If this is the first weekend of summer, I’ll take it. ‘Twas a good one.
Friday, we went to see Don Was and the Pan-Detroit Ensemble at Orchestra Hall. It was a tight update on Was (Not Was), and a fine way to kick things off.
Saturday: Laundry and groceries, but also a lovely piece of salmon for dinner, with sautéed rapini and key lime pie for dessert.
Sunday: A sunrise rave, part of Movement weekend, i.e. the techno fest. I’ve come to enjoy techno, at least in connection with Movement. I associate it with spring, and the promise of summer. I met up with a friend there. We talked drugs and real estate and related matters. Went home, chilled and did a writing group later that day, then finished it out with a prime New York strip, grilled asparagus, morels and an excellent red.
Tomorrow? Ribs. Even though it’s raining buckets now. It’s not tomorrow yet.
A few notes before we let the weekend go, however:
For the last few years, we’ve bought a couple cases of wine for summer, roses and whites from a vineyard we visited in France when we were there. It comes through a wholesaler in Chicago. We could probably get the same thing here, but every time we open a bottle of summer wine from the vineyard, it reminds me of France, so who cares? It’s not that much money. And I get added to the mailing list, which means I regular receive emails that describe certain vintages thusly:
“Really perfumed nose, highly scented with purple flowers and dark ripe fruit – black currant, damson plum and black cherry. Deep aromatics with lots of tobacco and clove spice on the nose. It’s heady, strongly scented and alive. Cool and crisp on the palate, smooth, so silky, really effortless in the tannin presentation. Juicy and clean, so bright, but not sour or tart, just the right side, so it’s lifted but not overly austere. Once the acidity calms down in comes the salty, mineral base giving lots of liquorice, wet stone and graphite tones, putting you squarely on limestone.”
Or like this:
“Medium intensity ruby, this is a little reserved at first, in the best way, in that it has the hidden depths that are just so promising during En Primeur, real sense of sapidity, squid ink, violet reflections, extremely vibrant, really like this, blueberry, sage, slate, lift on the finish, delicious.”
I’m sorry, but this is hilarious. I ate squid ink not long ago, but can’t tell you what it tastes like, much less violet reflections. But I enjoy reading it.
Finally, there was a would-be mass shooter in Fort Wayne last week. A young man live-streamed his declaration of intent to murder, then carried his phone with him through a local Kroger until he fired off a volley at someone standing at the deli counter. He somehow, miraculously, hit no one, but not for lack of trying. I heard about this on Reddit, where I was able to watch his livestream. (It’s since been removed.) So I went in search of a legit news source story about the incident. All three — two from TV stations, one from the remaining newspaper — read the same, all having been written from police press releases. This is inconceivable to me; when I was there, we’d have flooded the zone with people, and dug up everything about the shooter within hours. Today? Why bother? We have no staff.
OK, then. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Mark P said on May 26, 2024 at 10:43 pm
Another mass shooting? Let’s get with the thoughts and prayers? No one died? Well, in other news, it’s raining somewhere; otherwise, the sky is still blue.
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MarcG said on May 27, 2024 at 7:02 am
My dream job – writing descriptions for wine bottle labels!
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Deborah said on May 27, 2024 at 7:10 am
I’m jealous that you had morels, also curious what that set you back?
I’m back in New Mexico where the fresh mountain air is blowing a bit, it’s been windy. Fire warnings are high around here. The nights are cool just the way I like it. Gardening has been on the agenda but I’m dragging ass as usual with altitude adjustment, this always happens when I come back, lasts a few days.
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Suzanne said on May 27, 2024 at 8:05 am
That wannabe mass shooter in Kroger was in the Kroger my sister regularly shops in, as did my mother-in-law back in the day. I stop there occasionally, too. Ah, Indiana, where one no longer needs a permit to carry a concealed gun, or really any gun at all. It’s our god given right, don’t you know. There was a shooting at the mall in Ft Wayne a few weeks ago by a guy carrying a rifle. How did he carry a rifle into the mall, sane people might wonder? It’s Indiana where no one can tell him he can’t because god and stuff.
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nancy said on May 27, 2024 at 8:51 am
The morels were $20 for a small bowl, about enough to fry to crisp and sprinkle over a couple of dinner plates. That’s about what you pay anywhere, I’ve found. No way to cultivate morels; they have to be found in the wild.
Suzanne, I was just texting someone that I’m so far unimpressed with the Fort’s new mayor. There’ve already been a couple of these incidents in her short term and her response is always the same: Blah blah first responders blah blah. Nut up, lady, and start talking like a Democrat!
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alex said on May 27, 2024 at 9:19 am
They should have put Lynn Thompson from KPC News on the Kroger shooter case.
