'We Really Are Inbred'...and Other Family Reunion Revelations: Went to a family reunion yesterday in the amenities room of Manhattan's lovely Parc Vendome (where one of my relatives lives) and learned a lot about the tangled branches of my family tree. The cousin who organized the event brought copies of a geneaology she'd created, which showed that many of my cousins were quite fond of one another. Or, as my mother cheerfully put it, "We really are inbred."

Actually, I don't think the inbreeding was within my direct lineage, at least not as far back as the geneaology goes (which is all the way to 16th-century Spain). But if there's a genetic predisposition to journalism -- and even music criticism -- then, clearly, I've got it.

Before going to the reunion, I already knew that, aside from myself and my Great-Aunt Alma -- a journalist and poet who used to contribute regularly to the Times' "Metropolitan Diary" -- my family included another writer, David Buskin.

Cousin David, who recently had a humorous poem about rock history published in My Generation magazine, is best-known as a writer of music, both solo and (formerly) as half of the contemporary folk duo Buskin & Batteau. His songs have been recorded by a number of well-known singers, including Mary Travers, Roberta Flack, and Tom Rush. During the 1980s and '90s, he also wrote numerous advertising jingles (many of which are still ingrained in my brain) and even won a Clio or two. (Although he is too modest to allow me to name his jingles, I can't stop you from going to ascap.com and looking at his listing in their database. Ain't I a stinker?) Currently, he performs music and comedy in the New York-based trio Modern Man, who won Backstage magazine's Bistro Award for Best Musical Comedy Group.

Another writer in the family, and one whom I met for the first time at the reunion, is David Buskin's brother, John. A writer on e-commerce for the Wall Street Journal and the editor of Dow Jones' intranet, he established his coolness credentials back in 1986, when he co-edited the much-needed New Yorker parody Snooze: The Best of Our Magazine.

Now we get into the really weird part of this family-tree exploration. According to the geneaology information that I received at the reunion, two of my cousins are music critics. Not just that, but British music critics. This I find amazing, since I myself have written extensively for British labels, book publishers, and magazines for many years. One of these cousins is Victor Schonfield, currently a jazz critic, who figured prominently in England's progressive-rock scene in the 1960s. Most fascinating to me, given what I do, is that he is a liner note writer whose work appears on Sun Ra's Outer Spaceways Incorporated, as well as albums by Paul Bley and others.

My other British music-critic cousin is Daniel Snowman, a BBC radio and TV producer. While most of his two-dozen-odd books are on nonmusical topics, he has writen ones on Placido Domingo and the Amadeus Quartet. His latest work, the just-released The Hitler Emigres, about the cultural impact on Britain of refugees from Nazism, sounds fascinating. Unfortunately, right now it's only available in Britain. (The link above will take you to the book's ordering page at Amazon's U.K. Web site.)

I've Got All the Answers...and nothing can make me share them! My friend Caren and I are initiating an exceedingly trivial event this Tuesday, the 28th, which already promises to be so jam-packed that I'm not going to reveal the details here. (Hint: Check the "Open City" section of the Village Voice listings, or the "Around Town" section of Time Out.) Oh, all right, I'll tell you via e-mail, if you drop me a line first: dawn -at- dawneden.com. That way, I'll know to look for you there, because otherwise it looks like I might never find you.

And He Even Refilled My Metrocard: I was at a downtown subway station the other day, all dolled up for the New York Young Republican Club's Spring Celebration ["business casual" -- feh!], when I complimented the token booth clerk on his tie. He smiled.

I've long had a thing for railroad and mass-transit wear. A friend who is a PATH train conductor gave me an old conductor's jacket, which, save for the PATH insigniae, is identical to the New York City bus drivers' jackets of the Ralph Kramden age.

As the clerk processed my transaction, I remarked again on his tie. "Someday, that'll be a collector's item."

He looked me in the eye and held his tie by the base. "You want it?"

"Oh, I couldn't..." I gasped. "I wouldn't want you to get in trouble..."

Before I knew it, he was pushing his tie through the booth's money opening.

"They give me six of these every three years," he shrugged.

I thanked him profusely. The clerk -- who gave his name as Kenny -- didn't ask for anything in return.

My head swimming, I clipped the tie onto my black lace top and hopped the subway train. Filled with that "what a wonderful city" feeling, I eagerly told anyone in the car who would listen that the clerk gave me his tie. I reached the party with an unusually high level of confidence -- which was borne out -- that nobody else would be wearing quite the same outfit.

Torres About Town -- A Dawn Patrol Special Report: "The organizers of last week's speaking events entitled 'One America? Ethnic Conflict in 2002' and 'The Reagan Legacy and its Enduring Impact on the American Psyche,' conspired to provide excuses too tempting to turn down for drinking and staying out late..." So begins The Dawn Patrol's first special report, a photo-laced document of one week in the life of Paul Torres, a journalist who, as loyal Dawn Patrol readers know, is almost never without his reporter's notebook. Paul is The Dawn Patrol's first outside contributor, and I am honored to be able to present his reports on two important political presentations that took place last week and the socializing that followed them. They really make me feel like I was there -- and not just because, in one case, I was. But enough gushing: Just check out Paul's report here, on its own page.

Hear, O Israel: At the Donald & Paula Smith Foundation's excellent "Ethnic Conflict in America" debate last night, Roy Innis made some comment about how great it would be if black students performed as well as Jewish ones.

Although I just read the results of a poll showing that Jewish students do indeed score higher on the SATs than all but one religious group (click here to find out which denomination beat them), I still bristle at "brainy Jew" stereotypes. I turned to my neighbor, Rick Rubinstein, and observed wearily, "They all want to know what is it that makes us achieve."

Rick responded without hesitation. "Our men listen to our women."

The Beat Generation: John Gallo, a musician I knew during the early 1990s, just tracked me down via this site and dropped an e-mail to say hello. I wrote back that I remembered him as well as his band, Third Eye Butterfly. Here's part of his response (warning: very bad pun ahead):

Third Eye Butterfly has been defunct now for a few years. My rhythm section (Charles and Carol) decided to stop using the rhythm method and now have two boys (4 and 1) so things sort of faded away...

A Vine Time to Be Writing Headlines: Worked the copy desk at the newspaper last night and Sunday night. The best headline I wrote during those two days is in today's paper: "Faux Bordeaux Peddler Gets Grape-Big Sentence".

Still Waiting for His Check: That's what Deroy Murdock told me when I complimented him on a recent op-ed, and it wasn't because National Review Online stiffed him. You'll find the explanation in The Dawn Patrol's entry on the May meeting of the Fabiani Society. I would have included it in the original item, but I only just got the URL for the op-ed in question.

Revising History? No, just illustrating it, with photos and captions added this morning to The Dawn Patrol's stories on this month's Fabiani Society shindig and the WFMU Record Fair. If you read them before today, please take another look!

Sunday Will Never Be the Same: I am pleased to announce that tomorrow, for the first time, I will have a table at the world-famous WFMU Record Fair, which I will be sharing with my friend J.R. Taylor. Billed as the "biggest and most diverse music collector's convention on the East Coast," it takes place from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Metropolitan Pavilion, conveniently located on the same block as the recent building explosion: 125 W. 18th St., between 6th and 7th Aves. Admission is $5. If you've never experienced the WFMU Record Fair, I highly recommend it, if only to experience the total sensory overload of vinyl, vinyl everywhere, as well as hard-to-find CDs and all sorts of vintage pop-culture artifacts. There's also beer and Two Boots pizza. Come visit me at booth #E10 and mention The Dawn Patrol for a special Friend of Dawn discount.

The items that I'll be selling include early-'60s issues of Hot Rod magazine (one featuring the "106 mph Corvair"); rare LPs by '60s pop/psych acts such as the Family Tree, the Fox, the Shadows of Knight, and the Kit Kats; lotsa cheap, highly-obscure 45s (mostly '60s, of course); maybe five compact discs; and a video of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore's "Derek & Clive Get the Horn" (which I can't bear to watch). In an effort to make room in my apartment, I'll also bring a generous giveaway pile and probably that strange, highly-outdated contraption known as a Playtape machine [must test it first, though]. Most of the LPs will be priced to move at $3-$5, with the most expensive ones topping out around $15.

Just the Right Sound: Casey Fundaro, editor of Fufkin.com (which recently published parts one and two of my liner notes to PolyGram's never-released 10cc collection), just sent me a wonderful e-mail raving about Rhino's Association Anthology (to which I wrote the liner notes):

If you ever talk to Bill Inglot, tell him that the mastering job he did on this recording made a friend of yours literally cry. Absolutely perfect. The beginning of "Cherish" when the bells are a little off time and the crystal perfect stereo separation. "Everything that Touches You" building up with that beautifully accentuated plate reverb on the backing vox. "Along Comes Mary" with the loud handclaps and the perfect in-the-pocket vocals. Everything is eq'd just right with delicious mids and bass that is just enough, perfectly capturing the amount of bass on the original masters. Boy...I always felt this, but Inglot is a genius and The Association were/are CRIMINALLY underrated.

Knights'n'White Spritzers: Rick Stuart has a nice take on the cranberry controversy:

A Gentleman should not refuse a reasonable request from a Lady.

From the oath of the round table:

"...and always to do ladies, damosels, and gentlewomen succour, upon pain of death."

– Le Morte d'Arthur, Sir Thomas Malory, 1470

Bubble Negative: Just received a pointed e-mail from Roy Currlin (whose Uncle Roy's Beverage Club is "forgotten but not gone"), weighing in on the cranberry controversy:

i wont order a white wine spritzer for no dame!!!!!!