As a parent you can discover and even rediscover wonderful, often simple enjoyments through the perspective of a toddler. The Washington Post’s experiment where they set up virtuoso violinist Joshua Bell as a busker in a subway station reveals that “Every single time a child walked past, he or she tried to stop and watch. And every single time, a parent scooted the kid away.” It was morning commute time and the parents can’t be faulted for rushing their kids off to school. But it’s a reminder to take your children’s lead sometimes. They don’t have the same filters and conditioned responses that you do. (thanks Steve!)
The San Francisco branch of Cody’s Books will go the way of many bookstores and close its doors on April 20th. Situated in a high profile shopping area, with the Apple Store and Border’s Books nearby, plus a Barneys under construction, the store was losing $70,000 a month. Andrew Ross, president of Cody’s, took a huge risk in opening the store 20 months ago, mortgaging his house to do so. A long-lived Berkeley location on Telegraph Ave closed a year ago. But the Cody’s on Fourth Street in Berkeley is still doing well, so all is not yet lost.
Christie’s auctioned off the Strad I mentioned on Monday for $2,728,000 (including commission). Bidder Ric Heinl would not name the new owner but Heinl is from Canada so it may be going up north. Let it out to be played!
$16,000 at the new Ritz-Carlton in Tokyo will buy you a Diamonds-Are-Forever Martini which comes with a one-carat Bulgari diamond and free ring setting. It won’t, however, buy you a night in the Presidential Suite. For that you need $20,000.
Dewey the cat, a long-time resident of the library in Spencer, Iowa, will be immortalized in a book that garnered a $1.25 million advance for its authors. Librarian Vicki Myron will pen the book along with Bret Witter. Grand Central Publishing trumped a planned auction for the book deal by putting in the huge bid. Editor Karen Kosztolnyik told the N.Y. Times: “You can’t underestimate the market out there for people who love animals.” They’re hoping this will be as big as “Marley & Me” which has sold 1.85 million in hardcover. Dewey unfortunately passed away in November, about 19 years after he was found in the library book drop.
Biologist Jana Johnson is restoring the Palos Verdes blue butterfly population, one pupa at a time. She has a crop of 720 this year, split between two captive breeding locations in Southern California. Only about 200 Palos Verdes blues exist in the wild today, but that’s up from 50 in 2003. Johnson coaxes butterflies out of their pupae casings, plays them inspirational music (such as “Defying Gravity” from the musical “Wicked”), and feeds them honey water and Fierce Melon Gatorade (scientifically proven to be preferred by the Miami blue butterfly). Eventually she hopes to have enough of a population to start establishing multiple new colonies in the great outdoors.
Our toddler sits on a couple of phone books (taped together no less!) at the dinner table, so I thought this booster seat styled as the yellow pages was hilarious. Since they don’t have the Space Needle on them I’m not sure our son would actually sit on them. As he often points out, his booster seat has the Space Needle on both sides. I doubt he’ll ever have a need to use a phone book for its intended purpose.
It’s a normal day in kindergarten at Starr King Elementary in San Francisco. The kids have circle time, identify shapes and colors, practice writing, and sing the “clean up” song. Seven months ago these students entered the classroom for the first time and could not understand a word their teacher was saying. She refused to speak English, sticking only to Mandarin, as frustrating as it was to everyone. But today they are happily learning characters instead of letters, singing Mandarin versions of popular kiddie songs, and watching Chinese videos on rainy days. Starr King’s language-immersion program had a few initial hurdles to overcome. The hope was to start with an even mix of Mandarin and English speakers. Instead the two classes were filled entirely with English speakers. One teacher still needed to be hired when school began. The Chronicle has been visiting with the class regularly since its inception. Most recently it visited with one of four African American students recruited into the program.
Christie’s in New York is auctioning off a Stradivarius violin today and, the N.Y. Times realized, violinists who attended the public viewing last week actually had the unique opportunity to play this prized instrument. They first had to pass muster with Kerry Keane, overseer of Christie’s musical instruments in New York or Benjamin Hebbert from Christie’s London office. No one was rejected, though Hebbert wished he had turned down a few of the bad players. Hebbert also admitted to checking for “the telltale bruise under the jaw” that violinists often have. (I’ve never heard it referred to as a bruise. Those of us in impolite musician circles call it “the violin hickey”.) The Strad, named the “Solomon, Ex-Lambert” after two previous owners, has an auction estimate of $1 million to $1.5 million. Christie’s sold ‘The Hammer’ Strad last year for over $3.5 million. Let’s hope it goes to someone who will play it or lend it.
Martha Stewart has filed to trademark Katonah, the name of her current hometown, for use on her company’s products. The Katonah Village Improvement Society isn’t liking this one bit and is making plans to file a formal opposition with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. A lawyer for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia has cited Nantucket Nectars and Philadelphia cream cheese as examples for placenames used as trademarks without negative consequences for the communities. The chocolate chip cookies Stewart brought to a recent neighborhood meeting apparently didn’t further her cause.