Tony Fenwick once introduced me to a fraternity brother calling me “an all-around jeweler” and at first I was taken aback; I thought it was some kind of coded ethnic slur. But I decided it was a variation on the Dartmouth vernacular, a variation of “stones’ or “ballsy” or somesuch, something somewhat macho and male. Maybe a “jeweler” had a lot of stones, a variety not just the size or what not. It’s kinda weird that I remember this.

Tony for example at various times played football, basketball and crew for Dartmouth, got a 48 on his LSATs and is a family man here in town and partner in a firm but not the one his dad founded, to his credit.

Anyhow, long and odd introduction to posting a short video by Antonio White about Sidney Mobell the retired famous jeweler in SF who donated some cool stuff to the Smithsonian, but news to me — and hence now in or on Plastic Alto — was also or is also a songwriter of considerable renown. Here he apparently wrote a song for Adlai Stevenson, bless them both. (Reminds me of visiting Carter Library with my dad and Scott Rafshoon and Scott singing along to a 1976 Carter campaign song….)

I found Mobell because I was writing above about Journey; there is a column in a Jewish pub that declares that Neil Schon of Journey is not a Jew. The next item is about Mobell.

I must of heard about Mobell in Herb Caen. Also, I met he and his wife one night at the SF Ballet; my parents at least for one season had seats adjacent to the Mobells.

Happy Passover to the Mobells. He did a famous Monopoly board game set; maybe he could also do a bejeweled sedar set.