keith.robertson@aig.com – Page 36

Week in Review – March 3, 2019

Last week I left you with my Oscar picks. How did you do with your guesses? Here are my results – 71% success rate and one of my better years. I was pleased to see “Free Solo” – an excellent documentary on the first free climb of El Capitan in Yosemite win. I enjoyed the movie during my month off as one of my Monday Movie Matinee excursions. Green Book winning Best Picture, while not my pick, was a pleasant surprise. I enjoyed this movie a lot and wasn’t able to make it any more than 20 minutes into Roma. I should have gone with my preference rather than trying to predict the way the Academy would vote.

Best Picture: Roma

Best Actor: Rami Malek in Bohemian Rhapsody

Best Actress: Glenn Close in The Wife

Best Supporting Actor: Mahershalla Ali in Green Book

Best Supporting Actress: Regina King in If Beale Street Could Talk

Best Director: Alfonso Cuaron for Roma

Best Song: The Shallow from A Star is Born

Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga stole the show with their musical performance:

Diana spent most of the week in Boston for a client visit. It was very cold there and we know that McD really, really doesn’t like the cold wintry weather. Fortunately she had some colleagues with her to scrape off the rental car and get it all warmed up before she joined.

Back in Austin, the guest bedroom mattress, desk chair, and bar stools were all delivered on Monday. I wrestled the boxes up to the apartment and assembled the chair and stools – they look good in position. The good news is that the trash room for recycled boxes is right outside our door.

Waking up early on Tuesday, I tried the gym downstairs. I wasn’t sure how many gung ho exercisers would be there in the morning. I had the place to myself until shortly after 6 am, when several folks started to show up. I’m guessing they set their alarms for 6 am and then head straight to the gym.

My boss had a dinner recommendation from his Uber driver and so my friend Issac and I joined him at Lin Dim Sum. The food was very creative and tasty. They are known for soup dumplings but I didn’t think I’d be able to consume those without making a mess – particularly with chopsticks. We sat at the bar and I watched a couple of girls very skillfully manage an order. We shared a number of dishes and they were all very good. I’m looking forward to seeing what Diana thinks of this West 6th Street restaurant.

Vinod, our friend from AIG, gave me a ride back to DFW airport on Thursday afternoon. We timed the drive to arrive just as Diana was returning from Boston and we were able to drive Penelope home from the airport together. I laughed as Vinod and I passed the Vonlane bus half way into our drive – I had been considering the big comfortable bus chair as compared to the sporty seat in Vinod’s BMW. We took the Fort Worth branch of Interstate 35 and I was able to check out the building at Gearhart where I first worked in Texas (back in 1987). It was fun to see what has become of all the lunch places that we used to frequent there. The Rig, a burger and steak restaurant, seemed to be a Mexican place. Nothing else had changed too much and the Gearhart building was occupied by another oil related business.

Diana cooked a very tasty dinner of zucchini noodles with beef and pesto sauce on Friday night and we enjoyed a lazy night at home by the fireplace.

Will spent his Saturday off-roading in his souped up Durango close to Hollister, CA. I love his face when you zoom in – do you think he’s having fun?

We met Steve and Grace, the couple who got engaged recently, for dinner at Sugar Bacon in downtown McKinney. We thought it was just going to be the four of us to listen to one of Steve’s friends providing the music, but there two other couples (Brian, Evelyn, Jeremy, and Diane) who also joined. Brian provided some unexpected entertainment when he asked to take over as the musician so that he could serenade Evelyn. I had ribs and have several left over for dinner tonight. They were very well cooked and tasty.

After dinner, we migrated down to the jazz martini lounge upstairs from Eclair bistro and enjoyed the Joey Love band until around 11:30pm – a bit too late for us old folks. Our friends Robert and Ronita joined to listen to the music. It was dark and loud and so I didn’t get a good video of Joey Love as he played a nicely varied set of blues and classic rock music. Here he is doing the Allman’s Midnight Rider at another venue:

I’ve almost finished reading “Educated” by Tara Westover. This book is very well reviewed, is one of Barack Obama’s favourite books, and made Bill Gates’ holiday reading list. I had high expectations and was disappointed with the first 100 pages or so as they seemed dry and with too many inconsequential details. After that, I became very invested in Tara’s journey to gain an education. When the Holocaust was mentioned in a BYU college history class, she raised her hand because she didn’t know what it was. She hadn’t been in a classroom until the age of seventeen. Her religious fanactic father was dubious of public education, believing it was the way the government brainwashes its citizens. Her mother was not at all diligent with homeschooling and Tara had to ultimately teach herself to gain the necessary score on the ACT to attend BYU. She eventually earns a PhD from Cambridge. The strength of Westover and the sacrifices she makes are phenomenal. This book really underscores the value and power of an education, something so many of us take for granted. I highly recommend this book and ask you to be patient in the first section as the middle and conclusion are worth it.

I stumbled on to a 2018 album from Steve Forbert that I missed last year. I love the sound of his voice – quite unique:

Brandi Carlile impressed me on the Joni Mitchell 75th birthday concert when she carried Kris Kristofferson. We watched her Austin City Limits performance this morning while reading and I was even more impressed by her songwriting and musicianship:

Chaka Khan was another pleasant surprise at the Joni 75 concert. She has a new album out this week. I don’t love it but this song has some interesting things going on:

And here’s one from the Sons of Anarchy soundtrack by Curtis Stigers. I had no idea it was him singing the theme song until this week.

Week in Review – February 24, 2019

Austin Move-In Week is upon us!

We made the drive down from McKinney to Austin in about 4 hours on Monday morning and picked up the keys to our new apartment in a building called “The Catherine”. This is a 19 story facility on the south side of the Colorado river in downtown Austin. Our unit is on the 14th floor corner (left hand side of the picture) and looks out over downtown and the river.

Here are pictures of the view from the 19th floor resident bar and of the pool area. We haven’t had a chance to try either yet.

A nice feature of the Catherine is the 24 hour concierge service in the fancy lobby area. The guys manning the desk will accept deliveries for you, let guests up to visit if approved, let you back into the apartment if you lock yourself out (hmm – who did that?), and generally handle everything.

This service was much appreciated as the first of many deliveries showed up shortly after our arrival – our new TV. We hauled the things we had packed into Diana’s car up to the apartment and then walked across the parking lot to check into the hotel. In the early evening, we walked to the famous Continental Club on South Congress avenue. The Peterson Brothers play there every Monday at 6:30pm. I covered the details on this excellent band a month or so ago so won’t go into too much detail. Diana really enjoyed the positive energy and interaction between the brothers. She just came back to the apartment as I’m writing this to report that she had been chatting with a musician in the elevator (there was music in the Sky Room bar on Sunday afternoon). She asked him about his favorite music venue in Austin and he replied with the Continental Club and mentioned that he had been watching the Peterson Brothers since they were very young kids. Here’s a short video of the performance:

We headed to Swift’s Attic for some dinner and had another delicious meal. We’re really enjoying being able to walk to such excellent local restaurants.

All deliveries on Tuesday happened before the estimated windows. The couch and bed were delivered well before expected and then the cable/internet technician was also way ahead of schedule. Thanks to Diana for handling the furniture while I was oblivious at the hotel gym. By the end of the day the apartment was almost ready to go. One thing missing was Diana’s desk chair but she chose to “think outside the box”.

