Books – Page 29 – Keith Robertson

Week in Review – February 10, 2019

Mural featuring Stevie Ray Vaughan at Congress and Barton Springs

Work occupied most of my bus ride down to Austin on Monday morning. An AIG colleague, Vinod, joined my new company and I arranged a welcome aboard dinner with him on Monday night. He’s vegetarian and likes Thai food, so I suggested Thai Fresh, a restaurant that came recommended that’s located in a neighborhood close to the office and the Carpenter hotel. Vinod was early to the restaurant and texted me to let me know he was outside. I asked him if the place looked okay. His reply made me chuckle – “It does not look good”. Thai Fresh is a bit of a hole in the wall kind of place and is located in a residential neighborhood – not what Vinod is used to in the Dallas area but quite typical of Austin, and part of the charm of the city. He enjoyed dinner a lot and we may have another convert to the excellent off the beaten path Austin restaurant scene. Another plus is that I walked to the restaurant and back – a 2.5 mile round trip that gave us some good exercise early in the week.

I was able to sneak out of work early on Tuesday evening to catch the happy hour show at the Saxon Pub. I’ve been trying to catch David Grissom’s regular Tuesday night performance since I started working in Austin, but something always gets in the way. Here’s an excerpt from Grissom’s online bio that indicates what an amazing guitar player and musician he is:

David Grissom has toured and recorded with John Mellencamp, Joe Ely, Storyville,The Allman Brothers Band, The Dixie Chicks, Chris Isaak, Robben Ford, The FabulousThunderbirds, Ringo Starr, Buddy Guy, Bob Schneider and John Mayall among many others. His songs have been recorded by Trisha Yearwood, Lee Ann Womack, John Mayall, Shannon Curfman and Storyvilleto name just a few. Over the years, he has been featured in Guitar Player, Guitar World, Musician, and Vintage Guitar magazines several times.

David moved to Austin in 1983 and quickly became a stalwart on the vibrant local scene. Playing first with Lucinda Williams, he then joined Texas legend Joe Ely’s band in 1985, touring and recording nonstop until 1991, when he joined John Mellencamp’s band. David made three records with John and toured extensively from 1991 through 1993. After, Mellencamp, David went back to Austin to form Storyville, the band that included the Double Trouble rhythm section and powerhouse vocalist Malford Milligan. Storyville released two CD’s for Atlantic Recordswhich were well received at various rock radio stations. Since 2000, David has divided his time between recording sessions, including the last three Buddy Guy CD’s, among scores of other releases, touring with the Dixie Chicks, Bob Schneider and also playing hundreds of his own gigs, while still finding time to produce his CD’s and two releases for Ryan Beaver.

Here’s a video from the Saxon pub show of a typical Grissom jam. I love his hybrid picking style – a combination of strumming with a plectrum and finger picking with the remaining three fingers:

Here’s a bit of “Take me back to Texas”, a Grissom song that starts with a line about the “wind in Amarillo”:

And finally, here’s a melancholy song he performed about a lost friend:

I’ll include some more Grissom music later at the end of this post.

After the concert, I met another colleague, Jeff, for dinner at Shady Grove on Barton Springs road close to the hotel. This is another classic Austin restaurant that’s been around for over 20 years with an amazing patio. Jeff told me a story about watching a kid who got his head stuck in one of the wagon wheels surrounding the patio, while eating there with his family. Apparently it ultimately took a visit from the EMTs to free the head from the wheel. I really enjoyed my green chili chicken a lot and the ambiance was great – amazing to be sitting outside eating at 8pm in February.

After dinner, Jeff mentioned a coffee and so we drove over to Bennu, the 24 hour coffee shop. We were both amazed to find the place packed with kids, all studying hard. We found a spot to relax and enjoy our coffees on the patio.

I made it back to the hotel in time to meet up with Damon to collaborate on a note to our CEO about a technical outage that had caused some disruption earlier in the day – great fun!

On Wednesday, I had dinner with a potential new partner company at the Carpenter hotel restaurant. I was pleased to find blood sausage on the menu as an appetizer. It wasn’t quite the same as the Stornaway black pudding that my Mum gets for my breakfasts when I visit Scotland, but very tasty nonetheless.

I was awake early on Thursday morning and so went for a walk down Barton Springs to Bennu for coffee around 6am. I snapped the picture of the mural at the top of this post on the walk. This was a pleasant 2 mile round trip to get me going for the day. After the walk, I made a visit to Taco Deli for breakfast tacos – I’m trying to ration myself to once a week now. Jeff and Greg joined me and we all enjoyed the breakfast snacks. I should mention that breakfast tacos from Taco Deli were served before and after a Town Hall at the office on Tuesday morning where I delivered a presentation on an exciting new business opportunity that we’re presenting. I did enjoy a migas taco after my presentation.

On Friday morning, I visited Dr. Sabzali, our regular family doctor, for a checkup – a good report all around. She made me smile as she was gushing about her son’s college opportunities. Apparently the kid achieved a perfect score on both his SAT and ACT tests (a very rare accomplishment), is on the national merit and presidential scholar lists, and currently has offers from UT, USC, and UCLA related to bio-medical engineering and pre-med degrees. We think very highly of Dr. Sabzali and she has clearly raised a very smart and driven son.

