Andy Statman in El Paso!!

                                                                photo by Ruth Taber

Andy Statman performed at B'nai Zion Synagogue in El Paso on May 8 - what a treat!!

Ruth Taber normally writes about food and travel for the El Paso Times. But she's also a former musician who performed and taught in New York. She attended the May 8 free concert by New Yort'sAndy Statman Trio, which fuses jazz, klezmer, bluegrass and folk music. Here's her review:   (from Doug Pullen Blog, El Paso Times)

By Ruth Taber

Beaming on the bima!

A bima, for those of you who don't know, is a platform in synagogues and temples.

About 600 lucky concertgoers were treated to an extraordinary display of  musical creativity by the visiting Andy Statman Trio on May 8 on the bima of El Paso’s B’nai Zion Synagogue.

Statman, one of nine winners of a 2012 National Heritage Fellowship, showed off his virtuosity on an unlikely pair of instruments,  clarinet and mandolin, as he performed with bass playerJim Whitney and percussionist Larry Eagle.

Taking improvisation to dizzying heights, he easily segued – on both instruments  — from the traditional, improvised Jewish music of Eastern Europe, known as klezmer, to bluegrass and jazz, with an occasional bit of American folk music for seasoning.

There was no fixed program or sheet music. On one number, Statman started a “conversation” with a plaintive tune on clarinet. Whitney answered on the bass. Several “paragraphs” later, the trio improvised to the delight of the foot-tapping, hand-clapping audience. At one point, percussionist Eagle walked over to Whitney and began using drumsticks on the bass strings while Whitney fingered the notes. The audience went wild.

When switching from clarinet to mandolin, Statman asked the audience’s indulgence: his finger, recently caught in a slammed car door, was painful and slow in healing. Not sure how long he could play with the injured finger. He said he’d give it a try. Oy! Such phenomenal playing with an injured finger.

Statman has performed with classical, jazz and rock greats, including Itzhak Perlman, Jerry Garciaand Bela Fleck. His latest album, 2012's "Old Brooklyn," features collaborations with a number of outstanding musicians including bluegrass star Ricky Skaggs.

The singer-mandolinist is an evangelical Christian. Statman's an orthodox Jew. They make beautiful music together on a track titled "The Lord Will Provide," an 18th-century hymn. When Skaggs introduced Statman at a concert  several years ago, he said, “deep down, we both pray to the same Daddy,” referring to the “Holy Father of Bluegrass,” mandolin player and singer Bill Monroe.

UTEP professor Ezra Cappell lured Statman to town. Students in his summer class, "New York Through Literary Imagination," experience a week of Big Apple culture, including Statman's trio in Greenwich Village. Cappell has consistently invited Statman to perform in El Paso. With the help of some generous benefactors in this city he was able to pull it off this year.

The National Heritage Fellowships, which have gone to people like B.B. King, is considered the nation’s highest honor in the folk and traditional arts. They're presented annually by theNational Endowment for the Arts. Their description of Statman:  “The culmination of decades of creative development, his music expands the boundaries of traditional and improvisational forms.

 Amen to that.

 

March already? Savor every day!

Just returned from the March Housewares Show in Chicago - managed to leave on one of the few planes that were not on the cancelled list - over 700 flights didn't leave because of the snowstorm!
Back home - no snow here - just March sunshine - in the 60's - pretty ordinary El Paso weather.
This year is racing by - seems like I was just savoring January with all its goodies:
My buddy, Mari Angeles Gallardo pulled off another one of her fabulous affairs:  the chefs from Biko Restaurant in Mexico City returned to cook up a storm for 100 lucky guests at Coronado Country Club. Biko is in the top 50 of the world's best restaurants on the Pelligrino list pleasing diners with their Basque inspired cooking.

Photo: l. to r.
Chef Gerard Bellver. Honorary Consul of Spain Mari Angeles Gallardo, Octogenarian food columnist Ruth Taber, Chef/Owner of Biko, Mikel Alonso and wife.

A great way to start January - but wait - there's more. After savoring the culinary feast, we were treated to a musical feast. Fantastic musician/comedians Igudesman and Joo came to El Paso to perform at the Pro Musica January Chamber Music Festival. Here's a photo showing Igudesman (violinist extraordinaire) on the left and Joo (pianist/composer/renaissance man) on the right. (Ruthy manages to get in all the photos!)
Think Mozart mixed with broad humor, embellished with Victor Borge, topped with Monty Python - and you begin to understand what kind of a feast we "savored." Look them up on You Tube for a sample taste!
Leaving El Paso after these feasts we flew to Sydney for a bit of their Summer Arts Festival - before boarding the Holland America Oosterdam for a cruise among South Pacific Islands.
Hadn't been on Holland America for a while - and we were very impressed with food, presentation and extremely high level of service. Of course the weather was glorious - (who needs the Caribbean - been there, done that) and the island visits prompted researching more about WWII - since so much of the action took place there. You can read about my trip in the blog I posted for Holland America Oosterdam's website.
All of sudden it was February! Nothing momentous or exciting - just racing by - and  here we are in March. Where have all the days gone? Certainly an auspicious beginning for 2013 - how much better can it get?
Oh yes - the Housewares Show - love the colors - kitchens look like flower gardens. And it appears that we still are looking for the perfect cup of coffee made in a foolproof coffee maker - that doesn't break down, isn't difficult to clean and suits everyone's purse. So many new models displayed for making coffee; have to test a few of the new ones to see if they live up to their hype.
Slightly belated "Happy Healthy New Year" to all my friends.

