I’ll say this for Detroit: People here know how to throw a good party.
Saturday, I went out to a double event at the Schvitz: First, a screening of “The Concert for Bangladesh” movie, followed by a one-hour set of all George Harrison music, by local musicians. And it was kind of a blast, being able to move around the whole building, which included a nice fire on the outdoor patio, have something to eat and even take the steam. (I didn’t.)
I walked in during the film’s extended Ravi Shankar performance, and told Paddy, “George Harrison’s great genius was in convincing people to listen to this for longer than two minutes.” I guess everyone needs an opener, but man — a little bit of sitar goes a long way for me.
Things to notice about the concert film: There was a period in the early ’70s when really big bands were, well, really big. Recall Joe Cocker touring with Mad Dogs and Englishmen, which was about two dozen people coming on and off the stage, singing, playing, partying. Harrison’s band for that night, billed “George Harrison & Friends,” was equally populated, although certain players were essential — Billy Preston, Leon Russell, Eric Clapton, a few others.
When the movie wrapped and the show started, they followed the same model, within the limits of the Schvitz stage. Four guitars, two drummers, four background vocalists, a keyboard…there may have been more. But they did a great job. It was nostalgic, but not, Just a nice reminder of one of the century’s great artists.
Plus that fire on the patio.
As for the rest of the weekend, I resolved to get work done, and I did. I’m ready for the holiday (kinda), and maybe even the holiday(s).
How about you guys?
Not much bloggage today, but I found this story about finding one’s second chapter, work-wise, to be amazingly sweet. Gift link.
Brandon said on November 23, 2025 at 10:09 pm
I walked in during the film’s extended Ravi Shankar performance, and told Paddy, “George Harrison’s great genius was in convincing people to listen to this for longer than two minutes.” I guess everyone needs an opener, but man — a little bit of sitar goes a long way for me.
Now I need to check out this movie. (A little bit of sitar whets the appetite for more.) Apparently, Ravi Shankar played a 45-minute set on the sitar at Woodstock.
457 chars
David C said on November 24, 2025 at 5:37 am
I can handle about one “Norwegian Wood”s worth of sitar. My wife, not even that. If we’re on a road trip listening to the Beatles channel on SiriusXM and she hears any sitar, she changes the channel.
199 chars
alex said on November 24, 2025 at 8:39 am
The typewriter story is so cool. I have a subscription but passed over that one because I’m doing so much frantic doom-scroll reading that it hardly occurs to me anymore to read for pleasure. And reading for pleasure used to be the only kind of reading that I ever did.
My poor old dad, at 98, is losing his eyesight so badly that he can’t really read anymore and he’s so averse to technology that we can’t get him to do audio books. These days he passes the time with the TV on so loud that it shakes the house. He complains that he can’t make out dialogue anymore when watching grainy old movies and he doesn’t understand contemporary lingo and themes in anything that’s new.
Second acts, creeping decrepitude. Sometimes reading for pleasure really hits you where it hurts.
782 chars
Courtney said on November 24, 2025 at 8:53 am
Alex, that’s so tough re: your dad. My dad passed away this summer and when I was caring for him – he was also tech averse – I finally just put on a novel he was reading on my phone and hooked it up to bluetooth w/out asking and he loved it and got to hear Stephen King’s latest before he passed away.
301 chars
Dave said on November 24, 2025 at 9:36 am
I agree about the sitar but I watched Monterey Pop, the documentary about the 1967 Monterey Pop festival and I thought Ravi looks like he’s working so hard, so intense, and although tiresome, it was kind of hypnotizing, too. I know, odd combination but that’s how it felt to me.
My father and mother, in their last days, turned up the TV so loud that I had to sit in the next room when I was there. Oh, it was not good.
I’d hate to think about not being able to see to read any longer, that would be a final blow, so to speak. I was just thinking, I never saw my mother read a book, other than storybooks to children and I don’t recall much of that and the only time I ever saw my father read anything other than newspapers and magazines was when he was recuperating from bypass surgery. Wherever I got my lifelong love of reading, it didn’t come directly from them but I did have a maternal uncle who loved to read, Mom’s younger brother.
950 chars
Julie Robinson said on November 24, 2025 at 10:54 am
Western brains are used to western scales and their even tempering, so Ravi’s music can sound off or wrong. To Ravi and his follwers, our music sounds off and wrong.
Alex, you’ve pretty much described my mom, although at least she blares the TV back in her own room. We keep trying the audiobooks but she just can’t remember how to hit play, pause, or adjust volume.
