PicoBlog

THERE WAS A COLLECTIVE GASP at the 34th annual IAJE Conference on this day 17 years ago (Saturday, January 13, 2007) when word quickly spread through the Hilton Hotel about the passing of Michael Brecker, who had succumbed at age 57 to leukemia following his two and a half year struggle with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), a cancer in which the bone marrow stops producing enough healthy blood cells. The news was broken to me by vibraphonist Mike Mainieri, Brecker’s partner in the ‘80s group Steps Ahead and previously his bandmate in White Elephant, the sprawling hippie jam band that they played in together during the late ‘60s and early ‘70s.

Today we have a founder who is creating a modern insurance provider for the collectibles industry that was made for collectors, by collectors. Calvin Bradley is the Founder of WAX, a digital insurance company for collectors to protect the value of their collections by making collecting safer, easier, and more community-oriented. Calvin and I had a fascinating conversation about how the modern world of collectibles requires a modern, digital insurance solution, how NFTs factors into the world of collectibles, and what the future looks like for WAX.

Farm Share Friends: it’s here! The first farm share of the season. I pick up my vegetables this afternoon, and I’m so looking forward to having a big bundle of fragrant basil sitting on my countertop for the first time in months. To review: I find the best way to store farm share basil is in a jar filled with an inch or so of water at room temperature. Note: This method does not work well for the supermarket basil I buy outside of farm share season, which seems to do best wrapped in a bag with all of the air squeezed out.

On August 2 at 7 PM at Mrs. Dalloway’s Bookstore at 2904 College Avenue in Berkeley, I will be in conversation with the director and screenwriter Henry Bean about the new edition of his novel The Nenoquich, originally published in 1982 as False Match. About a love affair, the collapse of the 1960s into the desert of the early ‘70s, and the truest Berkeley novel, it was and is a great book, speaking in a voice no one has matched.

For Old Tom’s Sake. This is the name of this week’s episode. In this one we learn how long Dan’s hair is, that Brock is a jack mormon, that maybe Penny is who is keeping us from having sandwiches and ALSO how Angelenos visit Frisco! It is ALL HAPPENING!! Thank you for hanging in with us and listening to our “reactions” to VANDERP… ncG1vNJzZmivlZq4prrDsJitnaJjwLau0q2YnKNemLyue89omaimpah6przIrKadnV2rrq%2BwxKunrqWgYr%2B2uMSsZKudk5a9bq2XbQ%3D%3D

Sixty years ago this summer, Ironton, Ohio, native son Bobby Bare started work on his debut album for RCA Victor. The LP’s title track — “500 Miles Away from Home” — would turn out to be one of the best-selling singles in the 88-year-old Bare’s long career. Composition of the song is generally credited to folksinger Hedy West, who is said to have put it together from fragments of a melody she heard her uncle sing to her back in her native Georgia.

A little Substack-on-Substack conflict here! Trying not to be too contentious, but if someone jumps “Nate thinks Biden being 80 years old is a big deal” to “Nate must therefore secretly support Ron DeSantis”, it probably deserves a response. natesilver.net/p/not-everyone-who-disag… ncG1vNJzZmirpZfAta3CpGWcp51kja%2Bt056qoqSmmr9wus6tnGibXWiGeoOWcmdy

Share Share Throwbacks: A Newsletter About Sports History and Culture This is Throwbacks, a newsletter by me, Michael Weinreb, about sports, history, culture and politics, and everything in-between. Welcome to all new readers/subscribers, and if you like what you’re reading, please join the mailing list and share, on social media or through e-mail or however you feel comfortable sharing. (It’s still FREE to join the list:… ncG1vNJzZmismKe8uK7AnKKsZqOqr7TAwJyiZ5ufonyxe8alrK2dpah6rrXNoqSuq11mhneF

Obviously I get weirdly excited about words lol, I love when someone else does, too (I’m just guessing you are because why not). Oh! I have an unknown contemporary poet from my tumblr days — P.D. Vulpe (she/her, I was right the first time), she wrote From Great Heights and is so fucking talented. I actually reached out so she was one of the reviewers for my chapbook, and said reading and reviewing it inspired her to start writing poetry again, which was first of all the most awesome thing ever, and second of all makes me excited that she may create a second book!