Category: Books

“Bastion is still just as good”

We had raved about Bastion, a tiny restaurant in Nashville, to Denny and Anne several times.  They were attending a carwash convention there this week, and suggested we join them for dinner.  I made the reservation exactly one month in advance, as necessary to get in, and we have been looking forward to revisiting for a while now.  More on that experience shortly.

The latest car wash in the Ogan empire opened Monday in Gentilly.  Then Denny and Anne flew to Nashville to celebrate.  They had been concerned that city approvals were going to cause delays and impact our trip.  Here’s a local councilman reading a grand opening proclamation.

 

 

Hotels were exorbitantly expensive this week, and so I booked a “Nashville Riverfront Loft”.  This worked out very well, with lots of extra space and a great location – half a block of Broadway.

Interestingly, there is a unique Taco Bell across the street – apparently has a special food and drink menu.  Didn’t have a chance to check it out.

 

After check-in, we met up with Denny and Anne for a tapas lunch and to sample some music at the honky-tonk bars on Broadway.

The Ogans were busy on Tuesday night with carwash stuff, and so Diana and I had dinner at an old favourite – the Butcher and Bee in East Nashville.  The whipped feta with honey is so delicious.  Not sure if Diana thought her champagne was more delicious?  We couldn’t resist the strawberry pavlova – a pretty faithful rendition with a creative twist.

 

After dinner, the carwash festivities were still underway at the Wild Horse Saloon (conveniently right next to our loft), and so we joined Denny and Anne for some shuffleboard games and were able to meet the carwash partners.

 

 

 

After some work on Wednesday morning, McD and I went for a walk across the bridge over the Cumberland river to check out the football stadium.  It was certainly starting to warm up as we took in the sites and enjoyed the riverside stroll.

It really is impressive to have the football stadium right next to downtown, and easily accessible with the pedestrian bridge.

I even learned a little history of Nashville on the walk.

While we were walking, the Ogans were touring the Glen Campbell museum – Anne really enjoyed it, with Denny commenting on having to read every little sign.  They shared pictures of Campbell’s Scottish outfit.

We enjoyed a casual Taco Deli lunch and discussed what to do next.  Denny found the Nashville Museum of African American Music (NMAAM), right under where we were enjoying lunch.  This was an outstanding museum – one of the best that I can remember visiting.  The use of technology, the variety of exhibits,  and the interactive opportunities were all excellent.  We were issued wrist bands on entry that were used to record many of our activities.  An email later shared all the songs you had listened to, beats you had created and more.

Here are some more of the interesting things in the museum – including a Louis Armstrong trumpet, and pictures of the first brass bands:

And here’s one of the most interesting sights I saw, Diana and Anne following along to dance moves through the years:

After the museum, we visited a rooftop bar and then freshened up and changed for dinner.

Anne had been given the action item to find the secret code to gain entry to the “Red Phone Booth” speakeasy bar.  She completed that with the concierge at the hotel with the rooftop.  So we needed to make that stop before dinner.

I think the code was a complete ruse, as there was no dialtone on the phone – suspect they just look on the camera and decide if they want to let you in.  It is clever how the backside of the phone booth opens for entry.  The place was lovely inside – lots of wood, comfy leather sofas, and a great cigar and drink selection.

Now it was finally time for the main reason for the trip.  Dinner at Bastion.

Here’s the menu for the evening:

Six courses with wine pairings – although several courses had multiple items involved – I think it was really thirteen separate dishes.  The first course was four appetizers – all great, and I think the group consensus was with the oyster.

So many things to love about this restaurant – wonderful food, creative presentation, the pride which accompanies the description of the food as the chefs deliver it, and the detailed explanations of the wonderful wine pairings.

The raw course was a delight – everyone raving about the scallops.

The pasta dish in the veggie course was Denny’s favourite.  It was an explosion of flavours in your mouth.

The salmon was beautifully cooked, with a yummy pumpkin seed sauce.

The duck might have been my favourite – perfectly cooked with another great sauce.

Dessert and the excellent wine pairing were a terrific end to a wonderful meal.

Chef was playing one of our favourite albums as we finished, and so we retired to the little bar to listen some more.

Whew – that was a busy day!

We had a relaxing, long lunch at Etch on Thursday as we killed time before our flight home.  Another very good Nashville restaurant.

Back home the magnolias are blooming nicely.  Can you see my red bird friend in the middle.  I whistle his song to him every morning.

I followed Finn to Tony’s car detail place on Saturday morning.  Tony is going to finish up protective coating that Will wants on the paint – ran out of time to finish before the car was shipped here.  We enjoyed a nice coffee in downtown Plano after drop off.

We had an early walk on Sunday morning – our later start on Saturday was a bit too hot for both of us.  After the walk I enjoyed a swim and picked up some new books from the library for my travels next week.

Some other interesting things from the week – Ollie earned his therapy dog certificate:

And my job made it into the puzzle as “data head”:

I had a good day on the puzzle yesterday, breaking five minutes, but lost to D by 5 seconds today.

My book this week was “Memphis” by Tara M. Stringfellow.  I enjoyed the last part of the jacket biography:

“Poet, former attorney, and Northwestern University MFA graduate Tara M. Stringfellow has written for…  After having lived in Okinawa, Ghana, Chicago, Cuba, Spain, Italy, and Washington, DC, she moved back home to Memphis, where she sits on her porch swing every evening with her hound, Huckleberry, listening to records and chatting with neighbors.”

Here’s a summary of the book – there’s a lot going on in every chapter, bouncing through generations and incorporating reactions to historical events like the MLK assassination and September 11th:

“Summer 1995: Ten-year-old Joan, her mother, and her younger sister flee her father’s explosive temper and seek refuge at her mother’s ancestral home in Memphis. This is not the first time violence has altered the course of the family’s trajectory. Half a century earlier, Joan’s grandfather built this majestic house in the historic Black neighborhood of Douglass—only to be lynched days after becoming the first Black detective in the city. Joan tries to settle into her new life, but family secrets cast a longer shadow than any of them expected.

