It’s like Christmas Eve.

Marquette area bar, Hegarty’s Pub, poured its last stout last night making it the final bar of my youth to be shot in the back of the head by the Man at Marquette.  #75 will now consist of me touring a local Dairy Queen where I will try to picture the spot where Matt passed out while standing up and managed to stay upright for thirty minutes before waking up.  

#2 in progress. We had a great dinner at Bastide in Beverly Hills last night.  Bastide is one of a handful of five star restaurants in L.A and it didn’t disappoint.  The ambiance was top notch and the food was very good. But compared to the other five star restaurant we tried (lucques) it didn’t hold up.  

#37 in progress. The S.Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2010 were announced today. Denmark’s Noma was ranked number #1.  I’ll have the following eight U.S. restaurants to choose from. Alinea in Chicago, Illinois; Daniel, Per Se, Le Bernardin, Momofuku Ssäm Bar, wd~50 and Eleven Madison Park in New York; and The French Laundry in Yountville, California.

#36 in progress. My men’s line will be named after my namesake.

#9 Complete. We have officially expanded into the world of manufacturing.

Netflixed An Education. Love movies that inspire me to write. 

Netflixed Where the Wild Things Are. A decent movie, but it couldn’t touch the book.

Making Brit and her friend eat oysters. They like.

#20 in progress. Sun. Lounge chair. Kindle. Pina Colada. Pool. No Complaints.

Found some warm weather.

Looks like a nice day to watch a softball game, but it’s damn cold. We’re going to chase the Sun soon.

#67 in progress. Sonia and I watched the Laker game at Rocco’s last night and struck up a conversation with a man from Nashville.  Turns out he was a songwriter and owned a successful music studio.  He even worked with Ann Marie Boskovich, so small world.  He offered to give Devin an internship and invited us to the lake when we make it out to Nashville to visit one of our clients.  This is what #67 is all about.

Brit’s team won their quarter-final game and made it to the final four of State Cup where they lost to a gold team 3-1.  

Nothing like a good nap after a day at the ballpark.

Dad treated Sonia, Brit, and me to the Dodgers-Giants game.  The best pitcher in baseball blanked the Dodgers and all is good in the world. 

Brit’s team reached another goal and advanced to the quarter finals of State Cup with a 3-2 win.  

Dining clients is the best excuse to enjoy one of our favorite restaurants in town.  Once again, Mastros in Beverly Hills exceeded expectations.

Congrats to my sister for an amazing fight.  CT scan showed no sign of cancer.

Netflixed Defiance.  Meh. 

#1 and #9 in progress.  L.A. Fashion Insider is now incorporated.

Spent the weekend days in Lancaster to watch Brit compete in State Cup. Her team finished first in their bracket with a 2-0-1 record. That means I’ll be missing the Dodgers/Giants game next Saturday to watch her in round two.

#2 in progress.  Enjoyed a fantastic birthday dinner at Lucques on Melrose with my dad, Georgeanne and Sonia.  Ranked the #1 restaurant in L.A. by Los Angeles Magazine, Lucques managed to live up to the hype.  The roasted chicken with chickpea puree and slow cooked egg was one of the best meals I’ve had. 

My birthday present from Sonia. The Mac Daddy of carry on luggage.

Pre birthday celebration at the W in Hollywood.  

Four weeks later and the back is still whack, so I went to yoga today.  Yoga is hard.

Something to work for.

#68 Done.

Songs have a way of marking time like few things can.  When I was putting together this list, Billy Joel’s “Uptown Girl” was playing on the radio which immediately brought me back to 1983.  My brother Sean and I would tune into MTV every morning before school to catch the video of the short ugly guy singing to his super model wife.  Because I hadn’t made a mix tape since High School, I thought it would be fun to compile one for this list.  As I journeyed back in time I was surprised to learn two things.  The first was that my most memorable songs are not among my most favorite songs, and in some cases barely tolerable.  The second surprise was that no song was important enough for me to remember until I was ten and stopped being important all together when I was about twenty eight.  I guess that’s why they say never trust anyone over thirty.  The music stops.

