Fins to the Left!

Caught the middle concert of Jimmy Buffett’s “Blink and You Miss It” Florida mini-tour tonight. Two and a half hours of Parrothead madness. Lucky for us, he was dowsing the deep waters of the catalog. I heard things I haven’t heard him play in years–“Floridays,” “Son of a Son of a Sailor,””One Particular Harbor,”...
read more

The Bed List/The Dinner List

BED LIST: SAM ELLIOTTLove that voice. Just love that voice. The bod ain’t bad, neither. Sam’s one of those who just improves with age. And he’s a smart one, too. I’ll bet he has a very, very large bag of tricks.DINNER LIST: TOM BROKAWAnother great voice, with plenty of smarts behind it. And he’s a writer, so I’m guessing between current affairs and his love of...
read more

Good Golly, Miss Molly

This morning’s paper brings the sad news that Molly Ivins has died. This is one woman who knew how to have fun and tell everyone else about it. Whether skewering Texas politicians or the President–her favorite Texas pol to skewer–she was usually on target and a howl, to boot.It takes guts to keep on keepin’ on with inflammatory breast cancer, but Molly Ivins wasn’t...
read more

The Bed List/The Dinner List

BED LIST: KEITH URBANI cannot for the life of me figure out why it took so long for me to put this Wonder from Down Under as a Bed List choice. Probably because he’s a default. Think about a hot man, and Keith comes to mind. He’s an excellent guitar player, an interesting songwriter, and hugely talented. And hot. Did I mention hot? Oh, yeah.DINNER LIST: JOHN CLEESEOf course, John...
read more

Books and Cooks: Fair and Tender Ladies

WE’RE READING: I’M SERVING: CHICKEN AND DUMPLINGSFair and Tender Ladies is going on my keeper shelf. I’ve never read Lee Smith before–amazing, since I love Southern authors–but I’ll be spending some quality time with her backlist after this read.This one’s an epistolary, a tricky form to carry off. (The Color Purple is the best-known modern example, and...
read more