July 1999, part one

the wine labelThursday, July 1, a gray and humid day.  I had a glass of wine and some Indian food (delivered from Windows on India on 6th Street, quite sublime combinations of flavors!).

the mysterious letterAs for the wine, it was sublime.  A 1996 All’Omo il Vino – Sangiovese Toscano “bottled by Leandro e Gabriella Alessi Panzano in Chianti Italia.  Alcohol 12.5%.”  It also sports a medieval looking label in addition to an “E” in medieval font above it; what it means I cannot tell you.

album cover for glass/shankarFriday, July 2, music is from 1990 when Philip Glass and Ravi Shankar collaborated on “Passages.”

Glass and Shankar each composed three songs, mainly in the other’s style; and while the album on the whole is quite good, I wouldn’t have mentioned it except for the last track, the 13 minute “Prashanti.”  The paths that this song takes to its majestic end are quite engaging.


Saturday, July 3, we have brunch at Mumbles on Second Avenue and 21st Street first.  This place looks like a T.G.I. Friday’s and that’s not a good thing, especially when the food’s so good.  We’d eaten here once before and remarked the same thing, but as it’s flying the only rainbow flag in sight I give it a vote of confidence for today.

The best way to describe the cuisine is haute Virginia.  Imagine being a nice suburban Republican couple outside of the Beltway; this food is authentic to its roots without taking too many chances.  For example, if you’ve been with me for crabcakes at Pangea, you know I’d remark that they’re incredibly tasty if you’re not bound to authenticity (the chef is Moroccan).  But at Mumbles they’re true to their Maryland ethnicity, which didn’t stop me from finishing every bite!

I followed it with angel hair pasta in a light roasted garlic and pine nuts sauce with sun-dried tomatoes and spinach; perfectly prepared.  I believe Bryan made a mistake with the chicken burrito, therefore; and indeed it was quite bland and prepared as if that Republican housewife prepared it from recipe.

We see Rupert Everett in “An Ideal Husband” and find the film version to be truer to the play we saw in London over Christmas than reviewers had led us to believe.  Nonetheless, I think I preferred the Shaftesbury version better.  [See diary page for our London vacation over New Year's.]

Bryan hated Cate Blanchett’s acting, claiming she was in Queen Elizabeth mode (and we’re referring to her previous role as the first Elizabeth); he was slightly kinder to Mr. Everett.  I enjoyed it myself, and we both agreed that we love Minnie Driver (as Miss Mabel, who eventually snares the Wilde doppelganger).


ottorino respighiSunday, July 4, Independence Day, by 3 pm, weather has officially reached 100 degrees!  Music is Ottorino Respighi’s “Three Botticelli Pictures” (Academy of St. Martin in the Fields under Neville Marriner on EMI).

Two thoughts:  First, I’m at the top of the Pulaski Skyway when the second “picture” – L’adorazione dei Magi – begins and the familiar strains of O come, O come Emmanuel, upon which this piece is anchored, soar as I fly almost twenty stories above the ground on a black iron Art Deco masterpiece of highway engineering.  Wow.

Second, this piece is partnered on a double cd with Neville Marriner conducting the Academy in Respighi’s “The Birds” – ok, makes sense – along with him conducting the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra in the Ancient Airs and Dances – ok, different orchestra but a fine interpretation – but then the London Symphony Orchestra under Lamberto Gardelli with both the Pines of Rome and the Fountains of Rome!  Reason?  EMI didn’t have a good version of Respighi’s most famous work but had this mediocre interpretation.  Oh, well, wouldn’t want to leave out the hit now would we?  And the final personal indignity?  I have a single cd with only the Trittico Botticelliano and Ancient Airs and Dances – yes, the very same two versions from EMI on EMI in, of course, a different cover!

Caveat Emptor and don’t tell me I don’t teach you anything here.  And if that’s not enough, here’s another:  Respighi studied composition under Rimsky-Korsakov in St. Petersburg around 1900 and later under Max Bruch.  So there.


Monday, July 5; by 3 pm we’re in Chelsea at A Different Light Bookstore where I get a book based around three essays by Merce Cunningham for Bryan, the George Plimpton “biography” of Truman Capote and a trash gay novel for the flight to London.  Even though it’s 101 degrees we decide to walk down to Greenwich Village; we stop for a cosmopolitan at Julius.

Tuesday, July 6, Bryan and I see “South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut” (is that the title?).  The movie is listed as only 88 minutes but we counted even shorter than that.

Wednesday, July 7 and it’s off to Windows on India at 344 East 6th Street; I had ordered delivery from there last Thursday and wanted to see how good it was eating the food while fresh.  And it was certainly worth going there; the tastes are even more wide-ranging and sublime at the restaurant itself.   We certainly had a good meal.

Thursday, July 8, I work on Ecclesia.  Bryan and I meet Dangerboy at Bop, a new Korean restaurant at 325 Bowery at 2nd Street.  I remember Ruth Reichl recommending it, but also warning that the prices were high and everything was a la carte.  Well, we can attest to the latter but we really didn’t find the food as good as Dok Suni, our regular East Village Korean.  The bill for the three of us was $100 before tip, and that didn’t include the cocktails before dinner!

Friday, July 9, I finish the August issue of Ecclesia; I can’t believe how well it came together this week.  Then it's a weekend of preparing for our two week visit to London with its attendant sidetrip of Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris.


Saturday, July 10, Bryan purchases a new camera for me, the latest version of Sony’s digital Mavica line which uses a regular floppy disc as film.  This is the Sony Mavica MVC-FD88, second from the top of the line; most of the pictures taken previously for the website were from our original model.  This one not only has an incredible digital zoom but also takes digital MPEG movies (maximum length is 15 seconds but also includes sound).  The possibilities are endless.

Around 6 pm, we had our final American dinner at Pangea with Dangerboy after dropping off our cat, Rosebud, at his apartment.  When we went to England over New Year’s Eve, she was fine.  This time, however, she spent two weeks under their stove!  It wasn’t until our arrival back that she showed her face, being extremely affectionate to me and coming right into my arms.  I believe that this is the last time that we’ll take her from her home.  After all, she is a house cat (btw, she has not had her claws removed, a barbaric practice in my opinion) and is there more often than us.

And now, a click of your mouse and you're on the way to our visit to London, Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris!


you know, this link will take you home, but perhaps you'd just like to read the previous month (june 1999, in this case) ... you can even write to either bryan or tony individually