Music Friday: "Gutbucket Steepy"

I've been revisiting some great albums by Brandford Marsalis from the 80s lately. This week I've been listening to a lot of jazz. 

"Gutbucket Steepy" comes from his 1989 album Trio Jeepy. 

Musing of the Moment: Isocrates on the Youth in Ancient Greece

I'm running an independent study with an undergraduate who wants to study classical rhetoric. 

As I was reading Antidosis by Isocrates, I came across this passage of his take on the problems among the youth in Ancient Greece. 

"It is from these pursuits that you have for a long time now been driving out youth, because you accept the words of those who denounce this kind of education. Yes, and you have brought it about that the most promising of our young men are wasting their youth in drinking bouts, in parties, in soft living and childish folly, to the neglect of all efforts to improve themselves; while those of grosser nature are engaged from morning until night in extremes of dissipation which in former days an honest slave would have despised. You see some of them chilling their wine at the 'Nine-fountains'; others, drinking in taverns; others, tossing dice in gambling dens; and many, hanging about the training schools of the flute girls."

I'm thinking "same as it ever was, bruh."

They're youth.

Today I think you could replace the drinking with smoking weed.

I am intrigued by the prospect of "flute girls" though. Most people associate flute girls with prostitution, but according someone who knows Ancient Greece better than me, they are not necessarily prostitutes.

Check out "Flute Girls" on Mindship.

Random Notes from a Crank

I need to work into my lexicon the word booboisie. It's a word coined by H.L. Mencken that is meant to describe stupid people. Mencken was an avowed classist, so he probably meant the term to describe the dregs of a democratic system, the kind of folks who are hoodwinked by people like George Santos and Moscow Don. The kind of people who mistakenly vote against their own best interests...

I need to reread Treatise on the Gods again, a book Mencken thought was one of his best. 

Here are some interesting factoids and stats from the February "Harper's Index":

• Percentage of eligible Americans who vote: 63
• Of Hungarians: 71
• Of Uruguayans: 95
• Portion of Americans who believe the media prioritizes profits over the public interest: 3/4
• Portion of Americans who watch shows or movies with the subtitles on "most of the time": 1/2
• Of Gen-Z-ers who do: 7/10
• Percentage by which young adults are more likely to smoke cigarettes than adults aged 65 or older: 50
• By which young adults are more likely to smoke only marijuana than to smoke only cigarettes: 270

I wonder what it is about Uruguay that has such a strong voting turnout?

I use subtitles on certain programs in which the characters have strong British accents like Peaky Blinders, which I haven't watch much lately. 

The number of young people smoking weed these days is quite strong. I don't think that habit is going to make many of them go-getters. It's not like Mary Jane is a drug known for motivating folks. 

Perhaps the counterculture generation of the 60s and 70s along with NORML won? At least in certain states so far...

Music Friday: "St. Thomas"

The other day I was daydreaming about being on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. I have no legit reason to be on such a talk show, but I wonder if I would what song I'd like the band to play as I walk out and shake the host's hand. 

I think I'd go with "St. Thomas," which I was introduced to on the album Renaissance by Branford Marsalis, but was originally composed by Sonny Rollins. 

Enjoy. 

Musing of the Moment: Bob Ross Therapy

I started watching Bob Ross - The Joy of Painting. I remember watching it from time to time on my local PBS station when I was a kid. 

I thought it was kind of silly back then with his white man's afro and the soft timbre of his voice. 

Now when I watch it, I would argue that watching episodes is a legit form of therapy. 

With all the talk about there being "no mistakes - just happy little accidents" and Bob pronouncing that "it's your world," and how you can put whatever you want into it, he's giving some damn good life coaching. 

Hell, he's gotta be more helpful than some of the therapists fleecing people with their widely varied backgrounds and perspectives on depression and how to treat it. 

Keep embracing your happy little accidents, people. 

Fumbling Toward Culinary Talent: Steak Marinade

The basics of this marinade I got from the InterWebs, but I modified it somewhat. I don't need to do a process section here because one just whisks the stuff together.

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup of soy sauce
• 1/2 cup of olive oil
• 1/4 cup of Worchestershire sauce
• 1/4 cup of lemon juice--I used a whole lemon
• 2 TB of Italian dressing seasoning
• 1 TB of dried rosemary
• 1 TB of minced garlic
• Salt and pepper to taste

Music Friday: "Doctor My Eyes"

Today I started listening to Jackson Browne's greatest hits album and then got enraged by a couple of things at work. 

The song's lyrics below sort of relate. 

Doctor, my eyes have seen the years
And the slow parade of fears without crying.
Now I want to understand.

I have done all that I could
To see the evil and the good without hiding.
You must help me if you can.

Doctor, my eyes
Tell me what is wrong.
Was I unwise to leave them open for so long?

'Cause I have wandered through this world
And as each moment has unfurled
I've been waiting to awaken from these dreams.

People go just where they will.
I never noticed them until I got this feeling
That it's later than it seems. 

Doctor, my eyes
Tell me what you see.
I hear their cries
Just say if it's too late for me.

Doctor, my eyes
They cannot see the sky.
Is this the prize
For having learned how not to cry?

