Wacky Winter Weather
This Tender Land, Wagon Wheel Lounge, Rachel Baiman, Maria Sharapova, Barbaric Barber
Welcome to my weekly newsletter. I hope you enjoy the picks and pics.
Fave Five 29: Wacky Winter Weather. Orphan Odie O’Banion (This Tender Land), Wagon Wheel, Oak Park’s Own (Rachel Baiman), Tennis Titan (Maria Sharapova), and a Barbaric Barber.
Well, I spoke too soon last week about how spring had sprung. After enjoying temperatures in the 80s on Saturday, we were jolted back to winter with snow on Monday. Fortunately, it’s warming up today and will be in the 80s tomorrow here in Northville, Michigan. But the weekend promises a return to lows in the 30s, so the weather is still a bit wacky.
Book Best Bet
This Tender Land: A Novel by William Kent Krueger
I bought this book based on a review I read. The characters and story are entertaining, but some of the plot details are a bit hard to believe. You will probably enjoy reading about the adventures of the four orphan travelers.
From Amazon: The unforgettable story of four orphans who travel the Mississippi River on a life-changing odyssey during the Great Depression.
In the summer of 1932, on the banks of Minnesota’s Gilead River, Odie O’Banion is an orphan confined to the Lincoln Indian Training School, a pitiless place where his lively nature earns him the superintendent’s wrath. Forced to flee after committing a terrible crime, he and his brother, Albert, their best friend, Mose, and a brokenhearted little girl named Emmy steal away in a canoe, heading for the mighty Mississippi and a place to call their own.
Over the course of one summer, these four orphans journey into the unknown and cross paths with others who are adrift, from struggling farmers and traveling faith healers to displaced families and lost souls of all kinds. With the feel of a modern classic, This Tender Land is an enthralling, big-hearted epic that shows how the magnificent American landscape connects us all, haunts our dreams, and makes us whole.
Restaurant Recommendation
Wagon Wheel Lounge 212 S Main St, Northville, MI 48167
We never used to pay attention to this long-time dive bar in our hometown. It was known as the place that college kids gathered on the night before Thanksgiving to reunite with their high school friends. But when our friend Jeri Johnson told us that the food there was good, we gave it a try. Now it is our go-to spot for an inexpensive and satisfying meal. For a bar, the food menu is extensive. It features pizza, salads, burgers, sandwiches, Mexican food, and a Friday fish fry.
Monday was another Book Club Counterprogramming dinner for the husbands of Barb’s book club members. We asked our server about the best sandwich, and she recommended the Reuben, made with Wigley’s corned beef (from Detroit’s Eastern Market). We all took her advice, and the Reuben was praiseworthy indeed. It had really good corned beef, nicely grilled marble rye, and the proper sauerkraut and Russian dressing. At $8.50 it’s a real bargain, given that Reuben sandwiches are now going for close to $20 in many delis.
Instead of a side of fries or onion rings, I ordered another great value item: a fish slider for $3.50. It’s larger than a normal slider, and comes with lettuce, cheese, and tasty tartar sauce. It could make a meal all by itself.
Marvelous Musician
After attending a house concert at the home of Tom Ledermann, he and I became Facebook friends. I saw that he was promoting a concert at The Ark in Ann Arbor featuring Rachel Baiman, an artist I had not heard of before. Tom planned to record the show on video and wanted a decent audience to attend. When The Ark announced that members would be admitted for free, I asked my friend John Bommarito to go with me. We ran into several friends there and had a good time.
I really liked Rachel’s music and created a playlist of her songs today. She played guitar and banjo quite well, and only did one song on the fiddle despite being a former fiddle champ. Steve Haan accompanied her admirably on bass and vocals. Her singing reminds me of Gillian Welch. Rachel writes thoughtful and melodic songs and performs them nicely. Her latest album, Common Nation of Sorrow, is a triumph.
Rachel and I have something in common. We were both born in Oak Park, Illinois.
From Wikipedia: Rachel Baiman is an American singer-songwriter and fiddler based in Nashville, Tennessee. Baiman grew up in Oak Park, Illinois. She has described her father as a "radical economist" and her mother is a social worker. When she was young, her parents took her to meetings at the Ethical Humanist Society of Greater Chicago. She moved to Nashville at age 18 to attend Vanderbilt University. She became an Illinois State Fiddle champion at age 17.
Baiman has said her songwriting is influenced by bluegrass and traditional music such as John Hartford as well as contemporary songwriters like Courtney Barnett. NPR has said her music "captures the spirit of wry truth-telling" and Paste Magazine called her song "Shame" "a potent message from an especially powerful messenger." Vice's Noisey highlighted her political songwriting saying "Rachel Baiman's Shame Will Have You Flipping Authority off One Song at a Time." American Standard Time said the record Shame is "iconoclastic folk that will be handed down in song and record for generations."
Rust Belt Fields
Election Night
Arrival of the Kiwis
My Playlist
Sports Star
Today is Maria’s 36th birthday. She is the same age as my twin daughters, Tracy and Kathy, who turned 36 last month.
Maria was known for her powerful groundstrokes, especially her forehand, which was one of the most feared shots in women's tennis. She also had a strong serve and a good return of serve. She was a very aggressive player who liked to come to the net and finish points there.
In 2020 Maria announced her retirement. Her memoir, Unstoppable: My Life So Far (written with Rich Cohen), was published in 2017.
Her son Theodore was born on July 1, 2022. The father is British businessman Alexander Gilkes.
From Wikipedia: Maria Yuryevna Sharapova (born April 19, 1987) is a Russian former world No. 1 tennis player. She competed on the WTA Tour from 2001 to 2020 and was ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 21 weeks. She is one of ten women, and the only Russian, to achieve the career Grand Slam. She is also an Olympic medalist, having won silver in women's singles at the 2012 London Olympics.
Sharapova became the world No. 1 for the first time in August 2005 at the age of 18, becoming the first Russian woman to top the singles rankings, and last held the position for a fifth time for four weeks from June 11, 2012 to July 8, 2012. She won five major titles — two at the French Open and one each at the Australian Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. She won 36 titles in total, including the year-end championships in her debut in 2004. She also won three doubles titles. Although she played under the banner of Russia with the WTA, she has lived in and been a United States permanent resident since 1994.
Since February 2007, she has been a United Nations Development Program Goodwill Ambassador, concerned specifically with the Chernobyl Recovery and Development Program. In June 2011, she was named one of the "30 Legends of Women's Tennis: Past, Present and Future" by Time and in March 2012 was named one of the "100 Greatest of All Time" by Tennis Channel. According to Forbes, she has been the highest-paid female athlete in the world for 11 consecutive years and earned $285 million (including prize money) since she turned pro in 2001. In 2018, she launched a new program to mentor women entrepreneurs.
Picture Pun
I thought about going here but was unable to find any testimonials from existing customers.
