This posting spans about 10 days since we enjoyed a long weekend for the July 4th holiday.
On Tuesday I decided to take advantage of the new living room sofa co
nfiguration and finally put a piano in the area we’ve referred to as the “piano room” since moving into the house over 4 years ago. I did some quick online research and then made a trip to Jack Whitby pianos in Dallas. Jack is quite the local character and had a good selection of reasonably priced pianos. I picked one out around 1:30pm and it was delivered to the house by 5pm – much to Diana’s surprise and entertainment. I’ve been enjoying the sound and feel of the new Shoenbach piano very much over the last week.
Patty and Brent joined us for “sip and dip” (Patty only) and then dinner on Sunday afternoon. We made gorgonzola lamb chops on the grill outside and they were well received.
Brent arrived over with a “scroll” he had been working on during the day, “The Profound Historical Significance of Diana and Keith’s Wedlock”. The story plays out with ancient Roman and Italian interactions and lines spoken by each party. Brent’s brain is a very interesting and unique place – he had us in stitches. All of this set up on his arrival with a story about watching a History channel show about the ancient Romans and Scottish.
We also loved this wedding card from the Scottish penguin series that includes our Christmas present mugs with William Wallace, Batman and Robin, lovebirds, and bagpiper.
Will arrived on Monday afternoon for the Roger Waters “Us and Them” show which promised to include a heavy dose of classic Pink Floyd songs. I picked him up at the airport and we headed to the Meddlesome Moth for an early dinner. We started with some delicious mussels with a Belgian sauce. Then Will was determined to try the bone marrow which turned out to be delicious. I had Thai flavored ceviche and then we split a very good steak pie. Well fed for the music marathon ahead!
It’s been over 30 years since I last saw Roger Waters. Andy Bull, Willie Kennedy and I made a trip to the concert arena outside Birmingham to see his “Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking” show which included Eric Clapton as the lead guitarist and some amazing staging.
The Dallas show did not disappoint. Both Will and I loved it. The advances in technology over the last 30 years allowed the show to be even more of a spectacle than the famous Pink Floyd shows of years past.
Here’s the staging for a selection of songs from the “Animals” album. Screens and chimneys down the middle of the arena and perpendicular to the stage reprised the classic album cover of the Battersea power station. This was also the point in the show where Waters’ feelings on Trump were on full display. Including a large Trump pig that circled the arena and many graphics and direct Trump quotes projected on the large screens. It was interesting to look around and see the split of those cheering and those sitting on their hands. I’d say about 30% obvious Trumpers in the audience – I was expecting less.
Here are some videos that I took. The first is the “Great Gig in the Sky” – one of many songs from the “Dark Side of the Moon” album. The lady singers don’t quite get close to the original but the rest of the band does very well.
Next is a very good performance of “Wish You Were Here” from my favorite Floyd album of the same name. The sound system did a very nice job with the acoustic guitar sound.
The first half of the show ended with “Another Brick in the Wall” and a crew of local Dallas kids dressed in orange prison garb dancing on stage. They removed their overalls to show “Resist” shirts. At the end of the show, confetti with Resist stamped on it dropped from the ceiling. “Resist” is a slogan for a movement that encourages grass roots organizing and action to stand against the current Trump/Republican agenda.
As is typical, the show finished with “Comfortably Numb” from “The Wall”. This features one of my all time favorite guitar solos.
Based on this text I think Will enjoyed the show as much as I did which makes me very happy.
For a completely unique cover version of “Comfortably Numb” try this one from The Bad Plus with Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley on vocals. The jazz piano is excellent.
For Tuesday, July 4th, breakfast I made my becoming famous barbecue pulled pork eggs Benedict. The hollandaise came from a mix this time after failed attempts at getting it thick enough following recipes – worked out much better and was much quicker. Will, Diana and I really enjoyed them.
