Stellar Shows
All For Nothing, Ospi Montecito, 5th Dimension, L.J. Cason, Feline Fence
Welcome to my 176th weekly newsletter. This issue includes my ten favorite Patty Griffin songs, a brutally honest novel set in Prussia at the end of World War II as Russian troops are approaching, an Italian meal on Valentine’s Day, the band whose sound was dubbed “Champagne Soul,” a standout reserve guard on the top-ranked team, and a fence-sitting cat. I hope you like the picks and pics.
Our long-time friend and Clayton High School classmate, Tim Poor, visited us for the holiday weekend. He is the one on the left in the photo below.
I enjoyed three excellent shows in Santa Barbara since the last issue. Santa Barbara offers a cornucopia of concerts at a variety of venues, all well-attended by local music lovers.
Last Thursday I saw the Wailin’ Jennys at the Lobero Theatre. My friend Ben Eisley joined me. Their harmonies were as great as ever.
On Sunday Tim and I saw Leo Kottke at the Lobero Theatre. Leo played many of my favorite tunes and offered his typical humorous remarks and asides.
On Tuesday I took in a twin-bill at the Arlington Theatre. Patty Griffin opened and featured songs from her most recent album, Crown of Roses. I always want to hear more of her earlier songs, but at least she sang “Mother of God” and “No Bad News.”
Taj Mahal delivered a rollicking and fun set to close the show. This was the first time I had seen him live, and Henry St. Claire Fredericks Jr. still sounded great at age 83.
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Fave Five 176: Stellar Shows
Walter’s World War Writing (All For Nothing), Cal-Italian Coastal Cuisine (Ospi Montecito), Music by McLemore and McCoo (5th Dimension), Flipped from FAU (L.J. Cason), and a Feline Fence.
Fave Five List: Ten Favorite Patty Griffin Songs
I would have loved to hear any or all of these at Patty Griffin’s show this week.
Useless Desires
Rain
Truth #2
Goodbye
Forgiveness
Long Ride Home
Top Of The World
Mad Mission
Making Pies
Heavenly Day
Book Best Bet
All For Nothing by Walter Kempowski
Barb read this with her Florida book club and highly recommended it. I had mixed feelings about it. It’s clearly a masterwork about the utter waste wrought by war. The book features wry satire and morbid humor, but the characters are mostly unlikable. The grim reality of the end of World War II in eastern Germany is depressing, which is Kempowski’s intent. He exposes the horrible effects of war from the German point of view, and does so powerfully. The casual way that he kills off his characters is interesting. I recommend it as a well-written novel telling a tragic story.
From Amazon: A wealthy family tries—and fails—to seal themselves off from the chaos of post-World War II life surrounding them in this stunning novel by one of Germany's most important post-war writers. All for Nothing, published in 2006, was the last novel by Walter Kempowski, one of postwar Germany’s most acclaimed and popular writers.
In East Prussia, January 1945, the German forces are in retreat and the Red Army is approaching. The von Globig family's manor house, the Georgenhof, is falling into disrepair. Auntie runs the estate as best she can since Eberhard von Globig, a special officer in the German army, went to war, leaving behind his beautiful but vague wife, Katharina, and her bookish twelve-year-old son, Peter. As the road fills with Germans fleeing the occupied territories, the Georgenhof begins to receive strange visitors--a Nazi violinist, a dissident painter, a Baltic baron, even a Jewish refugee. Yet in the main, life continues as banal, wondrous, and complicit as ever for the family, until their caution, their hedged bets, and their denial are answered by the wholly expected events they haven't allowed themselves to imagine.
Restaurant Recommendation
Ospi Montecito 1801 E Cabrillo Blvd Suite F, Santa Barbara, CA 93108
Barb and I were joined by Tim for our annual Valentine’s Day dinner. Our reserved table was a roomy 8-top booth inside this lovely spot. The food, drink, service, and ambience were all excellent.
Mocktail - Light & Stormy: lemon, ginger, makrut lime, mint — these are four of my favorite ingredients, and this drink was delicious
Insalate - Arugula: fennel, pomodorini, lemon, olive oil, avocado, shaved grana padano
Primi - Raschiatelli: spicy pork sparerib sugo, crema di pecorino, pangrattato
Dolce - Lover’s Brownie à la Mode: served warm with candied pecans and vanilla ice cream
From the restaurant: Part Modern Italian, Part Classic Italian
Cal-Italian coastal elegance never tasted so good. Ospi Montecito at The Post is Chef Jackson Kalb’s newest destination for your favorite dinner party. Building on the success of Ospi Venice, Brentwood, and Costa Mesa, we’re serving up our must-try house-made pastas and crispy romana tonda pizzas, plus our first-ever breakfast, and an exclusive wood-grilled selection featuring locally sourced meat, seafood, and seasonal vegetables from our top-quality vendors. Thoughtfully curated wines and inventive craft cocktails make it the perfect place for a dining destination any time of day. Ospi Montecito reimagines Italian cuisine with modern sophistication, delivering a dining experience as effortlessly refined as the community it calls home.
Marvelous Musicians
Lamonte McLemore died on February 3, 2026. I loved “Up, Up and Away” in 1967 and their subsequent hits over the next few years. My favorites are “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In” and their Laura Nyro covers.
LaMonte McLemore, Founding Singer With the 5th Dimension, Dies at 90
Herman LaMonte McLemore was born on Sept. 17, 1935, in St. Louis, the first of four children of Herman and June (Shaver) McLemore. (He always went by LaMonte.) He was 5 when his father, a janitor, left the family. With his mother straining to raise the family, LaMonte was also raised by his maternal grandmother.
