happy 90th, Cap’n!

I heard on WCRJ this morning that today was William Shatner’s birthday, getting it wrong by two days.  Must have been a time warp.  He was born 3/22/31 in the Notre-Dame-de-Grâce neighborhood of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to a Conservative Jewish household.  Betcha didn’t know he was Jewish.  So, yep, Captain Kirk has turned 90.  How about that! He still looks pretty good.

Kathy and I have been huge Star Trek fans since the get go, especially of the original cast and the remakes with younger actors portraying the originals.  Chris Pine has young Jim Kirk nailed.  Mountains of prose have been heaped up about Star Trek, so stop me before I start adding my pile.  This is about William Shatner.

We were privileged to see him live at Sound Board, MGM Grand Casino on Grand River in Detroit 1/24/16.  It was just him at a podium, which he didn’t spend much time behind, regaling us with stories from his life.  He kept us entertained for an hour and a half, even imparting a little wisdom.  I still cherish and follow a chestnut he offered after describing his travails trying to scratch out a living after Star Trek closed down, his livelihood dependent on voices at the other end of random phone calls.  This led to some interesting situations, but eventually TJ Hooker, and it was smooth sailin’ after that.  He said what he learned was “Always keep yourself open to new possibilities”.  That thought has served me in good stead since, especially since I’ve retired.  You never know what’s going to come along.

So today was a special day for me and Kathy.  Kathy’s been a space nut since John Glenn visited their Silver Lake Ohio house in a campaign swing.  He was running for senate, and won.

Kathy’s kept her toe, and as much of her other body parts, in space as possible since then.  She adapted her musculoskeletal research to space flight issues, received several grants from NASA to study effects of zero gravity on pregnant rats flown in the space shuttle, made the first cut in her application to the astronaut corps, got recruited to be one of NASAs chief scientists (space station ‘98-’00, human space flight ’00-’02), and served on several NASA committees since, including the Return to Flight Committee, convened to address the Columbia disaster.  She acquired a master’s in lunar geology in ‘15  to bolster her space credentials.   She’ll resign her appointment in the School of Kinesiology 7/1/21, but will retain her appointment as adjunct associate research scientist in aerospace engineering.  Yes, I’m proud of her. The girl may make it to Mars yet.

So she didn’t flinch when I suggested we buy those Star Trek uniforms.  Today seemed to be a good day to haul them out.

My tunic is a science officer’s uniform (Spock), custom made.  Kathy’s belongs to the communications officer (Uhura) and is actually a short short dress, which looks great on her with those long long legs.  Yes, we’re trekkies, hanging on anything about the original series, including the remakes.  We don’t go to conventions or anything like that (see Galaxy Quest https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0177789/), but welcome any chance to don our uniforms and pledge allegiance to the Federation.

The backdrop of a handsome Kirk is thanks to Canada Post.  An issuance of stamps honoring classic Star Trek characters was announced from Vulcan, Alberta (yes, there is) in 2016 https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Canada_Post.  Offerings included some side art, which I had to snap up. I’ll never mail a letter with Cap’n Kirk, but I can have him on my wall.  He was to have been hung on my revamped NIB office wall, complete with the chance to tell the story about keeping open to possibilities, but they wanted me gone before that could happen.  He sits against the wall in our living room, waiting for his chance to adorn amongst all the space pictures.  When there, he’s right at home.

The day is mostly gone, but we raised a few toasts to Cap’n Kirk before dinner and several more during.  We don’t know Mr. Shatner’s favorite meal or I would have cooked it (but you remember what Cap’n Kirk’s favorite drink was, don’t you?  They were both illegal according to the Federation: Saurian Brandy or the dreaded Romulan Ale).  We didn’t have either on hand, but thought he might have enjoyed our dinner.  Mainly a throw together of left overs, it was based on capillina (angel hair) pasta cooked up in the pot liquor left over from our St. Paddy’s corned beef.  When Kathy tasted it, she said all else was superfluous.  But all else was pretty tasty: thin sliced tenderloin (frozen since ’03) and chunked garlic browned in dried chili prepped hot lard (yes, lard) followed by butter braised mushrooms to which I added the half cup remainder of last nights roasted peppers.  It looked pretty in the wok.

Think the replicator could make that? It tasted even better than it looked, with a chunk of Zingerman’s sourdough on the side to push stuff around and a bottle of Killerman’s Run 2017 Shiraz (Penna Lane, Penwortham, South Africa) to wash it all down.  But that’s not the bottle I asked her to bring up from the cellar!  So now we’ll have to tackle a Hahn GSM 2019, a Grenache-Syrah-Mouvedre blend from Soledad California, in the Monterrey Valley.  In the interim we’ll have some Nibbles dark chocolate from San Diego for dessert.  Light. Should you wish to make the same, here’s the recipe:

Now tell me Captain Kirk wouldn’t have liked all that!  What a hoot it would be to have him over for dinner! Mr. Shatner, you’ve been a part of our lives for way over half a century. Live long and prosper!  I know that’s Spock’s,  but has there ever been a better wish?

some tunes

Ain’t it great when that perfect tune comes around on your device?

It could be something that reminds you of the best moment in your life https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k33x_Efa5Lk.

Or it could be the saddest song ever, sung here by my pal, Ann Arbor’s own Bill Kirchen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eb_Bz4SssxM.

That was December 10, 1971, at Crisler Arena, packed for the John Sinclair Freedom Rally. Yes, he was sprung later that same month.  Bill was playing lead guitar for Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen, who stole the show on a bill that included Bob Seger, Phil Ochs, Stevie Wonder and John & Yoko.  Was there ever a band that was more fun? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8TeHA4UL_8.

Music like that keeps me happy.  My life is good ‘cause I’ve got stuff that works https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgCyXw2EWuA.

