The Negress is busy busy busy achieving NaNoWriMo nirvana, but if you want some reading matter in the meantime, check out this list from band of Thebes of LGBTQ recommendations.
Four bottles (2 California Pinot Noirs), one Series 7 exam and making the writing thing more disciplined with NaNoWriMo
November 6, 2011The Negress has been in the midst of a whirlwind of food poisoning, medication titration, power knitting, yarn shopping, concert going (which led to booty shaking) and some more career whipsawing. There’s been a little time for wine and since she wants to get these empties out of the house, she’ll start there. Ordinarily, the Negress had been avoiding California Pinot Noir for a while since, post-Sideways, many producers got into the Pinot business as though delivering a delicious version of this persnickety grape required the same skill that it takes to make Kool Aid. The Golden State was awash in oceans of indifferent Pinot. It made the Negress want to smack Paul Giamatti in the mouth even though it was not his fault at all. However, thanks to her ongoing association with the Cellars of Sonoma wine club, she was able to quaff a pair of fabulous Pinots recently. The first was 2008 TR Elliott Three Plumes Pinot Noir (abv 14.6%) from the Russian River Valley. Winemaker Teddy Elliott put together five barrels from his Hallberg Vineyard and one barrel from the O’Connell Vineyard. The best Pinot Noirs whisper and the really good ones whisper dirty little nothings to your palate. Three Plumes is one of the good ones and, at $42, is a lovely special occasion wine that doesn’t require a credit default swap.
Johnny Oduya, on the hockey part of the future ex-husband list and my NaNoWriMo inspiration
Before moving on to next Pinot, this is a good spot to announce that I failed the Series 7 securities license exam by 4 points. This ended my pre-employment journey with an excellent financial services company, but it also put me on the road to somewhere very different. More about that as it develops.
You should love the James Family Cellars 2008 Stony Point Vineyard Pinot Noir ($35 but some discounted supplies remain, 13.8% abv) as well. This is a richer Pinot that will likely be enjoyed by those who like big fruit wines. Normally, when Pinot Noir gets artificially engorged by crafty vinification, things can get ugly. The James Family, who should not be mocked for using the words “world-class” and “artisanal” on their labels, walked a tightrope here and landed gracefully.
One of the better-kept secrets among wineaux is the loveliness of Merlots from the North Fork of Long Island. Much of that region suffers a bit from economies of scale — in short, most of the wine is pricier than its quality merits. But exceptions should be made for just about all the Merlots I’ve tried. My favorite is the Bedell Cellars Reserve Merlot. The 2006 vintage (13% abv, only available in minute quantities through the wine club) benefited from it being a warm year. This wine is ripe without being overblown. Think Lena Olin, not Anna Nicole Smith.
The Negress also lucked onto a surprising wine at her local WineStyles (small national chain of wine stores; some of which do online shipping). The 2009 Finca La Linda Bonarda (14.3% abv) was going for $10 a bottle at last count. This one hails from the Mendoza region of Argentina. Bonarda is a bit like the Petit Verdot of Argentina. It rarely shows up alone. Too bad. This one is a little figgy with some red fruit. It went well with some spicy foods and drank well without food, although the Negress avoids doing that lately.
The blog has been quite of late, and it will remain so for the rest of this month. The Negress has thrown her lot in with the folks at National Novel Writing Month aka NaNoWriMo, so she’s hoping to have a 65,000 word draft for a memoir by Thanksgiving. She and the members of the ChiWriMo region are busy when they aren’t knitting. Stay tuned.
Fleet Foxes at the Chicago Theater and a perplexed Negress
October 3, 2011The Negress decided to go see the Fleet Foxes at the Chicago Theater Oct. 1 because she still does love music and the band kind of confuses her. She is trying not to be one of those bipolar cynics, swinging wildly between youthful disdain (I’m too cool for all of this so it all sucks) and ancient weariness (I did all this stuff the first time so it all sucks). Besides, she sings tenor in her church choir (when she goes to practice) and she likes harmony singing because it’s gorgeous when done well. As mentioned in a previous post, she had been in New York mixing it up with the other members of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame nominating committee. The committee is a bit like Fight Club in that we don’t talk about we do and then get vilified and bitched about when the ballot comes out. The Negress has only one public observation about the ballot: Hip-hop is nearly 30 years old and is a grandchild of the blues’ baby, rock ‘n’ roll. Also, rock has influenced and absorbed pop and dance music so don’t assume it’s all guitar bands with white men. Rock’s going on 60, which also means some of these idiots should take a page from REM’s book and break up and stop touring.
