"The Arts Are Not a Luxury. They Are a Necessity."

Not everyone looks at it that way, but all patrons of the arts do.

I bought a $40 ticket to a Dance NOW! Miami event, and there was an opportunity to add a donation.  So I rounded up to $100.  I don't go to as many of their productions as I used to, because scheduling doesn't always permit it, and they don't have a fixed and reliable season.  So I deal with it this way.  Two days ago, I went to a spectacular event presented by Martha/Mary Concerts, and I donated $100 to them, too.  The ticket was only $25, and they couldn't figure out (and I didn't remember) if I had already paid in advance.  So I paid either $100 or $125.  It was worth it either way.

Today, I got an e-mail from Dance NOW! Miami, essentially thanking me for my donation.  The e-mail was as follows: "Thank you for your donation of $60.00 on February 4, 2025.

As we celebrate our 25th Anniversary Season, Dance NOW! Miami remains committed to inspiring, entertaining, and educating our community through the transformative power of dance. For a quarter of a century, we have thrived, and, despite the current funding challenges, with your support, we are planning a season to remember!

The arts are not a luxury; they are a necessity. They create jobs, drive tourism, foster community engagement, and enrich our lives in immeasurable ways. With your support, we can continue to bring exceptional performances to our stages and provide invaluable opportunities for artists, students and audiences alike. THANK YOU FOR BELIEVING, AS WE DO, IN THE TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF THE ARTS!"

We've probably had this conversation before, but the arts are under siege in Florida. Ronnie DeSantis cut off all grants to all arts, reportedly because he thinks they have something to do with sex (he did not publicly clarify what he thinks something like classical music, for example, has to do with sex).  Why Ronnie, who is married and has children, is terrified of sex is a mystery.  But he appears to be.  The state legislature is now accepting public comments as to whether or not they should try to overpower Ronnie.  Yes, of course I sent them a comment.

In addition, the County said it was going to withdraw support for the arts.  They got such overwhelming blowback that they canceled their plan.

ALL arts organizations meet a maximum of 30% of their budgeted expenses by selling tickets.  The rest is various grants (federal/NEA, state, county, and local municipality, as well as private granting sources like the Knight Foundation, in our area) and donations from people like you and me.  It simply doesn't happen without that.

If you think the arts are a luxury, maybe you don't care.  And if you do think that, you've clearly never been in my house.  As I've been getting older, I've been giving some things away, and I'm willing to sell some that cost too much to walk away from.  My first offerings were to my offspring.  My son declined (at first), saying he doesn't like art.  I have no concept of what this means.  Categorically not liking art is to me like categorically not liking food, or sex (sorry, Ronnie.  Some of us, you know...).  But my son and his girlfriend visited me a month or two ago, and she picked out some things she wanted.  So I gave them to her (and told her that if things didn't work out between her and my son, the things I gave her were hers).  There was just one thing she wanted that I wasn't yet ready to part with.  When the time comes...  It was then my son spotted something he wanted, so he took it.  I had already given my daughter the things she wanted.  One of my friends owns an art gallery, and he himself is an artist.  I had some things for him to try to sell for me, so he came to the house.  He also said he wanted to buy back something I bought from him years ago.  I'm willing, but he hasn't done it yet.  It's not expensive.  I think he might have wanted it for himself.  But he took the things he thought he could sell.  Another of my friends expressed an interest in buying something that cost me too much just to give away.  I said I was willing, but I haven't heard back.  It's an outdoor sculpture, and if you think art isn't a necessity, you should try coming home to that piece every day.  There are few people on earth whom I'd let have that piece, and this friend is one of them.

Or go to concerts, and dance shows, and plays.  See how often you think about them.  Just a "luxury?"  Something you could do without?  You might want to reconsider, if that's what you think.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Karen Peterson Dance company (she always uses some disabled dancers, in wheelchairs, etc: cleverly choreographed and inspired shows) is performing at Sandrell Rivers Theater at 2:00 Saturday afternoon, March 8.  It's close enough, at NW 61st St and 7th Ave, ticket prices are always low, parking is free, and the staff are as friendly as possible.  If you want to go, you can get tickets through the website, at sandrellriverstheater.com, or just buy them when you get there.  They're $20 each. Possibly with a $2 per ticket "convenience"/"facility"/junk fee.  If you want to know if a Karen Peterson show is worth $20, it's worth twice that.  And more if you don't have to pay for parking, and the staff treat you either like beloved friends or royalty.

