“Levon’s New Drum Set”
The week started off on a bittersweet note. We had a farewell dinner for my boss, Mark, who is leaving the company. I’m sorry to see him go and it brings a lot more responsibility for me. D and I will miss going out with him in Austin.
We organized the dinner at Eddie V’s – an excellent seafood and steak house in downtown (next door to the legendary Antone’s blues club). Team members joined us from Guatemala, Canada and Australia. Everyone that Mark wanted there showed up. Diana did an exemplary job of selecting wine and appetizers for everyone. We particularly enjoyed going around the table telling our favourite Mark stories. Adam was hilarious. Going clockwise from me we have Caleb, Mark, Adam (Canada), Issac, Roy (Australia), Norma (Guatemala) and Damon. And not to forget our excellent photographer Diana.
Norma thought she was very funny in the office on Tuesday. Sitting with a bandage on her finger just waiting for me to notice. In her defense, she brought an amazing bottle of 23 year old Ron Zacapa rum from Guatemala that we all enjoyed very much.
Saturday started with the normal routine – workout followed by coffee and crossword. Then we walked over to the excellent downtown Austin library, walked back on the river trail, made a Xmas shopping stop at the Yeti flagship store, and relaxed on the balcony with books. What great weather.
Festivities picked up nicely on Saturday evening. We tried a new Vietnamese restaurant called Mandala. What delicious flavours and creative dishes. Edamame with truffle oil and sea salt, surf clam ceviche, mini rice pancakes, and Vietnamese curry chicken – all excellent. McD was pleased with an inexpensive and very good French champagne. This place is certainly a good addition to the expanding Austin restaurant rotation.
clam ceviche
A short walk from Mandala and we were at the One-2-One bar for Shelley King’s new CD release party. And it was indeed a party – for the great value price of $10.
Here’s a favourite from the new CD – “Levon’s new drum set” – a tribute to the late, great Levon Helm of The Band. Shelley was in Woodstock to play one of Helm’s Midnight Rambles in the barn by his home. This was the week that Levon passed and there was no Ramble. At the time that the concert would have started, there was a massive thunderstorm. Shelley viewed this as Helm playing his “new drum set” in heaven. What a great song:
Then special guest Carolyn Wonderland joined the band, picking up the energy and guitar level immediately:
The next special guest was long tall Marcia Ball on the keyboards for “Hurricane Party”. Shelley told the story of Marcia being scheduled to play shows in Florida that were cancelled due to the hurricane. She called Shelley to arrange a dominoes game – like a “Hurricane Party”:
Another lovely night of music in a small Austin club. Four different bands were playing in the One-2-One on Saturday – an amazing array of talent.
We were up early for a workout on Sunday morning, and then packed up and made the drive to McKinney. I arrived just in time to catch the last few exciting minutes of the Saints game – they eked out another last minute win. The Cowboys are not doing so well now in freezing cold, rainy New England.
I finished “Conviction” by Denise Mina this week. Here’s the Amazon synopsis:
had to spend his birthday in Austin to work on the migration, so we took him out to a nice vegetarian dinner on Friday night at Bouldin Creek Cafe. His gift was his very own Baby Penguin, which also became our migration mascot.
Limits music festival to see Guns ‘N Roses. We were very fortunate to run into “Marcus the ticket guy” on Barton Springs, and he fixed us up with wrist bands for a very reasonable price. The wrist bands are very fancy. A few minutes later we were transported back to the classic rock of the late 1980s.
morning and had a pretty lazy day. We met up with Damon for dinner at El Naranjo. This is an Oaxacan style Mexican place that I had been wanting to try. The ceviche and duck with mole sauce were very good. Apparently over 30 ingredients go into that thick, dark mole. I have a little left over for dinner tonight, and I’m thinking it may be even better now. After all the excitement on Friday, we called it an early night.
I finally finished the 500+ page novel, “The Most Fun We Ever Had”, by Claire Lombardo. I enjoyed this book, but it did go on for a while. Here’s what NPR had to say:
Austin City Limits (ACL) is a long running and totally excellent Public Television music series filmed live in Austin. I’ve been enjoying the show for at least 20 years now. The ACL music festival was born in 2002 and has grown into a mammoth production, staged over two weekends in October. The event has 8 stages across Zilker Park and this year is October 4-6 and 11-13. 450,000 people attended last year and so you can imagine that central Austin is very busy right now.
beautiful sunny day outside, I suggested lunch on the rooftop of the Thompson hotel in the Gulch area. My wife quickly approved that plan. One of our party should have applied sunscreen prior to the walk over to the Gulch and time in the direct sun on the rooftop. I’m sure it’s difficult for you to imagine who could have been so silly.
destination – we saw so many groups riding around town in open topped buses and trailers, even a party fire truck, dancing and having a good time. At least it keeps them out of the way of folks trying to enjoy the restaurants. The book that our bill was delivered in sent us on a trip down memory lane – Beatrix Potter. I read some in my best upper crust English accent.
setting off for the madness of Broadway. This is a street similar to 6th street in Austin – one honky tonk with live music after another for 3 or 4 blocks. It was particularly packed at lunchtime on Saturday.
My navigational skills failed me again after lunch. I was trying to follow the walking directions on my phone to get to the Ryman auditorium. Diana was quite convinced we were headed in the completely wrong direction – even more annoying because I was headed uphill. Of course she was correct, and we got some unnecessary exercise in after the large lunch.
bar just off Broadway to watch the game. The Corner Pub had a massive screen showing all the games and we found a good spot in time for kickoff. What a horrible first half – nothing working for the Cowboys and everything clicking for the Packers. Ugh! The Boys pulled it together in the second half with some good play, but it was all too little and too late. What a disappointment.
Can you guess what wasn’t a disappointment on Sunday? That’s right – Marc Cohn. Mark Erelli opened the show – a very talented singer songwriter, who had recently played at the Ryman. The sound in the City Winery is really fabulous. I appreciated his song “By Degrees”, which I believe is about the need for improved gun control. Erelli showed up later to play guitar on several Marc Cohn songs – and did an excellent job on slide guitar.
She wasn’t so happy the next morning with her 4am start to get back to Dallas for a client meeting. I had a more leisurely start, time for breakfast, and even the best shoe shine I think I’ve had, before flying back to Austin.
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:
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”:
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.
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:
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).
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.
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.
I loved the book “Henry, Himself” by Stewart O’Nan. 
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 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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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”.
On 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.
In 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.
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:
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):
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
“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.
“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.