The Death Whisperer Series

The Death Whisperer Series
The Death Whisperer Series available at https://www.amazon.com/author/dmichaelolive

Monday, September 3, 2012

Dave Matthews & a Controversial wine


Tonight’s review is in honor of my son, Andrew, who is a champ when the chips are down. He, like myself, is a lover of Dave Matthews, so appropriately, I present to you the music of Dave Matthews. He was born January 9, 1967 in Johannesburg, South Africa, the third of four children of parents John and Valerie Matthews. At two years old, Matthews' family moved to Yorktown Heights in Westchester County, New York, where his father, a physicist, started working for IBM. In 1974, the family moved to Cambridge, England, for a year before returning to New York, where in 1977, his father died from lung cancer.

Upon Matthews' graduation from St. Stithians high school in 1985, he was faced with conscription into the South African military. A Quaker and pacifist, Matthews left South Africa and moved to New York in 1986 where he worked for IBM for a short time, then joined his mother in Charlottes-ville, Virginia. In 1994, Matthews' older sister, Anne, who lived in South Africa, was murdered by her husband, who subsequently committed suicide, on or around January 27 of that year. The event had a drastic effect on Matthews' outlook on life and was referenced in a few of his songs such as "Shotgun".

Although Matthews started playing the guitar at the age of 9, it was only in Charlottesville that he started performing publicly. From time to time, local star (and future collaborator) Tim Reynolds invited Dave to join him on stage and another friend, Ross Hoffman, persuaded Matthews to record some of his own songs. From there, the rest is history.

He uses a lot of closed chords with monster hand spans making his songs difficult to play. I hope you enjoy the more than 3 hours of music.


So tonight, I’m going controversial and reviewing a wine that’s bound to have readers wondering what drugs I’ve been taking. Charles Shaw Sauvignon Blanc, alias 3-buck Chuck, will bring the criticism rolling in. Mention it in front of a wine snob and he or she is bound to start panting and holding their hand over their heart while begging you to call for an ambulance. But hey, it’s summer, I need something decent to quaff, and Dave Matthews’ music doesn’t call for Chateaux Lafite Rothschild.

The wine is pale yellow with a bouquet that is sort of reminiscent of a New Zealand Sauv Blanc with aromas of citrus and grapefruit. The palate follows the nose with subtle grapefruit and citrus with a bit of acidity to balance it out. I promise it won’t have your nose hairs falling out like some low priced ghetto wines. It doesn’t taste like poverty, in fact, I rather like it and will go back for more. Hey, at $3.00 a bottle, or less than a bottle of fancy mineral water, how can you go wrong.

Cheers!

1 comment:

Rick Daley said...

My wife and I saw Dave Matthews last summer on his Caravan tour. He puts on an incredible live show. His band is such a dense concentration of talent, they grab you immediately and keep you cheering.

My favorite song of his is Grey Street. It's a sad song, but the imagery in the lyrics is so strongly poetic and effective it gives me goosebumps.