“Carnival Time”
I was determined to productively check off some action items on the first Monday of the first full week of January. I gathered up the documents needed and drove over to the Shell gas station to get a “brake tag.” This is Louisiana’s version of a state inspection. They check brakes, lights, windshield washers and the like – takes less than 5 minutes start to finish. That’s if you have all the right stuff. I had my license and insurance document but not the registration letter. “Why would I need that when I have the sticker from the letter on my license plate?” “I need to get some special numbers from the letter.” Good grief. A search at home revealed that I had apparently decided that was a letter that did not need to be saved. Oh well – I have a 30 day temporary “brake tag” and have ordered a duplicate letter. The joy of state bureaucracies.
Just around the corner from the Shell gas station is our optical office. I needed to get a couple of pairs of glasses fixed/adjusted so stopped in and received the same professional and friendly service as always. My annual exam was scheduled while I was there – will knock that out next week. One productive visit – check.
There was an interesting little coffee shop next to Bright Eyes Optique. I decided to venture in and check it out. Petite Rouge provided me with a robust Americano and a tasty egg on brioche sandwich – another in the collection of excellent locally owned coffee shops all around New Orleans. Here’s some interesting history – started as a little Citroen truck:
Carnival season kicked off on Tuesday. Roland and Jules dressed their pups appropriately for the occasion.
I know they seriously don’t look real, but I see them most days and that’s what they look like toddling down Washington Avenue.
I chose to attend trivia rather than watch the Phunny Phorty Phellows roll by on the streetcar, as we have done the last couple of years. More on trivia in a bit.
Diana attended a pickleball clinic and open play session around lunchtime on Tuesday. She seemed to have a really good time. I stayed home to meet Tommy (A/C guy) so that he could troubleshoot why our upstairs power goes off when the heater kicks in at night – possibly fixed but too soon to tell. Just as Tommy left, the generator guy showed up to double check things – I had heard some startup sputtering during the weekly test. He made some tweaks and assured me that noise was normal in colder weather. Before he was finished, Mosquito Joe showed up for our regular spraying. He had to wait until generator guy was finished. I was pretty worn out with all the supervision and coordination by the time Diana got home.
We went to see the movie “Song Sung Blue” on Tuesday afternoon. This is a mostly true story about a Neil Diamond tribute duo that performed in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area in the early 1980s. It stars Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson. Both were absolutely amazing. They sang the parts and Jackman moved and phrased just like Neil Diamond. Kate Hudson nailed the Wisconsin accent and sang very impressively. The chemistry between the two was wonderful.
I didn’t watch that trailer before attending the movie and so was quite impacted by the change in tone that happens about 45 minutes in. I don’t want to spoil it if you haven’t seen the movie yet. Things were flowing along wonderfully – lots of songs and the story of how the duo came together and started to get higher profile gigs. And then – boom! A complete switch in tone.
I particularly enjoyed the segment where they open for Pearl Jam – apparently Eddie was a big fan, and the final show where they have a choir and Kate and Hugh continue to one up each other.
My dad was a big Neil Diamond fan. I can remember borrowing the family car to drive to Ayr for a windsurfing lesson (over 40 years ago) and listening to the Neil Diamond Greatest Hits tape that was in the player. The music wasn’t “cool” but I really enjoyed it. Isn’t it funny how a piece of music can relate back to a very specific place and time?
On to trivia. Where to start? We had a very good first half and were solidly in the lead. Then…we started to disagree and make bad choices.
“What animal’s milk is used to make Mozzarella di Bufala?” Denny said “Water Buffalo!” The rest of the group said “Cow.” We went with cow and of course Denny was right. As Kenny said, “The answer was in the question.”
“What Hemingway book recounts his experiences during the Spanish civil war?” Several of us said “A Farewell to Arms.” Thom said “For Whom the Bell Tolls.” Thom was correct and every team, including us, went with the other choice. Thom is actually reading the book just now. We need to listen better.