We had an early dinner at the hotel bar and then had planned a run to Target to pick up a number of things we needed for the apartment – trash baskets, laundry baskets, laundry detergent, waters, brush and pan, pillows etc etc. Unfortunately, the Target we selected was tiny and designed for students grabbing a few things to go – with no parking and tiny shopping carts. We got a few essentials and gave up.

Here’s Alicia’s contribution to the apartment and my belated Christmas present – a Keurig 2.0 – so that I’m all ready to go with coffee in the morning. Thanks for the great gift Alicia!

For Wednesday lunch, I tried a new food truck that I had noticed on the drive to work – Sarah’s Mediterranean was excellent, even though they had only been open for 3 days.

A real Target visit happened on Wednesday night and we were officially into the apartment to spend the first night. We’re very happy with the place we chose. Here are some pictures of the views from our balconies:

Our friend Vinod, who’s working with me in Austin now, met us at Shady Grove for dinner on Thursday. He worked with both of us at AIG and Diana hadn’t seen him in 3 years. It was great to catch up on family and life in general over a delicious dinner. Vinod is vegetarian and enjoys the veggie plate at this restaurant – and it doesn’t have mushrooms (one of the few veggies that he won’t touch). He’s one of the smartest guys we know and has an endless amount of energy.

On Friday evening, we walked across the 1st avenue bridge to Peche (French for “sin”, if I could find the acute accent feature) for dinner. This turned out to be an excellent French restaurant/absinthe bar. We loved our drinks and meals. Diana tried a Manhattan with fig foam and loved it. The steak tartare and charcuterie platter were some of the best we’ve had. Our entree of braised short ribs over mashed potatoes and mushrooms was also delicious.

We made a stop at Dumont’s Down Low (next door to Peche) for a nightcap – good drinks but annoying music. According to the doorman, the best music is on Thursday night.

Saturday started with workouts – our chance to try out the new gym – all good with the elliptical machine passing Diana’s requirements. We walked across to Second Bar and Kitchen for a late lunch and had an early night in. There was a lovely sunset view from the balcony on Saturday night.

Sunday started with a beautiful sunrise view from the master bedroom. Diana went down for a workout while I read my book for a while – I’m way behind on my reading for the week.

We enjoyed a delicious brunch at Odd Duck on South Lamar. Quail and crispy chicken dishes were both very good.

It was a gorgeous afternoon on Sunday and we enjoyed a walk down South Congress for a coffee at Jo’s – just missing the live music on their patio. Lots of folks were out enjoying the day. By contrast, my friend Greg in Minnesota was ploughing a route across the lake to his ice fishing camp after a blizzard.

It’s been a pretty hectic week and I haven’t done much reading and don’t have much new music to report on. So, I’ll finish with my Oscar picks, just before the broadcast starts:

Best Picture: Roma

Best Actor: Rami Malek in Bohemian Rhapsody

Best Actress: Glenn Close in The Wife

Best Supporting Actor: Mahershalla Ali in Green Book

Best Supporting Actress: Regina King in If Beale Street Could Talk

Best Director: Alfonso Courian for Roma

Best Song: The Shallow from A Star is Born

Week in Review – February 17, 2019

I was a bit nervous about my first trip to New York in a few months on Tuesday morning – the weather forecast called for snow, freezing rain and ice pellets. Diana dropped me off at the airport in plenty of time, and sure enough, the flight was cancelled. It turned out that every other flight was cancelled to ease traffic in to La Guardia with the adverse weather conditions. I was able to get on the next flight and arrived only 30 mins later than planned.

A documentary, “RBG”, about the life of the Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg helped pass the time on the flight.

I enjoyed a section covering how Ginsberg’s husband promoted her strongly for the court vacancy during the Clinton administration. Clinton describes his interview with her, which quickly turned to a deep discussion on various legal matters, as sealing the deal very quickly – “Within 15 minutes I was confident that she was the right choice”. I also enjoyed the discussion on her relationship with Antonin Scalia, the most right leaning justice on the court and as such her philosophical opposite. They seemed to find a way to become close friends despite their differences. Ginsberg is indeed a legal giant and made huge contributions to the advancement of equal rights for all under the law.

Vince, a good friend from AIG, and his daughter, Alex, joined me for dinner and drinks on Tuesday evening. We started with a “smoking sipper” at the InterContinental hotel bar – one of our favourites, and then braved the rain and slush for a short walk to Bar Centrale, a speakeasy style place close by.

Bar Centrale is popular with celebrities looking to escape the hustle and bustle of Times Square and the theater district. We were interested to see Anderson Cooper, the CNN news lead, a couple of booths down from us.

It was very nice to catch up with Vince and to hear about his new job as CTO of insurance company QBE. I miss our time together in New York catching jazz performances and enjoying meals together.

Wednesday took me to 10 Hudson Yards, the office of BCG Digital Ventures – a company we are in partnership with to stand up a new digital business. The view from the 46th floor office down the Hudson river was amazing. I enjoyed experiencing the modern, hip office that I imagine is commonplace in internet

companies like Google and Facebook – complete with a full espresso bar and all kinds of snacks and drinks. Most of the folks working with us on this project are based in Sydney and Diana is promoting the need to visit their home office pretty strongly. She really misses Sydney and would love to visit all her friends there.

As I was enjoying all the accoutrements of the modern office, I was entertained to find AIG featured in the crossword puzzle.

BCG hosted us at a New York Nicks basketball game on Tuesday night. My nephew, Struan, would be jealous as he’s a huge basketball player and fan. I’m not that interested in basketball these days but enjoyed the experience in the iconic Madison Square Garden very much. Can you spot Madison Square (actually round) in the foreground of the Empire State Building in this picture from the office?

The flight home on Thursday was smooth and uneventful. I watched the movie “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”, and was very impressed by Melissa McCarthy’s performance. She plays Lee Israel, a biographer who has fallen on hard times and makes money by forging letters from famous literary figures – Noel Coward, Dorothy Parker and the like. This is quite different than the typical comedic performances that McCarthy is known for, and a pleasant change. I saw her interviewed on CBS Sunday morning today and she talked about visiting bookstores each weekend to pick up a physical book rather than an ebook – in the course of a week she climbed significantly in my estimation. During the movie I heard an excellent trumpet song and further investigation revealed a Chet Baker song that I’ll include in the musical section later in the blog.

I arrived home around 2:30 in the afternoon and was just heading out to pick up something for Saint Valentine’s dinner when Diana arrived in the garage. She had teased me with a 6pm arrival at home so that she could surprise me, and had already been to the store to pick up dinner. What a nice surprise!

We exchanged gifts and enjoyed a nice Valentine’s dinner at home. I loved Diana’s gift – a hand painted cheese board with part of the melody from “True Companion” – our wedding dance. I wanted to include a picture here

but it’s already packed for Austin and I can’t remember where it is. My gift was a book of my blog entries from last year and we laughed when we compared it to the book from a couple of years ago – much fatter. Apparently I have a lot more to say about our activities these days. Dinner of sea bass, green beans, and eggplant was delicious – thanks D!

I was very proud of the card I found – a couple of octopi (second in our animal affinity to penguins).

Owners of Lucia and Micellaio enjoy a dinner at home

We headed to downtown Dallas on Saturday afternoon in preparation for a concert at the Kessler. We checked into the Canvas hotel (formerly the Nylo) and then drove over to Oak Cliff. I had a quick browse through the Wild Detectives store, and picked up a book which seems promising based on the first few pages. Then we enjoyed a cocktail and delicious chicken liver mousse and salumi at Macellaio (Italian for butcher). This is a new tiny, 55 seat restaurant from the owners of Lucia (our favourite Italian restaurant in the Dallas area) which specializes in salumi: sliced, cured meats and sausages – right up D alley.