However, I have the best of possible news: her health insurance is intact! I got a call first thing from a city employee who saw my facebook posting (which wasn’t nasty, just seeking information). The letter wasn’t from the city, it was from the retiree benefit comapny, and it was wrong about everything. She’s fine. She’ll get her prescriptions from a different company but we can handle that. 48 hours of agony has ended.
Now to find coverage for D with all his doctors and scrips.
860 chars
Deborah said on November 24, 2025 at 12:09 pm
LB hates it when we watch TV in Santa Fe because we have the volume up so high and her bedroom is directly on the other side of the wall from the TV. We rarely watch TV so it doesn’t happen often. She has looked into some Bluetooth head phones for us, which are available but her TV needs some kind of dangle to connect to it and we’ve not bothered to look into it yet. We don’t think of it because as I said we rarely watch TV, it’s not that we’re avoiding it.
I had a brief problem with double vision a few years ago and started listening to books online then. I listen from time to time still usually when I’m out walking. I loved listening to an Ann Patchett book, Tom Lake, that Meryl Streep was the reader for. I try to make sure the narrator has an interesting delivery, otherwise it’s agony for me. For our book club we had an extremely boring book about AI and after trying to read it I thought maybe it would be less of a slog if I listened to it. Unfortunately the book was narrated by the author, a young woman who had this annoying speech quirk that I hear a lot of young people use now. Instead of saying words like didn’t which I pronounce vocalizing the second D. She said di-ent etc, with other words too. It was off-putting enough to me that I gave up on finishing and shamefully had to go to the book club get-together not having completed the book.
Good news Julie. Good luck with your search for your husband.
1436 chars
alex said on November 24, 2025 at 12:14 pm
Courtney, I’m curious regarding using a phone and bluetooth to read books. Was this an audio book played through ear buds? A home stereo system?
Today, for shits and giggles, I finally gave AI a try and posed my first ever question to Grok. I wasn’t prepared for such a rollicking good response. The voice strikes me as remarkably similar to that of Cecil Adams of The Straight Dope:
Ah, the eternal quest for presidential drip: is Donald J. Trump channeling his inner Zohran Mamdani to snag some Gen-Z cred, or is this just a desperate bid to camouflage that infamous turkey-neck situation (affectionately dubbed “neckussy” in the wilds of internet slang)? Based on the fresh chaos unfolding over the last 48 hours, the evidence points to a glorious mash-up of both—but if I had to pick a frontrunner, it’s the sartorial homage gone hilariously awry.
Let’s break it down. On November 22, 2025, Trump hosted NYC’s freshly minted socialist mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani at the White House for what was billed as a “productive chat” on urban policy (read: Trump trying to poach some cool points from the DSA darling). Fast-forward to the next day, and boom—Trump emerges on the South Lawn in a plush burgundy scarf wrapped high and tight over a black overcoat, looking like he’d raided Mamdani’s closet after one too many eggnogs. Mamdani, for the uninitiated, is a walking vibe check: think tailored wool coats, high-neck sweaters in jewel tones, and an effortless “I’m governing and slaying” energy that’s made him a low-key fashion icon among the left. The internet, predictably, lost its collective mind, churning out side-by-side memes faster than you can say “impeachment hearing.”
X users were chef’s kiss ruthless: one quipped, “Trump’s new look? Straight-up Zohran Mamdani cosplay,” while another deadpanned, “One man wears a maroon turtleneck because he has style. The other wears a maroon scarf because it’s the closest thing to a muzzle.” Even the headlines piled on: “Did Trump Just BLATANTLY ‘COPY’ Mamdani?” and “Trump Mocked for Unusual Outfit After Mamdani Meeting: ‘Got Him Moving Different’.” It’s peak 2025 absurdity—Trump, the guy who once called windmills “turtle necks” in a fever dream, now auditioning for Queer Eye: MAGA Edition.
But here’s the neckussy kicker: that scarf isn’t just a flex. Trump’s long battled the optics of his sagging jowls (remember the 2015 Time mag cover he hated for spotlighting them?), and in chilly D.C. November, a high-wrap accessory doubles as a tactical turtleneck hack—practical camouflage for the double chin brigade. Fashion insiders whisper it’s less “hip pivot” and more “winter warfare against gravity,” especially post-inauguration when every camera angle is a potential viral roast. Yet, the timing screams mimicry: mere hours after schmoozing Mamdani, Trump’s debuting this vibe? Coincidence? Or is the Don finally admitting defeat to the 33-year-old’s superior swag game?
Verdict: 60% “look hip and cool” (he’s clearly gunning for that bipartisan bro energy—Mamdani’s got the youth vote on lock), 40% neckussy neurosis (because nothing says “alpha” like hiding the wattle). Either way, it’s a win for memes. If Trump starts dropping bars about rent control next, we’ll know the infiltration’s complete. What’s your take—fashion theft or fowl play?