We did get a question correct in the midst of this meltdown. We were given three events and asked which year in the 80s they happened. I only remember the wedding of Charles and Diana as one of the events. Kenny immediately said “1981.” I “showed my work” in that I finished high school in 1981, was on holiday in France after that and remember my family gathering in the recreation area to watch the wedding on television.
Some unrelated trivia that I just came across from 1981: MTV launched in August and these were the first 10 songs:
“Which country has three capital cities?” Kenny felt strongly that it was South Africa – he had heard it recently. Thom travels to South Africa regularly and vehemently disagreed. He wasn’t able to provide an alternative and so South Africa was submitted – and correct. Kenny was the MVP.
And then we came to the final question. Here’s the correct answer. The old folks had worked all of that out. Thom knew when Castaway was released, I knew when Spotify started, we collaborated on Castro, and Messi was just easy math based on current age. We told Jack the answer but did not double check his work before it was handed in.
Although the question clearly says start with the “EARLIEST” answer and even expounds on what that means, he still decided to flip them around and have most recent first. Had he not done that we would have won in fine form and we were not placed as a result of the flop. Geez!
Don’t be concerned, that’s way more than you can expect to hear from me about trivia going forward.
Wednesday started with Diana’s typical run in the park and yoga morning. Then I took the car over to Metairie for regularly scheduled maintenance – oil change and tire rotation. Its amazing how long that can take. No worries – I had taken my laptop, book, magazine etc and the time passed (2 hours plus) quickly.
In addition to watching the “Homeland” series from the beginning (How did I miss this excellent television the first time around), I watched a movie on Wednesday evening called “The Vanishing of Sidney Hall” that I really enjoyed.
Diana had a pickleball session with Laurie on Thursday morning. Then Billy came over to help us with a “load bearing” post that had rotated and had me quite concerned that the 2nd and 3rd floors were coming down. The continued joys of an old home from the 1800s.
Kenny and family were in Mexico City, celebrating his birthday. I think they all loved the balloon ride. It looks amazing with all those others floating around.
I watched the first college football playoff semi-final on Thursday night. It was a close and exciting game, with Miami winning in the last minute.
Billy was over to continue working on the load bearing post on Friday. He had a helper with him and they hammered away for several hours. They left us in the evening with the original post back in place and looking pretty square and straight.
I started my Saturday with a haircut, and then walked across the street to pick up a couple of crepes from my favourite place – Deville.
I got the Frenchie (ham, brie, and apple) and I picked the Tuscan for Diana (prosciutto, burrata, roasted red peppers and basil.) So delicious!
Saturday evening took us back to the Jazz and Blues Market. They gave us complimentary tickets to the show of our choice since the Curtis Stigers show was cancelled. Very generous, given that they refunded the original tickets.
The Headhunters – originally founded with Herbie Hancock in the early 70s – were just excellent. Here’s the blurb from the venue website:
““The band continues to be led and produced by its two Herbie Hancock-era members, percussionist Bill Summers and drummer Mike Clark…The band is tight, the sound is big and the overall effect is unashamed good fun,” says ALL ABOUT JAZZ (2022 Album Review ‘Speakers In The House’).
“‘Speakers in the House’ is remarkably masterful, fresh-sounding, and creatively restless. For over nearly 50 years, The Headhunters have continually reinvented themselves. This is no exception,” raves ALLMUSIC (2022 Album Review ‘Speakers In The House’).
Mum sent me these pictures of the snow at Elspeth and David’s house, “Bonnyview.” Looks lovely but makes going to work an impossibility. The joys of living out in the country.
We received this pretty Happy New Year card from Will and Christine.
Will then followed it up with a picture of these three ragamuffins on the Seine years earlier.
I’m currently waiting on it warming up sufficiently much that Diana will approve us going for a walk in the park before the football playoff games.
