Either you like licorice you don’t.  There really isn’t much room for discussion.  I think the same holds true for the Royal Wedding with William and Kate.  Either this picture makes you smile:

Or it doesn’t.

I love it and always have liked the pomp and circumstance of a royal wedding.  Back in 1981, just two days after my birthday, Prince Charles and Lady Diana got married.  I can’t tell you exactly why a 13-year-old boy all the way from Deerfield Illinois was so interested in a royal wedding, but I was totally into it.

Two years after the wedding, my parents took me to London.  It was my very first trip overseas and I was sucked into English culture even more.  We stayed at the Goring Hotel, which is the same place Kate Middleton slept last night before her wedding to William today.

There’s something about English culture and royalty I find appealing.  So many people say the Queen and the Royal Family are such a waste of taxpayer money.  I see it differently.  I think of them as cheerleaders or even mascots for the English culture.  The king or queen is there to provide moral support to the country.  It may seem strange because they have nothing in common with the common man, but somehow it works.

It had to be inspiring to the British people when King George VI (Queen Elizabeth’s dad) and his wife stayed while the Germans were bombing London and more specifically Buckingham Palace in World War II.

Even the day to day work of the royals has to be tough.  We’ve all had to go to a dinner party where we didn’t know most of the people and had to make small talk with strangers.  That awkward feeling we have when talking to people we barely know is probably what the royals feel almost every day when in public.  It’s one long cocktail party with strangers.

As much as I enjoyed the marriage between Diana and Charles, it never seemed like they fit perfectly.  It felt like an arranged marriage to me and as we know now, Charles really had another love who he probably should have married in the first place.

However, it really seems like William and Kate “found” each other.  This wasn’t an arranged marriage between royalty.  Kate and William met in an art history class in college and the marriage didn’t happen overnight.  There was even the question whether Kate would want to marry William because of the heavy burden that comes with marrying royalty.

So the wedding my be expensive, but it brought literally billions of people together to watch it.   It appears like William and Kate were relaxed at the ceremony.  At least as relaxed as you can be when EVERYONE is watching.

What a whirlwind week for Royal watchers, what with gowns, strange hats and way too much coverage. ( Of course,  I DID record it for playback, but that’s another story).

ANYWAY, this week’s wedding party photo garnered a lot of excellent captions, so let’s get right to it, starting with Honorable Mentions.       

First up is John C who had 2 great captions, which I could not decide upon:

A bolo tie?  Do you want people to think we’re a family of freaks?

   and

I regret spending the extra $9.99 to have Olan Mills airbrush our wedding photo.

Rick made me laugh out loud with this caption:

Buford, always the inovator may well be the first groom in history to be charged with a hate crime at his own wedding.

Anna’s caption is that all too familiar dilemma:

I’m guessing the ushers had an easy time figuring out who to seat on the bride’s side or the Evil Clown Bishop’s side of the church.

Brian is always good for the random caption:

A nice frame would make this a true heirloom.

And the winner of the tiara, the  Elton John/ Leon Russell CD and a package of English Muffins ( sorry, Jonathan refused to give me the Will and Kate DVD back) is…

TAMMY!!! 

You know, we girls are raised to dream of the handsome prince but usually end up marrying some clown.

Oh, ain’t it the truth.

See ya next week with another creepy photo!

So  today I exercised one of the great advantages of no longer being mayor.  I went grocery shopping in the middle of the day.  It really is great.  No congestion in the aisles, no lines at the check out.  And it allowed me to exercise some of the budget policy analytical skills I developed over the years.

For example, I stood in front of the dairy case for several minutes debating the merits of half and half purchases. On the one hand we had the Flavorite brand for only $1.29, but that product had an expiration date of May 9th. (I checked all of the other 12 or so containers, but none of them had a better date.) On the other hand we had Dean’s, which came in handier packaging and carried an expiration date much deeper into May, but it was 20 cents more.

I debated the pros and cons. First, I dismissed the packaging argument. Was it really worth 20 cents to me to be able to unscrew a cap instead of messing with those old container tab things that never work? No, it was not.

Now, the expiration date issue was a much weightier matter. If I don’t use all the product before it goes bad, well then the 20 cent advantage could go bust.  But how much would I have to consume before we got to the point of actually losing money? Well, that’s easily calculated. A dollar-twenty-nine comes out to 5.56 cents an ounce on a 16 ounce container.  So, if I let about 3.6 ounces go bad my 20 cents savings go with it. The crucial question now becomes: what are the chances that I’d waste that much? If I assume that I consume maybe an ounce a day in my coffee, then it would take 16 days to use the full container. There are only 12 days between now and May 9th and four ounces would be left, so I’d actually lose out by buying the cheaper brand.

Then I had a revelation. Nobody believes those stupid expiration dates anyway. (Except Dianne, who lives by them. But I can get around that by hiding the container in the back of the refrigerator so she doesn’t toss it down the drain at the stroke of midnight as May 8th turns to May 9th.)

I bought the Flavorite half and half. Another significant domestic policy decision handled superbly by the new sheriff in town. I can’t wait to tell Dianne when she gets home.

My co-host Jonathan is giddy with excitement about the royal wedding. Some people think he’s making that up when he oozes with exuberance, or that he’s at least exaggerating for the purposes of our little radio show.

If anything, he is toning it down!

If I’m interested at all in the wedding of William & Kate, it’s from a sociological perspective. I’m fascinated by all the CRAP, I mean souvenirs, you can buy to commemorate the occasion.

And I’m really surprised that even the canine world is getting caught up in the frenzy.

You’ve got to be kidding me. I don’t think any self-respecting pooch would be caught dead in this collar!

Paul Simon will play the Chicago Theatre in Chicago May 17th in support of his first release in five years. Simon co-produced So Beautiful Or So What with Phil Ramone. The new record is a mix of folk, blues, and Afropop with South Indian rhythms. Everyone from Elvis Costello to Rolling Stone have heralded this most recent work as some of his best to date.

Talking about the creative process in a recent interview Simon stated, “I’m generally enthusiastic when I’m working and when I immediately finish I’m enthusiastic. Shortly after that I don’t want to hear it. It’s always been my way. It’s such an intense process for me and the process itself can take so long, and I get into it so completely, that by the time I’ve finished a piece of work I’m really finished with it. I’m done.

What happens then is I don’t do anything for usually a year or so. It’s an awkward, not particularly comfortable period where you think you have no thoughts, no ideas, and that’s when I usually start to think that I’ll never make another record. And then that period passes and there might be a song on the last album I particularly liked, or something about it that especially appealed to me. And that’s when I might start again. With this album it was a song on Surprise, Everything About It Is A Love Song.”

So Beautiful Or So What by Paul Simon

This morning I had my first speaking engagement in Madison after leaving office. It was a little awkward. People kind of look at you like you’re a ghost. But I thought it was important to get right back on the proverbial horse.

I tried to break the ice by telling them that a lot of people have asked me what I’ve been doing in the whole week and a half since I’ve left the mayor’s job.

“I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting,” I said. “And I’ve reached this one, very significant conclusion.” I paused a long moment for effect.

The crowd went silent and many leaned forward to hear the wisdom I had to impart.

“There is more substance to Oprah Winfrey then most people give her credit for.”

As you probably know, I get tons of CD’s every week. I also get new music from a special , for radio stations only, download site.

A few weeks ago, I clicked on a song from a guy from Portland, Maine named Kurt Baker and fell in love with his sound. When I first heard the song ” Don’t Steal My heart Away”, the opening riffs reminded me of Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes. Then he started singing and it reminded me of Joe Jackson! What a combo.

Listen for the comparisions here:

So after I heard this song, I went over to You Tube to see what else I could find from him. I was pleased, but not surprised when I found him singing this Joe Jackson song:

So after I heard these tunes, I emailed him and asked for full copies of his new album. I also told him if he ever comes to Wisconsin, I’d love for him to come into Studio M. He writes back and says Madison is like a second home to him and he comes here seveal times a year. I CAN’T WAIT to meet him.

We are facebook friends and I love the songs he posts.. check out what’s on his ipod!

What’s on Kurt Baker’s iPod:

“Little By Little,” Dusty Springfield

“Midnight Confessions,” The Grass Roots

“Wind Me Up,” Fastball

“So It Goes,” Nick Lowe

“Gimme Little Sign,” Brenton Wood

“Carbona Not Glue,” The Ramones

“Bird Dog,” The Everly Brothers

“Go All the Way,” The Raspberries

“You Still Want Me,” The Kinks

“Oh, Candy,” Cheap Trick

Yeah, I like this guy !

This week’s caption photo is in honor of the Royal Wedding, and, of course, the prizes MUST maintain that theme. So, this week’s winner will receive:

A DVD William and Kate: Planning the Royal Wedding  IF I get it back from Jonathan. : )

 Let’s add a lovely Tiara hair comb, an Elton John/ Leon Russell album    appropriately called The Union 

And as if all this was not fabulous enough, I’ll even throw in a package of English Muffins!!

                                                                                                               The deadline for your caption is Friday at 4 PM!  Good Luck!

Do you like beer? Do you like drinking it, learning about it, exploring new flavors?

Then Madison Craft Beer Week is for you! It goes from April 29-May 8, and features all kinds of beer related tastings and events. I perused the website and these are some of the ones I found to be most compelling.

Learn how to make beer based cocktails, Saturday April 30 at Underground Kitchen. It says they run the gamut from apertif to dessert.  I generally like to have cocktails and beer on completely different days, but this sounds interesting.

Biking and beer! On Sunday May 1 you can go on a New Belgium bike ride, starting at Dexter’s Pub at 1pm. They’ll have a bunch of New Belgium beers on tap and giveaways as well. After you’ve tried a few, pedal over to Ivory Room, Madhatters and Memorial Union for 1 hour stops at each place. And you thought the only thing New Belgium had to do with biking was the Fat Tire logo!

Create some Bedlam! Ale Asylum celebrates the re-release of Bedlam! IPA, and invites you to design a teddy bear to represent your darkest inner bedlam and you get a free pint of this hoppy beer. Starts at 4pm Sunday.

Monty Python’s Holy Grail Night at The Cooper’s Tavern, from 5-11pm Thursday May 5th,. Dress as your favorite character from that wild movie and your first pint is on the house. Best costume gets a $50 gift certificate.

For me, every week is Craft Beer Week, but this week it appears I have some extra reasons to raise a glass. Cheers!

More info on Craft Beer Week here.

I have yet to discover a great deli in Madison. The smell of parmigiano reggiano, salami, and tins of lasagna just pulled from the oven at an Italian deli always makes me think of rural Calabria and family. Hot pastrami with Russian dressing and cole slaw takes me back to the day when I was sleeping on a couch, working two jobs, and loving it in San Diego. My roommate and I frequented a deli right downstairs from our tiny one bedroom apartment downtown. Every morning we would wake up to the smell of freshly baked bread.

My neighborhood deli in Detroit gave you the choice of a new or old pickle. Their old pickles always had more flavor. I want to create some Madison memories with a face full of cold cuts and a cream soda! Where’s the best deli in Madison? Leave a comment below and Jonathan and Kitty will pick one at random May 13th. Then you and I are off for lunch.. and I’m buyin’.