The obligatory cell phone camera shot of the show marquee
Sorry. Back to the Fleet Foxes. First of all, the Chicago Theater is a great venue for good singers because it’s majestic acoustically as well as architecturally. The Foxes can sing, but they sound like sexless angels (we can save the debate on sexuality of heavenly beings for another post, preferably fueled by a good rye). Also, the best harmony singing requires impeccable diction, and these guys are more pre-pebbles Demosthenes than show choir.
With that said, the Negress was lightly mesmerized. Part of the lack of full embrace of the music was due to a small belligerent contingent at the show seated near her. She counted at least three fights that broke out during the set, and considering this wasn’t GWAR, that was just weird and distracting. Also, the band played under a huge film screen backdrop that alternated between a film loop of falling snow and some geometric patterns that could best be described as Not-So-Angry Quilting.
So, since the band has been compared to Simon and Garfunkel and Crosby Stills and Nash and other outfits with memorable vocal blends, what do they sound like? Someone suggested Neutral Milk Hotel but that’s just plain wrong (a trip to Spotify confirmed what had just been a hunch before). The Hotel people (doesn’t the name sound like a safe house for La Leche? Honestly.) have a unique sludgy underpinning to their vocal mix, and they seem to sing less harmony and more off-pitch unison. Also, her Neutral Milk Hotel is not your Neutral Milk Hotel so the Negress tries to avoid comparisons of the it’s-like-(band A)-mixed-up-with-(band B)-in-a-blender-on-acid variety.
What Fleet Foxes does make her think of is church youth group singalongs, a signifier she suspects is not big with the Pitchfork crowd. The best example of this is “White Winter Hymnal.” The Negress could visualize the youth pastor in a turtleneck strumming away while the kids scarfed down the pizza and sang well enough to keep their folks happy. Picture the United Methodist Youth Fellowship and you’ve got it. But she’s a sucker for a round so she succumbed happily. They do kick this stereotype in the teeth with “The Shrine/An Argument,” which throws in a bit of dissonant sax playing, but that only happened once all night.
The Negress enjoyed the show as much as the nearby fisticuffs would allow, but she thinks she did find the key thing that keeps her from going all in on this band. The most memorable live shows are paced impeccably, building almost unbearable tension before a final amazing burst of, well, something. The Foxes seem to have a handle of this dynamic within individual songs (see “The Plains/Bitter Dancer” or the show finale “Helplessness Blues”), but the kids are still getting feel of pacing a whole set. If they get handle on that, then the downloading will commence.
Openers The Walkmen grabbed a lot more of the Negress’ heart than she was willing to admit. Besides, you gotta love a band that worships Johnny Cash and the Pogues (blender and acid optional) and a singer, Hamilton Leithauser, with rockstar lung power. She even got over the triangle they pulled out on one song (that instruments conjures up visions of wriggling kindergarteners and a teacher playing “Mr. Whole Note Takes a Walk”) The word “rockstar” has been devalued of late (inept Iraqi spies, energy drinks and outlaw Wall Streeters have devalued the word without permission), but this guy has what it takes. The band favors old-style instruments but their music is timeless. It’s been growing on the Negress with each listen. They’re next up on Spotify after the Series 7 exam.
