Books – Page 30 – Keith Robertson

Week in Review – March 18, 2017

The early part of this week was spent catching up on work and chores after Denny’s birthday weekend in San Miguel de Allende – piano tuner, car service, laundry (thanks McD) and the like.

On Friday I took the first of the piano lessons that Diana gave me for Christmas (thanks McD). Anthony has a music studio in a room of his bungalow in downtown McKinney and calls it the Piano Dojo. The lesson was very enjoyable as Anthony asked me to play scales and sight read (scales not so good after 40 years of neglect, sight reading not too bad). He also wants me to start learning basic drumming patterns so I’ve obtained drum sticks and a practice pad and might get started today. Apparently learning to drum teaches the brain to better manage right and left hand separation and is good for the type of blues/boogie piano that I’m hoping to learn. Anthony and I shared stories about jazz clubs in New York and musicians that we enjoy. I’m looking forward to getting my scales and drumming down so that I can schedule my next lesson.

We celebrated Patty’s birthday on Friday evening and started with a lovely dinner at Sachet in the very fancy Highland Park neighborhood just north of downtown Dallas. Sachet is a Mediterranean restaurant and was voted the best new restaurant of 2017 by the readers of D magazine. We started with several “meze” or small plates – the yellow beets, red beet hummus, oregano, labne dish was my favourite (tender and flavorful beets), followed by the spicy roasted eggplant, roasted peppers, garlic, tomato, and then the french Lentils, muhamarra, piquillo peppers, and walnuts. It’s always interesting how good fresh, well cooked vegetables can taste.

After the meze we enjoyed green fava falafel, radish salad, mint yogurt (my favourite dish of the evening with the best falafel I’ve tasted), charred octopus, Rancho Gordo beans, swiss chard, fennel, salmoriglio (not as good as the amazing grilled octopus in San Miguel de Allende), Casarecce, Turkish lamb ragu, pomegranate, labne (yummy lamb ragu), and finally squid ink spaghetti, lobster, tomato, white wine, and star anise.

Patty’s birthday was off to a great start but we had a surprise in store – John Oates at the Kessler theater (Dallas’ most redeeming quality). John Oates is one half of the best-selling duo of all time, Hall & Oates, as well as an accomplished solo artist. A member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame, Oates embarked on his solo career in 1999. He has recorded six solo albums and his seventh project, “Arkansas”, was released in February. He featured 6 songs from this album to start his Kessler show.

In addition to his solo shows, Oates continues to tour with Daryl Hall, playing sold-out concerts around the world. You could tell he was relishing the very small venue as compared to the sports arenas he plays as part of Hall & Oates. At one point he mentioned an upcoming Hall & Oates show in Dallas in the summer and invited us to join 15,000 of our best friends to listen to it – quite different than the few hundred folks at the Kessler.

Mississippi John Hurt at a Library of Congress recording in 1964

“Arkansas” is mostly a tribute to Mississippi John Hurt, an original bluesman who made his first recordings in the late 1920s, but also features some ragtime and Jimmie Rogers inspired pieces. Here’s a video of Oates performing “Make me a pallet on your floor” – the excellent Fender Telecaster work is by Guthrie Trapp. The video is followed by links to the original Mississippi John Hurt recording and the version from the “Arkansas” album.

Diana’s favorite song from the show was “Lose it in Louisiana”:

I’ve been enjoying “Manhattan Beach” by Jennifer Egan this week. The novel opens in Brooklyn during the Great Depression. Anna Kerrigan, nearly twelve years old, accompanies her father to the house of Dexter Styles, a man who, she gleans, is crucial to the survival of her father and her family.

Years later, her father has disappeared and the country is at war. Anna works at the Brooklyn Naval Yard, where women are allowed to hold jobs that had always belonged to men. She becomes the first female diver, the most dangerous and exclusive of occupations, repairing the ships that will help America win the war. She is the sole provider for her mother, a farm girl who had a brief and glamorous career with the Ziegfeld Follies, and her lovely, severely disabled sister. At a nightclub, she chances to meet Dexter Styles again, and she begins to understand the complexity of her father’s life, and the reasons he might have vanished.

That’s as far as I’ve reached in the story so far and it’s setting up for an interesting second half. The quality of the writing and story telling are excellent and I’m looking forward to trying some of Egan’s other novels.

On the musical front, I read about a new recording by Mary Gauthier called “Rifles and Rosary Beads”. This is an interesting album in that Gauthier composed it in writing workshops with soldiers that were designed to provide therapy by allowing them to share their stories and feelings. The songs are very good although, as you can imagine, quite melancholy and poignant.

You might remember my commentary on Gauthier’s amazing “Mercy Now” song in the June 26, 2016 edition of this blog – well worth a listen.

The musical lagniappe this week is from the 70s group Big Star – I heard it on the closing credits of an episode of the HBO series, “I’m Dying up Here”.

Week in Review – February 18th, 2018

Travel to Pacifica, CA was the main activity this week. Spring has sprung there already.

Diana flew out on Tuesday to help her Mum with cataract surgery on Wednesday. All went well and recovery seems to be on track. Although I was alone for Valentine’s day, I did get a nice sign and bowl of treats. Clorinda had “Pacifica Penguin” waiting as my Saint Valentine gift.

