Category: Music

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.

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.

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.