Visitors and Valentines
Anxious People, Barbareño, TOTO, Bob Love, Sold-out Shelf
Welcome to my weekly newsletter. This issue includes five different podcasts in which I have been interviewed, a novel about a bank robbery that takes an unforeseen turn, a Valentine’s Day feast, the Porcaro Brothers’ rock band, a star Chicago Bull, and missing items. I hope you like the picks and pics.
Last year when our friends Bill and Cora Sterling visited us, it poured for two days. This year they visited us again, and once more they brought the rain with them. As usual we enjoyed great conversations, walks, and meals. I will report on the restaurants we visited in the next issue.
Julian’s valentine to us featured one of his trademark steam trains. Barb’s vintage valentine to me was a riff on my love of nuts.
Barb and I had a wonderful Valentine’s Day dinner. Read all about it in this week’s Restaurant Recommendation.
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Fave Five 124: Visitors and Valentines
Apartment Adventure (Anxious People), Fabulous Five (Barbareño), Brothers’ Band (TOTO), Butterbean Bull (Bob Love), and a Sold-out Shelf.
Fave Five List: Five Podcasts Featuring Me
I have been interviewed on multiple podcast series over the past 18 years. Here are five of them.
Because You Need to Know: Leading an Online Community - February 12, 2025
Knowledge Fika: A KM Life Story - December 2, 2024
Knowledge Cast: KM Author, Speaker, and Founder of the SIKM Leaders Community - September 27, 2023
APQC: Why You Need a KM Vision - February 27, 2019
BizTechTalk: Reinvention Prevention - May 30, 2007
Book Best Bet
Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
This is the fifth Backman book I have written about, following A Man Called Ove, Beartown, Us Against You, and The Winners. It is delightful, funny, and poignant; I both laughed and cried out loud. It was made into a Netflix series that I will watch after Barb has read the book. I highly recommend it.
From Amazon: Looking at real estate isn’t usually a life-or-death situation, but an apartment open house becomes just that when a failed bank robber bursts in and takes a group of strangers hostage. The captives include a recently retired couple who relentlessly hunt down fixer-uppers to avoid the painful truth that they can’t fix their own marriage. There’s a wealthy bank director who has been too busy to care about anyone else and a young couple who are about to have their first child but can’t seem to agree on anything. Add to the mix an eighty-seven-year-old woman who has lived long enough not to be afraid of someone waving a gun in her face, a flustered but still-ready-to-make-a-deal real estate agent, and a mystery man who has locked himself in the apartment’s only bathroom, and you’ve got the worst group of hostages in the world.
Each of them carries a lifetime of grievances, hurts, secrets, and passions that are ready to boil over. None of them is entirely who they appear to be. And all of them—the bank robber included—desperately crave some sort of rescue. As the authorities and the media surround the premises, these reluctant allies will reveal surprising truths about themselves and set in motion a chain of events so unexpected that even they can hardly explain what happens next.
Proving once again that Backman is “a master of writing delightful, insightful, soulful, character-driven narratives” (USA TODAY), Anxious People “captures the messy essence of being human…. It’s clever and affecting, as likely to make you laugh out loud as it is to make you cry” (The Washington Post). This “endlessly entertaining mood-booster” (Real Simple) is proof that the enduring power of friendship, forgiveness, and hope can save us—even in the most anxious of times. A “quirky, big-hearted novel….Wry, wise, and often laugh-out-loud funny, it’s a wholly original story that delivers pure pleasure” (People).
Restaurant Recommendation
Barbareño 205 W. Canon Perdido St., Santa Barbara, CA 93101
I wanted to dine at a nice restaurant for Valentine’s Day this year. I searched OpenTable and this one came up, so I booked a table inside. In Santa Barbara, you have to specify this, or you may end up outside, which can be rather cold in the winter despite the presence of heaters. I received a call from the restaurant informing me that the usual menu would not be available, just a five-course, fixed-price meal. I agreed and prepaid for the dinner, including tip. This made for a smooth ending, as no bill was presented. While many of the other (much younger) couples dining near us opted to try both of the two options for each course, Barb and I made identical choices with the exception of the second course. We were very pleased with the results.
This was one of the best meals we have enjoyed in a long time. The highlights were the avocado roulade (the sauce was incredible), the house-made bread and butter, and the Santa Maria BBQ. The tri-tip included in the BBQ was by far the best I have ever had: rare, tender, and flavorful. I would put it up against any high-end steak. Our new friend Chris Guillen had told us this was the best tri-tip in Santa Barbara, and we concur.
Course 1: West Coast Oysters
Course 2: Beet Salad (for Barb)
Course 2: Avocado Roulade (for me)
Course 3: Especial
Course 4: Santa Maria BBQ
Course 5: Twenty-four Blackbirds Brownie
From the restaurant: Located in downtown Santa Barbara, Barbareño showcases the flavors of California’s Central Coast. Using the history and traditions of our area as a starting point, along with the abundance of locally produced products available from the region, Executive Chef Julian Martinez and Chef de Cuisine Preston Knox work to create a menu that expresses our time and place. Served in a casual yet refined space and complemented by some of the best wines and beers in California, we seek to redefine the significance of California Cuisine.
Marvelous Musicians
Last week I wrote about meeting Steve Porcaro at my brother David’s show in LA. This week I feature the band he started with his brother Jeff. A third brother, Mike, joined Toto in 1982, replacing original bass player David Hungate. My brother was friends with all three Porcaro brothers and their dad, Joe. Unfortunately, Steve is the only one of these Porcaro men still alive.
