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Steven wrote:(want to give Diane time to get that food ready and get things done before rejoining us here ),

I was waiting for you two to get the food ready;-)

I eat chocolate, mindfully, with my fingers . Will have to think a while longer about sticking my fingers into a plate of curry although maybe armed with some naan bread and a long lunch hour I could make some progress:-). We have more Indian restaurants over here - everywhere - than any other type (although Thai seem to be catching up). Many of the sauces are a bit too oily in the less-good places, esp. when compared to Indian restaurants in other countries. Chicken tikka masala is our "national dish", the most popular of all meals (it doesn't much resemble the authentic original though I don't think). Vindaloo here seems to be the province of groups of young people tanked up on beer. There is a classic old sketch, a parody by comedian/actor Sanjeev Bhaskar where a group of drunken Indians "go for an English"...

Kush wrote:

'You can learn to live with love or without it,
but there ain't no cure'

.....and the most amazing thing is both those songs came out in 1988. Not only do great minds think alike, they think alike at exactly the same time.

Nice. I enjoyed the John Hiatt. Btw, The Waterboys' Sweet Thing I have just posted in another thread was released in 1988, too (but the original and best was created in 1968).

I and I is my fave BD song! Will have to catch up more later...

Hi Kush,

Took some friends to a Mexican tacqueria. Two of them are from the Congo. One of them followed my
lead and ordered Shrimp Diablo. Now, I ordered this once before. Didn't remember it as living up
to the devil in its name, though. I turned red. My Congo friend looked as if he were about to, also
(more of a phenomenon for him). Never been to the southwest of the U.S. and am not sure if the
typical Tex-Mex in the East is really typical of Texas southwest cuisine. I can't remember not spiking
up any Tex-Mex with hot stuff.

The Dylan verse and the song it comes from are both good. The verse is reminiscent (duplicative?) of
the old aphorism about the shoemaker having holes in his own shoes, or maybe it went this way:
the shoemaker's children walk barefoot. I'm drawing a memory blank about the Clegg verse.
Looking forward to the Sinatra favorites. Most likely I'll both know and enjoy the same ones
you'll cite.

Hi Diane,

You've made me hungry for Indian food. Not for chocolate, though. Once combined chocolate with
yoghurt. Wasn't bad. Food's been ready. -- I'm a fast, but good cook. Mindful eating is a great way to
appreciate food -- whether it be haute cuisine (never used that term before) or porridge ("oatmeal" )
or chocolate. Enjoy the weekend.

I thought I heard strains of The Promised Land from a passing car tonight, and it reminded me of this thread.

Steven wrote: Mindful eating is a great way to
appreciate food...

Steven you are right of course. I don't normally manage to eat particularly mindfully (do you?), other than after the first couple of days of a zen retreat when it tends to happen automatically.

Someone else is speakin' with my mouth, but I'm listening only to my heart.
I've made shoes for everyone, even you, while I still go barefoot.

Excellent lines. Taking the barefoot idea from another angle, Clarissa Pinkola Estes told the story of a Guatemalan tribeswoman she knew who wore her first pair of shoes as an adult and said it was like walking con los ojos vendados, with blindfolds on her feet. I very regularly walk in some sand dunes close to where I live, and unless there is ice on the ground, I normally go barefoot. I mention it because it has a similar directness and earthiness to eating with your fingers, I'd say...

Kush wrote:Diane I had no idea what aubergine curry was till I started reading the posts backwards and found it was eggplant. It sounded French - and French curry would be a pretty funny thing.

Kush I was interested enough to look it up:

The name eggplant, used in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada refers to the fact that the fruits of some 18th century European cultivars were yellow or white and resembled goose or hen's eggs. The name aubergine, which is used in British English, is an adoption from the French word (derived from Catalan albergínia, from Arabic al-badinjan, from Persian bad'en-j'aan, from Sanskrit vatin-ganah). In Indian and South African English, the fruit is known as a "brinjal." Aubergine and brinjal, with their distinctive br-jn or brn-jl aspects, derive from Persian and Sanskrit.