That night, I'm going to South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center (now known as the Moss Center: mosscenter.org) to see the Spanish Harlem Orchestra at 8:00.  It's $55 (yes, plus $2) for those, but hey, it's my fucking birthday, so what do I care?  And I'll spend the evening with people who have become like good friends.  And I get the same interpersonal deal there that I get at Sandrell Rivers: there's my friend, Eric Fliss, who is the premier impresario in the world, and a super, super nice guy, his wife, Roberta, who calls him an impresario, because I do, and to razz him, Dora, if she's not stuck back in the ticketing room somewhere, Rico, Karin, Tom, various other employees whose names I don't know, but we know each other, and any patrons I know or who are familiar to me because we see each other there a lot.  I hope I see my older friends, Don and Magda, my new friends, Enrique and Lindsey, and it's been an age since I've seen Andi.  I hope she's OK.  It would be great to see her there.  I don't think I'll be at Sandrell Rivers before March 8, but I'll be at SMDCAC twice before then.

Feel free to let me know if you want to join me for either or both.  The Olive Garden is a few blocks away, inexpensive, predictable, reliable, and I always get the same thing.  Sometimes, I see Eric and Roberta there.

The Greatest Movie Ever Made

If you're going to tell me I'm very much the wrong person to form an opinion about this, because I am not a movie-goer, and I just endlessly rewatch the movies I like and own, I already know that.  I know people who can't get enough of movies.  They go to the movies A LOT.  And they like the whole movie theater ("cinema") feel of it.  I have one friend who goes to the movies EVERY Monday.  And when I have said I suppose she must see every movie that comes out, she tells me she's not even close.  Apparently, way more than 52 movies a year come out.  I know people who talk for weeks or months in advance about the Oscars, and they watch every movie that's nominated for an Academy Award.  Let me be very clear: I am not in any way one of those people.

On the radio a couple of weeks ago, I heard discussants talking about Stanley Kubrick's "Dr Stangelove."  I saw it very many years ago, and I mentioned this conversation to my friend who sees a movie every Monday.  So she did me a favor, and she brought over Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey," so we could watch it together.  It was decades after "2001" came out that I decided to watch it, and I forced myself through it, so I could say I watched it.  It was one of the very worst movies I have ever seen: idiotic story, terrible acting, poor directing, caricaturish special effects.  The music was good, but that had nothing to do with the film-makers.  Once had been way more than enough, so I refused to watch it again.  The next time I saw my friend, she had acquired from ebay a copy of "Dr Strangelove," which we watched, and which she gave to me, since she doesn't have a DVD player.  It was a somewhat good movie, enhanced by the fact that Peter Sellers played three very distinct parts, with different accents, and was to play a fourth, but he couldn't pull it all off.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand, which is the title of this post.  The easy answer, which would have spared me from writing this post, is "how should I know?"  But if I had wanted it to be that easy, I wouldn't be doing this.

A year or more ago, I wrote a post which I called "The G.O.A. T."  It was about the best professional basketball player ever, and I said there was sort of no such thing, because basketball is a team sport.  That's less true of movies, because there's a fixed finished product, and a collection of people work hard together to make it whatever they want it to be.  A basketball player can be good with any team, or s/he can be better with one group of teammates, and coaches, and trainers, than with another.  In the old movie days, they used to list a few people (cast, writer, director, and maybe a couple of others).  Today, credits go on for minutes.  The viewer doesn't even know what some of these people (the "grip," etc) do.  But somehow, they're part of the end product.

