Music – Page 33 – Keith Robertson

Week in Review – November 18, 2018

The experimental Vonlane bus service to Austin early Monday worked out well. I enjoyed avoiding security and all the other airport hassles. It was nice to be able to spread out and relax for the 3 hour trip. I’ve booked my next few trips on the bus. Thanks to Diana for getting up so early to drive me to the bus.

The Uber driver who shuttled me from the bus drop-off point to work provided several useful tips – suggested a great local radio station, told me about a music club that sounded appealing, and an unannounced show at that venue by a group named “Sis DeVille”, comprised of Carolyn Wonderland, Shelley King, Floramay Holiday and several others – these are several of our favourite performers that we’ve seen at the Kessler and Poor David’s Pub and I bought a ticket later in the week.

Hill Country Sunrise from the Sonesta Breakfast Area

The hotel this week was the Sonesta Bee Caves which is located about a 20 minute drive from the office and next to the Hill Country Galleria outdoor mall. It took some time to get back and forward to the office but the view from the 6th floor restaurant was very good. It’s a Tapas Bar at night and has an amazing wrap around deck – nice when the weather is warmer than it was this week. I enjoyed the sunrise views in the morning with an early breakfast. This hotel also featured music art in the rooms:

Our friend Gonzalo was scheduled to interview at my office on Wednesday and came in on Tuesday night to be ready for the morning. We enjoyed an excellent dinner at the Second Kitchen and Bar – the truffle grits with G’s short ribs were amazing. I started with smoked salmon rillettes (way better than I anticipated) and then had a delicious beet salad with big chunks of brie – right up my alley.

After dinner we tried a new place that I had read about – The Townsend. This is a speakeasy style bar up front and a small music venue in back. One of the owners is an acoustic engineer and this showed up big time in the quality of the sound systems in the bar and the concert space – amazing sound! The concert in back by Charlie Hunter was sold out and so we enjoyed the music in the bar and then snuck into the music venue for the last few songs.

Charlie Hunter is a pretty unique performer – he plays an eight string guitar with 2 bass strings and 6 lead guitar strings. He maintains the bass guitar rhythm and plays lead guitar at the same time. Hunter’s music is mostly classified as jazz but has a lot of rock, blues and other genres mixed together. This performance was with a trio of singer, guitar/bass, and percussion. Here’s a short video followed by a recent review of the show that describes it much better than I could.

“Lucy Woodward almost stole the show. And she might well have done so, wholly and completely, if her two bandmates had not demonstrated the same touch for nuance she did throughout the two sets. In turns insouciant and sultry, saucy and winsome, the woman was the aural/visual picture of well-practiced discipline wherein the notes she belted out on a Nina Simone song were as finely-phrased as those she breathed so softy on one from Teresa Brewer circa 1959, “Music! Music! Music! (Put Another Nickel In)”.

If the guitarist/frontman had not so obviously relished her participation, he might not have so keenly complemented Woodward’s performance by savoring the moments his fingers ran up and down his own instrument. But plucking those ringing harmonics, bending some bittersweet notes and dropping the low-register bombs were subtleties similar to the singer’s, but also to those that appeared in the percussion work of Keita Ogawa”

I highly recommend The Townsend if you’re ever in Austin and looking for a great bar and small music venue. There was a book about Austin music in the bar that had articles on both Alejandro Escovedo (lives in an apartment above the check in desk at the Belmont hotel) and Marcia Ball (see post last week about her amazing concert at the Kessler).

On Wednesday I took Gonzalo to lunch at the nearby TacoDeli which has a very nice woodsy location near a Zilker Park trail-head. I tried the chile relleno taco special and loved it. It was nice to catch up with G on Tuesday night and Wednesday – we spent a lot of time working on tough issues together at my previous job and I’m hoping that we’ll get an opportunity to work together again.

In the afternoon we had a town hall at work for all the Information Technology employees where I was introduced. I enjoyed the view of my boss with a long horn cow in the background from where I was sitting.

Thursday was the Thanksgiving Potluck at the office – I had meetings all the way through the lunch hour and wasn’t able to participate but it looked like folks were having a great time.

I had dinner at the Hill Country Galleria mall – empanadas and salad at the Buenos Aires Grill Argentinian restaurant and then a drink at a Texas themed place that had a good guitarist/singer and the football game showing.

Friday was back on the bus to Dallas. I was interested to see a Basset hound joining our group and claiming to be a “service dog” to be allowed on the bus. HGTV was annoyingly playing on the TVs on the bus – this is the home buying/improvement channel that I had to block at the house because McD was playing it incessantly. Thankfully it hasn’t been on in a long time now.

Diana picked me up from the bus and took me to a lovely dinner at the Neighborhood Services restaurant on Lovers Lane. I loved my haddock and Diana her lobster dish.

This place has such good food and such a relaxed ambiance – we need to go more often.

After dinner D had arranged a recognition event for her team at the hockey game at American Airlines arena. I was starting to get tired and grumpy by this point. It was funny to see the Mary Kay cosmetics company suite next to D’s company suite.

The weekend was pretty quiet with workouts, coffees and crosswords- nice to settle back into our normal routine for a few days.

I finally finished a new book this week – “Half Blood Blues” by Esi Edugyan. This was a very enjoyable book about jazz musicians, the second world war, and race relations. Here’s the Amazon review:

“Berlin, 1939. The Hot Time Swingers, a popular jazz band, has been forbidden to play by the Nazis. Their young trumpet-player Hieronymus Falk, declared a musical genius by none other than Louis Armstrong, is arrested in a Paris café. He is never heard from again. He was twenty years old, a German citizen. And he was black.

Berlin, 1952. Falk is a jazz legend. Hot Time Swingers band members Sid Griffiths and Chip Jones, both African Americans from Baltimore, have appeared in a documentary about Falk. When they are invited to attend the film’s premier, Sid’s role in Falk’s fate will be questioned and the two old musicians set off on a surprising and strange journey.

From the smoky bars of pre-war Berlin to the salons of Paris, Sid leads the reader through a fascinating, little-known world as he describes the friendships, love affairs and treacheries that led to Falk’s incarceration in Sachsenhausen. Esi Edugyan’s Half-Blood Blues is a story about music and race, love and loyalty, and the sacrifices we ask of ourselves, and demand of others, in the name of art.”

It was nice to spend some time reading again this week after the busyness of the new job.

Here’s some more music from Charlie Hunter – he has many interesting albums to sample. And a great track I stumbled upon from Jimmy Smith on the Hammond organ.