And I’m old now, but I don’t mind https://wordpress.com/post/theviewfromharbal.com/697.  Plus my much missed friend John Prine told me it’s going to be alright https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0EiV423j0M.

hey, Tim

Tim may be my farthest flung Vicksburg friend.  After high school, he spent some time in Tulsa at aircraft mechanics school, took a job in Shreveport, briefly came back to Michigan to ponder his options, then on the day after Christmas ’74 pointed his pickup west for the 3500 mile journey to Alaska to make his fortune on the pipeline.  He stuck around and became a bush pilot, settling in little Healy (pop’n 1,021), near Denali National Park.  Here see him by his Piper PA-18-150 Super Cub, on Otto Lake, holding dinner.

We were pretty good buds back in high school, hanging with the same crowd and also golf teammates.

That’s Tim to my immediate left.  We were the only two seniors on that ’70 team.

We didn’t really keep in touch after high school.  Tim still owns his dad’s old property near the abandoned Simpson Lee paper mill that once was the lifeblood of the village and now is being transformed into a huge entertainment complex by Chris Moore https://issuu.com/issuuencore/docs/encore_october19 (front cover and pp 24-33), son of much missed Sue https://wordpress.com/post/theviewfromharbal.com/561. Chris wants to buy Tim’s place, and I told him to squeeze, as Chris’ outfit seems to have deep pockets.  So clearly we’re interacting these days, and have been ever since I sent Tim a post card to get his e-mail address to add to my Zoom list.  Tim became a regular at the Zooms I’ve been holding for our class periodically since last July, starting them when I saw our 50th reunion would be COVID-cancelled.  We’re having another Zoom next Tuesday, and Tim’s worried he’ll miss it as he has a dental procedure that day.

In his latest e-mail, he made some comments about Michigan sports.  I’d sent him a picture of me and our classmate and mutual love Darai standing by Bo’s statue outside Schembechler Hall October before last.

Like my late dad, Tim didn’t go to U of M but is an avid fan of all Wolverines’ sports, even in Alaska having to deal those of the Buckeye stripe.  Probably some Spartoons, too.

When I read Tim’s e-mail, I’d just finished watching a recording of Michigan’s comeback trouncing Friday of Maryland in the Big 10 tourney quarterfinals, so I was even more fired up about Michigan sports than usual.  Tim says he doesn’t mind when I go on and on, so I went all Zell Miller about my Wolverines, throwing in a Buckeye-loving classmate of ours at the end:

My dad thought Bo was God ever since he beat Woody in ’69.  Was great when Kathy in ’02 invited them both down to a space shuttle launch and they got to pass a little time together. 

I got to hang with Bo some too, as together we admired the Saturn V. 

Bo and I have a lot in common.  We both are Michigan Men all the way, my nickname just adds one letter to his, and we both are lucky to have married a pretty woman named Kathy (his is the blonde). 

Yet I still remember sitting in the end zone of MI stadium as a freshman, back before they always filled it, sucking back Boone’s Farm, and cursing Bo for playing such boring football.  Run, run, run.  Oooh, boy.  You remember Woody’s dictum, who of course was Bo’s mentor, “There are three things that can happen when you throw the ball, and two of them are bad”.  I later got to meet Billy Taylor, who was by then Dr. Billy Taylor https://www.touchdownbillytaylor.com/, who was the guy poundin’ the pigskin forward on all those runs (1297 yards on 249 attempts for a 5.2 per carry average, 3 time All-American, finishing second to Tom Harmon in career touchdowns with 32 and in points with 194), and winning as a consequence, on that great ’71 team, undefeated in the regular season, outscoring opponents 421-83.  Damn that future orthopod Don Bunce and his Stanford Indians.  Our QB was future dentist Tom Slade. Field goal with 16 seconds left, 13-12.  Rod Garcia kicked it.  Wouldn’t have won NC anyway, as #1 Nebraska was playing #2 Alabama in the Orange Bowl that night.  Huskers won.  Two seasons earlier it was a Wolverine Conference guy – South Haven’s Don Morehead – QBing that ’69 team that beat Woody.  I don’t know if Vicksburg ever beat him.  We seldom beat SH in anything those days.  Anyway, Bo eventually discovered the forward pass, and things got more interesting, especially when Harbaugh was flinging it.  Of course, you can open things up too much.  Look what happened with Rich Rod.  He did have some fun players.  See us here with his two best QBs a couple years ago at Wolverine State Brewing.  Devin did a show Monday after each game, breaking down game film.  He pulled no punches.  Sometimes his friend Denard would join him.  Yes, Kathy’s at least as tall as Denard, just not quite as fast.

Many great moments in MI Stadium.  See some familiar faces in formation for a Penn State game a few years back.

Left to right: Sue Layne, Jim Northam, Barb Northam (died two years ago), Kathy behind her in the M hat, Forrest (Steve Layne), me, Rod Taft, and Chris Taft.  Of course we won.

Our season tickets are from Kathy’s family, earned by her Akron orthopedist dad in ’64 for his efforts in recruiting Ohio boys to come play for Michigan.  We always do well with those types.  Remember one Charles Woodson, of Fremont?  We drink his wine these days.  It’s pretty good.  Like our tickets, as you might imagine.  For the longest time we had 4 on the 50 yard line, 80 rows up.  Two years ago we swapped down to two on the other side of the stadium, in the comfy old folks’ seats.  We also have some pretty good season tickets for basketball, got on our own efforts, which didn’t help much this season.  Kathy gets to center court by winning teaching awards. 

I offered Juwan my 6’8″ services to the team 2 Novembers ago (I think I had some eligibility left), but he never got back to me. 

Later meeting members of his ’19-20 team’s frontcourt, I figure I just didn’t measure up. 

That’s starting center 7’3” Jon Teske, who spent his early years in Grandville (just like me) till his Dad moved the family to Lima OH, little 5’9” Kathy (starting center for College of Wooster ’74-6), 6’8” me (mostly rode the bench, but did start for my University of Chicago intramural team), and backup center 6’11” Austin Davis.

The shorter of the two big guys, Austin, is Kathy’s teaching assistant this term.  He’s from nearby Onstead – less than half the size of our ‘burg, even smaller than Healy – and just a great guy.  A future physical therapist, after he gets done tearing up Europe. It’s been so fun to see him blossom under Juwan’s tutelage.  He has a “little” brother in 10th grade, an inch shorter but 20 pounds heavier and still growing.  We’re hoping he comes to Michigan.