And there's the question of who decides, and how, what movies, directors, writers, composers, costumers, etc, are best.  Do you want to ask the "experts?"  In 1979, the "Best Actress in a Leading Role" Academy Award went to Sally Field, who was Norma Rae in "Norma Rae."  If you want to know who didn't get that award that year, it was Bette Midler in "The Rose."  As it happens, I've seen both movies.  You show me any actress who was ever better, in anything, than was Bette Midler in "The Rose," and I'll be very curious.  It wasn't even close.  But that's not how "The Academy" voters saw it.  

I said I have a collection of movies (mostly DVDs, and a bunch of videocassettes, too).  I've acquired more over the years, but I don't keep the ones that don't interest me as much.  I should also say I have "requisites" in movies I like.  (I put requisites in quotes, because I don't always honor them.  For example, I don't like violence, horror, too much swearing, and gratuitous sex in movies.  But as it turns out, I love some movies that violate some of those restrictions.  Many years ago, I watched "Snatch" every day for a week, because I love it, even though it's loaded with violence and bad attitude.)

So, what's the best movie ever made?  Even if the question was narrowed to "in my opinion," it would be hard to answer.  Some are commonly talked about, like "Citizen Kane," which didn't do much for me.  There are great classics -- well, more modern classics -- like "Chinatown" and "The Sting."  Fabulous.  But I had gotten myself somewhat comfortable thinking of "Big Fish" as the best movie ever made.  Sure, the animation or engineering of the huge catfish was not as perfect as it could have been, but overall, the movie was so spectacular that I have been comfortable to let it take the top spot.  Amazing story-telling, acting, directing, and whatever else goes into all those credits.  Sort of until... I just rewatched "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri."  I'm captivated by any role Frances McDormand acts (and this one wasn't even Coen Brothers), Woody Harrelson was spectacular, Sam Rockwell was totally obnoxious, in a very engaging way, the directing was as good as it could have been, and every other part of that movie was...I don't know...perfect.  Even with the violence, bad attitude, and swearing.  And Peter Dinklage had a part that was very unusual for him.

I love my old Sherlock Holmes movies (Basil Rathbone, mostly from the '40s), and my new ones (Benedict Cumberbatch, from the '00s), but they all have imperfections.  Except for Basil Rathbone.  He was never imperfect.

If you suggest that "Micmacs" should be up there, I won't argue, assuming you're willing to read subtitles.  The same goes for "Tous Les Matins Du Monde."  "Mrs Henderson Presents?"  Or "Philomena," or anything else with Judi Dench and/or Bob Hoskins and/or probably even Steve Coogan?  All up there.  And "Chinatown," as annoying as I often find Jack Nicholson to be, and "The Sting."  I don't mean for an instant to slight "The Birdcage," "The Big Lebowski," "Butcher Boy," "Farinelli," or probably anything touched by Terry Gilliam.  There are really lots of great movies.

But I'm sticking with "Big Fish" and "Three Billboards..."  If you think there's something better, you can let me know what it is.

Seriously, What Are You Doing With Your Life?

Tonight at SMDCAC, it was the Andrew Collins Trio.  The trio was Andrew Collins, Adam someone-or-other, and James MacKay.  They're from Canada.

As is weirdly true of Canadians, they have a penchant for southern US bluegrass and country music.  They even sing some of it with what approximates southern US accents.  (The Canadian members of "The Band" also had a penchant for southern US bluegrass and country music.  In case you didn't know, Garth Hudson, the last surviving member of "The Band," died last week.)

Andrew, Adam, and James sort of rotated instruments.  Andrew mostly played mandolin, although he also played mandola (a mandolin with a slightly different tuning, and an undetectable, to me, different sizing, which he likened to a viola) and "mandolin cello," which is an eight stringed instrument that looks otherwise like a guitar, and has four pairs of strings, like a mandolin does.  Adam played regular guitar and both the mandolin and the mandola, I think.  I couldn't always keep track of which mandolin-looking instrument he had.  James played upright bass, but also mandolin cello.  Andrew and James sang sometimes, and Adam sang with them on one song.

Andrew and James have been in the same band together for about 13 years.  Adam is newer in this band.

The music was totally captivating.  Andrew wrote some or most of it, although one piece started out with Bach, and another started with Debussy's "Clair de Lune."

