Myron Cohen was the original "dialect" comedian. Whether it's laughing at his words or trademark facial expressions, his kind of comedy was rare. I stayed home on a Friday night (rare for me, missed "Cinema Night" and watched this brilliant comic with his trademark Bambi ears, bald head, rolling eyeballs, cherub face strut his stuff in a dingy nightclub in Warwick, RI (1978) on an HBO DVD I rented at the Jewish Community Center. Good God, I thought, do you mean to say this place is a club?
Steve Allen called him a "vanishing species": he made fun of the speech of immigrants. My advice to you amateur comics: don't do it, unless you are terrific at it! Myron Cohen preceded Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat) as one of the first "insult" comedians!
Myron Cohen was a travelling salesman, a man used to selling textiles who became a stand-up in his white panther years! : funny, Jewish, brilliant, maybe offensive to the politically correct crowd: a rare, vanishing breed!
Here's some of what he said: Enjoy and Mazeltov!
Salesman's approach: I'd tell a joke; he'd laugh. He'd forget what I'd come for.
He'd sell me a book of raffle tickets. I'd make a sell.
Typical, devoted husband comes home to adored wife. I bought a bargain: 4 white-walled premium tires for practically nothing!
She: What the hell's a matter with you? You don't have a car!
I said, What the hell's a matter with you--you wear brassieres! (Do I have to explain it to you???)
Husband
comes home early. Wife is spread out on bed. What the hell's the matter
with you...cover yourself up! I want to take you out to dinner.
She (takes him to closet): But I've got nothing to wear!
Husband: What about blue one, red one, navy one, BLACK one?
Woman
comes home to husband. He's making love to another woman. She is
outraged, throws him out the window. He lands outside, splattered on
sidewalk, bones everywhere. During the police investigation, she was
asked: Why'd you do that?
She: At his age, if he can make love, I figured he can FLY!
Truth is so much stranger than fiction; I won't lie to you. Two incidents that happened in Las Vegas. Hotel Riveria. A buxom blonde
was sitting at the bar. A young man offered to buy her a drink, and
another, and another! I thought he was ready. He began his approach
(rolls eyes). She: Let's get one thing straight, I'm a LESBIAN, so how
are things in Beirut? (Laughter).
And no more than 100 yards a
black man was beating up a little Jewish guy. Police cam along: what
are you hitting him for? 'Cause he called me a Black Bastard! Jew: I
never called him a Black Bastard! He asked me where is the Riviera
Hotel, and I said you're a Block Past It!
Let me digress for a
moment: Let me tell you about a married man who finds himself with a
woman in a compromising position. Suddenly there's a key in the door.
(It happens). It's the husband.
He: Where's the back door?
She: There isn't one!
He: Where would you like one?
In my 27 years of going to the casino in Las
Vegas, there was a lady of the minute. (That's how much time they give
you). That's how much time it takes for me to take my shoes off for
which I'll forever hate myself. She walks up to a man and says I like
your face...for you $25! I'll do it twice!
He: But I'm only going to be here 6 months. Does that remind you of anything in the family?
Little
Italian man who went into a bank to borrow some money. Bank manager:
I'm sorry, sir but the loan ranger is out to lunch. Italian: If I can't
talk to the loan ranger, I'll talk to Tonto!
Let me tell you
about the Italian photographer who was sent to Rome to photograph the
holy man -- he had taken many shots but this was his crown achievement.
Camera was set and focused. He said many times before to this revered,
respected holy man: Your holiness: Please say CHEESE. The holy man drew
himself up to his full height and said: PROVOLONE! WHAT DID YOU EXPECT?
MOZZARELL?
I want you to hear a Watergate story to end all
Watergate stories. A couple checked into that Watergate Hotel, in
Washington, D.C., where all that infamous bugging took place. Don't
know whether they were married or single --it's non of my business! He
evidently had something to hide because he began checking drapes,
walls, chairs, tables, under the bed--every thing humanly possible.
Finally he picked up the rug and found 4 tremendously large screws--the
largest ones he's ever laid his eyes on. There's that bugging outfit,
he thought. They're looking to nail me! I'll fix those creeps! One hour
later, he had the screws up. He checked out the next morning. HOW WAS
THE ROOM, the manager asked. VERY NICE! WERE YOU DISTURBED BY COMMOTION
IN ROOM UNDERNEATH? He said NO, WHAT HAPPENED? A CHANDELIER FELL ON A
GUY'S HEAD!
HOPE YOU HAVE A HAPPY EASTER! HAPPY WESTER!
Saturday, April 7, 2007
Thursday, April 5, 2007
RUMI: 1207-2007 UNESCO MAN OF YEAR: SUFI POET/RELIGION OF LOVE;COLEMAN BURKS: CODY'S SF
Coleman Burks on RUMI; Cody's Books, 2 Stockton, San Francisco. A favorite poet of mine once said "I am in the world to change the world". Rumi (1207-1273), was a teacher, mystic, founder of what we now know as "Whirling Dervishes," and a poet of lyrical spiritual power, who created 20,000 poems or oral extemporizations that were recorded by his students. He believed that prayer has a form and physical equivalent, that every thought has an expressive action. As part of the UNESCO declaration of 2007 as the Year of Rumi in honor of the 800th anniversary of his birth, Coleman Barks visited San Francisco from his native Georgia and "ruminated" on this great man, and read from A YEAR WITH RUMI: DAILY READINGS.
The Self we Share:
Look fish, you are already in the ocean
just swimming there makes you friends with glory.
What are these grudges about?
You are Benjamin.
Joseph has put a gold cup in your grain sack
and accused you of being a thief.
Now he draws you aside and says,
You are my brother. I am a prayer. You are the AMEN.
We move in eternal regions,
yet we worry about property here.