I joined McD in Pacifica on Friday afternoon and we had a very enjoyable dinner with Clorinda’s new neighbours (Andy and Jude) on Friday evening. They live about 50 yards up Gypsy Hill from D’s Mum and their house has been beautifully remodeled with huge windows and views of the ocean. The sunsets are amazing. Andy and Jude first moved to California from England in 1989 and opened a record store in the Haight Ashbury district of San Francisco. They are a very interesting and kind couple and have been great neighbours for Clorinda in the short time they’ve been there.

We met Finn in Los Gatos for Saturday lunch at a relatively new restaurant called Bywater. It’s owned by David Kinch who has the 3 Michelin star restaurant, Manresa, in downtown Los Gatos. He loves New Orleans and wanted to open a small, casual restaurant serving the local food. Bywater is a gentrifying but still pretty funky neighborhood of New Orleans that does have some great restaurants. I caught up with Finn over a yummy brunch and D sat at the bar and caught up with her friend Aimee who also lives in Los Gatos. It was nice to see Finn free of back pain and feeling positive.

The interesting painting on the Bywater wall, “Society of St Anne Meeting Spot”, refers to a New Orleans marching krewe that parades each Mardi Gras. Known for the very elaborate costumes of its members, the group gathers in the Bywater each Mardi Gras morning, with the Storyville Stompers brass band providing the music. As they pass through the Faubourg Marigny and French Quarter, additional costumed marchers join the parade at various coffee shops and bars along the route. The marchers continue to Canal Street to watch the Rex Parade and then return into the French Quarter. Of course it made us think of our own favourite Anne from New Orleans.

After lunch we played bocce ball at Campo di Bocce across the street (a very Italian spot). This was a lot of fun. McD and Finn weren’t much of a match for Aimee and me and of course we were very gracious in victory.

The eating continued with a three course dinner at Kris and Cat’s home. As usual, Cat provided several very entertaining stories – one from his childhood with a flaming Christmas tree being thrown out into a busy street below and another involving driving his new race car to get smog tested. Dessert was advertised as pear flambee but the rum refused to catch fire – even when subjected to a welding torch. We always come away with some great memories from a visit to their home.

Will and Christine were our lunch companions on Sunday. We let Will pick the spot and he came up with NOLA in Palo Alto – unknowingly keeping the New Orleans theme going. Lunch was great and then we made a visit to see the new apartment fully decorated and looking very cozy. It’s great to see them so happy with a very nice place to call home and a much shorter commute for Will.

Not too much progress on my Turkish book this week and I did start a new book for light relief between Turkish lessons – “Uncommon People, The Rise and Fall of the Rock Stars” by David Hepworth. Each chapter focuses on the rise or fall of a particular rock star in each year from 1955 to 1995. I very much enjoy Hepworth’s writing style and interesting stories. Here’s one about Ringo Starr joining the Beatles in 1962 – “The strongest influence on his upbringing was his grandmother, a woman of nineteenth-century superstitions. One was the belief that any child unfortunate enough to be born left-handed must be trained out of the habit. She set herself the job of making sure young Richard wrote right-handed. He subsequently played a right-handed drum kit with the inclinations of a left-hander. It’s Ringo’s grandmother we have to thank for the characteristic lacunae that made so many of the Beatles’ drum parts impossible for other drummers to play.” Diana’s Dad was similarly forced to write right-handed but performed surgery left-handed. David Hepworth was the host on the British music program “The Old Grey Whistle Test” which I enjoyed very much – check out some of the episodes on Youtube – some great performances.

Not too much time for new music discovery this week but I did hear this great song from my favourite Govt Mule album, Dose.

Week in Review – February 11, 2018

Back to New York again this week – maybe the last trip for a few weeks.

I flew up on Tuesday and met up with some old teammates for dinner and drinks – always fun to reminisce about what seemed to be funner times but I’m sure came with just as many challenges.

On Wednesday I made my first visit to Fraunces tavern in the Financial District. This is a Colonial tavern which has been operating since 1762 with over 200 whiskies and 130 beers. There is a museum attached with some fascinating stories. One of my favourites is that after British troops evacuated New York, the tavern hosted an elaborate “turtle feast” dinner for George Washington in the “Long Room” where he bade farewell to his officers of the Continental Army. We didn’t get to see the “Long Room” but I did have some great late night scotch eggs in “Lafayette’s Hideaway” bar.

As has become somewhat traditional, Thursday night was music night. This time jazz at Dizzy’s Club in the Jazz at Lincoln Center complex. My boss and I enjoyed dinner at Landmark in the Time Warner center at Columbus Circle and then headed next door to the jazz club. Dizzy’s is unique in that the musicians perform in front of large floor to ceiling windows that provide a view out onto Columbus Circle and Central Park. The sound is also the most pristine one can hear in any music club.

The music was by the Christian Sands trio who did a tribute to the music of Errol Garner. Sands is a 28 year old pianist who is viewed as one of the best of the younger generation. His technique and dynamics were both amazing. Garner is known for his swing playing and ballads. His best-known composition, the ballad “Misty”, has become a jazz standard and was featured in the Clint Eastwood movie, “Play Misty for Me”. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

A young singer, Michael Mayo, joined the band on a few songs – most notably Misty. I don’t typically enjoy jazz singers but Mayo’s voice was beautiful and his dynamic control excellent. The concert almost (not much at all really) made up for missing the Anderson East concert that Diana and I had looked forward to attending on Thursday in Dallas at the tiny club Trees.