And Andrew is also a great talker.  He introduced pieces, told a few jokes, and added some depth to the presentation.

It wouldn't have meant anything to you, but the young woman at my table, sitting with her boyfriend, recognized me from Sandrell Rivers Theater.  I had gone to a couple of "The Moth" events there, and told some stories (if you know what "The Moth" is about).  And another couple I know from SMDCAC and Sandrell Rivers was also there.  So I gave the younger couple my card, in case they want to go to some events with me, or come over for dinner, and I'll see the older couple again soon enough anyway.

Andrew was eager to sell CDs, or some book he had, or a tee shirt he had, so I got two CDs as souvenirs, and because the music was terrific.

Annie Hoffman, who introduced the Andrew Collins Trio, said something about an event tomorrow night, and I didn't have it on my calendar.  But I checked when I got home, and it's Miami City Ballet, which is not of interest.  I only go to Dimensions Dance Theater of Miami and Dance Now! Miami for ballet-based dance.

You really let this stuff get by you, huh?

What Are You Doing With Your Life?!! If You're Not Buddhist, You Understand This One Go-Around Is It.

I'm at South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center (now Dennis C Moss Cultural Arts Center) a lot.  We've talked about this many times.  It's not at all close to here.  The address is 10950 SW 211 St.  I know.  Boy, do I know.

On Friday, January 17, I was there for Cirque Kalabante.  I don't go to circuses that have non-human animals.  I've been to several Cirque Du Soleil shows, and one Circus Smirkus (the latter is in New England).  I would have said no circus is as good as Cirque Du Soleil.  Cirque Kalabante is as good, or possibly slightly better.  Its origins are somewhere in Africa, and I don't know from where all the performers come.  Some clearly had African accents.  The saxophone player had skin paler than mine.  So maybe he's not from Africa.  These people were spectacular.  The drummer, the saxophone player, and the electric bass (guitar) player only did that.  The rest were generally multi-talented.  The acrobatics were unspeakable.  It seemed none of the performers had bones, and all of them were very muscular.  One guy had neither bones nor cartilage.  His ability to contort was unimaginable.  Do it?  I couldn't even keep track of what he was doing.  And he had an amazingly engaging facial expression that left people laughing as much as they were breathless.  The guy who was sort of the MC or ringleader also played hand drums.  There were two women who also did acrobatics.  Another guy did several things, including acrobatics with a very large hoop.  They made pyramids.  They stood on each other three or four people high.  It really was breathtaking, and I felt a wish that it would never end, mixed with a wish that it would end soon, before anyone got hurt.  Which no one did.

Two days later, I was back for Allan Harris, whom I've seen there maybe twice before over the years.  He sings jazz alternating with reciting poetry.  Several of his recitations were Shakespeare, one was Maya Angelou, one Dylan Thomas, and there were others.  This time, he played guitar (great slide) during only one song.  He had a great backing ensemble, and it was different from his prior ones.  He's also a very charming and super friendly guy.  He's very flirtatious with his audience, and the energy is delightful.  He also had a female singer who's from out of town but staying here temporarily, and she was a knockout, singing-wise and in terms of appearance.  And similarly very connected to the audience, and to Harris.

Tonight (Saturday), I was there for Davina and the Vagabonds.  Davina sings and plays piano.  She's loaded with charisma, and charms her audience in a flirtatious way like Allan Harris charms his.  Someone before the show described Davina as being reminiscent, vocally, of Amy Winehouse.  I didn't hear much that put me in mind of Amy Winehouse.  I heard Mae West, Billie Holliday, Bessie Smith, Ella Fitzgerald, Maria Muldaur, Randy Newman, Peter Wolf, a little Janis Joplin, Aretha Franklin, and Gregg Allman.  I thought Davina might be in her 30s until she mentioned something from 20 years ago.  So she's in her 40s.  Her drummer looked to be in his 30s.  Her bass player looked to be in his 40s.  And her trombonist looked to be in his 50s.  Yes, I know, you want to know about her trumpet player.  OK, also looked to be maybe 50s.  OK, so you didn't care about the age.  You wanted to know about gender.  Do you want me to guess?  I'd say male, in transition.  And an excellent trumpet player.  They were all excellent musicians.  Davina said they were off to South Carolina for their next show.  I caught up with her after the show to ask about her group.  They're all her regulars except for the bassist, who's newer to the ensemble.  And he was a fabulous bassist.

