Some thoughts for today

Today, I think, you don't piss your pants from anything funny I have to say. there are days like that.

RIP Charlie Trotter.
Charlie Trotter was a gastronome enfant terrible; a brilliant thinker and doer in the realm of food and wine. His Chicago restaurant was a Michelin 2 Star mainstay for many years and the world of eager "foodies", who loved the turn his art of cooking was taking and young chefs beat a path to his door. If you were a young cook and thought you were 'all that and a bag of chips', 'you went there and asked for a chance to work for him. He'd say "OK, but you work for free and when you're done, you'll have learned at my feet and you will go out and carry the torch of excellence to all foodies who appreciate my craft."

And many did. But working for him was trial by fire. I know because I know some who did. He was a 101% perfectionist,  rarely willing to bend his will to very many realities. For awhile, he simply didn't have to. That doesn't last of course. He closed his restaurant 2 years ago and many did not know why. Insiders and friends did, but until you read the obit, you don't know that he was getting sick and couldn't continue to execute in the manner he wanted. After he closed, his sphere of influence and all those trappings started to slowly recede. He felt as though he was no longer the center of attention and that is hard to take, when for years, one's every word has been pounced upon as if it was larger than life. But he had a vision and he extracted as much out that vision as he could.

He was often not such a nice fella, but he made a distinct impression on the world he worked in. It's somewhat fitting that today is a gray, chilly and damp Chicago day. He'll be missed. Today's HJ is James Taylor's Mean Old Man, a self deprecating almost elegy to what happens when you're just NOT anymore. In the song, however, the man meets a woman who rescues him from his self loathing and he along with his dog, is saved. Which leads me to the Emmylou Harris, Earl Thomas Conley duo, We Believe In Happy Endings. The tough days are when we get smacked in the face and realize that you can believe in happy endings but that doesn't always happen

We cannot save Richie Incognito or Aaron Hernandez, unfortunately. They have a talent but some terrible flaw in their personality did not let them succeed in their chosen field. This whole anonymous practice of standing on a soapbox with some fort of nom de guerre is a really slippery slope, so I will mention the names of these two and let your mind go where it will as to their troubles. But I'm not sad for them. It ain't pretty though in this new society where radical personalities' 10 lbs of shit doesn't quite fit into a 5 lb. bag. Today, a particular socio/political movement is realizing that they and the candidates they nominate to run for public service are also possibly out of touch with the lives and realities of many others. And I'm not sure I'm sad for them either

Imagine the reality of being William Shakespeare. For years, few had any interest in what he wrote. Today, he is required reading in many school curricula. So, poof-- down the wormhole and out the other side where as humans, the best we can do is to keep trying. Me too. I'll be more back to normal tomorrow.

Thank you for reading and listening.