Week in Review – November 11, 2018

Can you believe my baby turned 30 this week? He does seem to be doing quite well and I’m proud of the man he’s become and all that he’s accomplished in his first 30 years. Will has always been a car nut – BMWs in particular – solidified when he visited the factory in Germany during his internship. He treated himself to an early birthday present which you can see here. I think it looks pretty fierce and here is Will’s update on the engine:

“It has a B58 inline 6 cylinder twin scroll turbo. Twin scroll is the epic new balancing technology! Supposed to be the smoothest engine that BMW has ever made. And 400 hp and 400 torque approximately.”

This week was a heavy one of work and travel for both of us. Diana dropped me at the Dallas airport very early on Monday and I had plenty of time to make my flight, which arrived early even though it was foggy in Austin. I enjoyed a breakfast taco at the airport (as promised last week) and then headed to the office. That’s another one of the cards that McD spoils me with on the table – found it as I was getting something out of my briefcase. The Cowboys pretended to play football on Monday night and I watched the game at the hotel until I got disgusted and fell asleep before the game was over. Diana traveled out to St Petersburg, Florida again Tuesday through Thursday for a big client presentation that went well.

Tuesday was my music day this week. I tried out a Mediterranean food truck on South 1st Street with a combo gyro and falafel (two of my favourites). I’m going to enjoy trying out and rating all the various food trucks that are generously spread around Austin. After dinner, I drove around the corner to the Saxon Pub, where Dave Grissom plays a free early show at 6pm most Tuesdays. I didn’t get there until 7pm and so all seats were taken and the place was packed. I stayed for a couple of songs (both excellent) and then left. I wasn’t able to identify the folks who rode their horses to the show – maybe it was the performers? I will be back in a future week to catch a full show. Dave Grissom is an excellent guitar player who started in Joe Ely’s band, played in John Mellencamp’s band, and has gone on to become a much in demand session musician (particularly in Nashville). I suspect that his show covers multiple styles and varieties of music – I’ll let you know when I get there on time in the future.

From the Saxon, I dropped the car at the hotel and wandered over to Antone’s in downtown Austin to see about their free Blues show. In contrast to the Saxon, this was a very quietly attended show. I settled in for 20 minutes or so but wasn’t drawn in by the music – too much old school blues and harmonica. And so it was off to find the next musical opportunity.

Hoping the third venue would be the charm, I walked around the corner to the Elephant Room on Congress Avenue. This is a basement jazz club that turned out to be very pleasant and a highlight of the evening for me. The sound was excellent with plenty of comfortable seating. Sarah Sharp and band were performing – I forgot to note the guitar player’s name but he was outstanding. I enjoyed Sarah’s voice and here are some quick snippets of the performance:

From the Elephant Room, it was a quick walk across the Congress “bat” bridge back to the hotel and a brief check on the election results.

Sarah was a founding member of another band named the Jitterbug Vampires which performs at the Elephant Room on Wednesday nights. She is no longer in the band and I didn’t enjoy the singer as much, but the guitar (same guy from Tuesday) and saxophone players were both very good. I listened to a few songs, and then went upstairs to a restaurant named Swift’s Attic for dinner.

The menu at Swift’s is described as “New American Tapas”. The food and cocktails were both excellent and I look forward to walking back to this place again soon. My cocktail was a “Newgroni” – the normal negroni recipe with rhubarb bitters added – and it’s available on tap. I’m going to have to add some of these bitters to my barrel aging negroni because they really enhance the flavour very nicely. The scallops were fresh, perfectly cooked and paired with delicious sauces and carrots.

On Thursday night I tried something completely new to me, an author night at a bookstore. Joseph Fink, author of “Alice Isn’t Dead”, was interviewed at Book People on Lamar Street in West Austin. I had been planning a trip to Waterloo records and Book People after work and when I visited the website found this event. Both stores are great examples of independent and wonderfully curated places that rarely exist anymore. Book People reminds me of Wild Detectives in Oak Cliff but at a much larger scale and without the cocktails and wine (they do have coffee) – the staff are very knowledgeable and have many blurbs and recommendations throughout the shop.

I wasn’t at all familiar with Fink’s work – apparently he is pretty well known by virtue of a podcast series that he does that parallels his books. I enjoyed the interview that Deb Olin Unferth hosted – she has published several novels and teaches writing at the University of Texas. Her questions were insightful and often quite funny. One of my favourite stories from Fink centered on his parents – his Mum and Dad met in the dining hall on their first night of college freshman year and had been together ever since. Both were teachers and they didn’t have a large circle of friends and so their lives became very intertwined. His Dad died 7 years ago and he talked about how much his Mum has changed as she became a singular person rather than part of a couple. It didn’t hurt that he mentioned Jason Isbell’s “If We Were Vampires” song in the story – one of my favourite songs of the last few years.

After the interview, Fink read a passage from the book and took questions. An interesting and different evening activity – apparently Book People hosts more than 300 of these a year – so lots more opportunities for me to listen to authors talk about their work.

I was able to go standby on an earlier flight on Friday and got home before 4 pm. We had a quiet night when Diana got home from her hair appointment and fell asleep early.

Saturday started with workouts and then a late lunch at Zaytinya (this is a Turkish word meaning “olive oil”) at the Star in Frisco. It’s a mezze restaurant specializing in small plates like a Greek tapas place. We had tried Zaytinya once before and enjoyed the small plates and cocktails very much. This visit was equally positive – I had an ultimate G&T (Hendrick’s gin, Fever Tree Indian tonic water, lemon, lime, juniper berries) that took the bar tender some work to assemble, Baba Ghannouge (great presentation with pomegranate seeds), and a falafel wrap. Diana tried the lamb chops – delicious once the bartender supervised them being cooked properly and not overdone.

After lunch we went boot shopping at Nordstroms. I drove around for a while before finding a parking spot and was amazed at how busy the mall was – I thought malls were going out of business. Diana found several pairs of boots that she thinks will see her through the winter. I’m not sure I was very helpful with my selections.

On Sunday we made the drive down to Oak Cliff for brunch at Boulevardier. You might remember me raving about a brunch we had there about a month ago. I opted for the smoky mushroom toast and Diana had the omelette. The first mushroom toast was delicious with a perfectly cooked poached egg. The second toast featured a hard boiled egg trying to masquerade as a poached egg – very disappointing for a restaurant of such repute. Even worse was the attitude when I brought it to the attention of the staff. They did pay for our entire meal – I would have much preferred they just apologized appropriately and brought me another toast.