I can’t claim to be that smart and driven, but I did score a personal best time on the USA Today crossword on Wednesday during a coffee break- 5 mins and 36 seconds. Things were back to normal on Thursday – over 11 minutes.

We attended a unique event on Friday night. Our friend, Steve Boston, had arranged to propose to his girlfriend, Grace, in front of 50 friends at Fleming’s steak house. There was a large poster set up in the bar area where they would arrive with Yes/No check boxes.

They were clearly a very happy couple and enjoyed having all their friends there with them. Somebody made some entertaining masks.

Not an approach to a proposal that I would ever have considered, but typical of Steve.

After the celebration, we walked across the street to the Capital Grille for dinner in their lovely bar area. Diana got an excellent rack of lamb that we enjoyed again on Saturday for dinner. I love the painting of Tom Landry, legendary Cowboys coach, that hangs in the bar.

Saturday was a very lazy day around the house and Sunday began as normal with workout, followed by coffee and a crossword in downtown McKinney. We stopped at the hardware store to pick up some outside wood screws and then I repaired the fence (a couple of boards had popped loose beside one of the front gates). This was a bit of a process in the rain, as I passed an extension cord through the dog door in my office so that I could use the drill to push in the screws. I was glad to be able to check this long standing task off my list on the pantry whiteboard.

I convinced Diana to go to the cinema with me on Sunday afternoon. “Joni Mitchell – a 75th birthday celebration” was playing (one of only two showings in theaters).

This was an amazing musical performance. The band was comprised mostly of jazz musicians with Jon Cowherd (piano) and Brian Blade (drums) as co-musical directors. I have a recent album by both Cowherd and Blade form a french jazz label that I really enjoy and to find them leading the band was a nice treat. Seal’s performance of “Both Sides Now” was an outstanding highlight of the show. Chaka khan did a couple of songs and I was surprised by her faithful interpretations. Diana Krall’s control of both vocal and piano dynamics was amazing on her two contributions. Lastly, Los Lobos with La Marisoul on vocals was another outstanding performance. I highly recommend this show (available now on DVD) to anyone who enjoys the music of Joni Mitchell – the musicianship is superb. Joni herself looked very frail (she suffered a brain aneurysm a few years ago and has not spoken or appeared in public for a while). Kris Kristofferson (now 82 years old) also looked a bit confused in his performance with Brandi Carlisle – apparently he has some memory issues due to Lyme disease.

One of our favourite musicians, Delbert McClinton, received a Marquee Star in front of the Austin Paramount theatre on Friday. This is only the third star given to a musician, with previous honorees including Lyle Lovett and Jerry Jeff Walker (see my post a couple of week ago where I talked about Jerry Jeff’s biography). Lyle Lovett wrote, “If we could all sing like we wanted to, we’d all sing like Delbert.” McClinton also received the Nobelity Projects “Feed the Peace” award at the Four Seasons on Saturday for his support of many great charitable causes.

I discovered a new Youtube series, “Earworm”, this week and enjoyed the episode that explains the unique key changes and challenges of playing John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps”. This is a very interesting series and I look forward to checking out some more episodes.

I read “What Belongs to You” by Garth Greenwell this week. I can’t remember where I picked up the recommendation for this book but it was named a best book of the year by over fifty publications in nine countries, including the New Yorker, The San Francisco Chronicle, and The Guardian.

I don’t consider myself overly prudish, but some of the descriptions in this book were a bit much for me. That being said, the characters, Bulgarian setting, and writing style are all very good.

I also very much enjoyed the short story “What Can You Do With a General” by Emma Cline that was published in the New Yorker magazine this week. The dialogue and descriptions of family interactions are perfectly done. I read that Cline received a $2 million 3 book advance in 2016 around her first novel, “The Girls”. I’ll have to put that book on my future reading list.

I enjoyed part of the movie “Irma La Douce” this week. Starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley McLaine and released in 1963, this is a silly and entertaining film. One of the scenes includes part of one of my favourite classical pieces, Rimsky Korsakov’s Scherzerade. I’ve included this in the music section below.

I love the lyrical quality of the opening violin lines in this version of Rimsky Korsakov’s Scherzerade:

As promised, here’s something more from David Grissom – his live version of the Allman’s classic “Jessica”. He was planning to record this with a five piece horn section in Milan this weekend (part of a story he told at the Saxon Pub).

One of our favourites from Delbert (and beautifully covered by Marcia Ball in concert also):

I heard this song playing in Bennu on Thursday morning, and was surprised to find that it was a Beastie Boys recording – not what one typically hear’s from them. It’s a tribute to the late organ virtuoso Richard Arnold “Groove” Holmes – best known for his 1965 recording of “Misty”.

Week in Review – February 3, 2019

The weather in Austin this week was chilly but significantly warmer than most of the rest of the country. Chicago was particularly badly impacted by the polar vortex with the entirety of Lake Michigan freezing. Scotland had a decent amount of snow and I received excellent pictures from both Merrick View and Aberdeenshire.

