Category: Music

Week in Review – September 22, 2019

‘Cause every girl crazy ’bout a sharp dressed man

This was a very busy and enjoyable music week.  The festivities kicked off with Lonelyland at the Saxon Pub on Monday.  Bob Schneider has been playing this regular residency at the Saxon for 20 years now.

This was an excellent show – very laid back and quiet (mostly) compared to a typical Schneider show.  Here’s the setlist for the show – my favourite song was “The Band Played On” – a very melancholy song.

Lonelyland goes live at 8:30PM CT at the Saxon Pub tonight! Join in on the live stream: facebook.com/bobschneidermusic

tryer G C C D

titty bar Fm Bb Eb/Fm Bb Eb Cm Ab Bb//Ab Bb Cm

like lightning D G

existential blues E A B

blue and blue G D Em C

wasting time A D E

bad mama G C G D

band plays on (the) G# D#/A#/

dark knight (the) G C D

boys you like D Bm G D A/

like the man said F Bbm

snow men F C

joey’s song A D E

squeeze (the) C Eb F/F Am F G

touch me and i’m good Csus2 G/B Am7 Fmaj9

sun’s coming G C

in a roomful of blood F C/G

once you feel nothing F C Gm F

natural woman

If you’re a real Schneider fan – here’s the livestream of the full show.  Don’t miss the humorous “Natural Woman” followed by “Eye of the Tiger” closing.

We met Vinod for dinner at the Bouldin Creek Cafe on Wednesday evening.  This is a vegetarian restaurant close to our apartment that we chose with Vinod in mind.  The food and ambiance were very good.  McD commenting, “These are the best fajitas I’ve ever had”, on her portabello mushroom fajitas.  Vinod and I enjoyed our veggie burgers and particularly the chipotle pesto sauce.  Meals with Vinod are always very entertaining.

On the drive to the restaurant, I noticed a sign on the El Mercado Mexican restaurant alerting us that John Inmon was hosting Marcia Ball as his guest.  After dinner, we paid our $5 cover and enjoyed the last 40 minutes of that excellent show.  John Inmon is known as one of the finest guitarists in Austin (pretty rarefied company) and hosts a different guest every Tuesday night.  What a treat to see Marcia Ball with a different band and playing songs that you don’t hear in her regular sets recently.  Here’s the excellent “World Full of Love”.  Marcia and her friend told the story of writing this song after the last election – they were not happy with the result but turned around that sentiment into this beautiful song:

Thursday brought the drive back to Dallas so that Diana could attend a meeting downtown.  We listened to more of our audible book, “The Apartment”, getting close to the concluding exciting part.   Diana texted me this picture from the client office, asking me if I was interested in attending.  “Absolutely”, was my speedy response.  I’m a huge Eric Clapton fan and this festival includes many of the world’s best guitar players.

We headed down to American Airlines Center early on Friday afternoon and were the first folks to arrive at Diana’s work suite.  The show started with Bill Murray introducing Sonny Landreth (an amazing slide guitar player from New Orleans).  Last time I saw him was with less than 50 folks at the Rock N’ Bowl – bit different this time.

Eric Clapton and his band (including Andy Fairweather Low – my Mum’s 2nd cousin) were up next and provided a beautifully nuanced acoustic set – including these two gems:

Gary Clark Jr., another amazing Austin guitar player, joined Citizen Cope for this one – such a great guitar sound:

Sheryl Crow was joined by Doyle Bramhall (last seen at Antone’s small club in Austin) for one of my favourites of hers, “Steve McQueen”:

I think Jimmy Vaughan had one of the best sets of the evening (and there were a lot of good ones).  We last saw him a few weeks ago at the tiny C-Boys Heart and Soul club on South Congress in Austin – quite a change in venue.  He started out with the same band from C-Boys:

Vaughan’s first guest was the lovely Bonnie Raitt:

Then things picked up on the crowd pleasing dial.  Billy Gibbons of ZZTop joined for a couple of songs, getting the crowd going with “Sharp Dressed Man”

We saw Marcus King at the Hula Hut in Austin during South by Southwest and loved his voice.  Things were a bit loud and overdriven at this show.  I did enjoy this quieter song, “Goodbye Carolina”:

Next up was Peter Frampton – weeks away from entering retirement.  He started with a lovely instrumental version of Hoagey Carmichael’s “Georgia on my mind”, and then transitioned into the famous “Do You Feel Like We Do”, from the best-selling live album of all time, “Frampton Comes Alive”:

Then we had a real moment.  Frampton introduced a gentleman that he’d known for a long time, but had never played with, Eric Clapton.  A real one of a kind experience as they played the Beatles, “My Guitar Gently Weeps”:

 

 

Jeff Beck finished out the show.  A special guest ambled onto the stage to sing John Lennon’s “Isolation” – Johnny Depp – he did a decent job on a great song:

What an amazing event, finishing after midnight, wait – there’s a song about that.  Who wrote that?  Eric Clapton you might quickly answer, but you’d be wrong – it was J. J. Cale.  Check out the original version later in this post.  Thanks Diana, for an excellent event.  The logistics of this event were incredible – a rotating stage so that there was a very short gap between music, and satellite stages to add some special interest.  The setlist for Saturday (Vince’s buddy was recording the show and provided this) shows the precision involved:

Here’s the setlist from the show we saw on Friday:

Main Event in American Airlines Center from approximately 7PM on Friday, September 20th:

Sonny Landreth:  Walkin’ Blues, It Hurts Me Too, Instrumental (Title Unknown), Brave New Girl

Eric Clapton with Andy Fairweather Low, Jamie Oldaker, Steve Gadd, Nathan East and Pedrito Martinez:  Circus, Nobody Knows You When You’re Down And Out, Tears In Heaven, Wonderful Tonight, Lay Down Sally

Bonnie Raitt, Keb’ Mo’ and Alan Darby – 1 song.  Alan played the new Gibson Custom Eric Clapton 1964 Firebird 1 Recreation which is part of the 2019 Crossroads Guitar Collection.

Citzen Cope – 5 songs including Bullet And A Target and Sideways. Gary Clark, Jr. joined for one number

Gustavo Santaolalla – the Argentinian guitarist and composer opened with the Apology Song, followed by a selection of songs from film soundtracks he composed.

Sheryl Crow – 6 song set with guests Bonnie Raitt and James Bay. If It Makes You Happy, Steve McQueen (with Bonnie Raitt), Live Wire (with Bonnie Raitt), Everything Is Broken (with Bonnie Raitt and James Bay), Every Day Is A Winding Road (with James Bay)

Pedro Martins and Daniel Santiago – 3 song set

Kurt Rosenwinkel with Pedro Martins – performed 6 songs. Songs were taken from Kurt Rosenwinkel’s album Caipi and Pedro Martin’s album, Vox.

James Burton and Albert Lee with Jamie Oldaker and Nathan East: That’s Alright Mama, Rock Around With Ollie Vee

Jimmie Vaughan and The Tilt-A-Whirl Band with guests Bonnie Raitt and Billy Gibbons: D/FW, Roll Roll Roll, No One To Talk To (But The Blues), Baby Please Come Home (with Bonnie Raitt), I Ain’t Never (with Bonnie Raitt), Sharp Dressed Man (with Billy Gibbons), La Grange (with Billy Gibbons)

Doyle Bramhall and Gary Clark, Jr: Rock Me Baby

The Marcus King Band: 7 song set including I Just Want To Make Love To You, Hoochie Coochie Man and Goodbye Carolina.