The Kenwood Playlist:

1. “Karma Chameleon” by Boy George and the Culture Club. 

2. “Every Breath You Take” by The Police

3. “Thriller” by Michael Jackson

Why: The first three songs are grouped together because the albums they were a part of were the first ones I ever owned.  My parents gave me a “ghetto blaster” and those three cassette tapes for my tenth birthday.  My Mom left it up to the clerk at K-Mart to chose these seminal albums that helped shape me as I listened to them over and over again.  Easy to see why I didn’t become a longshoreman. 

4. “Uptown Girl” by Billy Joel (see above)

5. “Peter Piper” by Run DMC 

Why: My Dad returned home from a business trip in 1986 with Run DMC’s monumental album, Raising Hell.  I was the first kid on the block to have it and milked the fame it brought me.

6. “Never Tear Us Apart” by INXS.

Why: The song that marked my first puppy love in the summer between 8th and 9th grade.  Ironically, it was a love that was easy to tear apart. 

7. “Three Little Birds” by Bob Marley.

Why: It was 1988 and I was a 15 year old kid spending the summer in Gustavus, Alaska.  I got a job as a “housekeeper” at the Glacier Bay Lodge.  I use the term “housekeeper” lightly because I wasn’t very good at what I did.  In fact, I often didn’t change the sheets between guests. Sorry, I was 15.  Anyway, it was one of those summers that will be forever etched in my mind.  The song was my commute tune.  My grandmother would wake me at 4am, feed me and my grandfather (also Kenwood) with a bowl of oatmeal, and send us off to work.  Still dark, I kickstarted the motorcycle, embedded the sony walkman headphones into my ears and headed off into the Alaskan wilderness.  I would often pass moose or bears along the ten mile dirt road singing “Three Little Birds” in my best Rastafarian voice.

8. “Stairway to Heaven” by Led Zeppelin.

Why: One of my best friends was the first to get a car in High School, so it was always packed with kids.  Every day after school, five of us would pile into his Volkswagen Rabbit (surprisingly nobody made fun of him for that) and cranked up the Zeppelin. When I think Zeppelin, I think freedom.

9. “Fuck The Police” by NWA

Why: The following April I became of driving age and chose Dr. Dre, Ice Cube and Easy E to announce my arrival.  On the rare occasion that I hear their songs I am instantly transported to those days when I’d drive through wine country with my windows open and “Fuck the Police” blasting through the speakers.  If I’m able to complete number 37, I think I’ll roll up to The French Laundry with NWA thumping on the sound system.

10. “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana.

Why: The birth of grunge. Whether you like this song or not, if you are my age, this is the song of your era. 

11. “The Sky is Crying” by Stevie Ray Vaughn

Why: As a senior in High School, my best friend Waldow introduced me to this amazing guitar player.  It was as if I had been listening to fluff my whole life.  Looking back, I can’t think of my senior year without thinking of Stevie.

12. “Wild World” by Cat Stevens

Why: FFP at Marquette University. It was a culture shock that catapulted me into a different life.  I remember standing at the window in my room at McCormick Hall on 15th and Wisconsin Ave in Milwaukee. Cat Stevens was belting out “Wild World” as I watched the homeless and drunk college kids interact on the streets below.  At the time I wondered what the Hell I had gotten myself into.  But it wasn’t long before I knew I was home.

13. “Boot Scootin’ Boogie” by Brooks and Dunn.

Why: In one of my most embarrassing periods, I had a country phase my freshman year of college.  Rather than room with my good friends, I chose to stay at East Hall because it was the only building on campus with ESPN.  Turns out it was also the building that had Country Music Television.  Unfortunately for me, most of the kids at East Hall were there for the Country Music Television and not ESPN.  And seeing how I was outnumbered, I came to “appreciate” country music for a half second.  Not only did I listen to “Boot Scootin’ Boogie”, I actually became quite good at singing it.  I don’t think there was a week that didn’t go by over the next three years that one of my buddies didn’t request a rendition.

14. “Purple Haze” by Jimi Hendrex.