From Macellaio we drove over to the Kessler for the Mark Broussard

concert. We saw an excellent show at the same venue from Broussard last year. I thought it was around May but Diana was correct that it was almost exactly a year ago. This time around they didn’t offer cocktail tables downstairs (standing only) and so we had seats in the wrap around balcony upstairs. We claimed our seats and then enjoyed a yummy burger at PhD (across the street from the Kessler) before the show. Can you tell how cold and gloomy the weather is from the sky behind the Kessler?

Broussard started out very strongly with some upbeat soul and Motown style music. Here is doing a medley including Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition”:

We had a tough time with the booming sound from the bass kick drum and the noise from the standing audience below – not what we have come to expect from the pristine sounding and respectful Kessler. My Dad said it well today – “You’re just getting too old for that”.

About half way through the show, Mark switched to a solo set, and we enjoyed that very much. Here he is doing the heartbreaking “Gavin’s Song” – Gavin is his oldest son, now 16 but this song was written for him at 2 weeks old. I think it speaks to all parents, no matter what age their children.

The band rejoined Broussard and he kicked off with his classic “Lonely Night in Georgia”- always a crowd pleaser:

We enjoyed the concert a lot – just not as much as previous concerts – the price of progress and popularity.

After a good night’s rest, we enjoyed breakfast, coffee, and a crossword at “Opening Bell” – a very cool coffee shop across the street from the Canvas hotel. Their avocado toast with bacon crumbles was just what we wanted. Then it was home to McKinney and to packing up for moving some of our stuff down to the new apartment in Austin.

I finished the book “Let’s Go, So We Can Get Back” by Jeff Tweedy this week. I enjoyed the conversational style of this book very much and highly recommend this book to anyone interested in this style of music.

Some excerpts that I particularly enjoyed:

“My Dad also loved “Hummingbird”. He loved it so much for years he’d ask me , “Why don’t you write more songs like “Hummingbird?” I’d tell him, “I have no idea. I can’t. I’m not even sure how I wrote “Hummingbird.”

“Hummingbird” is one of my favourite Wilco songs and so I can relate to Tweedy’s Dad’s advice.

Tweedy continues:

“Something I heard a lot when I was in rehab was this totally awesome way counselors would shut someone down when they started arguing that they didn’t have to listen, they were going to do it their own way. The counselors would point out that “You’re best thinking is what put you here.” Most of the time everyone would laugh at the undeniable truth of it all.

Watching the Melissa McCarthy movie, I heard a trumpet solo that I liked enough to look it up – no surprise it was Chet Baker, perhaps my new favourite:

Open in Spotify

Brandi Carlisle popped up a couple of places this week – on the Joni Mitchell 75th birthday show and the Grammy awards. Here’s a song that caught my attention:

Open in Spotify

The Tedeschi Trucks Band released a new album recently, featuring a couple of amazing songs as usual. Here’s a good one:

Open in Spotify

Jeff Tweedy had a couple of “Fame” references in his book and this one in particular. I always thought this was a great song:

Open in Spotify

Week in Review – February 10, 2019

Mural featuring Stevie Ray Vaughan at Congress and Barton Springs

Work occupied most of my bus ride down to Austin on Monday morning. An AIG colleague, Vinod, joined my new company and I arranged a welcome aboard dinner with him on Monday night. He’s vegetarian and likes Thai food, so I suggested Thai Fresh, a restaurant that came recommended that’s located in a neighborhood close to the office and the Carpenter hotel. Vinod was early to the restaurant and texted me to let me know he was outside. I asked him if the place looked okay. His reply made me chuckle – “It does not look good”. Thai Fresh is a bit of a hole in the wall kind of place and is located in a residential neighborhood – not what Vinod is used to in the Dallas area but quite typical of Austin, and part of the charm of the city. He enjoyed dinner a lot and we may have another convert to the excellent off the beaten path Austin restaurant scene. Another plus is that I walked to the restaurant and back – a 2.5 mile round trip that gave us some good exercise early in the week.

I was able to sneak out of work early on Tuesday evening to catch the happy hour show at the Saxon Pub. I’ve been trying to catch David Grissom’s regular Tuesday night performance since I started working in Austin, but something always gets in the way. Here’s an excerpt from Grissom’s online bio that indicates what an amazing guitar player and musician he is:

David Grissom has toured and recorded with John Mellencamp, Joe Ely, Storyville,The Allman Brothers Band, The Dixie Chicks, Chris Isaak, Robben Ford, The FabulousThunderbirds, Ringo Starr, Buddy Guy, Bob Schneider and John Mayall among many others. His songs have been recorded by Trisha Yearwood, Lee Ann Womack, John Mayall, Shannon Curfman and Storyvilleto name just a few. Over the years, he has been featured in Guitar Player, Guitar World, Musician, and Vintage Guitar magazines several times.

David moved to Austin in 1983 and quickly became a stalwart on the vibrant local scene. Playing first with Lucinda Williams, he then joined Texas legend Joe Ely’s band in 1985, touring and recording nonstop until 1991, when he joined John Mellencamp’s band. David made three records with John and toured extensively from 1991 through 1993. After, Mellencamp, David went back to Austin to form Storyville, the band that included the Double Trouble rhythm section and powerhouse vocalist Malford Milligan. Storyville released two CD’s for Atlantic Recordswhich were well received at various rock radio stations. Since 2000, David has divided his time between recording sessions, including the last three Buddy Guy CD’s, among scores of other releases, touring with the Dixie Chicks, Bob Schneider and also playing hundreds of his own gigs, while still finding time to produce his CD’s and two releases for Ryan Beaver.

Here’s a video from the Saxon pub show of a typical Grissom jam. I love his hybrid picking style – a combination of strumming with a plectrum and finger picking with the remaining three fingers:

Here’s a bit of “Take me back to Texas”, a Grissom song that starts with a line about the “wind in Amarillo”:

And finally, here’s a melancholy song he performed about a lost friend:

I’ll include some more Grissom music later at the end of this post.

After the concert, I met another colleague, Jeff, for dinner at Shady Grove on Barton Springs road close to the hotel. This is another classic Austin restaurant that’s been around for over 20 years with an amazing patio. Jeff told me a story about watching a kid who got his head stuck in one of the wagon wheels surrounding the patio, while eating there with his family. Apparently it ultimately took a visit from the EMTs to free the head from the wheel. I really enjoyed my green chili chicken a lot and the ambiance was great – amazing to be sitting outside eating at 8pm in February.

After dinner, Jeff mentioned a coffee and so we drove over to Bennu, the 24 hour coffee shop. We were both amazed to find the place packed with kids, all studying hard. We found a spot to relax and enjoy our coffees on the patio.

I made it back to the hotel in time to meet up with Damon to collaborate on a note to our CEO about a technical outage that had caused some disruption earlier in the day – great fun!

On Wednesday, I had dinner with a potential new partner company at the Carpenter hotel restaurant. I was pleased to find blood sausage on the menu as an appetizer. It wasn’t quite the same as the Stornaway black pudding that my Mum gets for my breakfasts when I visit Scotland, but very tasty nonetheless.