Let this be the prayer of each:
You are the source of my life.
You bring rivers from the mountain springs.
You brighten my eyes.
The wine you offer takes me out of myself
into the self we share.
The Love Religion
...Love is the religion in me
whichever way love's camel goes,
that way becomes my faith.
the source of beauty, and a light
OF SACREDNESS OVER everything.
Rumi's poetry feels like it belongs to everyone. When he died in 1273, members of all religious came to the funeral. As Coleman Burks pointed out, wherever you stand, his words deepen your connection to the mystery of being alive.
QUESTION AND ANSWER:
Q:(me) I have a friend who is a very devout Catholic who insists that the soul needs "feeding" with rituals,and that you need to attend church in order to fulfil the hunger of the soul. I believe that the body and soul need laughter. I think i understand the mystics, Sufis, but how does humor figure in?
A: It's very humanistic isn't it, laughter?
A Nazradene went into a store (he was a trickster), and the shopkeeper comes forward. Trickster says, did you see me come in that door? Yes, I saw you. Trickster: Have you seen me before in your life? Shopkeeper: Never have I seen you! Trickster: HOW DID YOU KNOW IT WAS ME?
I'm not against church. There are wonderful things that happen there...the singing. Some people have more use for it than others. I just feel that the EXCLUSIVITY of the God Names, you know, the God Claims, are causing danger to the planet.
Me: Norman Mailer was in San Francisco. He believes in the soul.
Burks: I like Norman Mailer's writing, but he's very mean though, isn't he? He's a boxer!
M: Coleman, religion and politics are so intertwined in the United States, do you not agree? What was Rumi's political bent? Did he have any kind of political life?
A: We have 147 letters that have survived that tell about his day-to-day life -they're not about politics...Sultanate was in charge there, but he was deeply involved in the nitty-gritty of life with friends, his community, helping neighbors, relatives with loans, whatever he could do to make a difference in the world. Trying to help out, micromanage ways with the world around him so you'd call that politics, wouldn't you.
Coleman Burks is a dynamic speaker/poet and was 39 years old before discovering Rumi. It was hopeless at that age, he said, to learn Persian (farsi) and relied on scholars to help "translate" the poems.
There is a French saying that TRANSLATION is a betrayal. Burks' language, poetry seduces, and is no betrayal! His meditative, ruminative, poetic RUMI is worth visiting if your "soul" needs inspiration, awakening, wit, and humor!
The Self we Share:
Look fish, you are already in the ocean
just swimming there makes you friends with glory.
What are these grudges about?
You are Benjamin.
Joseph has put a gold cup in your grain sack
and accused you of being a thief.
Now he draws you aside and says,
You are my brother. I am a prayer. You are the AMEN.
We move in eternal regions,
yet we worry about property here.
Let this be the prayer of each:
You are the source of my life.
You bring rivers from the mountain springs.
You brighten my eyes.
The wine you offer takes me out of myself
into the self we share.
The Love Religion
...Love is the religion in me
whichever way love's camel goes,
that way becomes my faith.
the source of beauty, and a light
OF SACREDNESS OVER everything.
Rumi's poetry feels like it belongs to everyone. When he died in 1273, members of all religious came to the funeral. As Coleman Burks pointed out, wherever you stand, his words deepen your connection to the mystery of being alive.
QUESTION AND ANSWER:
Q:(me) I have a friend who is a very devout Catholic who insists that the soul needs "feeding" with rituals,and that you need to attend church in order to fulfil the hunger of the soul. I believe that the body and soul need laughter. I think i understand the mystics, Sufis, but how does humor figure in?
A: It's very humanistic isn't it, laughter?
A Nazradene went into a store (he was a trickster), and the shopkeeper comes forward. Trickster says, did you see me come in that door? Yes, I saw you. Trickster: Have you seen me before in your life? Shopkeeper: Never have I seen you! Trickster: HOW DID YOU KNOW IT WAS ME?
I'm not against church. There are wonderful things that happen there...the singing. Some people have more use for it than others. I just feel that the EXCLUSIVITY of the God Names, you know, the God Claims, are causing danger to the planet.
Me: Norman Mailer was in San Francisco. He believes in the soul.
Burks: I like Norman Mailer's writing, but he's very mean though, isn't he? He's a boxer!
M: Coleman, religion and politics are so intertwined in the United States, do you not agree? What was Rumi's political bent? Did he have any kind of political life?
A: We have 147 letters that have survived that tell about his day-to-day life -they're not about politics...Sultanate was in charge there, but he was deeply involved in the nitty-gritty of life with friends, his community, helping neighbors, relatives with loans, whatever he could do to make a difference in the world. Trying to help out, micromanage ways with the world around him so you'd call that politics, wouldn't you.
Coleman Burks is a dynamic speaker/poet and was 39 years old before discovering Rumi. It was hopeless at that age, he said, to learn Persian (farsi) and relied on scholars to help "translate" the poems.
There is a French saying that TRANSLATION is a betrayal. Burks' language, poetry seduces, and is no betrayal! His meditative, ruminative, poetic RUMI is worth visiting if your "soul" needs inspiration, awakening, wit, and humor!
Monday, April 2, 2007
farmerbrown: trendyloin soul fool; groucho marx: march madness on april fool's eve
farmerbrown; 25 Mason (Turk);415-409-3276;www.farmerbrown.com;info@farmerbrownsf.com;dinner from 5:00p.m. nightly until midnight;Executive Chief is Jay Foster who provides soul food at its finest and gives a New Orleans meets California spin at this Tenderloin rookie restaurant sourcing local, organic produce from Bay Area African-American farmers. The rough-hewn bar is dominated by a long bar where trendyloin hipsters can find comfort food with mint juleps and down home classics like fried chicken, gumbo, seafood jumbalaya, po'boy of the day, BBQ pulled pork sandwich, crispy cornmeal catfish, Columbia River (Oregon) steelhead trout. There's even an antique bicycle in the restroom!
credo: farmerbrown is about supporting local and african-american farmers, using organic, biodynamic and/or sustainably raised foods (whenever possible). our focus is southern food a gift that is often misrepresented. we love our food and want you to love it too, please let us know what you think. happy hour all night on sundays and mondays!