We made it from Boulevardier over to the Twilite Lounge in Deep Ellum just in time to see the end of the New Orleans Saints game – they beat up on the Cincinnati Bengals 51-14. The Twilite is an “official Saints watching destination” and has a jukebox with lots of great New Orleans music. One of Tim’s favourites, Bonerama, was playing today – it’s a band with 4 trombones that cover rock ‘n roll songs and Tim really doesn’t enjoy them.

Now we’re home with a fire going and getting ready for the Cowboys vs. Eagles match up that starts at 7:20 pm.

This Bob Seger song popped up on a Spotify channel this week. Neither McD nor I had heard it before but we both like it a lot:

Here’s one I heard on “Discover Weekly” from Spotify by Peter Green – the best blues guitarist I’ve heard:

And finally, a beautifully nuanced version of “Can’t Find my Way Home”, the classic Blind Faith song. This is by Nathan East who was the bass guitar player in Eric Clapton’s band for years, with Clapton as a guest:

Here’s an interesting song from the band Air – I enjoy their music and haven’t listened to it in several years. They are a duo from Versailles, France with a somewhat electronic sound. This album, “Moon Safari”, was their debut. I imagine this is what Booker T Jones would sound like if he was born in Paris in the 1990s.

Week in Review – Nov 4, 2018

This was a big work week for both of us – I started my new job and Diana had her big project in downtown Dallas to spin off a new company go live on Thursday – what we’ve been calling “D Day”. The project went much better than anyone had expected with the CEOs of both companies saying nice words to the team. Diana did a great job of keeping everyone organized and motivated to make this happen so smoothly.

Monday got off to a bit of a slow start for me – had to wait on a replacement plane coming from a hanger and then circled Austin a bit because of fog at the airport. I was happy to see some good breakfast taco options at the airport – I’ll take advantage of those next week.

I made it to the office by 11 am and started the whole on-boarding process – filling out forms, new laptop, phone, meeting oodles of people and trying to remember their names. The office is very modern and comfortable and everybody was very pleasant and welcoming.

Our hotel was just across the river from downtown Austin and I was happy to see turntable and guitar art above the bed. You can see how high the river is from all the recent torrential rain. My boss and I walked to downtown and had a delicious Italian meal at Red Ash – my welcome aboard dinner.

Tuesday was a long day at the office, learning a lot about the business and what needs to be done with Information Technology. We had a quick dinner at the hotel bar and called it a day.

Diana had snuck a card for every day of my first week into my suitcase – my parents just told me how spoiled I am – I know. The Halloween card made me laugh out loud – Pumpkin Penguin.

Each of the groups of hotel employees had created a pumpkin for a competition. Here are my two favourites:

On Halloween night I was able to catch my first concert. Doyle Bramhall II was playing at Antone’s. Doyle has been a favourite for many years – I saw him with the Arc Angels in San Antonio more than 20 years ago and have seen him a few times in Eric Clapton’s band. He is an amazing guitar player and songwriter. I visited Antone’s from San Antonio in their previous location but hadn’t been to the downtown, 5th street location.

Dinner before the concert was at Elizabeth St, a French Vietnamese restaurant that I had noticed while visiting the Seventh Flag coffee shop.

I’ve been very pleased with the number of independent coffee shops in Austin – a nice change from the plethora of Starbucks in the Dallas area. You can see the airstream trailer in the background of the Seventh Flag picture – this is one of many food truck areas throughout the city – another nice feature that I’ll have to start exploring.

Back to Elizabeth St – amazing poached shrimp spring rolls and sauce selection followed by a delicious Banh Mi with chicken liver mousse, pork pate and roasted pork. The house made baguette was very good as well.

And now back to the concert. CC Adcock opened the show with his excellent band from Lafayette. Antone’s was running a costume contest and the majority of the crowd were dressed up. I had seen CC Adcock once before in New Orleans and remembered him as a talented guitar player and songwriter. He put on a great show for over an hour and really got the crowd warmed up. Here’s one of his songs:

Doyle Bramhall delivered an amazing set for close to 2 hours. A highlight for me was when he brought Lukas Nelson (Willie’s son and a big part of “The Star is Born” movie) out to play on a couple of songs. They did an excellent cover of Dylan’s “Going, going, gone”. Here’s the guitar solo form that and then a verse:

It was a little after 1 am when I made it back to the hotel – tired but very happy with the Austin music scene and with Antone’s music club.

Thursday was a reasonable day at the office. I was able to get out at a decent time, look at an apartment (very small) and then go for a walk along the river trail and find the Stevie Ray Vaughan statue.

On Friday morning I tried another one of the local coffee shops – this one is close to my hotel and open 24 hours a day -very good coffee and food and lots of seating. I made it back to Dallas around 4pm and met Diana close to her office downtown for a drink and a snack before we headed over to Oak Cliff for dinner and a concert.

Dinner was at Nova (our new favourite pre-concert dinner spot) and then Marcia Ball at the Kessler.

We’ve seen Marcia a number of times in Dallas and New Orleans and she never disappoints with her one of a kind honky-tonk, barrelhouse piano and a mix of upbeat and melancholy songs. Shelley King opened the show, reminding us of the memorable Poor David’s show we saw where Shelley, Marcia and Carolyn Wonderland all performed together. Here’s a funny song from Shelley:

Marcia had been inducted into the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame on Thursday night. Austin City Limits is the long running PBS music show that is revered by its audience and musicians alike. I obviously need to get on some mailing lists so that I don’t miss important Austin events like this going forward.

She delivered an excellent set. My favourite was her outstanding cover of Randy Newman’s “Louisiana 1927” – such a foreshadowing of Katrina.

As usual, the band was excellent. Here’s a song that showcases Mike Schermer, the guitar player in Marcia’s band for many years.

And finally, here’s a song about Mardi Gras that I enjoyed that includes Shelley King:

I made it home to my own bed for the first time in the week around midnight.

We saw the movie “Bohemian Rhapsody” on Saturday afternoon. This was very well done, starting and finishing with the famous Live Aid performance by Queen. I remember watching it at the home of my Gearhart boss, the Sunday before my first day of work following University. My take away from the movie was how happy Freddie Mercury was when performing, and how tortured he was when trying to deal with everyday life – very sad story.

The movie ends with a reenactment of the full 20 minute Live Aid set, and I thought a better ending would have included the final song that Freddie and Brain May perform later in the event – “Is This the World we Created”. What an amazing thing Bob Geldoff did in 1985.

Our typical Sunday started with a workout, then coffee and a crossword – theme “Maniacs” – key clues: “Pork Lo Mein”, “Spanish Main”, “Flowing Mane”, and some city in the state of “Maine” that I don’t remember now. Get it? Different spellings of “Main” comprise “Maniacs”. Right now, I’m watching the New Orleans Saints destroy the Los Angeles Rams (the only undefeated team left at 8-0). 35-17 at the half. I’m officially picking the Saints for the Super Bowl this year.

