This week we have devoted an entire episode to a feature interview with singer, songwriter and author Amy Rigby. Please join us. You can listen here or find us in all the good places.
Check out Amy’s website where you can access her blog, Girl to City Podcast and online store.
The song opening this week’s podcast is Vote That Fucker Out, written by Amy Rigby, and performed by Amy Rigby and Wreckless Eric. You can enjoy the video below:
Each season I’ve grown indeterminate tomatoes, we wind up with a lot of green tomatoes when the first killer frost is close.
A few years ago, I learned that you can roast green tomatoes and eventually they sweeten up and make an excellent (green) sauce.
Today I roasted a batch of them. I added a few garden chillies, some herbs I also picked from the garden, and drizzled with olive oil, added some salt, a few cloves of garlic, and some mushrooms, mixed everything up and roasted for a couple hours. It’s a good idea to take them out after an hour and mix everything around again.
While the tomatoes were roasting down, I also roasted a few sausages. Rigatoni for dinner tonight was delicious.
We associate Jerry Jeff Walker with Texas, his adopted home, but he was born Ronald Clyde Crosby in Oneonta NY. I’m glad he became Jerry Jeff. RIP.
I’ve been ever-so-slowly learning old time fiddle on an old German fiddle my Grandpa gave to my older brother back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. I’ve learned enough to know it is time to upgrade my instrument.
I know a good deal about banjos but fiddles are another story. First, there is an insane price range from under $100 up to $16 million for the most expensive violin in the world. Now I was pretty certain I didn’t need to spend $16 million on an instrument but it is puzzling figuring out what you get for $500 vs $1000 vs $5000 vs $10000 in any kind of tangible terms. As well I’m sure there is a significant difference in the attributes a good violin has vs a good fiddle.
The other challenge is that the better you can play, the clearer it is just what you like and need and want and also what pitfalls or limitations an instrument might have.
The next question is, new vs old. I learned that like with button accordions these days there is good value in moderate priced instruments coming from Chinese workshops and set up locally. On the other hand, older instruments have a lot of character, including sound character. I decided to look for a restored older instrument.
I bought this Vuillaume a Paris fiddle the other day, made in France likely in the late 1800s. It has been fully restored with a new fingerboard, tailpiece, pegs and bridge, set up for fiddling. It has a beautiful, rich sound with a great low end and it was at a price I could afford. Now I need to bear down and get a lot better at playing this thing.
We’re very excited because next week on the Agency Podcast we will be joined by the fabulous singer/songwriter and author Amy Rigby. The episode will be up on Tuesday – don’t miss it!
After a rainy morning, the skies cleared so I met up with my friend Hobie for a walk at Humber Bay.
Although we did not see huge number of birds today, there is always something interesting going on at this spot.
Join my pal Candy Minx and I for the latest episode of The Agency Podcast, called Trounce. Listen here or find it in all the good places. This podcast is about all things arts and culture – and more. I hope you enjoy it!
I’ve also updated The Agency Reading List for those of you who are following.
27th Street 