These are all shows you don't want to end.  And I didn't see you there.  You missed these spectacular presentations.  Come with me.  I'll pick you up, and we can either just go to the show, or we can stop off for dinner on the way.  You won't be sorry.  mosscenter.org, pick the shows you want to see, and either let me know, so we can get seats together, or just get your own.

Oh, Really!

I drive an electric car (electric vehicle, or EV).  I have to charge the batteries.  An argument against what I'm doing is that the electricity I'm putting into my batteries comes from an electrical network that relies on burning fossil fuels.  And I agree that's true.  I counter with 1) my electric car is much more energy efficient than is a gasoline car, and results in less production of greenhouse gases than would a gas car, and 2) FPL has the choice to produce electricity by some means other than burning gas, oil, or coal.  People who drive gas (internal combustion engine, or ICE) cars don't have a choice.

I also have solar panels on my house.  And the argument against my relying on them, apart from what environmental damage is reportedly done to make the solar panels, which is like the argument about what happens to eventually spent and unrevivable batteries for my EV, is that they don't produce electricity at night, or not as much when it's overcast.  So I'm relying on FPL at those times anyway.  That's true, too, but again, FPL has a choice about how to create electricity.  They can burn stuff that will damage the environment and all the living things that rely on it, or they can find some other way of creating electricity.

(I should also note that I have on order a new EV, and it will have solar panels on it, and reportedly enough to put 45 miles of power per day into the batteries.  Unless I take a long trip -- the car I ordered has a range of "400 miles," which will mean about 200-300 miles -- I'll never plug in to charge the car with electricity.)

So, I got an e-mail a few days ago from FPL.  It let me know FPL was making a surcharge of just over $23 to cover for something or other due to hurricane damage in central and north Florida (but not here), and that my regular monthly bill will be going up for another reason.

After I got the solar panels on my house in the fall of 2019, my monthly bill quickly enough dropped to $10.05 per month, every month, all year.  This was FPL's state-permitted minimum monthly bill.  My net usage -- amount used against amount created -- was negative, in the sense that I created more electricity on a daily or weekly or monthly basis than I used.  As a contrast, my daughter lives in Massachusetts, where they do not allow the electric company to charge a minimum monthly amount.  My daughter and son-in-law have solar panels, as I do, although not as many as I have.  Their electric bill is frequently zero, and they occasionally get a small check from the electric company, which is effectively buying their excess electricity, which it sells to other people.

In 2022, FPL greased enough legislative palms to get permission to triple their minimum monthly bill, so that I was then suddenly paying $30.17 per month.  Every month.  All year.  But now, FPL has raised rates again.

The e-mail I got a few days ago mentioned solar panels, but it was a very ambiguous e-mail, and I had the impression FPL was increasing the bill on people like me, who had solar panels, to punish us for not buying enough electricity from FPL.  I tried to contact them for clarification, but they have constructed a system whereby you can't talk to anyone.  But today, I got another e-mail from FPL.  This e-mail reiterated the current increase -- to just over $41 per month -- and said there'd be another small increase beginning next month.  And this time, they explained why they've decided to pick the pockets of their customers.  They're getting solar panels.

After all this time of avoiding doing the obvious, that will be cleaner and cheaper, and overcharging their customers for the fact that they have steadfastly refused to do what they should do, so they can continue to make a great deal of money, they've decided to modernize.  And we, their customers, have to pay them to do what they could easily afford to do themselves.  Because they bribe the state legislature to direct the PSC to let them take what they want.

Helluva system.  Helluva legislature.  Helluva state.

The Very Sad End to a Magnificent Story

 Jose Luis Rodriguez (Jose Luis "de la Paz") has died.  I'm told he was in his 50s, which is probably about right.