After breakfast we put Will to work on a few tasks that are beyond our technical capabilities – programming the buttons on the Passat and Porsche to open the garage doors so that we don’t have to carry the remotes in our cars. He claims to have just followed the instructions in the manuals that didn’t work for me…
Then it was off to the Cowboys Club for 4th of July lunch. Will and “McD” both loved the lobster bake while I enjoyed the typically American burger. No pictures of lunch since they’re not allowed in the club 🙁 Mc D just finished her left over lobster for a very nice lunch. Then a quick trip to the airport to drop of Will for his flight back to San Francisco.
We were too tired and lazy to go out and watch the local fireworks display – so we enjoyed the New York show on TV.
In the reading department, I finished “White Tears” by Hari Kunzu. I found this through a New York Times Book Review recommendation – the blues music aspect interested me. The Amazon summary reads, “White Tears is a ghost story, a terrifying murder mystery, a timely meditation on race, and a love letter to all the forgotten geniuses of American music and Delta Mississippi Blues. An incisive meditation on race, privilege and music. Spanning decades, this novel brings alive the history of old-time blues and America’s racial conscience.” I thoroughly enjoyed this book and it was a quick read as I took a break from the very dense “Moonglow” by Michael Chabon – hope to finish it for next week’s post.
I’ve also been reading “But Beautiful (A book about jazz)” when I’ve only had short amounts of time available. This book is 8 vignettes, each featuring a famous jazz musician. So far I’ve read the chapters on Lester Young, nicknamed “Pres” by Billie Holiday and Thelonious Monk. Listening to Lester Young has been a pleasant discovery – he has a very gentle and lyrical tone as compared to his bebop era contemporaries like Coleman Hawkins and John Coltrane. Here’s a sample:
I’ve tried to appreciate Thelonious Monk’s piano playing but just can’t get there yet. I did enjoy this one with Coltrane on saxophone:
The next chapter is about Bud Powell and I’ve been enjoying his piano much more.
In other music news, my very favorite two albums released recently are by Jason Isbell and Dan Auerbach. Both heavily influenced by Nashville session musicians and both on heavy rotation in my office.
And to round out the music department, here’s an album by the great jazz guitarist Bill Frisell that I stumbled across this afternoon and have been really enjoying – “Telstar” is a highlight.
Wednesday’s highlight was a trip to the iPIC movie theater and the luxurious lounge chairs to see Wonder Woman. I got way too comfortable and fell asleep about 30 minutes into the movie. I woke up towards the end as things got noisy and am reasonably comfortable that I still got most of the plot. The Halls loved the comfy chairs and food and drink service at your seat.
Friday started with shuttling Mum and Dad to the airport for their flights to Philadelphia and then back to Glasgow. Speaking of Philly – Struan is a huge fan of cheesesteaks. So we found the best local place – Big Tony’s Cheesesteaks and he loved his meal. Leaving lunch I thought it would be fun to show the Halls the crazy Allen high school football stadium on our way to Best Buy. The route I selected was a bit rough with a large unexpected dip that sent both McD and McHeather airborne in the way back minivan seat. After some complaints and head rubbing we were back on track again with sunglasses intact.
ayou) on Oak Street – another newly opened spot – Denny keeps his eyes and ears open for anything new popping up in his city. DTB is billed as a modern Creole Cajun restaurant and menu choices included crispy duck confit, cornmeal gnocchi, and mushroom boudin balls. Another great find by Mr. Denny.
The first of four excellent musical experiences followed dinner – we saw Reckless Kelly perform at Tipitina’s. This was a country rock band with a bit of an Irish flavor that we all enjoyed – including Timmy (a rare moment when he wasn’t complaining about our musical choices being too “esoteric”). We were able to see the newly awarded Anders Osborne plate on the pavement outside Tipitina’s in recognition of his contributions to New Orleans music.
best we had ever tasted.
nobody you really must see and have to fight in early to box out a space. We saw the Iguanas at Fais Do Dos, New Orleans Nightcrawlers (my highlight) at the Heritage stage, Herb Alpert in the Jazz tent, 10 mins or so of Widespread Panic on the Acura stage, a couple of minutes of Tower of Power on the Congo Square stage and then finished up with Darius Rucker on the Gentilly Stage (Diana’s highlight as evidenced by her happy music face).
managed to work in oysters at the paddock and trips into the CD/Vinyl tent for better champagne than was on sale at the normal booths.