As she grows up, Joan finds relief in her artwork, painting portraits of the community in Memphis. One of her subjects is their enigmatic neighbor Miss Dawn, who claims to know something about curses, and whose stories about the past help Joan see how her passion, imagination, and relentless hope are, in fact, the continuation of a long matrilineal tradition. Joan begins to understand that her mother, her mother’s mother, and the mothers before them persevered, made impossible choices, and put their dreams on hold so that her life would not have to be defined by loss and anger—that the sole instrument she needs for healing is her paintbrush.

Unfolding over seventy years through a chorus of unforgettable voices that move back and forth in time, Memphis paints an indelible portrait of inheritance, celebrating the full complexity of what we pass down, in a family and as a country: brutality and justice, faith and forgiveness, sacrifice and love.”

An example of some of the descriptive narrative, capturing Memphis and the South:

“The beginning of fall in the South was something to behold.  The summer heat – a slow moving tornado – had finally left the area.  Nights were a pleasant cool.  We could sit on the front porch unbothered because there were fewer bees, fewer birds, fewer cats even.  Magnolias in Memphis, including the big one in the backyard, had blossomed their last flowers.  The plum tree alongside the house had dropped its last fruit some time ago, but the area around the tree base was still stained indigo.  The dogwoods and maples and cherry trees lining Poplar Avenue had a slight touch of corn husk yellow as if God had placed dabs of butter on each leaf, so that when a breeze caught, the trees ignited in soft flame.  Fall in the South meant Midas came down and touched everything.  The trees seemed to be made of gold itself.  Leaves became copper coins catching in the wind.”

A key theme of the novel, is Joan’s love of art and her desire to do only that as a career.  Here she receives support from her Aunt August:

“”I can sing,” she said, exhaling a plume of cigarette smoke, then taking another puff.  “You’ve heard me before.  Don’t do it that often.  Folk pass out.  Once, years back, at your mama’s wedding, man fainted in a back pew.  Had to be carried out.  Hadn’t even noticed.  Just went on singing Aretha in a way I do doubt Aretha could do it.  But I never did anything with it.  My voice.  Not sure I wanted to, how folk went on and on whenever I let out a note.  Any well, I knew Who gave me this voice.  But I did love piano.  Wanted to play jazz.  Loved Gershwin.”

She sat smoking in silence for a few moments before she continued.

“I will help you, niece.  And I’ll work on your mama.  Win her over.  Guess I must.  Because you have a gift.  I think it’s high time somebody in this damn family with a gift use it.””

A very good read overall.

I read an old article by Chris Rose (ex-husband of Kelly) that I think sums up New Orleans and why it’s so wonderful, in a perfect way:

 

Chris Rose on New Orleans Culture: “Life-Changing, Spirit-Avenging”

I heard this at Bastion and really enjoyed the mix of jazz, rock, and funk:

Here’s a deeper cut from Elvis Costello, showcasing the wonderful piano of Steve Nieve:

Stay safe, compassionate, and kind to everyone!

“Happy Easter”

Diana flew to San Francisco for Easter on Monday, and I joined on Thursday afternoon.  Julie celebrated her 50th birthday a few days earlier, and I was put to work on Clorinda’s “labor of love” – rolling up 50 dollar bills and bow tying them on to a necklace.  What a finnicky project.  It did look good when completed.

The weather was mostly very nice, and we were able to get out for some walks on Gypsy Hill.  Somebody has entirely too much energy on those walks:

 

 

Clorinda and I got to enjoy the sun on the deck, and enjoy the view for a while in the afternoon.

John and Maddie’s 5 year old son, Ben, was out showcasing his amazing swing on the golf course – he might be even better at golf than he is at baseball.  College scouts pay attention!

Andy and Jude (best neighbours ever) came over on Friday afternoon.  It’s always so much fun to hang out with them.  Alicia and her friend Yenni put together an impressive appetizer display – particularly Yenni’s fruit arrangement.

Easter Sunday dinner was quite the feast – lobsters from Adamo’s recent diving expedition, and our gorgonzola lamb chop lollipops – been way too long since we made those.

 

 

 

And Julie got to wear the “labor of love” necklace.

Diana and Alicia posed for some pictures – D looking like a teenager with Alicia’s funny hat.

Caroline recommended a “new” walk for us – along the levee by Sharp Park golf course.  Diana had never been there in all her Pacifica years.  This was a pleasant, well maintained trail by the beach and up into the hills.

I flew back to Dallas on Tuesday – the first day of masks not being required for air travel.  It was interesting to observe about 70% of folks with masks in San Francisco airport and maybe 10% at best in Dallas.

I enjoyed a long walk to Duino for coffee on Thursday afternoon.  Ended up being more than 6 miles – a bit more than I had bargained on.

I dropped the VW Atlas off at Discount Tire to get the wheels balanced on Thursday, and Finn picked me up there and took me to lunch at Mexican Cactus – those tacos are so good.  The tire guys called me at lunch to say they couldn’t find the wheel nut locking adapter anywhere.  Nothing’s easy.  I ended up having to pick up a new one at the dealership – must not have replaced it when they powder coated the wheel rims.  The wheels did get balanced ultimately on Friday, and I found an interesting sub-woofer mounted on top of the spare tire when replacing the tool.  I had no idea it was in there.

Diana and Alicia spent Saturday down in San Jose and McD enjoyed one of her staples – steak tartare at the Left Bank at Santana Row.

My first book was “Whiteout” by Ken Follett.  I don’t remember reading Follett before, other than the “On Wings of Eagles” EDS Iran hostage rescue story, and really enjoyed this tale.  Set in a castle in northern Scotland that has been converted into a medical research facility, the story revolves around a plot to steal a deadly virus from the lab during a blizzard.

There is a lot of family drama involved as the owner of the laboratory gathers with this extended family to celebrate Christmas.  I’ll have to try some other Follett books.

My next book was “Mother, May I” by Joshilyn Jackson.  Here’s the online summary:

“Growing up poor in rural Georgia, Bree Cabbat’s single mother warned her that the world was a dark and scary place. Bree rejected her mother’s fearful outlook, and life has proved her right. Marrying into a family with wealth, power, and connections, Bree has all a woman could ever dream: a loving lawyer husband, two talented young teenage daughters, a new baby boy, a gorgeous home, and every opportunity in the world – until the day Bree awakens and sees a witch peering into her bedroom window, an old gray-haired woman all dressed in black who vanishes as quickly as she appears.”