But Juwan, once the dominant big man in the Big Ten, is a shrimp by those standards also.   Helluva coach, though.  Coolest in basketball, by far.  Another of the many sad consequences of COVID is he doesn’t get to wear his $5000 Tom Ford suits on the sideline.  Sure looks good in them.

It’s a pivot from Michigan sports to Jerry Mayes, inveterate Buckeye that he is.  But I’ve always loved the guy.  He was part of the quartet that hopped into one of our cars every Friday (w/Shutes & Shorty), went to find the case stashed by the side of the road somewhere, then downed it as we aimlessly wandered the back roads, spinning tales of our designs on various girls in the school.  Fortunately, they didn’t troll for DUIs on the back roads then, and traffic was light, more deer than cars.  Johnny Mac called me into his office once and asked what I was doing going out and getting drunk every weekend.  I told him I liked it.  I kept getting all As and he left me alone, me drinking all the way to missing being valedictorian by seven ten thousandths of a point.  But regarding Jerry, he’s kind of a tragic figure.  All that athletic talent.  He’ll still tell you of the Cubs tryout he blew.  Don’t know how Sillaman beat him out as QB. Jerry’s much tougher for sure.  One of his knee replacements got screwed up, so he’s dealing with that now.  He’s a regular at Hummel’s get togethers and I always enjoy talking to him.  Communicating with him otherwise is difficult.  Judy says Jerry is still stuck in the 70s, so he doesn’t pay much attention to e-mail, Facebook, and the like.  Whenever I want to get something to Jerry, I e-mail Judy.

Just before I sat down to my laptop, I’d watched a recording of the Michigan Maryland game, in which we smashed ’em after being down as much as 12 the first half.  They even threw Juwan out of the game.  That only fired ’em up more.  Special team this year.  So fun to watch.  I look for ’em to go far.

That’s probably enough news from Lake Wobegon for one posting.  I’m happy you seem to be enjoying.  Good luck with your session next Tuesday.  Just pop the pills and tune in.  It’ll be entertaining.  Try not to think of Dustin Hoffman’s scene in Marathon Man https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xBJERznOgA. “Is it safe?”

That’s how the e-mail ended.  I neglected to ask him if he’s seen any real wolverines up there.  Apparently, there’s plenty of Gulo gulo about https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=wolverine.main

I’ve got one right in my living room, but he (Fritz) is stuffed.

‘shrooms!

I recently posted my paean to the glories of garlic paste, which I’d just discovered for myself after nearly a lifetime of loving the bulb in its more intact forms https://wordpress.com/post/theviewfromharbal.com/1148.  I included a recipe for grilled marinated mushrooms which I’ve used for years and found the results superior to whatever I’d achieved with plain old chopped garlic.  Since then, I’ve found out some more about paste, and about the ‘shrooms recipe.  First, about the paste.  To make it the first few times, I used my old Waring blender, which produced a fine paste but required a lot of attention: much push, push, push with a spatula, and you know what a blender can do to a rubber spatula.  Fortunately, that didn’t affect the flavor much, as spatula rubber adds little taste to any dish. But it was like those little cloves didn’t want to go down, like the kid scared to jump in the pool!  So for the last couple of batches I used Kathy’s Cuisinart.  Much better.  Way faster, and you can do two pounds at a time!  The volume of the paste thus made with two pounds is a little less than a quarter cup of what you can get back in the jar the pound of garlic came in. But if you’ve got a recipe going same day, like I did, you can just go ahead and use it. Then there’s the recipe itself.  We like to grill up those ‘shrooms as often as we think of it, year round.  If you end up matching our pace, which I bet you will once you bite into one of those ‘shrooms, you’ll need to go to Gordon’s and get the big 5 gallon jugs of soy sauce and red wine vinegar to keep up.  As I mentioned in the previous post, the recipe is easy peasy and requires nothing more exotic than a 2 qt jar, nothing au courant from our 60 plus year old kitchen.  Here it is again:

Note one little change.  Wondering if this increasing surface area relative to particle volume deal would kick up the flavor from the chilis like it did for the garlic – can’t you see Emeril saying “Bam!”? – I buzzed the half cup of chilis in my spice grinder (a regular blender will do if you don’t have one), got less than a quarter cup of fine particles and threw that in.  And sho’ ‘nuff, a little richer and hotter both, but in a nice way.  The buzz and paste don’t stay in suspension as well as the whole chilis and larger chunks of garlic, tending to settle on the bottom of the jar.  So you need to shake it a little every so often. I almost decided to throw a half cup of chili buzz in.  Kathy restrained me when we realized that would equal twice as much chili as I usually use.  I think I’ll try it next time.  Kathy bought a monster 5 pound bag of chilis at our Chinese grocery a few years ago, and it still sits a third full in our downstairs kitchen. And marinating time makes a difference.  I always like the ’shrooms to bathe at least two hours, and often would set ‘em up in the morning for dinner.  They do get mushy after a while, and now I think morning to dinner time may be too long. Our last batch sat about 4 hours, was well-flavored, and the ‘shrooms were nicely al dente.

So there it is.  Give it a go.  You’ll be glad you did.  For those of you (not us) wary of grilling in cold weather, spring is coming and it’ll be time to fire up!

Dr. Frayne?

I wrote this and chose not to post it, as the nomination process I’d entered into was highly confidential, partly to protect the nominee, who might be hurt to know he/she did not get the prize. Well, George Frayne did not get the prize. But he’s gone now, leaving us late September before last. His widow, Sue Casanova, is still around and actively doing everything she can to keep alive memory of her inforgettible husband. I told her at the celebration of life for her husband in Troy New York last August (https://theviewfromharbal.com/2022/08/28/rock-dont-cry/) that I had nominated George for an honorary doctorate from his alma mater U of M. I think she was moved. I don’t see how anyone can be hurt by getting this information out now, over 2 1/2years after the fact.

