Author Archive: mmelinger
You Lied to Me!
Up until the age of seven, I believed pretty much anything that I read in a magazine, or was told by an older person. I don’t know how I stayed so gullible for so long, but I did. I was just a trusting, sweet, innocent kid. Nothing like the cynical, shuddering wreck of a human …
Mad Men Meanders
Like a lot of people, I fell in love early with Mad Men. I fell hard and fast. And I hung in there even as the show seemed to forget its original premise and wander into areas (Betty in a fat suit! Creepy suicidal British perv!) I had little interest in visiting. But after binge-viewing …
The Death of the Austin Federation of Musicians
Not this year, perhaps. But whether there is still a Local in Austin TX in 2020–seven short years from now–is completely dependent on new members joining. And particularly new members in their 20’s and 30’s, if the local is to have a future and not merely a reprieve. It’s ironic that the self-proclaimed ‘Live Music …
Duke Ellington didn’t write great melodies. So what?
A recent post from the great Ken Peplowski’s Facebook page: “I just finished the Duke Ellington biography by T.T. – all those pages written and read, only to reach the conclusions that (a) Duke Ellington remains an enigma, and (b) he really had no flair for writing melodies…sigh…if he would have ditched the cod musicology …
Here Comes Sonny
The AJW is hitting next week, after a three-month hiatus. This will be the 20th year for the project, so it had to be focused on somebody special. Appropriately enough, that somebody is Sonny Rollins. I won’t pretend it isn’t a bit intimidating, as a tenor saxophone player, to go onstage and play the music …
Young People Making Good
In the last few weeks, I have been seeing news of some of my former students actually making it in the music industry. What are the odds? Not great, but they are doing it. And it gives me great pleasure to ‘toot their horns’ for them. Not because I feel like I’m responsible for their …
One Chicken Feeds Forty
There are certain ingredients that are essential to any ethnic kitchen. If you are Italian, you can’t do without fresh garlic. Mexican? Corn tortillas and cumin. Indian? We got your garam masala, right here. But if it’s a Jewish kitchen: let’s face it, things will come to a complete standstill without the most essential …
I Gave My Love a Cream Cheese Swirl Brownie
Back by popular demand, a recipe absolutely nobody asked for, but it’s one of my favorites and you can thank me later. This is from my pastry chef days at The Homefried Truckstop, so it was road-tested numerous times and proved to be a big seller. Those we didn’t scarf down ourselves, that is. Collective …
Pete Townshend–The Man, The Myth, The Mensch
It seems to be the time of the season for rock star dinosaurs–those who survive, at least–to pick over the bone-yards of their lives and offer up answers to the burning questions all of us flower children have nursed for so many years. Such as, “Just how large is Mick Jagger, really?” First it was …
The Diaspora Dilemna
The problem with raising kids in a cool and groovy place like Austin: when it comes time for them to go forth into the world, they soon figure out the coolest place in Texas is the one they are leaving. That means their parents were cool long before they were. And that realization leads to …
saxsalon 