Saturday night was hopping with mad-as-a-march-hare lunacy! My date, a Groucho Marx lover, and I waited in the mezzanine lounge of the Hotel Metropolis lounge (www.personalityhotels.com) for 1/2 hour (complimentary drinks and appetizers provided) where I've attended the Sneak Peek Literary Lounge on Monday nights (6-8), a weekly author reading featuring brand new books, plays, poetry, short stories. (Contact John Templeton at (415) 265.9455 for the calendar.
What are your favorite Grouchoisms? Here are Jay-Jay's:
Military intelligence: contradiction in terms.
Outside of a dog, books are a man's best friend, inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.
Only one man in a thousand is a leader of men. Other 999 follow women.
I find TV very educating. Every time someone turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.
(on hair) Why should I pay $10 for something I can see in the bathroom for nothing.
Time flies like a banana, but fruit flies like a banana.
A man's only as old as the woman he feels.
Anyone who says he can see through women is missing a lot.
Don't ever put ice in my drink. It takes up too much room.
Ever since they found out Lassie was a boy, the public has believed the worst of Hollywood.
On Victor Mature: Never to the movies when her tits are bigger than heroines.
I've had a wonderful evening but this wasn't it!
EPITAPH: Here lies Groucho and LIES and LIES and LIES.
Here are my favorites from farmerbrown but remember start working there, and in a month you'll gain 10 lbs. Guaranteed, like Jonathan, our Coos Bay, Oregon server.
Gumbo with seafood, chicken and andouille sausage (made with jalapenos;vegetarian option available).11 (Pompae, our neighbors, loved this dish).
farmer's green salad with parsnip crisps and lemon vinaigrette 5.5. Delicate flavor, plentiful, a great job!
Fulton valley fried chicken: new orleans style with southern greens and macaroni and cheese, is the BEST chicken in the city. Finger lickin' good and beats Colonel Sanders by a mile. 16.50
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: crispy cornmeal catfish w/southern greens and candied yams. 16.50
columbia river steelhead stuffed with herbs and bacon over clementine salad. 21.50
The sides are plentiful, including sauteed collards, baked white beans, angel of biscuits (order of 5), roasted veggies (brussels, parsnip, carrot). 5.
All of the entrees comes with homemade jalapeno cornbread with maple butter, a great treat!
Desserts include banana pudding, bourbon pecan pie, chocolate beignets, strawberry-rhubarb pie. 6. Try my favorite: bourbon pecan pie, which I tasted after a literary event one rainy Monday night!
We left the restaurant in a rush! What's so great about Spring break, and March Madness? Jay-Jay came out with a Leno quip: A chance for commoners to get drunk like Prince Harry. This was the week the Prince came out of a bar, tried to punch a photographer and fell into a gutter. Lucky his fall was broken by George Michaels lying there. (Jay Leno, The Tonight Show, 3/26/07)
credo: farmerbrown is about supporting local and african-american farmers, using organic, biodynamic and/or sustainably raised foods (whenever possible). our focus is southern food a gift that is often misrepresented. we love our food and want you to love it too, please let us know what you think. happy hour all night on sundays and mondays!
Saturday night was hopping with mad-as-a-march-hare lunacy! My date, a Groucho Marx lover, and I waited in the mezzanine lounge of the Hotel Metropolis lounge (www.personalityhotels.com) for 1/2 hour (complimentary drinks and appetizers provided) where I've attended the Sneak Peek Literary Lounge on Monday nights (6-8), a weekly author reading featuring brand new books, plays, poetry, short stories. (Contact John Templeton at (415) 265.9455 for the calendar.
What are your favorite Grouchoisms? Here are Jay-Jay's:
Military intelligence: contradiction in terms.
Outside of a dog, books are a man's best friend, inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.
Only one man in a thousand is a leader of men. Other 999 follow women.
I find TV very educating. Every time someone turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.
(on hair) Why should I pay $10 for something I can see in the bathroom for nothing.
Time flies like a banana, but fruit flies like a banana.
A man's only as old as the woman he feels.
Anyone who says he can see through women is missing a lot.
Don't ever put ice in my drink. It takes up too much room.
Ever since they found out Lassie was a boy, the public has believed the worst of Hollywood.
On Victor Mature: Never to the movies when her tits are bigger than heroines.
I've had a wonderful evening but this wasn't it!
EPITAPH: Here lies Groucho and LIES and LIES and LIES.
Here are my favorites from farmerbrown but remember start working there, and in a month you'll gain 10 lbs. Guaranteed, like Jonathan, our Coos Bay, Oregon server.
Gumbo with seafood, chicken and andouille sausage (made with jalapenos;vegetarian option available).11 (Pompae, our neighbors, loved this dish).
farmer's green salad with parsnip crisps and lemon vinaigrette 5.5. Delicate flavor, plentiful, a great job!
Fulton valley fried chicken: new orleans style with southern greens and macaroni and cheese, is the BEST chicken in the city. Finger lickin' good and beats Colonel Sanders by a mile. 16.50
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: crispy cornmeal catfish w/southern greens and candied yams. 16.50
columbia river steelhead stuffed with herbs and bacon over clementine salad. 21.50
The sides are plentiful, including sauteed collards, baked white beans, angel of biscuits (order of 5), roasted veggies (brussels, parsnip, carrot). 5.