You and Steven have to admit that aubergine has a more interesting etymology than eggplant. I claim one point for British-English. Two actually, because porridge is a far more descriptive word than the boring 'oatmeal', although I concede a few points for your superior car-related terminology - fender, trunk, hood. Also concede 57 chevy and 69 chevy as cars in two best ever songs with cars (the former being one of Eric's).

Hi Diane and Steven,

I have been preoccupied down south, will presently focus on matters at hand here. cheers

Hi Diane,

Wasn't me in that car playing "The Promised Land." Will be playing it on the way to a ball game this
weekend, though. I try to eat mindfully. Last night saw your post and realized that I'd just eaten
mindlessly. And your post was a reminder to try to be more consistently mindful. Mindless eating
happens, not infrequently, and mindlessly, usually, when it does for me. Good to get back to it.
The getting back to it parallels the return of attention when there's mind drift during a retreat,
don't you think?

Re: your comment on barefoot walking on the sand dunes, mindfully wallking on the sand does
have a similarity to the eating with the fingers experience with mindfulness to some additional
or different sensory input. An enjoyable walking meditation (outdoors during a retreat) took
place on some slushy, icy snow, fully shoed, for me. It was a remarkable experience to
be fully present for the uniqueness of that particular crunchy snow.

Never knew about the derivation of "aubergine." Mostly here they appear dark colored.
Sometimes they are purple and rarely white.

Steven I was just thinking of the way that on retreat after a couple of days I find I start eating much, much more slowly than usual and tasting most of the food, not through trying to, but simply because of the way the constant zazen focuses the mind and slows you down. It's very satisfying, even though it's so ordinary.

Steven wrote: It was a remarkable experience to
be fully present for the uniqueness of that particular crunchy snow.

Those moments are priceless aren't they.

No rush to get back here as far as I am concerned Kush, as I am prob. going to be in read only mode here for a while, and then I have to drive north and climb mountains:-)

Hi Diane,

After a couple of days of retreat, mindfulness does become more of a habituated thing. It's very satisfying,
yes. Enjoy those mountains and the company. (I think the walking weekend is coming up.) No
matter the weather, you'll probably have a GREAT time. Why? -- It'll be half your fault and half the
atmosphere. Enjoy!

Ta Steven, I will:-) Off tomorrow. Btw the correct answer to a pub quiz question came to me last night cos of this thread (who sang the way to San Antone?)

Hi Diane,

I'd have needed you to get the correct answer to that pub question. (I'd have bought you a beer as
thanks.) At this hurried moment, my mind isn't generating/or doesn't know the answer to the
question. (Wondering if it's one of the songs that Bruce has been covering lately in his concerts.
There was an hour PBS radio broadcast of "Live In Dublin" -- some of the concert interspersed with
commentary this weekend. Don't recall any songs referencing San Antoine there. There were some
good reinterpretations of Bruce's songs, but none as good as the original releases, i.m.o. ) So, I'm
stymied. Maybe there was a link I missed or have forgotten relating to San Antoine.

P.S. A quick internet search mentioned a song with San Antoine in connection with Charlie Pride
and others. Nothing in the search leads to anything I recall in this thread.

Interesting research on the origins of aubergine Diane. I was familiar with the terms porridge and brinjal even if not specifically so, but aubergine is a completely new word in my vocabulary. Ha...we learn something new each day.
Enjoy the mountains - sometimes I listen to this when I am biking - it helps with the adrenalin so maybe it might help!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WV88zD55_zc


Steven .....will get back with some Sinatra next time.

