Oscillating between high winds, thunder, and warm sunny days this week was typical of spring in Texas. Diana worked on organizing insurance folks to come and evaluate the hail damage from last week. She also had a handyman visiting to work on all the “bits and bobs” that have needed fixing for a while and are beyond my skill set or patience level.
On Wednesday we drove over to Dan’s Silverleaf music club in Denton. It was obvious that it had been a little while since we’d visited as we commented on all the new construction (including a large new High School) on the driver over highway 380. The early evening music was “A Taste of Herb” – a Herb Alpert tribute band. Here they are doing Simon and Garfunkel with a Herb feel.
This music took me back to riding in my Dad’s Renault 16 with his Harry Moss 8 track playing Herb Alpert and Tijuana Brass or Bridge Over Troubled Water. Happy memories.
Dan’s now serves food from Texas Tapas next door and we really enjoyed green curry meatballs, mushroom tacos, and truffle parmesan tater tots (which are becoming a common item on menus these days).
On Friday afternoon we checked out the new Cowboys fit facility that’s included in our Cowboys Club membership. They hope to open in late April and we’re looking forward to it – particularly the outdoor, heated lap swimming pool. The facility was filled with lots of fancy new equipment that looks quite intimidating.
To recover from the exertion of the tour, we stopped into Pepper Smash for some of their delicious blistered shishito peppers, Calbrese flatbread (creamy basil puree, charred tomato jam, sausage, and arugula) and cocktails. They have some very creative drinks, including the Cotton Candy Martini – which sounds way too sweet fo
r either of us to try. We walked across the street to the Angelika movie theater and saw T2 Trainspotting. This is a very Scottish movie set in Edinburgh. The language and content are a bit harsh but certainly lighter than Danny Boyle’s original.
Saturday brought a forecast of wind and rain that didn’t amount to much. It was a lazy day since picking up Diana’s engagement ring was pushed to probably Monday. I enjoyed the NCAA Final Four basketball games and Diana’s delicious sea bass.
Sunday brings more heavy rain and so I’m catching up on some overdue blog posts and enjoy the Sunday New York Times. I just ordered up a couple of books that sounded good in the NYT Book Review.
New music that I’ve been enjoying this week include Grandaddy’s excellent new album “Last Place” and Father John Misty’s “Pure Comedy”. They have similar keyboard driven melodic styles that I’ve been enjoying. Just now I’m listening to Nick Spitzer’s American Routes show from the Baton Rouge Blues festival which has some great live Luke Winslow King songs. Here’s a link to my posting on his latest album from December 2016:
rinity Groves with Patty and Brent. This is a new area on the opposite side of the Margaret Hunt bridge from downtown Dallas. There is a walking path along the Trinity river levee which provides great views of downtown. We stopped into the Cake Bar where Patty picked up a slice of cake for later. It appears to very popular as 
most all of the cakes were sold out before 5pm. Kate Weiser chocolate next door had some of the most creative and colorful treats I’ve seen. The Easter eggs were especially impressive.
ncert that was the main reason for our trip. We saw the Southern Soul Assembly perform at the City Winery. This is a group of 4 singer songwriters – Anders Osborne, Marc Broussard, JJ Grey, and Luther Dickinson – who usually perform on their own but did this short acoustic tour where they each take turns singing with acoustic guitars. The music and the venue were both excellent – we appreciated the table seating with food and drink service and the sound was very precise. We had heard Anders and Marc perform separately before and both agreed that JJ Grey was the star of the show. Here are JJ Grey, Anders, and Marc – you can decide which you like best but the variety was really entertaining.
Friday started with coffee and the crossword followed by a workout on the elliptical machines. We had lunch at a restaurant called the Little Octopus near the hotel. We were disappointed they didn’t have ceviche at lunch but enjoyed the Caribbean style food very much.
had a pleasant couple of hours exploring the exhibits and learned quite a bit about the local Nashville session musicians who played on music by Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Johnny Cash and a host of others.
