. . . I had nothing immediately to say, often finding myself unable or unwilling to pronounce my favorite anything on short notice — fellow asked me once my favorite poet! Shakespeare, I muttered after a pause, not liking the question at all. He named Blake, about whom I had recently read in Yvor Winters that he was profoundly anti-Christian. This stopped my interlocutor cold, he being profoundly Christian himself while loving Blake. See? you can get in fights over anything if you pay attention.
As for Jacob, standing at his vintage platter-player (!) and stack of vinyls, I finally remembered, yes, my favorite was big-band swing — In the Mood, Begin the Beguine, Night and Day, Frenesi and the like, Betty Grable’s husband Harry James, Glenn M., Eddy Duchin, Artie Shaw, Benny G., even Xavier Cugat, whom I danced the night away to at the Edgewater Beach Beachwalk. We could stroll out the pier on a summer night and look at the moon. Before it got all filled in, you know. And who trademarked “Roomful of Roses“? I heard him too.
As for Jacob and his new place (1821 W Irving), who got me thinking about all this, go there for a cup on your way to the Irving Brown Line stop a few steps away, except it’s on the other side of Irving! So what? Go there anyhow, and order up your coffee and a platter of your favorite music. If you can come up with one.
Blithe Spirit 
sounds delightful, delicious, de-lovely
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