Hi Steven,

I like Sinatra's 50s period the best - I think his voice was at its finest at that time. These days I am hearing two albums No one Cares and The Concert Sinatra from that period. The latter album is not really a live album - it is Sinatra with a full orchestra and has a pretty stunning version of Ol' Man River. I think his songs (along with arrangements by Nelson Riddle and Gordon Jenkins) have a very unique symmetry between voice, words and music, never one overwhelming the other.
But here is couple of songs from one of three other albums I have of his - Only the Lonely

Blues in the Night
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6Uakf7Fjek

Angel Eyes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ll0wkmVBg_c

I am sure you know these songs but there is a nice collage of images on these clips along with the songs that make it quite special I think. The second one reminds me a little of Gypsy wife. Hope you get a chance to see it.

Another obscure clip I found on youtube....

Birth of the Blues (live with Louis Armstrong)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9k4uKcuLGk


Oh, they say some people long ago
Were searching for a different tune
One that they could croon
As only they can
They only had the rhythm
So they started swaying to and fro
They didnt know just what to use
That is how the blues really began
They heard the breeze in the trees
Singing weird melodies
And they made that the start of the blues

And from a jail came the wail
Of a down-hearted frail
And they played that
As part of the blues
From a whippoorwill
Out on a hill
They took a new note
Pushed it through a horn
til' it was worn
Into a blue note
And then they nursed it, rehearsed it
And gave out the news
That the southland gave birth to the blues!

Hi Kush,

Thanks for the Sinatra post and sorry for the delay in responding. I generally agree that Sinatra's voice
was the finest in the 50s. Not to say that later years didn't offset this (at least somewhat) by depth of expression and
the positive side of maturity. "Ol' Man River" is a mighty fine song and it was aced by Sinatra.

"Blues In The Night" is a great mood song. "Angel Eyes," has great dark undertones. -- Not a pretty song
(and there lies its beauty). "Birth of The Blues" with Sinatra and Armstrong is an interesting duet.
The lyrics you posted, make me think that they could have given it a better treatment, with a less
raucous delivery, though. Great stage presence by Louis Armstrong. Sinatra was a pioneer in
being a major star and dueting with African Americans, at a time that national television advertisers
and much of America was segregated, by law or culture. Seeing him with Satchmo reminded me of this
and renewed my admiration of Sinatra's willingness to break color barriers.

No worries on the delay at all Steven. You are making me feel bad because I am not so comfortable with speed of electronic communication. I like to take my own sweet time responding, when I feel inspired to do so.

Re' Sinatra I have not read any biography of his but I do know that he helped out Sammy Davis Jr quite a bit both financially and otherwise. I dont think he (Sinatra) was a comventional "nice guy" or that he was on a mission to change the world or anything like that ( a la Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, young Bob Dylan etc) but he probably just did things his way. I remember reading the Rat Pack (Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Dean Martin, Frank?? Lawford - JFKs brother-in-law) would just refuse to play at venues in which Sammy Davis was not allowed. And from all accounts they were not people to messed with (Sinatra's mafia connections etc etc) so the venues would just give in to their demands. He sure did things his way.

I like the jazzy treatment of Birth of the Blues. Reminds me of songs like Badlands etc where the personal desperation and subsequent defiance is at odds with it being perhaps the most danceable tune in rock n roll history. But I agree a treatment as in Blues in the Night would be great.

p.s. one more intersting little factoid - remember reading somewhere that Nancy Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr shared either the first or one the first interacial kiss on national TV way back when. Kind of funny when you think about it.....

Hi Kush,

There wasn't an intention to make you feel bad or to rush a response. There's never a need to respond here or
to do so when uninspired. I did read a biography of Sinatra, years back, in connection with some
work I was doing at the time. I think Lawford's first name was Peter. "He sure did things his way." -- Yes.
The song "My Way" is a great song (lyrics by Paul Anka).

I don't recall the factoid of Nancy and Sammy smooching, but do certainly remember the episode
of Archie Bunker where Sammy Davis Jr. pays Archie a visit and plants a kiss on his cheek. A
golden TV moment.