Jose Luis was a breathtaking flamenco guitar player.  It's likely he was the best I've ever heard in person.  He was from Spain, as most of the best are, and he lived in Miami.

I used to see Jose Luis at various venues, and he played with rotating flamenco ensembles.  Ilisa Rosal's Ballet Flamenco La Rosa was one of them.  Siudy Garrido is a local flamenco dancer who might have been Jose Luis' agent or helper for a while.  One of his more common "band mates" was Adolfo Herrera, who is a delightful person and a spectacular percussionist.

Jose Luis' English was labored, but he was friendly and humble.  Talking to him, you would never get a sense of the massive talent he had.  If you listened to him play, your mouth would be agape.

One of my friends who knew Jose Luis well called to tell me he had died.  I knew he had a serious illness, but I didn't realize it was so imminently terminal.  Jose Luis did not know me personally well enough to have contacted me about his condition, but if he had, I would have visited him as much as he might have needed.  He died at home.

The effect of the news of his death was not dramatically different from the news of the death of Francisco Sanchez Gomez (Paco de Lucia), who died suddenly of a heart attack in Mexico in 2014.

There are very many flamenco guitarists.  I have heard a number of them here in Miami.  But none of them was like Jose Luis.  He will be deeply missed.

"Let's Address This," and Other News. On Substack.com.

Whether you call it "Main Stream Media" or "Legacy Media," fewer people are relying on it.  Frankly, it's not trustworthy (if your interest is in knowing what's true and reliable).

I remember when I was younger, and the Miami Herald had a few sections, and was about an inch or more thick.  It's now down to one thin section.  One of my friends who, for whatever reason, still subscribes, uses it for recipes and upcoming events, and occasionally for certain kinds of information.  My friend lives in Coconut Grove, so she's always interested in the goings on there, some of which find their ways into the Herald.  If you remember the frankly weird-looking Herald building east of what is now the Arsht Center, it's gone.  The Herald now occupies a small space somewhere around Doral, has few employees, has been sold by the Knights, and most of its limited and frankly uninteresting content is outsourced.

So, I get my information elsewhere.  I don't watch television, which I wouldn't consider reliable anyway, and I do listen to NPR.  But most of what I expose myself to, and try to rely on, is online.  I have a few sources that I consider very reliable.  Brian Cohen, who likes to go by Brian Tyler Cohen, is pretty reliable, but he's so virulently far left that he sometimes seems to ignore the far left's mistakes, like Biden's decision to run for re-election after he had said repeatedly that he wouldn't do that.  But Cohen is a remarkably smart young man, and I like his presentations, either on his own or in company with Glenn Kirschner, Mark Elias, or Tim Miller.  There's a Scottish young guy whose name I don't know, and his youtube channel is called the "Meidas Touch."  Very engaging and seemingly reliable reporting.  There's another very intelligent young kid who also has a youtube channel, but I don't remember his name.  I stumble across him from time to time.

A lot (most) of my information comes from a variety of accounts on a platform called Substack.  There are some magnificent thinkers and writers on Substack, they tend to do excellent research, and some, for what it might be worth (a lot, depending on the topic) are lawyers.  I have a few favorites, and one of them is Qasim Rashid.  He's a human rights lawyer, Mark Mansour is some other kind of lawyer, and Trygve Hammer is an extremely smart guy and magnificent writer who had been in the armed forces, then taught school (he probably still does) and was running for Congress from ND.  The people of ND didn't have the vision or wisdom to elect him this year.  I hope he'll give them another chance in '26 (after they find out what they did).  One comment I've seen repeatedly in a few places is that this year, Democrats lost.  It won't be long before Republicans come to realize they, too, lost.  I'm guessing that will become painfully obvious fairly soon, and at least Congress will flip in '26.  Anybody can go to Substack.com, and shop around.  You can read almost anything that's posted there.  There are rare accounts you can't read, and many more where you can't comment, unless you "subscribe"/pay.  And it's generally not cheap.  The common charge is $80 per year per account.  Most people don't pay anywhere near that amount for news/information, and couldn't afford to subscribe to several Substack accounts at $80 each.  (Some are $50 per year, and I just now got a 20% off offer, dropping that one to $40, at least for this year).  But still, it's a lot of money when you're accustomed to free news on TV or radio, and much cheaper newspapers.  Of course, it's a vastly higher quality of information/news/opinion, but probably very few people will pay a few or several hundred dollars per year to be able to comment on as many Substack accounts as they like.  My account is free, and some others are, too.