Peter Frampton with Eric Clapton:  Georgia On My Mind (Instrumental), Do You Feel Like We Do, While My Guitar Gently Weeps (with Eric Clapton)

Jeff Beck with guests Johnny Depp and Jimmy Hall (pending confirmation):  Jeff’s set included Big Block, Isolation (with Johnny Depp), Somebody’s Nobody (with Johnny Depp), Superstition (with Johnny Depp and Jimmy Hall), Little Wing (with Johnny Depp and Jimmy Hall)

While we were enjoying all of this varied and excellent music in Texas, Will was presenting to a Redwood City elementary class about the solar power system he installed for their school.  You can tell he’s loving the chance to interact with the kids:

It’s been a very good football Sunday – the Cowboys won easily over the Dolphins (scoring two TDs while I was facetiming with my parents), the Eagles lost, and New Orleans beat Seattle with a backup quarterback.  And Nick Baudin, Campbell’s friend since elementary school in Los Gatos, hurdled a defender for a first down for the Detroit Lions.

I started “The Most Fun We Ever Had” by Claire Lombardo this week.  The first 100 of 500 pages have been enjoyable.  I suspect it’ll take me a few weeks to finish this one.  The multi-generational story of a Chicago based family seems like it will provide many hours of interesting reading.

 

 

 

There’s a new ablum from the excellent Teskey Brothers, a Melbourne based blues/soul band that I really enjoy:

Here’s the original version of “Isolation”, performed by Jeff Beck and Johnny Depp on Friday.  It really reminds me of Dark Side of the Moon era Pink Floyd and could easily be a Roger Waters song:

Let’s finish out the week with even more excellent music, the original version of “After Midnight”:

I highly encourage you to check out all of Cale’s wonderful catalog.

 

MIND GAMES COVER

TESKEY BROS

Fortnight in Review – August 25, 2019

“Surfing Dogs, Walking in Memphis”

Did you miss me last week?  Really?  Be honest.

We were visiting with Kris and Cat last Sunday prior to their French adventure, and ended up staying late after dinner.  With travel and excitement, I decided to skip the blog and catch up on two weeks today.  Do you think I qualify as a “Babe Who Blogs” – I didn’t think so either and so skipped this event at the apartment building.

I spent the first week in Austin, while McD headed to Wisconsin for a few days.  Sunrise on Tuesday was described as “crepuscular” by the TV weather guy.  It was quite impressive and I looked up what that meant:

Crepuscular Rays:  A sunbeam, in meteorological optics, is a ray of sunlight that appears to radiate from the point in the sky where the Sun is located. Shining through openings in clouds or between other objects such as mountains, these columns of sunlit scattering particles are separated by darker shadowed volumes.

I do enjoy waking up with sunrise over downtown Austin.  Meanwhile Diana was enjoying what Wisconsin had to offer – much cooler weather, and some good steakhouses (no relation to the New Orleans institution of the same name).

I enjoyed an amazing Chinese Dim Sum meal on Wednesday with Mark and Damon.  Lin Dim Sum is one of my new favourite Austin restaurants.  We navigated the hard to eat soup dumplings and then enjoyed the stand out of our meal, the seafood basket.  All the different seafood offerings were perfectly cooked and presented.

Diana and I regrouped in Dallas on Thursday night at the lovely Neighborhood Services restaurant on Lovers Lane.  We love this place and it never disappoints with excellent service and food.

On Saturday morning, we caught a flight to San Francisco for a few days with family.   Crosswords are a good way to pass the time, and I always enjoy the view of the Sierras with a small snow cap remaining.

We took Clorinda to Puerto 27, the Peruvian restaurant in Pacifica, for dinner on Saturday night.  She enjoyed “sharing” the pisco sour 27 cocktail with me, and was heard to say, “is the rest of this for me?”.

 

Clorinda thought her “His and Hers” note by the extra coffee maker acquired at a rummage sale was very funny:

Sunday took us down to Santa Clara to visit with Kris and Cat.  The fresh produce from their garden led to excellent appetizers and dinner.  We laughed as we reviewed the calendar for their three week trip to France, and particularly Kris’ list of outfits, shoes, and accessories to be worn each afternoon and evening

Diana had to work on Monday, so I took Clorinda for lunch at the Cliff House – a classic San Francisco restaurant on the cliffs above Ocean Beach.

Sutro’s at the Cliff House is very fancy and we were able to score a lovely window seat.  Clorinda loved every last drop of her red Thai curry bouillabaisse, while I was equally happy with my scallops and shrimp over saffron cous cous.

I gathered some excellent stories:  Why it’s so much more difficult to sing opera in French than Russian (who would have expected),  the challenges of surf boarding behind a ski boat in Lake Tahoe when you can’t float with a life jacket,  living in a one bedroom apartment in North Beach with a baby grand and not being able to concentrate on music if the kitchen wasn’t fully organized, and making a 21 layer rice crispie cake for Adamo.  For desert we chose a butterscotch pot de creme (yummy).  We both enjoyed our 2 hour plus lunch experience.

 

While in Wisconsin, McD had seen a story on the news about the dog surfing championship in Pacifica.  It was funny to read about this in the local Pacifica paper.  Here’s the start of the story:

“It was a foggy morning in Pacifica, but the cover burned off as the day went on and it didn’t deter crowds from coming out to see the 4th annual dog surfing championships at Linda Mar beach on Saturday.  At least a thousand people showed up to watch.”

Tuesday took us down to Campbell to prepare for our concert at the Saratoga Mountain Winery.  We enjoyed dinner at Pacific Fresh in the Campbell Pruneyard and then made the precarious drive up to the winery.

Shemeika Copeland, daughter of blues great Johnny Copeland, opened the show beautifully.  Her dialogue between songs really added to the experience.

You can tell from the video that Diana sprung for some amazing seats – front row, right in front of Marc Cohn’s piano.  Thanks for the excellent birthday gift!

Marc Cohn and the Blind Boys of Alabama followed Copeland, with a very unique set.  The Blind Boys adding excellent gospel harmony to Cohn’s songs.  “Walking in Memphis” taking on a whole new meaning with the gospel harmonies.  The blind boys have been performing for over 7o years, with one of their member close to 90.  What an experience.

Video recording was not permitted at the show, so here’s a sample of what that song sounded like at another performance:

I loved watching Cohn’s smile as he listened to the Blind Boys enhancing his compositions.

We will never forget the Cohn concert at the Kessler a few years ago, when we were first introduced to “True Companion”, our wedding song, and the story of an overseas service members’ wife attending the concert.  Here’s a memory from that show:

Taj Mahal finished out the show.  While we enjoyed his music and performance, more Marc Cohn would have been great.

I love this video of Taj Mahal riding around New Orleans while performing his classic song, “Queen Bee”:

We flew back to Dallas on Wednesday, fortunately sharing the flight with Kris and Cat heading to France.

Prior to the flight, we enjoyed brunch at Mo’s in downtown Campbell, home to an outstanding Bloody Mary with onion ring and bacon – yummmm.

We both worked most of the day on Thursday and Friday, and then Diana organized an excellent night out on Saturday.  We began with dinner at Rye in downtown McKinney.  Ownership had changed in the last year and the cocktail list had me on alert, but we ended up having an excellent meal.  Four courses of shared tapas – blue cheesecake (very creative), forest floor (almost up there with Manresa presentation) with four kinds of mushrooms, edible flower, and seaweed foam, perfect scallops, and finally pork belly lollipops.

Dinner was followed by the Peterson Brothers band in the downtown McKinney courthouse – quite a change from the Continental Club where we usually see them.  Diana had a nice chat with Deana (the boys mother) where we learned that they were just back from opening for Gary Clark Jr. in Virginia – big time!  As usual the Brothers delivered high energy, positive vibes with those great smiles and  energy.

Sunday began as normal- swim, coffee and crossword, and facetime with Mum and Dad.  I laughed at the story of my Dad’s challenges with caulk, only to struggle as I tried to fill in a hole where wasps are gathering around a window on our back patio.

On a completely different note, Will is headed to Burning Man next week and has been excitedly sharing pictures of his camper, outfits and transportation:

I’m excited to hear about Will and Christine’s experiences in the Google village at Burning Man.

I loved the book “Henry, Himself” by Stewart O’Nan.  O’Nan is renowned for illuminating the unexpected grace of everyday life and the resilience of ordinary people with humor, intelligence, and compassion. In this book, he offers an unsentimental, moving life story of a twentieth-century everyman.

