Music and Food

Egg nog is back in stores, and I got a half gallon of it, like it's going out of style. I might make the next batch myself though, that way I can put the bourbon and fresh grated nutmeg in (not that I can't add it to the store bought stuff, but then I'm just a lush). One of the grocery stores I go to has a new batch of shopping carts, and they run really smooth and clean and improve the shopping experience. The trip this evening was to gather the ingredients for the cheese buttons that were a big hit last holiday season. There is a soup lunch potluck at work on Wednesday, so I'll bring these, which aren't a soup, but they're something.

This morning was one of my favorite radio shows on Lincoln's community owned radio station KZUM 87.3, Dance Bands: When Melody Was King. It's a wonderful way to start the week. Con Good, the host, does a nice job of building shows around a year or an artist, or a band leader. Through him I've discovered or gained appreciation for a bunch of singers and songwriters I wouldn't have had the chance to otherwise. Like Lena Horne was really cool, and Bob Merrill not only wrote The Chicken Song, but Sparrow in a Treetop and If I Knew You Were Coming, I'd Have Baked a Cake.

Another thing I like about the radio show, similar to Mad Men, is that it shines a light on the culture and social mores of the times, just like a radio show of our Top 40 sixty years from now would show how obsessed we were with sex and money. And then you hear old favorites like Billie Holiday sing lines like, "I love my man like a school boy loves pie, Like a Kentucky Colonel--his mint and rye." from St. Louis Blues by W.C. Handy.

But that is not why I brought up the radio show. I brought it up because the show this morning, and a listening to my soundtrack of Sweet and Lowdown last week at work, reminded me how beautifully warm the clarinet can be. Especially in contrast with the sound of water fowl being stomped on at the beginning of Jay-Z's Run This Town.

Dignangely Jimenez, Edith Coxaj