Contrapunctus

If you listen closely to old recordings of Glenn Gould, you can hear him in the background humming as he plays. This drove recording engineers nearly mad as they tried to remove the ambient sounds. They never could scrub it quite clean, though. If you've ever really listened closely to recordings of Glenn Gould playing Art of Fugue, you would understand. What you're actually hearing is neither Glenn Gould nor Bach. It is the voice of God.

You're Doing It Wrong

Look, I get it, all right? Politics is a tough business, and the campaign trail is never ending and unforgiving. But pull yourself together, Rand Paul. How is anyone supposed to trust you to shepherd a fragile economy in uncertain times when you're wearing your kid's shorts and sandals? For God's sake, put on some pants. And before you reach for those shorts again, please take a moment to read the rules.

Triple A Fun

I miss going to Round Rock Express games. Sure, the Nats are great. In fact, going to games last year was sort of like watching a minor league team play. This year, well, it's more complicated.

But Express games were always a joy, and were exactly what a baseball game should be: fun. Thirsty Thursday's beer specials and a stadium that doesn't have a bad seat to it made for some great summer nights north of Austin, Texas. And the guys who are playing aren't prima donnas or whiners. These are guys who are out to do two things: Make a career out of playing a game they love and have fun doing it.

Krauthammer's right, "You get there and the twilight's gleaming, the popcorn's popping, the kids're romping and everyone's happy." And if Rojo Johnson's pitching, all the better.

Ledbury Launch DC

Last night, Ledbury had their DC launch with a pop-up store in Georgetown. Featuring bluegrass music, drinks, and some pretty great shirts, the launch seemed to be a great success for the two Pauls and their emerging line of menswear.

Ledbury has a fairly limited selection of shirts right now, but what they have are quite nice. They've stuck to classic colors and lines, building a solid foundation from which to build. The material selection is excellent. The only complaint I have is that there appear to be an extremely limited selection of sizes. For example, if you have a 17" neck, you only have the option of a 36" sleeve. I'm sure this suits someone well, but it's not me.



Ledbury is definitely doing a bit of lifestyle marketing with their launch, and the bluegrass, hunting trophys, and equestrian decor is clearly meant to invoke Southern gentility. While, admittedly, I'm a sucker for this marketing, it is something that seems to be quite the vogue right now, and is often far too obvious. Ledbury has thankfully avoided attaching too-clever-by-half logos to their shirts or artificially inflating their line with branded koozies, flip-flops, and sunglasses retainers.



So, that's my two cents. These guys seem to have a good grasp of what's important - quality over quantity, substance over style. In the future, I'm sure they'll expand their line somewhat, but in the meantime they seem to be concentrating on doing one thing very well. Hopefully, they'll offer shirts for the thicker-necked of us who aren't 6'2". So, there you have it. I'll let Paul Trible take over, now, and speak for himself.

Shave and a Haircut

A couple of months ago I attended the wedding of a great friend of mine in New Orleans, Louisiana. The day of the wedding, all the groomsmen got together and ate ourselves sick lunch at Port of Call, then made our way down to Aidan Gill for a shave.



As previously noted, I'm picky about barbers. I'm also not easily impressed. There are plenty of places in DC that pretend to be what Aidan Gill is, but its easy to tell when you're dealing with a knock-off. Aidan Gill is the real thing.

Now, this was a shave unlike any other. The whole process took between thirty to forty-five minutes and was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. The young lady that shaved me used no fewer than eight hot towels and probably half a gallon of moisturizer and salve. The shave was incredibly close, and the facial massage that it required was sinful. With Coltrane wafting through the air, it was hard to get out of the chair when the whole thing was over.

I will take issue with Mr. Gill's contention that modern multi-blade razors are "far, far superior to anything that has come before." I traded my Mach 3 for a Merkur safety razor a few years ago and I've never looked back. Why? I get a better shave. But, to each his own. Shaving is something you have to do at least once a day, so you might as well do it as you like.

Still, if you're going to New Orleans, sleep in one morning and let Aidan Gill take care of the grooming. It's worth it.

Pool Party

I know it's only May, but the temperatures have started pushing up into the 80s and 90s with high humidity. It's just about time to get in the water. I have fond memories of summer days at the natatorium, which weren't entirely unlike this:

As an adult, you're required to be a lot more civil. More lap swimming, less ogling the lifeguard; more treading water and having banal conversations, less dunking heads. Which is too bad, really. After a long week at the office, we all deserve a caddy day.

Year of the Yuppie

My previous post on Yuppies resulted in severe taunts from my friend, whom I assured that I'm already filled with self-loathing. Well, self-loathing and gin. The Mrs. did a little Googling of her own and found this blog post with some great scans that I've pirated borrowed and re-posted here. The scans are from the December 31, 1984 issue of Newsweek which declared 1984 the "Year of the Yuppie."



I bought a house in the city a few months ago, and we've been doing some pretty major renovations. A lot of people come in and gut these houses and then renovate them to look like every other suburban home on the market. We're trying to preserve as much of the original house as possible, keeping with the period of the original construction. Speaking of which, while places like Community Forklift are a good place to find vintage materials, I highly recommend checking Ebay for that missing antique brass door knob. People seem to be a little less proud of their stuff there. Also, notice this couple grinning as they plaster a wall. That is what is known as 'trick photography.'



Now, maybe you could get away with a Burberry scarf in 1984. These days you might as well be wearing a knock-off covered in Louis Vuitton logos. The wooden squash racquet is a nice touch, though. My wife thinks the fashion displayed is a sign of how unfair the world is. The woman's outfit is horribly out of date. (It is almost 30 years old.) Asked what she thought about the man's wardrobe, she replied, "Don't you own that?"