All of the entrees comes with homemade jalapeno cornbread with maple butter, a great treat!
Desserts include banana pudding, bourbon pecan pie, chocolate beignets, strawberry-rhubarb pie. 6. Try my favorite: bourbon pecan pie, which I tasted after a literary event one rainy Monday night!
We left the restaurant in a rush! What's so great about Spring break, and March Madness? Jay-Jay came out with a Leno quip: A chance for commoners to get drunk like Prince Harry. This was the week the Prince came out of a bar, tried to punch a photographer and fell into a gutter. Lucky his fall was broken by George Michaels lying there. (Jay Leno, The Tonight Show, 3/26/07)
Thursday, March 29, 2007
MEDICINE EATSTATION: UNFORTUNATE NAME: WILL YOU NEED SPOONFUL OF MEDICINE TO MAKE FOOD GO DOWN?
Medicine Eatstation (Crocker Galleria, 161 Sutter Street, 3rd floor;wwwmedicinerestaurant.com; 677-4405; weekdays 12-6) is a culinary oddity. I coaxed PJ who Maxed out his credit card for a lovely jaunt to this "real Shojin" temple in the heart of the Financial District. Dr. Brian Waits is the chef; he "waits" for no one, if you come after 3:00. Not even if you are a yoga teacher or the Dalai Lama? Medicine has an unfortunate name, it's true, and the last time I ate there, the service was on the slowish side. In fact, the kvetchers on my last trip quipped slow service can make a trip to the Doctor seem like fun.
Medicine is in flux. It used to be a serene, stark place where you sat at wooden benches at long mahogany tables while video screens showed landscapes. That area has been cordoned off for remodeling and two benches are left. Most of the harried 9 to 5ers do take out, sit under the glass canopy of the Crocker Galleria, or trek up to the roof garden. Tuesday was a spectacularly sunny day, but we stayed indoors for me to meet Brian.
Brian it seemed had stepped out. Whereabouts unknown. The Medicine formula is haute Japanese vegan cuisine. A refreshing change from the Crocker Galleria's fast food joints. If you are a committed carnivore, skip this place.
I remembered Harold Pinter's line from the Caretaker about the monk, as I slipped onto the austere wooden bench:
I said to this monk...I heard you got a stock of shoes here. Piss off, he said to me.
I go to Refuge to the Buddha
I go to Refuge to the Doctrine.
I go for the Refuge to the Order of [monks].
(Pali Canon - Last words of the Buddha c 500-250 BC)
8 fold path: RIGHT VIEWS, RIGHT ASPIRATIONS, RIGHT SPEECH, RIGHT CONDUCT, RIGHT LIVELIHOOD, RIGHT EFFORT, RIGHT MINDFULNESS, RIGHT CONTEMPLATION.
Medicine's motto: loving kindness to your body/simple food for jaded palates. The signature plate is the medicine roll: 9-grain rice, avocado, sour plum, nori carrot, shiso leaf, spicy sprouts and flax seed (5).
Mountain monk: tender baby salad greens tossed with seasonal fruit, pinenuts, walnuts and Daitoku-jinatto in our special sake-kasu dressing (9). Subtle and plentiful, a perfect lunchtime snack.
I had the Clarity: a cornucopia of seasonal vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, rice, tofu) steamed to perfection served with our housemade peanut sauce and 'germinated' sweet brown rice. (9) Not enough peanut sauce and had to imbibe some of PJ's Sappora to wash it down. "If feel like bombing Pearl Harbor all over again," he blurted out!
The add-ons are a great addition: jumbo prawns, chikuzen salmon, whitefish marinated with sweet-soy. (5). If you come after 3:00 p.m., guess what? the chef is out to lunch. Literally! You have to settle for deep-fried or steamed tofu. No baked here, which is fortunate.
We skipped the yuzu shaved ice specialty and headed for Union Square and settled into the IT'S IT, a San Francisco treat (ice cream sandwich) to people-watch.
MEDICINE IS A SYMBOL OF SOLITUDE, SECURITY AND IS AS IMPORTANT AS A SHELL TO A HERMIT CRAB! MAY IT THRIVE IN ITS FUTURE REINCARNATION
Medicine is in flux. It used to be a serene, stark place where you sat at wooden benches at long mahogany tables while video screens showed landscapes. That area has been cordoned off for remodeling and two benches are left. Most of the harried 9 to 5ers do take out, sit under the glass canopy of the Crocker Galleria, or trek up to the roof garden. Tuesday was a spectacularly sunny day, but we stayed indoors for me to meet Brian.
Brian it seemed had stepped out. Whereabouts unknown. The Medicine formula is haute Japanese vegan cuisine. A refreshing change from the Crocker Galleria's fast food joints. If you are a committed carnivore, skip this place.
I remembered Harold Pinter's line from the Caretaker about the monk, as I slipped onto the austere wooden bench:
I said to this monk...I heard you got a stock of shoes here. Piss off, he said to me.
I go to Refuge to the Buddha
I go to Refuge to the Doctrine.
I go for the Refuge to the Order of [monks].
(Pali Canon - Last words of the Buddha c 500-250 BC)
8 fold path: RIGHT VIEWS, RIGHT ASPIRATIONS, RIGHT SPEECH, RIGHT CONDUCT, RIGHT LIVELIHOOD, RIGHT EFFORT, RIGHT MINDFULNESS, RIGHT CONTEMPLATION.
Medicine's motto: loving kindness to your body/simple food for jaded palates. The signature plate is the medicine roll: 9-grain rice, avocado, sour plum, nori carrot, shiso leaf, spicy sprouts and flax seed (5).