I know more about Qasim Rashid than I do about the rest, because he lets that happen.  Qasim was born in Pakistan, but had his upbringing in this country.  He lives in the midwest, and has no accent other than generic American.  He actually has at least a couple of Substack accounts, one of which he calls "Let's Address This."  He's married, has young'uns, also cares for his parents, has a day job, and I have no idea how he finds the time for his Substack activity, which often enough includes brief replies to readers' comments.  He said in today's post that "Let's Address This" has 80K subscribers, from all 50 states and 139 countries.  I don't know what he charges for his work as a human rights lawyer, but I gather he's making what might be a very generous living writing Substack posts.  (If each of those 80K subscribers, just to "Let's Address This," pays $50 a year, then he's making $4M a year writing them, minus what Substack.com takes.)  They are certainly at or very near the highest quality posts on Substack.  I don't know how to monetize that he's a super nice guy, but he is.  He's Muslim, in the very best way, and years ago, my parents had travelled to some country where they bought two small silk framed Muslim prayer rugs.  None of my parents' other offspring wanted them when my parents died, so I took them, even though I had no wall space for them.  I reached out to Qasim about them, he asked me to send photographs, he declared them "absolutely beautiful," and he agreed to accept them as a gift.  It turns out his brother-in-law (his wife's brother) lives in south Florida, so he came to my house to pick them up.  He'll deliver them next time those families are together.

In any event, today's post from Qasim contains three requests.  He requested that readers (the public) support small and local businesses, subscribe to "Let's Address This" (he's a lawyer; what can I say?  Today, I saw a 27 year old patient who's a paralegal and wants to go to law school, and couldn't stop talking about money, of which he seemed to think there could never be too much.  I just couldn't get him to take his foot off that gas.), and uplift marginalized communities.

I want to be straightforward, and acknowledge that Substack is left wing.  But since the majority of Americans are also left wing, and since I consider the left wing to be correct and socially decent, I don't consider this a problem.  Right wingers only win because they lie and cheat.  If right wingers tell the public there isn't room for immigrants, and immigrants are criminals, eat other people's pets, and bring in fentanyl, none of which is true, you can get people to vote right.  Or, if you can suppress enough voting among people who are more likely to vote left, or gerrymander the hell out of states, so you can minimize the left wing voters, you can win.  Or if you tell the public that tax money that is intended to support the country will somehow "trickle down" if given to people who already have vastly more than they can spend, is somehow a good idea.  If you're honest and fair, you'll never win with a platform that doesn't appeal to most Americans.

So do check out Substack.com, and see what you think.  If you don't feel a need to comment (but you still read everyone else's comments), almost all of it is free.  I will tell you that Substack is getting so prevalent that I have heard NPR moderators mention it more than once.  (No, I doubt very, very much that anyone on Fox News mentioned it.)

The Olivas

I'm very glad I got solar panels on my house.  My bill dropped to the then minimum monthly bill of $10.05 per month, every month, all year, until the Florida legislature allowed the Public "Service" Commission (PSC) to allow FPL to triple the minimum monthly bill to $30.17 per month.  That's what I pay every month, all year.  From time to time, I get calls from some company that wants to help me lower my electric bill (by getting solar panels, which I already have), and they start out asking if I pay at least $150 per month to FPL.  Boy, are bills like that in the rearview mirror.