The witch ends up being the mother of a woman who was badly wronged by Bree’s lawyer husband many years ago.  As she is terminal with cancer, she decides to exact revenge by kidnapping their baby.  A decent, quick read, but nothing to rave about.

I enjoy reading the “5 Albums I Can’t Live Without” article in Spin magazine – similar to Desert Island Disks.  This week included a rave about this album by Larry Goldings – hadn’t ever heard his music, but really like this stuff.  The organ creeping in part way through is excellent:

Spotify took me on a trip through similar music as I enjoyed some quiet reading time.  This was a highlight of the mix – Mehldau is so creative with such an excellent touch on the piano:

And finally, a classic I heard on the soundtrack to an HBO series that I was watching last night:

Stay safe, patient and kind to everyone!

 

“Residency Week 9 – Time to Go Home”

The final week of the residency started with a Magazine Street ramble for Diana and Alicia.  They began with a beignet and grits at The Vintage, before wandering around the shops.

They worked up an appetite with all that walking and rambling, and stopped into Mahony’s Po-Boy shop for lunch – fried pickles and a shrimp and oyster Po-boy – that’s just half of it in the picture.  They had plenty of leftovers for me to snack on later.

The Ogans had us over for dinner on Monday evening, before Alicia left town.  It’s always fun to watch Denny with multiple pots cooking, and the ease with which he brings it all together.  Scallops on a purple sweet potato puree, shrimp risotto, and asparagus.  All delicious.  Thanks Chef Denny.  We even had a special guest appearance from Jack.

Alicia took these pictures of us on our balcony before packing up.

We dropped her at the airport on Tuesday morning – we’re both pretty confident that she really enjoyed her visit.  Then Diana met Debra (Tuesdays are her day off from Jacques-Imo’s) for lunch at Del Fuego taco shop.  Apparently they filled up on guacamole and tostadas – so no left over tacos for K.

We made it to The Franklin on Tuesday evening for dinner – you’ll remember that we canceled last week with the inclement weather.  The duck liver mousse appetizer was just excellent – satsuma marmalade on the bottom and herbs and nuts on top , with excellent bread – each bite was a treat.  I followed that with the burger and Diana enjoyed some wagyu beef.  Well worth the drive across town to the Bywater area.  Then there was a little langiappe, as so often happens in New Orleans – the local middle school band was practicing close to where we parked.

We met the Ogans and Kirschs for lunch at Gris Gris on far East Magazine for Wednesday lunch.  We sat at the kitchen counter, which provided great entertainment and a good preview of what we should order.  I watched a few plates of shrimp ‘n grits being put together and decided that was what I wanted – very good.

Thom had missed our Happy Hour at Monkey Hill last week, and so we had a reprise on Wednesday evening – the majority of the krewe made it out.

 

 

 

 

Torrential rain, high winds and possible tornados were forecast for later in the evening, so we left the boys at Reginelli’s pizza and ubered home just before the heavens completely opened.

Thursday was a pretty quiet last day of the residency.  Diana spent most of the day packing us up – she did get a break to meet Kara and Kenny for oysters at Superior Seafood.

We left right on schedule on Friday morning – just after 9:30am.  The extra few minutes were because Diana packed up all of her shoes and realized as we were walking out that she hadn’t left out a pair to wear.  We stopped at Athena Greek and Lebanese restaurant in Shreveport – this has become our regular stop for lunch when making the drive to or from New Orleans.  We arrived home around 7:30pm.

I had a treat waiting in the stack of mail.  A $75 fine for apparently driving 26mph in a 20mph zone on Napoleon Avenue – my parting gift from the city of New Orleans.  I haven’t had a speeding ticket in at least 25 years.

The house seems to have survived just fine – with the freezer repaired before we got back.  Thanks for helping with that Finn.  Penelope decided to show her displeasure at being left behind by turning on her check engine light – drives just fine, so I’m sure it’s just some overly persnickety German sensor that needs to be reset.

On a walk after lunch, our neighbor called us over to show us a hole that squirrels have gnawed through into our eaves.  He had watched them going in and out.  Time to call a “critter guy.”

We met Finn for a Mexican lunch on Saturday and listened to him grumbling about how hard he’s having to work these days.  We had made appointments to have our second booster shots before lunch but got a call from Walgreens that they didn’t have anybody to administer the shots.  I enjoyed watching Duke play North Carolina in the NCAA basketball final four in the evening – what an entertaining game for Coach K’s final appearance.

Sunday began with an all time record for me on the crossword – finally beat 5 minutes:

The morning featured another failed attempt to get booster shots.  No call to cancel this time – just a note on the pharmacy window saying no shots today.  We’ll try again during the week.

My book this week was “The Magnolia Palace” by Fiona Davis.  This is another of the books that Diana picked up at Octavia books in New Orleans.  Here’s the Amazon plot summary:

“Eight months since losing her mother in the Spanish flu outbreak of 1919, 21-year-old Lillian Carter’s life has completely fallen apart. For the past six years, under the moniker Angelica, Lillian was one of the most sought-after artists’ models in New York City, with statues based on her figure gracing landmarks from the Plaza Hotel to the Brooklyn Bridge. But with her mother gone, a grieving Lillian is rudderless and desperate – the work has dried up and a looming scandal has left her entirely without a safe haven. So when she stumbles upon an employment opportunity at the Frick mansion – a building that, ironically, bears her own visage – Lillian jumps at the chance. But the longer she works as a private secretary to the imperious and demanding Helen Frick, the daughter and heiress of industrialist and art patron Henry Clay Frick, the more deeply her life gets intertwined with that of the family – pulling her into a tangled web of romantic trysts, stolen jewels, and family drama that runs so deep, the stakes just may be life or death.

Nearly 50 years later, mod English model Veronica Weber has her own chance to make her career – and with it, earn the money she needs to support her family back home – within the walls of the former Frick residence, now converted into one of New York City’s most impressive museums. But when she – along with a charming intern/budding art curator named Joshua – is dismissed from the Vogue shoot taking place at the Frick Collection, she chances upon a series of hidden messages in the museum: messages that will lead her and Joshua on a hunt that could not only solve Veronica’s financial woes, but could finally reveal the truth behind a decades-old murder in the infamous Frick family.”

