Open Mike: Nostalgia

A junk-drawer of various thoughts and updates on some non-photographic topics:

Coffee: My earlier grumpy moaning about my deficient sense of smell turns out to have been...well, wrong. As I've done more and more coffee roasting, I've gradually gotten better at it. The tipping point came when I realized I was roasting everything too dark. That's the legacy of $tarbucks, whose One Big Trick is to roast all its coffees too dark. The byword among home roasters is, the lighter the roast, the more you taste the bean, and the darker the roast, the more you taste the roast. Getting the balance of the two that you prefer is the trick. Starbucks roasts everything dark. With its whole bean coffees, you often see an oily sheen over the whole bean, which results in a lot of roast taste and less of the distinctive flavor of any particular bean. This is what home roasters would consider a French to espresso roast, and accounts for the "burnt" overtones many people complain about with Starbucks coffees. Over-roasting also tends to mask the inherent quality of the bean—which I'm sure has nothing at all to do with why Starbucks does it.

As I'm sure you've noticed (it's a frequent lesson you learn from everything from Photography to Angry Birds), the more you do something, the better you get at it. And sometimes your expertise just evolves, slowly but surely, like the minute hand of an analog clock moves. I haven't changed any of the big things I'm doing or the basic ways I'm doing them, but the coffee I'm making now is just...sorry, overused American word...awesome. It's so good I can hardly believe it sometimes. I look forward to getting up in the morning.

Incidentally, not that I'm down on Starbucks (I'm really not, it's just that I have no further use or need for them), but here's a fun factoid you might not know: the vast majority of the drinks consumed from Starbucks have more sugar in them than the equivalent amount of ice cream. America's Starbucks fetish is really just an extension of our collective sugar craving.

Music: This is fun, and will interest anyone who likes jazz or who likes guitar: There's a brand new Wes Montgomery album out. It's called Echoes of Indiana Avenue, and it consists of long-lost, recently rediscovered tapes made in his native Indianapolis in 1957 and 1958. Here's an info page about it—"how these long lost tapes from the early stage of Montgomery's solo career finally emerged after being on the shelf for more than 50 years is a tale of intrigue that will enthrall collectors and aficionados."

Fun stuff, but the deathless Full House is still the record to have if you have only one Wes Montgomery album.

Golf: I don't play much golf, and I think now that my brief fling with it was largely useful because it has made watching golf so much more fun and satisfying (because, let's face it, most of us best like those sports that we've participated in ourselves and can identify with firsthand). The final round of the Masters is today, and it promises to be dramatic: the leaderboard is crowded, and Mickelson is on a mission. He's playing like—well, a master. It will be deeply disappointing if he can't find his mojo this afternoon.

The Masters is a ceremonially dignified event, but, as John Camp noted, it's also recalcitrantly racist and sexist. Clifford Roberts, who ran the tournament with an iron hand for decades, once said something to the effect that as long as he has anything to say about it all the golfers will be white and all the caddies will be black. As an article in the Times points out, the incursion of whites into the caddying ranks is not entirely a sign of progress for all black people: it has come about as caddying has become more prestigious and lucrative. The article's author talked to some actual black caddies who wouldn't mind having those gigs now.

As for the golfers all being white, still mostly true. The major exception hasn't got it going this week, and isn't a factor. Too bad for the television ratings. But even Tiger is in the post-Tiger era now, it seems.

Nostalgia ain't what it used to be: I do sometimes get nostalgic for the world of the 1950s—I like the photography and the cameras and the jazz—but that world (the world the Masters has been trying to hang on to) really was sexist and racist, and every now and then it's good to take a reality check on that. I asked my mother a number of years ago if she misses those days, and she said, "Oh no. Things are much better now. Women weren't allowed to do anything then."

Take a look at this random find:

Holy crap! I find this shocking, and I don't shock very easily. This was business as usual? Things really have changed. An ad like that would probably trigger boycotts now.

(I found that on Retronaut, after looking at a feature about vintage celebrities using vintage cameras.)

Politics: The election passed through Wisconsin with merciful speed, so I've tentatively decided it's safe to turn my phone back on. (I'll probably have to turn it off again as June draws near, though.) Regarding the outcome, this clip is pretty funny. Nothing like a barnyard metaphor as an occasional relief for all the politigeek/wonk terminology we have to wade through. (The clip violates our no-politics rule, but only for 19 seconds.)