I had intended to attend a show at the tiny Continental Gallery Club on South Congress on Monday evening. It’s called “Church on Monday” and features Dr. James Polk, esteemed Austin multi-instrumentalist, world-class organist, and former arranger for the great Ray Charles. Instead, I had dinner with my boss at Second Bar and Kitchen to catch up on plans for the week ahead. I’ll have plenty of chances to catch “Church on Monday” in the near future.

The night sky as I headed out to Second Bar was very colourful as the wind began to really whip up. I know a red sky at night is supposed to be a “shepherd’s delight” but this one felt a bit ominous.

I picked another new hotel this week. The Carpenter is a hip and modern hotel just off Barton Springs road, very close to my office, and to several fun restaurants. Carpenter Hall, the onsite restaurant gets rave reviews, and that’s how I found the hotel. One of my favourite features is the lounge area where you can select from a large selection of vinyl albums to spin while you relax and read in the evening. The speaker is also quite unique.

Sunrise on Tuesday was pretty in the Pecan grove where the hotel is situated. I tried the migas breakfast at Carpenter Hall and it was delicious – perfect flour tortillas to wrap around the crispy eggs.

I ate dinner at Carpenter Hall on Tuesday evening as well. The wild mushroom pasta and charred broccoli were both excellent. I look forward to staying at The Carpenter again. There is a very good wine bar right next door with 100 wines available by the glass and many interesting selections. Can you make out that the sign on the back of the building, that I captured from my hotel room balcony, is made from corks?

Wednesday took me back to Dallas on the bus to attend some work meetings there on Thursday. It’s always nice to get home a day earlier than normal.

We saw the movie “The Green Book” on Saturday and both really enjoyed it. The film tells the story of Dr. Don Shirley’s concert tour through the American South in 1962. Shirley is played by Mahershala Ali and his driver/bodyguard/butler, Tony Lip, is played by Viggo Mortensen (my favourite current generation actor).

Mortensen’s transformation into an entirely credible New York Italian heavy is amazing – an entirely different physique and character than his last role in Captain Fantastic (another great movie). Ali’s suave and educated character is equally well acted and the friendship that develops between two men from entirely different backgrounds is quite heart warming. I enjoyed one scene where Don and Tony are locked up in a small town jail. Shirley uses his one phone call to call Bobby Kennedy, who calls the governor, who calls the local sheriff to have them released. I looked it up and this is completely historically accurate.

Shirley played popular tunes in an interesting style that is a hybrid of jazz, blues, and classical styles. He says he would have preferred to play Chopin, but audiences at the time wouldn’t have accepted that from a black man – so his record company insisted that he stick to more popular, current music. Here are a couple of his recordings. Can you hear the classical influence coming through? I think there’s a definite Chopin Nocturne feel in the quieter passages.

I read the book “Asymmetry” this week. This book had some of the most positive reviews of last year from the New York Times and several other well respected publications and I had been looking forward to digging into it.

The book, which is essentially a study of the imbalance of power in relationships, was brilliantly written but a bit confusing and incongruous.

Written by Lisa Halliday, it is actually three novellas, the first two of which have nothing in common and the third of which is a strange attempt to unite the first two in the form of a BBC “Desert Island Disks” interview. I’m just not smart enough to get the linkage and so can’t agree with the rave reviews at all.

The first story, “Folly,” is a May-December romance between Alice and Ezra that some critics say is about Halliday’s own affair with Philip Roth with lots of allusions to “Alice in Wonderland.” The second story, “Madness,” is about Amar, a young American man of Iraqi heritage, who is detained for several days at Heathrow Airport based on ethnic profiling. The story flashes back and forth between the airport nightmare and his life story until then. The third story is the radio interview with Ezra, and in the answer to one of the many questions he is asked, he unites the first two stories. Sort of, but not really for me.

I did enjoy a number of the musical references in the book, as Ezra shares his favourites with Alice. A few are included in the music section this week.

This is the first of Ezra’s favourites from Asymmetry. I love the theme from this piece and the performance by Yoyo Ma and the London Symphony with Andre Previn is excellent.

The second from Ezra’s list is from Faure. I enjoy this piece but it doesn’t resonate with me as much as his Requiem – if you haven’t heard it, I highly recommend giving it a listen.

I stumbled on this song by Breakestra – a band that I had never heard of and know nothing about. The drumming and bass playing caught my attention right away – sounded a lot like the Meters from New Orleans but with a special twist.

It turns out that Breakestra is a rotating cast of Los Angeles musicians, anchored by bassist/guitarist/upright cellist/producer/vocalist “Music Man” Miles Tackett. Miles is the son of Fred Tackett from Little Feat – one of my top 10 favourite bands with an amazing drummer themselves, and a band that we enjoyed at Tipitinas in New Orleans a few years ago.

The final selection this week is from Kurt Vile. I’m really enjoying his new album, “Bottle It In”.

This is my first week in a long while without any live music experiences. I’ve been trying to compensate by playing the piano a bit. I promise to try and do a better job of supporting live music next week.