I enjoyed this book quite a bit – learning about the art and history of the Frick mansion in New York, while bouncing back and forth between two historical periods.  Davis did a cunning job of bringing the two periods together as the mystery is revealed in the concluding paragraphs.

I watched the wonderful movie CODA this week.  I really enjoyed it and was reminded a lot of Mr. Holland’s Opus – one of my very favourite films.  This song was featured in the movie and I like both versions equally.

I heard this song somewhere in New Orleans this week – another great funky Meters song:

This song isn’t really my typical kind of thing – but it caught my ear while having dinner at The Franklin:

And finally, something from Eric Clapton that was on the house CDs in the condo – an excellent Stevie Wonder cover:

 

Stay safe, kind and patient with everyone!

 

“Residency Week 8 -Francais Semaine”

Week 8 started with a very pleasant run/walk in Audubon park on Monday.

We planned dinner at the Franklin on Tuesday evening, but canceled when we saw very heavy rain and winds forecast.  Instead we walked down to La Petite Grocery and enjoyed a lovely dinner at the bar.  The turtle Bolognese had changed to alligator, so I had to try that – even better than the turtle version.  Diana had their amazing burger.

We made a good choice in not venturing far from home as the storm was very severe, including significant tornado damage a few miles away in St Bernard parish.  Thanks to all of you who texted to check on us after the storm.

Diana went to an exhibit at the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA) on Wednesday afternoon.  Anne, Kenny and Kara accompanied her.  Queen Nefertari’s Egypt was the name of the show, and all seemed to enjoy it quite a bit.  Here’s the description from the NOMA website:

“Queen Nefertari’s Egypt brings to life the role of Nefertari and other powerful women in ancient Egypt through 230 exceptional objects, including statues, jewelry, vases, papyrus, steles, wooden coffins, and stone sarcophagi, as well as tools and various items of daily life from the artisan village of Deir-el-Medina, home to those who created the royal tombs.”

Stela of Nakhi, “Servant in the Place of Truth”, Offering to Osiris and Anubis.  New Kingdom, late 18th Dynasty (c. 1300 BCE)

 

 

 

 

The group stopped at Café Degas for a nice French snack before returning Diana and Anne to the condo.  Then Denny picked us up for dinner at N7 in the Bywater area.  This wonderful French restaurant is hidden away behind a fence with just a small stencil to indicate the location (as seen in this Denny does Hitchcock picture.)  We had chosen to sit in the covered patio area rather than the garden or inside – great choice – the setting was beautiful.  I think this was my favourite meal in New Orleans so far.  The tarte flambee with caramelized onions and lardons was a wonderful appetizer, and the steak au poivre was so perfect and flavourful.  Bon Appetit magazine calls this the most romantic French restaurant in the world.

Almost forgot dessert – I’m always wary of pavlova – expecting it to be nowhere near as good as the ones that Mum and Diana make.  The N7 version was yummy.

 

 

 

 

Kara suggested the Booker Sessions at the Maple Leaf Bar for our Thursday evening entertainment.  A nice early show at 6pm featuring John Paxson playing piano in the back bar in the style of James Booker.  I was able to sit close enough to watch his fingers fly across the keyboard – a real treat.  That’s a Frenchy painting of Booker atop the piano.

We enjoyed a slice of alligator cheesecake and a drink at Jacque-imo’s before the show.  I love that cheesecake!  And as a special langiappe, the wristbands for the Booker show were penguins.

 

 

 

We collected Alicia at the airport on Friday and made our way to meet the krewe for Happy Hour at Monkey Hill.  Alicia had asked for as much live music as possible – and it started with Johnny Sansone playing outside Monkey Hill.

The group was getting hungry and we ultimately decided on Cooter Brown’s for a casual dinner and March Madness basketball watching.   Sadly, the meat pies are no longer on the menu.  They do have fresh oysters though.

I almost forgot – Diana got a love letter when she parked the car in the neighborhood on Friday morning.  She’s making friends with the locals.  It was written on the back of a fax confirmation sheet – so at least one person still uses a fax machine.

 

 

I was impressed when Diana and Alicia were up and ready to go to yoga with Kara and Kenny at 7:30 on Saturday morning.  They attended a class in the sculpture garden in City Park – what a lovely setting.  Then they enjoyed iced coffee and beignets at the City Park outpost of Café du Monde – even saved one for me.

The French school down the street, Ecole Bilingue de Nouvelle Orleans, hosted Fete Francaise on Saturday afternoon.  They had food tents from a number of French and other local restaurants – including N7.  Some really wonderful food and drink options to choose from.  Live music was also available all afternoon – adding to Alicia’s requested intake.  I really enjoyed the whole afternoon – and so close and easy.

New Orleanians never miss a chance to dress up:

The music started with the Young Fellaz Brass Band – music that always makes me smile.  That was followed by Sunpie, Preservation Brass, and Sweet Crude.

The Preservation Brass were excellent, featuring Grammy award winning Craig Klein on trombone.  Sweet Crude were a Creole rock band – very energetic and creative and a favourite of Greg and Colleen.

 

 

I enjoyed watching the dancer that was part of the band:

Alicia seemed to enjoy all the music as well.

As if we hadn’t had enough excellent music already, we decided to make the walk to the Kingpin where Derek Huston and friends were performing outside.  We stayed until folks started feeling chilly, then ordered Theo’s pizza to pick up on the walk back.  What a full day of music.

 

Diana and Alicia walked to the Chloe for Sunday brunch, and enjoyed even more live music – this time from Andrew Duhon.  I think he has a really good voice – reminds me of Anderson East.

 

 

Greg and Colleen hosted a crawfish boil on Sunday afternoon.  I had never peeled a crawfish before, but do love the taste.  I had a lesson and gave it a shot.  It was great to see a few folks I hadn’t run into in a few years – Chris Pete and Randy Bush – along with the rest of the krewe.  Greg did a great job remodeling (pretty much completely rebuilding) their new house on State street.

 

I enjoyed watching the guys pour out the entire feast on to the long table.

I read another one of Diana’s books this week – “The Paris Apartment” by Lucy Foley.  This was not the light, airy tour around Paris that I was expecting, rather a very dark mystery where every member of a bad family had a different and dark secret.  It passed the time, but I’m not sure I’d recommend it unless you enjoy dark mysteries.