I’ve just nominated Commander Cody for an honorary doctorate from the University of Michigan. Why the hell not? Has the Art school (B.S. ’66, M.F.A’ 68) had a more colorful graduate? He’s been successful in both art and music, and remains a true Michigan man. The nomination process is open to anybody, and I thought as Emeritus faculty I might have some standing. Here’s what I wrote. Let’s hope they pay attention. The Commander may not be long for this world

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

Honorary Degree

Nomination Guidelines and Submission Form

Criteria

Nominees should meet one or more of the following:

● The nominee should have demonstrable distinguished achievement in an activity related to the University’s missions of research and scholarship, education, or service.

● Ideally, there should be a particular reason for recognition of the nominee by the University of Michigan, such as an association with the University or a relationship of his or her achievement to work that is unique or highly characteristic of Michigan.

● The honorary degree should have a special meaning to the individual being recognized.

For information regarding eligibility, visit: https://president.umich.edu/about/committees/honorary-degree-committee/

The University’s Honorary Degree Committee meets

twice a year, ordinarily in the Fall and Spring.

Questions can be directed to HDnominations@umich.edu or by calling (734) 764-4405.

ABOUT THE NOMINEE

Name of Nominee:George W. Frayne  
Title(s):“The Commander”      
Address:11 Lonesome Pine Trail Gansevoort, New York 12831          
Phone:518-364-0999  
Email:gfrayne@aol.com  

Please describe how the nominee has demonstrated distinguished achievement in an activity related to the University’s mission of research and scholarship, education, or service (in 1,000 words or less):

George Frayne entered the Art and Architecture school as a dedicated student of the arts, but left with a love of music superseding.  The Art & Design school has graduated many creative people over the years, but has there ever been a more unique individual than George Frayne?  Coming to Ann Arbor from Long Island, son of two established artists, he succeeded in his studies, earning a scholarship to pursue graduate work.  His sculptures populated North Campus.  He offered a jovial comment about his sculptures “I just weld bumpers together and pass it off as art”.   He earned a B.S. in Design (’66) and and an M.F.A. in Painting and Sculpture (’68).  He garnered a faculty position at the Wisconsin State University – Oshkosh, but it was music that would propel his early career.   His studies did not interfere with his extracurriculars, or vice versa.  A meeting while he was washing pots at Phi Kappa Psi with an engineering student with a penchant for country music led him to put his 9 months of boogie-woogie piano lessons in high school into a band that eventually became “Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen”. They started as entertainment for frat parties and grew to a group that would entertain 100s of 1000s across concert stages throughout the US and abroad.   The brand of music they portrayed is what would now be called “Americana”, delving into older often obscure tunes for a “hippie” audience surely hearing them for the first time.   Consider this an educational activity, introducing us hippies to styles we wouldn’t have otherwise encountered?  In his time based in Berkeley, he and his Lost Planet Airmen became a favored opening band to better known groups.  As such, George has worked with, and gained the respect of, many of the greats in the music industry.  He’s even appeared aside Godzilla in a Hollywood movie.  Of their many albums, one (“Live from deep in the heart of Texas”) has made it into Rolling Stone’s 100 best albums of all time.  The band’s journey into “almost making it big” has been chronicled in Starmaking Machinery, Geoffrey Stokes (c1976, Bobbs-Merrill).  The Lost Planet Airmen broke up in 1976, but George (“the Commander”) has continued to record and tour, his raucous concerts a must see for those who appreciate what he’s been doing.  The band’s biggest hit “Hot Rod Lincoln” rose to #9 on the Billboard hot 100 and was ranked No. 69 on the U.S. Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1972.  He’s released 34 albums and has had several other Billboard hits.  In 2011, the Commander and His Lost Planet Airmen were voted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  He’ll hold forth on his love for his days of Michigan to whomever might ask.

George has been at least as active with his art as with his music.  He has never left behind his art.  Some critics even considered the Lost Planet Airmen to be an art project.  This was before Andy Warhol was doing just that with Velvet Underground.  Canvas and metal drew him, as did the faces of the many performers he encountered.  Big vehicles – cars, ships, airplanes – also caught his attention for acrylic hyper realism.  He also delves into Cubism.  He’s exhibited in galleries from Tokyo to London, and in museums including The Museum of Natural History, the Saratoga Auto Museum and at the Directors Guild in Hollywood.   He’s been in 11 group shows from “63-’94, and participated in the ’78 “StarArt” book published by Dorothy Cheshire with Joni Mitchell and Cat Stevens, now quite valuable https://www.amazon.com/Starart-Joni-Mitchell/dp/096900530X.  He’s had 30 one man shows from ’68 –’09.  He’s participated in 5 national juried shows from ‘68 –’05.  His paintings of 12 immortal rock performers graced the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  He published in 2009 his own book of art renderings coupled with anecdotes of the person portrayed.  The book Art, Music, and Life (Q Book Press, 2009) contains pop-art portraits of music legends from Willie Nelson and Jerry Garcia to Sarah Vaughan and Charles Mingus. It also showcases abstract works, still lifes and elaborately painted sculptures. The book is also filled with anecdotes of a bygone era, each story accompanied by colorful portraits and paintings, over 100 images in all. He recalls meeting Hunter S. Thompson, Louis Armstrong, Gene Krupa and other cultural icons https://www.amazon.com/Music-Life-Commander-George-Frayne/dp/0984265007/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=george+frayne&qid=1612715941&sr=8-1.  Judging from Amazon, it’s now something of value.  Since his brother Chris died of multiple sclerosis in ’92, he’s illustrated all his band’s albums and posters.  He continues to paint, even on commission.  He’s not sculpted for 30 years, citing lack of access to appropriate welding equipment.  He used to sell his art out of his web site.  He’s withdrawn examples, asking those interested to contact him directly for the $25 – $10,000 pieces he features.  Google for George Frayne art still finds offerings.    He’s taken up video over the past decade and has embellished many old CC&LPA songs with amusing overlying clips of old Hollywood movies.  He maintains a YouTube site as well as a Spotify site for his music.  He was part of the Future Former Alumni exhibition at Stamps School of Art and Design in 2018.  He still does portraits of famous automobiles for the Saratoga Auto Museum in Saratoga Springs, New York, where he currently resides.   He’s also lectured at 8 colleges and universities around the country; his topic: “The Function of the Sub-conscious Mind Creating Fun”.