Soldier, son, lover, husband, breadwinner, churchgoer, Henry Maxwell has spent his whole life trying to live with honor. A native Pittsburgher and engineer, he’s always believed in logic, sacrifice, and hard work. Now, seventy-five and retired, he feels the world has passed him by. It’s 1998, the American century is ending, and nothing is simple anymore. His children are distant, their unhappiness a mystery. Only his wife Emily and dog Rufus stand by him. Once so confident, as Henry’s strength and memory desert him, he weighs his dreams against his regrets and is left with questions he can’t answer: Is he a good man? Has he done right by the people he loves? And with time running out, what, realistically, can he hope for?

The quality of the writing is superb, and I really enjoy the time taken exploring the everyday experiences that make up a life.  I look forward to reading the other two books in this trilogy.

This is my favourite Peter Gabriel album, before things got too esoteric, with excellent production by Bob Ezrin, and containing “Here Comes the Flood” – a top 10 song of mine.

Try this piece for an escape from the ratrace – just beautiful and calming:

And if you liked this, then you will probably enjoy this as well, excellent pianist also:

And as the wonderful Monty Python’s Flying Circus would say, “and now for something completely different”.  In my estimation, this is the perfect bouncy summer song for relaxing by the pool:

Shemeika Copeland delivered an awesome version of this song by her father on Tuesday night:

 

Week in Review – August 11, 2019

“My compliments to the chef”

It was back down to Austin on Monday morning and back up to McKinney again on Friday.  Diana let me borrow her car so I would be a bit more comfortable on the long drives, while she and Penelope tried to get along on her drives to downtown Dallas.

As you can see from the pictures above, it was oppressively hot all week.  Those red bars are the “feels like” temperature – adjusted for humidity.  Diana’s car is reporting a real temperature of 105 degrees at 5pm.  As a result, I spent most of my time indoors this week.

Cat was in Austin for an Apple Systems Engineering annual meeting, and we were able to meet up on Thursday evening.  We made a quick visit to the Sky bar for the requisite picture, and then Ubered over to Peche – I know, it’s less than a mile, but it was still too hot to walk at 7:30 pm.

We enjoyed an excellent dinner at Peche.  The combination of Cat’s intelligence, world view, and immense wit, make him a perfect dinner companion.  He loved the rabbit and mushroom risotto, and sent his compliments to the chef via Tucker, our waiter.  Chef showed up a few minutes later and Cat told him he liked the dish because you could stop eating to tell a story for a few minutes, and the excellent flavor was still in your senses.  This is a new dish on the menu, and Diana will have to return to try it soon.

We visited the Roosevelt Room, a kind of fancy speakeasy style cocktail bar, after Peche and I enjoyed a Paper Plane.  We sat at the bar and thoroughly enjoyed watching all the craft cocktails being prepared – some works of art.  My drink came with a small origami plane flying alongside

It was very nice to spend an evening with Cat without the girls along.  Wait – maybe that didn’t come out exactly the way I meant it.  What I was trying to say….  Ah, never mind, I’ll just stop digging the hole now.

I tried a couple of new things for my drive on Friday.  #1, I downloaded an audible book to listen to on the ride – I’ve listened to podcasts but never a book.  I chose “Lincoln in the Bardo”, which got such rave reviews last year.  It has an all start cast reading – apparently one of the largest for an audio book.  Nick Offerman is excellent.  What a weird book – I listened for almost four hours and was really struggling to figure out what was going on.  Had to read a synopsis when I got home.  Not sure whether I’ll make it through the remaining 3 hours or not.  #2, I decided to venture away from the standard places along the highway and try a real Waco restaurant for my lunch stop.  Harvest was a very good farm to table casual place, not too far off Interstate 35.  The migas were excellent.  I look forward to stopping there again.

 

It was very nice to resume the regular weekend routine with Diana – swim, coffee and crossword, reading.  The simple things that I miss when we’re not together.  We ventured out of the normal routine for dinner, trying a new restaurant for us, Knife, located by Willow Bend Mall.  This is a John Tesar place.  You may remember I came home with a whole pan of his duck confit risotto after attending a demonstration he did at the Granada theater a few years back.  He is starting to expand his empire with a few different places now, after getting his real start as the executive chef at the Mansion on Turtle Creek.

We were both very pleased with the quality of the steak and the sauces.  My au poivre was absolutely delicious.  I chuckled at the mini fry basket that the french fries were served in.  We have plenty of left overs for dinner tonight.

I was even able to resist the chocolate caramel treat and have that waiting for desert later.

I finally finished “Lost Children Archive” by Valeria Luiselli.  On the surface this is a family road trip story.  Parents and two young children embark on a trip from New York to Arizona and the Apache homelands.  Several stories interweave, including narratives on the plight of native Americans, and on children traveling alone across the border in attempts to reunite with family members living in the United States.  All very poignant with the backdrop of our governments challenge to figure out a workable immigration solution on our southern border.  I enjoyed the book quite a bit, but got bogged down in some of the historical details and discussion on documentary field recordings.

Welcome to a new series of introductions to my new music finds – featuring some of  my favourite album covers.  I particularly like the diner scene on the back of Supertramps’ classic “Breakfast in America”.  If you zoom in you can see Dougie Thompson reading the Glasgow Herald.

I had been listening to some Philip Glass music this week, and then read in the acknowledgements in “Lost Children Archive” that Luiselli had listened to his “Metamorphosis” a lot while writing the novel.  Also interesting that the owner of Shakespeare & Co in Paris gave her a room above the store to work in for a year while writing.  Here’s Part 2 of metamorphosis – I love the triplet right hand part around 2:30.

Zero 7, an English duo who began as studio engineers, have a new album out this week with a host of guest vocalists.  All very relaxing, chill sounds, and, not surprisingly, beautifully produced.

Something about the Zero 7 music sent me to Stereolab and one of my favourites from many years ago:

 

Week In Review – August 4, 2019

“Can’t be more than 114”

We covered a lot of ground this week.  I drove down to Austin on Monday to prepare for a presentation to the Board of Directors on Tuesday, driving back to McKinney when the session finished up.  We worked from home on Wednesday, and then caught a flight to Palm Springs for an adventure with the Ogans and two other couples who I’ll introduce you to in due course.

We checked into the gorgeous Korakia (Greek for “crow”) resort  on Wednesday night.  This resort was restored in 1989 and has a Mediterranean style on one side of the street, and Turkish on the other.  This place truly has the feel of an oasis in the desert, and has been featured in many architectural and travel magazines.  The San Jacinto mountains provide an awesome backdrop to the views form the resort.

No wonder the New York Times dubbed the Korakia as “one of the sexiest hotels in America”.

Kenny and Kara in Joshua Tree National Park

We met up with Kenny and Kara (New Orleans friends of Denny and Anne that I met briefly years ago) on arrival at the resort around 9pm.  The A/C in our original bungalow wasn’t working well and so we were transferred to a suite on the Mediterranean side of the road.  The suite and furnishings, including a turntable and good vinyl selection, were lovely, the only issue coming from a very high stone platform bed.  McD needed help in and out to avoid injury.  The shower was off a similar rock disposition, giving the suite a bit of Flintstones feel.  The neighbors were tired of hearing Diana yelling “Yabba Dabba Doo” as she attempted to jump up into the bed.  More about those neighbors, “the arsonists”, later.

“Can you give me a boost?”  We had a delightful evening, getting to know Kenny and Kara, and catching up with Denny and Anne.

Breakfast was included, and served on a gorgeous patio in front of the hotel, by some very happy and kind ladies.  I really enjoyed the avocado toast with a sunny-side egg and tomatoes.  The group managed to rustle up some champagne so that everyone could enjoy mimosas and get the day off to a good start.  I should clarify – the rest of the group had already been on a strenuous hike, climbing around 1500 feet in the roasting temperatures, before D and I joined them for breakfast.

