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Father’s Day, 2015
By
Published: Jun 11, 2015
Category:
Beyond Classification
I used to write for a home decorating magazine — the term of art is “shelter magazine” — that went kit-crazy. Everything had to be some kind of ingredient for a party bag: a chunk of this, a hunk of that, a chip of a third thing. If they were incongruous, no problem. Like Christmas, the joy was in the number of gifts.
A writer once proposed a story.
The editor’s response: “Is it a kit?”
“No.”
“Make it a kit.”
In my dotage, I have come to like kits. My logic: If you’re not giving a Tesla, don’t look for a bargain Jaguar. Buy small, good things that are kings in their category. For Father’s Day, things like these….
THINGS
Anthelios Sunscreen
Because there’s no better protection against melanoma.
The Filson Briefcase
“Might as well have the best.”
Portable Power for your phone
This device, which is about the same size as a Samsung Galaxy S3 and just a smidge thicker, is a veritable tower of power. Plug it in at night — it takes 6 to 8 hours to reach full charge — and you can use it to charge an iPhone (4-5 times), Nexus (4.1 times), Galaxy S5 (2.6 times), the Galaxy Note III (2.3 times) or an iPad (once.) It has two ports; you can charge two devices at a time. Note: It will not charge the Microsoft Surface. Cost: $29.99.
Timex Easy Reader Watch
Because it’s $10,000 cheaper than a watch that looks and works no better.
Dimmable LED Desk Lamp
The TaoTronics LED Desk Lamp has a one-touch, 3-level dimmer and an I’m-leaving-the-room “escape timer” that turns the light off after an hour. The bulb is estimated to last 40,000 hours. The arm is adjustable. It uses 75% less electricity than an old-fashioned lamp. It folds for easy transport. It’s no heavier than a small bag of feathers. If the 5-star Amazon reviewers and I have missed something, I have no idea what it could be.
Zojirushi Stainless Steel Vacuum Insulated Mug
Hot stays hot. Cold stays cold.
Mental Clarity
Brahmi is said to “improve capacity for attention and focus, improve the ability to withstand emotional stress, reduce nervousness and anxiety and improve immune system function.” And I credit Ashwaghandha is said to improve memory and “protect the brain against brain cell deterioration.” In short, I’m casting a vote for Ayurvedic medicine.
BOOKS
The Friends of Eddie Coyle
Forty years ago, a lawyer for the U.S. Attorney in Boston published a 182-page novel that re-invented crime fiction. A reader has suggested that George V. Higgins got his inspiration by listening to hundreds of hours of wiretaps. Very savvy. The book — which is 90% dialogue — gives us a picture of small-time hoods that reads like sad, sick truth.
A Sport and a Pastime
For me, James Salter is the most elegant writer in America. Surgical and swift, he can do more in a sentence than most of us can do in a paragraph. In 1967, he wrote an erotic 192-page novel set in France. It’s about a rich young American and a French shop girl, and you can smell the wood smoke and see the expensive sports car as it turns off the leaf-strewn road into the small French town….
Truth
Peter Temple’s novels are intricate puzzles with violent crimes as the problem to be solved and cops as the characters who must solve them. His people are complex, his world smudged; his books are entirely credible. In “Truth,” a young prostitute is found murdered in a super-luxury high rise that boasts the ultimate in technology — though on the night of the murder, of course, none of it works.
Levels of the Game
Many believe that John McPhee’s account of a single match between Arthur Ashe and Clark Graebner in the semifinals at the U.S. Open in Forest Hills is the best book ever written about tennis. It certainly has drama. Ashe was not the Jackie Robinson of tennis; when he emerged in the 1960s, he was the only African-American player of note in America. Graebner was a dentist’s son and a ringer for Clark Kent. In 146 pages, you’re inside the game and inside the player’s heads at the same time as you get a revelatory portrait of a sport — and a nation — in transition. How great is that?
Epictetus
Marcus Aurelius (121-180 AD) studied at the feet of Epictetus (55-135 AD). One man was an emperor, the other a former slave who lived simply and wrote not a word. The value of Epictetus is that he is, literally, a practical philosopher — his concerns are the here and now: reality, life, death. In this short, compelling little book, he has a blunt message that, at its essence, needs just two words: Man up.
The Stories of John Cheever
If Dad liked “Mad Men,” he’s the ideal reader of John Cheever’s stories. Westchester, Connecticut, Nantucket, Beekman Place. Game nights at home, dinners at the club. Adultery. Thwarted dreams. The men wore hats. Everybody drank. Cheever wrote many of these stories in the storage room of his New York apartment. In the morning, he’d dress as if he were going to an office, then ride the elevator to the basement, where he’d hang up his suit pants and start writing. And then, at night, he too would drink.
Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans
In the early 1960s, Henry Ford II decided to build Ford’s market outside of the United States by kicking ass in European competition. His idea: buy Ferrari. And he had a deal — almost. When it fell apart, he had a rival and a mission: beat Ferrari at Le Mans. The odds against Ford were ridiculous. An American-built car had not won a major European race since 1921. Ford would have to build the most technologically advanced racing car in history. You don’t have to care about cars to love this story of crazy courage and over-the-top commitment.
The Tender Bar
J.R. Moehringer’s father, a noted disc jockey, was out of his mother’s life before J.R. was old enough to remember that he was ever around. (“My father was a man of many talents, but his one true genius was disappearing.”) His mother, suddenly poor, moves into her family’s house in Manhasset, Long Island. In that house: J.R.’s mother, grandmother, aunt and five female cousins. Also in that house: Uncle Charlie, a bartender at Dickens, a Manhasset establishment beloved by locals who appreciate liquor in quantity— “every third drink free” — and strong opinions, served with a twist. A boy needs a father. If he doesn’t have one, he needs some kind of man in his life. Or men, because it can indeed take a village…
Johnny U: The Life and Times of John Unitas
In Johnny Unitas, we are talking about a genuine hero — and not just because he is regarded, almost universally, as the greatest football player of the first half of the twentieth century. Unitas is thrilling to read about, and to think about, because his struggle took place in the open, in real time, with the outcome uncertain and physical pain guaranteed. Unitas never complained. He never made apologies. He had a job to do, and it was his responsibility to get it done.
Churchill
This short book is not about not Churchill the God, but Churchill the extremely interesting man. Johnson piles on the detail. Yes, Churchill drank whiskey or brandy all day — “heavily diluted with water or soda.” Yes, he stayed in bed as much as possible, for as he told Paul Johnson (who interviewed him at the tender age of 17), the secret of life is “conservation of energy. Never stand up when you can sit down, and never sit down when you can lie down.”
Buck
Buck Brannaman specializes in the improbable. Got a skittish, poorly trained horse? A bucking bronco? A steed who seems not to care about anything? Bring that uncooperative beast to one of Buck’s clinics. Very quickly — often in a matter of minutes — he gets your horse ready to ride. No whips are involved, no threats are made. Buck’s methods call for a little stroking with a flag, a steady gaze, a gentle tone. Small point” This is NOT a movie and a book about horses.
HeadButler.com: The 100 Essentials: Books, music and movies for people with more taste than time
Just like the title says.
MUSIC
Broken Bells
Did Dad like the Bee Gees?
R.L. Burnside
Burnside drank hard — his beverage of choice was a concoction he called the Bloody Muthafucka, made of Old Grandad Whiskey and tomato juice — and played harder. You want subtle, look elsewhere. Burnside struts and shakes, moans and cries, cares nothing about convention (most of the lyrics on a terrific song are “Burnside…. Burnside”) and, although he married just one woman and had a dozen children, casts himself as present at the creation of sin.
Astral Weeks
Van Morrison made this breakthrough CD in 1968. It took just four days, cost less than $25,000. It promptly went on best-ever lists. And has never left — this is genius at work. A demonstration of spiritual transcendence. And it’s not just the words that transcend. The band is open, loose, inventive; this music is subtle as jazz and heart-pounding as rock. And Morrison almost seems to be having a good time — in his phrase, “stepping lightly, just like a ballerina.”
J.J. Cale
After Eric Clapton’s recording of “After Midnight,” Cale’s pal, producer Audie Ashworth, phoned Cale and said, ‘It might be time for you to make your move. Do an album. So get your songs together.’ He said, ‘I’ll do a single.’ I said, ‘It’s an album market.’ He said, ‘I don’t have that many songs,’ so I said, ‘Write some.’ Three or four months later he called me. He said, ‘I got the songs.’ He drove in. He was driving a Volkswagen this time. He came in with his dog. He played me all those songs.” And every one is funky but laid-back Oklahoma magic.
Miles Davis
Everyone is jagged on “Kind of Blue.” But the quite possibly cooler choice is “Ascenseur Pour L’Echafaud” — “Elevator to the Gallows,” the soundtrack to Louis Malle’s first feature film. Miles: “Since it was about a murder and was supposed to be a suspense movie, I used this old, gloomy, dark building where I had the musicians play. I thought it would give the music atmosphere, and it did.”
VIDEO
Borgen
30 hours of addictive drama.