In summary, in the early 60s, George Frayne brought considerable talents to Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan, where he nurtured and applied them.  He has had a productive and fascinating dual career in the arts for over 50 years, entertaining and challenging millions around the world.  His Lost Planet Airmen have been my favorite band since I first snuck into Hill to see them in April ’71.  I’ve always enjoyed pointing out to others that not only were they born in a U of M frat house, but that their leader is a Michigan Man all they way.  And not a bad painter and sculptor, either.  Please recognize this iconoclastic genius graduate of our University with the doctorate that will suit him well, while he’s still with us.

Please tell us if there is a particular reason the nominee should be recognized by U-M, i.e. a relationship with the University or an association of his/her achievement to work that is unique or highly characteristic of Michigan (in 100 words or less):

George is a proud U of M alumnus with 2 degrees from this institution.  As a student, he made an impact on both town and gown with his art and his music and has turned that on the world since his departure.  On February 17, 1974, he was included in a Michigan Daily Sunday Magazine article on “’U’ alumni: The rich, powerful, and notorious”, a group of 33 that included soon-to-be President Gerald Ford, two senators, governor Soapy Williams, astronaut Jim McDivitt, 5 CEOs, Cazzie Russell, Tom Harmon, and Arthur Miller.

Please tell us if the honorary degree would have special meaning to the nominee. If so, please describe in 50 words or less:

What if Mr. Frayne had not ventured from Long Island to Ann Arbor in ’62?  His zany, improbable dual careers were born and nurtured right here at U of M, to which I’m sure he’d be proud to pay homage by wearing the robe and cap of a Michigan doctor.  

Are there any circumstances that the University should be aware of in considering this nomination, which are related to a specific commencement date or a particular situation of the nominee? Please explain in 50 words or less:

George’s once robust good health has taken a blow, especially since undergoing a 7 hour operation at a New York City hospital last December.  His family wishes that further details of his medical condition be kept private.

Would it be appropriate for this nominee to deliver a commencement address? Check one:

Yes √                   No

If yes, please briefly explain in 50 words or less:

While George has experience speaking to college audiences, I think the best way for him to acknowledge his honor would be with his music.  I’m certain he could enliven the graduation proceedings with a performance of one of his songs, or maybe several..

NOMINATOR INFORMATION

Name of Nominator:Robert W. Ike, M.D.  
Title(s):Emeritus Associate Professor of Medicine Department of Internal Medicine Division of Rheumatology University of Michigan Health System
Address:1611 Harbal Drive Ann Arbor, Michigan 48105-1815
Phone:734-474-6728  
Email:scopydoc52@yahoo.com  

Where to submit the Nomination

Nominations submitted via this form should be emailed, mailed or faxed to:

John Godfrey

Assistant Dean

Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies

1120 Rackham

915 East Washington Street

Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1070

Phone: (734) 764-4405

Fax: (734) 615-3832

Email: jgodfrey@umich.edu

nurse!

I missed Valentine’s Day and couldn’t even get it together for his birthday 11 days later.  But my friend finally got his gift last Wednesday.  It was something I knew he needed to hear ever since I met his new girlfriend Paula several years ago.  The recipient would be Ott, named Terry by his parents but corrected by we of the Vicksburg class of ’70 shortly after he entered his teens.   See us here as we get made up for the Follies in ‘69

He never wears lipstick anymore.

Here he is with some of the select from the class of ’70, gathered outside the Henry Ford in June of ’16 to go see the Beatles exhibit.

Left to right it’s Ott, Norts, Hummel, Wang, me, Hooch, and RT.  Yes, somehow I missed out on a nickname.

Ott was already with Paula then, so he’s been with her for a while.  And I’ve had this idea for almost a long.   Ott raised a fine family with his wife, who died young of cancer in the aughts.  See him and his kids on Father’s Day ‘18.

Ott’s a retired skilled tradesman, union man all the way.  But his passion is photography.  He even shoots with a big 6 ½ X 8 ½ glass plate camera like Ansel Adams used https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/ansel-photo-gear/

It was at a photography class where he met Paula, a nurse with four children.  They hit it off and he brought her to one of the gatherings of VHS’70’s select that Hummel likes to throw.  Everyone thought she was terrific and I’m sure I’m not the only one who wondered how Ott landed such a gem, but I was happy for him nonetheless.  She and I got along, even talked a little shop.  Now Ott’s pretty beat up from all those years in the trades, added on top of the bad motorcycle accident he survived in high school.  So having a full-time nurse was a good thing for him.  Then a few years ago when he underwent a major valve job, it was really helpful.  I realized at that first meeting that Martin Mull had written a song just for them 40 years ago.  I decided Ott needed to hear it and set about tracking down the album then trying to make an MP3 of the track.   I couldn’t do it with the first program I bought – Golden Records – which was later incompatible with the new Mac I got for my birthday last year.  YouTube told me I could do it with Garage Band, just needed some cables and an adapter.  But, ha!  Now, this was always a back burner project, something always on my to do list but never crossed off.  With Valentine’s Day coming, I vowed I’d finally get it done.   I’d looked for the song on YouTube a while back, but no luck.  Not so this year, finally searching after failing to produce a VD or b-day present on time.  So off it went to Ott on March 3rd, complete with an MP4 I’d made from the YouTube URL with Clideo.com.  Yes, they liked it.  Before I give you the link, let me show you the girl that inspired it all.  Curiously, she has all the attributes of the girl Mull’s singing to.  Plus, she’s a nurse!  So Ott really hit the jackpot.  Here she is with Ott and two of his grandkids on Halloween ‘18.

Here’s the cover of the album that contains the song I sent, released in ‘75.