Lynn’s the cub reporter whose work kind of took me aback at first, but I’ve grown to like it. She teases all kinds of interesting details out of police and court records that would otherwise go unreported. Sure, a lot of her stories involve meth heads getting caught with booze bottles and steaks stuffed down their pant legs at Walmart, but the words they exchange with police or with their accomplices are priceless.
Because it’s paywalled, I’m posting a paste of some of her recent work here. Remarkable how much of a story she manages to tell in so few words, and even though it’s all over the place it’s captivating.
ANGOLA — Grief contributed to violence that landed one person in jail Tuesday morning.
Felicia M. Throw, 25, of the 100 block of Rosendale Street, Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, was arrested at 205 Lane 101, Jimmerson Lake, and charged with Level 6 battery against a public safety official, misdemeanor resisting law enforcement, marijuana possession and refusal to identify.
The probable cause affidavit filed in Steuben County Courts states that at 8:50 a.m. Tuesday, deputies responded to a 911 call reporting pepper spray had been fired against a female at the residence.
From the back of an ambulance, the victim reported Throw had been her sister’s “life partner.” Her sister died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound using Throw’s handgun three months ago. They held a memorial service on Saturday and Throw had refused to leave afterward.
When Throw still refused to leave Tuesday morning, the victim demanded she return a cell phone the family had given her earlier and grabbed for it. That is when Throw fired the pepper spray, court records said.
The family declined to press charges for assault or trespassing with the victim saying, “They only want her to leave to so they can grieve.”
Throw refused to speak to deputies or identify herself, but “wanted to know what everyone else was saying.”
When deputies advised no one wanted to press charges and only wanted her to leave, Throw “became flabbergasted,” according to the report. She said she had been “hit, punched, beat and assaulted by [the victim], had video to prove it and wanted to press charges.”
When a sergeant asked Throw to show them the video she said she couldn’t, “Not right now,” and accused all deputies of “being racist.”
When the sergeant pointed out that she was free to leave, they were trying to get her leave, and the family had paid for a tow truck to jump start her car so she could leave faster, Throw demanded a police escort.
When they walked her to her vehicle and saw marijuana with a pipe in plain view, Throw fought hard to get away. Once she was handcuffed, she continued kicking.
If convicted, Throw faces a maximum 2 1/2 year prison sentence with a $10,000 fine.
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nancy said on May 27, 2024 at 9:24 am
That’s definite Crime of the Week material, Alex.
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Dexter Friend said on May 27, 2024 at 9:29 am
Morels are grown indoors to control the fragile environment they require. The first, 1982, and the greatest success has been in China. In 1976 we found a whole station wagon full of morels near Johannesburg, Michigan…never since, since the next year some hatefuls slashed all 4 of my tires and the next year we were run out of a forest by a security guard, flat-top redneck with a shotgun. No more Michigan morels, because we only found snakes in the public forest lands.
Memorial Day, honoring the ones who fell in uniform. Steve Shirk, classmate in elementary school, dead at 20 in an exploded jeep blown into a river near the DMZ in Vietnam in 1968, drowned. Then, Steve Spencer DeNike, a really patriotic Michigan guy, my Basic Training buddy, killed when his little observation helicopter hit communication wires and crashed NE of what was known then as Saigon. Steve DeNike was 19. Then, an ARVN (US ally) Vietnamese soldier, 20 years old, who I transported from a chopper to a Vietnamese “hospital” in a makeshift ambulance, only to watch him linger and die at sun-up because the Vietnamese medics had no plan for sucking chest wounds, and I was denied my request to drive him to the American hospital in Cam Ranh. Bob Dylan wrote ” Tweeter was a Boy Scout, before she went to Viet Nam…and found out the hard way…that nobody gives a damn.”
That ARVN found that out , the hardest way.
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Joe Kobiela said on May 27, 2024 at 9:31 am
Alex and I agree on very little but I do agree. Lynn is a hoot to read.
Pilot Joe
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Dexter Friend said on May 27, 2024 at 9:37 am
Jumping back in, sorry…Alex, did you read that long story in The Star about the Auburn Trailer Park murder a few days ago? Thorough reporting, and the 21 year old knife-wielder has a history of bad-ass stuff, like breaking into the apartments , Castle Court, where I lived 50 years ago.
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David C said on May 27, 2024 at 10:46 am
It’s raining today, so we’re cleaning out the closet of everything we don’t wear anymore. I have six pairs of khakis and ten dress shirts that I used to wear to work. Since they went to wear whatever you want I’ve worn them to two funerals. So I’ll save one pair of khakis and two dress shirts and that might see me out. We’ve both got so much we never wear. Guess it time to put it back into circulation. We decided to move next summer so there’s going to be plenty more culling in the next year.