Fleet Foxes likely set list from the Chicago Theater Oct. 1 (from the always reliable Interwebs)
The Plains / Bitter Dancer
Mykonos
English House
Your Protector
Battery Kinzie
Bedouin Dress
Sim Sala Bim
White Winter Hymnal
Ragged Wood
Montezuma
He Doesn’t Know Why
Lorelai
The Shrine / An Argument
Blue Spotted Tail
Grown Ocean
Encore
I Let You (new song)
Sun It Rises
Blue Ridge Mountains
Helplessness Blues
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Follies and falling down again
October 2, 2011So the Negress went to New York, saw some friends, did her Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame duty and then received a bottle of Paumanok Vineyards 2010 Chenin Blanc. The vintage is sold out and she can easily see why. The wines drinks well with or without food and is delightfully only 12% abv. Upon returning to Chicago, the Negress polished it off in about three sittings and wanted more. But she settled for some of her Bonny Doon 2009 Ca del Solo Albarino and was pretty happy.
However, while she was in New York, it was the 10th anniversary of 9/11 and the air was thick with potential threats, backed up traffic and vehicle searches. Whether the atmosphere or various other annoying input was the cause, the Negress fell down in Union City, scraped herself up a bit and wondered if other things might be getting to be wrong.
So she sought one of those bad ideas that should be banished from the kingdom. She drank a bunch of Pinot Noir and went to see the new production of “Follies,” with Bernadette Peters and an astonishing Jan Maxwell. The inevitable blood sugar crash made sure she missed quite a bit of the lengthy first act, but she pretty much liked it overall (also there’s a production here in Chicago that might be worth a comparison).
In the background of all of this were her attempts to absorb the material she needs to know for her upcoming Series 7 exam. The Negress can take tests but her usual flypaper memory had been undercut by a few too many sleepless nights and a some other annoyances of middle age. She also knows her family history of troubled brain chemistry. So meds were adjusted, she’s feeling better and has almost gotten a handle on the exam prep. So the next thing to do was face the music.
NLGJA, Hurricane Irene and trying to sort things out
September 13, 2011For a Negress who is supposedly leaving full-time journalism behind, let’s just say this farewell tour may be longer than Cher’s. She came to Philadelphia for the National Gay and Lesbian Journalists Association convention. Does this mean the Negress is coming out in some sense? Yes and no. Her history is bisexual, and she’s beginning to realize the spectrum of gender and sexuality is fairly fluid. She has several transsexual friends and believes in safe bathrooms for all and no stupid questions about shaving.
NLGJA is a very welcoming organization so she is proud to be a member since she knows she will never stop writing or being curious about the world. Plus, she had never spent a lot of time in Philly so it seemed like a good idea.
However, a couple of things happened. One, the Negress had her arthritic, bone-spur filled shoulder cleaned out arthroscopically Friday Aug. 19. She got the dressing removed the following Monday and headed to Philly on Wednesday. Yes she is sore. But she arrived in Philly on something of a mission — meet fun people and get a good cheesesteak. She accomplished those goals and got a couple of extra days in Philly thanks to Irene.
Some things she hopes NLGJA will do in the future: introduce a freelancer rate, add karaoke night (calling all sponsors), have a panel on racism in the LGBT community, have a productive panel on transgender issues (the one this year was dominated by a crackpot army of one) and stop asking Don Lemon about Anderson Cooper. The Negress adores Mr. Lemon and wishes him and his nice Jewish boyfriend well.
By the way, the Negress is still drinking wine but her Series 7 exam studies have seriously curtailed her consumption. Besides there are some other threads of her narrative fabric that deserve attention. So stay tuned. There are some stories to tell.
Yellow Face, Chinglish and the AAJA convention and a dawning realization
August 23, 2011The Negress spent a day with a pair of David Henry Hwang plays in Chicago and several days at the Asian American Journalists Association convention in Detroit. The Silk Road Theatre produced “Yellow Face,” an older play of Hwang’s about racial identity, stereotypes and artistic freedom while the Goodman has sent his latest, “Chinglish,”a masterpiece of interlocking misunderstandings, to Broadway. Thanks to the convenience of scheduling, the Negress saw them both on the same day and was delighted by each for different reasons.
current thoughts so to speak
“Yellow Face” is a delicious mingling of a revenge fantasy, hard truths and the fluidity of racial identity. In some ways, it reminded the Negress of “Passing Strange,” which is happily available since Spike Lee made a film of its last Broadway performance. When you’re not white or not straight, you often fiddle with how you show yourself to the world. Sometimes it’s a matter of survival and there’s an enormous cost. Sometimes you can have some fun, but you can’t always be sure the joke isn’t on you. Expectations, stereotypes and archetypes keep close company and it can be challenging to separate them. The conversation begun with “Yellow Face” continues in “Chinglish” with the tables turned. Hwang places an earnest white American businessman in China where his understanding of how things work is often lost in linguistic and cultural translation. As the Negress often says to friends near and far, some people just don’t get it. And some never will.
