1. Last night, as the family was curled up together in the media room watching an absolutely atrocious old TV movie called Tornado, Owen suddenly mused, "Owen sounds like it should be a tropical melon." I couldn't help but agree...
2. Eric Brace and Peter Cooper were so wonderful the other night.....we were just blissfully happy all day long yesterday. Van kindly put a song on youtube. This song slays me so I was so happy to hear it the other night. Sorry about the hiss on the pa though....gotta figure that out.
3. And speaking of guys I love....here's our beloved Fats Kaplin playing with Jack White on Saturday Night Live last night.
4. Look at this sign. I smile at it every time I go up the stairs and look at it taped to the wall over the landing. If you haven't noticed....my children amuse the hell out of me....
5. A couple of people asked me about the Red Cooked pork recipe. Again, it's stupidly simple from an older Joy of Cooking....
Red Cooked Pork Shoulder
Heat in a large, heavy Dutch oven over medium-high heat:
1 T oil
Add and toss in the oil just until heated through, about 1 minute:
4 scallions, cut crosswise in thirds
2 large cloves garlic, crushed
One 1-inch piece fresh ginger, thinly sliced
Add:
4 cups water, or 2 cups chicken stock and 2 cups water
1 cup dark soy sauce
3/4 cup rice wine, scotch or sherry
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
4 star anise, 1 1/2 teaspoons anise seed
one 3-inch cinnamon stick
Bring to a boil, then add:
1 pork picnic shoulder (about 7 pounds)
Turn the meat to cover it with liquid and color it. Reduce the heat and cover the pan. Simmer, turning the meat every hour and basting it, until it is fork tender, 3-4 hour. Remove the meat from the pan and spoon off the fat from the pan juices. Slice the meat, serve with pan juices and white rice.
I used a couple of boneless pork shoulders, cutting them into big 1-1 1/2 lb chunks and then braised them for about 2 1/2-3 hours. I let it sit in the refrigerator overnight so I could skim a ton of fat off. I pulled the meat out, cooked the sauce down a bit, then added the shredded meat back in. I like it with brown rice and some kind of spicy or picklish cabbage to cut through the richness.
Sometimes I add more star anise because it's so damn beautiful and smells intoxicating....
6. The ritual signing of the big guitar took place:
7. Oh, and the new Tommy Womack is absolutely great. Like the best Tommy Womack...it's brilliantly funny and heart twingingly sad and you can never tell which is going to win out. Neither does....and it's that balance that makes it so perfect.
A nice summary from his website:
Following up a career-defining album release can be a daunting task, as it’s by definition putting oneself behind the proverbial 8-ball from the start. Thankfully, fans of Americana artist/ songwriter/author/producer Tommy Womack are not likely to experience a letdown on Now What! (February 21/Cedar Creek Music), Womack’s fifth solo studio album and a release that he is categorizing as a natural progression following 2007’s aforementioned fourth studio effort, There, I Said It!
“This record is totally a sequel,” said Womack. “Hence the title. The last record was all about being washed up. This one is about what happened when There, I Said It! gave me my career back.”
Indeed, Now What! picks up where There, I Said It! left off. Songs about home and family (“Play That Cheap Trick, Cheap Trick Play”; “It Doesn’t Have to Be That Good”) collide into songs about the perils of road life (“On and Off the Wagon” and the hilarious – if blood-chilling – “90 Miles an Hour Down a Dead-End Street”.) In between, there are songs about old flames in the grocery (“Bye & Bye”), growing old ungracefully (“Over the Hill”) and pondering simple love (“I Love You to Pieces”; “Wishes Do Come True”; and the album closer “Let’s Have Another Cigarette”.)
Ironically, on There, I Said It! Womack sings resignedly about how his better days appeared to be behind him. But the song “Nice Day”, a heart-tugging tale of a father enjoying a day swimming with his son while financial worries swirl in his head, won the “Best Song” award in the 2007 Nashville Scene Critics poll (an award Womack also received in 2004 for the “The Replacements”, an 8+ minute song about the band of the same name). And Womack’s epic tour de force “Alpha Male & The Canine Mystery Blood,” is (another) eight minutes of cathartic musings on life, love and aging that often moves audiences to standing ovations.
An award-winning songwriter, recording artist and a published author, Womack writes songs as honest as anything Hank Williams or Steve Earle ever recorded, and has attracted the attention of the national press while accumulating a loyal following. Womack is omnipresent in Music City, both live and in the studio, whether working with Will Kimbrough in their band DADDY, who have released two records, or being in his harmony vocalist’s band backing Lisa Oliver-Gray (who’s record he co-produced), or simply playing his own show being backed by his own fine band, the Rush to Judgment. He has also had songs recorded by Jimmy Buffett, Todd Snider, Jason Ringenberg, Dan Baird, Scott Kempner and others.
“I like being busy.” Womack says, “It keeps me out of trouble, and I’ve been in enough trouble as it is. I feel lucky getting to do all this. After growing up such a square peg and spending so much time miserable, I like getting near 50 and actually thinking, ‘hey, it’s fun being me.’"
That last sentence is so perfect. I'm glad.