Say Hey
Less, Ann Arbor Asian, Liz Longley, Willie Mays, Raking Rugrat
Welcome to my weekly newsletter. This week’s issue includes five concerts in five days and five professional appearances in two weeks, a novel about traveling the world to avoid a wedding, two Asian restaurants in Ann Arbor, a singer/songwriter with a golden voice, the Say Hey Kid, and a budding baseball star. I hope you like the picks and pics.
This is the 90th edition of Fave Five. The title is a nod to the greatest baseball player of all time, Willie Mays, who died yesterday.
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Fave Five 90: Say Hey
Mishaps, missteps, misunderstandings, and mistakes (Less), Ann Arbor Asian (TK WU, Hola! Seoul), Liz Longley, San Francisco Slugger (Willie Mays), and a Raking Rugrat.
Fave Five Lists: 5 Concerts in 5 Days
I was able to attend five shows in five days last week:
June 12 David Osher’s Singalong at Pleasant Ridge Community Center
June 13 Laith Al-Saadi at Sonic Lunch in Ann Arbor
June 14 Liz Longley at 20 Front Street in Lake Orion
June 15 Erin Zindle & The Ragbirds at Ann Arbor Summer Festival
June 16 Elisabeth Pixley-Fink at Ann Arbor Summer Festival
Fave Five Lists: 5 Professional Appearances in 2 Weeks
I was privileged to be interviewed, to present, and to host in five different events over the past two weeks:
June 5 Interviewed for an upcoming APQC article
June 10 Presented (remotely) to the Knowledge Summit Dublin
June 18 Presented to the International Finance Institutions Knowledge Management Community virtual meeting
June 18 Hosted the SIKM Leaders Community monthly call
June 18 Recorded my presentation for the June 27 Lucidea webinar: Profiles in Knowledge Part 4
Book Best Bet
I bought this book in 2018 and found it enjoyable to read.
From Amazon: A struggling novelist travels the world to avoid an awkward wedding in this hilarious Pulitzer Prize-winning novel full of "arresting lyricism and beauty" (New York Times Book Review).
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize
A New York Times Notable Book of 2017
A Washington Post Top Ten Book of 2017
A San Francisco Chronicle Top Ten Book of 2017
Longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence, the Lambda Award and the California Book Award
Who says you can't run away from your problems? You are a failed novelist about to turn fifty. A wedding invitation arrives in the mail: your boyfriend of the past nine years is engaged to someone else. You can't say yes--it would be too awkward--and you can't say no--it would look like defeat. On your desk are a series of invitations to half-baked literary events around the world.
QUESTION: How do you arrange to skip town?
ANSWER: You accept them all.
What would possibly go wrong? Arthur Less will almost fall in love in Paris, almost fall to his death in Berlin, barely escape to a Moroccan ski chalet from a Saharan sandstorm, accidentally book himself as the (only) writer-in-residence at a Christian Retreat Center in Southern India, and encounter, on a desert island in the Arabian Sea, the last person on Earth he wants to face. Somewhere in there: he will turn fifty. Through it all, there is his first love. And there is his last.
Because, despite all these mishaps, missteps, misunderstandings and mistakes, Less is, above all, a love story.
A scintillating satire of the American abroad, a rumination on time and the human heart, a bittersweet romance of chances lost, by an author The New York Times has hailed as "inspired, lyrical," "elegiac," "ingenious," as well as "too sappy by half," Less shows a writer at the peak of his talents raising the curtain on our shared human comedy.
Andrew Sean Greer (born November 21, 1970 in Washington, D.C.) is an American novelist and short story writer. Greer received the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his novel Less. He is the author of The Story of a Marriage, which The New York Times has called an "inspired, lyrical novel", and The Confessions of Max Tivoli, which was named one of the best books of 2004 by the San Francisco Chronicle and received a California Book Award. He is the child of two scientists and grew up in Rockville, Maryland. He is an identical twin. He graduated from Georgetown Day School and Brown University.
Restaurant Recommendations
Ann Arbor Asian
I was in Ann Arbor for three concerts last week and tried two Asian restaurants in the vicinity of the venues. All of the dishes shown below were excellent.
TK WU 510 E. Liberty Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48104
Sesame Beef: A delicate and remarkable Hunan dish, strips of tender beef fried in a superb and exciting sauce, served on broccoli.
From the restaurant: Ann arbor's most acclaimed Chinese restaurant. From humble beginnings, to fabled success story.
Hola! Seoul 715 North University Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48104
C-2 Wings: Our Korean fried chicken is fried twice for extra crunch, seasoned with various spices, mixed in house made batter, and coated with a brush of home-made sauce.
Popcorn Chicken
Kimchi Fries
Bulgogi Taco: our Korean-Mexican fusion tacos
From the restaurant: At Hola Seoul, we strive to bring you explosive flavors with our fusion food! Incorporating flavors from South Korea, Mexico, and the good 'ol USA, we bring you awesome dishes that our customers love such as our Bulgogi Tacos, Kimchi Fries, and Korean Fried Chicken.
Marvelous Musician
Liz Longley
I have seen Liz on Cayamo 2013 and 2014; at The Ark in Ann Arbor on April 11, 2015 and September 29, 2017; at a house concert at Black Crystal Cafe in Ann Arbor on May 13, 2016; and at 20 Front Street in Lake Orion on June 22, 2019 and June 14, 2024. She performed in our garage on June 11, 2021. She has a beautiful voice and writes wonderful songs. Barb and I always love seeing her perform.
