Recommended Reading

Fellow wine blogger David McDuff occasionally does a feature where he highlights several wine blogs that he feels are distinctive and worth reading. In fact this blog was featured in his west coast edition (thanks again, David). It is in that spirit that I wanted to share a few of my friends' blogs that I hope you will enjoy. Though they are mostly not wine related, they deal with topics that I know many of you enjoy - bicycles and liberal politics foremost amongst them.

Unearthed (appears on the Huffington Post)
Once a week my good friend and former bandmate Brendan DeMelle, along with Robert Kennedy Jr, report on news not covered, or merely given short shrift, in the mainstream media. One of this week's stories describes how Karl Rove failed to appear under subpoena to testify before the Judicial Committee regarding the firing of 6 US attorneys in 2006. According to Rove, "People talk about me a lot, and they don't see me very often." If you're critical of the press and can deal with reading sobering reports about the crazy shenanigans of certain politicians, lobbyists and corporations, then you ought to read this one weekly.

Stewart Bike Trip: Odessa or Bust!
Matt (aka Mateo) Stewart is one crazy guy. One crazy, smart, adventurous guy. One crazy, smart, adventurous guy going on an eastern european bike trip with his old man. The motives as I understand them are (in no particular order): exploring family roots, spending some quality time with his father and hopefully getting a book deal.

K&L Blog
OK, so I am sneaking in one wine blog and it happens to be on my employer's website. What can I say, I know where my bread is buttered, na mean? All kidding aside, we have recently started to post new content and I think it only fair to promote it here, as I re-post a few of my more accessible Old World Old School posts and mention this blog on the K&L site. Recently, my co-worker and friend David Driscoll wrote a fun profile of a terrific Bay Area Italian wine importer named Oliver McCrum, someone whose wines I have written about multiple times on these pages.

The Magnes Zionist
According to this blog's author, alias Jerry Haber, The Magnes Zionist represents 'self criticism from an Israeli, American and Orthodox Jewish perspective.' In other words, don't expect simplification of facts and the type of blind defense for Israel's actions that one often comes across, even in so-called liberal circles. Do expect an informed and interesting perspective from a brilliant philosopher and moralist, who, along with his family, has divided his time between the US and Israel for over thirty years now.

I do hope that you check the posts on some or all of these blogs. Hopefully they will add some variety to your weekly web reading and maybe you will have even found a new favorite.

Stay tuned for the Friday youtube....