Our main adventure activity on Thursday was the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway.  The 10-minute, 2.5-mile ride, begins at the Valley Station (elevation 2,643 feet) and ends at the Mountain Station (elevation 8,516 feet).  It was amazing to see that the temperature at the base was over 100 degrees, while a cool 65 degrees at 8,516 feet.

It was First Responders’ month, and as Kenny is a Fire Chief, we enjoyed discounted admission, and he received a nice souvenir.  I found the rotating of the tram car (a new feature introduced with a 2000 renovation) and the dips/swing after the towers a bit disconcerting – my Dad would have had a fit.

The tramway was first opened in 1963 after many decades of planning, fundraising, and logistical problem solving.  Construction was mostly accomplished with helicopters, flying some 23,000 missions during the 26 months of construction, hauling men and materials needed to erect the four  towers and the 35,000 sq. ft. Mountain Station.  Over 20 million people have now enjoyed the ride, and the tramway has been designated a historical civil engineering landmark.

The rest of the group enjoyed a hike at the top, while our poorly planned flip flops were an excuse to just relax and enjoy the scenery from the rooftop lounge (world’s 8th best cliff side restaurant).

The descent took less of a toll on my nerves and I was able to enjoy the rotating views as the landscaped changed from high forest to salt desert.

I was amazed at how quickly the temperature rose as we descended back down to the desert floor.

We enjoyed an afternoon snack in downtown Palm Springs, followed by a somewhat refreshing dip in the Mediterranean side pool, and then headed to get ready for dinner.  That’s when we first encountered “the arsonists”.  A younger couple, clearly very much in love and in the room next to us, had decided to light a wood fire to set a romantic mood.  In 114 degree weather?  Really?  No, REALLY?  The flue wasn’t open or some other issue had caused the room to completely fill up with smoke.  They ultimately had to transfer to another room later in the evening.  You can imagine what our Fire Chief thought about these goings on.

For dinner we chose tacos and margaritas at El Jefe in the funky, retro Saguaro hotel.  The shishito peppers, queso fundido, tacos (particularly the shrimp), and margaritas were all very good.  Unfortunately “Karaoke Kenny” wasn’t able to perform as that’s only available at El Jefe during high season.

Some excellent banter followed back at the hotel and we all retired at a relatively early time.

After another delicious and leisurely breakfast on Friday morning, we packed up and headed to Desert Hot Springs (DHS), a bit nearer to the venue for the concert series that initially spurred the trip.

Diana and Anne made a visit to Trina Turk’s clothes shop, while the rest of us picked up coffees and a blue balloon dog for Anne.  Denny and I were both looking for casual lunch spots en route to our next hotel, and both decided on Dillon’s Burgers and Beers at the same time.  This dive bar has been operating for over 70 years and delivered exactly what it advertised – delicious burgers and beer.  A highlight of the visit was playing pool, with Anne receiving detailed instructions from Karaoke Kenny – “Slow your roll, and see through the ball”.

From Dillon’s we made the short drive to El Morocco Inn and Spa.  We were a bit circumspect as we arrived at the hotel – the neighborhood seemed a bit sketchy and the outside of the establishment was not overly welcoming.  However, on embarking on the welcome tour with Debbie, our opinions were changed – this was a very welcoming hotel with lots of great features:  a pretty pool, Moroccan features in the rooms, french press coffee on demand, late night port, Casablanca playing on repeat, and a wonderful spa garden featuring a full size Bedouin tent.

Trey and Dana (long first “a”) arrived from Las Vegas shortly after we checked in.  Trey went to high school with Denny and Kenny, and now lives in Dallas.  Everyone chilled in the pool for a while, enjoying Morocco-tinis, before we made the journey up to Pappy and Harriet’s in Pioneertown for Campout 15.  “What’s all that?”, you ask?  Well, let’s see,  here’s some history from the P&H website:

The legendary Pappy&Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace has been delighting locals and travelers alike since 1982, with its mesquite barbeque, live music, dancing and friendly service. There is also a long history here. In 1946, Pioneertown was founded by a group of Hollywood investors with dreams of creating a living movie set — an 1870’s frontier town with facades for filming and interiors open to the public.

history-3On the outside were stables, saloons, and jails, and on the inside, were ice cream parlors, bowling alleys, and motels. Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Russell Hayden, and the Sons of the Pioneers (for whom the town was named) were some of the original investors and personalities who helped build and invent Pioneertown. More than 50 films and several television shows were filmed in Pioneertown throughout the 1940’s and 1950’s.

history-2

In 1946, where Pappy&Harriet’s stands today, was a facade used as a “cantina” set for numerous western films well into the 1950s. In 1972, Harriet’s mother, Francis Aleba, and her husband, John, purchased the building and opened “The Cantina”, an outlaw biker burrito bar. The Cantina rollicked for 10 years, and when it closed, Francis and John made sure the building stayed in the family.

history-0In 1982, Harriet and her husband, Claude “Pappy” Allen, opened “Pappy&Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace”. While the bikers still hung around, Pappy&Harriet’s presence created more of a family atmosphere. With family style Tex-Mex cuisine and live music featuring Pappy, Harriet and their granddaughter Kristina, P&H quickly became a local favorite with all walks of life getting along under one roof!

And what’s Campout 15?  Two bands formed by David Lowery, Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven, have hosted the Campout music festival at this location for the last 15 years.  This was to be the final event.  Lowery formed Camper Van Beethoven, an experimental indie band, in 1983 in Santa Cruz, CA, and then the more straight ahead, Cracker in the early 90s.  I’m a very big Cracker fan – the “Kerosene Hat” album has been one of my favourites for many years.

Jesika Von Rabbit (I know, what kind of name is that?) kicked off the Friday extravaganza.  I really enjoy their “Joshua Tree” song:

That was followed by a Cracker set.  The theme for the evening was “black”, to recognize the end of the Campout’s 15 year run.  Here’s their best known song:

 

 

Camper Van Beethoven played the headlining set on Friday.  Here’s Diana’s favourite song of theirs:

The sunset behind the band was beautiful:

The founder of the band is David Lowery and one of their most popular songs is a cover of Status Quo’s “Pictures of Matchstick Men”.  See if you agree with my theory here:  Lowry was an English painter, known for his pictures of matchstick men:

Here’s some info on Lowry:  L. S. Lowry (1887-1976) is best known for painting industrial scenes of North West England in the mid 20th century. His characteristic style has a dreamlike quality, populated by stylised figures referred to as ‘matchstick men’. Although Lowry was trained in academic drawing, he chose to develop his own naive style which has brought him widespread recognition. His mysterious, weatherless landscapes express a personal response to the world around him that never fails to bewitch the viewer. Lowry’s paintings tell the true tale behind English city life.

Do you think it’s interesting that Lowery covers a song by Status Quo about paintings by Lowry?  Ok, after all that, here’s a clip of that song, interestingly not really representative of the blues rock typical of Status Quo.  Trivia about Status Quo:  they opened Live Aid at Wembley in 1985 on my first day of work in the oil business.

It was a late arrival back at the El Morocco, but we managed to hang out and tell stories in the Bedouin tent for a while – with a couple of lazy belly dancing characters.  Here’s a picture of Denny and Anne in the spa garden pre-concert – don’t they look happy and relaxed?

The adventure for Saturday was a trip to the Joshua Tree National Park.  Here’s some info from the park website:

Joshua Tree National Park is a vast protected area in southern California. It’s characterized by rugged rock formations and stark desert landscapes. Named for the region’s twisted, bristled Joshua trees, the park straddles the cactus-dotted Colorado Desert and the Mojave Desert, which is higher and cooler. Keys View looks out over the Coachella Valley. Hiking trails weave through the boulders of Hidden Valley.  The park covers 1,235 square miles and was established in 1994.
Several of the roads in the park were closed due to bee infestation.  Apparently the bees are attracted to the moisture in car A/Cs and then end up caught in the vents, wreaking havoc inside.  Oh, I forgot to mention, on Saturday morning I was stung twice by a wasp when exiting the room to go in search of coffee.  In my childhood, I was highly allergic to wasp stings, and swelled up like a balloon dog.  That didn’t happen this time, no ill effects after  a few minutes at all.
Here’s some somewhat shocking information – the tree on the cover of U2’s Joshua Tree album wasn’t taken in the park but in Death Valley.  How can that be?  With thousands of Joshua Trees (the same as Yucca trees) in Joshua Tree park, why wouldn’t they use a picture of one of those?
We stopped for lunch (everyone but Denny) at the Joshua Tree Saloon.  The food was very good, and Kenny and Anne were able to reprise the pool experience.
After a dip in the pool at the El Morocco, we headed up for night two of the Campout.  The order was reversed with Camper Van Beethoven starting, and Cracker headlining.  In between was an interesting experience, The Minus Five performed.  Who are they?  Well, they were formed by Scott McCaughey in 1993 with Peter Buck of REM.  Prior to this band, McCaughey formed The Young Fresh Fellows with Chuck Caroll.  What?  That Chuck Carroll?
Yes – my neighbour in Los Gatos, Joe Carroll’s brother Chuck.  I met him a few times and he can play Anything on the guitar.  The Minus Five were much more animated than expected – kind of a cross between Joe Jackson and Elvis Costello in the late 80s.  Here they are with a Beatles cover.  Can you see Mike Mills and Peter Buck from REM on the right (they are used to much larger stadium audiences):
Cracker closed out the event with this amazing, positive song:
The combination of poor cell service and rural location made securing an Uber a bit of a challenge, but we finally made it back down to the El Morocco and headed straight to bed.
Sunday started with continental breakfast and a quick drive over to Palm Springs airport.  We were back in McKinney by 5pm and relaxing in our favourite spots.
We’ve had plenty of music this week, so I’ll leave you on our own to explore Cracker, Camper Van Beethoven, The Minus Five,  and Fresh Young Fellows.  Enjoy!

 

 

Week in Review – July 28, 2019

“Percussive Pigs”

This was a quiet week by myself, with Diana in California and Wisconsin.  I did venture out for some live music on Tuesday night.  Charlie Hunter and Lucy Woodward were playing at The Townsend.

This was an excellent show.  Charlie plays both bass and lead guitar on the same instrument – the top 2 strings are bass and the others are lead.  The way he builds up rhythms and combines parts is totally unique and very clever.  I had a great seat to observe exactly what he was doing with his fingers.  I saw a couple of other Austin based guitarists at the show and they were clearly amazed at the dexterity and creativity.

Lucy Woodward’s voice was pleasant and she collaborated well with Hunter.  The drummer and percussionist, Keita Ogawa, was outstanding.  The quality of musicianship on display in this small listening room was very impressive.  Here’s Ogawa playing three squeaky toy pigs in an amazing solo:

Here’s a cover from Grease, reinterpreted as a jazz standard:

This was likely my favourite show of the year so far in Austin.

I drove to McKinney on Thursday and then Diana made it back from her travels on Friday night.

The other two Aussies that we met at the Continental Club a few months ago (Sue and Graham) were passing through Dallas and hung out with us on Saturday.  They are so entertaining and funny.

Diana has left on her travels again – headed to Boston for work and returning on Tuesday night.

I enjoyed a couple of TV shows this week – “Shangri La” on Showtime is about the famous recording studio, now owned and operated by uber producer Rick Rubin.  The series showcased his unique approach to pulling the best music out of artists.

Jerry Seinfeld released a new series of “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee”, and I’m thoroughly enjoying it.  The episode with a vintage Maserati and Jamie Foxx in New Orleans was a highlight.

Keita Ogawa, the drummer with Charlie Hunter this week, is also part of the band Snarky Puppy.  This is an ensemble of folks that came together in Denton around the University of North Texas music department.  They have a varying cast of members and uniquely blend jazz, folk, and rock in compositions that I always find interesting.

I heard this Richard Hawley song on TV and through the wonder of Shazam was able to instantly find who was performing and the name of the song.  Hawley is an English singer songwriter with a number of good albums released.

Week in Review – July 14th, 2019

“A Dull Boy”

Another week of long work days for both of us.  Becoming too much of a trend lately.  We need to fix that soon.  “All work and no play, makes Keith a very dull boy!”.

My comment about steak tartare last week prompted Raj to send me this hilarious clip of Mr. Bean about to enjoy the same:

We were paying close attention to Hurricane Barry on Friday, as it started to head towards New Orleans and surrounding areas.  Denny and Anne returned form their European jaunt on Monday and had to move their cars out of their flooded street, and get ready for several days of being home bound.

Webster Street has never been this much flooded before, and the storm hadn’t arrived yet.

My friend Norma, from Guatemala, was trying to get to New Orleans on Saturday to see the Rolling Stones at the Superdome.  This is the rescheduled concert from the Jazzfest 50th anniversary show that was canceled due to Mick Jagger’s illness.  Wouldn’t you know she had to fly on Friday afternoon to get in ahead of the storm, only to find out that the concert was pushed back to Monday.  We’re hoping she finally gets to see the band after so much effort.  She was in Lima, Peru this week, planning for our new system to be implemented, and was complaining that it was mid winter and very cold.  It will not feel like winter in New Orleans for sure.

Thankfully, New Orleans was not too badly impacted by Barry.

Out in San Diego, Campbell reported his best sales month ever, and best week ever to close out the quarter.  Look at the salesman extraordinaire go!

This screensaver on my computer took me back to the gorgeous Scottish hillsides, covered in heather.  Also made me picture Bramble, Elspeth and David’s new Labrador, out for a run and having fun.  Correction – maybe she’s really Heather’s dog.

 

Our neighbours across the street are moving to a house with better “outdoor living” after 15 years in their current house.  We’re very sorry to see them go – such happy people who would help us with anything.  It’ll be interesting to see who moves in next.

I always enjoy waking up to the sunrise view and the Friday morning edition was very impressive.

 

 

Diana arrived on the afternoon bus on Friday and it reminded me to share this picture I snapped earlier in the week.  One of the luxury Vonlane buses had broken down and the Corvette the mechanic drove over to repair it was hilarious.  Zoom in and check out all that crazy air intake equipment.

Less than two hours after arrival, I had Diana over to Antone’s to see the amazing Marcia Ball.  I just told her that I had a fun activity planned, and didn’t provide any more details.  She was quite excited on seeing the billboard.

Part of the  entertainment of a Marcia Ball concert is the way her legs and feet keep the beat.  On good display in this clip:

We always laugh at the song, “Just Kiss Me Baby”:

Given Hurricane Barry bearing down on Louisiana, Randy Newman’s “Louisiana 1927” was quite poignant:

It’s amazing that a song about the flood of 1927 still seems relevant today.  Here Marcia makes the song her own, following an excellent saxophone solo:

Ball is an impressive performer at the age of 70, having played in small clubs across the South for more than 50 years.  Equally impressive are the charities she runs to provide housing and healthcare for Austin musicians.

The Boogie Kings, a band formed in Eunice, Louisiana in 1955, were billed as the headliners, but the crowd had cleared out a good bit for their set – most folks came to hear Marcia Ball.

Their soul music was very good, particularly the three horn players who had clearly being doing it for many years.  Here’s the “Harlem Shuffle” showcasing the horns:

As we arrived back home to the apartment, the dull sheen of the work week was starting to wear off.

Saturday began with a swim and sauna, followed by a delicious Mediterranean lunch, coffee and crossword at Opa.   Then a Target shopping run and back to the apartment for a nap for me, while McD joined the craziness of the monthly pool party, including a DJ playing music she didn’t enjoy.