We probably don’t need any more music this week, but here’s a song that Antone’s was playing before the show. They play a great mix of early 60s soul/R&B music. This is by Eddie Kendricks and I love the sound:

And since I haven’t had a chance to do any real reading this week, we’ll replace the book update with a song from Mighty Mike Schermer (Marcia Ball’s guitarist):

Week in Review – October 28, 2018

The last few hours of “Offline October” are upon me now. These weeks of pre-retirement have been very pleasant and now it’s time to start back to work. I have an early start tomorrow to catch the first flight down to Austin for the week.

The week started with Monday Movie Matinee, and this week I saw “The Old Man and the Gun” with Robert Redford, Casey Affleck, Sissy Spacek and a wonderful Tom Waits.

This is reported to be Redford’s last movie with him moving into official retirement. He’s 82 years old and still had the same twinkle in his eye as he had when delivering some of the entertaining dialog in “The Sting”, so many years ago. His chemistry with Spacek is excellent and, although he has a small role, Tom Waits had the few of us in the theater laughing out loud. I recommend this movie if you’re in the mood for some light hearted entertainment.

Some AIG friends invited us to join them for dinner on Thursday night. The only challenge was that they were staying over in Fort Worth and it was pouring down. McD and I persevered, driving through the downpour from downtown Dallas and McKinney to rendezvous at the Marriott close to the Texas Motor Speedway. We had a very entertaining evening catching up with Tim and Joe. I decided to redeem some hotel points to spend the night and avoid the long drive home – made for a slightly shorter drive for Diana in the morning and allowed me to have breakfast with the boys.

After workout, coffee and crossword on Saturday morning, we drove by Patty and Brent’s to check on the moving truck progress. Things were moving along quickly with an extra long truck almost fully packed. They leave early Monday for the long drive to Corning, New York.

On Saturday afternoon we were finally able to see “A Star is Born” – a movie we’d been looking forward to for a while. Both of us enjoyed it very much.

The movie features a lot of original music, performed by Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga. Both are excellent, with Cooper adopting Sam Elliott’s deep, scratchy voice and Gaga giving an unbelievably natural performance for her first full movie. I enjoyed Lukas Nelson and the Promise of the Real as the backing band. They have played with Neil Young for the last few years, and apparently Cooper saw one of those shows and decided to recruit them for his movie. Nelson also co-wrote many of the songs with Cooper and Jason Isbell.

For our last dinner before the move, Patty selected Jaspers. This restaurant is close to the old EDS headquarters in Plano, and has been the site of many and varied work dinners over the years. It was fun to reminisce about those with Patty – although she has a better memory than I do for many of them. We started with the always addictive maytag blue cheese chips – never any left over. Then I had scallops and shrimp with jambalaya risotto – also delicious. The restaurant is much less busy now than it was in the EDS heyday, due to all the new places at Legacy West, but the food is just how I remembered it.

My first book this week was “Small Great Things” by Jodi Picoult. The title is from a Martin Luther King quote, “If you can’t do great things, do small things in a great way”.

The story begins as Ruth Jefferson, a labor and delivery nurse at a Connecticut hospital with more than twenty years’ experience, begins a routine checkup on a newborn, only to be told a few minutes later that she’s been reassigned to another patient. The parents are white supremacists and don’t want Ruth, who is African American, to touch their child. The hospital complies with their request, but the next day, the baby goes into cardiac distress while Ruth is alone in the nursery. Does she obey orders or does she intervene?

Ruth hesitates before performing CPR and, as a result, is charged with a serious crime. Kennedy McQuarrie, a white public defender, takes her case but gives unexpected advice: Kennedy insists that mentioning race in the courtroom is not a winning strategy. Conflicted by Kennedy’s counsel, Ruth tries to keep life as normal as possible for her family—especially her teenage son—as the case becomes a media sensation. As the trial moves forward, Ruth and Kennedy must gain each other’s trust, and come to see that what they’ve been taught their whole lives about others—and themselves—might be wrong.

I enjoyed the way Picoult alternates narrators with each chapter – jumping from Ruth, to Kennedy to Turk (the white supremacist father). This 2016 book seemed very appropriate this week, as hatred and intolerance filled the news. Picoult does a skillful job of presenting all three narrators without judgement and with helpful insight into the background and basis of their beliefs. I did find the ending a bit trite and unbelievable but won’t spoil it for anyone who is interested and hasn’t read this book yet.

My second book was “Baby, You’re Gonna be Mine” by Kevin Wilson. This is a short story collection that was highly recommended recently by Anne Patchett (one of my favourite authors) and her staff at Parnassus books in Nashville.

The stories in this collection are certainly wildly varied and entertaining. “Wildfire Johnny” is the story of a man who discovers a magic razor that allows him to travel back in time. “Scroll Through the Weapons” is about a couple taking care of their underfed and almost feral nieces and nephews. “Signal to the Faithful” follows a boy as he takes a tense road trip with his priest. And “Baby, You’re Gonna Be Mine,” the title story, is about a narcissistic rock star who moves back home during a rough patch.

I enjoyed the collection and the creativity in each of the stories but wouldn’t rate this book as highly as the Parnassus bookstore staff. I think I’m discovering that I’m not as huge a fan of the short story format as many of the reviewers that I follow. I do, however, still count “Walking Wounded” by William McIlvanney, a Scottish based short story collection, as one of my all time favourites.

On the music front, a new album from John Hiatt, “The Eclipse Sessions”, was released last week and is excellent from start to finish. Hiatt has been making music for over 40 years at an amazingly high quality. His song writing is as pithy and entertaining as ever. Here’s “Over the Hill”, a perfect blend of J. J. Cale style laid back guitar and Mark Knopfler guitar tone.

From the released long ago, but new to me this week bag, here’s some excellent Booker T and the MGs:

Apologies in advance if the blog posts over the next few weeks get a bit less interesting and timely as I get acquainted with my new job.

Week in Review – October 21, 2018

I heard a term that some teenagers used when they decided to give up their electronic devices for a month – “Offline October”. That’s what I’ve decided to call my time off before I start work again in just over a week.

Another new term I’m using is “Movie Matinee Monday”, since I’ve gone to see a movie the last two Mondays, while D’s working during the day. What shall I see tomorrow? Last Monday was “Bad Times at the El Royale”, starring Jeff Bridges, Cynthia Erivo (in an amazing performance) and Jon Hamm. The movie is set at a hotel called the El Royale that straddles the Nevada/California border. The story is definitely on the darker side of film noir and that is nicely offset by some great singing by Cynthia.