Lots of music already this week, so stay safe and kind to everyone!

 

 

“Residency Week 6 – Live Music Week”

Monday started with Anne going with Diana over to Metairie (where the big box stores are nearest to New Orleans) to shop for a new oven for her Mom’s house.  Everything was on a long back order and so she didn’t have a successful trip.  But she did learn where all the huge stores like Best Buy and Home Depot are located – they don’t have them within the normal New Orleans city limits – which I think is a nice feature.

We walked to Dos Jefes for the regular Monday night Jon Fohl show, and were pleasantly surprised to find Papa Mali subbing for him.  Mali had a nicely varied set, playing a number of songs he had written with Robert Hunter (Grateful Dead lyricist), and telling some great stories.  Here he is playing “Deal.”

I also enjoyed his version of Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song.”

We had a nice chat with Papa during his break.  Diana asked him about the song below that he had written about his wife (married for 40 years with 6 kids and 2 grandkids).  The struggling musician actually offered to buy us drinks – silly man – but such a sweet guy.  He noticed a friend at the bar – Dale Spalding, harmonica player for Canned Heat, and went off to coax him into playing in the second set.

Here’s the song for his wife, “Not so hard to understand.”

And then a real treat, Dale Spalding playing the Boz Scaggs classic, “Lend me a Dime.”

An excellent start to “Live Music Week.”

Diana met Debra and Anne for a ladies lunch at Shaya on Tuesday.  They did bring me some leftovers and hung out at the condo for a while after lunch.

“Pogeutry” provided our music on Wednesday at Tipitinas.  This is a band made up of the Lost Bayou Ramblers with Spider Stacy and Cait O’Riordan of the original Pogues from the 1980s.  I loved this show – so much energy and a good lead in to St. Patrick’s celebrations.  Here’s “Dirty Old Town.”  Kenny and Kara were able to join us and both enjoyed the show very much.

 

Spider Stacy is quite the tin whistle expert:

We enjoyed Happy Hour on the Columns porch again on Friday afternoon.  The beet salad may be the best that I’ve ever had – the food has really come a long way under the new ownership.  We laughed at Tim’s patron saint on our walk home:

And the number of beads still in the trees:

It was back to Tipitinas (thankfully a 5 minute walk around the corner) on Friday for a free show by the Soul Brass Band.  Another excellent evening, that ended with McD getting a big hug from the surly bouncer that she befriended over the course of the evening.  Here’s the band performing the Rolling Stones “All Over Now”:

Saturday brought…another parade!  This time the Irish Channel St. Patrick’s parade.  Not nearly as crowded as the Mardi Gras parades, but just as much fun.  I wasn’t expecting cabbages, leeks, and carrots to be typical throws from the floats – you really needed to pay attention.  We all had fun collecting “Kiss Me, I’m Irish” stuff for Anne’s dad, Grandpa Jack.

The krewe came back to the condo to relax after all the fun of the parade.  We ordered Theo’s pizza and the boys enjoyed a cigar on the front balcony.

And then…Diana convinced me to walk around to another free show at Tipitinas – this time Papa Mali, the guy we enjoyed so much at Dos Jefes on Monday night.  Unfortunately, this one was not our favourite – too much noodling around on the guitar and keyboards and not enough song structure.  Oh well – we had an amazing week of music overall.

Sunday was a mostly lazy day and then we joined Denny and Anne for dinner at Jamila’s.  This is a Tunisian restaurant with excellent lamb tagine.  I had been talking to my mum about the place, and she encouraged me to get the tagine and report back about it.  It was thoroughly delicious – so tender and so much flavour.  The place is run by a husband and wife – he manages the front and she runs the kitchen.  So welcoming and funny – we will be back for sure.

We had a drink at Chaise Delachaise before Jamilas.  I didn’t recognize the name, but realized on arrival that we had enjoyed a lovely New Year’s Eve dinner there a few years ago.  So many great places close by in this town.

Enough music already, so I’ll dive right into the book section.

My first book this week was “The Violin Conspiracy” by Brendan Slocumb.  The plot revolves around a Stradivarius violin that is stolen from a black violinist.  It turns out it was given to his great great grandfather by his slave owner.  The story of the violin theft is interesting, but less so than the story of Ray and his journey through racism to become runner up at the Tchaikovsky competition.  I found the first 70 or 80 pages a bit superficial, but really got sucked in when the story flipped back in time to Ray initially being obsessed with playing.

Slocumb holds a degree in music education (with concentrations in violin and viola) from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.  For more than twenty years he has been a public and private school music teacher and has performed with many orchestras in the region.  All of this makes for some detailed descriptions of violin technique and repertoire that I enjoyed a lot.  I learned what double and triple stops are all about.

I recommend this book to anyone with even a passing interest in classical music.

Having run out of books on hand – time for a visit to Octavia books down the street – I read one of Diana’s stack.  “One Italian Summer” was a very quick and easy read.  Pretty girly but set in Positano with pleasant descriptions of the food and the area.

Here’s the Amazon summary:

“When Katy’s mother dies, she is left reeling. Carol wasn’t just Katy’s mom, but her best friend and first phone call. She had all the answers, and now, when Katy needs her the most, she is gone. To make matters worse, their planned mother-daughter trip of a lifetime looms: to Positano, the magical town where Carol spent the summer right before she met Katy’s father. Katy has been waiting years for Carol to take her, and now she is faced with embarking on the adventure alone. 

But as soon as she steps foot on the Amalfi Coast, Katy begins to feel her mother’s spirit. Buoyed by the stunning waters, beautiful cliffsides, delightful residents, and, of course, delectable food, Katy feels herself coming back to life. “

I liked the way that Katy discovers her mom as a real person in Positano.  The construct of time travel seems a bit hokey, but actually works out well in the end.

Stay safe and kind to everyone!