Anniversaries: I've always been ambivalent about anniversaries. They do make sense as occasions to look back, I know, but at the same time they're just arbitrary. Poor Zander didn't even get to celebrate some of his birthdays, because I have a hard time thinking birthdays are special at all. (When you have just one parent, you get that person's quirks and peccadiloes inflicted on you unmoderated.)

But recently I've been reading a little bit about 1912, an even hundred years ago. It was the year the Titanic sank, the year the Qing Dynasty ended and the Republic of China began, the year Japan gave Washington its cherry trees. Explorer Robert Falcon Scott died near the South Pole, and vitamins were discovered. It was also, curiously, the year that all three of the greatest trio in the history of American golf were born: Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, and Byron Nelson.

Sam Snead

Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson, seen here in 1942, were both caddies
as boys at the same Texas club.

I'm reading a good book about the three of them right now, or at least I was before the sale week commenced. I hope to get back to it soon. It's called American Triumvirate, and it's a quick-moving, easy read so far.

Unrelated to that, another cluster of anniversaries that I shouldn't care about but kinda do: 1962 was the year that the MGB, Lotus Elan, and Shelby Cobra all came on to the scene, fifty years ago. (Also the Ferrari GTO, but who cares about Ferraris?)

Everyman's sportscar: the MGB, which debuted in 1962 (not sure which year this one is, though).

The MGB, fifty? Although the last ones didn't roll off the line until 1980, which might be why it seems a bit more recent. It had a long run.

Mike

(P.S. Anybody have a better picture of a bonafide '62 MGB?)

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Original contents copyright 2012 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved.

Featured Comment by cfw: "A biggie in my book—April 20th,2012, the 100 year anniversary of the opening of Fenway Park!"

Featured Comment by B Grace: "The 'B' shown is actually rather recent in terms of MGB history. It has three windshield wipers, safety octagon knock-offs, and the revised post-British Leyland corporate grill surround. If it's in original spec condition it's a 1972 to 1973 model. The early 1974 pre-crash bumper 'B' was practically the same albeit with rubber strips on the Sabrina bumper guards."

Featured Comment by Diane Fields: "Yes, that wasn't '62 MGB. I had one of the first in Pittsburgh area, a white with black interior. And I added blue racing stripes. I traded in my fairly new black with red interior A—mostly to get wind up windows (lol) to counter Pittsburgh winters. And being a quite young professional woman in '62 sucked. Thanks for that ad which made me realize how much better (though not geat) it is now."

Featured Comment by Mike Plews: "1962? That was the year my father had a heart attack and died. He was 61 and I was 12. I inherited his old Argus C3 and I decided to learn how to use it as nobody else in the family had a clue. Pop was a career Army Warrant Officer but loved to take pictures. I remember family slide show nights looking at his Kodachromes from Korea in the living room. Not long after he passed I got into the darkroom and when my first print came up in the tray it completely blew me away. The experience left me so blissed out I got dizzy and fifty years later it still does from time to time."

Comments

[Dana Thomas]

.......Nostalgia for me is remembering those wonderful moments that lasted longer than they did and so they are still here......like the first time I heard Wes live.....thanks Mike....we share a lot and that is enough.

[Will Whitaker]

Re: the Van Heusen ad,
"This was business as usual? Things really have changed."

It's true. Not enough men wear ties to bed anymore.

[ctein]

Dear Mike,

I'll be waiting for the argument that 50's women had it as good as men based on some exceptional corner case or another.

Kind of the way there were folks who said Sammy Davis Jr proved that racism was over.

(In case anyone actually believes that, look up the history of The Rat Pack.)

pax / Ctein

[Doug]

I sure would have boycotted those ties!!

[Kirk Decker]

I got the Aerobie AeroPress Coffee and Espresso Maker you mentioned in one of your earlier coffee posts. It's my favorite coffee maker at the moment. Much easier to clean than a French press. My next car will be the Miata. Do you have an affiliate link for that?

[Tom]

Mike, I'm not sure of the exact year but it's not a '62; likely '66 or newer, but not so new that the ugly shock absorbing bumpers were introduced. The yellow lenses on the turn signal lights did not appear until later than '65.

Tom

Here's a '62
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=1962+mgb+photo&view=detail&id=BB1964E7FD2C3D2C3081BA09FFDD42797264E8A2&first=0

[Hoovenson Haw]

Yes a good light roast between first & second crack is preferred.

Any favorites?

How do you brew your fresh roasted coffee?