Diana flew to Boston on Monday and was able to have dinner at Bricco in the North End. This was where we had planned to eat on Saturday before all the flight challenges. She returned to Dallas on Wednesday afternoon and sent me a text saying “gong to be a bit delayed”, along with this video. A car caught on fire right where she was trying to collect hers. After about an hour, she was able to retrieve the Passat and head on home.

Tim was in town for work on Thursday and we met him for dinner at a relatively new restaurant in Legacy West called Haywire. This is a Texas themed restaurant with 3 floors providing different options. The 3rd floor open air bar is described as having a Marfa theme. Marfa is a town in south Texas, close to Big Bend National Park, with a unique and eclectic artist community. The most interesting part of the bar is a full size airstream trailer with tables and chairs inside.

We enjoyed our dinner on the second floor and it was nice to catch up with Tim.

Alicia arrived home on Friday afternoon for the first time since leaving for college in June. The Ogans arrived for the weekend on Friday evening and Tim came over to hang out with everyone. We went from just the two of us in the big house to nine overnight on Friday. We had a very enjoyable night just hanging out and chatting.

For Saturday lunch we tried the Food Hall at Legacy West (right next to Haywire restaurant). The hall has about 20 very varied food vendors and lots of outdoor seating options to let us enjoy the first sunny, dry day in weeks. I really enjoyed my chicken tikka masala naan wrap and some samosas.

We thought the ladies were off for some shopping after lunch, until we received this picture. They decided that a nice bottle of half price rose champagne and steak tartare from Toulouse restaurant was a much better value than the workout attire they were looking at.

A quick respite at home and then it was time to head to Oak Cliff for dinner and a concert.

We ate at Nova, our new favourite pre-concert dinner stop. Everyone enjoyed their dinner and Anne commented that one could make a great meal out of a couple of side dishes – the broccoli, cauliflower, and mac n’ cheese are all great. I tried the chicken fried pork loin that is one of the signature dishes and was not disappointed. I have a decent sized portion of left overs waiting on me for dinner.

The concert at the Kessler was excellent. Big Sam’s Funky Nation opened with a high energy, crowd pleasing set. The ladies were all dancing in front of the stage and Sam invited them up to dance on the stage with him for the finale. Diana was singled out first and was a good sport, although the look on her face said she was quite nervous about what was in store. Here’s a short video with Diana, Anne, Kaitlin, and Alicia (left to right).

Here’s another video of Sam’s trombone on the Beatles “Come Together”.

It took a few songs for the Rebirth Brass Band to get warmed up and into their groove. They were in good form for several songs before we left for the long ride home. The Rebirth is perhaps the best known New Orleans brass band. I took Diana to see them at the Maple Leaf on our first night in New Orleans and was pleased to see that she enjoyed them so much.

Our friend Jens was having a 60th birthday party on Saturday evening and we were able to stop in for a bit on our way home from the concert. It was nice to see his son again – probably close to 20 years since I last saw him in San Jose. Glenda did a lovely job organizing food and decorating for the party.

Sunday began with a brunch that Alicia had organized for some of her friends. The Ogans participated for a short time and then had to head off to the airport.

I’m watching the Cowboys lose to the Redskins while writing this post – there’s still a lot of time for them to come back but they are not looking like the same team that had a big win over the Jaguars last week.

I finished a couple of books this week – a feature of my time off that I’m really enjoying. The first, “Less”, by Andrew Sean Greer, I found to be a very entertaining read. I liked these two descriptions of the Pulitzer prize winning book.

A scintillating satire of the American abroad, a rumination on time and the human heart, a bittersweet romance of chances lost, by an author The New York Times has hailed as “inspired, lyrical,” “elegiac,” “ingenious,” as well as “too sappy by half,” Less shows a writer at the peak of his talents raising the curtain on our shared human comedy.

“Less is the funniest, smartest and most humane novel I’ve read since Tom Rachman’s 2010 debut, The Imperfectionists….Greer writes sentences of arresting lyricism and beauty. His metaphors come at you like fireflies….Like Arthur, Andrew Sean Greer’s Less is excellent company. It’s no less than bedazzling, bewitching and be-wonderful.”
―New York Times Book Review

Here’s a typically entertaining passage as Less begins his adventures in Morocco:

“What does a camel love? I would guess nothing in the world. Not the sand that scours her, or the sun that bakes her, or the water she drinks like a teetotaler. Not sitting down, blinking her lashes like a starlet. not standing up, moaning in indignant fury as she manages her adolescent limbs. Not her fellow camels, to whom she shows the disdain of an heiress forced to fly coach. Not the humans who have enslaved her. Not the oceanic monotony of the dunes. Not the flavorless grass she chews, then chews again. Not the sun or the moon or the stars. And surely not the heavy American, a few pounds overweight, but not bad for his age, taller than most and top heavy, tipping from side to side as she carried this human, the Arthur Less, pointlessly across the Sahara.”

The second book, “The Reminders”, by Val Emmich, was an equally enjoyable read. I wasn’t sure about the story premise – thinking it might be a bit of a stretch and not something I would typically enjoy, but the folks at Interabang books were so positive about it that I decided to give it a try. I’m glad I did. Here’s a synopsis of the story from an online review:

“Grief-stricken , then again,over his partner Sydney’s death, Gavin sets fire to every reminder in the couple’s home before fleeing Los Angeles for New Jersey, where he hopes to find peace with the family of an old friend. Instead, he finds Joan.

Joan, the family’s ten-year-old daughter, was born Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory, or HSAM: the rare ability to recall every day of her life in cinematic detail. Joan has never met Gavin until now, but she did know his partner, and waiting inside her uncanny mind are startlingly vivid memories to prove it.

Gavin strikes a deal with Joan: in return for sharing her memories of Sydney, Gavin will help her win a songwriting contest she’s convinced will make her unforgettable. The unlikely duo set off on their quest until Joan reveals unexpected details about Sydney’s final months, forcing Gavin to question not only the purity of his past with Sydney but the course of his own immediate future.

Told in the alternating voices of these two irresistible characters, The Reminders is a hilarious and tender exploration of loss, memory, friendship, and renewal.”

I had planned a few activities on Wednesday, but couldn’t put this book down until it was finished. That rarely happens with me. The combination of the way the HSAM condition in the young character is described, and her desire to write a song for a competition in her father’s basement studio, kept me thoroughly engaged. There are only 30 people in the world that have been diagnosed with HSAM, and I remember watching a TV show where Marilu Henner demonstrated her ability to recall everything about every day in her life as if watching it on video.