Why: The summer between freshman and sophomore year in Roslyn, Washington with my buddy Waldow.  It was the summer of hard labor.  When we weren’t roofing in 100 degree weather, we were jack hammering sidewalk.  After eight hours of brain concussing work, Waldow and I would commute back to my Aunt Ona’s house listening to Jimi.  It was also the summer of grunge and we had a front row seat to the beginnings of Sound Garden, Alice in Chains & Pearl Jam.

15. “Jeremy” by Pearl Jam.

Why: I returned to Marquette in the fall of 92’ and told all of my friends about the grunge movement.  As fate would have it, Pearl Jam booked a show at the tiny Varsity Theatre at Marquette.  Unfortunately, I was a horrible salesman because I was unable to persuade any of my friends to join me for the concert.  However, these were the same friends that I was unable to convince to join me to witness Robin Yount’s 3000th hit.  Seriously, Matt, what else did you have to do? Getting back to the Pearl Jam concert, I ended up going with my “country” friends from East Hall and it turned out to be the best concert I have ever attended.  

16. “In A Daydream” by The Freddie Jones Band.

Why: My buddy Packy and I followed this semi famous Chicago band throughout Milwaukee for a couple of years.  I remember catching a cab from McCormick Hall to a bar on the far East side of Milwaukee and watching a show.  A dozen songs and beers later, we stepped out into the frigid night (9 degrees) and decided it would be cheaper to walk home.  We could have died that night.  Instead, we warmed up in various bars on the way home.  I specifically remember line dancing that night.

17. “Satellite” by Dave Matthews Band.

Why: I am a Dave Matthews fan to this day. I continue to go to his concerts despite the cloud of pot that permeates the air.  This is the song that never stopped when I lived with Packy and Dave my sophomore year.

18. “Crash”  Dave Matthews

Why: The last song of my playlist is still one of my favorites.  The year is 1998 and I met a girl named, Sonia. It’s our song.

March Recap.

First and foremost, Marquette exceeded my expectations by earning an invitation to the NCAA tournament and then broke my heart as usual.  Warriors aside, March was the first full month of the year regarding this list and I only managed to knock off one goal.  At this rate I won’t even bat .500 by year’s end.  Nevertheless, we’re climbing the ladder and having fun. 

What’s done.

#63. Bought some candy from my brother, Sean.  Glad to see him break through and follow his dream.

What’s In Progress.

#1. We’re still growing, but it’s getting tougher. Still, the sky’s the limit.  We also hired a couple of employees.

#2. Experienced six new L.A. eateries which included, Bouchon, The Edison, Delphine, Thompson Hotel, Downtown Taco Truck & The Lazy Ox Canteen. The highlight was escargot at Bouchon.  

#15. Read Freakonomics. Good, not great.

Back to April.

Learned how to make one of my favorite cocktails. This one was imagined by Julian Cox at Rivera Restaurant.  How could you not like a drink with a beef jerky garnish?

P.S. wish Butler would have pulled it out.

INGREDIENTS:
½ ounce fresh lemon juice
¾ ounce agave nectar
½ ounce ginger syrup
1 teaspoon chipotle puree
1 strip red bell pepper
4 lime wedges
2 ounces tequila or mezcal
1 small piece beef jerky

#2 in progress.  Sonia and I had lunch at Gordon Ramsey’s Boxwood Cafe at the London Hotel in Hollywood.  The food was so good that we didn’t feel the 7.2 earthquake that struck in Baja.

Ah, Opening Day.  All is right in the world again.  George’s F. Will’s used the opportunity to write a little bit about the unwritten rules of baseball.

Plumbing the etiquette of baseball

By George F. Will
Sunday, April 4, 2010; A15 

The 2006 summit that preserved the peace occurred in a laundry room in the Metrodome in Minneapolis after the Twins beat the Red Sox 8-1. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire, with center fielder Torii Hunter in tow, met with Red Sox manager Terry Francona to assure him that Hunter had not intentionally sinned.

With the Twins seven runs ahead in the bottom of the eighth, with two outs and no one on and a 3-0 count, Hunter had swung hard at a pitch. According to baseball’s common law, he should not have swung at all.