 

 

 

 

“Residency Week 5 – Lundi Gras King and Queen”

I learned this year that Lundi Gras (the Monday before Mardi Gras) brunch at Commander’s Palace restaurant is a big deal with the New Orleans locals.  Anne was able to get us all a reservation and strongly encouraged us to dress up in fun Mardi Gras outfits.  She lent Campbell and Molly some fun duds:

Denny and Anne were also very sparkly – Anne with her band hat and tasseled boots:

And then D with her complete flapper girl outfit:

The food at Commanders is always excellent, with great service and good fun all around.  I met my work friend, Fred, who recently retired.  His family all had matching crazy suits:

A small band toured the restaurant taking requests.  I asked them to play “What a Wonderful World” – and the trumpet player had a great deep, raspy voice:

Here we all are in our corner table after a lovely meal:

And then….as we were about to leave, the lady in charge of the room asked us to wait a minute because she had something for us.  Oh boy, what she had was not anything that I expected.  She quietened the room and then announced that she had chosen Diana and me as Lundi Gras brunch King and Queen.  We were awarded decorated spatulas and then paraded around the restaurant behind the band waving them to all the diners.  Who knew that was a thing?  Apparently the locals did because Debra asked Diana the next day if they had crowned the King and Queen.  Diana had a good story to reply with.

What to do after all that excitement?  How about….another parade?  Yes – this was going to be the last one for us.  Orpheus was quite different with the floats beautifully decorated and lit up – a real feast for the eyes.  I always enjoy checking out the bands warming up in the park on the corner – and St Augustine’s is one of the best in the city:

Here are some pictures from the parade watching:

Yes – even the penguins made it out for this parade.

I had been told that Mardi Gras day begins very early, and there was a rumour that Mardi Gras Indians and bands would be gathering at Tipitinas shortly after 6am.  Vince and I made our way there to check it out.  Galactic was just finishing their overnight show when we arrived.  It was funny to watch the concert goers emerge into the daylight.  The Professor Longhair statue at the entrance was all beaded up:

Kenny and Kara joined us and we waited for a long time – but no Indians or bands.  Calling it a bust, we went back to the condo to get ready for our bike ride down to the French Quarter and the Marigny to checkout all the crazy outfits.

 

The group assembled and then we were on our bikes and off.

After a couple of stops we arrived in the Quarter and stopped to admire all the outfits.

We ultimately arrived at Anna’s in the Marigny and Diana and Debra enjoyed some champagne together.

That was maybe the most fun day of people watching that I’ve ever had.  We were exhausted after the day, but the kids headed off on the bikes to meet up with the rest of the krewe at The Kingpin.  Oh to be in your twenties.

Debra manages Jacques-Imo’s restaurant (first meal Diana and I had together in New Orleans was there) and had secured reservations for us on Wednesday night – a last meal for Campbell and Molly.  Denny, Anne and Jack joined us for an excellent meal.  Debra had arranged a lovely bottle of French champagne for Diana, and loaded the table up with complementary appetizers.  She is so sweet and kind.  This place was quite the opposite of Commander’s Palace – very casual and loud.  The southern food was amazing and the portions so generous that we were eating left overs for two days.  Molly was talking about her fried chicken on the flight home.

Honey was happy to have her parents back home on Thursday, and quickly destroyed her treat from the parades.  How could you be angry with that face?

Campbell texted me, “We had so much fun and will have stories forever.”  Mission accomplished!

 

 

We walked over to the Columns Hotel for drinks and snacks on Friday afternoon.  New ownership has really upped the cocktail and food game there.  It was a beautiful day and we really enjoyed passing an hour or two on the porch.

We passed this nicely decorated house on our walk down Marengo to The Columns.

Saturday started with a pleasant run in Audubon Park and a trip to Octavia Books where D stocked up on reading material for her sun-bathing sessions on the back terrace.

In the evening, we picked up Denny and Anne and drove to Faubourg Brewing in East New Orleans.  It used to be called Dixie Brewing, but has changed like so many other businesses as the Dixie statues and monuments have been removed.  Sun Pie and Gal Holiday were both performing outside on the expansive lawn.  Gal sat down at the table with us and rapidly consumed a bunch of crawfish before her set – she had some great peeling and eating skills.

There were several games available on the lawn and I was very impressed that Denny was able to outplay the Connect 4 champion McD.  You could tell he was really concentrating.

We enjoyed some chargrilled oysters and boudin egg-rolls and called it a reasonably early night.

Sunday’s run was in the Riverside part of Audubon – an experiment that we won’t likely repeat – the pavement is just too rough and unpredictable for a leisurely run.

In the afternoon we attended another porch concert.  This was hosted by one of Anne’s tennis ladies who was celebrating her birthday.  These started as a way for musicians to make money during early COVID and I hope they continue.  Just a great way to pass a couple of hours on a Sunday afternoon.

The band was The Walrus and they played all Beatles music – and played it very well.  A nice selection from all the albums.

There was an interesting moment when one of the guitar players amplifier broke down.  No worries – the man of the house quickly nipped inside and emerged with a replacement.  “The beauty of playing at a musician’s house”, said the singer.  I did chuckle at the guys in their “Laissez Boy” recliners, fresh from the parades.

Kenny and Kara joined us for pizza at Theo’s.  It was nice to sit outside, enjoy the yummy pizza and tell stories.

I finally finished “The Great Wide Open” by Douglas Kennedy.  Almost 600 pages long and pretty dense, but a really good read.

Here’s the summary from Amazon:

“Alice Burns – a young book editor – is deep into a manuscript about the morass of family life. The observations within resonate, perhaps, because she has just watched her own family implode.

As she reads she wonders: When did the sadness start? And could it be that unhappiness is a choice?

Thus begins a great American epic which follows Alice as she navigates high school, first love and sexism at an elite college, a spell in 1970s Ireland, and a tragedy that sends her stateside as the US embraces a cowboy actor named Reagan.

But it is also the tale of her endlessly complex parents and brothers – how their destinies are written by the lies they tell themselves and others.”

The book started out very well but veered into a bit of unbelievable territory in the middle sections.  There’s only so much that can realistically happen to one family, and I felt that Kennedy was trying to cram in too many historical references and events.  That being said, I still recommend this read if you have the patience for such a long book.

This Tom Petty song was in my head each time I picked up my book:

Here’s one from the late keyboard player, Chuck Leavell that I’ve had on pretty heavy rotation this week:

Stay safe and be kind to everyone!