Baseball was his first love as a youth, although he began singing doo-wop as a teenager to attract girls, Mr. Arno said in an interview. After graduating from Charles H. Sumner High School in St. Louis, LaMonte joined the Navy and trained as a medical photographer.
Following his discharge, he pursued a professional baseball career as a fireballing pitcher, eventually landing in the Los Angeles Dodgers farm system, but a broken arm soon derailed his prospects, he said.
Mr. McLemore did portrait photography as a parallel career through his decades as a recording artist. Over the years, he shot for Harper’s Bazaar, Jet and Ebony magazines, capturing music stars like Marvin Gaye, the Supremes and Stevie Wonder as well as screen celebrities, including Jayne Kennedy, the actress, model and television host.
His music career began flowering in 1965, when he formed a Los Angeles vocal group called the Versatiles with Mr. Townson and Mr. Davis, friends of his from St. Louis. He brought in Ms. McCoo and Ms. LaRue, already accomplished singers, after photographing them for the Miss Bronze California beauty pageant.
The group’s record label, Soul City Records, pressured the Versatiles to find a hipper name, and they chose the 5th Dimension.
From Wikipedia: The 5th Dimension is an American popular music vocal group, whose repertoire includes pop, R&B, soul, jazz, light opera, and Broadway: this melange was called “Champagne Soul”. Formed as the Versatiles in late 1965, the group changed its name to “the 5th Dimension” by 1966. They became well known during the late 1960s and early 1970s. The five original members were Billy Davis Jr., Florence La Rue, Marilyn McCoo, Lamonte McLemore, and Ronald Townson. In 1975, McCoo and Davis left the 5th Dimension and began performing as a duo, Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jr.
Some of the songwriters popularized by the 5th Dimension went on to careers of their own, especially Ashford & Simpson, who wrote “California Soul”. The group is also notable for having more success with the songs of Laura Nyro than Nyro did herself, particularly with “Stoned Soul Picnic”, “Sweet Blindness”, “Wedding Bell Blues”, “Blowin’ Away”, and “Save the Country”. The group also recorded songs by well-known songwriters such as “One Less Bell to Answer”, written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, and the songs and music of Jimmy Webb, who wrote their hit “Up, Up and Away”. The group recorded an album composed almost entirely of Webb songs called The Magic Garden.
Up, Up and Away
Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In
Stoned Soul Picnic
Wedding Bell Blues
Save The Country
My Playlist
Sports Star
The number 1 Wolverines have a huge game tomorrow against number 3 Duke in Washington, DC. One of the reasons that Michigan has continued winning lately is the play of backup guard L..J. Cason. Here are his stats for the last five games:
Tomorrow’s game could be a preview of the championship game on April 6 in Indianapolis. I hope to see U of M cut down the nets that night.
L.J. Cason ‘becoming a constant’ to Michigan basketball’s success
“L.J. Cason is playing as well as just about any guard in our league the last couple games,” coach Dusty May said. “He’s a sophomore that’s waited his turn. He’s been patient. He’s stayed the course. He’s growing up in front of our eyes, and I’m not talking about just his performance. “He’s becoming a constant to everything that we’re doing, in the success we’re having.”
More importantly, Cason has been stacking consistent performances off the bench. Over the last four games, he’s averaging 12.8 points, 3.5 assists and a steal in 23.5 minutes while shooting 54.8% from the field (17-for-31), 46.7% from 3-point range (7-for-15) and 83.3% from the foul line (10-for-12).
He’s been running the show at point guard, like he did over the final 15 minutes in the comeback win at Northwestern. He’s been playing alongside guard Elliot Cadeau in the backcourt. He’s been getting into the paint and making sound decisions, whether it’s scoring or playmaking.
“He's an unbelievable human being, and he's a pleaser,” May said. “For us to see the growth, for him battle through some low points last year and finish strong, we don't make the Sweet 16, we don't win the Big Ten tournament if he doesn't stay the course last year. Then even this year, through a couple bumps, he’s getting better and better.”
From Wikipedia: Lorenzo “L.J.” Cason Jr. (born May 27, 2006) is a college basketball player for the Michigan Wolverines of the Big Ten Conference.
Cason attended Victory Christian Academy in Lakeland, Florida. He was rated as a three-star recruit by 247Sports and committed to play college basketball for the Florida Atlantic Owls. However, Cason flipped his commitment to play for the Michigan Wolverines, following FAU head coach Dusty May after he took the Wolverines head coaching job.
In his collegiate debut on November 4, 2024, Cason scored 14 points in a victory against Cleveland State. In the finals of the 2025 Big Ten men’s basketball tournament, he scored eight points in a victory over Wisconsin. In the second round of the 2025 NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament, Cason recorded 11 points and three assists in a win versus Texas A&M. He finished the 2024-25 season, appearing in 30 games, averaging 4.3 points, 1.4 rebounds, and 1.0 assist per game.
As a sophomore, Cason notched ten points, three rebounds, and three steals in a victory over Auburn in November 2025. He matched his career-high with 14 points, leading the Wolverines in scoring against Penn State in January 2026. On February 11, Cason had career highs of 18 points (13 in the second half) and 4 steals to help lead a comeback from a 16-point second half deficit against Northwestern. Cason played point guard the final 15:15 and he operated an offense that scored on 21 straight possessions.
Northwestern Highlights
Deep Triple at Purdue
Picture Pun
Cat on a high wood fence.