Guns don't Kill???

Twenty little kids in Connecticut  - gone in a minute. Of course the NRA says "guns don't kill" - "people do". Will we ever get a handle on this? It's bad enough that people labeled mentally unstable can lay their hands on these weapons - but what about the people who seem fine today and suddenly become mentally unstable? Especially scary in Texas - any number of reasons justify gun totin' neighbors.  Anyone can buy a gun - or delegate someone to buy it for them. You don't like your neighbor's politics? Tossing trash on your property? Keep your mouth shut. Period.

Famous psychologist Maslow said if the only tool we have is a hammer,  we'll treat all problems with a hammer.
Guns for everybody? Don't need advanced degrees to figure this out. 
Oh yes - and let's continues to sell gun toys, and glorify gun culture.....Oy!!!


 

Hypocrisy and Lies - the new R&R movie

It's that awful  season again - pre-election time. Think of all the money being spent on advertising, campaigning - then imagine it spent on fresh veggies and fruit for people with meager incomes.
Wish we had the European method - not allowing campaigning until a week or so before the election...but then the networks and media would lose a bundle of cash....so depressing.
Has anyone heard how the the R&R ticket plans to provide jobs? Did I miss something?
And the lies (misleading info - same thing) about taking money from medicare for the Health Care plan that covers everyone? Notice how the specifics are omitted - did the kid mention that no money is taken from medicare beneficiaries?
And the Ryan kid wants to issue vouchers for medicare....so you get $6000 for the year in vouchers and your illness comes to three times that; (try 100 times that -  considering the way medical costs escalate because we don't know how to educate people why/where/what medical procedures are necessary);  what are you supposed to do - chuck it all and say: "Oh, well, guess I'll stay sick or die - since I used up my vouchers!"
"We'll take care of our elders", the kid promises; sure he will - his mother and a few friends. After that, pure, smarmy hypocrisy in action.
A good example of R&R thinking: I live in a 75 home community that decided parts of its road system needed repair. The road in front of my house is fine. But all of us who live in this community are paying (taxed!!!) for the new road - because, the "board" of the community told us: "New paving will help keep up the value of our community." (oops - shades of socialism!!!) So why is it so hard to understand the benefits of health care  - healthy citizens are necessary to  "keep up the value of our country"!  
The R&R ticket takes women back to the middle ages. Family planning? Fageddaboutit. Republicans (read: tea partyniks)  still think women are second class citizens - on this earth to breed and look pretty. They let a few sneak in with brains (always need a few token women) but not too many please.  Result: we can inundate the country with unwanted kids - who might very well become burdens of society - requiring more health care, reform care, whatever.
Does the R&R gang really think abortions will disappear? They occurred in ancient times and will never stop. Only problem is we'll have more women dying because of back-door botched abortions.
The Ryan kid says we're not better off than we were 4 years ago; hmmm - 90+ percent of our citizens are employed - and there would be even more jobs if the Republican congress hadn't blocked every bit of legislation put forward to accomplish this. Let's face it - they stated early on that their only goal was to make sure Obama had one term - forget about doing anything for the citizens/country that elected them.
This has been a very kvetchy morning - I just read a Rolling Stones article explaining how Romney made soooo much money and got rid of jobs. (Read about KB toys if you want to cry.) Compassion, caring? What I fear most - if the R&R ticket should win - god forbid - we'll be looking at a wider gap between rich and poor. Anyone study history? That's how revolutions start. Remember the 1920's in Europe - when conditions  were so bad? One needed a suitcase of paper money to buy a cup of coffee in Germany. The public was ready for the promises of a mad dictator.

Something to kvell about: Love that Elizabeth Warren running for office in Massachusetts. Go, girl go!

