Detective Kalita - "Mary 16"

I assume that you like Sherlock Holmes, and that, like Holmes, you value a simple, elegant argument above almost anything else. Now, Holmes doesn't need directions to Simplicity and Elegance, but for those of you who haven't been there yet, the quickest route is via Brevity (Ave.). Brevity is a particularly important virtue in the detective game (not Clue, but yes, also in Clue), as well as in the other game favoured by Philip Marlowe (my favoured detective), chess. Marlowe always managed to be knee deep in a chess problem which acted as a perfect metaphor for the case he was investigating. The key, inevitably, was to find a solution in the fewest possible moves, to get the villain before the villain got him: a principle understood at a deep level by Humphrey Bogart, the actor who played Marlowe most memorably, and who was an expert-level chess player. Bogart was one of the few actors who might have actually been able to solve Marlowe's ludicrously difficult chess problems. The problems tended to involve mate in at least seven moves (very long) and almost always required a knight's oblique, deceptively innocuous, attack.

"Mary 16" achieves its sweetness in a roundabout way - through a decidedly sour approach - and takes only 1:19 to do it. A most efficient, detectively communication. [Info]

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Barton Carroll - "Cat on a Bench"

Imagine a cat on a bench. The cat is a yellow Tabbie, the bench is a lightly varnished pine. You're drinking tea.

Now take that same cat and that same bench, but this time, imagine the bench on the cat. You're drinking black coffee.

OK, this time the cat's on top, but the Bench is made of flesh and is a member of Johnny Bench's family. You're laughing, milk is pouring from your nose.

This time, imagine a catbench: half cat, half bench. You love it, you pet it, and you feed it, yet you sit upon it, because that's kind of what it's made for. You just gave up drinking liquids entirely (an overreaction to your erstwhile alcoholism). You're listening to "Cat on a Bench". This, you think, is the life. The catbench meows. [Info]

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My band, The Cay, will be playing on Saturday (the 16th) at Casa, and Wednesday (the 20th) at Le Divan Orange. You're all invited.