Diana was in charge of entertainment on Saturday night, and she opted for a walk down South Congress.  We paused outside the Continental Club to listen to a very good swing band – it wouldn’t have taken much to convince D to head on inside – and then continued our walk on down to the South Congress Hotel.  There really are so many interesting stores and restaurants on this street – very unique.  We enjoyed a drink at Craft and Commerce – commenting on the beautiful decor, and then walked across the street for dinner at June’s.  We sat on the patio and enjoyed the people watching.

I was up early on Sunday to watch the Gentlemens’ Final at Wimbledon.  Going to bed on Saturday, Diana said it started at 8am, and of course I had to argue – believing that was 8am Eastern.  When I got to the TV at 7am Central, the pre-game show was just starting.  Diana was right again.  She always says, “What was that?”.  I’ll repeat – Diana was right again!  What an excellent tennis match.  Federer’s single handed backhand is superb, but his forehand let him down too often to prevail.  I think we shared the Duchess of Cambridge’s emotions.

Sunday morning continued with a swim and sauna, followed by brunch at El Alma – so good.  I enjoyed an afternoon nap and some reading time.  In the evening, we walked across to the lawn at the Long Center to enjoy the Austin Symphony brass section in a free outdoor concert.  They really do take full advantage of the open spaces in downtown Austin.  The concert was a good mix of Renaissance music, film scores, Texas songs, and marches.    The crowd was the typical Austin mix of lots of dogs, kids, and even a guy doing yoga next to us.  Here’s a view of the almost full moon over the Catherine from my lawn chair, as the sun set on activities.

Here’s a short video of the brass section performing the “Yellow Rose of Texas” with some views of the apartment and downtown:

I enjoyed the book, “Machines LIke Me” by Ian McEwan, very much.  What an excellent writer and a creative premise.  The novel is set in 1982, the miners are on strike, unemployment is soaring, and Margaret Thatcher has dispatched the Navy to protect the Falkland Islands from take over by an Argentinian junta.  These are all historically accurate, and then McEwan puts a twist on things – the war in the Falklands is lost with 3,000 casualties, Lennon and JFK are both alive, and Tony Benn is challenging Thatcher for leadership of the country.

The biggest tweak to history is that Alan Turing is still alive and treated as a hero.  He has built on his famous World War II code cracking machine, and created many of the foundational components of Artificial Intelligence, which he provides to all via open source.   Charlie, the hero of the story, acquires one of 25 new androids, capable of developing a human-like personality over time.  The novel deftly explores what can go right and wrong as androids become more and more human-like.

This book reminded me a lot of Roth’s “The Plot Against America”, with the slight tweaks on history.  This one is equally well done.  McEwan has certainly become more of a crowd pleaser with his last few novels, but still highly enjoyable and unique.

I include this first song just so that I can tell a short story that I learned recently.  When receiving the rite of Catholic confirmation, participants choose the name a Saint that they admire.  Diana chose “Bernadette”, best known for her visions at Lourdes.

Returning to Antone’s on Friday reminded me of my first visit there after moving to Austin, and the excellent Doyle Bramhall II show, featuring special guest Lukas Nelson.

I heard this wonderful Chopin Nocturne on Paradise Radio this week – they really do play a great mix of styles and genres.

A unique Prince cover finishes out the post for this week.  Didn’t turn out being too dull of a week after all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Week in Review – July 7, 2019

Hornet’s Nest

I decided to stay in McKinney with Diana this week, rather than make the trip back down to Austin.  The early part of the week was heavily work focused with some system challenges keeping me busy.  I’m hoping we’ve turned the corner on those now, performance has been great the last few days.  Hope I didn’t just jinx things.

There were no silly 4th of July questions this year.  It seems that every other year or so, somebody asks me “Do you celebrate the 4th of July in Scotland?”.  I know they don’t mean do we celebrate being free of the responsibility of the United States.  Ha.  We celebrated with late morning workouts and then lunch at Toulouse in Legacy West.  Diana was excited when her choice for restaurant stuck – the other two options we discussed were closed for the holiday.  We enjoyed a delicious white wine and steak tartare with frites.  I know, you’re thinking our diet is almost exclusively raw meat these days – only when we go to French places that do it well.

Dinner was the more traditional holiday fare – burgers and veggies on the grill at home.  I was pretty brave to spend as much time by the outdoor grill.  Why is that?  Well…are you familiar with the expression “A Real Hornet’s Nest”?  And did you know that I’m highly allergic to wasp and bee stings – swell up like the Elephant Man.  Turns out hornets nests are not always in trees.  We found five piles of sand in the beds next to the grill, looking just like ant hills without the ants.  Further investigation showed some kind of bug burrowing into the ground and kicking out sand.  We decided to leave well alone and wait for the pest control experts.

The pest control professional arrived on Friday morning and confirmed hornets’ nests.  He was very careful in spraying them, commenting that they can be very aggressive and their sting hurts a lot.  Lots of mud-dauber and wasps nests were also removed.   We feel like we’re under attack from flying stingers of all varieties.

Friday was a light work day for me – I was able to enjoy a swim and watch some good Wimbledon matches.  Coco Gauff’s recovery to win over Hercog was very impressive, more so considering she’s 15 years old and on the Center Court.  I enjoy picturing my Mum and Dad talking to the TV as they watch Wimbledon.

Saturday started with a swim and crossword, before settling in to read and enjoy the tennis on TV, while McD sunbathed.  Then I surprised Diana with an early dinner at the Grape.  She says she had been thinking about going all week – must have some special ESP going.  We started by sharing the chicken liver mousse, which now has the pistachio topping added back – last time we visited, over a year ago we guess, they had changed it, and not for the better.  Then we split a delicious salad, followed by steak frites for Diana and scallops for me.  A lovely evening and way too long since we’ve visited the Grape.

It was an early start on Sunday to get a swim and crossword in, before packing to start traveling at 1pm.  Me over to the bus to Austin, and Diana to the airport for a flight to Tampa.  We both arrived at our destinations about 30 minutes late – which is not too bad for the weekend after the 4th of July and the hordes of people moving around.  As I finish this post up, I’ve just finished troubleshooting the internet and TV service in the apartment – the third reboot was the charm.

We received a couple of entertaining pictures from Denny and Anne this week as they continue their travels through Europe.  This week in Berlin.  Here Jack and Mason recreate the famous picture of them peeking their heads in to the cottage in New Orleans as we were waking up.

And here Dad and the boys manage to find an Irish bar in Berlin to watch the Womens’ World Cup Final:

Two short, quick reads were a very welcome change of pace on the literary front this week.

“The Parade” by Dave Eggers,  a very favourite author, is a spare and powerful story of two men, Western contractors sent to work far from home, and tasked with paving a road to the capital in a dangerous and largely lawless country.

Four and Nine are partners, working for the same company, sent without passports to a nation recovering from ten years of civil war. Together, operating under pseudonyms and anonymous to potential kidnappers, they are given a new machine, the RS-80, and tasked with building a highway that connects the country’s far-flung villages with the capital.  Four, nicknamed “The Clock,” is one of the highway’s most experienced operators, never deviating from his assigned schedule. He drives the RS-80, stopping only to sleep and eat the food provided by the company.  Nine, however, spreads chaos: speeding ahead on his vehicle, chatting and joking with locals, eating at nearby bars and roadside food stands, he threatens the schedule, breaks protocol, and ends up fighting for his life when contracting malaria. His illness, corruption, and theft compromise their high-stakes mission,  and Four and Nine discover danger far greater than anything they could pose to one another.

Impending doom seemed to be lurking through the last third of this book but never arrived.  Then it all struck in the very last paragraph of the book.  Wow – wasn’t expecting that.  This book is a very impressive allegory for so many of the civil wars that are tearing countries apart.