[Edd Fuller]

Mike, I agree the Van Heusen ad is very shocking--the very idea if wearing a tie to bed is just . . . unnatural.

[Hugh of Bardfield]

Now I know why I don't like Starbuck's coffee... Or most of the other chains, probably all for the same reason. You learn something new everyday. Thanks Mike!

[Bahi]

I used to think that Starbucks roasted its coffees so dark to please people who drink the cappuccinos and lattes and perhaps add lots of sugars and syrups. Your point about balancing the flavours of the roast and the bean was new to me and interesting (I love coffee but know very little about it). It sounds a little like balancing the inherent properties of the scene itself against those things that come from photographic and development technique, which is something I do think a lot about and is a difficult thing to get right.

[Dana Thomas]

......Mike.....my nostalgia at this moment is remembering hearing Wes live in NYC and how the time never ended as I hear it now. Thank you for your thoughts and the skill you give to keeping us connected on this site.

[james wilson]

Starbucks now makes a Golden Roast just for you.

[Carsten Bockermann]

Mike,

quite a coincidence to see the van Heusen ad here. I saw it for the first time just a couple of days ago in a report about sexist advertising in the German magazine SPIEGEL. Check http://einestages.spiegel.de/static/topicalbumbackground-xxl/24625/denn_zum_kochen_sind_sie_da.html

[Mike Johnston]

Carsten,
Yeah, that's the same feature as the Retronaut one I linked to. No idea who did it first, but my preference is for links in English, since that's TOP's main language and the one most of our readers read.

Mike

[Will Frostmill]

Mike Plews,
That is a fantastic story. Probably the most honest story I've heard in a long time about why someone photographs.

Will

[Steve Jacob]

I perked up with the coffee bit then got to "golf" and fell instantly asleep.. really must try and get to the end! Something about cars. ;)

[John Krumm]

I just made a jazz discovery thanks to my brother, who sent me a CD from my trumpet playing cousin's band, Swoop Unit (I didn't know he had one). "Swingin'Freakout" is the title, and it's good funky jazz for cleaning the house or raking the lawn.

http://www.amazon.com/Swingin-Freakout/dp/B001I2BE5O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1333985530&sr=8-1

[Matt Weber]

Interesting comment from your mom...Back in the '80s I had a serious bout of nostalgia probably due to the crack epidemic which made driving a taxi extremely dangerous, and the other epidemic, AIDS which started taking many of my friends one by one. I asked my mom if things weren't a lot better during the '50's when she was young, and she said: "Yes they were better back then, as long as you were White, Wealthy and Protestant!"

[robert e]

Speaking of MG and 1962, one of the most influential bands in pop music was named after the car and also debuted in 1962: Booker T. and the M.G.s., a.k.a. the house band at Stax Records.

That same year, The Rolling Stones formed, while the Beatles replaced their drummer and recorded their first single. 1962 was a remarkable year in many ways (Algerian independence, first American in space, Vatican II, etc.), and especially so in music and film.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1962

[Roy]

Dunno about ties in bed but what about eyepatches?
Roy

[Blake]

The new "blond" Starbucks coffees aren't bad. Never could take their "burnt" varieties.
I was in Boston for work a few years back and there were Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts on opposite corners of an intersection "downtown". There were about 30 people lined up at Dunkin Donuts (light roast) and about 4 at Starbucks (burnt roast). I wonder which roast people liked better? Or was it the coffee and crappy corporate pastry for $3 or the coffee and crappy corporate pastry for $5 that made the difference?

[Carsten Bockermann]

Yeah, that's the same feature as the Retronaut one I linked to

It's very well possible that SPIEGEL was 'inspired' by the Retronaut piece ;-)

[Zach]

How could you forget the Triumph Spitfire in your list of the Class of '62? Soldiered on as long as the MGB, until the woe that was BMC caught up fully with them both (we'll ignore the RV8 and other latter-day MGB variants that followed).

[Jeff Smith]

Mike,

I question whether the oily sheen on coffee beans indicates over roasted beans. My favorite coffee shop, K. Dees Coffee & Roasting Company, in Lafayette, IN (home of Purdue University) is owned by a gentleman who was a coffee buyer for many years and has his coffee roasted to his specifications. He is a perfectionist when it comes to coffee, won't sell flavored coffee beans because the flavor is there to hide less than great coffee beans. All of his coffee beans have a beautiful oily sheen whether dark or light roast, and all of them taste wonderful.

I have noticed, however, that if I keep the beans too long, the oily sheen disappears.