Mountain monk: tender baby salad greens tossed with seasonal fruit, pinenuts, walnuts and Daitoku-jinatto in our special sake-kasu dressing (9). Subtle and plentiful, a perfect lunchtime snack.
I had the Clarity: a cornucopia of seasonal vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, rice, tofu) steamed to perfection served with our housemade peanut sauce and 'germinated' sweet brown rice. (9) Not enough peanut sauce and had to imbibe some of PJ's Sappora to wash it down. "If feel like bombing Pearl Harbor all over again," he blurted out!
The add-ons are a great addition: jumbo prawns, chikuzen salmon, whitefish marinated with sweet-soy. (5). If you come after 3:00 p.m., guess what? the chef is out to lunch. Literally! You have to settle for deep-fried or steamed tofu. No baked here, which is fortunate.
We skipped the yuzu shaved ice specialty and headed for Union Square and settled into the IT'S IT, a San Francisco treat (ice cream sandwich) to people-watch.
MEDICINE IS A SYMBOL OF SOLITUDE, SECURITY AND IS AS IMPORTANT AS A SHELL TO A HERMIT CRAB! MAY IT THRIVE IN ITS FUTURE REINCARNATION
Monday, March 26, 2007
PANE E VINO: MARINA AMICI SAY DELIZIA! DELICIOSA!
Pane e Vino (1715 Union St./Gough;415-346-2111;www.panevinotratorrio.com) is a great place to spend a Saturday or any night. I've been here more than once and met the chef/owner, 50-something Bruno Quercini, and his fun-loving/hardworking staff. The word on the street is this is the go-to place for cucino e vino: delizia! It's loud like an authentic Italian tratorrio should be and a joyous place on a Saturday night!
Bruno hails from a small village near Lake Como, where the Lombard plains rise into the Alps. Northern Italy is pocked by a series of lakes; playground of the Milanese rich; hordes of tourists. George Clooney has a beautiful home on this blue-green lake with signs: SWIMMING NOT ADVISABLE. Stendhal walked the lake in 1800 and wrote his Charterhouse of Parma here; another famous son, Alessandro Volta, in 1745, came up with the battery!
Bruno, includes the cucino of his native country: rabbit, polenta, buckwheat pasta, cured beef on his menu. A new father of baby girl (Serafina), born December 6th, he has been chef for over 11 years. He sported a black beret and told me his favorite things that come from the rotisserie, including duck, roast veal. In my mind, Pane e Vino has not mellowed with age: it is a raucous, gorgeous crowd in a t-shaped, rose room with a bar that faces the kitchen. RESERVATIONS ARE A MUST!
I walked there with my friend Serge down Polk Street, stopping in at the Tonic bar, to meet Ryan, political consultant to the Mayor's office, and a black dude, "Hollister" who Ryan introduced as the "Mayor of Polk Street." He said to me: you have a great spirit...don't I know you"? Nope. I checked out the poster of Einstein at the door, a preview of things to come for Trivia night (Wednesdays). I made a bar bet, a la Henny Youngman. Try this, folks: Place an apple and orange (or any 2 objects, for that matter) in front of your friend. Bet him that he cannot lift either of them alone. You win no matter which he lifts. You say: "You are not alone, I'm here!"
We moved cautiously down Union until we finally came to the crowded restaurant. Bruno and I shared a few jokes. So there are these two muffins baking in an oven. One of them yells, "Wow, it's hot in here!" And the other muffin replies: Holy Cow! A talking muffin!" Did he read that in the New York Times recently? Yep!
Bruno immediately brought to our table antipasto della casa and bruschetta (with mushrooms), followed by his grandmother's recipe: polenta taragna e funghi (terrine of corn and buckwheat and cheese topped with sauteed wild mushrooms). Gratis for me and my dear friend who is one of the founders of the San Francisco International Film Festival (1947).
Anna (to Serge): Tell me something you know to be true:
Serge: This above all: to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou can'st not then be false to any man. (Polonius' advice to Laertes;Hamlet). Serge is fluent in 5 languages, reads Latin and Greek, and is a Luddite (no computer, no cellphone, no watch) and is one of my dearest friends. He has been a mentor to the San Francisco drama department for eons! We celebrated his unbirthday!
Here's what I recommend from pane e vino:
Spinach salad with warm pancetta and eggs in a balsamic vinegar-olive oil dressing. (9)
Flat spinach and egg noddles with meat sauce (14)
Diavolo (devilishly delightful) pizza: tomato sauce, mozzarella, spicy salami, hot pepper flakes and oregano (15)
Daily specials from the rotisserie (18). We had the chicken and it was succulent, juicy, served with potatoes, winter greens (you can substitute a salad, if you'd like).
Fillet of Petrale sole sauteed in white wine, lemon and limejuice (23).
We did not have room for dessert and opted for the house expresso! I interviewed several people at the bar, regulars whose verdict is simply: Delizia! Deliciosa! If you decide to get the spumanti, try the prosecco, Cantine dal Bello Colli Asolani e Montello, NV (30). Bon Appetit!
Bruno hails from a small village near Lake Como, where the Lombard plains rise into the Alps. Northern Italy is pocked by a series of lakes; playground of the Milanese rich; hordes of tourists. George Clooney has a beautiful home on this blue-green lake with signs: SWIMMING NOT ADVISABLE. Stendhal walked the lake in 1800 and wrote his Charterhouse of Parma here; another famous son, Alessandro Volta, in 1745, came up with the battery!
Bruno, includes the cucino of his native country: rabbit, polenta, buckwheat pasta, cured beef on his menu. A new father of baby girl (Serafina), born December 6th, he has been chef for over 11 years. He sported a black beret and told me his favorite things that come from the rotisserie, including duck, roast veal. In my mind, Pane e Vino has not mellowed with age: it is a raucous, gorgeous crowd in a t-shaped, rose room with a bar that faces the kitchen. RESERVATIONS ARE A MUST!
