My friends will tell you I am a man of few words, that, despite these lines I hunt-and- peck bi-monthly, I’m an otherwise uncommunicative person. Preferring silence to chatter - my own included – I’m distrustful of language, so easily misconstrued and misused. I truly think it better to remain quiet and be thought a fool, than to speakand remove all doubt, and I’ve heard enough opinions and disgruntlements in my forty-seven years to keep mine to myself.

As I see it, the world is a single thing, but to engage with it, we need to divide it into parts. Here lies the inherent violence of language: with each word, we designate a split, and things become this and not that. None of this, of course, is true, but as a construct, albeit a necessary one, it is nothing to hang even your least favorite hat on. In an effort to be one with the world, I stay quiet and keep things whole.

Thelonious Monk was known for listening to conversations without participating, and after a long silence, usually exasperated, he’d serve up a single sentence that would negate the entire discussion, unravel all the logic and expose the folly. Needless to say, I want more Monks. My refuge is music and art, plants and animals; my dear little Arlot is a dog of no words.

Daniel is away the rest of the week, ice-fishing in the Sierras, so it’ll be like a silent retreat here at Oakland Yard, with just me, and maybe some Brian Eno. Drop in if you want to liven things up a little. Or bring along a monk and remain silent. We’ll besampling red wines from California and Portugal for this rainy weekend, and while my esteemed colleagues, Jessie and Meredith, are hardly what I would call yammerers, they’ll be happy to answer questions, make recommendations, andlisten to your stories, while I sneak around and quietly stock wine.
 

TONIGHT: Thursday Night Flights: ITALIAN reds and whites. Nebbiolo, Ruché, Negroamaro, Arneis, Garganega & Favorita. Flights $12 from 5-9 & wines by the glass until 9pm.

SATURDAY 5/18: CALIFORNIA REDS: A sampling of some of our favorite local treasures. $15 tasting flights of new arrivals and staff selections from 2-6 and wines by the glass until 9pm.

SUNDAY 5/19: PORTUGUESE REDS: Dry reds from Bairrada, the Douro Valley and the Alentejo. Flights $15 from 2-6 with wines by the glass until 8pm.

Enjoy the silence,

Max