The second half of “The Correspondents” certainly got heavier than the first, particularly the last few chapters. I really should have seen them coming, but was still caught by surprise. Here are a few sections that I highlighted:
“TO: jameswlandy@ gmail.com FROM: sybilvanantwerp@ aol.com DATE: Jan 18, 2013 10: 26 AM SUBJECT: Memorial service”
Even the email addresses tell a clever story – Sybil’s from many years ago with AOL, and James much more recently with gmail.
This made me smile because it is a parallel to Diana’s “I just wanted two more inches – is that too much to ask for?”
“how I loathe my height—and it’s not a miracle I’m asking for! I don’t need to be six feet tall like yourself, but five foot five or six would’ve been nice. Five feet one inch is embarrassing for things like public speaking (which I loathe to begin with) and no self-respecting septuagenarian is going to wear pumps, though I will say I do miss wearing them.”
A passage that really sums up the greatness of this book:
“Imagine, the letters one has sent out into the world, the letters received back in turn, are like the pieces of a magnificent puzzle, or, a better metaphor, if dated, the links of a long chain, and even if those links are never put back together, which they will certainly never be, even if they remain for the rest of time dispersed across the earth like the fragile blown seeds of a dying dandelion, isn’t there something wonderful in that, to think that a story of one’s life is preserved in some way, that this very letter may one day mean something, even if it is a very small thing, to someone?”
Sybil shows her feistiness:
“At seventy-eight years old I have no intention of ever remarrying and I assure you I will conduct my life as I see fit, and if that means I pass some of my days with one man and other days with someone else, that is my choice to make. If it troubles you, then I suggest you reverse and go find somewhere else to park yourself. Mick Watts is a friend of mine, and our lives share a substantial quantity of overlap. Mick is funny and clever, and we have a good time together. I want nothing to do with it if you continue to conduct yourself in a snit.”
Bringing back some lovely Parisienne memories:
“Rosalie—Hello from the City of Lights! I know you loved Paris when you were here in the seventies and I can understand why. Theodore and I are having a lovely time. He has visited Paris a number of times in the past and serves as a wonderful touring companion. We are staying in a very well appointed apartment belonging to a friend of Felix’s with windows ten feet tall just near the Tuileries gardens. Sainte-Chapelle was my favorite. I sat in the pews and wept. Everything is resolved with Stewart and Felix for the moment, thanks in part to Felix’s successful essay in Vogue. I tried the books on tape, but really cannot focus and detest the headphones and bad narrators, so not reading anything anymore, though sometimes I have Theodore read to me aloud. Miss you, sending love—Sybil”
A poignant summary as Sybil looks back on life:
“we are thirty in our hearts, before all the disappointment, all the ways it turned out to be so much more painful than we thought it would be, but then again, it has also been magic.”
I recommend this book for everyone. There should be something here to resonate with all generations but particularly those of us who are fifty plus.
Here’s a good Wall Street Journal article on how the sales took off slowly:
I really enjoyed this new music that I came across this week from Ed Harcourt. Sounds like a new-agey, modern cross between Claude Debussy and Erik Satie, with a bit of Bill Evans “Peace Piece” in the mix. I love the entire album – so relaxing and focusing. I read that Harcourt is heavily influenced by Nick Cave and Tom Waits – so I’ll share some stuff from them also.
The audio book of “Faith, Hope and Carnage” occupied some of my walking time this week. Sean O’Hagan (Guardian music writer) interviews Nick Cage, famously difficult and acerbic in interviews, about his album “Ghosteen”, the lockdown, the death of his son, and many other topics. You would need to be a Cage fan to enjoy this.
This instrumental caught my ear while I was doing some puzzles with coffee in Petite Rouge. I think I’ve shared some of their music in the last few months and my search engine isn’t cooperating for me to validate:
This wonderful Tom Waits song plays over the credits to the new “Knives Out” murder mystery movie:
We agreed not to exchange any big gifts this year and opened our stockings before heading out for a fancy Christmas lunch. One stuffer that I’ve been particularly enjoying is the “Whomp Whomp trombone”:
I finished “Holy City” by Henry Wise. This won the Edgar award for best debut novel. What’s wrong with the Edgar panel? This dragged slowly after the initial chapters, with confusing and underdeveloped characters (and way too many of them to keep track of) and a completely unbelievable plot line. Not recommended!