 

 

 

“Let the NOLA residency begin”

This week was all about packing up and organizing for our “residency” in New Orleans.  Diana did a fantastic job of getting everything ready and packed in the Atlas – lots of room thankfully.

Before we left I had one last follow up appointment from my hand surgery.  The doctor said it looked great and it was clear that I had been doing all the recommended exercises.  I’m not sure McD believes that, but I really have been pretty good about doing them several times a day.

We split up the drive to New Orleans with a stop in Shreveport on Friday night.  We didn’t have very high expectations, but were delighted to find the Fat Calf brasserie.  What a wonderful meal – one that I would drive the 3 hours from Dallas to repeat – just amazing.  We selected four appetizers for our meal – all were excellent.  Moules frites, escargots, a duck and foie gras parfait, and quail with dirty rice.  I don’t know which was my favourite, all so well done and delicious.  We’re already plotting a visit on our return drive.

We arrived in New Orleans at 2pm on Saturday and met our hosts in the Villa Vici furniture store below the condo.  Very pleasant folks who helped us unpack and carry things upstairs.  The condo is very sleek and modern as advertised.  We’ve been enjoying the lovely outdoor spaces – balcony overlooking the street out front (great for people watching), and extensive rooftop garden area out back (gets wonderful sun in the morning for coffee and the crossword.)  There are a few sheep happily grazing on the rooftop:

We met Kenny, Kara and crew at the Westin in the French Quarter around 4pm for the Happy Hour show by Kenny’s cousin, Tim Laughlin on clarinet.

It was a real treat to meet Kenny’s Mum, Miss Sue.  We really enjoyed the excellent music and time to relax and catchup.

The view of the Mississippi and the Quarter from the Westin are quite impressive.

After that lovely arrival music, the Ogans and Kirschs came back to the condo with us and we ordered Thai food from Pomelo – directly across the street.  Pomelo describes their food as “street style Thai.”  It was quite good, but different than the traditional curries that we’re used to.  We had a great time hanging out and catching up with each other.

Denny and Anne arrived with a Mardi Gras starter kit:

Sunday started with a long walk down the Nashville Avenue “neutral ground.”  This is what the grass area between lanes in the middle is called.  There’s a nice path winding all the way down.  We made a turn on to Freret Street (Kenny’s neighbourhood) and enjoyed a coffee from Mojo before walking back home.

Our appetites were suitably worked up now for brunch at Atchafalaya – one of the more popular weekend brunch restaurants.  I absolutely loved my duck confit hash.  The blackberries and mangos listed on the menu made me a bit nervous, but they complemented the duck very well.  Diana loved her Bayou Benedict.

I made it back to the condo in time to watch the Bengals defeat the Chiefs by 3 points in the AFC Championship football game – the result that I had predicted on a work call on Friday.  That was only after a very nerve wracking overtime session.

Kenny and Kara had us over for burgers and to watch the NFC Championship – Rams versus 49ers.  The team I was hoping would win was again victorious.  It will be the Rams and Bengals in the SuperBowl in a couple of weeks.

What a great couple of starter days to the residency.

I added a new puzzle to my daily crossword routine.  “Wordle” is a game that was created by a gentleman in the U.K. to play with his wife.  You get zero instructions – just 6 chances to find the Wordle of the day.  Each attempt is highlighted with green for the correct letter in the correct spot and yellow for the correct letter in the wrong spot.  I think I had significant beginners luck on my first attempts:

This is embarrassing.  I read 50 pages of William Kent Kreuger’s “Ordinary Grace” before convincing myself that I must have read it before.  It didn’t seem overly familiar but there were occasional passages that sounded just like something I’d heard before.  I finally did a search of the blog and found that I read it back in 2018.  Silly K!

After those 50 pages, things got too busy for me to settle down with a book.  I’m looking forward to making up for that next week with some good book time in the rooftop garden.

Here’s one of my favourites from Tim Laughlin, the clarinetist that we saw on Saturday:

An interesting cover of Neil Young’s “Heart of Gold”:

A favourite from the excellent Tom Waits that popped up on a playlist this week:

And finally something great from Radiohead that I heard on the soundtrack of a show I was watching, just don’t remember which show that was:

Stay safe, calm and kind!

 

“Spouting Volcano on the Horizon”

Monday was Martin Luther King Day.  Here’s an essay he wrote in 1964, after winning the Nobel Peace Prize, for the Berlin Jazz Festival.  What wonderful writing, capturing the role music has played in social change in a compact essay:

“God has wrought many things out of oppression. He has endowed his creatures with the capacity to create—and from this capacity has flowed the sweet songs of sorrow and joy that have allowed man to cope with his environment and many different situations.

Jazz speaks for life. The Blues tell the story of life’s difficulties, and if you think for a moment, you will realize that they take the hardest realities of life and put them into music, only to come out with some new hope or sense of triumph.

This is triumphant music.

Modern jazz has continued in this tradition, singing the songs of a more complicated urban existence. When life itself offers no order and meaning, the musician creates an order and meaning from the sounds of the earth which flow through his instrument.

It is no wonder that so much of the search for identity among American Negroes was championed by Jazz musicians. Long before the modern essayists and scholars wrote of racial identity as a problem for a multiracial world, musicians were returning to their roots to affirm that which was stirring within their souls.

Much of the power of our Freedom Movement in the United States has come from this music. It has strengthened us with its sweet rhythms when courage began to fail. It has calmed us with its rich harmonies when spirits were down.

And now, Jazz is exported to the world. For in the particular struggle of the Negro in America there is something akin to the universal struggle of modern man. Everybody has the Blues. Everybody longs for meaning. Everybody needs to love and be loved. Everybody needs to clap hands and be happy. Everybody longs for faith.

In music, especially this broad category called Jazz, there is a stepping stone towards all of these.”

I caught a flight to Guatemala City on Monday afternoon for work.  There were several guys sitting near us who were with an organization called “Stoves for Guatemala.”  Apparently rural Guatemalans often cook on unventilated wooden stoves in single room dwellings, leading to bad respiratory disease.  This organization has built 600 clean burning and well ventilated stoves already.

https://helping-guatemala.com/

Here are some aerial pictures of the Guatemala City area during landing:

BP was excited to be allowed on the trip, and insisted on having his picture taken on arrival at the airport.

