1. Over the last few days, while working out, I listened to Chicago: Live at Carnegie Hall. I'm ecstatic that I gave this album another listen all these fifty some odd years later after dismissing it when I was a teen.
I got to thinking about live albums from my high school years. All in all, I avoided them with one scintillating exception: Rare Earth: Live in Concert. I played that album repeatedly in high school and today I dialed in up on Spotify and listened again while I worked out.
I loved it again today. I got to thinking that, in a way I'd never thought about until today, that this album was a gateway to my future enjoyment of the Grateful Dead's recordings live on tapes and their Europe '72 album. I listened to that album, thanks to Jeff Harrison, for the first time in late December of 1987 in Jay's apartment in San Francisco. I would go to my first Grateful Dead show on 12-31-87 and Jeff was tutoring me in the history and the sounds of the Grateful Dead to help me prepare to go to the New Year's Eve show.
I didn't think about it then, but now, having listened to Rare Earth's long jams on their live album -- especially their nearly twenty-five minute wide open jam version of "Get Ready" -- I realized that what I loved about Rare Earth might have been in a different pew from the Grateful Dead, but it was in the same church.
Next up? I'll be seeing what I think over fifty years after the fact of Three Dog Night's live album, recorded at the Los Angeles Forum.
2. Maybe it was thinking about my entree into the music of the Grateful Dead in 1987 and the years following that made me suddenly have a hankering for a vegetable and tofu stir fry with brown rice. I was single and had moved into a basement apartment in Eugene in the late fall of 1984 and I went from being casually committed to cooking for myself to making it a nearly everyday effort. I was especially devoted to vegetarian cooking -- it was fun, less expensive, and much easier on the tiny kitchen I had.
I cooked and ate a lot of tofu from about 1985 forward and today I went back to those days. I baked cubes of tofu and then added the cubes to a stir fry of white onion, red pepper, zucchini, mushrooms, and cherry tomatoes, seasoning it all with black pepper and fresh basil. I also cooked a pot of brown rice and, as I prepared this food, I felt some of the excitement I experienced 30-35 years ago when I was determined to become an independent cook, not rely on anyone else to cook my food, and not to dine out very often.
Debbie and I loved this stir fry and if I can keep my wits about me and remember to do it, I think I'll whip one of these up every one or two weeks!
3. Those two weeks of illness threw some of my routines out of whack. I'd say I'm almost fully recovered and I'm getting back to longer workout sessions and back to the hydration schedule I was on before. It's hard to describe just how much I'm enjoying the return of my energy and a renewed sense of physical and mental vitality.
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