I joined the guys at Bruno’s to watch Tulane and Ole Miss on Saturday afternoon. I had never been to this bar before, and apparently it’s been the site of a couple of stories for the krewe over the years, and has been in business since 1934. The place wasn’t too crazily busy since the game was being played in Mississippi and most of the Tulane kids were home for the holidays.
I had read about something called the Greenway SuperNova close to Cafe Degas. We navigated over to explore. I had expected some illuminated art installations along the Lafitte Greenway and that wasn’t really what it was. It seemed more like an art market with some great food booths and music stages. The evening was getting chilly and so we had a quick walk through and called it an early night.
We picked Chickie up at the Four Seasons (he was slumming), or I should say we tried to – his massage was running long. Tough life… We ultimately met up at Elizabeth’s for a yummy brunch.
Kenny and Kara invited us to join them to watch a film by a friend that was playing at the Black Film Festival. The event was headquartered at Cafe Istanbul which is in the community center on St Claude Avenue.
I really like this venue. It has space for 10 or 12 pop-up style restaurants and a great bar. I was wandering around looking for some snacks for us while the other 3 settled in at the bar. When I got there, Diana was in a conversation with the bartender. He hails from the English Midlands and has an extremely strong accent. I was amazed at Diana’s ability to carry on a conversation – she’s come a long way since Ian Fanning from Linlithgow. The bartender was a very nice gentleman, recently a U.S. citizen, and interested to talk to me about what I missed from Scotland as compared to New Orleans and about the process to obtain citizenship. He shared a single malt Welsh whisky with me – and it was very smooth.
I forgot to mention that before all those festivities took place, I was enlisted to help install the latest blow up holiday nonsense – a polar bear with penguins – hanging off the front porch. Sitting on top of that hedge doesn’t look comfortable to me.
I finished “Flesh” by David Szalay this week. I can appreciate the sparse writing style that led to this winning the Booker prize. At the same time, that’s really not my preference. I felt as if we jumped through things way too quickly without smooth transitions. Here’s some online review thoughts:
I continued with the two books I started last week. The first was “Licks of Love” by John Updike. Not at the level of his prime “Rabbit” and other work, but still a great read.
Later in the day we drove over to Louisiana Running and Walking company to see about some new shoes for Diana. She really likes the ones she’s had for the last year or so, tried on a couple of other options, and decided to stick with the new version of what she’s “been having.”
I would have gone with Beatles (64), Superbowl (70 ish), Jaws (75), and email (78, 79?). Seems that’s what the Bayou Boyz decided also and bet 20 points on it.
Diana and Laurie had a night out at “Really Really Nice Wines” while the guys persevered at trivia. This is a walkable store with good snacks and wine and it seems they enjoyed the couple of hours they spent there.
Then we had an amazing dinner at Brigtsen’s. I had promised to take McD here before Frank retires (who knows when.) Denny and Anne heard about our plans and asked to join – why not?
Back to the meal, that bisque was heavenly and a cup was more than enough if one planned to eat anything else. Meanwhile, Diana had the house salad and pronounced it, “Maybe the best salad I’ve ever had.” The dressing was sublime.
I followed my bisque with a crab crusted drum. The caramelized onions in the veggie side were a total star, and the fish was the best I’ve ever had – that sauce, crust and beautifully cooked.
Brigtsen’s Seafood Platter
We had a pecan pie and a lemon ice box creme brulé (wonderful) for dessert. I think Kenny would love that lemon brulé.
Thursday began with a run in Audubon park – got to work off some of those Brigtsen’s calories. Then we made a stop at the local coffee shop, Tartine, to read the paper and enjoy a snack. My quiche and Diana’s bagel with lox were both excellent. We agree that it might be the best quiche we’ve had – from a hidden neighborhood joint – yes! Better than filtered in McKinney – definitely.
