 Hefti Bat Songs. Not the hippest album, but it was my gateway to pop and rock.
The next big impact was The Tijuana Brass. At a talent show at Tenafly Junior High, a band led by David Nunez on accordion and featuring Jim Stegmayer on drums performed "Tijuana Taxi." I thought this was the coolest song, and I asked for and received the album Going Places as a gift. My brother and I loved it, and we proceeded to buy all of Herb's albums: The Lonely Bull, Volume 2, South of the Border, Whipped Cream & Other Delights (with the racy cover), What Now My Love, and SRO. We played these constantly. In 1967 I bought my first pop album, I Think We're Alone Now by Tommy James and the Shondells, followed by Bee Gees' 1st and then Shine on Brightly by Procol Harum. The Tijuana Brass albums helped get me there, and I was completely converted to a love of rock & roll.
On Cayamo 2015, The Dusty 45s were the last performers that we had not yet seen. They had been voted on by the attendees as part of the Sound Check process. As David Westin, Barb, and I headed to The Atrium to finally check them out, we heard a lively mix of music wafting out. When they started playing the first notes of "A Taste of Honey" in the same way as The Tijuana Brass, the crowd went wild, and we fell in love with the band.
From Wikipedia: Herb Alpert (born March 31, 1935 in LA) is an American jazz musician most associated with the group Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass. He is also a recording industry executive, the "A" of A&M Records, a recording label he and business partner Jerry Moss founded and eventually sold to PolyGram. Herb also has created abstract expressionist paintings and sculpture over two decades, which are publicly displayed on occasion. He and his wife, Lani Hall, are substantial philanthropists through the operation of the Herb Alpert Foundation.
During a visit to Tijuana, Mexico, Herb heard a mariachi band while attending a bullfight. He was inspired to find a way to express musically what he felt while watching the wild responses of the crowd and hearing the brass musicians introducing each new event with rousing fanfare. He adapted that trumpet style, mixed in crowd cheers and other noises for ambience, and named his song "The Lonely Bull."
He personally funded the production of the record as a single, and it spread through radio DJs until it caught on and became a Top 10 hit in the Fall of 1962. He followed up quickly with his debut album, The Lonely Bull by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass. Originally the Tijuana Brass was just Alpert overdubbing his own trumpet, slightly out of sync. The title cut reached No. 6 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart. This was A&M's first album. For this album and subsequent releases, he recorded with the group of L.A. session musicians known as The Wrecking Crew.
By the end of 1964, because of a growing demand for live appearances by the Tijuana Brass, Herb auditioned and hired a team of crack session men. He used to tell his audiences that his group consisted of "Four lasagnas, two bagels, and an American cheese": John Pisano (electric guitar); Lou Pagani (piano); Nick Ceroli (drums); Pat Senatore (bass guitar); Tonni Kalash (trumpet); Herb Alpert (trumpet and vocal); and Bob Edmondson (trombone). The band debuted in 1965 and became one of the highest-paid acts then performing, having put together a complete revue that included choreographed moves and comic routines written by Bill ("José Jiménez") Dana.
The Dating Game TV show used Herb's songs as cues:
"Spanish Flea" (when introducing the bachelor)
"Whipped Cream" (when introducing the bachelorette)
"Lollipops and Roses" (when the dates meet)
Other tunes were used after the interview portion, when guests were choosing a date, including "Ladyfingers" and "Lemon Tree."
A Taste of Honey
Flamingo
Lollipops and Roses
Spanish Flea
My Playlist
Sports Star
Ichiro was elected to the Hall of Fame yesterday. One voter left his name off of their ballot, which is impossible to understand.
Ichiro Suzuki falls 1 vote shy of unanimous vote to Baseball Hall of Fame by Chad Jennings of The Athletic
Ichiro Suzuki collected 3,089 hits in a major league uniform — this after he racked up 1,278 hits playing in his native Japan. He played 19 seasons in the majors and didn’t retire until age 45. He’s a 10-time All-Star with 10 consecutive Gold Gloves and the 24th-most hits in major-league history, according to MLB.com. But for one of the 394 voters tasked with casting a vote for the National Baseball of Fame, it wasn’t enough.
Suzuki easily cleared the bar for first-ballot induction into Cooperstown. But like his former New York Yankees teammate Derek Jeter, he missed getting in unanimously by one vote. Another former Yankees teammate, Mariano Rivera, remains the only player enshrined to receive a vote on every ballot cast.
From Wikipedia: Ichiro Suzuki (born October 22, 1973 in Japan), also known mononymously as Ichiro, is a Japanese former professional baseball outfielder who played professionally for 28 seasons. He played the first nine years of his career with the Orix BlueWave of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), and the next 12 years with the Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball (MLB). Suzuki then played two and a half seasons with the New York Yankees and three with the Miami Marlins before returning to the Mariners for his final two seasons. He won two World Baseball Classic titles as part of the Japanese national team. He also became the Mariners' special assistant to the chairman in 2019. He is regarded as one of the greatest contact hitters, leadoff hitters and defensive outfielders in baseball history.
In his combined playing time in the NPB and MLB, Suzuki received 17 consecutive selections both as an All-Star and Gold Glove winner, won nine league batting titles, named most valuable player (MVP) four times and in 2025 was a first ballot Hall Of Famer being one vote off from being the second unanimous induction in Hall Of Fame history. In the NPB, he won seven consecutive batting titles and three consecutive Pacific League MVP Awards. In 2001, Suzuki became the first Japanese-born position player to be posted and signed to an MLB club. He led the American League (AL) in batting average and stolen bases en route to being named AL Rookie of the Year and AL MVP.
Suzuki was the first MLB player to enter the Meikyukai (The Golden Players Club). He was a ten-time MLB All-Star and won the 2007 All-Star Game MVP Award for a three-hit performance that included the event's first-ever inside-the-park home run. Suzuki won a Rawlings Gold Glove Award in each of his first 10 years in the majors and had an American League–record seven hitting streaks of 20 or more games, with a high of 27. He was also noted for the longevity of his career, continuing to produce at a high level with slugging, and on-base percentages above .300 in 2016, while approaching 43 years of age. Suzuki also set a number of batting records, including MLB's single-season record for hits with 262. He achieved 10 consecutive 200-hit seasons, the longest streak by any player in history. In 2016, Suzuki notched the 3,000th hit of his MLB career, becoming only the 30th player ever to do so. In total, he finished with 4,367 hits in his professional career across Japan and the United States, the most of any player in history at the top level of baseball. In 2025, Suzuki was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote, tied with Derek Jeter for the second highest total ever. He was the first Japanese player to be elected in the Hall of Fame. That same year, Suzuki was also elected to the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame.
The Career of Ichiro Suzuki
Picture Pun
I’ll have one of these, but make mine a double.
The michelada pictured above is from Taqueria La Unica in Santa Barbara. I previously included another impressive version from Taqueria Guadalajara #1 in Snyder, Texas:
And here is a slighter version from BK Carne Asada & Hot Dogs in Tucson:
