“Birthday Music Week”
Bryce the piano tuner came on Monday. He was impressed with how well our piano had survived storage, moving, and settling in to a new home. As is typical here, he was quite the character, sharing stories about tuning Paul Simon and Harrick Connick’s pianos, and videos of rock concerts that he attended in the 1970s. Here he is testing out his tuning job, while I stay out of his way in the living room:
Denny and Anne were headed out of town, so took me for an early birthday dinner at Husky. As a special treat they brought me some meat pies from a butcher in Lafayette. We followed that with a visit to Dos Jefes to listen to John Fohl – always a treat.
And now we move into the heavy music rotation part of the week. On Thursday we joined Kenny, Julia and John for a singer songwriter night at the Broadside Pavillion. The artists performing were Gregg Hill, Mia Borders, Alex McMurray, and Johnny Sansone. The highlight for me was Alex McMurray’s solo set, with Mia Borders as a close second, particularly the song she did with McMurray.
On Friday we met at Kenny and Kara’s house for a birthday drink and they presented me with this lovely gift from the local artist, Simon. We could easily walk to his gallery from our home.
The four of us decamped to a restaurant called “Pigeon and Whale.” This place specializes in seafood and we shared a number of dishes. They also have a large selection of different negronis. Kenny and Diana insisted on dessert, and I’m glad they did as the lemon thing was delicious. Thanks for a lovely dinner with wonderful friends, Diana.
After dessert, we met the boys at NOLA brewing. Alex McMurray, who we saw the previous night, was playing with his band. It was nice to hang out with the boys for a bit, and we had to call it a relatively early night as I was taking Diana back to the airport at 5am on Saturday morning.
Meanwhile, my old Executive Committee team was enjoying dinner at Phil’s place in the Hamptons. I miss that krewe.
The music continued on Saturday. This time it was the second annual Bob Dylan birthday tribute at the Broadside. I thoroughly enjoyed it last year and so was quite excited for the show. Anne, Mason, Jack E and Peggy all joined. The show was excellent all around! Excellent backing band, singers, and venue. Gal Holiday performed my favourite Dylan song:
I enjoyed the opening song by the organizer of the music, Sam Price:
I drove Anne home after the show and we passed a restaurant called “El Pavo Real.” I had seen it many times and never been there. “We’re going there tomorrow,” said Anne.
She picked me up and we enjoyed Sunday brunch. This is a great Mexican place and wasn’t busy at all. Excellent chilaquiles and palomas.
Meanwhile, in Redwood City, California, Diana had made it in time to dress up and attend Olivia’s high school graduation celebration. The pictures would say that they had a great time.
Have I had enough music yet? No – it’s my birthday week, I want one more night. Sunday brought “Rock for Aegis,” a benefit for Scott Aiges who was the music journalist for the local paper and is fighting aggressive brain cancer. The power was out in Uptown New Orleans, apparently part of a necessary rolling brown out due to unforeseen demand. We had planned on meeting at Fred and Kelly’s home for a drink before the show, but they had no power. I invited the group to meet at our home, as we still had power, and worst case a generator.
The show was local musicians playing Tom Petty songs. And for the third night in a row, Alex McMurray was involved. The highlight for me was Samantha Fish (excellent blues musician) covering “American Girl.”
Meanwhile, in Pacifica, California, Diana was hosting a party for Alicia’s 25th birthday. She always loves that our birthdays are just a few days apart. Look at the spread she assembled. It looks like everyone had a good time.
Interestingly, the “end pieces” of the sourdough loaves were all that remained. Olivia noticed and realized that Grammie used to eat those first.
A subset of the group enjoyed the sunset on the beach:
Meanwhile, somewhere off the coast of the Florida panhandle, Denny and Jack were catching pleny off red snapper:
My book this week was one that I’d been waiting on for a while, “Run for the Hills,” by Kevin Wilson. I’ve enjoyed all of his previous books, so uniquely creative and funny. This one didn’t disappoint. Here’s the summary:
“Ever since her dad left them twenty years ago, it’s been just Madeline Hill and her mom on their farm in Coalfield, Tennessee. While it’s a bit lonely, she sometimes admits, and a less exciting life than what she imagined for herself, it’s mostly okay. Mostly.
Then one day Reuben Hill pulls up in a PT Cruiser and informs Madeline that he believes she’s his half sister. Reuben—left behind by their dad thirty years ago—has hired a detective to track down their father and a string of other half siblings. And he wants Mad to leave her home and join him for the craziest kind of road trip imaginable to find them all.
As Mad and Rube—and eventually the others—share stories of their father, who behaved so differently in each life he created, they begin to question what he was looking for with every new incarnation. Who are they to one another? What kind of man will they find? And how will these new relationships change Mad’s previously solitary life on the farm?
Infused with deadpan wit, zany hijinks, and enormous heart, Run for the Hills is a sibling story like no other—a novel about a family forged under the most unlikely circumstances and united by hope in an unknown future.”