On the walk back to the hotel we stopped for a picture of Diana with her new angel wings – do you see the guitars in the wing design? We laughed as Diana jumped in between a group of silly young girls who were taking forever to take multiple typical teenage poses in front of the wings. There was another couple waiting patiently and Diana told them, “That’s how it’s done”.
Thursday night’s routine with a trip to the rooftop bar at the hotel – quite a bit colder this time though so we sat inside. Then it was a quick Uber ride over to the Butcher and Bee restaurant – excellent Mediterranean food. The night finished with a quick visit to the Sambuca music club across from the hotel where we enjoyed a good cover band.
er in
Record factory and store. This is run by Jack White of the White Stripes band. Have you heard of them? Diana hadn’t and didn’t recognize their song “Seven Nation Army” when I played it on my phone on the walk over.
After dinner Denny consulted the extensive listing of concerts happening in New Orleans that night and we decided on Marc Stone at the Columns hotel. He was playing in the front room and at one point there were just the four of us listening to him. Denny had a good chat with Marc and didn’t forget to slip in some “Wash Dat” marketing activity. I thoroughly enjoyed his show. So much fantastic music is happening all over New Orleans every night. We headed to Dos Jefes cigar bar next to listen to a Japanese trombone player with what appeared to be a band composed of local music students – a great finish to our first night in New Orleans. We’re always amazed at how much ground we cover in a day when there.
erage Museum). Toups meatery has a restaurant inside and I loved the goat tacos that I had for lunch. There were lots of interesting exhibits on food and cocktails over the years. Next we had a coffee at “Morning Call” – a 24 hour coffee and beignet shop close to City Park and also to the restaurant where Denny had last left his credit card. Next to the coffee shop was the outdoor sculpture garden and we had a pleasant wander through it while enjoying the beautiful weather. Here’s a picture of my favorite sculpture – it seems to represent the evolution of man but I can’t remember the official name.
The boys always enjoy torturing “Miss Diana” when she comes to town. She’s in the middle of some kind of protest here. I see the boys play about once a year and am amazed at how much they progress – the team played really well.
The big highlight this week was a trip to the Kessler in Oak Cliff for a concert by Eric Lindell on Thursday (my sister Elspeth’s birthday). Brent accompanied us while poor Patty missed due to work travel.
festival a couple of years ago on a recommendation from Greg Luzianne (in his new Saints suit on the left). We saw him play in the paddock and I remember it being an enjoyable but not overly memorable set.
tish Santa – we’ve named him “Peaty” since his bagpipes are bottles of Scotch whisky and my favorite single malts are the peaty flavored ones from Islay.
preparations got into full swing. A fifteen pound turkey was prepped and set to bake in the oven. Diana made some very tasty stuffing with a combination of regular and spicy Italian sausage, corn, and celery. It was a huge hit and I’m still enjoying the leftovers. Sweet potatoes were baked, potatoes mashed, and green beans cooked up. A thoroughly delicious and successful first Thanksgiving meal cooked at home for Diana and me.
Greg) for cocktails at what is reported to be the “World’s Best Cocktail Bar”. The “Dead Rabbit” has won all the major best cocktail bar awards for the last few years and it did not disappoint. I had a “Fifth Gear” which was based on Irish whiskey and very strong. That was accompanied by my favorite pub food – a shepherd’s pie made with lamb.
was a full day of meetings. The organizers tried to spice things up with some “lightning talks” – 5 mins or less on any topic an attendee had in mind. We submitted topics in advance and the audience voted. My talk, “Humble and Kind”, was selected first. The idea came to me after enduring the prior week of hateful speech from all sides and particularly the reports from our schools. The talk seemed to be well received and the song “Humble and Kind” by Tim McGraw was played at the end of the day 
on both Tuesday and Wednesday.
ng provided a real musical highlight. We saw Marc Broussard perform at the Granada theater. Dinner before at the Sundown restaurant next door to the theater was very good. Marc has a great voice and a solid band including 3 horns. We enjoyed a couple of soaring saxophone solos. My highlight of the show was a cover of “Sneaking Sally Through the Alley”, originally recorded by Robert Palmer with The Meters from New Orleans as his band. The George Porter bass line is one of my favorites.