“Biloxi” by Mary Miller is quite different than any book that I’ve read in a while.  Miller  skillfully  transports us to her unapologetic corner of the South—this time, Biloxi, Mississippi, home to sixty-three-year-old Louis McDonald Jr.  His wife of thirty-seven years has left him, his father has passed—and he has impulsively retired from his job in anticipation of an inheritance check that may not come. In the meantime, he watches reality television, drinks beer, and avoids his ex-wife and daughter. One day, he stops at a house advertising free dogs and meets overweight mixed-breed Layla.  Unexpectedly, Louis takes her, and begins investigating local dog parks and buying extra bologna. Mining the absurdities of life with her signature “droll minimalist’s-eye view of America” (Joyce Carol Oates), Mary Miller’s “Biloxi” captures every day life in the South perfectly.

The exotic turntable picture is for you Raj – hope you’ve completed your audio penance.

I found this song was in my Blues Piano book as I revisited it this week.  A great exercise in dexterity and I’m nowhere near up to speed yet.

Speaking of revisiting, I played this album from Charlie Hunter again this week and enjoyed it just as much as on first discovery.

And here’s a new jazz trumpeter from Italy that I enjoyed.  The album gets a bit repetitive, but I do enjoy the modern sound.

Week in Review – June 30, 2019

The week started well with a relaxing and delicious lunch at June’s All Day brasserie on far South Congress.  This is the place that Mark took me to for lunch when I interviewed for my job in Austin, and I hadn’t been back since.  Diana and I both loved our lunch – delicious wines, smoked salmon nicoise salad for D and steak tartare for K.  The heavens opened as we were finishing up and so we had to stay for coffee and wait for a brief respite in the rain.  Temperatures dropped 15 degrees in a few minutes and the humidity was thankfully gone from the air for a while.

I got tied up at work until late on Monday evening.  Diana was able to meet up with Sheri (after some confusion on which Kendra Scott store they were meeting at) and then they stopped back into June’s for some Happy Hour champagne.

Then they met up with Sean at the Continental Club to see the amazing Peterson Brothers.  These two young men have so much positive energy and interact with each other beautifully.  May they never lose those positive smiles they have playing music together.  I was able to join around 7:30pm for the second half of the show.    We particularly enjoyed the rendition of “Amazing Grace” on violin by Alex – it was his first instrument in school before graduating to bass guitar virtuoso.

Then the Brothers went mobile, wandering through the club, passing the guitar off to a friend at the bar to jam, heading out into the street and then plopping down in the seats behind us for a few minutes.

I thoroughly enjoyed the second hour of this show.  Just what I needed after a long work day.  Here’s a quick clip of the Brothers jamming:

After the show we followed the typical circuit – Hopdoddy burger followed by Hotel San Jose courtyard.  Sean was able to have a nice chat with Glenn and Alex about when they were going to play in California.

Diana headed back to Dallas on the Tuesday bus and I put in some long days at the office, battling system problems.

I enjoyed a work dinner at Bonneville on Wednesday night.  This is a good restaurant, just across the bridge from the apartment, that I hadn’t heard of but enjoyed quite a bit.  The scallop dish was yummy.

I rode back to Dallas with Vinod on Thursday afternoon – always an enjoyable journey because of the wide ranging conversations.  It was really nice to be home with Diana in McKinney for a few days.

The new movie from director Danny Boyle, “Yesterday”, was our entertainment on Saturday afternoon.  We both enjoyed the movie and the interesting concept behind it.  It really brought home the breadth and differences in the Beatles catalog.  Diana mentioned being reminded of the Cirque du Soleil “Love” show in Las Vegas, and how it gave whole new meanings to the classic Beatles songs.

I had always thought that the Beatles “I Want to  Hold Your Hand” was the number one song when I was born.  I just looked it up and that was actually an honor held by the Four Pennies, with their song “Juliet”.  Have you ever heard of the Four Pennies?  I certainly haven’t.  I like the guitar introduction to the song.  It was only number one for a single week.

Take a look at the number one hits from 1964 – so many classics that we still remember.  I challenge anyone to believe the same will be true of the number one hits from 2019 – most of them will be forgotten a couple of years from now.  Cilla Black has a couple of number ones and she got a mention in “Yesterday” during the visit to Liverpool.  What was in that Mersey water?

Date Artist – Title Weeks
at #1
« 1963 1964 Number One Songs 1965 »
 –  Beatles – I Want To Hold Your Hand 5
 –  Dave Clark Five – Glad All Over 2
 –  Searchers – Needles And Pins 3
 –  Bachelors – Diane 1
 –  Cilla Black – Anyone Who Had A Heart 3
 –  Billy J. Kramer and The Dakotas – Little Children 2
 –  Beatles – Can’t Buy Me Love 3
 –  Peter and Gordon – A World Without Love 2
 –  Searchers – Don’t Throw Your Love Away 2
 –  Four Pennies – Juliet 1
 –  Cilla Black – You’re My World 4
 –  Roy Orbison – It’s Over 2
 –  Animals – The House Of The Rising Sun 1
 –  Rolling Stones – It’s All Over Now 1
 –  Beatles – A Hard Day’s Night 3
 –  Manfred Mann – Do Wah Diddy Diddy 2
 –  Honeycombs – Have I The Right? 2
 –  Kinks – You Really Got Me 2
 –  Herman’s Hermits – I’m Into Something Good 2
 –  Roy Orbison – Oh Pretty Woman 3 (2)
 –  Sandie Shaw – (There’s) Always Something There To Remind Me 3
 –  Roy Orbison – Oh Pretty Woman 3 (1)
 –  Supremes – Baby Love 2
 –  Rolling Stones – Little Red Rooster 1

I heard a song on Spotify that I enjoyed by Alan Price.  The keyboard sound was somewhat familiar, so I did some research.  I found out why it sounded familiar – he was the organ player with the Animals.  You’ll notice above that “House of the Rising Sun” was number one just after I was born – I still enjoy that song today and remember Billy Joel playing it when we saw him in New Orleans recently.  The Western musical brain certainly loves arpeggios – particularly when a minor resolves into a nice major.

Alan Price is a self-taught musician and was a founding member of the Tyneside group “The Alan Price Rhythm and Blues Combo”, which was later renamed “the Animals”.   His organ playing on “The House of the Rising Sun”, “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood”, and “Bring It On Home to Me” was certainly a big part of the group’s sound and success.

He also had a big role in introducing one of my favourite musicians, Randy Newman, to the world.  Price’s second album, “A Price on His Head”, released in 1967, featured seven songs by Newman, virtually unknown at the time.

What was number one on December 18, 1964 when my wife entered the world, I hear you asking.  Well – that was a Beatles song – “I Feel Fine”.  Not one that I was familiar with, even though it spent 5 solid weeks at number one.  Oopsy – now that I listen, I know it well.  “I’m in love with her, and I feel fine”.

Changing over from music to the literary front, I finally finished “The Parisian” by Isabella Hammad.  This was a very long slog of a book with lots of Arabic dialog and names.  I did learn a lot about the history of Palestine in the early 2oth Century, and the influx of Jewish immigration that ultimately caused the Israeli/Palestinian conflict that still exists.

Here are some of the reviews that convinced me to embark on this read.  I’m not sure I agree with any of them – this book was really hard work.  I enjoyed the first few hundred pages that were set in Paris, but the Palestinian years were just work.

I’m looking forward to some lighter reading this week.

Here’s the Alan Price song that got me off on that Animals trip earlier:

Diana gave me a beautiful vinyl rendition of Bruce Springsteen’s new “Western Skies” album for fathers’ day.  Here’s one of my early favourites:

How can Bruce still be making such meaningful music while performing every night in his solo Broadway show?

I’ve always loved the music of Robert Cray and came across this recent album.  Ask me about seeing Robert Cray in a small club on Greenville Avenue in Dallas in the late 80s, when Stevie Ray Vaughan joined him on stage.

 

 

 

Week in Review – June 23, 2019

Our second wedding anniversary on Monday was welcomed with a pretty sunrise.  After a long work day, we celebrated at Uchi, a sushi restaurant close to the apartment and rated one of the best in the United States.  The food was excellent, as you can tell by the smile on D’s face.  The service was equally outstanding, from the initial greeter, to Sam our waitress, and everyone else that interacted with us.