There was a summer of love theme going with a VW bug and bus decorated with flowers and a flower power booth manned by “D”. It was a gorgeous day and we enjoyed a picnic on the lawn by White Rock lake and a nap in the sun.
excursions. This time to the Kessler to see 10,000 maniacs. We enjoyed dinner at Bolsa and then a great concert courtesy of the Wahbas. So many fun activities around downtown Dallas but a bit too long of a drive in traffic to go as often as we’d like.
Dan’s now serves food from Texas Tapas next door and we really enjoyed green curry meatballs, mushroom tacos, and truffle parmesan tater tots (which are becoming a common item on menus these days).
To recover from the exertion of the tour, we stopped into Pepper Smash for some of their delicious blistered shishito peppers, Calbrese flatbread (creamy basil puree, charred tomato jam, sausage, and arugula) and cocktails. They have some very creative drinks, including the Cotton Candy Martini – which sounds way too sweet fo
r either of us to try. We walked across the street to the Angelika movie theater and saw T2 Trainspotting. This is a very Scottish movie set in Edinburgh. The language and content are a bit harsh but certainly lighter than Danny Boyle’s original.
rinity Groves with Patty and Brent. This is a new area on the opposite side of the Margaret Hunt bridge from downtown Dallas. There is a walking path along the Trinity river levee which provides great views of downtown. We stopped into the Cake Bar where Patty picked up a slice of cake for later. It appears to very popular as 
most all of the cakes were sold out before 5pm. Kate Weiser chocolate next door had some of the most creative and colorful treats I’ve seen. The Easter eggs were especially impressive.
ncert that was the main reason for our trip. We saw the Southern Soul Assembly perform at the City Winery. This is a group of 4 singer songwriters – Anders Osborne, Marc Broussard, JJ Grey, and Luther Dickinson – who usually perform on their own but did this short acoustic tour where they each take turns singing with acoustic guitars. The music and the venue were both excellent – we appreciated the table seating with food and drink service and the sound was very precise. We had heard Anders and Marc perform separately before and both agreed that JJ Grey was the star of the show. Here are JJ Grey, Anders, and Marc – you can decide which you like best but the variety was really entertaining.
Friday started with coffee and the crossword followed by a workout on the elliptical machines. We had lunch at a restaurant called the Little Octopus near the hotel. We were disappointed they didn’t have ceviche at lunch but enjoyed the Caribbean style food very much.
had a pleasant couple of hours exploring the exhibits and learned quite a bit about the local Nashville session musicians who played on music by Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Johnny Cash and a host of others.
On the walk back to the hotel we stopped for a picture of Diana with her new angel wings – do you see the guitars in the wing design? We laughed as Diana jumped in between a group of silly young girls who were taking forever to take multiple typical teenage poses in front of the wings. There was another couple waiting patiently and Diana told them, “That’s how it’s done”.
Thursday night’s routine with a trip to the rooftop bar at the hotel – quite a bit colder this time though so we sat inside. Then it was a quick Uber ride over to the Butcher and Bee restaurant – excellent Mediterranean food. The night finished with a quick visit to the Sambuca music club across from the hotel where we enjoyed a good cover band.
er in
Record factory and store. This is run by Jack White of the White Stripes band. Have you heard of them? Diana hadn’t and didn’t recognize their song “Seven Nation Army” when I played it on my phone on the walk over.
That evening we tried the Searsucker restaurant in the gas lamp district to see if it lived up to the Yelp reviews. It did for the most part with creative food, a nice casual setting and great service.
did a much better job than Captain Molly who took over the wheel just when Diana was downstairs in the head and learned quickly that large movements of the wheel cause the boat to turn very quickly and the boom to swing over. The official captain was quite entertained by the exploits.
On Saturday evening Diana and I ventured out to the gas lamp district again and found a fantastic bar/restaurant called the Whiskey House. This place had over 1,000 whiskeys from all over the world around the walls and a very impressive menu of whiskey based cocktails. The ones we sampled were perfectly made and delicious. We had a snack of scotch eggs and were wishing we had an appetite to try more from the great looking menu.
