jasoncrane.org

The photo says it all:

“A respected image consultant once said that the average person who wears a bow tie is distrusted by all. What all bow tie wearers know is that an average person would never be wearing a bow tie in the first place.”

– Owen Edwards for Town and Country

Head over to the New York Times site and check out Sarah Vowell’s newest essay, “Radical Love Gets A Holiday.”

There’s a benefit concert for pianist George Cables coming up on Jan. 25 and 26 in NYC. For details, visit Doug Ramsey’s excellent site, Rifftides. And to hear Laurie Pepper talk about her husband Art Pepper’s relationship with George, listen to Laurie’s appearance on The Jazz Session.

As I mentioned yesterday, I just purchased a Merkur “Futur” safety razor from ClassicShaving.com. Today was my first shave with my new razor. For the most part, it was wonderful.

I got a nice lather going with my cup and brush, and then picked up the Futur. Right from the start, you can tell this is an actual tool, not just a disposable piece of plastic. It’s solid metal, with just enough heft to make you feel like you’re doing something real, and very nice balance. It’s pretty, too.

As I started to draw the blade down my neck, I started to think I was doing it incorrectly — it felt like no blade was there at all. As it turned out, that’s what a sharp blade feels like. With the right angle and just enough pressure, the cut is so smooth that you can barely feel it, even when your ear tells you that stubble is being cut.

As a thirtysomething who grew up listening to big band music and who still collects Old Time Radio shows, this shaving experience was right up my alley. Not to mention that I’ve spent the week watching Frank Capra films on DVD each night while I’m here by myself in Albany with my family back in Rochester, so I already feel like I’m living in the 30s and 40s.

I made one mistake, which was to experiment with a different direction of cut on part of my neck. I think the combination of too much pressure and the wrong direction caused some irritation. Otherwise, the shave was great. With a little more practice, I hope to leave the days of plastic razors and ridiculously expensive cartridges behind forever.

If you, like me, are a fan of comics legend Jack Kirby, don’t miss Mark Evanier’s new book. You can pre-order it now at Amazon and save an extra 5%.

By the way, Mark’s popular blog, News From Me, is worth a daily read, too.

John F. Kennedy was inaugurated on this date in 1961. Robert Frost read a poem at the inauguration. He was planning to read a new piece called “Dedication,” but for one reason or another had trouble reading the printed poem. Instead, he recited “The Gift Outright” from memory. Here it is.

The Gift Outright

The land was ours before we were the land’s.
She was our land more than a hundred years
Before we were her people. She was ours
In Massachusetts, in Virginia,
But we were England’s, still colonials,
Possessing what we still were unpossessed by,
Possessed by what we now no more possessed.
Something we were withholding made us weak
Until we found out that it was ourselves
We were withholding from our land of living,
And forthwith found salvation in surrender.
Such as we were we gave ourselves outright
(The deed of gift was many deeds of war)
To the land vaguely realizing westward,
But still unstoried, artless, unenhanced,
Such as she was, such as she would become.

– Robert Frost

My friend Julie White has a great new essay on her blog, My 45th Year. Go read it!

Several years ago, I tried shaving with a shaving mug and brush, plus some Burt’s Bees shaving soap. I used a Gillette Sensor razor, and just didn’t see that big a difference.

For Christmas, Jen bought me some Nutragena Men’s Triple Protect Face Lotion. I decided to take out the mug and brush again. This time, I bought some shaving soap from Herban Cowboy. Even with the modern-day razor, I’ve been enjoying the new feel and the more relaxed, mindful shaving experience.

Then I discovered A Guide To The Gourmet Shaving Experience at the Leisure Guy site. I took his advice and bought a safety razor from ClassicShaving.com. The model I bought — a Merkur “Futur” from Germany — arrived today. I’m going to take my first-ever whack at shaving with a safety razor in the morning. I’m excited, which is a crazy thing to say about shaving.

As you probably know, Al Franken is running for the U.S. Senate in Minnesota. Here are two reasons to support Al:

1. He’s a good guy.
2. The incumbent, Norm Coleman, is not.

Al just launched two TV ads:

If you’d like to throw some cash his way, as I did, visit his site.

As I may have mentioned, I work for UNITE HERE, the hotel workers union. I’ve worked for the union for several years, a fact which is not unknown to my extended family.

Today, I was visiting my grandmother in her nursing home. My mom was there, too. My grandmother had an old photo on the bed with her, and I asked her what it was. Turned out to be a photo of my grandmother with the staff of the — wait for it — hotel at which she worked.

That’s right. My own grandmother worked at the Wendell Hotel in Pittsfield, Mass. She was a switchboard operator for about five years in the late 40s and early 50s. And no one ever mentioned it to me. Oy!

Here’s a picture of my grandmother with the Wendell gang. She’s in the front row, fifth from the right. This photo was taken at a company picnic somewhere in the Berkshires. (Click for a larger version.)

And here’s the Wendell in about 1912:

I did some preliminary research on the hotel, and came up with these:

• A collection of images of the Wendell Hotel throughout the years
• An essay about Park Square in Pittsfield, on which the hotel was located (scroll down for photos of the hotel)

I also discovered this paper (PDF) by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, which has the following note:

March 1926: Pittsfield on the air for the first time in its history when AIEE [American Institute of Electrical Engineers] broadcasts the very first words, “We are broadcasting tonight From the Wendell Hotel, in Pittsfield Mass. at the AIEE’s annual banquet”.

The following is from the book Pathfinder to Greylock Mountain, the Berkshire Hills and Historic Bennington by William Hamilton Phillips, published in 1910:

Crossing the line into Pittsfield on the Berkshire trolley road the first objects of interest are Arrowhead, the house of Herman Mellville, the author, and once the site of an Indian village; the former summer residence of Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, whose ancestor, Jonathan Wendell, was an early settler of the town and from whom the Wendell Hotel in Pittsfield was named.

The Wendell is mentioned again in The Practical Hotel Steward by John Tellman, published in 1913.

If you’re interested in learning more about my union, you can visit UNITE HERE’s Web site.