My favorite is the Tanzania Peaberry. This coffee hooked my 60+ year old wife who had never like coffee. One day she was desperate for a little caffeine, and thought she would add enough sugar and cream to my recently brewed Tanzania Peaberry to make it palatable. She took one taste, determined that it was so good that no sugar or cream was necessary, and has been a coffee drinker every since.

You can order his Killer Beans online through
http://killerbeans.com/site/home.html

Or better yet, stop by K. Dees where you can converse with proprietor, and enjoy the atmosphere along with your coffee.

Mike, my first comment, but I have enjoyed your blog over the years. Thanks.

Jeff Smith

[Graham]

I found a few amusing little synchronicitys in your latest column, the first
one being the MGB that sits for sale in a driveway in Acton, a small town near my home. Not sure of the price, but pretty as it looks I'm sure keeping it on the road would be a labour of love. British electrical systems were not a good match for the extremes of Canadian weather. Secondly, I have been having issues with dark roast beans too. Mostly because much as I love them, they jam up my espresso grinder with their oiliness. I recently went on the hunt for a new grinder in a speciality store in Milton Ontario. I came back not just with a fancy grinder but also a hunking piece of chrome in the form of a Bezzera espresso machine. What the hell, it was time to replace my old Starbucks Barrista anyway. If you think cameras have a learning curve, try spending some time figuring out how to pour a perfect shot.
Next synchronicity, albeit indirect was the advert with the Van Heusen ties. I have a vintage tie collection lovingly harvested over the years from thrift stores. Covering the decades from 1940 to 1960, these things are miniature works of art. I wear them occasionaly and get some interesting looks and comments. I will look for the Wes Montgomery. I've gone totally PC based with my music now, ripping my CD collection into huge WAV files. I use the excellent JRiver Media Centre running on a tiny netbook. The signal outputs via USB to an USB/SPDIF converter which re-clocks and cleans up jitter. From there it goes to an external DAC which has an analogue output via a vintage 1960's 5670 military tube. Final leg is through a integrated amp and out to the speakers. Digital music has come of age and being able to play straight WAV or lossless formats has changed my listening habits. I think of Mp3 as the jpeg of music, and lossless formats are the TIFFs. A listening tip if you can find it. Sammy Davis Jr Sings, Laurindo Almeida plays; a sublime collaboration of singer and guitarist. Highly recommended.

[Tim]

Who said it isn't still a man's world? http://www.care2.com/causes/wisconsin-equal-pay-law-repealed-because-money-is-more-important-for-men.html

[robert e]

Coincidentally, Wes Montgomery's 'Full House'? Released in 1962.

[Damon]

The sexism wasn't the only shocking thing about that tie ad. First, the design - cringeworthy. I don't care what year it was. And second, "sewmanship". Double-cringe. On the plus side, wearing a tie in bed would make that smug SOB easier to strangle.

But anyway, coffee. I'm afraid you'll have to do a whole "Open Mike" post about your coffee roasting. I tried it for awhile but gave it up as a lot of bother and smoke. I do make myself a cappuccino every morning on a Gaggia non-automatic machine, and it's probably the most challenging thing I try to pull off all day. I make a perfect one with an acceptable shot and latte art about 5% of the time. Still, they're all delicious.

[Spencer]

Gotta agree on the "blond" roast from Starbucks. It's my go-to on the occasions when I go to Starbucks (which is usually because I need a place to meet one-on-one with someone for an hour or so -- there's always a Starbucks nearby and they're usually open late, and they don't mind you taking up a table for an hour or so for the price of a cup of coffee.) An added benefit is that it's not always pre-brewed, so they brew me a cup on the spot. But, their "blond" roast is everyone else's "medium".

[Peter]

Great article;I just caught up with it after returning from a trip. An aside about MGB's;I bought a slightly used '72 back in '75 and kept it for over thirty years. First I drove it, then both of my kids drove it during their last years of high school (they really loved that), then I drove for a while until my bad back made it too uncomfortable to get in/out off. Went to my son and finally got sold around six years ago, for more than I paid for it. The '72 had minimal pollution gear (removed) and did not have the ugly bumpers, etc. The interesting part of all this, was in the course of working on the car, I discovered that the manufacturer never threw away parts. My '72 had parts on it from earlier years; a little quirk tha made every work/repair session a bit of a guessing game. Between that and the Lucas electrics, the car was always interesting. Great fun to drive on back roads with the top down.