Oh, hi, Ojai!
Snow Falling on Cedars, Three Tasty Treats, Caroline Cotter, Hubie Brown, Hanging Hat
Welcome to my weekly newsletter. This issue includes songs my brother recorded with well-known musicians, a novel set on a fictional island, three good bites, our next house concert performer, an ABA champion basketball coach, and a capstone cap. I hope you like the picks and pics.
On November 7, 2025 we will host this week’s marvelous musician, Caroline Cotter, for our fall house concert. We were able to catch her show in Ojai on Saturday at the Ojai Underground Exchange. From the outside it’s a nondescript building in a residential neighborhood. On the inside, it’s a lovely 80-seat venue with a welcoming host, co-owner Cassidy Linder.
Last night we watched the SpaceX launch of Starlink 11-10 from Vandenberg AFB. It was exciting for us and for Noah and Julian.
On Friday we returned to Herb Alpert’s Vibrato Grill Jazz in LA to see my brother David perform with a talented band. He put on two excellent shows.
After the first set, I got to meet Steve Porcaro, a friend of my brother’s and a member of TOTO. I told him that Barb and I recently finished watching the excellent TV series Justified, for which Steve wrote all of the music.
Noah and I like building tall towers together. And he likes to knock them down.
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Fave Five 123: Oh, hi, Ojai!
Island Intrigue (Snow Falling on Cedars), Three Tasty Treats, (Deux Bakery, Sea Fresh, Vibrato), Maine Musician (Caroline Cotter), Coach/Commentator (Hubie Brown), and a Hanging Hat.
Fave Five List: My Brother’s Musical Colleagues
David Garfield has performed and recorded with many musical luminaries, including his latest single with Herb Alpert. Here are five other famous musicians with whom he has recorded.
(the late) Freddie Hubbard
Book Best Bet
Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
I got this book from my mom many years ago. It’s a good one.
From Amazon: PEN/Faulkner Award Winner. A gripping, tragic, and densely atmospheric masterpiece of courtroom suspense—one that leaves us shaken and changed.
Haunting .... A whodunit complete with courtroom maneuvering and surprising turns of evidence and at the same time a mystery, something altogether richer and deeper. —Los Angeles Times
San Piedro Island, north of Puget Sound, is a place so isolated that no one who lives there can afford to make enemies. But in 1954 a local fisherman is found suspiciously drowned, and a Japanese American named Kabuo Miyamoto is charged with his murder.
In the course of the ensuing trial, it becomes clear that what is at stake is more than a man's guilt. For on San Pedro, memory grows as thickly as cedar trees and the fields of ripe strawberries—memories of a charmed love affair between a white boy and the Japanese girl who grew up to become Kabuo's wife; memories of land desired, paid for, and lost. Above all, San Piedro is haunted by the memory of what happened to its Japanese residents during World War II, when an entire community was sent into exile while its neighbors watched.
David Guterson
From Wikipedia: David Guterson (born May 4, 1956 in Seattle) is an American novelist, short story writer, poet, journalist, and essayist. Guterson is best known as the author of Snow Falling on Cedars (1994) for which he received the 1995 PEN/Faulkner Award. To date, it has sold nearly four million copies and was adapted into the 1999 film of the same title. His subsequent novels include East of the Mountains (1999), which was adapted into a movie of the same title in 2021, Our Lady of the Forest (2003), The Other (2008) and Ed King (2011).
Guterson married his wife Robin when he was 23. They live on Bainbridge Island in Puget Sound and have five children and three grandchildren. He is a co-founder of Field's End, an organization for writers.
Restaurant Recommendations
Three Tasty Treats
Deux Bakery 824 Reddick Street Santa Barbara, 93103
Last year I shared a cinnamon roll at this bakery during a food crawl. This year we had lunch here, and they did a fine job.
Caprese Panini: Fresh tomato, basil, mozzarella, and balsamic vinaigrette on pressed ciabatta bread. I asked for pepperoncini to be added.
Sea Fresh 533 E. Ojai Avenue, Ojai, CA 93023
We headed down to Ojai in the afternoon so we could enjoy the drive. There are many great places to eat along the main drag, and we enjoyed our early dinner here.
Dungeness Crab & Shrimp Louis Salad on a bed of field greens, topped with veggies
Vibrato Grill Jazz 2930 Beverly Glen Circle, Los Angeles, CA 90077
I previously featured my second visit here. On this third time I ordered filet mignon skewers with onions, tricolor peppers, sriracha aioli, soy glaze, chili, and chive oil. I loved this dish and will order it again when I return.
Barb and I stayed for my brother’s second set and tried dessert. I ordered the Impossible Confection, and it was impossibly delicious.
Impossible Confection: red velvet cake, traditional flan, slivered almonds, blackberries, strawberries, and dulce de leche
Marvelous Musician
I was contacted by her booking agent in December about hosting her during a spring tour. We already had our spring concert booked, so I offered our fall show instead. It worked out, and we were able to see her in nearby Ojai to get a preview of what she will present in our home in November. I like her voice, her songwriting, and her dry sense of humor.