Week in Review – January 27, 2019

I watched a movie about Bill Murray stories on the bus down to Austin on Monday afternoon. There are a lot of stories about Murray participating in random events with folks and doing kind things. This is a good documentary and included my favourite story towards the end about Bill Murray driving a taxi in San Francisco so that the owner of the taxi could play his saxophone for him in the back seat.

I dropped my bag in the rental car at the Hyatt and walked to the Continental Club on South Congress (SoCo) to enjoy the free show by the Peterson Brothers. This was less than a 10 minute walk and so will be easily accessible from the new apartment.

South Congress is a really interesting area of restaurants and different shops. It’s gentrifying very quickly and sadly will likely lose some of it’s unique character. I hope it doesn’t become just like everywhere else.

I had read that the Peterson Brothers were the next big band in Austin and about to make it big. They put on an excellent show that was a gumbo of soul, blues, jazz and funk. Imagine Weather Report, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Miles Davis and Al Green mixed up in a band and that’s a bit of what they sound like.

The brothers are Glenn Jr (21) on guitar and vocals and Alex (19) on bass. Alex is a real virtuoso on the bass and reminds me of Jaco Pastorius (of Weather Report fame). They have opened for many of the big names in blues and jazz and played in several high profile festivals. I’ll be surprised if they’re playing a free Monday night set at the Continental Club for too much longer. Here are a couple of videos of their performance of “Don’t You Lie to Me” – the first is the early verse and the second an extended jam with entertaining dance moves towards the end. I love the fact that the brothers have smiles on their faces while they play and exude huge amounts of positive energy.

I stayed at the Sonesta hotel in Bee Cave which is about a 20 minute drive from SoCo and from the office since the Hyatt and other downtown hotels were very expensive this week. It’s a nice hotel close to an outdoor mall with good restaurants and a particularly good new breakfast place that I found – Elle’s Cafe.

I visited Elle’s twice – having a beans and greens bowl the first time and an omelet with turkey sausage the second. Both were delicious with very fresh ingredients and great flavours. I laughed when the chef brought me the omelet – I was in the middle of doing the crossword and was timing myself on my phone so that when she arrived I paused the timer. “Were you timing me in the kitchen?”, she asked.

Will spent the weekend in Lake Tahoe, snowboarding at Heavenly. He had to wait until Monday afternoon to drive home due to all the new snow that fell over the weekend and on Monday morning. No need for a dance floor on top of the Durango in this weather.

I had a pretty late lunch on Wednesday and tried a new Mexican place on Barton Springs road – El Alma. Wow – this is my new favourite Mexican place, knocking off the Blue Goose in Dallas. The relleno stuffed with shrimp and crab was delicious with an excellent sauce. I look forward to returning after it warms up a little to enjoy the rooftop patio.

On Wednesday night, I tried out a new experience – my go to Austin radio station has a local music showcase at Guero’s taco bar each Wednesday night. I like the vast majority of the music that Sun radio plays and so thought I would enjoy the event. Both bands were very good and the setting was great.

I caught the bus back up to Dallas on Thursday afternoon and Diana and I met at the Neighborhood Services restaurant on Lovers Lane for dinner. We both really enjoy this restaurant and the speakeasy style, understated location. Do you think Diana got enough fries with her steak frites? I loved my redfish with gorgonzola grits and the amazing voodoo sauce.

The weekend was nice and relaxing with workouts, coffee and crossword sessions, and time for reading. We had a nice late lunch at Toulouse in Legacy West on Sunday. This is the place that Diana and Anne visited for champagne and steak tartare on their visit in October. We started with steak tartare and then we both had great salads. My whipped goat cheese and beets salad was delicious.

I read the book “At Home with the Armadillo” by Gary P. Nunn this week. This was an excellent review of the Austin music scene in the 1970s and 80s. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the stories about all the characters involved in developing the Texas music movement. Nunn played in the bands of both Jerry Jeff Walker and Michael Martin Murphy in the 70s and tells a great story about opening for Elton John at the Palmer auditorium, a building that I drive by every day on my short commute to the office each morning. Another story I enjoyed was of Nunn seeing a very young Joe Ely play in Lubbock and thinking that he was going to be a big star. He worked to arrange Ely’s first record contract with MCA. It’s interesting that we just saw Joe Ely last weekend (in his seventies now) and I’m reading this week about how he got his first recording contract.

In researching Joe Ely music last week, I came across a project he was involved in called Los Super Seven. They recorded a song called “Learning the Game”. I thought it sounded very familiar and ultimately realized that it was originally recorded by Any Trouble on a record I enjoyed in University. Here are both versions.

Gary Clark Jr has a new album due in March, and based on the advance single it seems he is ready to share his frustration with the current state of affairs in our country:

I’ve been enjoying Gary P. Nunn’s biography this week and here’s his classic song that has been the intro to the Austin City Limits TV show for many years:

And here’s some songs from Michael Martin Murphy that Nunn references in his book that I’ve also enjoyed this week:

Week in Review – January 20, 2019

Monday took me to Guatemala City for a few days of work. I had done some pre-reading on my destination but wasn’t really sure what to expect. Customs and immigration was a very quick process and I found myself looking around for my car service and without mobile phone service (should have double checked that before leaving). I had been strongly warned not to take a regular taxi but was close to taking that risk. Fortunately, the driver showed up about 20 minutes later and, after a short ride, I was checked into a very modern Marriott hotel and enjoying dinner. This was the view from my balcony.