I walked there with my friend Serge down Polk Street, stopping in at the Tonic bar, to meet Ryan, political consultant to the Mayor's office, and a black dude, "Hollister" who Ryan introduced as the "Mayor of Polk Street." He said to me: you have a great spirit...don't I know you"? Nope. I checked out the poster of Einstein at the door, a preview of things to come for Trivia night (Wednesdays). I made a bar bet, a la Henny Youngman. Try this, folks: Place an apple and orange (or any 2 objects, for that matter) in front of your friend. Bet him that he cannot lift either of them alone. You win no matter which he lifts. You say: "You are not alone, I'm here!"
We moved cautiously down Union until we finally came to the crowded restaurant. Bruno and I shared a few jokes. So there are these two muffins baking in an oven. One of them yells, "Wow, it's hot in here!" And the other muffin replies: Holy Cow! A talking muffin!" Did he read that in the New York Times recently? Yep!
Bruno immediately brought to our table antipasto della casa and bruschetta (with mushrooms), followed by his grandmother's recipe: polenta taragna e funghi (terrine of corn and buckwheat and cheese topped with sauteed wild mushrooms). Gratis for me and my dear friend who is one of the founders of the San Francisco International Film Festival (1947).
Anna (to Serge): Tell me something you know to be true:
Serge: This above all: to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou can'st not then be false to any man. (Polonius' advice to Laertes;Hamlet). Serge is fluent in 5 languages, reads Latin and Greek, and is a Luddite (no computer, no cellphone, no watch) and is one of my dearest friends. He has been a mentor to the San Francisco drama department for eons! We celebrated his unbirthday!
Here's what I recommend from pane e vino:
Spinach salad with warm pancetta and eggs in a balsamic vinegar-olive oil dressing. (9)
Flat spinach and egg noddles with meat sauce (14)
Diavolo (devilishly delightful) pizza: tomato sauce, mozzarella, spicy salami, hot pepper flakes and oregano (15)
Daily specials from the rotisserie (18). We had the chicken and it was succulent, juicy, served with potatoes, winter greens (you can substitute a salad, if you'd like).
Fillet of Petrale sole sauteed in white wine, lemon and limejuice (23).
We did not have room for dessert and opted for the house expresso! I interviewed several people at the bar, regulars whose verdict is simply: Delizia! Deliciosa! If you decide to get the spumanti, try the prosecco, Cantine dal Bello Colli Asolani e Montello, NV (30). Bon Appetit!
Sunday, March 25, 2007
FORUM AT GRACE CATHEDRAL: READING JUDAS/DID JESUS HAVE A SENSE OF HUMOR?; MARCH 25, 2007 /ELAINE PAGELS AND KAREN KING
I spent Sunday morning at The Forum in Gresham Hall, Grace Cathedral (1100 California Street, San Francisco Nob Hill (415) 749-6300: 9:30 a.m. The Forum is free and open to the public and webcast live and archived at www.gracecathedral.org/forum. Civil Conversation on Critical Issues. The credo: We believe in one God, known to us in Jesus Christ, also known by different names in different traditions. We seek to transform the world, beginning with ourselves, celebrating the image of God in every person. We are a house of prayer, worship, and service for everyone, welcoming all who seek an inclusive community of love.
Reading Judas with Elaine Pagel and Karen King, of Harvard and Princeton, respectively. When the Gospel of Judas was published by National Geographic Society in 2006, it received extraordinary media attention and was immediately heralded a major biblical discovery that rocked the world of scholars and laypeople alike.
Elaine Pagels and Karen King are the first to reflect on this newly found text and its ramifications for telling the story of early Christianity. In Reading Judas, the two celebrated scholars illustrate how the newly discovered text provides a window into understanding how Jesus' followers understood his death, why Judas betrayed Jesus, and why God allowed it.
Alan Jones, Dean (the top banana) presided over the Forum exchange. During the question and answer I directed by question to Elaine Pagels:
Q: The first thing I look for in a person is a sense of humor, and obviously Jesus had a lively sense of humor. Is there anything in the text of the Gospel of Judas that connects his sense of humor with anger? What is the nature of his anger? The one time I recollect that he got angry, according to what you call "Bible lite" childhood reading, was when he was in the temple and overturned the money-changers' tables. Maybe it's an off-the-wall question, but that's my question!
A: Have you read the text?
Q: No, I haven't.
A: Excuse me, but it's an absolute right-on question! (Is it?) Yes, because here in the opening of the Gospel of Judas, there is a scene in which the disciples are celebrating the Eucharist, and Jesus laughs. (Right!) And the laughter isn't just funny - it's a kind of challenge, and this author, a Christian, or whoever wrote it, is saying. "If Jesus could look at what you're doing, what would he think? He would laugh at you!" It's similar to the way Dostoevsky brought Jesus into the Grand Inquisitor , Jesus would look at you, and say: WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY NAME? So the author of the gospel of Judas is bringing Jesus in, laughing at the way Christians are claiming to worship...when Jesus laughs, he's about to correct something someone is thinking or doing!
Alan Jones mentions Novelist Martin Amis in "Grace Notes" "Today, in the West, there are no good excuses for religious belief -unless we think of ignorance, reaction and sentimentality as good excuses." While I think this is a silly remark by a man seduced by his own cleverness (and he is clever), it, nevertheless, points to something deeply disturbing going on in our culture. We live in a "post-secular" time, defined as "a call to move beyond the ideological assumption that a purely rationalistic account of the world will be sufficient."
Presumably, the Christians believe that Lent is a time for us to aim at a certain end -- the love of God -- as Mr. Top Banana (Dean) asserts. Is it also not the time to aim at love for our fellow humans? After all, did Jesus not say God is Love!