I was awake early on Thursday morning and so went for a walk down Barton Springs to Bennu for coffee around 6am. I snapped the picture of the mural at the top of this post on the walk. This was a pleasant 2 mile round trip to get me going for the day. After the walk, I made a visit to Taco Deli for breakfast tacos – I’m trying to ration myself to once a week now. Jeff and Greg joined me and we all enjoyed the breakfast snacks. I should mention that breakfast tacos from Taco Deli were served before and after a Town Hall at the office on Tuesday morning where I delivered a presentation on an exciting new business opportunity that we’re presenting. I did enjoy a migas taco after my presentation.

On Friday morning, I visited Dr. Sabzali, our regular family doctor, for a checkup – a good report all around. She made me smile as she was gushing about her son’s college opportunities. Apparently the kid achieved a perfect score on both his SAT and ACT tests (a very rare accomplishment), is on the national merit and presidential scholar lists, and currently has offers from UT, USC, and UCLA related to bio-medical engineering and pre-med degrees. We think very highly of Dr. Sabzali and she has clearly raised a very smart and driven son.

I can’t claim to be that smart and driven, but I did score a personal best time on the USA Today crossword on Wednesday during a coffee break- 5 mins and 36 seconds. Things were back to normal on Thursday – over 11 minutes.

We attended a unique event on Friday night. Our friend, Steve Boston, had arranged to propose to his girlfriend, Grace, in front of 50 friends at Fleming’s steak house. There was a large poster set up in the bar area where they would arrive with Yes/No check boxes.

They were clearly a very happy couple and enjoyed having all their friends there with them. Somebody made some entertaining masks.

Not an approach to a proposal that I would ever have considered, but typical of Steve.

After the celebration, we walked across the street to the Capital Grille for dinner in their lovely bar area. Diana got an excellent rack of lamb that we enjoyed again on Saturday for dinner. I love the painting of Tom Landry, legendary Cowboys coach, that hangs in the bar.

Saturday was a very lazy day around the house and Sunday began as normal with workout, followed by coffee and a crossword in downtown McKinney. We stopped at the hardware store to pick up some outside wood screws and then I repaired the fence (a couple of boards had popped loose beside one of the front gates). This was a bit of a process in the rain, as I passed an extension cord through the dog door in my office so that I could use the drill to push in the screws. I was glad to be able to check this long standing task off my list on the pantry whiteboard.

I convinced Diana to go to the cinema with me on Sunday afternoon. “Joni Mitchell – a 75th birthday celebration” was playing (one of only two showings in theaters).

This was an amazing musical performance. The band was comprised mostly of jazz musicians with Jon Cowherd (piano) and Brian Blade (drums) as co-musical directors. I have a recent album by both Cowherd and Blade form a french jazz label that I really enjoy and to find them leading the band was a nice treat. Seal’s performance of “Both Sides Now” was an outstanding highlight of the show. Chaka khan did a couple of songs and I was surprised by her faithful interpretations. Diana Krall’s control of both vocal and piano dynamics was amazing on her two contributions. Lastly, Los Lobos with La Marisoul on vocals was another outstanding performance. I highly recommend this show (available now on DVD) to anyone who enjoys the music of Joni Mitchell – the musicianship is superb. Joni herself looked very frail (she suffered a brain aneurysm a few years ago and has not spoken or appeared in public for a while). Kris Kristofferson (now 82 years old) also looked a bit confused in his performance with Brandi Carlisle – apparently he has some memory issues due to Lyme disease.

One of our favourite musicians, Delbert McClinton, received a Marquee Star in front of the Austin Paramount theatre on Friday. This is only the third star given to a musician, with previous honorees including Lyle Lovett and Jerry Jeff Walker (see my post a couple of week ago where I talked about Jerry Jeff’s biography). Lyle Lovett wrote, “If we could all sing like we wanted to, we’d all sing like Delbert.” McClinton also received the Nobelity Projects “Feed the Peace” award at the Four Seasons on Saturday for his support of many great charitable causes.

I discovered a new Youtube series, “Earworm”, this week and enjoyed the episode that explains the unique key changes and challenges of playing John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps”. This is a very interesting series and I look forward to checking out some more episodes.

I read “What Belongs to You” by Garth Greenwell this week. I can’t remember where I picked up the recommendation for this book but it was named a best book of the year by over fifty publications in nine countries, including the New Yorker, The San Francisco Chronicle, and The Guardian.

I don’t consider myself overly prudish, but some of the descriptions in this book were a bit much for me. That being said, the characters, Bulgarian setting, and writing style are all very good.

I also very much enjoyed the short story “What Can You Do With a General” by Emma Cline that was published in the New Yorker magazine this week. The dialogue and descriptions of family interactions are perfectly done. I read that Cline received a $2 million 3 book advance in 2016 around her first novel, “The Girls”. I’ll have to put that book on my future reading list.

I enjoyed part of the movie “Irma La Douce” this week. Starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley McLaine and released in 1963, this is a silly and entertaining film. One of the scenes includes part of one of my favourite classical pieces, Rimsky Korsakov’s Scherzerade. I’ve included this in the music section below.

I love the lyrical quality of the opening violin lines in this version of Rimsky Korsakov’s Scherzerade:

As promised, here’s something more from David Grissom – his live version of the Allman’s classic “Jessica”. He was planning to record this with a five piece horn section in Milan this weekend (part of a story he told at the Saxon Pub).

One of our favourites from Delbert (and beautifully covered by Marcia Ball in concert also):

I heard this song playing in Bennu on Thursday morning, and was surprised to find that it was a Beastie Boys recording – not what one typically hear’s from them. It’s a tribute to the late organ virtuoso Richard Arnold “Groove” Holmes – best known for his 1965 recording of “Misty”.

Week in Review – February 3, 2019

The weather in Austin this week was chilly but significantly warmer than most of the rest of the country. Chicago was particularly badly impacted by the polar vortex with the entirety of Lake Michigan freezing. Scotland had a decent amount of snow and I received excellent pictures from both Merrick View and Aberdeenshire.

I had intended to attend a show at the tiny Continental Gallery Club on South Congress on Monday evening. It’s called “Church on Monday” and features Dr. James Polk, esteemed Austin multi-instrumentalist, world-class organist, and former arranger for the great Ray Charles. Instead, I had dinner with my boss at Second Bar and Kitchen to catch up on plans for the week ahead. I’ll have plenty of chances to catch “Church on Monday” in the near future.

The night sky as I headed out to Second Bar was very colourful as the wind began to really whip up. I know a red sky at night is supposed to be a “shepherd’s delight” but this one felt a bit ominous.

I picked another new hotel this week. The Carpenter is a hip and modern hotel just off Barton Springs road, very close to my office, and to several fun restaurants. Carpenter Hall, the onsite restaurant gets rave reviews, and that’s how I found the hotel. One of my favourite features is the lounge area where you can select from a large selection of vinyl albums to spin while you relax and read in the evening. The speaker is also quite unique.

Sunrise on Tuesday was pretty in the Pecan grove where the hotel is situated. I tried the migas breakfast at Carpenter Hall and it was delicious – perfect flour tortillas to wrap around the crispy eggs.

I ate dinner at Carpenter Hall on Tuesday evening as well. The wild mushroom pasta and charred broccoli were both excellent. I look forward to staying at The Carpenter again. There is a very good wine bar right next door with 100 wines available by the glass and many interesting selections. Can you make out that the sign on the back of the building, that I captured from my hotel room balcony, is made from corks?

Wednesday took me back to Dallas on the bus to attend some work meetings there on Thursday. It’s always nice to get home a day earlier than normal.