More travel kvetching

Who travels by air between June and September? Everybody it seems - so the crowded airports, unhappy "campers" and frazzled airport/plane staff shouldn't come as a surprise. But when the TSA joins the party - that's a bit over the top. Not too long ago the TSA decided that travelers over 75 weren't likely to be terrorists so they sent out a notice stating that those born before 1937 didn't have to remove their shoes going through security. Also these venerable older citizens could keep a lightweight shirt or jacket on their shoulders - not necessary to remove sleeved garments and display folds of wrinkled skin with beaucoup black and blue marks from a bump here and there. OK - so far so good. I wore my shoes in Boston's Logan Airport, El Paso's airport and once in Washington's DCA airport. But yesterday,June 20, the DCA TSA people were a bit over-frazzled, rude and curt. A not too happy young TSA woman decided to test my shoes for no apparent reason - no signals, beeps or anything going through the detector. She then said in her most smarmy, nasty voice available - "well you didn't have to take them off - I tested them on your feet"- as if she was granting me a great favor/courtesy. Excuse me - what's this new thing about people over 75 not needing to take their shoes off? And I guess my biggest peeve is the lack of consistency - I have had more than my share of uncomfortable pat downs since I don't want to go through the body scanner which emits an unknown amount of radiation and I've had my share of X-rays along with my breast cancer. Despite statistically unscientific reports touting "no danger" to this "minimal amount of radiation" we're still in unknown territory when it comes to radiation in the bodies of older (over 80) people. In DCA several weeks ago and leaving El Paso five days ago I asked if I could go through the regular metal scanner and avoid the body scanner. Two extremely courteous, TSA officers said "no problem" and allowed me to skip the radiation dose. But yesterday in DCA - another DCA man snapped at me and said either go through the full body scanner or get the pat-down. He let a couple of kids go through the metal scanner - (good, because we don't know that much about radiation and its absorption by kids). He then allowed two more passengers to go through the metal scanner. My turn? Guess he didn't like my face (or was it because I was wearing my shoes and a short sleeve sweater?) Oh well - now that I've kvetched, I'll put on my happy face. I wish upgrades to business class and better for all my friends and relatives flying this summer! Oh yes - I was in Washington DC for the Fancy Food Show - mmm delicious! More about that later.

83 years young - still kvelling/kvetching

It's been almost a year since my last blog; a very busy life precluded this activity. Turning 83 last December - when my husband was quite ill (fully recovered now, thank you!)I had a glimpse of what a caregiver's life is all about. Most of us don't like to talk about aging, illness/death - but all of us will be either caregivers or need caring at some point in our lives. Our kids were fabulous - living on both east and west coasts, they checked in every day and also visited. Forget the classic joke about two older women talking about their kids and asking the third woman what she does for aggravation sans kids....
So now it's business as usual - kvetching about the political scene - and feeling relatively helpless in effecting change. Hypocrisy accompanied by lying is the pattern for promoting pols and ideas; not sure which is worse.
The concept of choice apparently only works for some of us - you can choose to stay home and be a "full time mom" (Mrs. Romney) but you can't choose whether you should have another child (or any). Now that sounds fair......?
Invoking God for "choice" when it's "your" God? How about other people's God?
And I keep coming back to our convoluted ideas about health care - if there's talk about unnecessary procedures not covered by Medicare - the "rationing" howls begin. But the truth is that we prescribe too many screenings, procedures, prescriptions which in the end will do nothing or even harm the "patient". We still are living in an age where we're advised to contact our physician for every two bit ache or kvetch and if he/she doesn't order/prescribe - oops - must be a "bad" physician. (Of course they prescribe - afraid of litigation in case something goes wrong in the future!)
Most important - since I have some understanding about the 80+ population - the need for annual physcials for this segment is completely unnecessary (assuming there is no underlying chronic/acute disease process).
Is it any wonder that we spend so much more on health care than any other country - and our morbidity rates are so much higher? Food for thought!

Weiner whines. Gingrich groans, Palin prattles

So what's new in the fantasy world of politics?
What is it with these guys who get a whiff of fame (and probably fortune) and go haywire with unacceptable social behavior? (If they lived in France nobody would care - but they've lived long enough in our puritanical society to understand what's ok or not!) Weiner wants forgiveness? So he can do other stupid things? Fageddaboutit! Right now he's just a hindrance to the Democratic party.
Gingrich has brains - but they're encased in a goyischer kup. No sympathy for this misdirected man.
Palin - oy - hope she's "enjoying" her bus vacation; I am too - since every time she opens her mouth to answer a question out comes a bundle of laughs. Maybe she should try standup comedy? She doesn't like the press and yet does everything possible to garner more attention. What's her game? Surely she can't think she's presidential material.

And my Governor Perry - hoping to pray the state to economic recovery -OY!!!! This is politics Texas Republican style: honey, you all gotta pray to the good lord for good times. Ignore the education budget cuts - gerrymander districts - but make sure you get a parent signature if a kid wants an abortion. Better still - ban all abortions. Then the Mafia or other cartels can get into the business - with hefty payoffs to the pols. Abortions have been part of society since ancient times - and will continue - no matter what.

And something to kvell about - my granddaughters attend Montgomery County, MD schools. The school system has the highest graduation rate in the country. Yeah!!