Downstairs, at the Peets coffee kiosk, I noticed Elaine Pagels was talking/pacing on her cellphone. She approached me at my table. I was having an animated fun exchange with the artist, Morris Taylor, who has an exhibition of his remarkable watercolors in the lobby: morris@morristaylor.net. Website: Http://www.morristaylor.net.
Elaine: I loved your question because I thought it made me think that, you know, Jesus got angry about the priests in Jerusalem, and in this text he gets angry at the disciples' worship saying it's like those priests in Jeruselam.
Me: Jesus was brilliant, an angry man but outrageously funny, right? If he came back today Elaine, would he be in Grace Cathedral with the "pillars" of the church or hanging out with the outcasts in the streets of San Francisco?
Elaine: That's a great question but my son is in trouble back East and I have to race to the airport, and fly back to New York.
Me: Bon Voyage!
Reading Judas with Elaine Pagel and Karen King, of Harvard and Princeton, respectively. When the Gospel of Judas was published by National Geographic Society in 2006, it received extraordinary media attention and was immediately heralded a major biblical discovery that rocked the world of scholars and laypeople alike.
Elaine Pagels and Karen King are the first to reflect on this newly found text and its ramifications for telling the story of early Christianity. In Reading Judas, the two celebrated scholars illustrate how the newly discovered text provides a window into understanding how Jesus' followers understood his death, why Judas betrayed Jesus, and why God allowed it.
Alan Jones, Dean (the top banana) presided over the Forum exchange. During the question and answer I directed by question to Elaine Pagels:
Q: The first thing I look for in a person is a sense of humor, and obviously Jesus had a lively sense of humor. Is there anything in the text of the Gospel of Judas that connects his sense of humor with anger? What is the nature of his anger? The one time I recollect that he got angry, according to what you call "Bible lite" childhood reading, was when he was in the temple and overturned the money-changers' tables. Maybe it's an off-the-wall question, but that's my question!
A: Have you read the text?
Q: No, I haven't.
A: Excuse me, but it's an absolute right-on question! (Is it?) Yes, because here in the opening of the Gospel of Judas, there is a scene in which the disciples are celebrating the Eucharist, and Jesus laughs. (Right!) And the laughter isn't just funny - it's a kind of challenge, and this author, a Christian, or whoever wrote it, is saying. "If Jesus could look at what you're doing, what would he think? He would laugh at you!" It's similar to the way Dostoevsky brought Jesus into the Grand Inquisitor , Jesus would look at you, and say: WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY NAME? So the author of the gospel of Judas is bringing Jesus in, laughing at the way Christians are claiming to worship...when Jesus laughs, he's about to correct something someone is thinking or doing!
Alan Jones mentions Novelist Martin Amis in "Grace Notes" "Today, in the West, there are no good excuses for religious belief -unless we think of ignorance, reaction and sentimentality as good excuses." While I think this is a silly remark by a man seduced by his own cleverness (and he is clever), it, nevertheless, points to something deeply disturbing going on in our culture. We live in a "post-secular" time, defined as "a call to move beyond the ideological assumption that a purely rationalistic account of the world will be sufficient."
Presumably, the Christians believe that Lent is a time for us to aim at a certain end -- the love of God -- as Mr. Top Banana (Dean) asserts. Is it also not the time to aim at love for our fellow humans? After all, did Jesus not say God is Love!
Downstairs, at the Peets coffee kiosk, I noticed Elaine Pagels was talking/pacing on her cellphone. She approached me at my table. I was having an animated fun exchange with the artist, Morris Taylor, who has an exhibition of his remarkable watercolors in the lobby: morris@morristaylor.net. Website: Http://www.morristaylor.net.
Elaine: I loved your question because I thought it made me think that, you know, Jesus got angry about the priests in Jerusalem, and in this text he gets angry at the disciples' worship saying it's like those priests in Jeruselam.
Me: Jesus was brilliant, an angry man but outrageously funny, right? If he came back today Elaine, would he be in Grace Cathedral with the "pillars" of the church or hanging out with the outcasts in the streets of San Francisco?
Elaine: That's a great question but my son is in trouble back East and I have to race to the airport, and fly back to New York.
Me: Bon Voyage!
Saturday, March 24, 2007
CHRIS ROCK: I THINK I LOVE MY WIFE: NO SEXUAL CHARISMA/CAN'T PASS THE PHYSICAL!
Chris Rock, comic, screenwriter, director has come out with his second directorial effort (co-written with Louis C.K.).(www.chrisrock.com) After a stint with Saturday Night Live, and In Living Color, he broke out with his HBO Special BRING THE PAIN, a searingly brutal and candid analysis of race that earned him 2 Emmy awards. His latest effort is Everybody Hates Chris, an acclaimed sitcom. I saw the film, but here's a taste of my fave bits from Chris Rock
On childhood and adolescence: The Trench Coat Mafia was upset 'cause they didn't have any friends, "We were the OUTCASTS." There were 6 of the mothers(expletive). I didn't have 6 friends in high school! I don't got 6 friends now! And, everybody's like, what were they listening to? Who cares what they were listening to? What was Hitler listening to? What was in his CD case?
On Marriage: Marriage is the roughest thing in the world. Nelson Mandela endured 27 years in a South African prison, but once he got out, it only took 2 years before his marriage busted his ass!
On race: Everytown has 2 malls. The white mall, and the mall white people used to go to. They don't got nothing in the mall but sneakers and baby clothes. Guess that's all they think we're doin' -- runnin' and f..!
I was born a suspect. I can walk down any street in America and women will clutch their purses tighter, hold onto mace, lock their car doors. If I look up into the windows oF the apartments I pass, I can see old ladies on the phone. They've already dialed 9-1- and are just waiting for me to do something wrong.
On travel: The only think I know about Africa is that it is far, far away. About a 35-hour flight. The boat ride's so long, there are still slaves on their way here.
In I THINK I LOVE MY WIFE, Chris Rock does not play the sex fiend - he can't pass the physical. The movie is an attempt to reimagine the New Wave French Film by Eric Rohnmer (1972), which I saw recently. Rock and co-writer Louis C.K. do not "own" the original script; they borrow it, unfortunately. The best thing about the movie, as Richard Brody states in the New Yorker, is the "comic riffing on a serious subject, the social identity of America's black middle class, but it is too diluted by sketch comedy to take hold."
We inhabit suburban angst in this film. Rock plays an investment banker Richard Cooper, who commutes to Manhattan's posh investment banking firm, Pupkin and Langford. He's got the ideal wife Brenda (Gina Torres), who teaches, and the 2 kids. A great life, right? Yes, and no. His marriage, it turns out is "frozen solid". He's become robotic, his wife is tired, and there is zero sex. Enter the temptress, Nikki Tru, femme fatale, and possible home wrecker whose answering machine simply says: God is Love, Love is God. She represents sex, passion, excitement, the single life, in a word: fun. Let the flirtation begin!
Was it Zsa Zsa Gabor (Miss Hungary, 1959) who said husbands are like fires: They go out if unattended? Will Richard Cooper, Mr. Married Man, learn that the key to failure is trying to please both wife AND mistress? Will he run away with the femme fatale, find true love and passion, or will he be responsible, find true love and put "family first"? I won't spoil the ending for you but watch that TIE he wears. Will it liberate him or become a noose?
The bad news is that Chris Rock fails as an actor. In my opinion, Eddie Murphy should have been cast in the role of Cooper but Murphy was busy making his "comeback" in Dreamgirls. In I THINK I LOVE MY LIFE, Kerry Washington steals the show as the alluring femme fatale and we care more about her than Chris Rock. Sad, but true! I look forward to seeing more of her.
The movie has enough giggles to please any Chris Rock fan and if you love his comedy (I do) put this on your MUST-SEE list. Chris Rock ROCKS as irreverent, caustic, satiric comic. However,he should skip the silver screen, or take some acting lessons. Unfortunately, he's got no sexual charisma (unless you think comedy is the ultimate aphrodisiac) and he just does not pass the physical. Chris Rock: stick to your stand-up schtick!
On childhood and adolescence: The Trench Coat Mafia was upset 'cause they didn't have any friends, "We were the OUTCASTS." There were 6 of the mothers(expletive). I didn't have 6 friends in high school! I don't got 6 friends now! And, everybody's like, what were they listening to? Who cares what they were listening to? What was Hitler listening to? What was in his CD case?
On Marriage: Marriage is the roughest thing in the world. Nelson Mandela endured 27 years in a South African prison, but once he got out, it only took 2 years before his marriage busted his ass!
On race: Everytown has 2 malls. The white mall, and the mall white people used to go to. They don't got nothing in the mall but sneakers and baby clothes. Guess that's all they think we're doin' -- runnin' and f..!
I was born a suspect. I can walk down any street in America and women will clutch their purses tighter, hold onto mace, lock their car doors. If I look up into the windows oF the apartments I pass, I can see old ladies on the phone. They've already dialed 9-1- and are just waiting for me to do something wrong.
On travel: The only think I know about Africa is that it is far, far away. About a 35-hour flight. The boat ride's so long, there are still slaves on their way here.
In I THINK I LOVE MY WIFE, Chris Rock does not play the sex fiend - he can't pass the physical. The movie is an attempt to reimagine the New Wave French Film by Eric Rohnmer (1972), which I saw recently. Rock and co-writer Louis C.K. do not "own" the original script; they borrow it, unfortunately. The best thing about the movie, as Richard Brody states in the New Yorker, is the "comic riffing on a serious subject, the social identity of America's black middle class, but it is too diluted by sketch comedy to take hold."
We inhabit suburban angst in this film. Rock plays an investment banker Richard Cooper, who commutes to Manhattan's posh investment banking firm, Pupkin and Langford. He's got the ideal wife Brenda (Gina Torres), who teaches, and the 2 kids. A great life, right? Yes, and no. His marriage, it turns out is "frozen solid". He's become robotic, his wife is tired, and there is zero sex. Enter the temptress, Nikki Tru, femme fatale, and possible home wrecker whose answering machine simply says: God is Love, Love is God. She represents sex, passion, excitement, the single life, in a word: fun. Let the flirtation begin!
Was it Zsa Zsa Gabor (Miss Hungary, 1959) who said husbands are like fires: They go out if unattended? Will Richard Cooper, Mr. Married Man, learn that the key to failure is trying to please both wife AND mistress? Will he run away with the femme fatale, find true love and passion, or will he be responsible, find true love and put "family first"? I won't spoil the ending for you but watch that TIE he wears. Will it liberate him or become a noose?
The bad news is that Chris Rock fails as an actor. In my opinion, Eddie Murphy should have been cast in the role of Cooper but Murphy was busy making his "comeback" in Dreamgirls. In I THINK I LOVE MY LIFE, Kerry Washington steals the show as the alluring femme fatale and we care more about her than Chris Rock. Sad, but true! I look forward to seeing more of her.
The movie has enough giggles to please any Chris Rock fan and if you love his comedy (I do) put this on your MUST-SEE list. Chris Rock ROCKS as irreverent, caustic, satiric comic. However,he should skip the silver screen, or take some acting lessons. Unfortunately, he's got no sexual charisma (unless you think comedy is the ultimate aphrodisiac) and he just does not pass the physical. Chris Rock: stick to your stand-up schtick!
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