We enjoyed watching the Winter Olympics opening ceremony on Friday and particularly the performance of John Lennon’s “Imagine” with two doves becoming one. The drones on the mountain were pretty amazing as well.

Since McD and I were not going to be together on Saint Valentine’s day, we celebrated early with a movie and dinner on Saturday night. The movie was “The Darkest Hour” about Churchill’s challenges in May 1940 during Dunkirk. We both thoroughly enjoyed Gary Oldman’s Churchill and learned a lot about those few weeks in history. Many of the classic Churchill quotes were in the movie, along with my favourite, “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts”.

Options were limited since I had left it so late to make a dinner reservation and everywhere was busy with the pre-Valentine rush. I chose Perry’s Steakhouse and our first visit there was a big success. Great music from a lady singing and playing piano, steak tartare and escargot appetizers, tasty steaks, good wine, and lots of leftovers for Sunday. We look forward to returning to try the signature pork chop.

The Churchill movie brought to mind one of my favourite Supertramp songs about the Dunkirk evacuation, Fool’s Overture. This comes from an album with excellent cover art – wouldn’t it be fun to dust off the snow and play the piano with that view?

Here’s a couple of melancholy songs that have been on heavy rotation this week. “Summer’s End” – the first new song in many years from the outstanding song writer John Prine, and “I Think it’s Going to Rain Today” from Randy Newman’s first album many years ago with the lyric, “Human Kindness is Overflowing” and the immediately identifiable Newman orchestral arrangement. Why haven’t I heard this before?

My book this week was “Notes on a Foreign Country (An American Abroad in a Post American World)” by Suzy Hansen. This is by a New York Times journalist who moves to Istanbul and quickly comes to realize that her views and opinions on American policy are quite different when observed through the local Turkish lens. I’m enjoying the book quite a bit but think it’ll take several weeks to finish with some lighter material for breaks.

Here’s one final piece of music that I’ve been listened to several times this week – “Trust” by Roy Hargrove. I love the flugelhorn sound on this one. Hargrove was born in Waco, Texas and attended the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing Arts in Dallas. It’s there that he was discovered by Wynton Marsalis on a visit to the school. One of his big influences was David “Fathead” Newman who was a core member of Ray Charles’ Band. Interestingly Newman was the second concert that I saw in the United States – at a small club called The Caravan of Dreams in Fort Worth while I was working in the oil business. What was the first show I hear you asking – Delbert McClinton at the same excellent venue in downtown Fort Worth.

Week in Review – February 4, 2018

Jack Marshall from my old Los Gatos neighborhood was in Dallas on Tuesday and we were able to meet up for the evening. We were in the Indian Guides together when Cody and Campbell were much younger and reminisced about all the fun camping trips we enjoyed with the boys. Jack and I met at the Cowboys Club and then Diana joined us later for a lovely dinner at Neighborhood Services across the field. Diana had heard a number of stories about Jack, including the Alcatraz swim adventure, and had a good time getting to know him.

The middle of the week was pretty quiet and uneventful – always a good thing.

On Friday we had tickets to the sold out Marc Broussard concert at the Kessler. We decided to stay in downtown Dallas rather than make the hour drive home after a late concert and so checked into the Joule hotel in the afternoon and headed to the Twilite Lounge, our favorite spot in Deep Ellum. This is a New Orleans bar where folks gather to watch the Saints and listen to the jukebox. The Rebirth Brass Band was playing when we walked in and so Diana was able to tell the bar tender about going to see them at the Maple Leaf Bar on her first night in New Orleans.

Pre-concert dinner was at a new restaurant called Stock and Barrel in Oak Cliff. Dinner was good but didn’t quite live up to the reviews and hype that I had read when choosing it. I did have a nice Sazerac and the wine list had a good variety. We were planning to enjoy a walk from the restaurant to the Kessler even though Diana claimed she didn’t have appropriate shoes but Patty and Brent came to the rescue after a short walk and “Whubered” us to the venue.

We ran into Marc Broussard on the way in to see the opening band and Diana took a picture with him. The opening act was the Devon Gilfillian band – Diana said his name sounded Welsh but he grew up outside Philadelphia in a musical family and now lives in Nashville. His sound is a combination of gospel-blues and southern soul with a lot of musical variety from song to song. Part way into the show the band surprised us with an a cappella version of “Lean on Me” with the audience singing along nicely.

My favorite song from his 2016 release is “Here and Now”.

Marc Broussard is from Carencro, Louisiana and his music is described as “Bayou Soul”. He has released eight albums and seems like an old musical soul although he is only thirty-six. Here are a couple of videos from the show with the usual excellent sound at the Kessler.

My favorite song from Marc’s latest album is “Don’t Be Afraid to Call Me” which has a great message.

On Saturday we had brunch at Smoke since their outpost in Plano closed recently. We love the pulled pork eggs Benedict and cheese grits. Then we took advantage of being in the Oak Cliff area to visit the excellent Wild Detectives book store for coffee, crossword, and a couple of new books. This funny sign was on display in the store.

Superbowl Sunday was a fun time at our home. Patty and Brent brought “crabby tater tots” which were a huge hit with tater tot loving D. Diana made her bacon cheese puffs and special Bolognese. The game was quite close with the Philadelphia Eagles ultimately winning in an exciting ending. The much anticipated episode of “This is Us” aired right after the Superbowl and eventually told us how Jack dies. I’m not sure there’s been so much suspense in a TV show since “Who Shot J.R.”.

Diana finished up her very difficult 1500 piece puzzle after many hours of dedication. She is really addicted to jigsaws – once she starts she has to finish. This one is of the Place du Tertre in Montmartre in Paris where we spent some pleasant time watching the artists at work. I need to try and make her wait a few weeks before starting on the next one.

I finished up the new John Le Carre book, “A Legacy of Spies”. This was much lighter than the typically dense Le Carre spy fare but I was frustrated with the open ended and inconclusive ending. Right up until the last page I was convinced that things were going to come to a good end – but no – left hanging. George Smiley did not come to the rescue although I think that’s what the reader is supposed to assume.

If you haven’t had enough music already, here’s a new discovery for me this week from Buddy Miles – I like the horn arrangement very much. Miles was a drummer in Jimi Hendrix Band of Gypsies and, from the little known fact department, also was the singing voice of the “California Raisins” claymation adverts.

Week in Review – January 21, 2018

I arrived in London on Monday morning for a few days of work. The Tower of London was right next to my hotel and so after a nice rejuvenating swim in the hotel pool I went for a wander around the neighborhood. Thai food was my choice for dinner and then off to try and sleep.

On Tuesday morning I woke up early but reasonably well rested for a day of work in Croydon. A 15 minute walk to the London Bridge train station was quite brisk and refreshing. It took me a few minutes to understand that I was headed to East Croydon and had to type that in to buy a ticket. The new and fully automated station didn’t have anyone to ask for help. The train journey was less than 15 minutes and the office was directly across the street from the East Croydon station – easy peasy. Meeting the EMEA team face to face for the first time was very nice – I even got to play some ping pong in the newly modernized office. The walk back to the hotel numbed my toes and my colleague informed me that those in the know wore thermal socks – not something I considered when packing for the trip. Some clients took me out for drinks and dinner when I got back into central London and scotch eggs on the menu was a pleasant surprise.

Wednesday was spent in the central London office meeting colleagues. The office vibe was much more pleasant and relaxed than that of the New York office and everyone was very welcoming. Dinner was at Tayyabs which is voted the best Indian restaurant in East London. It serves Punjabi, Northern Indian cuisine and I really enjoyed it. The fiery lamb chop appetizer is not to be missed. Paul, a Scottish friend, who lives in London and worked with us in Fort Worth for several months last year joined for dinner and was as entertaining as ever. He was able to FaceTime with Diana after dinner and get her all filled of Italian vacation dreams – Paul was married last year at a villa in Tuscany and has spent a lot of time in Italy.

Thursday was back to Croydon for work and no issues with the train routine this time – maybe that puts me in the fast learner category? I enjoyed a delicious Turkish dinner at Atesh in Croydon with George, a colleague who also has 3 sons about the same age as mine. We exchanged some entertaining stories. The lamb moussaka was some of the best that I’ve had.

On Friday I caught a quick flight up to Glasgow to help Elspeth celebrate her 50th birthday. The flight landed just ahead of a snow storm and I was glad David had his Land Rover to collect me. The drive to Stewarton was uneventful. Here’s a map that shows the location of Stewarton on the West coast of Scotland.

You can see the lovely snow covered countryside in this video:

Gifts were opened and birthday cake enjoyed at 6 Merrick View and then we headed to the Brig O’ Doon restaurant in Alloway. Mum described the drive from Stewarton to Fenwick as “horrendous”. Snow was falling heavily and the road was icing over to the extent that many folks were abandoning their cars and walking into town. Thank goodness for the Land Rover and David’s excellent driving skills. After reaching Fenwick, the rest of the drive was smooth. We parked next to the Brig O’ Doon that is featured in the famous poem, Tam O’ Shanter, by Robert Burns.

The opening lines known by all Scottish schoolkids are:

When chapmen billies leave the street,
And drouthy neibors, neibors meet

Several lines from the poem are painted throughout the restaurant which was appropriately hosting a Burns supper that evening. Here’s the part where Tam’s horse gets him across the bridge but loses her tail.

Now, do thy speedy utmost, Meg,
And win the key-stane o’ the brig;
There at them thou thy tail may toss,
A running stream they dare na cross.
But ere the key-stane she could make,
The fient a tail she had to shake!
For Nannie, far before the rest,
Hard upon noble Maggie prest,
And flew at Tam wi’ furious ettle;
But little wist she Maggie’s mettle –
Ae spring brought off her master hale,
But left behind her ain gray tail;
The carlin claught her by the rump,
And left poor Maggie scarce a stump.

And finally the advice to anybody inclined to drink too much:

No, wha this tale o’ truth shall read,
Ilk man and mother’s son take heed;
Whene’er to drink you are inclin’d,
Or cutty-sarks run in your mind,
Think! ye may buy joys o’er dear –
Remember Tam o’ Shanter’s mare.

We had a lovely, leisurely meal and the ladies finished up with some fancy sundaes. Many but not all of the abandoned cars had been retrieved by the time we made the drive back home.

Saturday breakfast consisted of some of my favourites made to order by my Mum – black pudding, fried egg and mushrooms. Elspeth, David, Heather and Penny (cairn terrier named after Miss Moneypenny from James Bond) took me for a walk at the Whitelee Wind Farm near Eaglesham.

This is the largest Wind Farm in Scotland and is very impressive up close. The turbine housing at the top is the size of a large caravan and you really don’t appreciate the scale until up next to it. Walking in the snow and wind certainly blew out the cobwebs and I was glad to have Struan’s hiking boots.

Here’s a video of silly Penny trying to catch a snowball:

Mum made one of her delicious beef stews for dinner and then we watched some Grand Tour episodes with the car crazy David.

For Sunday breakfast I had my favourites again but at a much earlier hour so that David could drop me back in Glasgow for my flight to London and then on to New York. I was pleasantly surprised by the food on the flight and particularly the oatcakes (one of my top foods) with cheese. Immigration at JFK airport was a breeze but the car to my hotel seemed to take forever due to heavy traffic and bridge construction. I watched most of the 2nd half of the football playoff game on the drive.

I finished Tom Hanks’ new book, Uncommon Type: Short Stories, on the flight and highly recommend it. Each story starts with a picture of a typewriter from Hanks’ collection which features somehow in the story. The quality of the short stories and the everyday characters captured in them was surprising – what a talented man.

A song by the Scottish band Deacon Blue, very popular in the 80s, was playing in the car on my drive to Heathrow airport and it transported me back in time quite effectively. I’m not sure that I’ve ever heard Deacon Blue on the radio in America.

Week in Review, January 14, 2018

New York and the cold weather again?

On Monday I flew back to the freezing cold Big Apple. These pictures I took from the plane on descent show the frozen conditions. Those huge ice blocks broke up a little as they floated down the East river that we could see from our office conference rooms.

I chuckled at this sign in front of the entrance to my office. Not sure what you’re supposed to do in response to the sign, look up? Temperatures rose each day that I was there and as usual I tried to make the best of being in New York in the evenings.

On Tuesday night I experienced the best jazz concert that I’ve seen so far. The Joshua Redman quartet at the Blue Note. Redman seems to completely inhabit the tenor saxophone and has a unique combination of total technical mastery and enormous musicality. The setlist was an excellent combination of gorgeous ballads, up tempo improvisations, and everything in between. Redman was joined by Aaron Goldberg on piano, Reuben Rogers on bass, and Gregory Hutchinson on drums.

You can see from the picture above that I had a great view of Aaron Goldberg’s hands on the piano. What a treat that turned out to be. He shares the same combination of technical dexterity and musicality that Redman exudes. I’ve been listening to a few of his solo albums and enjoying them very much – a nice new discovery on a cold Tuesday evening.

Hutchinson’s drumming was a big part of my enjoyment of this show as well. He moved from subtle brush work on ballads to explosive fills in the more up tempo ballads – playing the drums like a lead instrument on several occasions.

I sat at a table with a very interesting mother and son duo. Sandy Evans is a well known saxophone player from Australia. She and her son were spending some time in New York before heading to Cuba to perform in the international jazz festival. They were friends with both Aaron and Joshua and so I got to have a nice chat with them as a result. You might remember that I met Joshua once before at the Village Vanguard when McD shared her champagne with him.

Breakfast at the hotel is pretty expensive for the quality and so I stopped at Bailey’s for breakfast on Wednesday. This breakfast bull was quite intimidating.

Work involved many long meetings with vendors, and it was easy to drift off into enjoying this excellent view of the Brooklyn Bridge and East river from the conference room.

I chose The Odeon in Tribeca for dinner on Wednesday night. We’d been there once before with Mary and Chuck and I remembered enjoying the French brasserie feel. A nice bracing mile walk helped me work up an appetite.

The restaurant is a typically loud and boisterous New York scene but the food is very good. I started with a sazerac to warm up and then enjoyed some excellent steak tartare and a side of baby brussel sprouts with bacon.

It was back to McKinney on Thursday night and a relaxing Friday evening cooking Gorgonzola lamb chops and catching up on the episode of “This is Us” that we missed on Tuesday night.

After workout and coffee and crossword on Saturday, Diana got sucked into the puzzle that my Mum and Dad sent for Christmas. We noticed that the title of this challenge is, “The puzzle that ruined Christmas”. It’s similar to the Frenchy (New Orleans artist) puzzles in that it doesn’t have any edge pieces and the pieces are cut in interesting shapes. The majority are Christmas trees and Diana had a small outburst saying that, “Ah geez, three pieces fit together to make another Christmas tree shape”.

We’re looking forward to dinner tonight with Patty and Brent at Meso Maya. This is an authentic Mexican restaurant as compared to the usual Tex-Mex fare that Dallas is well known for. I’ve been perusing the menu and having a hard time narrowing down my choices – which I think is a sign of a good menu.

“Never a Dull Moment, 1971 – the year that rock exploded” has kept me company on my travels this week. Each chapter recounts stories and record releases from a particular 1971 month. The writing by David Hepworth and the anecdotes are fantastic. Describing the early days of the Soul Train television show, Hepworth writes, “These dance moves, which took the generic frugs and twitches of pop dance and reclassified them into an entirely new terpsichorean taxonomy, swept the nation”. I’m amazed at the number of records released in 1971 that are still considered classics today.

“Encore”, the new album from Anderson East was released yesterday and is excellent. East is based in Nashville and is playing at the small Deep Ellum club Trees in a couple of weeks. He has what’s referred to as a “modern southern soul sound”. Here’s a song from the new album that he wrote with Chris Stapleton.

Week in Review January 7th, 2018

Happy New Year!

10,9,8,7….. 2018 was officially rung in at Thom and Libby’s new compound in New Orleans. Champagne, Alex and Laura, Denny and Anne, 2 crazy red hound dogs, and a gaggle of kids somewhere downstairs all helped with the celebration.

New Year’s Day was a very relaxing affair in the Ogans’ living room watching college football playoff games with a nice fire. The girls got adventurous and worked on a jigsaw puzzle which Jack, Mason and Aidan finished off later.

Pascal’s Manale and happy hour oysters beckoned the ladies around 5pm. Laura joined and Denny went along as the official chaperone. He chuckled when a guy at the bar asked him if all three blondes were with him. Girl time wasn’t finished and the ladies made an unchaperoned stop at the Kingpin. They did make it home in time to rest up for the big 15^th birthday bash on Tuesday.

The 01/02/03 twins celebrated their birthday at Commander’s Palace, the classic New Orleans restaurant in the Garden District made famous by Ella Brennan. There’s a great documentary on Netflix called “Ella Brennan, Commanding the Table” if you’d like to learn more about the history of the fantastic Brennan restaurant empire.

Our gift was bobble-heads of the boys which we think captured their personalities very well. A highlight of a great meal was the bread pudding soufflé with whisky sauce. Jack and Mason enjoyed being offered whisky on their birthday while wearing their celebratory chef toques.

After lunch it was off to the airport and into our respective huffs about having to leave New Orleans again after such a relaxing and enjoyable visit.

Wednesday was back to work for me and a rest day for McD. On Thursday we reprised our annual get together with Judy and Scott who were in town to visit their new grandchild. Wendy joined as well and we had a great laugh together and fun showing the wedding album. We’re looking forward to the Dillings potentially moving to the DFW area.

The week finished up with some strong Team Robertson manual labor – breaking down the Christmas tree and storing it and the rest of the decorations in the attic. That followed by watching the Saints vs Panthers playoff game and catching sight of Denny and Anne in their fancy outfits. The score is 24-12 in the Saints favor at the time of this posting.

Boom (Thom), Zoom (Alex) and Denny rambling to the game

I finished the book “A Kind of Freedom” by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton this week. This story is appropriately set in New Orleans and follows three generations of an African American family from the 1940s until today. I enjoyed the read very much and gained a good insight into the class and racial struggles in the city through the years.

The music discovery this week is from Langhorne Slim, a singer songwriter from Nashville.

Week In Review – December 17, 2017

“Baby It’s Cold Outside”. Snapped this picture on my walk back to the New York hotel on Thursday night/Friday morning. Another cold and unplanned week there for work. But I’m getting ahead of myself already.

The week got off to a great start with a Timothy B. Schmit concert at the Granada on Tuesday night. “I loved everything about that show”, said Diana. I think it was her best concert experience in a long time.

Schmit was a member of Poco in the late 60s and joined The Eagles in 1977. He typically plays sold out arenas with The Eagles and you could tell he really enjoyed playing his own songs for a more intimate audience of a few hundred. The band was excellent with the Beach Boys musical director on keyboards and high vocals, an excellent guitarist named Hank Linderman (produces for Keb Mo, Don Henley and many others), and three high energy backing soul singer ladies. Schmit took the most care we’ve heard in introducing the band – making time to tell us about their musical background and personalities – a very nice touch. The set list was nicely varied with Schmit’s originals, Eagles songs, and Poco songs and included solo acoustic, full rock band, and acapella settings. The sound quality was by far the best I’ve heard from the Granada’s house sound system. Here’s a video of “Love Will Keep Us Alive”, a song from the “Hell Freezes Over” Eagles album. There are a couple of other videos posted to my YouTube channel.

I left for New York very early on Wednesday morning for the remainder of the work week. As I said earlier, it was quite cold with snow and cold winds on Thursday morning. Thankfully I had the right clothing on this trip. There was a work Christmas dinner on Thursday night at Joseph’s Italian restaurant which was very nice. The appetizer plate of various Italian favorites was a great start. A long three hour dinner was followed by a quick visit to the Dead Rabbit, voted the world’s best cocktail bar a few years running. I can’t resist whenever I see scotch eggs on the menu and claimed that as my dessert since I’d been too full for dessert at Joseph’s.

Saturday began with a long overdue workout, coffee and crossword, and a trip to Best Buy and the hardware store. A new mesh home WiFi system was purchased at Best Buy and well received by the female occupants of Boulder Lake who have been complaining about slow and spotty WiFi for a while. All the home devices were updated to the new network and then I spent some happy time under the Christmas tree with ornaments getting stuck in my hair to wire up a new plug and finally get the lights fully operational.

A little relaxation time was had prior to the “2017 ClaraFlute Christmas party”. Alicia had around 15 (they come and go so much that it’s hard to get an accurate count) clarinets and flutes over for cookie decorating, sock exchange, Christmas games and general noise making. I did notice that a bassoon (who happens to be very adept at noise making) snuck in as well.

Sunday included the usual workout, coffee and crossword and football. The New Orleans Saints had a nice win and we saw an excited touchdown scoring player leap up into the stands with our friend Greg and his daughter. She had quite a surprised look on her face. The Cowboys don’t play until this evening. Half of Campbell’s housemates are Raiders fans and so they should have a good time watching.

Do you know what’s special about this Sunday? Don’t stress too much, I didn’t guess correctly either. It’s our 6 month wedding anniversary! I’ve been remembering having all those wonderful people with us in Cozumel for such a wonderful few days all day long.