And here’s the link to the YouTube.  Hope you like it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rum7KYThXWg

You Tube!

I’ve just uploaded 5 videos to my YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjgcSvb5riojGVFQnxYcjgg

which I established expressly for this exercise. My favorite band ever is Commander Cody and His Lost Planer Airmen. I’ve never been happier than I’ve been at their concerts. I’ve been privileged to establish relationships over the years with Bill Kirchen, Commander’s lead guitarist, and the Commander himself. Both are still touring, if not still together, except from time to time. In their heyday, there was nobody like them. 7 Ann Arbor hippies cranking out country, old rock’n’roll, boogie woogie, and western swing while everyone else was doing slick rock and singer-songwriter stuff. Now they call it “Americana” and practitioners are myriad. They were the hottest live band in the land, but couldn’t translate that to the big time success they so richly deserved. In those days, videos of bands weren’t common, but I’ve come across a couple. First is a video John and Yoko produced of a benefit for activist John Sinclair held in Crisler Arena in Ann Arbor 12/10/71. From a star-studded bill that included John himself, Bob Seger, Stevie Wonder, and Phil Ochs, the Commander and boys stole the show. The whole movie is on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqbHsUcuN6I&t=3026s. From that, I’ve extracted the magical 8 minutes featuring the Commander and boys. I’ve also clipped out the three songs they performed: “Down to seeds and stems again blues”, “Hot rod Lincoln”, and “Jailhouse rock”.

The boys made it to Hollywood, playing themselves in “Hollywood Boulevard”, a send up of B-movies done by a couple of Roger Corman protegées https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074633/. Featuring ample sex, plenty of bare breasts, and a little murder, the movie is a hoot. The boys get to play their number over a tender seduction scene, sampling a tune they borrowed from a 1911 Irving Berlin composition, with a few embellishments. The masthead of the movie includes Godzilla, who does make an appearance. So I guess the boys can include him as a co-author on their C.V.s.

So here are the links. A few may not be “published” on YouTube till tomorrow. But they’ll be there. Try not to have Too Much Fun

Whole show:

Seeds & stems: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eb_Bz4SssxM

Hot Rod Lincoln:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jChBSEZ86M

Jailhouse Rock: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0rYQ97fJBU

Everybody’s doin’ it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YI73MfmDYSM

drink down Dunedin

This all happened last weekend.  We took the sunshine home from Florida, but dropped about 45 degrees.  I hope you’ll feel as warm after reading through this as I still do.  Remember, flights to TPA are cheap.

Our adventure actually began at least a day before, maybe two.  We departed TPA Friday morning after an early Spirit arrival from DTW in our rental Jeep, facing a cool (for FL) cloudy day.  The clouds fulfilled their promise as we got to the causeway, causing us to pull over and put up the roof panels.  Without the sunshine in FL, you can still eat and drink, so we had some beers and lovely fish at Badfin’s https://www.badfins.com/ on Clearwater Beach.  After a snooze, we felt the need for a little more and walked four blocks to the beach to Palm Pavillion.

It is constructed to have big open windows to the beach, now closed in the cool rain.  No matter, the beer was good, we had gator bites, and a young duo in the corner belted out 70s hits, all at least two decades older than they were, to the mainly boomer crowd.  Kathy and I got into ”unsubscribing” and spent much of the evening with our noses in our phones, all to great musical accompaniment https://wordpress.com/post/theviewfromharbal.com/1155.

Saturday brought bright sunshine and the promise of warmth.  As we sipped our coffees from the nearby Caffeinated Bakery, I perused the rent-a-car maps of the area and noticed tip of the long spit on which Clearwater Beach is located, there were patches of green: “Caladesi Park” and “Honeymoon Island”.  We’d done the shops of Clearwater, and the unbeatable beach, January before last, so off we went to find some undeveloped green, probably 6-7 miles away.  The trip carried us through Dunedin, which seemed like a nice little town, on Mandalay Bay.  Honeymoon Island was Hog Island before a developer got hold of it in the 20s and constructed thatched huts, pitching them to northerners through organs as big as Life and Post as great places to come for an idyllic honeymoon.  The enterprise failed in the Depression, and the land reverted to the state, which kept the name. Not much out here now, except for some parking lots, beaches, and convenience centers with bathrooms and bad beer.  The beaches go from sand to stones size of cobblestones and chunky shells, calling for hiking boots rather than bare feet.

After we’d had enough beach and Gulf (can that even happen?), we were off back to the mainland.  The causeway barely had a chance to start before it presented us with High and Dry Grille, looking like something the Gilligan’s Island crew might have thrown up: all timbers and thatch.  But they mustered up beer (Reef Donkey, from Tampa), and some shrimp tacos.  You could tell from the nearby beach structures what these dudes were into.

There were some surfers at the beaches, wearing wet suits of course.  We didn’t dip our toes in the water.  While sitting there, we consulted our phones for beer options on the trip back to Clearwater and were, as Jennifer Granholm would say, blown away.  Here see what Yelp told us (these screenshots are from inside Dunedin, but you get the idea)

Once the causeway hit land, it would stop at Frenchy’s, a lively looking spot with a full parking lot.

A low open structure with wide open windows, it was easy to see how location plus a modicum  of competence with food and drink engendered great success, now being commercialized with t-shirts, tchotchkes, and such.  We put our names on the cell phone driven waiting list and slithered into to the “tiki bar”, where beer and basketball could be had. To “the Other West Coast IPA” and a “Hazy River” we watched my good friend’s Hoosiers blow a lead to the Spartoons. From there, we chose to go a little north, to a spot we’d not likely encounter when we came back to Dunedin tomorrow, with an intriguing name

We got up Bay Shore Boulevard a bit and saw it in a small strip mall, immediately stripped of the romance of that name.  But we were about to be charmed in many ways.  First the beer was excellent and varied

The real action was in the back, where locals were gathered for a weekend performance by Greg West https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kH5m75Yc19g&list=PL0ELQBIX9vlZnMjKA_PC4QfIs7JK5748G.