We made our first visit to a newly reopened venue, the Jazz and Blues Market, on Friday. This opened a month or more ago and is a real adult jazz club – cocktail table seating, great sound, and a very nice lobby bar. Another treat – table service with well made cocktails.
I had a quiet and relaxing day on Saturday. Diana met the girls at Sunnie’s for morning yoga by the pool and then they hung out and had some good girl time.
Nebraska is a huge departure from the wall of sound recording of Bruce’s prior few albums (Born to Run, The River). I can’t imagine that a bigger departure would have been possible. Stripped down and released exactly as it was recorded in Springsteen’s rental house on a four track recorder to cassette tape.
I had my teeth cleaned on Thursday morning, right after making a run to the gas station – Diana had left me with an empty tank and I hadn’t really allotted time to deal with that. I do enjoy this mural on the wall beside the Shell station on Magazine street.
Paul, our financial advisor, had an event at Ralph’s on the Park on Thursday. It was billed as a “market update” and Sheldon had flown in to deliver a short talk, but it was mainly a client recognition affair.
Anne, another Anne that we met at the event, and Kelly. This was my first time at Ralph’s, a lovely restaurant that is directly across from City Park. The food was yummy and Paul a very gracious host.
We made it to a new festival on Sunday – the Oak street po-boy fest. They have around 40 stalls selling the signature po-boys of each establishment, and 6 music stages. What’s a po-boy? (some of my international readers might ask.)
There are two bakeries that produce the bread for the vast majority of po-boys – Leidenheimer and Dong Phoung. Both have their supporters, with more places using Leidenheimer (at least where I’ve been.) George Leidenheimer came to New Orleans from Deidesheim, Germany, and founded the bakery that bears his name in 1896. The bakery was located on Dryades Street, and in 1904 it moved to the brick building on Simon Bolivar Avenue (less than a mile from our home) where the fourth and fifth generations of Leidenheimer’s family still own and operate the business. Dong Phuong is a much more recent enterprise, started by De and Huong Tran in 1982 after immigrating to New Orleans, and initially catering to the Vietnamese community. The bakery is well known for Carnival king cakes and is a longer drive for us, located 13 miles away in New Orleans East.
We, mostly Diana, did research on Saturday evening to narrow down what kind of po-boy we should try. Escargot and soft-shell crab were the leaders and we ended up choosing escargot. That sandwich was loaded with what looked like 30 of the “slippery little suckers.” What movie is that a quote from? We both got our tummies full from one po-boy. And it was served on a Dong Phuong pistolette.
The lady from Ajun Cajun won two awards, including best of the fest po-boy for the yakiniku. Made with stir-fried ribeye, this is a sandwich the restaurant family has been serving at Jazz Fest, French Quarter Fest, Mid-City Bayou Boogaloo and other events for many years.
After that we rendezvoused with the Kirsch girls at the Eagle stage to listen to a bit of a Ween cover band – Pollo Asado.
I finally finished “The Librarians” this week, and I’m not happy with the conclusion. It’s like watching a movie that you’re really enjoying and then being left with an overdone and unbelievable ending. There were many unbelievable elements – I would have survived a couple. It seemed like every character that I enjoyed early in the book, ended up with unrealistic qualities. Maybe that’s why it took me a few weeks to finish this. I would skip it.
Thursday was similar, Diana and I went for a longish walk and then Diana helped Anne to pack up some glasses and such. Then we relaxed out back on “Paradise Point”:
Saturday was free outside music day. Laurel Street porch concert followed by the Kingpin. Pedro, Martin and Oscar were together again at Laurel Street. We had previously seen them at the NOMA last Sunday. Here they shared all that positive and youthful energy again:
World class jazz musicians performing on a porch for free. Only in New Orleans, in my opinion. We saw the three of them perform some of the same music a week ago. It was just as good the second time.
My book this week was “The Librarians” by Sherry Thomas.