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LAMary said on May 27, 2024 at 11:33 am
The last time I had morels was in the late seventies. I was managing a small fancy food store on the upper west side of Manhattan and one of the locals who came in regularly was Ed Koren, a cartoonist for the New Yorker. He had some property in Vermont and he brought me some morels from the woods near his house.
He did a cartoon of our chacuterie case once. The pate company whose product we carried saw the cartoon and altered it to use as an advertisement. In return for the nice morels I told Ed and showed him the ad. I liked Ed more than the jerk from the pate company. Ed got the New Yorker lawyer on the case and the ad went away.
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Julie Robinson said on May 27, 2024 at 1:12 pm
It’s not morels, but our new neighbors stopped by with a key lime pie this morning. We’re all quite fond of key lime. Now they’re having a party so I’m thinking it was a peace offering. That’s okay, it’s 96°, swimming has already happened and we’ll be staying in the rest of the day.
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Ann said on May 27, 2024 at 2:04 pm
Another story with a Fort Wayne connection in the new New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/06/03/master-of-make-believe
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alex said on May 27, 2024 at 2:07 pm
Dex, I saw the Auburn trailer park murder story and once again I was surprised to learn that the perpetrator was no longer incarcerated after being involved in such a serious crime only three years prior. It looks like he got a plea deal in the Castle Court incident, in which a female juvenile was shot while he and another person were burglarizing the apartment where she lived. The article didn’t make clear whether he was the shooter, but the original charge of attempted murder was dismissed in the plea agreement.
Nancy, I’d love to hear more about Was (Not Was). I remember an interview you did with Don Was and I was blown away by your interviewing skills. You should be on radio or TV, at least more than you already are.
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alex said on May 27, 2024 at 3:04 pm
Thanks Ann. Now I have a New Yorker subscription.
Amazing story, and what’s more amazing is that this is the first I’d ever heard about it. You’d think the local press would have been all over it.
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Jim said on May 27, 2024 at 3:34 pm
All the Fort Wayne coverage of the Kroger shooter seemed to somehow focus on nut job Bob Morris, coaching Little League nearby. Relevant? Not.
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Jeff Borden said on May 27, 2024 at 5:43 pm
I’m too much of a peasant to appreciate morels.
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Deborah said on May 27, 2024 at 6:49 pm
Last time we got morels they were $45 per pound, but $15 worth goes a long way and is so worth it. We sauté them in butter, add a little cream and put them on homemade pasta. So good.
Haven’t seen them for sale anywhere this year.
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alex said on May 27, 2024 at 7:11 pm
Maybe they were hoping to get Bob Morris to make some grand pronouncement defending the Second Amendment and blaming deleterious influences like the Girl Scouts and public education for making the kid insane.
Morris creeps me out. I caught him staring holes through me in a restaurant one time, and it felt like gaydar but with a hostile vibe.
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Icarus said on May 27, 2024 at 8:31 pm
I’m such a philistine that I had to google what rapini and morels are. Nancy, were these home-cooked or restaurant meals? we’ll be in Grosse Pointe in a few weeks to visit family, with a swing to Grand Rapids and then Chicago to see my mom. If I need a break, are you down for meeting for a drink?
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nancy said on May 28, 2024 at 10:41 am
Home-cooked. Restaurant prices give me sticker shock, and more places are sneaking in a 20 percent gratuity, so we don’t go out as often as we used to. As for a drink, sure thing. I’ll email you separately.
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Dexter Friend said on May 28, 2024 at 7:12 am
When I heard of the IDF massacre near Rafah, where bombers targeted a tent assemblage and killed 45 Palestinians, families with many children dead, who have been shuttling, trying to find safety, I posted my outrage, joining this whole world in condemnation, and Facebook threatened me with a ban. For noting the big news story of the week.
Losing Bill Walton to cancer hit me hard, as I loved his telecasts of basketball games, and admired how he stood for his values; his antics and commentary during games about The Grateful Dead, scientific phenomena, his life starting in La Mesa, all were great. His 2016 book, “Back from the Dead” was a detailed autobio, included was his report of how for months he was prone, could only crawl on the floor, and how Lori his wife fed him on the floor like a dog. A Los Angeles surgeon built him a new skeleton, basically, with rods and wires, and within weeks he rode that huge bicycle of his from San Francisco to San Diego. I followed his career since Coach Wooden recruited him to UCLA in 1970.
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David C said on May 28, 2024 at 10:07 am
I’m not much of a basketball fan so I never heard Bill Walton’s broadcasting. I heard Jason Benetti, the Tigers’ new play by play guy, talk about being teamed with Walton and how much fun it was. It wasn’t until I heard he passed that I looked it up. Boy, did I miss out. They were hilarious together. I watched a White Sox game they did together. I’ve never seen anything like it and wish I could see more.
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Sheryl Prentice said on June 4, 2024 at 1:30 pm
Point of information: Lynn Thompson is a guy.
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