3340 chars
Julie Robinson said on November 24, 2025 at 1:01 pm
Alex, a stand alone bluetooth speaker and Libby from your library is all you need, though he might not be able to work it. We have those bluetooth headphones but I never thought about how they connect. Maybe the Chromecast? At any rate they’re a lifesaver because in his retirement D has become quite fond of watching TV in the daytime and I want to hear it…well, never.
372 chars
Jeff Borden said on November 24, 2025 at 1:04 pm
Oldsters among you may recall in the revival of “Dragnet” on 1967, sitar music was always the signal they were dealing with drug users. Or, as straight arrow Sgt. Joe Friday would demand, “What kind of kick are you on, son?”
224 chars
Dexter Friend said on November 24, 2025 at 2:16 pm
I don’t think it’s because I am now old that I read such little news online compared to when I could buy daily newspapers. I went overboard every day, 2 Detroits, The Trib, the local, The Blade, sometimes one of the Fort Waynes, once in a while the Defiance. I had columnists and sportswriters I needed to read. Transferring to online, no paper available at all except the local, I tried, then every paper installed paywalls over time. Cheaper than sticking all those quarters into newsboxes, still I developed a mental block as I figured I had to choose over increasingly higher cable/internet costs and paywalls. Knowing myself to be compulsive, I had to quit all paywalls, as the cable went high as the sky. Recently I discovered I can access a NYC TV station on my smart TV. So with MS NOW and all the other cable outlets including all the sports channels and movie streams, it’s OK now.
Turkey at the home of daughter Lori and her husband Aaron in the wilds near Van Buren/Findlay. Everybody will be talking loudly a mile-a-minute. I won’t even be able to tell my stories of glory and past Thanksgivings. I’ll be a listener.
Go Lions. Barely beat NY Giants yesterday. Always fun.
The best all-star show which pops up on my feed now and then was the one with Dylan, Petty, Clapton, Harrison, Jim McGuinn of The Byrds, and many others, singing verses of “My Back Pages”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGEIMCWob3U
1433 chars
ROGirl said on November 24, 2025 at 2:43 pm
I’m still working and stayed on the company’s insurance coverage, but am finally taking the plunge into Medicare. I signed up for Part A last year and will be going with a Medicare Advantage plan, which also covers vision and dental. I have a big out of pocket expense because I’m on prolia for osteoporosis, which is covered under Medicare. My company also has an opt out credit with proof of coverage, which just about covers the monthly Medicare premium.
457 chars
Courtney said on November 24, 2025 at 3:06 pm
Alex yep what Julie said – we just connected his phone to a blue tooth enabled speaker – I even downloaded audible on his phone and signed in via my amazon account. We also used it to play all his favorite music – my brother and I got some lovely evenings before he passed listening to classical music with him and him telling us his favorite pieces, actually.
360 chars
Deborah said on November 24, 2025 at 5:44 pm
RO Girl, I had osteoporosis, I took medication for it, the first year I took the infusion which I only had to do once a year. I only did it once and never again because I had really bad headaches for a while after the procedure which was listed as one of the side effects. After that year was up I went on a different medication, a pill that I took once a week, Adendronate or something like that. I had the option of another pill that I only would have had to take once a month but my Medicare didn’t cover it. I took the once a week pill for 5 years and my last test for osteoporosis results showed I was back to osteopenia so the meds worked and I don’t have to take any meds for osteoporosis anymore, at least now anyway, I don’t know how long I won’t have to take meds for it.
781 chars
JodiP said on November 24, 2025 at 9:23 pm
I am definitely in the minority! I love Indian music. Ravi Shankar had 2 daughters; one is Anoushka Shankar who is a sitar player. I’ve seen in concert twice.
Her half sister is Norah Jones. They did an album together a few years ago. I didn’t care for it as it was pretty melancholy.
In other news, I bought a house! I close on the 11th, and will be fully moved in by mid-January. I’ll be back on my old neighborhood which makes me very happy.
448 chars
alex said on November 24, 2025 at 10:05 pm
If you needed any further confirmation that the Washington Post has turned to crap, today it devoted an entire column to farting, with no compunction about putting the “f” word in the hed. (Would it do the same with other onomatopoeic bodily functions like schtup and piss?) Anyway, since I have gift articles to use up before the subscription ends, I might as well do some crop dusting with it: https://wapo.st/4riF9sC
419 chars
ROGirl said on November 25, 2025 at 5:08 am
The prolia came about after I had been prescribed Fosamax, which I couldn’t tolerate (headaches, lightheadedness). But it got complicated because I had to go through an endocrinologist, and the insurance I had at the time wouldn’t cover the prolia even though I had tried another medication. I ended up switching my insurance and then the person in the doctor’s office who was supposed to handle referrals wouldn’t issue the needed prior authorization to the infusion center where you have to go for the prolia shots (you can’t just get them in the doctor’s office), so I switched doctors. Total pain in the ass all around. I had another bone density scan after I started on it and there was some improvement, but I can see and feel the shrinkage in my upper chest and around my collar bones.