I chuckled when reading this passage:

“In the kitchen, I fix myself a cocktail. Gin, Campari, sweet red vermouth: a Negroni, Syd’s drink of the moment. The fridge is empty, so I do without the orange rind.” Negroni is the cocktail that’s currently aging in my barrel and I typically serve it for McD with an orange twist.

Let’s finish out with a final taste of brass band music from the Lil’ Rascals Brass Band:

This just in – the Cowboys have tied the score with the Redskins at half time.

Week in Review – October 14, 2018

After seeing a new movie covered on morning TV on Monday, I decided to use my retirement day to catch an early showing. “Free Solo” is about Alex Honnold completing the first solo climb of El Capitan in Yosemite, with no ropes or assistance of any kind. He completed the 3000 foot climb in under 4 hours – a feat that takes most climbers several days, with assistance. The movie is from National Geographic and the cinematography is outstanding. There were several very tense points as Honnold hung from his finger tips in the middle of some highly complex manoeuvres. This movie gets two thumbs up for folks that aren’t too nervous about heights.

After the movie, I drove down to Interabang Books to choose some reading material for my trip to New Orleans. Anybody know what an Interabang is? I didn’t either. It’s this: “?!” (an emphatic question I suppose).

Monday night football provided a big stage for the New Orleans Saints quarterback, Drew Brees, to set the all time passing record for the National Football League. Denny and Greg were at the game and featured in the newspaper when the receiver who caught the record setting catch jumped up into the stands with them. The whole thing was a very big deal in New Orleans.

I arrived in New Orleans on Tuesday evening. Denny picked me up at the airport and we met Anne for some excellent Vietnamese food at a place close to the soccer practice location by City Park.

Wednesday began with lunch at Manolito in the French Quarter. This is a small Cuban restaurant with great food and daiquiris. I love croquettes and they had the best that I’ve tasted. That was followed with an excellent Cuban sandwich.

A ramble through the Quarter ensued with stops to shop for a birthday gift for Will (shh!) and to sample the champagne cocktails at the newly remodeled Brennan’s bar. Diana was missed very much at this stop.

After a quick regroup back at Webster St, we caught a show by the Iguanas at the Circle Bar. The Iguanas is a New Orleans based, roots rock band, formed in 1989. Their sound has been described as “combining Chicano rock, R&B, Conjunto and various Latin styles into a deep groove”.

The Circle Bar is a tiny venue, where you feel as if you are experiencing a show in a small living room. I enjoyed the show very much and particularly Papi Mali as guest guitar player. Here’s a link to one of their more popular songs.

And here’s my favorite:

A quick Uber ride over to the Chickie Wah Wah music club and we were at our second excellent show of the evening. John Fohl and Johnny Sansone performed a singer/songwriter show that was beautifully nuanced and varied. I remember a John Fohl show that Diana and I saw with Denny at Dos Jefes a few years ago very fondly. Both artists have impressive pedigrees with Fohl playing in the Dr. John band for years and Sansone in Blood, Sweat and Tears. Here are my two top picks from an excellent show:

A late night pizza on Freret Street and a typically outstanding New Orleans day wound to a close.

Awakening on Wednesday morning, I was very impressed to find Denny returning from an early morning tennis match. We met their tennis opponents, Fred and Kelly, at Saba for lunch. This is the new restaurant from the James Beard award winning chef behind Shaya, and is located in the corner spot previously occupied by Kenton’s. Lunch was very good but just not quite up to the level of ambience, service, or quality of Shaya.

Later in the afternoon, we enjoyed this panoramic view of New Orleans from the “Hot Tin Roof” bar atop the Ponchatrain hotel. This is a recently restored hotel and apparently is where Tennessee Williams wrote “A Streetcar named Desire”. The music oscillated between very enjoyable brass band songs and horrible hip hop nonsense. We joked that the rap music was inserted to stop slow drinking old folks from staying too long.

Anne left to go and take care of the boys, and Denny started taking me to all of my favourite places one after another. We enjoyed the patio at Bacchanal, an excellent dinner at the Bywater American Bistro that included country pate, an excellent middle eastern style curry, and bottled Negroni (that sadly is only available at the restaurant).

This was followed by a quick stop at Molly’s before crossing town to the Maple Leaf to see a piano show by CR Gruver in the back bar.

Here’s a short video of Gruver (it was dark again):

The late night music was at the Bon Temps bar with the Thursday night standard Soul Rebels Brass Band. The back room was the most packed I’ve seen it and included a lot of Georgia fans in for the LSU game on Saturday and avoiding the hurricane.

Friday was another beautiful day in New Orleans with very low humidity. I enjoyed some yummy breakfast tacos a la Denny and then made my way to the airport. What a lovely couple of days!

I made it back to Dallas in time for dinner with Patty (on her second to last visit to Dallas – the next one will be to move) and Brent at Mesero in the Legacy West area. The front room was very loud and so it was difficult to carry on a conversation. I downloaded a decibel meter and clocked the din at 95 decibels.

On Saturday we attempted to fly to Boston in the morning – Diana has a work meeting on Tuesday and we planned to spend the weekend exploring the city. After too many hours on a plane that didn’t take off due to a thunder storm and then pilots with too many hours, we gave up and headed home. The flight was ultimately canceled in the evening – poor people that hung around all day to go nowhere.

Sunday was back to normal routine – reading in bed, workout, coffee and crossword, facetime with my Mum and Dad (who were visiting Elspeth and family in their new palace outside of Aberdeen), and watching the Cowboys game. The Cowboys are currently in the lead with a long way to go in the game. They really need to win this one to keep a decent season alive.

My book this week was “Cathedral Stories” by Raymond Carver. This has received rave reviews for years as an exemplary short story collection. The first few stories didn’t impress me, but then things really picked up with a few excellent short story examples. “The Compartment” was my favourite.

I’ll finish this week with a song by the one of a kind James Booker who was honored with the back bar Maple Leaf piano shows.

Week in Review – September 30, 2018

Lots of work activity this week and so the weekend was more precious than normal. Our main activity was the much anticipated, at least by me, Nick Lowe concert at the Kessler.

Dinner before the concert was at Nova, the excellent restaurant that Brent found, and a short walk from the theater. We both commented on the different feel we experience in restaurants like this than our local places – so much more friendly and relaxed.