Guatemala City has a population of 2.5 million people and is situated at an elevation of 4,921 feet. The city is surrounded by volcanoes and I took these pictures from the office balcony.

They say Guatemala is where American school buses go to die. Not exactly – they shorten them, put in powerful engines, and paint them very bright colors – each color signifying a route for a population with a very low literacy rate.

Typical colorful guatemalan chicken bus in Antigua, Guatemala, Central America

This view from the office balcony shows shacks built into a valley, right next to a very modern office complex. It was a bit disconcerting to learn that all the executives in the office drive heavily armored and bullet proof cars but I was happy to know that on our way to dinner on Tuesday through some very interesting neighborhoods.

Guiseppe Verdi (do you think it’s Italian) was the dinner choice and we started with some hand cut carpaccio. Then I enjoyed a perfectly cooked duck breast with gorgonzola risotto.

Wednesday was a long work day and so we opted for a local restaurant in walking distance of the hotel. Kacao provided a good sampling of local cuisine – very similar to the Mexican food we are familiar with . I had a very good mixed seafood ceviche.

It was back to Dallas on Thursday morning. A short 3 hour flight and I was back home shortly after noon. Thankfully Friday was a quiet and low key day of catching up on work and other paperwork.

We awoke to a light dusting of snow on Saturday morning and it’s been so cold this weekend that it hasn’t quite melted yet. You can imagine how much McD is enjoying the cold weather and biting wind. I heard the classic, “I’m ready to go and lie on a beach now”, comment this morning. Quickly followed up with “and I mean a warm beach!”.

The Kessler beckoned us to another excellent concert on Saturday night. We checked into the Nylo (now called the Canvas) hotel and Ubered over to Nova for a pre-concert dinner. The special of scallops on a bed of ratatouille was excellent.

The concert was by Joe Ely, a performer that I’ve seen a couple of times over the last close to 30 years and always enjoyed. He was born in Amarillo in 1947 and has spent most of his life based in Lubbock, TX (famously the home of Buddy Holly). Here is his performance of “Dallas”, one of his best known songs and the 2nd in the setlist:

We heard a Joe Ely song on the Bruce Springsteen channel driving to our workout on Saturday morning. This was interesting as I don’t remember hearing him on the radio in years and here he was on the day of the show. It was a guest performance he did at a Springsteen show at Giants stadium. I read that Ely and the Clash were big admirers of each other and Ely actually sings backup vocals on “Should I Stay or Should I Go?”. He opened for several Clash shows in the US in the eighties. Here is his performance of Woodie Guthrie’s song “Deportee”, written in 1948 and just as relevant today:

The first time I saw Joe Ely was at an amphitheater in San Antonio in the early 90s and his new guitar player was the excellent Ian Moore, who went on to have quite the solo career. Moore had replaced David Grissom, who left Ely’s band to join John Mellencamp and played guitar on most of his hits. Interestingly, Grissom plays a free show at the Saxon Pub in Austin every Tuesday (a mile or less from my new apartment). I look forward to catching some of those shows soon. Here’s the final video I captured from Ely’s show, his beautifully nuanced cover of Billy Joe Shaver’s “Live Forever”:

The accordion player on all three of these videos is Joel Guzman who just finished Paul Simon’s final tour. He and Ely have played together for years and he added some great accompaniment to the mix.

There was some hilarity on our Uber ride back to the hotel after the show. We commented on a huge new gas station that we passed and our driver told us that the owner kept a bison, a longhorn, and a zonki behind the store. What’s a zonki? Exactly – we had no idea either. My Dad guessed correctly earlier today – a cross between a zebra and a donkey.

The view of the sunrise from our hotel room was quite impressive on Sunday morning:

I chose Standard Pour as our brunch destination. This was our first time trying the food here (we learned from Martha, sitting next to us at the concert, that our favourite brunch location in South Dallas, Smoke, had closed a few weeks ago) and we enjoyed the whole experience. Diana chose the economical carafe of mimosas but didn’t quite finish it. That washed down a very stacked burger. We have lots of leftovers for dinner.

Meanwhile, in New Orleans, Thom and Denny had a similar idea as they prepared for the Saints game against the Los Angeles Rams:

We’re watching the game now and hoping the Saints can win and secure a spot in the Super Bowl in 2 weeks. Denny and Anne seem to be enjoying the game so far (particularly Anne with her Veuve Clicquot champagne glass):

Will is spending the weekend in Lake Tahoe, snowboarding at the Heavenly resort. They have several feet of new snow and the conditions should be excellent. This is the first time Will has felt his knee is strong enough to ride in several years. I hope he’s having a great time, being safe, and has a smooth drive home after the snow abates a bit.

I finally finished “Independence Day” by Richard Ford this week. This 450 page, small font book has been with me for several weeks now.