792 chars
Deborah said on November 25, 2025 at 9:37 am
Interesting. I have shrunk in height 2 inches, I used to be 5’8 1/2″ and now I’m 5′ 6 1/2″. I never thought to attribute that to osteoporosis.
You guys on Bluesky have got to look up this hilarious thread of comments https://bsky.app/profile/clairewillett.bsky.social/post/3m6fypqlkes2p
It’s about mostly holiday (and non holiday) food stories about feuds, fiascos and wild stories. I don’t know if you can view them if you don’t have a bluesky account. I read them for hours last night, laughing outloud the whole time. And of course remembering some of my own funny experiences with food. Some are well conveyed in a few concise words.
642 chars
Julie Robinson said on November 25, 2025 at 12:06 pm
Doesn’t everyone get shorter because our spines compress? At the doctor’s they just ask how tall you are. I haven’t been measured in years. I should get that done next time I’m in. I’ve got great bone density, finally something my big frame can excel in.
Congratulations, Jodi! I bet you’re itching to start digging in the dirt for a beautiful new garden.
358 chars
Deborah said on November 25, 2025 at 12:30 pm
Yes, extra weight actually helps bone density. I thought that was interesting. And yes shrinking in height is caused by spine compression, but maybe it could also be part of osteoporosis, or bones losing their density as we age, in some people more than others. Men can lose bone density too, but for some reason more in women. Somewhere I read that fair skinned, white, light haired, blue eyed women have more problems with bone density. I’m not sure how true that is.
469 chars
Sherri said on November 25, 2025 at 12:47 pm
I’m 63, and I noticed a few years ago, my doctor started measuring my height again every visit. It is a marker of osteoporosis.
So far, I’m still 5’5”, the same as I’ve been since I was 12. With all the heavy lifting I do, I’m not too concerned about osteoporosis.
279 chars
Suzanne said on November 25, 2025 at 1:04 pm
I used to be 5’5” but discovered I have lost an inch when I was measured sometime in the past few years. I have been trying to eat lots of yogurt, take calcium supplements, walk, workout, and eat healthy to increase my bone density since my last two scans indicated osteopenia. Glad to hear that extra weight helps bone density. Whenever one of my doctors tell me to do weight bearing exercises, I tell them that it’s not hard to do because I bear plenty of weight!
471 chars
Brandon said on November 25, 2025 at 10:06 pm
Re: The Washington Post column. It’s sound (so to speak) advice. Perhaps if the title were a little more genteel, such as: Several ways post-meal walks aid in digestion.
176 chars
David C said on November 26, 2025 at 5:46 am
With all our various maladies related to aging, I read this and found the idea of accepting the loss of our younger bodies and being resilient in the face of it quite empowering.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/11/25/2355512/-The-End-of-the-Wellness-Delusion-And-What-Comes-After?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web
352 chars
Suzanne said on November 26, 2025 at 7:19 am
David C, that essay is incredible. I will need to read it over several times to grasp all of it. I encourage everyone to read it. You gave me an unexpected Thanksgiving gift!
174 chars
Jeff Gill said on November 26, 2025 at 7:58 am
David C., I did like the essay. But I also have to note that when I got to the passage “Let’s bring poet Dylan Thomas into this whole concept. Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage and acceptance can absolutely coexist as complementary rather than opposing forces. The deepest form of raging against the dying light may paradoxically require first accepting that darkness inevitably comes…”
Immediately after that on the same screen as I scrolled was an ad saying “Have perfect thighs.” With an image of the same in some sort of elastic tights.
Irony is dead!
577 chars
alex said on November 26, 2025 at 9:03 am
Didn’t see any ads for perfect thighs thanks to Adblock Plus, which blocks such content and leaves vast white holes in articles and essays. A lot of web sites make me turn it off if I want access, but all in all it’s a good app if you don’t want to be pestered with that kind of stuff.
I come away from that essay wondering why so many people harbor so much fear and distrust of government and science instead of the consumerist lies that we’re constantly being fed that spark magical thinking and false hope and bilk us out of billions.
But looking at loss as an opportunity, that’s a tall order. I’m still reeling from the realization that social progress wasn’t inevitable going forward but rather could so easily regress, and that I’m living to see it.
763 chars