I stayed in an area called Cuidad Cayala – a planned city done in the Colonial architecture style.  The GoWork office and restaurants were all a short walk for the hotel, which made things very easy.  Cayala is very pretty and safe – with many high end shops and restaurants.

I met some work colleagues for an Italian dinner at Tre Fratelli on Monday night.  We sat outside and it was very chilly for Guatemala (high 50s).  I needed my puffer coat as the evening cooled off, with no humidity at all.  The city is at 5,000 feet and so cools quite quickly this time of year.

Here’s a picture of a volcano spouting in the distance, taken from my hotel room balcony:

Tuesday breakfast was at Cafe Saul – a great spot that I found on my last visit.  It’s so nice to be able to get a perfect macchiato with no fuss.

My first meeting of the day was a one on one with Jorge, and we decided to sit out on the patio of Cafe Barista and enjoy another coffee.  Such a pleasant way to do business and get caught up before the rest of the day inside.

Lunch was again enjoyed al fresco – this time a Greek place called Arena.  The pulpo (octopus) and falafel were both delicious, and the setting delightful.

After a long afternoon of team meetings, we enjoyed a seafood dinner at Atuna.  The croquette appetizer was delicious and then I enjoyed a very impressive lobster thermidor.

Sunset behind the volcanoes after dinner was quite something:

Back in Pacifica, the girls were enjoying the sunny day and then afternoon tea – complete with some very fancy finger sandwiches.

Diana sent me this lovely video of Frankie showing me her penguin sweatshirt.  She can be so adorable when she’s not being quite stubborn and opinionated:

Wednesday was another busy day of meeting various teams.  That was followed by a steak dinner with the leadership team at Montanos.  We had a private room with a TV that allowed us to share videos and photos of hobbies.  Damon gave a short talk about his basement garden where he grows peppers and vegetables during the winter.  Josue shared videos of him drumming with his band that won the Guatemalan Battle of the Bands contest.  A fun evening.

With the new US COVID rules – test no more than 24 hours prior to flight departure, I had to take a test before dinner.  Here I am working away while awaiting the test:

We met with our Project Management team on Thursday morning, enjoyed another delicious lunch at Arena, and then made our way to the airport for the flight home.  I had an Ensalada Fatouch that was very fresh and yummy.  Finn always has a chuckle about “Fatouch”.  I don’t really remember why – think there was somebody he worked with that liked it.

I was fortunate again, with a smooth and on time flight.  Customs at DFW was very quick and I just had to wait a short while for Diana to arrive from San Francisco.

It’s always pleasant to return to my home office, and I worked in it most of Friday morning.  Then we picked up Finn from work and had lunch at the Mexican Cactus.  Diana tried the ceviche with barramundi and it was really fresh and delicious.

Will supervised the loading of Finn’s car on to a transporter that should deliver it here on Tuesday.  Will has put a lot of time and money into getting the car absolutely perfect for Finn to enjoy.  I only have a limited number of days to wake up at 4:30am to deliver Finn to work, and I know the retiree is quite happy about that.

Jens and Glenda are coming over for dinner tonight.  We’re looking forward to it as it has been months since we’ve caught up with them.  I think McD is planning her excellent shrimp and scallops – yum!

“The Blue Hour” by Douglas Kennedy was my companion on the trip this week.  What a well written and constructed book.  I was hooked on the first page and wasn’t disappointed after that.  Page one:

“First Light.  And I didn’t know where I was anymore.

The sky outside: was it a curved rotunda of emerging blue?  The world was still blurred at its edges.  I tried to piece together my whereabouts, the exact geographic location within which I found myself.  A sliver of emerging clarity.  Or maybe just a few basic facts.

I was on a plane.  A plane that had just flown all night across the Atlantic.  A plane bound for a corner of North Africa.  A country which, when viewed cartographically, looks like a skullcap abreast a continent.  According to the flight progress monitor illuminating the back-of-the-seat screen facing me, we were still seventy-three minutes and 842 kilometers (I was flying into a metric world) from our destination.  The journey hadn’t been my idea.  Rather I’d allowed myself to be romanced into it by the man whose oversize frame (as in six foot four) was scrunched into the tiny seat next to mine.  The middle seat in this horror movie of an aircraft.”

A good plot summary from Amazon:

“Robin knew Paul wasn’t perfect. But he said they were so lucky to have found each other, and she believed it was true. When he suggests a month in Morocco—where he once lived and worked, a place where the modern meets the medieval—Robin reluctantly agrees.

Once immersed into the swirling, white-hot exotica of a walled city on the North African Atlantic coast, Robin finds herself acclimatizing to its wonderful strangeness. Paul is everything she wants him to be—passionate, talented, knowledgeable. She is convinced that it is here that she will finally become pregnant.

But then Paul suddenly disappears, and Robin finds herself the prime suspect in the police inquiry. As her understanding of the truth starts to unravel, Robin lurches from the crumbling art deco of Casablanca to the daunting Sahara, caught in an increasingly terrifying spiral from which there is no easy escape.

For fans of thought-provoking page-turners such as The Talented Mr. Ripley, Douglas Kennedy’s The Blue Hour is a roller-coaster journey into a heart of darkness that asks the question: What would you do if your life depended on it?”

An example of the excellent descriptions:

“Simo insisted that I sit in the backseat, where I had both windows wide open to rid the car of his incessant cloud of smoke, and to provide some ventilation on a torpid night when the humidity and the actual mercury level made the air seem as glutinous as maple syrup.”

For a pleasant change, the ending of this story wasn’t rushed but unfolded at just the rate pace.

I really enjoyed the story, the writing style and the surprising twists of this book very much.  I understand that Kennedy is much better known in the UK and France than in the US, and maybe those folks appreciate this kind of writing for the same reasons that I do.

Cafe Saul in Guatemala plays an eclectic mix of music, with some really unusual covers of popular songs.  I had to use Shazam to identify who was playing this hit from David Bowie.  A typically subtle arrangement from M. Ward:

Something from my Spotify Discovery Weekly list.  The level of musicianship on a Bela Fleck album is always extraordinary:

A song from The National that I think I heard on a movie soundtrack, but can’t remember the details:

And lastly, a lovely song from the excellent Rodney Crowell:

Stay safe and kind!