So, with all that bouncing around in her head, the Negress drove to Detroit for the AAJA convention. AAJA doesn’t have a racial requirement for membership, just a belief in the organization’s goals. Unity, the quadrennial gathering of journalists of color, is coming up next summer in Las Vegas. The Negress hopes to go, work and finances permitting and being a member of one of the sponsoring groups gets her a discount. The National Association of Black Journalists, of which the Negress was a member for a while, pulled out of Unity for various murky reasons, some of which are financial. Unity has coincided with the Presidential campaign for the past two campaigns, and it is likely candidates will be invited to attend. While that’s a selling point for going to Unity, the Negress mainly goes because it’s fun and she gets to see a lot of friends from all over the country. Journalism as she knew it is dying in place, and she figures the upcoming Unity might be one of the last opportunities to see some pals before everybody’s required reinventions take them away.
Hence, Detroit for AAJA. The Negress had a great time and learned some things she didn’t know, which is always good. The most important of those was how much of an issue immigration is in Asian communities. One AAJA member took 22 years to go the legal route to citizenship since his having siblings in the U.S. was not a strong enough family relationship for his case to be expedited. Also, since he is Filipino, there are country quotas that he also came up against as he sought legal status. Not surprisingly, many opt to enter the country without papers, figuring that there’s a good chance they can stay without getting caught. A highly publicized case in point is Jose Vargas, a former writer for the Washington Post, who came out as an undocumented immigrant and hid the fact from most of his employers and close friends for years.
Another area of interest were transnational and, in some cases, trans-racial adoption. The Negress found out that boys have been adopted from China, contrary to the prevailing perception that only girls are chosen. A panel discussion including adoptees as well as adoptive parents covered ways in which these adoptions have changed over time. More parents now are taking their child’s cultural and linguistic heritage into account, while that wasn’t always the case. It was delicious to hear tales of half Jamaican heritage black, half Chinese parents adopting half black, half Korean kids and living happily ever after.
The Negress made a desultory pilgrimage to the job fair and had an enjoyable conversation with a woman who offers fellowships to journalist in search of career revitalization. Then she got sick to her stomach and went back to the hotel to resume studying for her securities license. Although the events were in close proximity to each other, they weren’t entirely
related. However, all led to a sure conclusion: The Negress is done being a full-time journalist, and she thinks that’s going to be OK.
Now back to calls, puts, straddles, bonds and other such lingo.
Rosé and summer: perfect together unless it’s Mateus
July 15, 2011Remember those frigid interludes in the nation’s midsection? The Negress does and she’s trying to forget them. Some memories don’t need backing up. Now summer is upon as a tractor trailer comes upon an armadillo in the middle of the Texas interstate. Grisly image aside, how can you not be thinking of rosé right now?
If you remember the song lyric “get juiced on Mateus and just hang loose,” (blame Bernie Taupin for that one with Sir Elton John aiding and abetting) you probably flinch at the thought of extended exposure to rosé. Visions of sticky pink, slightly fizzy, sweet wine crowd out thoughts of pleasantly lazing by various bodies of water with the piquant smell of barbecue smoke in the background. The Negress knows. She’s been there and she’s here to help.
Just get juiced and hang loose but drink something else the Negress begs you
Most wineauxs worth their salt and pricey education will point novice rosé drinkers to the South of France. Places like the Languedoc and Provence do produce some intensely quaffable wines, but, hey, the Negress lives, slightly underemployed, in the real world and prefers not to contemplate refinancing her modest abode just to buy some summer wines.
