I Don't Get It -- Racist Restaurant Owner

If you ever come down to Palm Beach County, I have several great restaurants I can recommend.
And one I suggest you not go to.
That would be 264 The Grill.
While the rest of the nation was celebrating Barack Obama's historic election and basking in the glow of new politics, Patricia Gatti, the owner of this casual dining spot was practicing some old racism.
She told her mostly minority employees that if they voted for Obama, they'd be fired. And the day after the election, she wrote KKK on all their timecards, according to the Palm Beach Post. She also, reportedly, wrote White Power on memos and hung it up in several places around the kitchen.
That's the terrifying part.
Now, here's the funny part. You didn't think Gatti would own up to her actions, did you? Guess who she blamed?
Fox News.
Gatti told the Post that she "got crazy watching too much Fox News."
Remember the concern everyone had about the tone of the campaign that John McCain and Sarah Palin were conducting? Well, Fox just fed into that baloney. And this is what you get.
But then Gatti switched gears, telling the Posts' Frank Cerabino that this was all just good-natured ribbing and was never meant to be taken seriously by the help.
Oh I get it. And Ms. Gatti, when I suggested at the start of this article that people never visit your restaurant, which, again is called 264 Grill, I was just doing a little good-natured joshing. That's all.
(Insert your Sarah Palin wink here).

Speeding Motorcycle

(Tuesday Treasure is a weekly song that is unheralded, long-lost, or buried somewhere deep on an album, yet deserves another listen.)

Back in 1990, Yo La Tengo recorded Speeding Motorcycle, a song by the innocent, child-like Daniel Johnston for their cover-filled album Fakebook. Early that year, the band was making an appearance on New Jersey radio station WFMU. Daniel Johnston called into the station from his parent's home in West Virginia and the result is this true treasure. I particularly love Johnston's exuberance at playing the song.

This version of the song can be found on Genuis + Love = Yo La Tengo. And, as with all Tuesday Treasures, it can be found leading off the Hear Now! music playlist on the right of the page.

Playist 48 Exposes Some Knit Wits

What an incredible seven-day stretch. It was bookended by the Phillies World Series championship and Barak Obama's historic election. I also had a vacation from work for most of the days. The wife and I took a long walk on the beach (sorry to sound like a bad personal ad) from Carlin Park to Jupiter Inlet/Dubois Park, helped driver voters (OK, voter) to the polls. And we ended the great week with a kayak trip through the Intercoastal at MacArthur Beach State Park.

Here now, this week's Playlist ...

The White Tiger. Aravind Adiga.
I don't know how accurately White Tiger portrays India's caste system, but Adiga gives us a heartfelt, funny and bitter tale of class and greed. The book unfolds as a letter from Balram to the Premier of China. Balram, one of the funniest and oddest literary characters, recounts his life from the days in the hopelessly poor Darkness to his job as a driver/servant. And he explains how he became a murderer, or as he calls himself -- a social entreprenuer. Adiga's debut novel won the Man Booker Prize.

Throughout the book, Balram talks about the four great poets. One of them, Iqbal, is the focus of this week's Wikipedia link.

The World's Most Inoffensive Graffiti
All right, let's hear it for graffiti! No not the spray paint kind. The knitting kind. Yes, there is a group of urban knitters, with names such as knitta please who are doing some incredible "tags." Check it out at Deputy Dog.

Auditorium. The Radar Bros.
I just recently discovered the Radar Bros., but their sound is so familiar, I swear I've heard it before. It's no wonder they've been compared to everyone from Neil Young (hasn't everyone been compared to Shakey?) to Pink Floyd. Jim Putnam reminds me of Smog's Bill Callahan. The Radar Bros. have been tagged "slowcore", but I hear well-written California-drenched, hazy yet roots-enfused pop songs. Auditorium was released earlier this year. Check out When Cold Air Rises and Warm Rising Son on Hear This!

I Don't Get It -- CNN's George Lucas-like election coverage

I'm a big fan of MSNBC's evening lineup, especially Rachel Maddow. But I decided to do a bit of switching around Wednesday night, moving from network to network to track the election results.

I think most of the high-tech gadgetry CNN is using was pretty cool and useful, particularly the screens that were able to break down the voting by various subsections and John the Map King's pieces were actually useful, particularly as they showed how President-elect Obama outperformed John Kerry in some very red areas.

But did you see the holograms? Yes, holograms. When I saw reporter Jessica Yellin's 3D replication show up, I thought she was going to take out a light saber on Wolf Blitzer.

Seriously. Did anyone else see it? Was there any reason for it? They talk about how much money was wasted on the campaigns. How much did the hologram thing cost?

I could almost see the pain on Anderson Cooper's face as he said something he probably never thought he'd never say. "Thank you Will.I.am for taking the time to be a hologram."

Whole Lotta Love

(Tuesday Treasure is a weekly song that is unheralded, long-lost, or buried somewhere deep on an album, yet deserves another listen.)