Fumbling Toward Culinary Talent: Chicken and Sausage Gumbo

I haven't made gumbo in a long time. My first attempt last week failed because I let the roux go too long. So I learned from my mistake and made it today for supper. 

Ingredients

1 cup of vegetable oil

1 cup of all purpose flour

1 lb. of boneless chicken thighs, with fat trimmed

1 lb. of andouille sausage, cut into half-moon pieces

1 large yellow onion, chopped finely

1 bell pepper, chopped finely 

3 stalks of celery, chopped finely

8 cups of water

Healthy amount of Cajun seasoning

Healthy amount of cayenne pepper

Healthy smidge of roasted garlic powder

Salt and pepper to taste

Process

In a large Dutch oven or soup pot, put a little oil at the bottom and put to medium heat.

With the chicken, I trimmed the fat and cut it up into small, bit-size pieces. Then I sprinkled a good deal of Cajun seasoning to coat the meat. Place the chicken in the pot and brown on both sides. Pull out the chicken and set aside on a plate. 

Add the cup of vegetable oil and flour and continuously whisk the roux for approximately an hour until it gets a nut-brown color. I started at medium heat and backed it down gradually to still medium but a bit on the low side. 

Once you have the color you want (and the roux should smell nutty), add in the aromatics for about a minute and then add the water a cup at a time while whisking. 

When the water is incorporated and the liquid is a thick soup, add the partially cooked chicken and sausage. Add a good amount of seasoning. Bring to a healthy simmer with the lid mostly covering the pot.  

Reduce the heat a bit, so it's a leisurely simmer and simmer for about an hour. Check the seasoning from time to time to make sure you have the right level of flavor and heat you want. 

For example, because my andouille sausage was bought here in Illinois, it wasn't the greatest, so I had to add a strong amount of Cajun seasoning and cayenne. 

Next time I need to get andouille from somewhere in the Deep South.  

Random Notes from a Crank

Dana Milbank has a really good opinion piece in The Washington Post: "McCarthy Won the 15th Vote to be Speaker--But Lost the House for All." 

Here are three ¶s of note that should make anyone shudder:

"This is insurrection by other means: Two years to the day since the Jan. 6 invasion of the Capitol, Republicans are still attacking the functioning of government. McCarthy opened the door to chaos by excusing Donald Trump's fomenting of the attack and welcoming a new class of election deniers to his caucus. Now he's trying to save his own political ambitions by agreeing to institutionalize the chaos--not just for the next two years but for future congresses as well. 

On Thursday, the day McCarthy failed on an 11th consecutive ballot to secure the speakership, he formally surrendered to the 21 GOP extremists denying him the job. He agree dot allow any member of the House to force a vote at will to 'vacate' his speakership--essentially agreeing to be in permanent jeopardy of losing his job. He agreed to put the rebels on the Rules Committee, giving them sway over what gets a vote on the House floor, and in key committee leadership posts. He agreed to unlimited amendments to spending bills, inviting two years of mayhem. He agreed to other changes that make future government shutdowns and a default on the national debt more likely, if not probable.

Perhaps worst of all, the McCarthy-alingned super PAC, the Conservative Leadership Fun, agreed that it would no longer work against fair-right extremists in the vast majority of Republican primaries--a move sure to increase the number of bomb throwers in Congress. Essentially, McCarthy placated the crazy in his caucus by giving up every tool he (or anybody) had to maintain order in the House." 

I'm not a betting man, but I'd guess that a shutdown of government is in our future over the next two years of the GOP's control of the House. 

Republicans' typical bromide is that "government doesn't work." When they get control, they usually show that government doesn't work - because of them being in control of government, not because of government itself. 

What is the deal with the price of eggs being so high lately? Are the corporate egg farms trying to screw us now too? 

Apparently, one of the reasons (see link above) is an avian flu along with higher feed prices and energy costs. 

I'm neither a vegetarian nor a vegan, but a darkly humorous joke I heard from a vegan comedian is how he described eggs as "chicken abortions." For all those pro-lifers out there, they better stop eating eggs. 

I'm thinking about creating a school of philosophical thought that combines hedonism, utilitarianism, and Taoist and Buddhist principles. In a sense, it might reflect a more wide-view version of Dudeism, which follows the example of Jeffrey Lebowski.

Music Friday: "Smoke Signals"

I finally got around to purchasing the first album by Phoebe Bridgers. Here's the opening song on Stranger in the Alps. 

Sunday Hangover: Kansas State

This is one of the games this season in which Alabama looked like Alabama. But that feeling didn't happen until they went down 10 points after a field goal and an 88-yard TD run by Deuce Vaughn.

Bryce Young showed why he's a top draft pick by throwing five touchdowns and having only six incompletions. 

Will Anderson Jr. played mainly on third down from what I could tell and made an impact when he was in. My guess is that if the team were in a playoff game, he would have been out there a heck of a lot more often. 

A bunch of DBs had great games. Notably Brian Branch seemed to be all over the field making plays, especially with his four tackles for loss. Hellams led the team with 13 tackles and was followed by Branch with 12 and Battle with 9. 

From my perspective, Lawson played well at linebacker. I expect him to develop over the off season into an even stronger player for the Tide.  

As usual, fans will wait with trepidation about who enters the draft. Young and Anderson are a given, but we'll see who else declares.