This episode is recounted in Jason Turbow’s “The Baseball Codes” about the game’s unwritten rules. Just as the common law derives from ancient precedents – judges’ decisions – rather than statutes, baseball’s codes are the game’s distilled mores. Their unchanged purpose is to show respect for opponents and the game.

In baseball, as in the remainder of life, the most important rules are unwritten. But not unenforced.

With the Red Sox down seven runs with three outs remaining, it was, according to the codes, time to “play soft.” With the count 3-0, Hunter knew a fastball strike was coming from a struggling pitcher whose job was just to end the mismatch. Over 162 games, every team is going to get drubbed, so every team favors an ethic that tells when to stop stealing bases, when to not tag at third and try to score on a medium-deep fly ball, when not to bunt a runner from first to second.

But, Turbow notes, the codes require judgments conditioned by contingencies. Although the team on top late in a lopsided game does not stop trying to hit, it stops pressing to manufacture runs. But how big a lead is “big enough”? Well, how bad is the leading team’s bullpen? Does the losing team score runs in bunches? Where is the game being played? In launching pads such as Wrigley Field and Fenway Park? In the thin air of Denver’s Coors Field?

The codes are frequently enforced from the pitcher’s mound. When a fastball hits a batter’s ribs, he is reminded to stop peeking to see where – inside or outside – the catcher is preparing to receive the pitch. In 1946, Dodger Hugh Casey threw at Cardinals shortstop Marty Marion while Marion was standing out of the batter’s box – but closer to it than Casey thought proper – in order to time Casey’s warm-up pitches.

Traditionally, baseball punishes preening. In a society increasingly tolerant of exhibitionism, it is splendid when a hitter is knocked down because in his last at-bat he lingered at the plate to admire his home run. But it was, Turbow suggests, proper for the Cardinals’ Albert Pujols, after hitting a home run, to flip his bat high in the air to show up Pirates pitcher Oliver Perez, who earlier in the game had waved his arms to celebrate getting Pujols out.

The consensus was that the codes were not violated when, during Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak in 1941, with one out in the bottom of the eighth and a Yankee runner on first and DiMaggio, who was hitless, on deck, Tommy Henrich bunted just to avoid a double play and assure DiMaggio another chance to extend the streak. Which he did.

In the codes, as in law generally, dogmatism can be dumb. The rule is that late in a no-hitter, the first hit must not be a bunt. So the Padres’ Ben Davis was denounced for his eighth-inning bunt that broke up Curt Schilling’s perfect game. But the score was 2-0; the bunt brought to the plate the potential tying run.

Cheating by pitchers often operates under a “don’t ask, don’t tell” code. When George Steinbrenner demanded during a game that Yankees manager Lou Piniella protest that Don Sutton of the Angels was scuffing the ball, Piniella said, “The guy [Tommy John] who taught Don Sutton everything he knows about cheating is the guy pitching for us tonight.” When a reporter asked Gaylord Perry’s 5-year-old daughter if her father threw a spitball, she replied, “It’s a hard slider.”

When the Yankees’ Deion (“Neon Deion”) Sanders barely moved toward first after popping up to short, White Sox catcher Carlton Fisk, 42, a keeper of the codes, screamed: “Run the [expletive] ball out, you piece of [expletive] – that’s not the way we do things up here!” Were Fisk and his standards out of date? As has been said, standards are always out of date – that is why we call them standards.

#10 in progress.  Saw Hot Tub Time Machine…  Wish I hadn’t.

For the first time in years I did not wait in line to buy Apple’s newest product.  However, if they actually had the version I wanted I’d be there. Instead, I’ve pre-ordered the 3g, 64 gig iPad that should be available by the end of the month.

Lakers versus Jazz. Former Warrior, Wesley Mathews scored a bunch, but Lakers still won.

#2 in progress.  Had dinner at the Library Bar downtown LA. Same owners and food as Laurel Tavern, so it’s a bit of a cheat.  The burger was just as good though.  Sonia got the chorizo sliders, so at least we tried something new.