Thursday, December 20, 2018
To a friend's citizenship induction today, presided over with his usual joie de vivre by another friend, the Honorable Leslie Foschio. As I often do when in court I found myself considering what is good and important about the United States, a useful exercise in these sometimes dark times. I think, for example, that it is good and appropriate that this ceremony is conducted in open court, by the judiciary, instead of in some office somewhere by an officer of the Executive Branch. For me, as someone whose job it is to interact with the government for others, I was struck by how this amounts to a demonstration of the way the law operates- not merely as a system for adversarial dispute resolution, but also as what is perhaps the most important thing that unites us all. Notably, photographs were permitted, a rarity in federal court, but a fine gesture, symbolic of the transparency that is fundamental to democracy. Each person's name was called individually, with the addendum, "formerly of_______", an acknowledgment of what these people came through to become Americans. Knowing what my friend had been through, and hearing the names of the places the others had come from filled me with pride for being a part of a country that they are all now a part of as well.
Wednesday, December 19, 2018
Notes on Bob Dylan's Never Ending Tour. I had a chance to see him in Rochester last month and passed on it. I won't do that again
Monday, December 10, 2018
To Ann Arbor over the weekend to see Charles Lloyd and the Marvels, the capstone of a pretty great year of live music. Lloyd's Marvels consist of Bill Frisell, Reuben Rogers on bass, Greg Leisz on pedal steel guitar and dobro, and drummer Eric Harland. Oh yeah, and also Lucinda Williams. We knew the show would be great, and it was all that- the presence of pedal steel let Frisell swing, Lucinda was in fine voice, and the rhythm section was terrific. Until Sonny Rollins leaves us he will be the greatest living tenor player, but Wayne Shorter notwithstanding when that day arrives Lloyd will have a legitimate claim to the title. One of the things that this performance highlighted is his versatility: the cat can blow, man. A delightful moment came with Lucinda belting "Joy", on which everyone reached into the blues and rocked out.
Also of note: last time I visited the Athens of the Mitten I reported on Zingerman's Deli. We had a fine lunch there, but if you happen to be in Ann Arbor do not miss Zingerman's Roadhouse. A's Carolina pulled pork was as good as I've has anywhere, my buttermilk fried chicken was perfection, and the collards were so good each mouthful made me want to laugh aloud. When we exclaimed over the greens to our server he brought us each a shot of pot likker that was - there really is no other word for it- sublime.
Also of note: last time I visited the Athens of the Mitten I reported on Zingerman's Deli. We had a fine lunch there, but if you happen to be in Ann Arbor do not miss Zingerman's Roadhouse. A's Carolina pulled pork was as good as I've has anywhere, my buttermilk fried chicken was perfection, and the collards were so good each mouthful made me want to laugh aloud. When we exclaimed over the greens to our server he brought us each a shot of pot likker that was - there really is no other word for it- sublime.
Thursday, December 06, 2018
Eliminating discovery in federal court cases valued at under $500k is a terrible idea, but making discovery optional-- and incentivizing the option by, maybe, moving such cases up on the docket, might work
Wednesday, December 05, 2018
Don’t get me wrong, because I love the big ol’ cheeseball, but it makes
me nuts that for all of his supposed gritty urban poeticism the people
in his songs speak neither poetically or realistically. “Put on your
stockings/the night’s gettin cold.” I promise you nobody who wasn’t a
mom ever said that. Or, “Stuff this in your pocket/It’ll look like
you’ve carrying a freeeeend”. Dude, if I understand the nature of the
task you’ve accepted take the extra 15-20 minutes and get an actual gun.
Take the one from your mom’s nightstand for Chrissake.
