The author Willa Cather, when she mattered, in her best work said lillies that fester smell far worse than weeds. And I remember that, from my days at Dartmouth. Eighteen seventy-three, nineteen forty-seven. Seventeen sixty nine, nineteen eighty six rather. Do the math. 

And I read one page of another of her works, Death Comes for the Archbishop. It takes place in New Mexico. The page I read I think describes an incident where the protagonist hurls a pewter mug at a servant, and kills him, then plots his escape. But he is thinking about The Pueblo Revolt and he claims that in Jemez (to him, and Cather “Jamez”) they ride a priest, drunkenly — and in pajamas, perhaps — until death comes to that guy too. Mules not murals. 

But since I am, for two more weeks, really into basketball, I think first of Archbishop Riordan, probably the most successful prep basketball program in the CCS all time and then Mike Riordan of the Bullets.

Through 2018 Riordan was the top hoops program in the conference and likely the section CCS

And I am off to the races. Stop ball! Stop ball! Stop ball!

And if I was not following these thoughts, not so much stream of consciousness as chasing in vain Curley Neal of the Globetrotters, who I wrote about for the PTT, back in 1984. But if I were not writing I would be reading:

1. Canyon Dreams: A basketball season on the Navajo Nation by Michael Powell (which was suggested by the Navajo trumpet player Delbert Anderson who played Earthwise at Lytton Plaza with Rabiah Kabir, flute; Jonathan Lagunta Bautista tenor Selmer Mark VI actually although I had to ask him if it was a tenor or the weird Alto I found for him on Portola Street in 2019 the 250th anniversary of Portola finding El Palo Alto in 1769; with Brian McCaul on percussion and yours truly Mark Weiss on bongos, ping pong balls and dog-toy.
2. The Adventures of Philip Marlowe “Red Wind” “The Old Acquaintance” “The Orange Dog” CBS Radio circa 1949 donated by Nick Peterson a former Woodside hipster hoopster and Stanford fireman drafted thematically and auspiciously by the Texas Rangers; although these I listen to it on the cd player in PEW ZL — my dad’s old car.
3. Other titles I am not reading today: Adam Johnson, Fortune Smiles especially the bit about the paralyzed woman trying to conceive while listening to Nirvana Come As You Are; Virginia Piedmont — there’s spun a pun — Blues by Pearson; Andy Dolich who I ran into or ran down yesterday at Peet’s near Paly Goodbye, Oakland; a cd — yes, I read cds’ the notes The Levin Brothers with Ali Ryerson Fade to Blue especially apropos of a certain flute playing Stanford student who orders fruit by the truckload; MoJo magazine especially the reviews by Sylvie Simmons; doesn’t quite fit here but I like Ricki Lee Jones at The guild last night but only stayed for about 3 numbers including the last taxi or whatever its called – -I taped it — and Chuck E. Weiss –made me want to commission the Yale A Capella group Dooks to re-mount the whole evening and or Will Bernard the Berkeley guitarist to do likewise. 
4. Back to hoops, I rooted for Riordan against Sacred Heart in the CCS semis two years ago; was appalled that King Wilhite transferred midseason his senior year to a basketball charter school in Las Vegas; only to pop up again at CCSF; I played for the 1981 Gunn Titans that beat Riordan in CCS semis at Maples, thanks to Kent Lockhart; we also beat the week before San Carlos whose plucky leader on the ball was Dave Dempsey son of and father of pro baseball players. I was comped into a sold 0ut NCAA baseball game at Stanford last year or was sold a ticket to an otherwise sold out show by saying “Con Dempsey — 164 Strikeouts to lead PCL” — he also went to Sequoia High of Redwood City which will have me ringing Bret Baird who runs the Roosevelt HOF: I met a Mr. North of Mitty whose not related to Billy North of the A’s but has two sons playing at Milpitas High; last, kudos to the musubi mom at Wilcox and lastly baseball and music not hoops but Satterwhites Sabbag rock combo band cannot be The Vida Blues since Page McConnell got there first which reminds me that I tracked down Pumpsie Green about renaming the Henry Butler Etienne deRocher duo in his honor and he called me back to say “my wife says no dice, Weiss” and that’s the toots. Or the tooth. From this long-o-tooth Feller, bobbing in my stream of something something. Or as the late Chauncey Loomis once said — and I’m sure the tape is out there somewhere — now you are really writing. 

and1: Riordan of the Bullets – -and who calls their team the Bullets? was 6 foot 4 about the same size as Lockhart and went to Providence College was drafted in the 12th round but about 120th pick — similar to Lock – -and scored 6,000 points and garnered one championship ring, for the 1970 Knicks. Lock of course was drafted by the Knicks, round 6, never played NBA played four years pro ball but is an all time great here in Palo Alto, in El Paso and in Melbourne. 

Melvin:

(I turned at random to a page from Dolich and Newhouse and shot the word “Melvin” — goes here)

Cricket: not the dancer at Stanford but the Asian sport which according to the Economist is coming here to The New World:

(picture or art of Cricket the sport goes here –credit line from The Economist)

I’m here all weeks, try the leftover Chinese food that was in the car all day during unseasonal heat spell or the soup from Palo Alto Sol that fell through a wet paper bag — I saw the best next-day meals of my generation destroyed by gravity and chaos….