From her site: Caroline Cotter’s sunlit songs honor the countless ways of being human. With her honeyed voice and disarmingly honest lyrics, Cotter sings about connection, nostalgia, gratitude, loss and wanderlust. Lyrics like, “Find me somewhere out on the road / Take me into your heart and into your home,” make perfect sense from a touring artist who has played over 1000 shows in 45 states and 16 countries. She has performed at churches, art galleries, barns, yoga studios, punk bars, Parisian living rooms and even a schooner off the coast of Maine. Everywhere she goes, her oracular songs elicit emotion and spark insight—medicine for our collective longing.
Growing up in Rhode Island, Cotter played piano and listened to records by luminaries like The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Carpenters and Bob Dylan. She spent her early twenties in Spain, Thailand and India; studying yoga and meditation; sleeping on train station floors; washing clothes in the sink; and witnessing the innumerable ways people live. Walking the Camino de Santiago, a pilgrim’s trail across northern Spain, she felt “wildly alive. Waking with the sun in the east and walking west each day, I felt free yet full-of-purpose” —a feeling she would later recognize and reclaim as a touring musician.
As a songwriter, Cotter waits for the wellspring of emotion to arise and then wrings her experience out into rhyming couplets. The process typically starts with nostalgia or longing—wondering about the way things were or the way things could be. She’s endlessly questioning existence, spinning and carding her worries, hopes, and joys into the fabric of her songs. Cotter has released three records, Dreaming as I Do (2015), Home on the River (2018) and Gently as I Go (2023). Under the Radar magazine says her music, “brings forth an abiding sense of warmth and welcome, offering an uplifting reminder to make the most of every moment.”
Cotter’s songs move effortlessly from the grand to the granular. Take “Coming Your Way,” a traveler’s anthem about the people who keep her afloat by opening their hearts and homes. Or “The Year of the Wrecking Ball,” in which the narrator revisits her childhood home and wrestles with the dissolution of her family and sense of continuity. Then there’s “Gone Away,” a hymn for the lost and downtrodden—or anyone needing to be called back to their life’s purpose. With the precision of an analog photographer, Cotter adjusts the aperture of her attention to move between the particular and universal qualities of our lives.
The Year of the Wrecking Ball
1 4 3
Don't Wait
Concert Recording from Ojai Underground Exchange
My Playlist
Sports Star
Hubie called his final basketball game on Sunday. He was a legendary coach and announcer, and I have great respect for him.
I got to know Hubie Brown when I worked as a stat keeper for the Spirits of St. Louis of the ABA. My seat at the scorer’s table was one away from the where the visiting head coaches sat. I was in a great spot to observe them during the game, especially during timeouts.
Hubie was by far my favorite. The way he calmly instructed his team, the great rapport he had with his players, and his detailed knowledge of the Xs and Os of the game were impressive. He was always friendly with those of us working the game.
My favorite memory of Hubie came during a double overtime game between his Kentucky Colonels and the Spirits. During a timeout in the first overtime, he came over to us at the table and said, “This is a hell of a game! I’d pay just to watch it!” In the second overtime, the crowd made so much noise that the refs didn’t hear the 24-second clock buzzer go off. Hubie ran onto the court during play, which should have resulted in him receiving a technical foul. Instead, the refs came over and asked shot clock operator if the buzzer had sounded. He said “yes,” so they wiped out a fast-break basket scored by the Spirits after the violation. This set off Spirits Coach Rod Thorn, whose tantrum resulted in a technical foul, and Kentucky ended up winning the game.
I loved Hubie as a basketball analyst, especially his trademark phrases, including “in the painted area,” “foul shots,” “shooting a high percentage,” and “one of the better rebounders that we have in the game today.” He was a reminder of the bygone days of the American Basketball Association. Hubie was one of the better experts that we had in the game of basketball.
Brown coached 15 seasons with the ABA's Kentucky Colonels (1974-76) and NBA's Atlanta Hawks (1976-81), New York Knicks (1982-87) and Memphis Grizzlies (2002-05). He won an ABA title with Kentucky in 1975 and was voted the NBA Coach of the Year in 1978 and 2004. He spent 35 years as a national TV and radio analyst, covering 18 NBA Finals. Brown was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2005.
From Wikipedia: Hubert Jude Brown (born September 25, 1933 in Hazleton, Pennsylvania) is an American retired professional basketball player, coach, and analyst. Brown is a two-time NBA Coach of the Year, the honors separated by 26 years. Brown was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2005.
Following his retirement from coaching, Brown worked as a television analyst for USA, CBS, TNT, ESPN, and ABC. Brown called his final game on February 9, 2025.
A Look Back at Hubie Brown's Illustrious Career, Spanning More Than 6 Decades
Hubie Brown Ends His Final Broadcast With an Emotional Message
1975 Kentucky Colonels reunite for 30th anniversary of ABA championship
ABA Basketball: Spirits of St. Louis at Kentucky Colonels on February 24, 1976
Bob Costas announced this game in the final season of the ABA.
Picture Pun
I take my hat off to whomever who posted this.