I don't remember why I was talking to Mike and Melanie Oliva about my thought to get solar panels, but they already have them.  They live on the corner of 6th Avenue and 119th St, and Mike suggested the contractor who had installed their panels.  Apparently, that contractor did a good job.  So I reached out to Goldin Solar, and that's how I got my panels.  It was in 2019.  They did a great job, and have been very responsive when I have had questions, or once when I had a problem.  Which they fixed under warranty.  I highly recommend them.  And the minimum monthly bill is still low enough that I'm going to pay myself back for the panels sooner than I thought I would.  Also, the presence of those panels increases the value of my house much more than the cost of the panels.  Goldin Solar sells battery walls, too, to store the excess electricity I create every day, but those batteries are Tesla.  I won't do business with them again, and they're a certain kind of battery that you can't use every day.  Doing that deteriorates them.  I'm still going to get the minimum monthly bill from FPL/the PSC/the Florida legislature (which is paid off by FPL to allow a minimum monthly bill, which then triples) anyway, but it would be nice if I didn't get a minimum bill, and if I could store the excess electricity my solar panels make every day, so I could use it every night.  After I got solar panels, my daughter and son-in-law, who live in Massachusetts, got them, too.  Massachusetts doesn't allow a minimum monthly bill, and my daughter and son-in-law often get a monthly bill of $0, and sometimes a small check by Eversource, the electric company up there.

So I very much appreciate the referral Mike Oliva gave me.  I'm friendly with the Olivas, and I had dinner there one night.  In addition to anything else, Mike is an excellent cook.  Mike and Melanie restrict to a vegan diet, as I do, so there was an added pleasure of joining them for dinner.

Melanie paints.  She does gorgeous oil paintings.  My daughter liked the one I had bought from Melanie -- it was a mostly red painting, and it featured a bee -- so I gave that one to my daughter, and I bought a different one from Melanie.  I don't know where Melanie sells her art, other than occasionally to people like me, but she has a wonderful talent, and I wouldn't be surprised if she made a living as a painter/artist.

The Olivas are relatively quiet and unassuming neighbors.  It's possible you don't know them.  But they're wonderful neighbors to have, and they're a sort of classic asset to the Village.

Ah, It's Give Miami Day

You have loads of choices.  I encourage you to support as many as appeal to you.

Just now, I got a text message I was asked to communicate.  Here it is:

"I want to share something close to my heart (True):  'Musimelange,' an immersive, multi-sensory concert series featuring world class musicians. (True) These events beautifully blend live classical (almost always) music or jazz (It was flamenco once) with gastronomy in a stage-less environment, creating a true sense of belonging. (True)

"They are also preparing concerts designed especially for 'kids' to spark their love for music. (News to me)

"This week, we're part of 'Give Miami Day' to bring our 2025 season to life.  Your support will help us continue creating these magical (True) evenings and inspiring the next generation.  (If you have kids, this might be a great way to get them redirected from lesser forms of music)

"Donate here: https://www.givemiamiday.org/team/Musimelange (If you just go to www.givemiamiday, you'll find all of the choices, including this one.  Although if you go to this link, and you donate, you'll be offered a route to other organizations.  So you'll get to the same place either way.)

"Even a $25 donation will help us reach our goal -- The Miami Foundation will give us an additional $25 for each donation, up to $1000!  We need 40 donations to unlock the full $1000.  Every contribution makes a difference!

"Thank you! (And then, there are some musical notes and a heart icon)"

I don't donate to musimelange on Give Miami Day, because I give them a larger donation separately.  Although I don't want them to miss out on the extra $1000, so I'll contact them, and ask if they'd rather get my donation today.  I most certainly hope they get more than 40 donations.  Ideally, it would be closer to 100 or more.  It's a very unique experience, and they don't have a lot of patrons.  I have written about them several or more times, and they shouldn't be missed.  It's all the top shelf wine you can drink, all the gourmet food you can eat, a spectacular concert (I have never been to one that was not spectacular), all the dessert you want, experienced in an intimate setting, and in the company of delightful and interesting people.  They should charge more, but they don't.  It's been $95 per evening, or $300 for the four-evening series.  They start in January, and the last evening is in about April.

I encourage you to donate to musimelange, and any of the other organizations that appeal to you, and really, please, do yourselves a huge favor, and attend musimelange's evenings.  They are the most unique cultural experiences you'll ever have.