From AllMusic: Nashville-based singer and songwriter Liz Longley built a self-managed career that began with self-financing her own recordings, then took her through deals with two labels and back after deciding that maintaining complete control over her career was the only way to navigate the 21st century music business. She built a regional reputation in New England for her earliest recordings. Longley's music melds folk, rock, Americana, and hooky alt-pop in songs that register with listeners as poignant. The film, and television industry apparently agreed and have made use of both commissioned and catalog material.
She was born January 25, 1988 in East Brandywine Township, Pennsylvania, growing up in Chester County, near Philadelphia. She began singing and playing piano at a very young age; she marks the turning point in her life at age nine, after performing an original song for the students in her elementary school, where she received an enthusiastic reception. Upon graduation, she won a scholarship to Berklee College of Music in Boston and studied voice. She took first place in the Rocky Mountain Folk Fest Songwriter Showcase and was co-winner of the Mountain Stage New Song Contest. Graduating from Berklee in 2010, Longley won three songwriting competitions: the BMI John Lennon Songwriting Scholarship Competition, the International Acoustic Music Awards, and the Chris Austin Songwriting Contest.
Memphis
Outta My Head
Unraveling
You've Got That Way
My Playlist
Sports Star
Willie Mays died yesterday. He was, in my opinion, the greatest player of all time. He could hit, hit with power, run, field, and throw better than any other player. This combination of skills elevated him to the top of the list.
I was a huge fan as a boy, and I continued to admire him for all that he did on and off the field. Watching the video below reminded me of how truly great he was.
Willie Mays, Baseball’s Electrifying Player of Power and Grace, Is Dead at 93 by Richard Goldstein of The New York Times
Mays compiled extraordinary statistics in 22 National League seasons with the Giants in New York and San Francisco and a brief return to New York with the Mets, preceded by a time in the Negro leagues, from 1948-50. He hit 660 career home runs and had 3,293 hits and a .301 career batting average.
But he did more than personify the complete ballplayer. An exuberant style of play and an effervescent personality made Mays one of the game’s, and America’s, most charismatic figures, a name that even people far afield from the baseball world recognized instantly as a national treasure.
From Wikipedia: Willie Howard Mays Jr. (born May 6, 1931 in Westfield, Alabama; died June 18, 2024 in Palo Alto, California), nicknamed "the Say Hey Kid", was an American professional baseball center fielder who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). Regarded as one of the greatest players ever, Mays ranks second behind only Babe Ruth on most all-time lists, including those of The Sporting News and ESPN. Mays played in the National League (NL) between 1951 and 1973 for the New York / San Francisco Giants and New York Mets.
Born in Westfield, Alabama, Mays was an all-around athlete. He joined the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro American League in 1948, playing with them until the Giants signed him upon his graduation from high school in 1950. He debuted in MLB with the Giants and won the Rookie of the Year Award in 1951 after hitting 20 home runs to help the Giants win their first pennant in 14 years. In 1954, he won the NL Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award, leading the Giants to their last World Series title before their move to the West Coast. His over-the-shoulder catch in Game 1 of the 1954 World Series is one of the most famous baseball plays of all time. After the Giants moved to San Francisco, Mays went on to win another MVP Award in 1965 and also led the Giants to the 1962 World Series, this time losing to the New York Yankees. He ended his career with a return to New York after a midseason trade to the New York Mets in 1972, retiring after the team's trip to the 1973 World Series. He served as a coach for the Mets for the rest of the decade, and later rejoined the Giants as a special assistant to the president and general manager.
A 24-time All-Star, this tied him for the second most in history. He led the NL in home runs four times and in slugging percentage five times while batting over .300 and posting 100 runs batted in (RBIs) ten times each. Mays was also at the forefront of a resurgence of speed as an offensive weapon in the 1950s, leading the league in stolen bases four times, triples three times, and runs twice; his 179 steals during the decade topped the major leagues. He was the first NL player to hit 30 home runs and steal 30 bases in the same season, the first player in history to reach both 300 home runs and 300 stolen bases, and the second player and the first right-handed hitter to hit 600 home runs. Mays also set standards for defensive brilliance, winning 12 consecutive Gold Glove Awards after their creation in 1957, still a record for outfielders; he led NL center fielders in double plays five times and assists three times.
A classic example of a five-tool player, Mays finished his career with a batting average of .302. At the time of his retirement, he held the NL record for career runs scored (2,062), and ranked second in league history behind Stan Musial in games played (2,992), third in home runs (660), at bats (10,881), runs batted in (1,903), total bases (6,066), extra-base hits (1,323) and walks (1,464), fourth in hits (3,293), fifth in slugging percentage (.557), and eighth in doubles (523); his 140 triples ranked fourth among players active after 1945. He holds major league records for games as a center fielder (2,829), putouts as an outfielder (7,095) and extra-inning home runs (22) and ended his career behind only Ty Cobb in total games as an outfielder (2,842), ranking seventh in assists (188) and third in double plays (59) in center field. Mays was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979 in his first year of eligibility and was named to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team in 1999. Mays was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015.
A Tribute to Willie Mays
Picture Pun
Kieran has a promising future in baseball. He can really rake.