I became a fan of TOTO in 1978 when I heard their first single "Hold the Line." I bought their self-titled debut album and loved it, along with their subsequent hits "99," "Rosanna," "Africa," and "I'll Be Over You."
My brother recorded September Sigh, Rocket Man, Joined Together, and Empty Pages with Steve. He recorded Big Bone with Mike and produced and released his solo album Brotherly Love. David's album Tribute to Jeff was released in 1997 after Jeff’s untimely death. I read The Gospel According to Luke by Steve Lukather in which he tells the story of TOTO. David and Steve Lukather were in the band Los Lobotomys that also included Lenny Castro, who was a touring musician with Toto.
From Wikipedia: TOTO was an American rock band formed in 1977 in Los Angeles by David Paich (keyboards) and the late Jeff Porcaro (drums). The other original members were Steve Lukather (guitar), Steve Porcaro (keyboards), David Hungate (bass), and Bobby Kimball (vocals). The members of TOTO were regulars on albums by Steely Dan, Seals and Crofts, Boz Scaggs, Sonny and Cher, and many others, contributing to many of the most popular records of the 1970s.
TOTO combines elements of pop, rock, soul, funk, hard rock, R&B, blues, and jazz. Having released 14 studio albums and sold over 50 million records worldwide, the group has received several Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2009.
Grammys Won
1979 Toto Producer of the Year
1983 "Rosanna" Record of the Year, Best Vocal Arrangement for Two or More Voices, Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocals
1983 Toto IV Album of the Year, Best Engineered Recording (Non-Classical)
Hold The Line
Rosanna
99
Africa
I'll Be Over You
My Playlist
Sports Star
Bob passed away on November 18, 2024. I remember watching him play for the Bulls when I was younger. He was a solid player, and I admired his game.
Bob Love, Chicago Bulls All-Star, Dies at 81 by Harvey Araton of The New York Times
Bob Love, a cornerstone player for the ascendant Chicago Bulls during the first half of the 1970s who overcame an enervating stutter after his playing days to work for the team as a motivational speaker, died on Monday in Chicago. He was 81.
The Bulls announced his death, in a hospital, saying the cause was cancer.
Love’s stuttering, which traced to a childhood in rural, segregated Louisiana, was so inhibiting that he seldom did interviews with reporters during his 11 seasons in the N.B.A., despite leading the Bulls in points per game or total points scored for seven straight seasons.
“The reporters had deadlines — they couldn’t hang around all night for me to spit something out,” Love told The New York Times in 2002.
Nicknamed Butterbean in high school because of his fondness for butter beans, Love even struggled to get words out in huddles during timeouts. A teammate, Norm Van Lier, often spoke up for him.
A 6-foot-8 forward, Love averaged a career-high 25.8 points per game during the 1971-72 season, utilizing a smooth jump shot arched high over his head. He appeared in three All-Star games and was twice voted second-team all-league. But he was a complete player, three times named second-team all-league defense. And he was the Bulls’ third all-time leading scorer, behind Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen.
Jerry Reinsdorf, the Bulls’ owner, said in an interview for this obituary this year that Love was “a tenacious defender who set high standards for competitiveness and toughness.”
Led by Love, fellow forward Chet Walker (who died in June) and the guards Van Lier and Jerry Sloan, the Bulls stabilized a foundering franchise that had contemplated a location change. Competing in the Western Conference, they were beaten in the playoffs three straight years by the powerhouse Los Angeles Lakers of Wilt Chamberlain and Jerry West.
The Bulls came within a victory of the N.B.A. finals in the 1974-75 playoffs. Love averaged 22.6 points and 6.6 rebounds in the conference finals against the Golden State Warriors but made only 6 of 26 shots in the decisive seventh game. He believed that the Bulls would have won the game and the championship had he played better.
From Wikipedia: Robert Earl Love (born December 8, 1942 Bastrop, Louisiana; died November 18, 2024 in Chicago) was an American professional basketball player who spent the prime of his career with the National Basketball Association's Chicago Bulls. A versatile forward who could shoot with either his left or right hand, Love later worked as the Bulls' director of community affairs and goodwill ambassador. Love was nicknamed "Butterbean", which dates back to his boyhood when he was fond of the legume.
Love played for the Bulls for eight seasons, led the team in scoring seven of those seasons, was a three-time NBA All-Star with the Bulls, and a three-time NBA All-Defensive Team and two-time All-NBA Team selection. In 1969–70, he became a full-time starter, averaging 21 points and 8.7 rebounds. The following two seasons he averaged 25.2 and 25.8 points per game, appeared in his first two all-star games, and earned All-NBA Second Team honors both seasons. Love also appeared in the 1973 All-Star Game, which the Bulls hosted, and he would average at least 19 points and six rebounds every season until 1976–77. Love was named to the NBA's All-Defense Second Team for the 1971–1972, 1973–1974 and 1974–1975 seasons.
His No. 10 jersey was the second jersey number to be retired by the Chicago Bulls. He received the Individual Achievement Award from the National Council for Communicative Disorders, and the NBA's Oscar Robertson Leadership Award in 1989. Love was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 1983. He was also selected to the NAIA, Basketball Coaches, Illinois, and Helms Halls of Fame. There is a historical marker to Love in Baton Rouge.
Chicago Bulls legend Bob Love dies at 81
Bob Love - NBA All-Star and Inspiration
Picture Pun
Keep looking.
Some dinner!