I finally finished up the 866 page “4321” by Paul Auster this week. Remind me to avoid tomes like that in the future. I enjoyed the book quite a bit but needed a change of pace in my reading relaxation time. Apparently Auster worked on the book 7 days a week for 3 years and wrote it long hand. I’m sure he was ready for a change of pace after that as well. The novel was shortlisted for the 2017 Man Booker prize.

The book is the story of Archie Ferguson told at four different times, and in four different versions. Each chapter is divided into four parts (1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4) which represent the different versions of his life. Ferguson grows up with the same Jewish, middle class parents, Stanley and Rose, as well as many of the same friends, including Amy Schneiderman, his girlfriend/friend. However, the relationships change with each Ferguson version. These changes cause his lives to take very different paths. The story follows his home life as well as college years, his love life and political ideas. The story is set in the Newark, New Jersey and New York City areas in the 50’s and 60’s. As Archie grows through young adulthood, events like the Vietnam war, Civil Rights, the Kennedy election and assassination, and white flight from Newark are covered.

The book received very mixed reviews. Michelle Dean of the L.A. Times was harshly critical of the book’s execution, referring to it as a “slog”, a “doorstopper,” and a “bad joke.” On the other hand, in The Seattle Times, David Takami praised Auster’s execution as “brilliantly conceived,” a “brilliant compendium of the tumultuous 1960s”, with many “descriptive gems” too numerous to name. My opinion lies somewhere in between. 400 pages in I was ready to give up on the “slog” but determined to finish after investing so much time. I did enjoy the differing historical perspectives. I highly recommend Auster’s book “Sunset Park” as a better place to start with his work than “4321”.

Wow. I had a bit more to say about that book than I planned. Suppose that’s what happens when you live with a novel for well over a month. Now for this week’s lagniappe – “Memphis Soul Stew” from King Curtis recorded live at the Fillmore in San Francisco in 1971. Bernard Purdie is on drums and sounds as precise and soulful as ever. I love the blend of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, soul, blues, funk and jazz that King Curtis pioneered.

Curtis was born in Fort Worth, TX and started playing the saxophone at age 12. He’s played on many recordings – that’s him on “Yakety Yak” by the Coasters.

Week in Review – October 29, 2017

The highlight this week was a weekend in San Diego to visit Campbell and hang out with Kris and Cat who were celebrating Kristina’s birthday. We arrived on Friday afternoon and relaxed by the pool with books until Kris and Cat arrived. Dinner was at Seersucker in the Gaslamp district and it was fun to observe all the folks out enjoying the evening in their Halloween costumes. The fantastic Whiskey House was an after dinner drink stop on the way back to the hotel. Kristina had quite a time selecting a scotch from the extensive menu of over 1,000 choices.

The afternoon on Saturday was spent exploring the Pacific Beach area. A quick google search of “Best beach bars in San Diego” led us to the Lahaina Beach House which had a great patio right by the boardwalk with great views of the beach and the ocean. Again we enjoyed the people watching of folks with crazy Halloween costumes on for an early Saturday afternoon drink. A ramble along the boardwalk continued to provide entertaining sights including a gaggle of roller blading “Ducks” from Oregon. We laughed as the last rollerblader bringing up the rear had “Robertson” on the back of his jersey. There were several beach cottages and hotels along the boardwalk that we noted for future visits. After a snack at the Firehouse restaurant it was time to head back to the hotel to meet up with Campbell and Molly. The Firehouse food was very good with oysters, char-grilled Brussel sprouts and an excellent ceviche.

The perfect bite – ceviche and char-grilled brussels

Campbell and Molly met us for a very enjoyable dinner at Roy’s which backs up to the Marriott hotel pool on the marina side. We sat outside and enjoyed the gorgeous evening weather and views of the marina. I had the San Diego sea bass and Diana the shellfish combination. Everyone seemed to enjoy their food very much. Campbell and Molly headed off to celebrate Halloween with friends and we made a trip to the Nolen rooftop bar in the Gaslamp district. This was a very fancy rooftop with great views of downtown San Diego and again lots of Halloween costumes.

Sunday morning brunch was planned at World Famous in Pacific Beach which Will recommended as having excellent lobster Benedict. Shortly before departure they called to say that their block was having a power outage and they wouldn’t be able to do breakfast. Plan B was the Harbor breakfast restaurant in Little Italy and it was a very well received alternative. Diana had the lobster Benedict and I had a spicy Italian sausage omelet (when in Rome and all). After brunch Campbell was able to introduce Molly to his Granny and Grandpa over facetime.

Kris and Cat headed to the airport and Diana and I watched the first half of the Cowboys game at the pool bar and then did the same. We watched most of the remainder of the game in the airport lounge and then got the final victory score on the plane right before takeoff – a 33 to 19 win over the division rival Washington Redskins.

On the music front, we lost Fats Domino this week at the age of 89. Fats and Louis Armstrong were responsible for putting New Orleans so firmly on the world musical map. Here’s a performance he did at the New Orleans jazzfest in 2001 that sums up everything that’s so amazing about that festival.