So, after a trip to the local wine store with very little coin in her purse, she came up with these picks:
2008 Casa Silva Colcahgua Valley Rosé – The deep color of this Chilean wine is enticing, but things get even better when it’s in the glass. An off-tart blend of red currant and strawberry on the palate, the wine blends Syrah and Carmenere for a rosé that’s got a little more heft than its pinker counterparts. We could see this wine cozying up to heartier summer foods like grilled pork loin or salmon steaks. It’s also delicious as a porch pounder of sorts for those afternoons where firing up the grill or turning on the oven seems like too much effort to expend. Also, say you have a friend who is adamant that wine should always be red and uses dismissive epithets to narrow his or her drinking. Pour that narrow-minded soul a glass of this that’s been properly chilled. Watch the joy that suffuses their being with each sip. Save your smug look until they’ve drained the glass. The price on this gem is usually not more than about 12 bucks a bottle. Lay in a supply for the warmer months and you will not go wrong.
2010 Bonny Doon Vin Gris de Cigare – The folks at Palate Press called the 2008 edition of this wine one of the finest wines they had ever tasted. The latest edition is a pale pink and, according to the Dooniverse website, can benefit from 6-12 months of additional time in bottle. Winemaker Randall Grahm has been playing with the skin contact for this wine with recent vintages, and the playing around has paid off nicely with a palate dominated by pale red fruits and some hint of mint. If you’re itching to drink this now, there’s a bit of the 2008 left for sale and shipping from the winery, but if you’re one of those type A personalities who is planning next summer while enjoying this one, you can lay in a supply of the 2010 for next year this time. The Negress would join you but she’s too busy roasting tomatillos.
“ATV” Wines: Albariño, Torrontes and Viura Offer the Perfect Breezy, Summer Ride
July 14, 2011
Albarino should mean "summer" in Spanish
If you think “ATV,” you no doubt conjure some squat vehicle with knobby tires hurtling over dunes or climbing hillocks, spraying dirt in its wake. It’s a vivid picture, but the Negress would like for you to change your focus.
As we have officially drilled down into summer, it’s nice to have some white wines on hand that aren’t as predictable as Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Grigio have become. Welcome to ATV Negress style – Albariño, Torrontes and Viura.
You can find Torrontes from Argentina pretty much at any wine emporium. It’s an ethereal wine with a floral note or two on the nose and bright, crisp acidity. It’s more green apple than citrus on the palate. We love this wine with relaxed, cool summer fare such as salads and flaky, white fish (don’t bring out the bluefish with this wine. The oily flesh will just beat it about the head and face.) You’ve probably seen Crios de Susana Alba Torrontes around. It’s the bottle with the hand on a green label. It is to be hoped the label will not give rise to a “body part” label theory as did the “critter label” canard of recent memory. The Crios is a nice value wine with little variation from year to year.
But the Negress found a slightly more upscale Torrontes she liked. The 2009 Vida Organica Torrontes from Mendoza clocks in at around $20, smells a bit of honeysuckle and went nicely with a spicy chicken dish she threw together. You can find the Vida Organica, which sports a synthetic cork, at Whole Foods. Guess everything can’t be organic.
All right, let’s move onto Spain and Albariño. There’s been a little bit of an Albariño boomlet of late. It doesn’t compare the Gruner Veltliner explosion of a few years back, but it’s picking up steam. This is not a bad thing by any stretch. Albariño is food-friendly, not hideously expensive and widely available. The best examples have a cutting acidity with some citrus, peach or almond notes. It’s mostly found in the Rias Baixas region of Spain. The grape is also a big player in the Portuguese Vinho Verde realm. Like its Iberian neighbor, Albariño is not a wine you cellar. Drink it early and often.
You’ve probably seen the Paco and Lola Albariño since it has a distinctive polka dot label. You won’t go wrong with it, but the Negress also recommends the 2009 Martin Codax Albariño. The price circles $20 with intent. We adored the lime on the nose and the mouth-watering acidity.