The rest of the week was busy with work and quite hot outside.  On Wednesday evening we braved the heat for a walk along the river, passing by the movie on the lawn event on the way home.  “The Goonies” was showing on a giant inflatable screen.  Temperatures continued to heat up, with Thursday being the first 100 degree day of the year.

Friday afternoon took me to one of our stores on far South Congress to observe system performance during the peak time and close process.  As luck would have it, C-Boys Heart and Soul was close by.  Diana joined me and a couple of work colleagues for happy hour.  The Rosie Flores Revue was playing (as they apparently do every Friday) – what a pleasant surprise.  We’ll have to return again soon.

We met our friend Vinod for dinner on Saturday night at the newly re-opened Swift’s Attic on Congress Avenue.  They had a fire several months ago and we’ve been looking forward to enjoying the amazing scallops again.

That’s the table we occupied in the bar area.  The word seems to be out on the re-opening after just a few days – the whole place was quite busy.

Sunday kicked off with a nice long swim and very relaxing sauna, followed by coffee at Opa!  The puzzle was by creators and an editor we didn’t know – where did Fred Piscop go?  It took us both over 30 minutes to finish the “Doing the Splits” crossword.

Sean and Sheri were in Austin looking at houses and evaluating a move from San Jose.  We had a drink together in the Catherine Sky Bar on Sunday evening and then a lovely dinner at Peche.

Diana and I split steak tartare (one of our favorite renditions but Justine is still the winner in Austin) and a decadent burger and fries.  Sheri loved the braised short ribs and duck fat mashed potatoes, and Sean was quite happy with his bouillabaisse.  Of course McD couldn’t pass up the fig foam Manhattan.

After dinner we finished off the evening at the Roosevelt Room.  The bar is lovely and the cocktails good, but we decided it was just a bit too much work to get a drink in that place.  I did like the interior and particularly the musician paintings – here’s one of Austin native Gary Clark Jr.

I continue to slog through my current book with a firm goal of finishing it up this coming week and getting on to some quicker, lighter summertime fare.

A work colleague told me about a solo release by Ed Jurdi of the Band of Heathens – “Bumblebee” – very nice.  Diana was listening to it on Sunday morning and wondering why it sounded like the Band of Heathens, but not quite right.

The other lead singer from BoH also released a solo album a few years back.  I love this song from Gordi Quist, “Satisfied Mind”:

Thinking about local musicians brought me around to Ian Moore and one of his underappreciated albums, Luminaria:

And here’s a late addition that just popped up on my Spotify playlist – seems appropriate as we enter summer.  The great songwriter and performer Chuck Prophet – will never forget seeing him in Denton with less than 10 other folks – hard to believe.

 

Week in Review – June 16, 2019

Happy Father’s Day to my Dad and all you others celebrating today.  Being a Dad – the most challenging occupation I know, filled with terrific highs, tough lows and lots of unanticipated in betweens.  Here’s a picture of my Dad, sister, and brother in law at Pitmedden Gardens near Aberdeen.

This week was all work, work, work for both of us with lots of challenges to solve.  I think McD solved most of hers, while I’m still battling through mine.

The only real respite all week was a very pleasant walk along the river trail on Thursday night.  The city of Austin does such a good job maintaining the trail and the natural habitats.  We enjoyed this guy with his long neck sticking up from the vegetation.

Friday afternoon brought a lot of work issues for me and so I was ready for some fun and relaxation when arriving home.  I had bought tickets to see the author David Sedaris read from and talk about his latest book, “Calyso”, at Book People but couldn’t face the prospect of 400 people crammed into the 2nd floor space after such a long week – time for Plan B.

We walked down South Congress Avenue (SoCo) to the San Jose hotel for a relaxing drink and snack on their excellent patio.  This is where we finished our evening with the Aussies and Diana sent Sue a picture of the patio.  She replied that they were fighting through thunderstorms in Custer, South Dakota  – those Aussies get around.

From the Hotel San Jose, we rambled on down to C-Boys Heart and Soul for the 10:30 pm show – the Mike Flanigin trio with special guest Jimmy Vaughan.  Jimmy is Stevie Ray’s older brother and an excellent guitarist in his own right – albeit with a much more understated style than Stevie Ray.

I always appreciate a stage set up with a deep saxophone.  Jimmy wandered in about 5 minutes before showtime with his guitar on his back and quickly set up.

The last time we saw Jimmy Vaughan was at the New Orleans jazz festival and his set in the blues tent was cut short by torrential rain.  This show was in no hurry to finish.  Here’s Jimmy with a nice guitar solo (see what I mean by understated?):

We shared a table with a local couple – he has been retired for 12 years and made us very jealous.  They hadn’t seen Vaughan since the early 80s and were enjoying the show as much as us.

C-Boys Heart and Soul was an excellent venue, reminding me very much of New Orleans with the mix of ages and backgrounds of people enjoying the show together.  The establishment also has a great patio and upstairs room that we’ll be returning to enjoy.

On Saturday, we caught an early movie on the way to a Target run.  Rocketman is an excellent musical based on the life and work of Elton John – highly recommended.

The way the movie uses the songs of Elton John and Bernie Taupin to tell the story of Elton’s life is exemplary.  Very creative musical performances give way to deep scenes on his early life and challenges.  Diana and I were chatting about how “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” won’t mean the same to us after the visuals and story from this movie.  The closing credits show that John has raised $450 million to date for his AIDS charity – amazing from a gentleman who has brought so much musical joy to so many people, and in his second act so much relief to so many people suffering from such a horrible disease.

The scene about John’s first American performance, at the Troubadour in Los Angeles, was beautifully executed, with Elton and then the crowed levitating under the power of the music.

Here’s what the LA Times music critic had to say:

“Rejoice. Rock music, which has been going through a rather uneventful period lately, has a new star. He’s Elton John, a 23-year-old Englishman whose United States debut Tuesday night at the Troubadour was, in almost every way, magnificent.”

“His music is so staggeringly original that it is obvious he is not merely operating within a given musical field (such as country or blues or rock) but, like Randy Newman and Laura Nyro among others, creating his own field.”

I chuckled on arriving at Target – there was a greeter up front to tell me that they were having computer system issues and it could take a long time to check out.  I read the next day that all their stores were down for two hours – they had recovered by the time we were leaving.

Fathers’ Day Sunday started with a nice swim and sauna at the apartment, followed by coffee and crossword at Opa, and a ridiculously good brunch at Odd Duck.  Chef Bryce Gilmore started out in Austin years ago with the Odd Duck farm to trailer food truck, before opening Barley Swine and then the Odd Duck restaurant.

Here’s a short documentary about the original trailer that Bryce found in Wisconsin and remodeled himself:

Our brunch started with shishito hashbrown, creamed corn, and braised goat – such a delicious combination of flavors.  A close second to that was the next dish of smoked chicken skillet,  sunny eggs, mushroom cream,  and tobacco onions.  The final dish of Mediterranean flavours – eggplant falafel, fenugreek sausage, cashew humus, and herb yogurt made it difficult to choose a favourite.  We really enjoy the concept of smaller portions to share – particularly when each contains so many fresh flavours.  Can you tell that I was very happy with everything about my brunch?

I write this post relaxing on the couch, pleasantly sated and watching the one of a kind views of the US Open golf at Pebble Beach.

Radio Paradise accompanied our Sunday morning reading and this song from Bob Marley caught my attention.  Sentiments from many years ago still so true today:

That was followed by a song with similar messages form Ben Harper – it’s been too long since I heard his music:

And then the beautiful harmonies of The Jayhawks.  A band that I always forget about until they show up on the radio or a playlist – I haven’t heard a song of theirs that I don’t enjoy:

And finally, Sonia Dada, a band formed in Chicago in 1990 by Daniel Pritzker, when he enlisted a trio of singers he heard in a subway station.  Again great harmonies and voices: