Holiday (I)

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day here in the U.S., which, notwithstanding its official rationale of some business involving Puritan immigrants, is pretty much our national eating holiday. All the usual holiday stress aside, a higher-than-normal proportion of that food is home-cooked, which kind of makes the day a musical occasion, once removed: cooking, when you think about it, is basically composing for the tone-deaf. It's all there—the balance between planning and spontaneity, between creativity and craft, between repertoire and improvisation, the need for an audience, the way you can cover up less-than-ideal raw materials with copious amounts of MSG, &c., &c.

Of course, not everybody is plugged in to a network that includes that kind of food, so, just like last year (mmmm... stuffing—whoops, got distracted there for a second), I'll remind everyone that now is as good a time as any to send a few bucks to organizations that do home-cooking for complete strangers. Here in Boston, you can take your pick from The Greater Boston Food Bank, the Boston Rescue Mission, The Pine Street Inn, the Boston Living Center—those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head. There's Share Our Strength if you want to go national, or you can search at America's Second Harvest for a local food bank. And there's always The Salvation Army, who deserve a kettle full of change just for their motto: "Blood and Fire." Blood and Fire! It's like a three-word Black Sabbath show. Five, ten bucks—admit it, they'll do more with it than you would.

Thus endeth the sermon. Enjoy your holiday—and if you're hitting the mall on Friday, I'd recommend body armor. (Wow, that's one of the craziest home-page index menus I've seen in a while.)