The story is the sequel to “The Sportswriter”, a book I enjoyed last year. Frank Bascombe is now 44 years old and returns as the narrator. The time is 1988, and Frank is looking forward to the Fourth of July weekend, when he’s arranged to meet with his girlfriend, Sally Caldwell, and then take his 15-year-old son, Paul, to the basketball and baseball halls of fame. Paul has never recovered from the death of his brother, Ralph; occasionally barks like a dog; and has been labeled by a team of therapists as “intellectually beyond his years” yet “emotionally underdeveloped”.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and all that it has to say about family relationships, the politics and happenings of 1988, and Frank’s struggle to find a meaningful place in the world.

I’ve written a lot about music in this posting so far and so will just add one more quick update. This is a song from an Australian funk band that I heard in the Opening Bell coffee shop by the Nylo hotel on Sunday morning and enjoyed.

Late breaking news, the Saints just lost to the Rams in overtime. A horrible missed call by the referees at the end of regular time led to this loss – otherwise it would have been an easy Saints win. Denny and Anne made it on TV again and clearly have something to say (middle right side of the TV screen):

Best of 2018 Lists

Top 10 Restaurants, 5 Best Destinations, Best 20 books of 2018, Top Places to Live in America.

Over the last few years, a lot of communication seems to come in the form of ranked lists. This year I decided, if you can’t beat them, why not join in?

The last couple of hours have been spent scrolling back through all the blog posts of 2018 in search of my favourite concerts, books, and records of the year (while keeping one eye on the Colts versus Texans playoff game – not going well for the Texans so far). Wow, we covered a lot of ground and saw some great performances last year! From tiny jazz clubs to arena shows to classical performances at Lincoln Center – a wide variety of venues and genres to choose from.

Best Concerts of 2018

Curtis Stigers (Birdland, NY) Diana and I talked about this list and spent no time at all debating our top pick for concert of the year. We both loved the Curtis Stigers concert that we saw at Birdland prior to Denny and Anne arriving in New York for Denny’s 50th birthday trip. This was more surprising given that neither of us had heard the name Stigers prior to the concert. I bought the tickets purely on the basis of the write up on the Birdland website. Within the first 10 seconds of Curtis’ opening song, “I’ll be Home” by Randy Newman, I was sold. The arrangements, variety of songs, and quality of performance were all top notch. We were both completely aligned on staying for the late set and were very pleasantly surprised to find it was mostly completely different music, ending the way it started with “I’ll be Home”.

2. Band of Heathens (Kessler Theater, Oak Cliff) Why is this band not famous? They have amazing talent, a great sound, look great (according to McD), and put on excellent performances. We first saw them on Austin, again purely based on a magazine write up, as they performed a closing show for the venue “Momo’s” where they formed as a band. We left amazed at our fortune of lucking into the show. Since then, we must have seen them 10 or more times at various venues in Texas and Louisiana. Their Thanksgiving week concert at the Kessler was a special highlight – they performed their cover of the Ray Charles album, “A Message From the People”, in entirety and book-ended it with some of their most popular songs. Both Diana and I can very easily get their version of “Abraham, Martin and John” stuck in our brains on hearing the fist line, “Has Anybody Here Seen My Old Friend Abraham?”.

3. Nils Lofgren (Kessler Theater, Oak Cliff) Can you tell that the Kessler puts on one amazing show after another? Best venue ever! I’ve loved Nils since high school and his Live album from the Glasgow Apollo (signed copy obtained after this show, when he told me that tour was his favourite of his career). The show was particularly special as Lofgren showed what a consummate performer he is. His guitars had been stolen the night before, and you would never have known by the quality of the performance with borrowed gear, and his willingness to stay after the show to greet all of his fans.

4. Joshua Redman (Blue Note, New York) This is the best jazz performance that I’ve seen so far (granted, it’s only been a few years that I’ve been attending jazz shows). Diana and I saw Joshua as a special guest in the tiny Village Vanguard and were amazed at his saxophone mastery (that’s the night that he shared some of D’s champagne). This show was a complete master class on the saxophone with a beautifully varied repertoire that showed off his amazing versatility and musicality.

5. New York Philharmonic (Lincoln Center, New York) The precision of the performance of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto #5 was ridiculous. I’ve heard a few orchestras but never one so completely synchronized and rehearsed but still entirely musical and flowing. This is one of a few classical pieces that I could sing form start to finish (my Mum had a record that was played quite a bit, one of her favourites from her time teaching in France and living with Aunt Louise).

Excellent shows that didn’t make the top 5 include The Eagles and Chris Stapleton at ATT Stadium, Elton John’s farewell tour at American Airlines Center, James Hunter Six at the Kessler, Mark Broussard at the Kessler, Marcia Ball and Shelley King at the Kessler, Doyle Bramhall with guest Lukas Nelson at Antone’s (my first great Austin show), Marcia Ball, Shelley King, and Carolyn Wonderland’s Christmas Show at Poor David’s Pub, Nick Lowe and Los Straightjackets at the Kessler (with the amazing performance of “Peace, Love, and Understanding”), Jethro Tull’s 50th anniversary show at the Beacon in NY, the Bacon Brothers at the Kessler, Los Miguels in a private concert in the courtyard of El Taminamba in San Miguel de Allende, Big Sam’s Funky Nation at the Kessler (with dancing by Diana on stage), John Fohl and Johhny Sansone at Chickie Wah Wah in New Orleans (amazing performance of “Do or Die”), Devon Allman and Duane Betts at the Kessler (half the audience in tears during “Blue Sky”), Kenny Baron’s excellent piano at the Jazz Standard in NY, John Oates soulful blues show at the Kessler, Soullive and Robert Randolph at the Blue Note in NY, and finally Rayo Bros at the Gasa Gasa in New Orleans during jazzfest.

Wow! 2018 might be the best year of live music I’ve experienced in my 54 years on this planet.

Best Books of 2018

Every Note Played by Lisa Genova. I loved this book and have recommended it to several people. I hadn’t read “Still Alice” prior to this and that probably enhanced my enjoyment as I understand her books may be a bit formulaic. The empathy in Genova’s writing about a musician losing the ability to play is extraordinary.

2. The Reminders by Val Emmich. This was a very close second choice. I had never heard of the author when I visited Interabang books in Dallas and received such a high recommendation for this book. It ended up completely sucking me in to the extent that I didn’t do a number of planned activities in order to finish the book in one sitting. Such a creative story about memory and relationships.

3. The Rules of Civility by Amor Towles. “A Gentleman in Moscow” was one of my favourite books of 2017 and I was delighted to discover this previous novel by Towles when I accompanied Diana on her work trip to St Petersburg. Such an excellent job of capturing New York society in the 1920s. I anxiously await his next novel.

4. The Soloist by Steve Lopez. This was a very good movie (I don’t like to see movies before reading books) and an even better book. The understanding of mental illness and homelessness that Lopez communicates is stunning. The backdrop of unrewarded musical ability (at a virtuoso level) is heartbreaking in the extreme.

5. Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult. This is the most relevant book on my list for today’s society. The unnecessary and embedded hatred portrayed in the book seems to become more and more part of our political system and society on a daily basis. While somewhat egregiously depicted, the characters ring true as examples of the bigoted and inflexible positions taken by so many these days.

Other books I enjoyed this year include Calypso by David Sedaris (an excellent Christmas read), Less by Andrew Sean Greer (a great recommendation by Interabang books), Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng (surprisingly enjoyable and creative), The Sportswriter by Richard Ford (excellent writing and led me to Independence Day that I’m currently loving), Famous Father Girl by Jamie Bernstein (great anecdotes on the musical master), A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving (classic Irving and a bit of a long slog), A Visit from the Goon Squad, Manhattan Beach, and Emerald City, a trio of books by Jennifer Egan (a very rewarding discovery this year), Uncommon Type by Tom Hanks (in a year when vintage typewriters seemed to appear everywhere).

Best Records of 2018

Several of my top records of 2018 were actually released in 2017 and not noticed by me until 2018. I’m going to claim a 9 month wiggle area for inclusion in the current year – it’s my list and I’ll do what I wanna.

John Prine – The Tree of Forgiveness. Prine’s first album in many years is not his finest but still the best of the year for me. Sublime songwriting coupled with an aged voice that communicates all the passion and hurt in his songs.

2. Teskey Brothers – Harvest Hill Moon. I heard a song from this album on the radio in Austin and listened to the rest of it as soon as I could. I remember telling Diana how amazed I was that a sound like this (sounds like deep Muscle Shoals from the 70s) came out of Australia. I listen to this at least once a week – especially when able to enjoy the home office system.

3. Charlie Hunter – Baboon Strength. Hunter was discovered when he played the excellent Townsend speakeasy bar and music venue on Congress Avenue in Austin. He plays a hybrid bass and lead guitar and has a very unique style. I love the sound of this record – “Fine Corinthian Leather” is a standout for me.

4. Jason Isbell – Nashville Sound. Isbell was my favourite performance at the Telluride Blues festival a few years ago by a long way. This album has several stand out songs and “If we were Vampires” is the most poignant song that I heard this year. I’m making it a goal to see an Isbell performance in 2019.

5. Marc Broussard – Easy to Love. “Don’t be afraid to call Me” is reason enough to love this album. After you hear it live, you can’t forget it for a while. Broussard is certainly one of my favourite live performers and I look forward to seeing him again at the Kessler in February.

6. Anderson East – Encore. I had to add a 6th choice to this category. I like every song on this one and still rue not attending the two shows of East’s that we had tickets for this year – work got in the way both times (it doesn’t happen very often and it impacted the same artist twice). The song “Cabinet Door” is certainly the saddest one I heard this year – but one I couldn’t stop listening to.

I hope you enjoyed this recap of some 2018 highlights. Are any of my top picks aligned with yours? I’m always looking for new recommendations on musical artists and authors.

Week in Review – December 30, 2018

The week of Christmas was very busy in Pacifica, CA with lots of cooking, organizing, and family visits.

The fun kicked off on Christmas Eve with the traditional feast of the seven fishes. Never heard of this celebration? I hadn’t either until spending the holiday with the Campagnas. Apparently it’s not well known in Italy either, but is an American tradition popular among Italian Catholics.

