I had been somewhat disappointed about the idea of having this Thanksgiving dinner at a restaurant. The place that we're in this year kind of necessitated it, I suppose, but I was still uncertain. The restaurant choice was the Publick House, which at least would bring us close to an original Thanksgiving feel, so I stopped feeling sad about the reality of no leftovers and breaking home-cooking tradition.

I must admit that the dinner was really good, and everyone enjoyed themselves. I loved the squash bisque, and I think the pumpkin pie was the best I've ever had. I wish I'd brought along my camera, but we'd come out of a good rain, so we were all a bit waterlogged. The colonial-ness of it all helped me remember what others had been through, and we talked of a recent PBS show on the Mayflower and the colonists' difficulties in their voyage. Dad nodded through his laryngitis. Eli grabbed at the silverware. I said silent thanks for all I have and promised to stop feeling sorry for myself. The waitress told us to stay as long as we wanted because we were the least problematic table of the day. When we got back to E's we played a few rounds of Hullabaloo. It was a good Thanksgiving.

Back home now and trying to wrap up some freelance work so that I can work on the novel tomorrow. Looks like I may have quite a bit of time at home in the future, so full steam ahead on the writing! :) Oh, if I could be at home writing creatively for a living. *sigh* It can happen ...

Tom Clancy was an obscure Maryland insurance broker with a passion for naval history and only a letter to the editor and a brief article on the MX missile to his credit. Years before he had been an English major at Baltimore's Loyola College and had always dreamed of writing a novel. His first effort, THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER—the story of a Russian submarine captain who defects to the United States—sold briskly as a result of rave reviews, then catapulted onto the New York Times bestseller list after President Reagan pronounced it "the perfect yarn" and "non-put-downable."

My girlfriend and I went to a lecture by Doris Kearns Goodwin on Friday night. I really like her -- her knowledge of presidential history is awesome and springs from wonderful experience, and her book Wait Till Next Year was one of the best memoirs I've read. She talked a great deal about her new book Team of Rivals, and she used many examples from other administrations to make points about modern and past events. She even talked passionately about the Brooklyn Dodgers and Red Sox, and the Yankees crowd was very warm despite our recent Series loss. :) She painted Lincoln as empathic and sad and very human, and she crafted a wonderful "argument" for / proof of his genius.

She also talked of the kind of presidency we could have used in the United States after 9/11 -- a presidency as we had at WWII, asking Americans to participate in public service, military service, health care service, energy conservation. I think she's right -- what an open door we had for Americans to become something better than we are today. Who would have turned away from volunteering time and services at the end of that year? It's too bad. She said she wishes that like Lincoln and others we could have politicians who will change direction, study history, admit problems and failures. I do too.

My mom just started to read Team of Rivals, and I'd like to read it too one day. My girlfriend pointed out (she is an editor too, as you will see) that the notes at the back of that book are listed by page number only, with no way to see on the actual text pages to what specific words the notes refer. It seems that the notes are not meant to be read when one is when reading the text pages but are to be read either afterward or only at moments of confusion. No one could take flipping back and forth page after page to see if any notes need to be read.


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If it weren't so depressing I would start another blog about the terrible things happening to the state of New Jersey. I'm actually trying to avoid all things depressing these days, so I don't think that blog will happen anytime soon, but the news that Waterloo Village will probably close is very upsetting to me. It was a place I could go to feel like I was somewhere else entirely, in another time, and those places are few these days. I can't believe that someone somewhere can't come up with money to keep the place going, with all the damn money in this state.

A ray of golden sunshine has just fanned across my future! I can't express how great this is going to be. I read that they'll be in the U.S. after this.

And I just bought a used copy of the vinyl Selling England this past weekend. ...


GENESIS ANNOUNCE THEIR 'TURN IT ON AGAIN' TOUR

Press Information: London 7 November 2006

Tony Banks, Phil Collins and Mike Rutherford of the iconic band Genesis unveiled the dates for their first tour in 15 years. Turn It On Again - the tour, will see the band play a series of stadium concerts in Europe in the summer of 2007. Kicking off in the Olympic Stadium, Helsinki on 11 June, the tour will hit twelve different European countries, ending in Rome on 14 July. At a Pan-European press conference staged today at London's exclusive Mayfair hotel and hosted by comedian and lifelong Genesis fan, David Baddiel, the band took questions from international media about their reasons for reforming and thoughts on the tour.

European tour promoter, John Giddings, commented: "It is a privilege to work with one of the
greatest rock bands of all time, and to see their musical talent together again onstage will be incredible. The live shows are as famous as their music."

The "Turn It On Again" tour will be travelling to all the biggest stadiums as it treks across Europe in 2007 through Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Poland, Germany, France, Holland, UK, Monte Carlo and Italy. For all European tour dates, please go HERE.
Tickets will be on sale for UK dates on 24 November and for dates in Germany on 10 November. Other on-sale dates to be announced.

Tony Banks, Phil Collins and Mike Rutherford will be joined on stage by long time Genesis sidemen, Chester Thompson on drums and Daryl Steurmer on guitar. Two of the world's greatest show technicians, award-winning lighting designer Patrick Woodroffe and acclaimed set designer Mark Fisher are working on plans for the 2007 Genesis tour.

Genesis have sold over 130 million albums, it is one of a small elite of British bands who have achieved global success and sustained it over four decades. Genesis was formed in 1966 by Tony Banks, Peter Gabriel, Mike Rutherford and Anthony Phillips, while still at school, but its most successful incarnation was the late 70's early 80's line-up of Phil Collins taking on lead vocals and sharing songwriting, with Rutherford and Banks. The Duke album topped the UK charts in 1980 with the hit single, Turn It On Again monopolising the airwaves. In 1987, Genesis played sold out stadium shows across the globe, including four consecutive Wembley Stadiums.

To coincide with the Genesis tour, EMI Records will be re-issuing 14 Genesis studio albums in three stages during 2007. All the releases will be SACD/DVD double disc sets featuring newly re-mastered 5.1 surround sound and stereo mixes. The release schedule is as follows:

March 2007: A Trick Of The Tail (1976), Wind & Wuthering (1977), …And Then There Were Three… (1978), Duke (1980) Abacab (1981)

June/July 2007: Genesis (1983), Invisible Touch (1986), We Can't Dance (1991), Calling All Stations (1997)

Late 2007/Early 2008: Trespass (1970), Nursery Cryme (1971), Foxtrot (1972), Selling England By The Pound (1973), The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway (1974)

Here's the coolest music video I've seen in a real long time!

Remind Me by Röyksopp

You know, the song playing behind that caveman-in-the-airport Geico commercial ...