Made for a great atmosphere, and we got to talk to the locals, helped out by one guy who insisted on introducing us around.

The turquoise VW microbus had taps for those who didn’t want to venture back inside

There was even a Girl Scout cookie concession

After all that, we wandered back to our Clearwater Beach condo, where brother John visited us with wine, seafood, and cigars, which we consumed into the night on our deck by the water.

We awoke Sunday with the mission afore us.  I’d found there was a water taxi from a dock near us over to Dunedin.  Sounded like a perfect ploy, a little time on the water and no driving

I booked the ticket to the wrong landing and we were forced back to the Jeep.  We still chose to park in the Dunedin marina parking lot, where all needs would be taken care of.

But inland we went, our destination the Dunedin beer trail.  There are 8 breweries in Dunedin, all located within 4797 feet of each other (https://breweriesofdunedin.com/)

We headed to the oldest microbrewery in Florida, the Dunedin Brewery itself.  It announced  itself at the curb with ample aplomp

But the shield on the side of the bar was far more impressive

No bagpipes played during our visit. The board provided ample choice.

We picked the “American Classic” and “Piper’s Session”, packing up and moving on from their friendly outdoor tables with miles to go before we sleep.  Turns out everyone was outdoors in the sun.  Oh, Florida.

Next, just around the corner, was HOB “House of beer”, I suspect.

Their board did not make for a great picture, as it was a screen, much as our hometown favorite Rappourt displays.  A camera shot reflects the photographer, much as the Vietnam Memorial does

We had a “Cool Cucumber IPA” and “Splashin’ Around IPA”. Kathy said she could taste the cucumber, and she liked it.

HOB has a mobile unit, which I hear they can deploy to disaster areas.

Man does not live by beer alone, and some sustenance is sometimes in order.  Wouldn’t you know what’s right next to HOB on the Pinellas (bike) trail.

Wouldn’t you know, there are lobsters in the gulf! https://www.floridagofishing.com/species/lobsters-south-atlantic-and-gulf.html#:~:text=Lobsters%20of%20the%20South%20Atlantic%20%26%20Gulf%20of%20Mexico&text=There%20are%20many%20species%20of,%2C%20you%20are%20%22Bug%20Hunting%22

And in Florida, lobsters are often called “bugs” and going out for lobsters is called “bug fishing”.   Well, we were salivating for some of them “bugs”.   Lucky Lobster offered a full array of delights.

But Kathy and I were fully satisfied with our lobster rolls, served hot with butter, a sacrilege to any New Englander.

 The “Shade Tree IPAs” we had washed it down just fine.

Wouldn’t you know what’s right next door?  I got shouted down by several bicyclists as I stood in their path to take this picture.

Cueni was next.

The monkey skull and paddles suggest some sort of strange frat house hazing, but I didn’t ask.

Perhaps the most complicated beer board of the tour, with all the colored asterisks for pricing. Helped Kathy to cut back a little, taking on just 8 oz for this stop. 16 oz still the best price per volume deal.

We tried “T’Rye my IPA” and “MoCitra”. We weren’t ready for “Nap Time” yet, although I’m sure it was delicious.

Bar walls can contain wisdom, especially in the men’s rooms.  At Cueno, they had this on the wall.  I have a good friend who is a genius scientist but also a beer aficionado.  I suggested to him this would be a good hanging for his lab:

Next was a bit of a walk up to Douglas, a main drag, half mile down from Dunedin Brewery.  There was an alpine building, the beer end of a functioning woodwright  business.

Once inside, the place was quite charming. Honey, we’re in Frankenmuth!

Beers were o.k., with the most creative board on the tour

We had the IPA and the NE Hazy IPA.

Next was back to Main Street.  We approached Soggy Bottom from the back.

Notice the BBQ shack next door.  Getting food on these beer tours can be difficult, as few of the breweries devote much of their efforts to food service.  Soggy Bottom offered a couple pizzas, but I could tell their heart wasn’t in it. Beer was varied and good at Soggy Bottom.

We went with the”Two-face”.  Plus, they contributed some bar wisdom.

En route to Soggy Bottom, we got word my brother John, wife Karen and son Ian wanted to meet us for late lunch.  They’re in Clearwater and we’d been working all weekend for a time to get us all together.  While they all thought BBQ was excellent, the place next door had run out of its two main items, including ribs.  Fortunately, right next door, was Clear Sky Draught Haus.  With a name like that, beer would not get short shrift.

That’s John and Karen, Kathy with her back to us. No, that heater wasn’t fired up.

Plus, they were good for some more bar philosophy

And they remembered when times were tough in this country.

Food and conversation were good, and we finally parted.  From there, it was a walk back to the parking lot at the marina.  What should be on the way?

We may have saved the best for last, as the beer at Caledonia was terrific.  “Hoptacular IPA” we chose, and it was.

Not sure who was being protected by those orange plastic barriers, but they sure weren’t going to get any smash and go beer thieves!

Since they were protected by a rampant unicorn, it’s hard to imagine any ill befalling them.

In a day of impressive beer boards, they may have had the best, even if they devoted nearly a third of it to wine:

From there, it was the matter of negotiating the 7 miles down Ft. Harrison to the causeway and over to 607 Bay Esplanade.  We did, but neither of us recalls much of the ensuing evening.  We talked of walking the beach at sunset and heading back to Palm Pavillion, but none of that happened.  I guess we’d had our ample share of fun in Dunedin, and would do it again in a second, perhaps with the discipline of a water taxi departure bearing on us next time.  So much to love about the Gulf Coast, and this little Scottish town (home of the spring training Blue Jays) is one of them. “In God we trust” (Florida’s state motto).

Can be yours. Like I wrote at the start, flights to TPA are cheap.

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It was a scene you’d expect from a millennial bar: two denizens at the corner with their noses intently in their phones oblivious to their surroundings.  But the Palm Pavillion at Clearwater Beach was clearly a boomer bar, complete with a young duo in the corner faithfully belting out hits of the 70s at least 2 decades older than they were.  It was their music that got Kathy and me to linger beyond our first few beers and gator bites.  We were in Clearwater Beach to visit my brother and escape Michigan’s cold.  We’d already had a wonderful early dinner at Badfin’s, settling in to the evening when I got an e-mail that my letter to Arthroscopy had been accepted.  Finding the teas in our room meager substitutes for libations of celebration, off we went the 4 blocks to Palm.  Great open atmosphere, even if the barriers to the beach weren’t open on this cold (for Florida) night.  At our choice seats at the bar we of course checked our phones for this and that.  I bitched about all the emails I had to wade through and Kathy explained about how her problem was so much worse, but that she was taking action.  It turns out for each email not of a personal source, somewhere in the e-mail – usually at the bottom in very small print – is the option to “unsubscribe”.  It can take some close scrutiny to find these releases of freedom, but they’re always there, maybe on top and even sometimes in the middle. They don’t always say unsubscribe, and a click often directs you to a second page to complete the transaction, sometimes with some check off justifications for your move. For CBS.com, I had to go to their FAQs to figure out how to unsubscribe from them. And resubscription is always just an easy click away. But we were cold, cruel, and thorough, and went at our mission with relish.  Hence the millennial imitation.  We realized that our job was not finished, and were at it the next morning. Eternal vigilance is the price of an uncluttered inbox.  You can have one, too.  Just have at it.

garlic* paste

My love of Allium sativum* isn’t lifelong, but it will surely last till the end of my days.   In my Dutch and German-English grandparents’ and parents’ days, eaters of the bulb were of the lower immigrant classes, identified by their reeking, something my always-clean folks wished to avoid.  Not till my widowed dad began taking me to Italian restaurants for food he learned to love in Rome during the war did I begin to taste the wonders I’d been missing, especially of garlic bread.  On my own in college, especially cooking with roommate Wayne who managed a restaurant in summers, I began to throw the bulb in most everything I cooked.  Things only went from bad to worse, and I was fortunate to meet a woman who shared my passion for the stinking rose (as well as much else).

So how can it be that only last week I learned about garlic paste?  I learned about it as something Indian women use as a kitchen shortcut.  It’s easy to make, although you have to be both persistent and encouraging, as those cloves do not go gentle into that good paste.  Take a pound of peeled garlic cloves, put ‘em in a blender with 2 T oil and buzz.  Here’s all you need (plus a spatula):

The shotglass in the middle contains 2 T of vegetable oil, not whiskey. But such is permitted on the side for the chef, given the wonderful thing you’re doing. A teaspoon of the resultant paste equals one large clove of garlic.  Saves all that time spent peeling and chopping.  Plus the garlic infuses much more efficiently, since the surface area to mass ratio of each particle is so much greater.  The good-sized heads of garlic Busch’s sells me at 4 for 5 bucks weigh about 3 ounces each, or about 42¢/ounce.  The pound jar of peeled cloves from Bombay grocery sells for $6.95, or a little over 43¢/ounce.  Bombay Grocers on Packard south of town is 5 ½ miles away whereas Busch’s is just 2.3 miles away.  I think I can afford the gas.  Garlic paste is to bulb as hash oil is to leaf, crack is to cocaine, fentanyl is to morphine. Just as the cokehead snorts from a mirror to make sure no granule of product goes unconsumed, the pastemaker of course might be frustrated that no matter how hard you try, you just can’t get all the paste out of the blender. Here’s my solution: pour 1 C each red wine vinegar and soy sauce into the vessel and throw the switch. You’ll be rewarded with with a brown foamy liquid that almost fills the blender. When you pour it into a jar to save as a start-up for some future marinade, the inside of the vessel is clean except for a little brown foam. I like it for mushrooms (see my simple recipe below).

Our latest discovery of the wonders of paste came when Kathy used it to make our usual Sunday brunch drink, vampire marys.  I posted about these over a year ago https://wordpress.com/post/theviewfromharbal.com/203.  There you can find the original recipe out of The Stinking Cookook and our own ramp-up to make 64 ounces of mix just to have handy whenever you get that hankerin’.  In our original recipe, the strainer of the shaker we use to mix each drink would get clogged with chunks of garlic.  No more with paste.  Smoove!

I’m sure we’ll be finding more uses for paste.  I hope Bombay Grocers doesn’t run out of peeled cloves.  Walmart used to offer bags of peeled garlic and would even deliver, but I haven’t been able to find it on their website for some time.  I’ve heard Costco often has ‘em, but we let our membership lapse a few years ago.  No doubt our already substantial consumption of the bulb will increase.  Not only will our taste buds be happier, but I expect there will be other benefits.  It seems it’s not just vampires garlic wards off.   As the doctors Donma of Terkidag and Instanbul (Turkey) concluded in their article published online in June and in print last November**  “Allium sativum may be an acceptable preventive measure against COVID-19 infection to boost immune system cells and to repress the production and secretion of proinflammatory cytokines as well as an adipose tissue derived hormone leptin having the proinflammatory nature.”  Hey, it’ll probably help with the social distancing thing, too.

Be well.

Reference

**Donma MM and Donma O.  The effects of allium sativum on immunity within the scope of COVID-19 infection. Med Hypotheses. 2020 Nov; 144: 109934. Published online 2020 Jun 2. doi: 10.1016/j.mehy.2020.109934

Recipe

some addenda as of 3/14/21

the garlic paste transformation works much better with a Cuisinart food processor. which can do 2 pounds at a time, with patience. But way better than my Waring blendor. You just have to put that extra 1/4 cup that can’t go back into the garlic jar.into the next marinade.

The same principal of maximizing the surface area to mass ratio of each particle. can be applied to the chili peppers. In our latest iteration, we took took the half cup of chili peppers we’d usually throw in, buzzed ’em in our spice grinder, leaving less than a 1/4 cup of stuff we threw in, starting with 1/2 C. We both thought the marinade looked much better, and loved the consequences.

One last tip, don’t marinate too long. After 4 hours or so, the ‘shrooms get a little mushy. They’ll still be very tasty, but they’re better al dente.