Here’s what Eataly’s website has to say about it:

“Every year in the U.S., many people celebrate the Feast of the Seven Fishes on Christmas Eve. Although it is unclear when the dinner became so popular, this celebration is considered one of the most Italian traditions. Typically, the family gathers around a feast of seven different seafood dishes or one or two different types of fish prepared in seven different ways.

The ancient tradition of eating fish on Christmas Eve dates from the Roman Catholic custom of abstinence from meat and dairy products on the eve of certain holidays, including Christmas. The number seven is rooted back in ancient times and it can be connected to multiple Catholic symbols: in fact, the seven seems repeated more than 700 times in the Bible. Also, according to the Roman Catholic Church, seven are the sacraments, the days of the Creation, as well as the deadly sins. Hence seven courses!”

Adamo and family as well as Andy and Jude (Clorinda’s neighbours) joined us for the feast, with Adamo doing much of the cooking. The meal was a big success despite not having exactly the fish selection that the matriarch had expected (no cod). Leftover massive crab claws provided excellent ingredients for omelets the rest of our visit.

New sleeping bags from Auntie D and Auntie Keith for Tahoe

Christmas Day started with a visit to Amy and Adamo’s home to observe the chaos of the kids opening presents. Amy made a delicious brunch (as usual whipping it up casually amid the chaos) and Andy and Jude joined again.

We were able to exchange a few gifts with Alicia before the madness became unmanageable and we had to beat a retreat. I enjoyed this gift label and always get a chuckle out of her referring to herself as an “Angel”:

Back at Clorinda’s home, it was time to start the preparation for Christmas dinner. Diana had purchased both rack of lamb and honey ham for dinner and we set about preparing those together. The matriarch didn’t like what we did with the lamb but enjoyed how it tasted at the end, so we’ll let that go (kind of). It was a gorgeous day in Pacifica as evidenced by this picture of the view from the prep kitchen.

Marco, his family, and Alicia were our guests for dinner and everyone enjoyed the meal very much. Diana’s Aunt Sarah passed away a few weeks ago at the age of 104 and the family had arranged a memorial service for December 26th, when most of the family would be in town. The after dinner activity was helping Marco finalize the order of service pamphlets and getting Olivia and Alicia ready with their parts of the service (a reading and flute performance).

I had to work on the morning of the 26th and so didn’t attend the service. The videos I’ve seen of both Marco’s eulogy and the reading/performance by Olivia/Alicia were both beautiful. Boxing Day was another gorgeous day and I worked outside on the deck with this view before heading down to the beach coffee shop for lunch.

Travel home on Thursday was relatively smooth – our flight was 2 hours late, but American let us know before we headed to the airport. We arrived home around 10:30pm and enjoyed the quiet of our house.

We used a coupon at the Tommy Bahama restaurant in Legacy West on Friday night and had a very good meal. This is not a restaurant we would have thought of trying without our $50 off card and we were both very impressed with the food, service and ambiance. These ahi tuna tacos were an excellent appetizer. Then I had Thai curry scallops and shrimp and Diana had a rib-eye steak and shrimp – all very fresh and well cooked. We’ll be back for sure.

After dinner we exchanged the Christmas gifts for each other that we had transported to California and back unopened. That’s an indication of how little downtime McD had during the visit.

Saturday was a quiet day at home catching up on things before heading to New Orleans to ring in the New Year with good friends. We did get workouts in on both days in anticipation of all the good food ahead in New Orleans. I’m at the airport as I finish this up and just watched the Cowboys eke out a win over the New York Giants – a game that didn’t mean anything for playoff spots, but one that both teams played hard to win. A 10-6 record is much better than my prediction of 7-9 for the Cowboys this year and a playoff berth quite a surprise. There’s a good chance that they will play the #1 seeded New Orleans Saints if they win against Seattle next week.

I read two of my “suggested Christmas gift” books this week – the first was “Calypso” by David Sedaris. It’s been 20 years or more since I last read one of his books and it was such a welcome treat to revisit this witty, funny, sometimes disturbing, and often sarcastic author. His descriptions of the antics of his family are insightful, humourous, and heartbreaking – often all at the same time. Not a book for the easily offended or shocked, but one that I enjoyed very much.

The second book was “French Exit” by Patrick DeWitt. Apparently a “French Exit” is when guests sneak out of a party without saying goodbye – have you ever heard that term? I know I haven’t – is it supposed to imply the French are lacking in manners? Weird. The book is quite strange also – an upper East Side New York socialite and her son flee to Paris when their money and social status are lost. Their cat which may embody her deceased husband also makes the trip. The exploits in Paris with a gaggle of entertaining characters are intended to be a farce and certainly come off that way. It reads like a cross between a witty Noel Coward play and a quirky Wes Anderson movie. I’m not a big fan of either (can never understand why Denny thinks the Anderson movies are so hilarious), but did enjoy the book overall as a light and entertaining read – just what’s needed during the holidays.

I’ve been working my way through Quincy Jones recordings after watching the biography a few weeks ago. Here’s one of his early big band recording sessions that I enjoy – “Walkin'”, with a classic walking bass line at the core of the recording.

And here’s a beautiful song from the Band of Heathens that reminded me of their excellent concert a few weeks back:

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 – 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.