Have you heard of Nick Lowe? Do you know the songs “Cruel to be Kind”, “What’s so Funny About Peace Love and Understanding”, “Allison” or “I Knew the Bride When She Used to Rock N’ Roll”? You may not have heard of Mr. Lowe, but I bet you’ve heard at least two of his songs and know them well. Here’s a video of “Cruel to be Kind” to get you started:

In addition to his songwriting, Lowe produced the best known Elvis Costello albums from 1975 through 1981, Graham Parker, and the Pretenders, among many others.

We both loved this concert and rate it as one of the most exceptional concerts that we’ve seen at the Kessler – right up there with the Marc Cohn show that led us to pick “True Companion” as our wedding song. Here’s “Peace Love and Understanding”:

The backup band was “Los Straightjackets’, a surf rock band who wear crazy Luche Libre wrestling masks while performing. They played a few or their songs in the middle of the set, including this version of “Batman” complete with Gogo dancers recruited from the audience:

Here’s one last song from the show, “Allison”, the final encore to an amazing show:

Please go and see the 69 year old Lowe if you ever get the chance – a great gentleman, songwriter and performer.

We spent the night downtown at the classic art deco hotel, the Belmont, and talked about how concerned we are that this classic destination is going to be caught up in the gentrification of the neighborhood and ruined. There was an amazing view of downtown Dallas at night from our room.

On Sunday morning we explored the newly gentrified area across the street from the Belmont and were happy to find a great coffee shop, the “Houndstooth Coffee” in the Sylvan 30 development. Next door was a Taco Deli and so we were able to get a “quick bite to hold us over until lunch”.

We had brunch at “Boulevardier” restaurant in Oak Cliff and it was one of our most surprisingly great meals in a while. I had the “Legs and Eggs” – duck confit with sunny side up eggs served over stone cut grit cakes – yummy! Diana might have had an even better brunch – lox benedict over an amazingly light brioche. The hollandaise sauce and the brioche were the best I’ve tasted.

After lunch, we drove home to watch the Cowboys play the Detroit Lions. After a couple of anemic performances, I wasn’t excited about the game. However, it turned out to be a great game with a good performance by all aspects of the Cowboys team. They won by 1 point in the last few seconds – with the rookie kicker winning the game. Here’s the amazing pass to Elliott from Prescott that almost sealed the game.

An exceptional concert, tasty brunch, and Cowboys win – what a pleasant weekend!

I enjoyed the book “Summer Hours at the Robbers Library” this week. It was well reviewed and started out feeling very fluffy and inconsequential, but the characters and interesting plot twists sucked me in around the half way point. The book features varied characters that meet at a library, including a Wall St executive who looses his job in the 2008 financial crisis, a home schooled “alternative lifestyle” girl, and a divorcee trying to escape her prior life. They all come together to help solve each others’ problems in creative ways. This is what I would describe as a great vacation or beach read.

I read an interesting post about the album “Solid Air” by John Martyn this week. Martyn, who died in 2009, was described by the London Times as “an electrifying guitarist and singer whose music blurred the boundaries between folk, jazz, rock and blues”. I remember a friend in University being a huge fan of Martyn and, as much as I tried, I couldn’t get into the music. It’s amazing what 3o plus years can do to your musical taste – I’ve been really enjoying the record this week. Here’s “May You Never”:

And to finish out the post this week, here’s a picture of my oldest child resplendent in the kilt and accessories he purchased on his trip to Scotland last week. Apparently this was the outfit he planned to wear to see “The Phantom of the Opera” in San Francisco this weekend.

Week in Review – September 23, 2018

Diana stayed in Florida for work on Monday while I flew back up to New York in time to attend a show at the City Winery.

The Loft is the smaller venue upstairs at the winery, which is located in the SoHo neighborhood. I heard that the whole location is closing at the end of the year as Disney has purchased the entire block to consolidate their New York locations. The entertainment was provided by the Ana Popovic band and I had limited expectations, not having seen or heard much about her.

Popovic is a blues singer and guitar player who grew up in Serbia and now records and resides in the United States. I was very pleasantly surprised by Ana’s music and particularly by her excellent band, which included trombone, saxophone, and keyboard players from New Orleans. It’s always interesting to notice someone who speaks with a very noticeable Eastern European accent, singing without any trace of an accent. Here’s one of my favourite performances of the evening, “A New Coat of Paint”, a cover of the Tom Waits song from the classic “The Heart of Saturday Night” album.

Another song that I enjoyed was “Slow Dance” from her most recent album, produced by the fantastic Keb Mo:

Finally, here’s a jam between Ana and the brass section:

This was a very enjoyable evening of high quality music performed in a very nice, intimate venue. I’m sorry the club is closing, but understand they are looking for a new location to open in the New Year.

A typical New York scene greeted me on returning to my hotel – dueling jackhammers digging up the street right outside several hotels at 11pm.

I flew back to Dallas on Wednesday evening and always enjoy the view of the New York skyline from La Guardia airport.

Around the same time, Will and Christine were arriving in Stewarton, Scotland to visit my Mum and Dad for a couple of days.

Here’s what Will had to say on text about this visit: “Had such an incredible day today with Granny and Grandpa! Woke up to a homemade breakfast of haggis and black pudding. Then went to the coast to see Ailsa Craig. Walked the coast, got haddock fish and chips and smoked salmon at the famous ice cream shop. Found a little shop with authentic curling stones and these stones made from compressed heather that were really cool! Went into some old churches. Then headed home. Had homemade cottage (Cumberland) pie for dinner and meringue for dessert then ended the night with some Arran single malt scotch. Also had some really good Dunlop cheddar and oatcakes with dessert!!” The way to Will’s heart is clearly through his stomach.

The next day they all met up with Struan in Glasgow, where Will treated himself to a Hunting Robertson kilt and accessories. I enjoyed my Mum and Dad telling me today that Will reported having “done” Scotland, England, and Spain in the couple of days he spent in each.

The Dallas area was treated to around six inches of rain overnight on Saturday, which resulted in some pretty bad flooding. We thought the rain was mostly finished in the afternoon and I took Diana to see a movie without letting her know the name or what it was about. The trailer led me to believe this was a light, romantic comedy which was just what McD needed after a very long work week. See what you think:

It turns out the movie, “Life Itself”, had a significant amount of tragedy embedded in a very well done story of three generations of two families. The creator of the TV show, “This is Us”, had a major role in the film and you could certainly see the similarities in story telling techniques. We’re looking forward to “This is Us” starting a new season this week as it’s our favourite TV show these days (sorry Brent). I enjoyed the references to Bob Dylan’s “Time Out of Mind” throughout the movie and how it played into the story. Here’s a song from that excellent album:

It was still raining heavily when we exited the movie and Penelope was so suitably miffed with this that she shut down one of her window wipers.