We saw the movie “The Green Book” on Saturday and both really enjoyed it. The film tells the story of Dr. Don Shirley’s concert tour through the American South in 1962. Shirley is played by Mahershala Ali and his driver/bodyguard/butler, Tony Lip, is played by Viggo Mortensen (my favourite current generation actor).

Mortensen’s transformation into an entirely credible New York Italian heavy is amazing – an entirely different physique and character than his last role in Captain Fantastic (another great movie). Ali’s suave and educated character is equally well acted and the friendship that develops between two men from entirely different backgrounds is quite heart warming. I enjoyed one scene where Don and Tony are locked up in a small town jail. Shirley uses his one phone call to call Bobby Kennedy, who calls the governor, who calls the local sheriff to have them released. I looked it up and this is completely historically accurate.

Shirley played popular tunes in an interesting style that is a hybrid of jazz, blues, and classical styles. He says he would have preferred to play Chopin, but audiences at the time wouldn’t have accepted that from a black man – so his record company insisted that he stick to more popular, current music. Here are a couple of his recordings. Can you hear the classical influence coming through? I think there’s a definite Chopin Nocturne feel in the quieter passages.

I read the book “Asymmetry” this week. This book had some of the most positive reviews of last year from the New York Times and several other well respected publications and I had been looking forward to digging into it.

The book, which is essentially a study of the imbalance of power in relationships, was brilliantly written but a bit confusing and incongruous.

Written by Lisa Halliday, it is actually three novellas, the first two of which have nothing in common and the third of which is a strange attempt to unite the first two in the form of a BBC “Desert Island Disks” interview. I’m just not smart enough to get the linkage and so can’t agree with the rave reviews at all.

The first story, “Folly,” is a May-December romance between Alice and Ezra that some critics say is about Halliday’s own affair with Philip Roth with lots of allusions to “Alice in Wonderland.” The second story, “Madness,” is about Amar, a young American man of Iraqi heritage, who is detained for several days at Heathrow Airport based on ethnic profiling. The story flashes back and forth between the airport nightmare and his life story until then. The third story is the radio interview with Ezra, and in the answer to one of the many questions he is asked, he unites the first two stories. Sort of, but not really for me.

I did enjoy a number of the musical references in the book, as Ezra shares his favourites with Alice. A few are included in the music section this week.

This is the first of Ezra’s favourites from Asymmetry. I love the theme from this piece and the performance by Yoyo Ma and the London Symphony with Andre Previn is excellent.

The second from Ezra’s list is from Faure. I enjoy this piece but it doesn’t resonate with me as much as his Requiem – if you haven’t heard it, I highly recommend giving it a listen.

I stumbled on this song by Breakestra – a band that I had never heard of and know nothing about. The drumming and bass playing caught my attention right away – sounded a lot like the Meters from New Orleans but with a special twist.

It turns out that Breakestra is a rotating cast of Los Angeles musicians, anchored by bassist/guitarist/upright cellist/producer/vocalist “Music Man” Miles Tackett. Miles is the son of Fred Tackett from Little Feat – one of my top 10 favourite bands with an amazing drummer themselves, and a band that we enjoyed at Tipitinas in New Orleans a few years ago.

The final selection this week is from Kurt Vile. I’m really enjoying his new album, “Bottle It In”.

This is my first week in a long while without any live music experiences. I’ve been trying to compensate by playing the piano a bit. I promise to try and do a better job of supporting live music next week.

Week in Review – January 27, 2019

I watched a movie about Bill Murray stories on the bus down to Austin on Monday afternoon. There are a lot of stories about Murray participating in random events with folks and doing kind things. This is a good documentary and included my favourite story towards the end about Bill Murray driving a taxi in San Francisco so that the owner of the taxi could play his saxophone for him in the back seat.

I dropped my bag in the rental car at the Hyatt and walked to the Continental Club on South Congress (SoCo) to enjoy the free show by the Peterson Brothers. This was less than a 10 minute walk and so will be easily accessible from the new apartment.

South Congress is a really interesting area of restaurants and different shops. It’s gentrifying very quickly and sadly will likely lose some of it’s unique character. I hope it doesn’t become just like everywhere else.

I had read that the Peterson Brothers were the next big band in Austin and about to make it big. They put on an excellent show that was a gumbo of soul, blues, jazz and funk. Imagine Weather Report, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Miles Davis and Al Green mixed up in a band and that’s a bit of what they sound like.

The brothers are Glenn Jr (21) on guitar and vocals and Alex (19) on bass. Alex is a real virtuoso on the bass and reminds me of Jaco Pastorius (of Weather Report fame). They have opened for many of the big names in blues and jazz and played in several high profile festivals. I’ll be surprised if they’re playing a free Monday night set at the Continental Club for too much longer. Here are a couple of videos of their performance of “Don’t You Lie to Me” – the first is the early verse and the second an extended jam with entertaining dance moves towards the end. I love the fact that the brothers have smiles on their faces while they play and exude huge amounts of positive energy.

I stayed at the Sonesta hotel in Bee Cave which is about a 20 minute drive from SoCo and from the office since the Hyatt and other downtown hotels were very expensive this week. It’s a nice hotel close to an outdoor mall with good restaurants and a particularly good new breakfast place that I found – Elle’s Cafe.

I visited Elle’s twice – having a beans and greens bowl the first time and an omelet with turkey sausage the second. Both were delicious with very fresh ingredients and great flavours. I laughed when the chef brought me the omelet – I was in the middle of doing the crossword and was timing myself on my phone so that when she arrived I paused the timer. “Were you timing me in the kitchen?”, she asked.

Will spent the weekend in Lake Tahoe, snowboarding at Heavenly. He had to wait until Monday afternoon to drive home due to all the new snow that fell over the weekend and on Monday morning. No need for a dance floor on top of the Durango in this weather.

I had a pretty late lunch on Wednesday and tried a new Mexican place on Barton Springs road – El Alma. Wow – this is my new favourite Mexican place, knocking off the Blue Goose in Dallas. The relleno stuffed with shrimp and crab was delicious with an excellent sauce. I look forward to returning after it warms up a little to enjoy the rooftop patio.

On Wednesday night, I tried out a new experience – my go to Austin radio station has a local music showcase at Guero’s taco bar each Wednesday night. I like the vast majority of the music that Sun radio plays and so thought I would enjoy the event. Both bands were very good and the setting was great.

I caught the bus back up to Dallas on Thursday afternoon and Diana and I met at the Neighborhood Services restaurant on Lovers Lane for dinner. We both really enjoy this restaurant and the speakeasy style, understated location. Do you think Diana got enough fries with her steak frites? I loved my redfish with gorgonzola grits and the amazing voodoo sauce.

The weekend was nice and relaxing with workouts, coffee and crossword sessions, and time for reading. We had a nice late lunch at Toulouse in Legacy West on Sunday. This is the place that Diana and Anne visited for champagne and steak tartare on their visit in October. We started with steak tartare and then we both had great salads. My whipped goat cheese and beets salad was delicious.

I read the book “At Home with the Armadillo” by Gary P. Nunn this week. This was an excellent review of the Austin music scene in the 1970s and 80s. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the stories about all the characters involved in developing the Texas music movement. Nunn played in the bands of both Jerry Jeff Walker and Michael Martin Murphy in the 70s and tells a great story about opening for Elton John at the Palmer auditorium, a building that I drive by every day on my short commute to the office each morning. Another story I enjoyed was of Nunn seeing a very young Joe Ely play in Lubbock and thinking that he was going to be a big star. He worked to arrange Ely’s first record contract with MCA. It’s interesting that we just saw Joe Ely last weekend (in his seventies now) and I’m reading this week about how he got his first recording contract.

In researching Joe Ely music last week, I came across a project he was involved in called Los Super Seven. They recorded a song called “Learning the Game”. I thought it sounded very familiar and ultimately realized that it was originally recorded by Any Trouble on a record I enjoyed in University. Here are both versions.

Gary Clark Jr has a new album due in March, and based on the advance single it seems he is ready to share his frustration with the current state of affairs in our country:

I’ve been enjoying Gary P. Nunn’s biography this week and here’s his classic song that has been the intro to the Austin City Limits TV show for many years:

And here’s some songs from Michael Martin Murphy that Nunn references in his book that I’ve also enjoyed this week:

Week in Review – January 20, 2019

Monday took me to Guatemala City for a few days of work. I had done some pre-reading on my destination but wasn’t really sure what to expect. Customs and immigration was a very quick process and I found myself looking around for my car service and without mobile phone service (should have double checked that before leaving). I had been strongly warned not to take a regular taxi but was close to taking that risk. Fortunately, the driver showed up about 20 minutes later and, after a short ride, I was checked into a very modern Marriott hotel and enjoying dinner. This was the view from my balcony.

Guatemala City has a population of 2.5 million people and is situated at an elevation of 4,921 feet. The city is surrounded by volcanoes and I took these pictures from the office balcony.

They say Guatemala is where American school buses go to die. Not exactly – they shorten them, put in powerful engines, and paint them very bright colors – each color signifying a route for a population with a very low literacy rate.

Typical colorful guatemalan chicken bus in Antigua, Guatemala, Central America

This view from the office balcony shows shacks built into a valley, right next to a very modern office complex. It was a bit disconcerting to learn that all the executives in the office drive heavily armored and bullet proof cars but I was happy to know that on our way to dinner on Tuesday through some very interesting neighborhoods.

Guiseppe Verdi (do you think it’s Italian) was the dinner choice and we started with some hand cut carpaccio. Then I enjoyed a perfectly cooked duck breast with gorgonzola risotto.

Wednesday was a long work day and so we opted for a local restaurant in walking distance of the hotel. Kacao provided a good sampling of local cuisine – very similar to the Mexican food we are familiar with . I had a very good mixed seafood ceviche.

It was back to Dallas on Thursday morning. A short 3 hour flight and I was back home shortly after noon. Thankfully Friday was a quiet and low key day of catching up on work and other paperwork.

We awoke to a light dusting of snow on Saturday morning and it’s been so cold this weekend that it hasn’t quite melted yet. You can imagine how much McD is enjoying the cold weather and biting wind. I heard the classic, “I’m ready to go and lie on a beach now”, comment this morning. Quickly followed up with “and I mean a warm beach!”.

The Kessler beckoned us to another excellent concert on Saturday night. We checked into the Nylo (now called the Canvas) hotel and Ubered over to Nova for a pre-concert dinner. The special of scallops on a bed of ratatouille was excellent.

The concert was by Joe Ely, a performer that I’ve seen a couple of times over the last close to 30 years and always enjoyed. He was born in Amarillo in 1947 and has spent most of his life based in Lubbock, TX (famously the home of Buddy Holly). Here is his performance of “Dallas”, one of his best known songs and the 2nd in the setlist:

We heard a Joe Ely song on the Bruce Springsteen channel driving to our workout on Saturday morning. This was interesting as I don’t remember hearing him on the radio in years and here he was on the day of the show. It was a guest performance he did at a Springsteen show at Giants stadium. I read that Ely and the Clash were big admirers of each other and Ely actually sings backup vocals on “Should I Stay or Should I Go?”. He opened for several Clash shows in the US in the eighties. Here is his performance of Woodie Guthrie’s song “Deportee”, written in 1948 and just as relevant today:

The first time I saw Joe Ely was at an amphitheater in San Antonio in the early 90s and his new guitar player was the excellent Ian Moore, who went on to have quite the solo career. Moore had replaced David Grissom, who left Ely’s band to join John Mellencamp and played guitar on most of his hits. Interestingly, Grissom plays a free show at the Saxon Pub in Austin every Tuesday (a mile or less from my new apartment). I look forward to catching some of those shows soon. Here’s the final video I captured from Ely’s show, his beautifully nuanced cover of Billy Joe Shaver’s “Live Forever”:

The accordion player on all three of these videos is Joel Guzman who just finished Paul Simon’s final tour. He and Ely have played together for years and he added some great accompaniment to the mix.

There was some hilarity on our Uber ride back to the hotel after the show. We commented on a huge new gas station that we passed and our driver told us that the owner kept a bison, a longhorn, and a zonki behind the store. What’s a zonki? Exactly – we had no idea either. My Dad guessed correctly earlier today – a cross between a zebra and a donkey.

The view of the sunrise from our hotel room was quite impressive on Sunday morning:

I chose Standard Pour as our brunch destination. This was our first time trying the food here (we learned from Martha, sitting next to us at the concert, that our favourite brunch location in South Dallas, Smoke, had closed a few weeks ago) and we enjoyed the whole experience. Diana chose the economical carafe of mimosas but didn’t quite finish it. That washed down a very stacked burger. We have lots of leftovers for dinner.

Meanwhile, in New Orleans, Thom and Denny had a similar idea as they prepared for the Saints game against the Los Angeles Rams:

We’re watching the game now and hoping the Saints can win and secure a spot in the Super Bowl in 2 weeks. Denny and Anne seem to be enjoying the game so far (particularly Anne with her Veuve Clicquot champagne glass):

Will is spending the weekend in Lake Tahoe, snowboarding at the Heavenly resort. They have several feet of new snow and the conditions should be excellent. This is the first time Will has felt his knee is strong enough to ride in several years. I hope he’s having a great time, being safe, and has a smooth drive home after the snow abates a bit.

I finally finished “Independence Day” by Richard Ford this week. This 450 page, small font book has been with me for several weeks now.

The story is the sequel to “The Sportswriter”, a book I enjoyed last year. Frank Bascombe is now 44 years old and returns as the narrator. The time is 1988, and Frank is looking forward to the Fourth of July weekend, when he’s arranged to meet with his girlfriend, Sally Caldwell, and then take his 15-year-old son, Paul, to the basketball and baseball halls of fame. Paul has never recovered from the death of his brother, Ralph; occasionally barks like a dog; and has been labeled by a team of therapists as “intellectually beyond his years” yet “emotionally underdeveloped”.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and all that it has to say about family relationships, the politics and happenings of 1988, and Frank’s struggle to find a meaningful place in the world.

I’ve written a lot about music in this posting so far and so will just add one more quick update. This is a song from an Australian funk band that I heard in the Opening Bell coffee shop by the Nylo hotel on Sunday morning and enjoyed.

Late breaking news, the Saints just lost to the Rams in overtime. A horrible missed call by the referees at the end of regular time led to this loss – otherwise it would have been an easy Saints win. Denny and Anne made it on TV again and clearly have something to say (middle right side of the TV screen):

Week in Review – January 13, 2019

It was back down to Austin on the Monday afternoon bus for the work week.

I suggested Sway Thai on South 1st street for dinner on Tuesday night with a couple of colleagues. I’d read good reviews and driven by what looked like a cool, upscale Thai place. Our meals were very hit or miss – nothing horrible, just not anything we’ll be going back for.