Lastly, Viura is kind of a sleeper. It can be found in the Rioja and Navarra regions. The Negress tried the 2009 Vega Sindoa from Navarra, but found it a little disappointing. First, it’s 25 percent Chardonnay and it’s picked up enough oak to make us think of a barn-raising. If you like noticeable oak, you’ll love it. If you don’t, the 2008 El Coto from Rioja is all Viura and quite fresh and intensely aromatic.
In which the Negress envisions how the Devils should have won the Stanley Cup
June 20, 2011The Negress saw a different Stanley Cup final than you did. You see, on April 2, 2007, her beloved New Jersey Devils fired Boston Bruins coach Claude Julien so general manager Lou Lamoriello could coach the team for the rest of the season. The Negress would like to think that if Claude had stuck around, it would be the Devils pushing the Cup around in a baby stroller to some suburban Jersey bars. She might even imagine a parade in Newark, a city that could use a parade now and then.
The good old days: Johnny Oduya and a writer
But things didn’t work out that way. Julien had exactly what he needed to win the cup. Goalie Tim Thomas made his net all but impregnable and Zdeno Chara really screwed with the Sedin brothers rhythm. It remeinded me of how Scott Stevens and Ken Daneyko didn’t have to hit people to make them wary of crossing the blue line. Martin Brodeur, perhaps the best goalie of his generation, could play like Thomas and leave opponents shaking their heads in wonder and dismay.
As much as the Negress likes to cling to this dream, she knows Julien wouldn’t have had a prayer if he had stayed in New Jersey. Brodeur paid for his Iron Man youth with long stretches lost to injury. Patrik Elias isn’t getting any younger and as much as the Negress likes him, she wishes the Devils had traded him three seasons ago. Adding Ilya Kovalchuk to the mix just destroyed the team’s ability to defend. People may have thought watching the Devils spring that neutral zone trap on folks was dull, but it was effective.
Since Julien’s departure, the Devils have blown through several coaches including one of the Sutters, the return of Jacques Lemaire and a little time with John MacLean. None of them were around long enough to shoulder blame. The Negress throws the whole spewing mess at Lamoriello’s feet. Lamoriello’s preference for American players and his salary cap illiteracy have turned the team into one part nostalgia act (Jason Arnott came back. Why?) and one part nursery school recess (trading Johnny Oduya after losing Paul Martin and leaving Colin White as the brains of your defensive unit was at best laughable). She loves her Devils still and yet, but is skeptical about the future.
Meanwhile the Canucks don’t rest Luongo enough, and it ceretainly showed at the end of the finals. The Cup needs to go back to Canada soon. While the Negress knows it’s well appreciated in Boston, it’s just not the same.
In which the Negress drinks some Viura and wonders about her reader
June 6, 2011The Negress often tries to imagine her reader. She is of the mind that every blog has one reader and that reader is not necessarily the blog’s author. She slogged through endless hours at the National Restaurant Show and almost rethought her entire relationship to food (vegan “chicken”: threat or menace?). She dithered and dawdled and saw one fine assignment
Some juice for idle thoughts
evaporate but it was replaced by another that is pleasing but possibly not as lucrative. She also addressed her insurance career, spent some money and became secure but not exactly busy. She found a couple of new blogs – Babette Bakes and Jewette. She fell in love with other people’s writing at the Chicago Lit Fest and felt the tug of the books inside her (they may explain her colon woes). Should she write them? So, while enjoying a nice Viura from Rioja (opened for cooking until she smelled the deadly perfume of expired chicken), she decided to think while wasting bandwidth. She figures her reader won’t mind so much if she tells said reader the name of the Viura (El Coto 2008. The Negress likes to be helpful.) She helped teach some people to knit and was reminded that she is not entirely impatient with teaching, but she likes teaching motivated, smart people. These are in short supply, especially as candidates for public office.
So, the Negress may do something about all of the above but the trick will be figuring out which wins out over the other — a return to life in the daily journalism world, the somewhat quixotic desire to try to be more political than she is now (there’s an extraordinary civil rights battle going on in this country right now and if you know anyone who is LGBT, you probably have some idea. If you think you don’t know anyone who is LGBT, you are delusional) or write books. Perhaps there’s room for all of the above. But, for right now, she’s getting some more Viura.