I saw this video on TV this morning and thought it was hilarious – a Great Dane mimicking his owner doing lunges.

https://www.msn.com/en-ie/news/video/great-dane-performs-lunges-with-owner/vp-AAApfAX

I’ve been enjoying this new song by Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits fame. Kind of a new jazzy feel with the saxophone solo.

Week in Review – September 16, 2018

Back to New York again this week. The hotel that I usually stay at was transformed into “The Macallan Manor” for several nights as the club members there enjoyed a very fancy scotch tasting experience with some good bands playing.

It’s always very sobering to be in New York on September 11th, as we all remember watching the horror unfold on our television sets in 2001 , while the New Yorkers lived through it. My colleague took these pictures at the memorial – the only night of the year when lights outline the silhouette of the fallen twin towers.

Meanwhile, I was attending a Jethro Tull concert at the Beacon Theater on the upper west side. This was a sold out, 50th anniversary concert by a band that I enjoy very much but have never seen live. My pre-concert meal was at an excellent Mediterranean restaurant, the Hummus place, that is right behind the Beacon theater.

The mushroom hummus was amazing and the falafels were some of the best I’ve had. On exiting the restaurant, I was amused to see the Jethro Tull equipment truck – “Scotsman & Clan Transportaion”.

The concert was very enjoyable with a lot of video accompaniment from the 50 year history of the band and of world events.

It’s fairly amazing that a band with a flute as it’s main lead instrument and with a very classical bent has survived this long. Here’s a video of their Bach cover, “Bouree”.

The concert lasted well over two hours, with an intermission. The Beacon is such a gorgeous old theater with great acoustics – here are a couple of pictures from inside.

Predictably, the last song of the show was “Aqualung” which came with an entertaining video backing.

Hurricane Florence caused me to change my plans and travel down to rendezvous with McD in Florida a day early on Thursday. My flight to St. Petersburg arrived with no issues and a smooth ride overall. Diana’s hotel was within walking distance to downtown and we enjoyed exploring the area. Dinner was at the Copper Shaker which had excellent cocktails, service, and food.

Diana worked most of the day on Friday and so I was able to explore the breakfast joints, bookstores, coffee shops, and cigar bars of St. Petersburg reasonably thoroughly. I found it to be a very friendly, eclectic, walkable, and enjoyable city overall.

On Friday night we moved over to the Sandy Pearl resort in Clearwater Beach. The beaches there are made up of beautifully fine white sand. We enjoyed dinner at the very casual Frenchy’s Café, known for the grouper sandwich and “Crabby fries, and then enjoyed a lovely sunset.

Saturday started with lobster benedicts at Clear Sky café next to the hotel – very good. It was very hot and humid by the pool and so I didn’t last very long before retreating to air conditioning. I heard some great music coming from Clear Sky in the afternoon and so wandered over to listen. Diana joined me, and we met a fun couple from the nearby town of Dunedin. It made me smile because a work colleague recently moved back to Dunedin in New Zealand to run his family businesses. The couple had known each other from Kindergarten until the end of middle school and had recently reconnected – some good stories. They also recommended “Bon Appetit” in Dunedin for dinner.

We enjoyed dinner and the Dunedin sunset very much. Our waiter, Michael, had been in the restaurant business for 52 years, and certainly knew what he was doing. We shared a steak tartare starter, and then Diana enjoyed a nicely cooked lobster tail while I had the Dover sole (deboned table side by Michael). This was very much an old school restaurant.

In an effort to coax me out of air conditioning and down to the pool, Diana treated me to a poolside cabana on Sunday. This was a very special and luxurious way to relax and enjoy football and a book all day. I’m writing his post from the luxury of the cabana couch. Thanks Diana!

The Cowboys don’t play until later today, but the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (the local Florida team) just beat the Eagles, which always helps the Cowboys playoff chances.

I’ve been absolutely loving the book “Rules of Civility” by Amor Towles this week. This is about the exploits of a young lady in New York during the years surrounding the Great Depression and is exceptionally well written. I loved “A Gentleman in Moscow” which was Towles most recent novel and this, his debut novel, is even better in my opinion.

On the music front, I was reacquainted with this amazing Ray Charles song – a tribute to Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, and John and Bobby Kennedy.

Wow! What a song and what a performance.

Week in Review – September 9, 2018

Diana spent the week in Pacifica with her Mum while I worked from home all week and did my best to be self sufficient. The great news is that Clorinda is home from the hospital and back to normal after giving us quite a scare. Her neighbors, Andy and Jude, had a party on Saturday night to celebrate their sixtieth birthdays and you can see from these pictures that Clorinda was her old-self – camera always at the ready. She’s very fortunate to have such kind neighbors.

Diana captured this lovely panoramic sunset from the deck of Andy and Jude’s home.

I passed the time on a rainy Saturday by going to see the movie “Blaze” at the Alamo draft house and cinema in Denton. The movie is directed by Ethan Hawke and tells the story of the country folk musician Blaze Foley, a little known and very talented songwriter. The movie is very well done in a documentary style but with actors playing the roles of Blaze and his compadre Townes Van Zandt. Charlie Sexton, who we saw at the Kessler a few months ago, plays an excellent Van Zandt. Here’s Foley’s best known song:

Today has been spent weeding the garden and enjoying the start of the football season. The Cowboys haven’t played yet and I’m hoping for a positive start. I’m looking forward to McD finally returning home this evening.

A trend began this week of people substituting penguins for Trump in pictures with some hilarious results. Thanks to Brent for turning us on to these. Definitely a positive change.

I read a few short stories from Ry Cooder’s “Los Angeles Stories” this week. Regular readers of the blog will know that Cooder is one of my favourite musicians, with his “Paradise and Lunch” being a top 10 album for me. It always frustrates me when world class musicians are also very talented in another artistic field – just doesn’t seem fair.

The stories are in what I believe is called the “LA Noir” genre. Kind of like short versions of LA Confidential. It’s amazing how quickly Cooder can set a scene and introduce several very believable characters.

I came across this music from Abdullah Ibrahim this week and have been enjoying it very much. Ibrahim is from Cape Town and is heavily influenced by Duke Ellington and Thelonius Monk. Apparently there’s a jazz sub-genre known as “Cape jazz” that this represents well.

In other music news, I was introduced to Ronnie Earl through this track:

Earl is from Boston and originally graduated with a degree in special education. After seeing a performance by Muddy Waters, he became interested in playing blues guitar professionally. He has been the associate professor of guitar at Berklee college of music for several years now.