Our inaugural Tuesday Treasure is in honor of Tina Turner's recent visit to the West Palm Beach area. Here's a little dose of Tina and Ike doing their funky version of Led Zeppelin's Whole Lotta Love. Check it out -- the first song on the Hear This! over to the right.

************

This morning, I woke up and drove my son the student to the bus stop. My wife the writer took my other son the student to school and waved to Lori the Principal, then picked up Sandra the piano teacher. And we all went to vote.

I hope everyone today can add "the voter" after their name. If you need a reason to vote, check out Good Magazine's 1001 reasons.

Phinally ... The Best Week Ever

No Playlist this week as I've been totally immersed in the World Series. In the meantime, thanks to Jacqui and those who e-mailed me wake-up responses for my son. It's not too late to give me your suggestion. See here. I'll wrap up the contest and share all the responses next weekend.

Yes, it's been a great week, but my wife had a great day on Wednesday. See here.

As for the Phillies, this post on the 700Level did a great job of capturing my feelings.

Wake Up Son, It's Playlist 47...

My son, like most teenagers, isn't that good at getting up in the morning. He once slept through a Cat 1 hurricane.

A couple years ago, we had to give up on the alarm clock. He slept through the blaring buzz that woke up our hard-of-hearing neighbor next door.

So I started waking him up. Being the good parent, I always shook him softly and said something like: "Come on buddy, time to get up." Or, you know try to add that extra little incentive. "Come on pal, wake up. It's Thursday, almost the weekend."

Regardless of what I'd say, my son's reply was the same: "Rrrffggrrffrrffeddffffff." Then he'd roll over away from me.

Then my son had an idea. What if I woke him up in a way that got his adrenalin going. (Yes, his suggestion). So, the next morning, I walked quietly to his door, then ran in and shook him and said, "There's a bear in the house!"

He sat right up. Smiled. And then laughed. And said, "That's funny Dad."

Here I was use to hearing grumpy caveman sounds. And I got a pleasant reply.

At 6:45.

That's A.M.

But the bear thing wouldn't work again. So I had to try something new. I went through a whole week with zombies, asteroids and disappearing pizza. I finally ended up last week with: "Andrew, you have to get up. Dane Cook ran out of jokes and he's starting to kill people!"

Now it's me running out of material.

And I need help.

Please send me some scary wake-ups I can give my son. Hit comment below and leave me a suggestion (and leave your name). Or e-mail me at dangephartAThotmailDOTcom. I'm going to try all the suggestions I get. And the suggestion that is most effective in waking up my son wins a copy of The Better of McSweeney's -- a wonderful collection of short stories.

Now onto the Playlist ...

World Series The Phillies played pretty poorly on Thursday night, but the series is even and it's coming to Philly. My usual Philly self is, of course, sure that we're doomed. But I'm trying to keep the hope. One thing I know for sure. With these late games, I'm not getting much sleep.

Meanwhile, check out these two Phillies-related features:
-- The Tale of the Tape between the two Ryan Howards.
-- Celebrity World Series picks. Tom Arnold picks the Phillies. We don't get much swimsuit model support. And Warren Sapp is still a jerk.

The Garden of Last Days. Andrew Dubus III
Dubus' rich writing infuses real depth to his characters, allowing the reader to feel both repulsion and apathy for the string of unsavory people -- a stripper, a terrorist and a wife-beater. Based on the idea that one of the 9/11 hijackers stopped at a Florida strip club before the attacks, Dubus' novel is gripping. When her landlady/babysitter becomes ill, April is forced to bring her daughter to work at the Puma strip club. As the night unfolds, April's attention is turned away from keeping an eye on her daughter and the drama unfolds.

One note to the editors: Delray -- as in Delray Beach -- is one word not two (Del Ray).

Rapid Response. Ted Leo/Pharmacists.
It's great having Ted back, especially before the election. It's only an EP -- just four songs. But the punk-popper rocks hard and, as usual, with a message. This digital EP was recorded in just a few days in response to the "real people" who had their rights trampled upon during the Republican National Convention. According to Deep Cutz, proceeds go to help those protesters with their bail, as well as to Democracy Now! and Minnesota - Food Not Bombs.

Inside the Human Body. Ezra Furman and the Harpoons.
Who is this Ezra Furman? emusic described him as Conor Oberst with a bus to catch. To me, he sounds like another alternative rocking wiseacre, like the Violent Femmes' Gordon Gano. But damnit, if he doesn't write some fun songs. And the three-piece band is solid whether the songs tilt to blues, rock or punk. A fun album. Want some free downloads? Check out Furman's band at Daytrotter. Or, as always, you can listen to the music on the Hear This! feature on the right hand side of the page.

Who invented the alarm clock? Check out our Weekly Wikipedia link to find out.

Now my attention this weekend turns back to sports -- the World Series, the Eagles back off a bye week, and Penn State trying to stay unbeaten by finally beating Ohio State!
Go Phils!
We are Penn State!
E-A-G-L-E-S!