Last night I was invited for dinner at Amy and Adam's. Amy made a great salad and a chicken and rice dish out of the church cookbook that was the very definition of comfort food. And as importantly, I didn't have to cook it, or clean up after it for the first time since Sunday morning. Fending for myself when I have become accustomed to Emily doing a lot of the cooking gets old soon. Especially when I am only cooking for myself. Em and I are great audiences for each others' cooking and without the adulatory conversation, a good meal just seems like a good meal.
Long story short, Em comes home today. She will want me to cook since she has been on the road all week and will want "home cookin'". I want to get in the Vette and enjoy what promises to be a wonderful hot and sunny evening and go grab a burger and some ice cream. I'll let you know how it turns out.
(Edit: This plan has been approved as presented and so the motion carries! Take that, Congress! That's how we get it done in our house.)
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As I mentioned, Em is coming home today. I need to clean this crap-shack up. Well, not really. I kept up on the dishes, but I need to make the bed. I left laundry in the drier, so that's back on in a vain attempt at removing wrinkles.
I like to come home to a clean house. I could spend all day cleaning and Em wouldn't notice if it was clean or dirty. So, I guess I won't put a lot of effort into it. It is a work day, after all.
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Skylar, our Niece is coming for the week tomorrow. Em and I were planning on taking her to Michigan's adventure on Sunday, but I have to go to the powerboat races sponsored by my company and be a salesman this weekend.
So, since I am working the weekend, I won't feel too bad about taking Wednesday off to go to the amusement park.
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Warren Zevon themed Facebook status week comes to an end today with the ubiquitous "Werewolves of London".
You can be forgiven if you don't know anything of his songs except for 'Werewolves', but if you know who Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan are, then you know many more of his songs than you think you do.
Zevon died in September of 2003 from Mesothelioma after years of hard living and avoiding doctors. Doctors were a great fear of his and a consistent theme in his songs throughout his career. He was 53 years young when he succumbed. Like Michael Jackson and Amy Winehouse you really couldn't imagine Zevon living to ripe old age. He said to David Letterman (a long-time promoter and 'friend' of Zevon's music), that he lived like Jim Morrison (of the Doors) but for 30 years longer. It seems like while the rest of us mourn only having Warren Zevon for such a short time, he was pretty impressed he made it that long.
As a song writer, Zevon was odd and unconventional. He studied with Igor Stravinsky as a youth and so his songs often have a modern discordant feel to them, much like Stravinsky's groundbreaking work; which, like Zevon's could not be considered approachable by any measure. Warren Zevon was an amazing pianist. Some of his songs never became hits because of their complexities, length and feel that they were more like symphonettes. His odd lyrics and subject matter didn't help any as far as mass appeal is concerned.
Even the lyrics to 'Werewolves' have a hidden sardonic meaning. The werewolves of London being the finely dressed young men he encountered while living in Spain who were always on the prowl for older wealthy women to suckle off. That dark meaning behind the obtuse lyric is belied by the good natured music over top.
This most 'poppy' song of his was helped along by Mick Fleetwood and John MacVie of supergroup Fleetwood Mac, adding the pumping bass line and barely controlled drum line underneath Zevon's bouncy piano vamp. It is said that the song was flat and simply not working in the studio with session musicians when Zevon heard his friends from Fleetwood Mac were recording across town. They were summoned and stepped into the breach. The result is the infectious pop groove that is still fresh 35 years on.
So, why Zevon week? It isn't the anniversary of his death or anything. I just sometimes get in a mood. This was my mood this week. And while Warren Zevon was not a great man by my definition of greatness, he certainly was a great talent and a fascinating enigma.
Warren's last track on his last album, recorded while he was in the final stages of his disease beseeches us to "Keep me in your heart for awhile..."
You don't have to worry about that, Warren. You've got a permanent spot in mine.
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