Wednesday night brought a much better experience. I met Diana’s step son, John, at Geraldine’s in the Hotel Van Zandt. John was in Austin on business at the Convention Center and had a work dinner. I got there early and enjoyed a yummy snack of bourbon glazed cauliflower before John joined me. Geraldine’s has a nice music stage and great sound. We were treated to a quite unexpected performance by Ray Prim. He has a very pleasant, soulful voice and was joined by a string quartet – a unique sound for sure. Here’s one of his songs from that evening:

I rode the bus back to Dallas on Thursday night and stayed at the hotel where the bus drops off by Love Field airport so that I could catch an early flight out to San Jose for a family meeting on Friday. Diana was working downtown and so was able to meet me at the hotel.

The view of the snow on the Sierras on my flight out reminded me of the Boz Scaggs song “Sierra” that I enjoy so much:

After an exhausting afternoon meeting, I flew back to Dallas, arriving home a little after midnight.

On Saturday we watched the Cowboys lose to the Los Angeles Rams and exit the playoffs. I was really hoping they would win and go on to play the New Orleans Saints. The good news is that they played well and kept the game close until the end.

All of my boys were at the airport on Sunday, heading in quite different directions, and snapped this selfie.

Here’s a couple more songs from Ray Prim’s albums:

Week in Review – January 6, 2019

Happy 2019 to my thousands of followers!

We arrived in New Orleans on Sunday night to welcome in the New Year with great friends, food, and music. After some delicious Denny snacks – crab dip and braised short ribs in a new modern version of a pressure cooker – Denny and I saw the trombone player, composer, and band leader, Rick Trolsen, at the Dos Jefes cigar bar and music club. This is a very small place but always seems to provide excellent music.

New Year’s Eve in the French Quarter was predicted to be a bit of a zoo with all the college football fans in for the Sugar Bowl game on New Year’s Day, so we opted for a Bywater/Marigny ramble rather than our traditional afternoon French Quarter Ramble (FQR).

We started at Saint Germaine (a new bistro) with excellent goose fat fries and chicken liver pate. From there the ramble proceeded to Mimi’s, which had a great tapas menu but a kitchen that wasn’t quite ready to cook. Not to worry – a short walk took us to the gorgeous St Roch market.

St Roch was originally opened as a market in 1875 and was updated several years ago to one of the more elegant food halls that I’ve come across. The ladies enjoyed some fresh oysters.

We passed this entertaining house on the walk, complete with fake snow – not quite in keeping with the pleasant 60 degree temperatures.

The afternoon finished at the Tin Roof bar atop the Pontchartrain hotel on the way back home to get ready for dinner. This is the hotel where Tennessee Williams wrote “A Streetcar Named Desire” and the rooftop bar provides a great view of downtown New Orleans. The hotel was having a Veuve Clicquot champagne event that the ladies enjoyed.

New Year’s Eve dinner was at Chais Delachaise with Denny, Anne, Thom, Libby, Alex, and Laura. This was a great pick by Denny that provided us with a relaxed and comfortable spot to enjoy an unhurried meal with friends. I started with a French Old Fashioned that I loved – what makes it “French”? – I’m not sure the menu just said a little “je ne sais quoi”. The mushroom bruschetta were yummy and so was the meat and cheese platter. Then I enjoyed my lamb burger, accompanied by a very nice Burgundy that Thom helped to select.

After dinner everyone headed back to Denny and Anne’s home to ring in 2019 – we don’t look too tired for a bunch of old fogeys do we? Ok, you don’t need to answer that now that I look at the pictures again.

New Years Day was a sleepy one for Denny and me, mostly spent on the couch with a book, a fire, and college football bowl games. Diana, Anne and Laura were more adventurous, making their annual visit to Pascal’s Manale for happy hour oysters. They were kind enough to bring dinner home for the sleepy boys.

We were honoured to be invited to celebrate Jack and Mason’s 16th birthday with them at Commanders Palace on Wednesday. Denny always says that they better get good jobs to support their fine dining tastes.

The soups at Commanders are always amazing. We sampled turtle, lobster bisque, gumbo and at least one other. I loved the stuffed quail dish that I tried for the first time and of course the piece de resistance was the bread pudding souffle with whiskey cream sauce.

After a pleasant afternoon nap, Denny convinced us to make a trip to the Circle Bar to see the Iguanas. I’d seen this group that was very popular in the 1980s on my last trip and was looking forward to a reprise. They did a great job of entertaining the crowd in the tiny living room of the Circle Bar – a bit of a smaller crowd than they played to at jazzfest back in their more popular days. The music is like a combination of Los Lobos and the Buena Vista Social Club – very unique and different. Alex, Thom and Gary joined us for the show and then a stop at Domenica pizza on the drive home. Diana was a real trooper to hang in there with all the boys for so long – it probably felt like she was dealing with her five younger brothers again.

Sadly, our time in New Orleans came to an end on Thursday. We wrapped up the visit with a perfect French brasserie meal at Couvant in the Eliza Jane hotel (a gorgeous new hotel with a great patio). This is one of several new French restaurants in New Orleans (a pleasant trend) and another excellent Denny recommendation. We shared chicken liver mousse, steak tartare, and mussels a la Normande, all accompanied with some very AAnice French wines available by the glass.

Alicia picked us up at the airport and we were back home by 10:30pm. Friday was pretty much a full work day again for both of us after some good time off for the holidays. We were back to our normal routine on Saturday and Sunday with morning workouts and crossword and coffee sessions. I enjoyed the Cowboys playoff win over the Seattle Seahawks on Saturday night very much albeit way more stressful than it needed to be. We’ll find out after the Eagles game tonight if the Cowboys play the New Orleans Saints or the Los Angeles Rams next week. Either one will be very much an uphill battle.

I mentioned earlier in the post that the Iguanas reminded me of a cross between Los Lobos and the Buena Vista Social club. Here’s a sampling of both – can you imagine what the combination might sound like?

Well, add something like this…

To something like this…

And maybe you get something like this…

Best of 2018 Lists

Top 10 Restaurants, 5 Best Destinations, Best 20 books of 2018, Top Places to Live in America.

Over the last few years, a lot of communication seems to come in the form of ranked lists. This year I decided, if you can’t beat them, why not join in?

The last couple of hours have been spent scrolling back through all the blog posts of 2018 in search of my favourite concerts, books, and records of the year (while keeping one eye on the Colts versus Texans playoff game – not going well for the Texans so far). Wow, we covered a lot of ground and saw some great performances last year! From tiny jazz clubs to arena shows to classical performances at Lincoln Center – a wide variety of venues and genres to choose from.

Best Concerts of 2018

Curtis Stigers (Birdland, NY) Diana and I talked about this list and spent no time at all debating our top pick for concert of the year. We both loved the Curtis Stigers concert that we saw at Birdland prior to Denny and Anne arriving in New York for Denny’s 50th birthday trip. This was more surprising given that neither of us had heard the name Stigers prior to the concert. I bought the tickets purely on the basis of the write up on the Birdland website. Within the first 10 seconds of Curtis’ opening song, “I’ll be Home” by Randy Newman, I was sold. The arrangements, variety of songs, and quality of performance were all top notch. We were both completely aligned on staying for the late set and were very pleasantly surprised to find it was mostly completely different music, ending the way it started with “I’ll be Home”.