We’ve had a lot of musical discussion this week and so I’ll leave you with just one sample. Sansone played this at the singer songwriter show:
Coexist peacefully, with patience and kindness for all!
After the movie we had lunch at our old standby – Juan’s Flying Burrito.
My book this week was “Wild Dark Shore” by Charlotte McConaghy. This is a murder mystery set on a remote island near Antarctica, but it’s a lot more than that. I learned about emergency seed banks, and lots of nature, including deep details about penguins. A very good read.
This was the week that we said “Goodbye” to Clorinda. “Bye, with Love” is how she finished every phone call. I joined Diana in Pacifica, CA in time to get dressed for the vigil service on Wednesday evening. I hadn’t attended a vigil before and wasn’t really sure what to expect. All of the siblings spoke, including a very nice tribute from Diana. Several others spoke, including an entertaining and clever speech from Jeff. However, the highlight for me was Luciano, age 10, with a very touching tribute. He had nothing prepared and saw his Mom go up to speak and decided he should say something too. What a great job he did.
I finished “All Fours” by Miranda July this week. This book did not finish as it started – I was very pleased with the early section last week. The last two thirds of the book were almost unreadable for me, but I slogged on. Slow, vulgar, and with no real point. Like when Philip Roth or John Updike tried to shock you for a paragraph or two but dragged out by July for a hundred or more pages. Not recommended. I asked Kelly (our resident literature guru) what she thought – “HATED IT!” I’m not alone, and we both wonder what’s wrong with all those gushing reviewers.
I needed a palate cleanser after that, and so have made it most of the way through “My Darling Boy” by John Dufresne. I’ll share the online summary now and return with some of my favourite passages next week:
We were in the CBD (Central Business District) for a meeting with our estate lawyer on Wednesday afternoon. Diana commented that she didn’t remember the last time she was in a high rise office building – it’s been a while for both of us. After the meeting, we walked to Peche, a restaurant that we’ve been looking to try for a while. Debra recommended it and her recommendations carry some weight, given her job as manager of Jaques-Imo’s.
I circulated this picture of Diana peeking out of an egg as an Easter “yoke.” It was actually a dinosaur egg as part of an advertisement in a shopping mall in Glasgow.
There is a wonderful new record out this week -“Audience with the Queen” by Galactic and Irma Thomas. Thomas is 84 years old and sounds fantastic on all tracks, especially this one:
Alicia’s cat, Fri Fri, has been staying in our bedroom since Marco has an allergy to cat dander. I’ve renamed her the terrorist since she loves to jump on my head from behind when I’m sitting on the couch, nibble my toes in the middle of the night, and generally be a nuisance. And then she has the gaul to sleep on my side of the bed.
I started “Infinite Jest” by David Foster Wallace. I’m not sure how far I’ll be able to make it through this. Some chapters are entertaining and some are just very strange, and it’s a very long tome (1500 pages). More to come.
I missed the annual Tulane book festival on Thursday. This has really grown into a notable event. Things kicked of on Thursday evening with a panel from the Atlantic magazine and a talk from Bryan Stevenson, author of “Just Mercy.”
“Tulane University grabbed a small spot in the national conversation over the Trump administration’s Signal chat leak on Thursday as journalist Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic magazine, 
Amy made this mandala for Clorinda on Saturday. If you’re not familiar with the mandala, here’s a brief description:
Chef Diana was at it again on Sunday. This time the product was a Goudarooni. Most of you probably aren’t familiar with this Italian treat, so I’ll share the recipe:
I was reading about the upcoming release of a new book by Kevin Wilson, and decided to see if he had other books that I hadn’t read. I loved “The Family Fang” and “Nothing to See Here.” I started “This is Not the Time to Panic” – about 30 pages in I realized that it was very familiar and that I had read it before. On to “Perfect Little World”, a very enjoyable and thought provoking read:
“When Isabelle Poole meets Dr. Preston Grind, she’s just about out of options. She recently graduated from high school and is pregnant with her art teacher’s baby. Her mother is dead, and her father is a drunk. The art teacher is too much of a head case to help raise the child. Izzy knows she can be a good mother, but without any money or prospects she’s left searching.
Kenny and I attended Danny Barker fest at the Jazz Museum on Thursday. This was a very pleasant festival – outside in the courtyard and not too busy. Would you like to know about Danny Barker? Okay – here’s an overview:
From 1939 to 1946, he frequently recorded with 
Fete Francaise was on Saturday. I always enjoy this small festival put on by the French bilingual school on Magazine Street. They have food tents from local French restaurants and always very good music. Anne suggested lunch at La Petite Grocery (right next to the festival location) as the tents often run out of the most desired food and drinks. Lunch was great – I enjoyed the fusilli pasta with short rib and mushrooms. The portion was just right for lunch on a hot day.
I read “The Futures” by Anna Pitoniak this week. This was a fast and easy read, not living up to the excellent reviews from several well respected sources. It seemed a bit light and fluffy as it covered the 2008 crash. Here’s the online review: