A chilly 17 November

Hello folks.

I made it back for round two and while very few care about my politics or taste in music, food and travel, here goes. Remember, this is about the writing of not the reading of.

Politics

The election is not really over and I continue to try and fill the enormous amount of time I spent on the election. I still enjoy Nate Silver's http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/. It is still insightful though I miss the several times a day polling updates. Three senate seats (Alaska, Minnesota and Georgia) remain to be settled and the Obama appointments are a source of interest. The IBM's 60 Minutes interview showed a wonderful family and a president to be trusted, who is reasoned, focused and funny, yet someone with whom I would enjoy watching a ball game.

It’s not too early to start thinking about 2010 congressional races and several could be interesting. More later as it becomes clearer.

Music

My music purchases, both downloads and physical product (and legal free downloads) of the week will be a regular feature. This week:

Au Revoir Simone, Reverse Migration, remixes
Brett Dennen, Hope for the Hopeless, great indie folk
Blue Giant, Target Heart, alt country
Gilfema, Gilfema + 2, worldbeat jazz
Little Joy, Little Joy, from Strokes drummer Fab Moretti
Postmarks, By the Numbers, delightful covers based on number titles
School of Seven Bells, Alpinisms, electronic indie pop
Snow Patrol, A Hundred Million Suns, new from the now-famous Britpopers
Stars, Sad Robots EP, dreamy pop

The folks at emusic provide wonderful free downloads daily and have been on a roll lately. It’s a great way to discover new music.

It’s almost time for everyone to do the best of 2008 lists. We will do here over the next couple of weeks.

Food

My family's restaurant, Cafe Lou Lou in Louisville, KY opened a second location this week serving casual Mediterrean/Italian food with a New Orleans twist. More on our food with some recipes later.

Travel

We are putting together a feature on New Orleans, off the tourist path, over the next couple of issues. I'm looking for suggestions for a planned trip to Paris in April.

Thank you for the opportunity to vent, to release, to be busy enough in semi-retirement to be out of my entrepreneur wife’s way. Bruce Springsteen may have put it best, when he acknowledged his audience with, “Thanks for the gift of your attention.” As a footnote, even though this is not really a footnote, I love not having to attribute quotes when I choose not to. Thanks again…jimbeaux