2. Band of Heathens (Kessler Theater, Oak Cliff) Why is this band not famous? They have amazing talent, a great sound, look great (according to McD), and put on excellent performances. We first saw them on Austin, again purely based on a magazine write up, as they performed a closing show for the venue “Momo’s” where they formed as a band. We left amazed at our fortune of lucking into the show. Since then, we must have seen them 10 or more times at various venues in Texas and Louisiana. Their Thanksgiving week concert at the Kessler was a special highlight – they performed their cover of the Ray Charles album, “A Message From the People”, in entirety and book-ended it with some of their most popular songs. Both Diana and I can very easily get their version of “Abraham, Martin and John” stuck in our brains on hearing the fist line, “Has Anybody Here Seen My Old Friend Abraham?”.

3. Nils Lofgren (Kessler Theater, Oak Cliff) Can you tell that the Kessler puts on one amazing show after another? Best venue ever! I’ve loved Nils since high school and his Live album from the Glasgow Apollo (signed copy obtained after this show, when he told me that tour was his favourite of his career). The show was particularly special as Lofgren showed what a consummate performer he is. His guitars had been stolen the night before, and you would never have known by the quality of the performance with borrowed gear, and his willingness to stay after the show to greet all of his fans.

4. Joshua Redman (Blue Note, New York) This is the best jazz performance that I’ve seen so far (granted, it’s only been a few years that I’ve been attending jazz shows). Diana and I saw Joshua as a special guest in the tiny Village Vanguard and were amazed at his saxophone mastery (that’s the night that he shared some of D’s champagne). This show was a complete master class on the saxophone with a beautifully varied repertoire that showed off his amazing versatility and musicality.

5. New York Philharmonic (Lincoln Center, New York) The precision of the performance of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto #5 was ridiculous. I’ve heard a few orchestras but never one so completely synchronized and rehearsed but still entirely musical and flowing. This is one of a few classical pieces that I could sing form start to finish (my Mum had a record that was played quite a bit, one of her favourites from her time teaching in France and living with Aunt Louise).

Excellent shows that didn’t make the top 5 include The Eagles and Chris Stapleton at ATT Stadium, Elton John’s farewell tour at American Airlines Center, James Hunter Six at the Kessler, Mark Broussard at the Kessler, Marcia Ball and Shelley King at the Kessler, Doyle Bramhall with guest Lukas Nelson at Antone’s (my first great Austin show), Marcia Ball, Shelley King, and Carolyn Wonderland’s Christmas Show at Poor David’s Pub, Nick Lowe and Los Straightjackets at the Kessler (with the amazing performance of “Peace, Love, and Understanding”), Jethro Tull’s 50th anniversary show at the Beacon in NY, the Bacon Brothers at the Kessler, Los Miguels in a private concert in the courtyard of El Taminamba in San Miguel de Allende, Big Sam’s Funky Nation at the Kessler (with dancing by Diana on stage), John Fohl and Johhny Sansone at Chickie Wah Wah in New Orleans (amazing performance of “Do or Die”), Devon Allman and Duane Betts at the Kessler (half the audience in tears during “Blue Sky”), Kenny Baron’s excellent piano at the Jazz Standard in NY, John Oates soulful blues show at the Kessler, Soullive and Robert Randolph at the Blue Note in NY, and finally Rayo Bros at the Gasa Gasa in New Orleans during jazzfest.

Wow! 2018 might be the best year of live music I’ve experienced in my 54 years on this planet.

Best Books of 2018

Every Note Played by Lisa Genova. I loved this book and have recommended it to several people. I hadn’t read “Still Alice” prior to this and that probably enhanced my enjoyment as I understand her books may be a bit formulaic. The empathy in Genova’s writing about a musician losing the ability to play is extraordinary.

2. The Reminders by Val Emmich. This was a very close second choice. I had never heard of the author when I visited Interabang books in Dallas and received such a high recommendation for this book. It ended up completely sucking me in to the extent that I didn’t do a number of planned activities in order to finish the book in one sitting. Such a creative story about memory and relationships.

3. The Rules of Civility by Amor Towles. “A Gentleman in Moscow” was one of my favourite books of 2017 and I was delighted to discover this previous novel by Towles when I accompanied Diana on her work trip to St Petersburg. Such an excellent job of capturing New York society in the 1920s. I anxiously await his next novel.

4. The Soloist by Steve Lopez. This was a very good movie (I don’t like to see movies before reading books) and an even better book. The understanding of mental illness and homelessness that Lopez communicates is stunning. The backdrop of unrewarded musical ability (at a virtuoso level) is heartbreaking in the extreme.

5. Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult. This is the most relevant book on my list for today’s society. The unnecessary and embedded hatred portrayed in the book seems to become more and more part of our political system and society on a daily basis. While somewhat egregiously depicted, the characters ring true as examples of the bigoted and inflexible positions taken by so many these days.

Other books I enjoyed this year include Calypso by David Sedaris (an excellent Christmas read), Less by Andrew Sean Greer (a great recommendation by Interabang books), Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng (surprisingly enjoyable and creative), The Sportswriter by Richard Ford (excellent writing and led me to Independence Day that I’m currently loving), Famous Father Girl by Jamie Bernstein (great anecdotes on the musical master), A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving (classic Irving and a bit of a long slog), A Visit from the Goon Squad, Manhattan Beach, and Emerald City, a trio of books by Jennifer Egan (a very rewarding discovery this year), Uncommon Type by Tom Hanks (in a year when vintage typewriters seemed to appear everywhere).

Best Records of 2018

Several of my top records of 2018 were actually released in 2017 and not noticed by me until 2018. I’m going to claim a 9 month wiggle area for inclusion in the current year – it’s my list and I’ll do what I wanna.

John Prine – The Tree of Forgiveness. Prine’s first album in many years is not his finest but still the best of the year for me. Sublime songwriting coupled with an aged voice that communicates all the passion and hurt in his songs.

2. Teskey Brothers – Harvest Hill Moon. I heard a song from this album on the radio in Austin and listened to the rest of it as soon as I could. I remember telling Diana how amazed I was that a sound like this (sounds like deep Muscle Shoals from the 70s) came out of Australia. I listen to this at least once a week – especially when able to enjoy the home office system.

3. Charlie Hunter – Baboon Strength. Hunter was discovered when he played the excellent Townsend speakeasy bar and music venue on Congress Avenue in Austin. He plays a hybrid bass and lead guitar and has a very unique style. I love the sound of this record – “Fine Corinthian Leather” is a standout for me.

4. Jason Isbell – Nashville Sound. Isbell was my favourite performance at the Telluride Blues festival a few years ago by a long way. This album has several stand out songs and “If we were Vampires” is the most poignant song that I heard this year. I’m making it a goal to see an Isbell performance in 2019.

5. Marc Broussard – Easy to Love. “Don’t be afraid to call Me” is reason enough to love this album. After you hear it live, you can’t forget it for a while. Broussard is certainly one of my favourite live performers and I look forward to seeing him again at the Kessler in February.

6. Anderson East – Encore. I had to add a 6th choice to this category. I like every song on this one and still rue not attending the two shows of East’s that we had tickets for this year – work got in the way both times (it doesn’t happen very often and it impacted the same artist twice). The song “Cabinet Door” is certainly the saddest one I heard this year – but one I couldn’t stop listening to.

I hope you enjoyed this recap of some 2018 highlights. Are any of my top picks aligned with yours? I’m always looking for new recommendations on musical artists and authors.