I can remember first hearing Fats Domino on the jukebox at the student union on the Heriot Watt Riccarton campus in 1981. Somebody in that student union really liked “Blueberry Hill” because I don’t remember a time that I was in there when it didn’t eventually come on the jukebox. It’s amazing how many huge hits Domino had in the early fifties. Here’s my favorite. That’s Herb Hardesty with the excellent saxophone part – we saw him perform with Dr. John at Tipitina’s just before his passing last Christmas.

My current book is too fat to travel with so I started “Dirt Road” by James Kelman, who was born and lives in Glasgow but has taught at both the University of TX in Austin and at San Jose State University. The book follows the travels of a Scottish father and son who go to visit the father’s brother in Mississippi. I’m really enjoying the tale so far and particularly the son’s descriptions of the American musical styles he encounters. There’s a great scene where he joins in on accordion with a Zydeco band and plays Scottish jigs for the Louisiana crowd.

McD gave me a gift of the new Tom Hanks book, “Uncommon Type”, this week. I haven’t started it but chuckled at the continuing antique typewriter theme. The reviews are very good and I’m looking forward to pulling this one out of my growing “to be read” stack.

Here’s the langiappe for this week if you made it this far:

Q: What do you call the combination of a Scotsman and an Italian?

A: A scallion

Just the kind of silly joke that I enjoy and courtesy of Cat in San Diego.

Week in Review – Oct 1, 2017

It has been a reasonably quiet week with us as Diana continues to move around pretty gingerly on her injured left foot. The pain is certainly a lot less than it was last weekend but she still can’t rotate her foot on its vertical axis at all (no yaw is possible in McD’s foot). One more week and then she’ll see the doctor if it’s not a lot better. I’m enjoying grocery shopping and a few other tasks that are normally in Diana’s domain while she tries not to walk too much.

“Who reads at 5am?” was Alicia’s question when she came in our bedroom to say goodbye on her way to early morning band practice. We chuckled. She doesn’t enjoy reading and so was incredulous that I would be engaging in such a boring activity so early in the day. I was trying to make some progress on “4321” by Paul Auster – I’m really enjoying the 4 different versions of Ferguson’s life that are set off by slight differences in life choices in the first chapter – but it is very slow going.

Diana met me at the Cowboys Club on Wednesday afternoon and we watched the team practice from the Quarterback Corner area. We noticed a couple of the passing plays from practice in the game today against the Los Angeles Rams. Unfortunately the Cowboys lost the game after a very strong first half and an opportunity to win in the last two minutes.

On Saturday we made an impromptu decision to attend a celebrity cooking demonstration and lunch at the Granada theater. First time either of us had been to anything like this and we were very pleasantly surprised. Chef John Tesar was quite the character, with an endless supply of stories from his years in the kitchen and on shows like Top Chef and Restaurant Wars. The first course was risotto with duck confit and wild mushrooms. The duck confit preparation technique was quite interesting and the risotto delicious. Everyone’s name was placed in a hat for a raffle at the end of the event and I was lucky enough to be pulled out in time to claim a huge tray of the risotto. It has been a nice accompaniment to football watching today. The main course was Beef Wellington with dauphinoise potatoes – also very good but a huge palaver to cook. I looked up palaver just now to make sure I was spelling it correctly (it’s a West of Scotland word meaning a lot of fuss and bother) and was surprised at how many fake definitions there are published on the internet. Lunch ended with the pastry chef from Tesar’s “Knife” restaurant demonstrating his special technique for chocolate mousse – again very good but quite rich after the first two decadent courses.

Tesar was the chef at the Mansion on Turtle Creek (a famous Dallas fine dining institution) in 2007. He replaced the well-known chef Dean Fearing and lasted two years before moving on to several other opportunities. Until the last few years (when it appears he may have matured and settled down just prior to turning sixty) the consensus in the Dallas restaurant trade was that “he’s a talented chef, but he’s also a narcissistic sociopath with his calloused index finger always hovering above the self-destruct button”. That personality was certainly evident as he told stories while demonstrating amazing technique.

In his book, “Kitchen Confidential”, Anthony Bourdain writes, “Tesar was probably the single most talented cook I ever worked with—and the most inspiring. … His food—even the simplest of things—made me care about cooking again. The ease with which he conjured up recipes, remembered old recipes (his dyslexia prevented him from writing much of value), and threw things together was thrilling to me. And, in a very direct way, he was responsible for any success I had as a chef afterward. …”

Thankfully the lunch portions of all that decadence were pretty small since we had been invited to Patty and Brent’s home for dinner. Dinner was delicious as always with both of us wishing we’d had better self-control when presented with such yummy fried cheese as an appetizer. Brent administered a “Love Languages” quiz on us. This is from a book from a few years back that talks about how people prefer a couple of the five common “love languages” – Words of Affirmation, Gifts, Acts of Service, Touching, and Quality Time. Diana and I guessed each other’s preferences and then took the test. She did a much better job of guessing my languages than I did hers. Quite an entertaining evening as usual.

“Love is Like Oxygen” by Sweet transported me back to 1978 this week on my commute. I can remember watching the band lip sync to this song on Top of the Pops. I really like the initial syncopated guitar riff and the high vocal harmonies. It reminds me of “Video Killed the Radio Star” by the Buggles. What’s special about that song? I’ll give you a couple of minutes to ponder while you watch Top of the Pops or listen to the song…

Ready? It was the first song ever played on MTV. I know – those are precious brain cells that I could be using to store something useful.

Now for something from a totally different genre and time – I really enjoyed “Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t Ma’ Baby” by Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five form the 1950s swing era.