LaNiña

Sahadi's is great....but Oriental Grocery, a block away on Atlantic, is better.

I've got to ask; how is this relevant to anything posted anywhere on this site? Also regarding this: because others agree with you on this point proves nothing. The fact that I do find John to be a likable person is also neither relevant, nor does it necessarily prove that he's a likable person. Is there any reason why we can't have the common courtesy to keep these kind of things to ourselves? It might behoove you to make yourself aware of certain pieces of history before making judgements.

It's called getting each other's goat.No, oh humorless one. FG, Tommy, and I were actually satirizing the very thread in which we're participating. The three of us got it. You didn't. Nina tell me you didn't miss the relationship of "KIDDING" and "goat" and we'll decide who's sense of humor is disfunctional. Of course I got it. I just can't stand Whiting is all.

(howls, HOWLS of laughter at this) Nina apparently didn't get the joke. Maybe she didn't read back far enough. And whoever came up with that analogy of the symphony conductor being like a chef is a frigging moron. Waitaminute. . . . OF COURSE I GOT THE JOKE. jeez. my response was SARCASM. I even mentioned later on that IT WAS A JOKE. So I believe you, dear Deacon, need to read a bit more carefully.

And if you're in that area, go to a little town called Fontvieille (not far from Arles) and eat at a restaurant called La Cuisine au Planet. One of the loveliest evenings I've spent in recent years.

I feel a sense of accomplishment. After seventy-two years, I've finally made a reliable enemy! I ain't the only one, trust me on that.

Always to be be relied upon for a graceful response to a gentle jape. Never liked you, never will. And this time I'm not kidding around.

It's called getting each other's goat.No, oh humorless one. FG, Tommy, and I were actually satirizing the very thread in which we're participating. The three of us got it. You didn't.

"Okay everybody back to their corners. Can we stop this now?" Hodee there pardner. I don't know about y'all, but I'M KIDDING AROUND. And I'm fairly certain that FG and Tommy are, too.

And I am tired of dealing with idiots like the two of you at every turn. Well I'm a gem so screw you. Sparkling like a fucking diamond, you are, you.

And I am tired of dealing with idiots like the two of you at every turn.

To what do I owe the honor of this hostility, FG?

Yeah, I'm at work, and off to a doctors appointment, if I can turn off the goddamn computer. Oh I HATE to miss this. See y'all latuh.

Ok, you know what's a good analogy? Sex. You can have sex with the same person, day in day out, year after year, and sometimes it's routine, the things that are supposed to happen may happen, ya got all the bells and whistles and that's all fine and good. And then sometimes, something *happens*, ya know? Maybe it's the mood, maybe it's the spontaneity, maybe it's mastery, maybe it's inspiration, maybe it's improvisation - but maybe it's the freedom and communication that whatever those circumstances brought to the bed that particular night. Call it magic, call it the stars aligned, call it whatever you like - but it ain't science. And it's the same with music and cooking and painting and writing poetry and giving an impassioned speech... jaybee, if I may put you on the spot: what's that quotation of yours about creative people? You know the one I mean. Give us the whole paragraph, please.

Hence, the development of religion. No. I know a lot about music. A lot. Which is why it's even *more special* when that tu ne sais quoi (ha!) happens.

Oy vey. I'm not talking about some bizarro concept of magic, as in warlocks and newts' eyeballs. I'm talking about the COMMUNICATION THAT HAPPENS BETWEEN AUDIENCE AND ARTIST, BETWEEN EATER AND CHEF. I utterly reject the notion that you don't know what I"m talking about, and even get it. Go read some Rilke, and tell me what you call it when the tears start rolling down your face.

Comparing music to food is fine. Art is art. Artistic expression is artistic expression. The freedom of expression that mastery provides, when combined with creative spontaneity, is what live performance, or great cooking, is all about.

There is still *something* that happens during a performance, or during cooking, that is inexplicable. I made a living as a torch singer for a couple of years, some years ago. I would rehearse and rehearse, my musicians and I knew each other's instincts and nuances like a mother knows her baby's cries. But still, we'd get in front of an audience, and something would happen. Sometimes a tune would come out radically different that what we would have rehearsed. It's like being out on a tightrope, there's something that happens - a freedom, inspiration, spontaneity, improvisation on a theme... And it defies explanation. There is magic to creation - that's what makes an artist an artist, and not a technician. It's in the giving and the receiving and the interplay between the two. And the same can be said of cooking. "Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all." -Harriet Van Horne (who the hell is that?)

That, my dear, is known as a copout. No, my darling FG, that's called FEELING.

You need to spend some more time in concert halls. And you need to do some reading on the subject of musical directorship/conducting. It's not just me and Plotnicki. I don't know any serious eater, or listener of music, who hasn't had this kind of experience (besides you, maybe). It can't be "proven" - only experienced. And the need to analyze, to impose scientific methods on these kinds of situations only serves to diminish the experience. Live a little.

I can only "prove it" by telling you experientially. That I have been in the same restaurant, over and over again, had the same dish, and sometimes it's just *there* . And the same can be said of musical performances. I have seen the Beethoven Violin Concerto performed by the same groups, with the same soloists, over and over again - or the same opera, with the same conductor - and sometimes something just *happens.* It's in the communication between art and artist, between chef and ingredients, between performer and audience, between kitchen and diner. It's called SOUL. And if you say you don't understand what I"m talking about, I won't believe you.

FG, forgive me, but that is utterly untrue. A good orchestra, when matched with a good conductor, provides a *performance* that can be exquisite. Yes, of course rehearsal matters, but the magic that happens in a live performance of that kind is a function of the communication between conductor and orchestra *in that moment* . The same can even be said of a great chef. Even when the great chef is in the restaurant, he/she can have an off night. Hasn't that happened to you - no matter how many times that chef has made the dish, no matter how trained the kitchen staff - sometimes there is an inspiration that just isn't there. If that weren't true, then *everybody* could be a great chef just by following a recipe, and every orchestra could turn in a flawless performance if enough rehearsing had been done. There is magic to a live performance, just as there is to the preparing of a great dish - something extra, something impossible to quite nail down, something that only happens when it happens. And that is the truly ephemeral experience of art, as experienced by an audience, or an appreciative and aware eater. (Can anybody tell what kind of weekend I had?)

I don't know about now, but a year ago when I was on a wine and foie gras trek through southwestern/western France, I found at least as much goose foie as duck foie in the markets, in many places.

Rachel, I believe that if the actor's name is ABOVE the title in the program (ie leading actor, not supporting actor), and that person it out, you can get your money back. The policy doesn't apply to supporting cast members.

Yeah, Bistro Saint Marks is in my 'hood (Besha, do you live in the Slope?) I've been several times, and the service has been pretty horrid every time. I must say that I enjoyed the food, but also had that experience once of them running out of things and not being at all apologetic or accomodating. Oh well.