Every day essentials: Charlie Scott
Charlie Scott is a friend of Rose Bredl and one of our favorite male muses- read on about his essentials for the good life (you’re sure to love him as much as we do after you do!)
1. Family. Life is all about celebration, and finding cause to celebrate the small things as often as possible with the people we love. My parents and brother and extended family mean the world to me, and I’ve made my finest memories with them.
2. “A Charlie Brown’s Christmas” Album, Vince Guaraldi. This will sound crazy, but I play this album year round. I love Sinatra and Jobim and Getz and Gilberto, but the jazz on this album is fantastic. It doesn’t hurt that the songs conjure happy childhood memories of Christmastime with the family, either – rum pudding by the fire, squeaky kids caroling, and snow football with the dogs in my grandparents’ front-yard. Truly great music.
3. A good ol’ plaid shirt. Perfect for a hike at the cabin, a late night out, or just lazing around the apartment, an old, beat-up plaid shirt is at once the softest and manliest article of clothing you can own. As my Wisconsin-born dad would surely say, “We’ve been doing it since ’52.”
4. “A Good Year” (the movie) by Ridley Scott. I love this film for a variety of reasons, but mostly because I am a nostalgic romantic who loves his wine. Russell Crowe and Ridley Scott tell the story of an arrogant British trader–struck by the death of his long-lost Uncle–who begrudgingly leaves the old country for France to claim his Uncle’s Provencal estate, and finds himself at home in the vines and in love with the simple pleasures of life (including, of course, the gorgeous and very French Marion Collitard). It is a story of a man coming to terms with what he really wants. What’s not to love?
5. A good book. I used to hate reading. Not because I couldn’t, but because it was never as interesting or fun as a good conversation, chasing girls or a game of catch. Then I found out I was just reading the wrong things. And then I found out it’s not so bad to have some time to myself after all! I recently picked up “Around the World In a Jeep” – an expensive coffee table book – and couldn’t be happier that I cracked it open instead of using it as a coaster. It chronicles the wild journey of two college buddies from Vermont who take off in dad’s jeep on a trip around the world. Starting in the American West, and venturing down through Central and South America, Western and Eastern Europe, etcetera, etcetera, these boys trout fish, hunt, explore and trouble-make for a year and a half straight. Cheapest vacation I’ve ever taken.
6. Cordless Bose i-pod dock. Music is so important to me. I sing and play guitar, and though I can bring my 6-string just about anywhere, it’s not always time for Jack Johnson or John Mayer. My Bose fills any room or outdoor space with top-notch, rich, basy sound. From my old London apartment to my favorite picnic spot in park to the dock at my family’s cabin, the Bose has done me well. Great for hotel rooms too.
7. A bottle of wine. Wine is amazing. It’s many things to many people, but for me it is a story in a bottle – encapsulating all of the science behind the grape and microclimate of it’s cultivation; every little decision the grape-grower and winemaker made along the way; all the history from the time and place of the wine’s production. Think of a bottle from 1945 – German, French or Italian, history didn’t stop while that wine was being produced. Even when you were that wild junior in college, two crusty French guys were arguing over cab sauv and cab franc percentages in a musty basement! Most importantly, and in addition to the history of the juice in the bottle, wine is something to be shared and we should be cracking bottles with the intent of adding to our own stories. I have a collection of a hundred plus corks in my dining room, and I can tell you where and with whom I drank every one of those bottles. Not too bad for a political science major.
8. Chevy Suburban. My ’03 Suburban has just about 215 thousand miles on it. The driver’s seat is broken in just right, it’s American made, and there’s nothing like rollin’ the windows down and turnin’ the country up on a hot summer highway. Jake Owen never sounded better.
