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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
eon 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.
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”.
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.
“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.
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.
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.
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 “Royal Treatment” is what I should have been expecting. Our bus had an escort of four police motorcyclists who sped us through busy traffic and intersections over to the stadium in record time. Upon arrival we were whisked up to one of the luxury boxes for a drink and pictures with the Cowboys cheerleaders. Then it was down to the field for dinner and an excellent concert by Aerosmith. We were supposed to have pictures taken with 
Steven Tyler but their flight was delayed and they had to go directly on stage. I heard all of my favorites from their catalog – Dream On, Walk This Way, and Sweet Emotion. It was a huge langiappe when the Cheerleaders joined the band onstage for “Walk This Way”. A very pleasant evening all around with the highlight being taking a picture with Emmitt Smith (running back for the Cowboys with three Superbowl rings) and Cheerleaders. Thanks for thinking of me Kevin!
On Friday we flew to Nashville for a weekend with Denny and Anne. Festivities got off to a great start with lunch at Pinewood Social which is an old building converted into a bowling alley and really excellent restaurant. It was a good scouting visit as we’re planning on visiting there for an evening when we have a work trip to Nashville later in the month.
A pleasant walk down the riverside took us to Broadway. This is the main street in Nashville for music clubs and bars. There are about 3 or 4 blocks which are solid music clubs enabling one to stroll along and stop into whichever place sounds best. I had met a guy at the Aerosmith event who gave me his favorites. We mostly followed his recommendations with one addition and that worked out very well. First up was the Acme feed store with a very pleasant rooftop bar looking over the river.
the summer but for our visit they were very pleasant. The unscheduled stop was at the Bootlegger’s Inn where the musician playing attracted us in. He did great covers of Chris Stapleton songs and a few Johnny Cash songs at Anne’s request. From there we went to a place called Nudie’s which is not what it sounds like – just another music bar with a high ceiling and an extended length Cadillac complete with cowhide seats and longhorns on the front grille mounted above the stage.
City Winery. Two of my favorite singer songwriters in an excellent listening room environment. We enjoyed a couple of flatbreads for dinner after recovering from “the burning menu incident”. What happened you ask? Well, let’s see…one of our party placed a menu on top of a candle. What’s that burning smell we wondered? Root cause was identified just as an employee came sprinting towards us from the back of the venue. No harm done and a great way of introducing us to our neighbor, William “Billy” Robertson. It turns out Billy had enjoyed dinner 
at the Millhouse in Stewarton a few weeks previously and has a family home near Dunlop. What a very small world. For those of you not familiar with the Millhouse, it’s a restaurant and bar about a quarter of a mile from the house where I grew up in Stewarton, Scotland.
exchanged stories, I learned that Billy had also made a visit to Portpatrick, a small seaside village on the West coast of Scotland near Stranraer. We used to go there as a family on a regular basis when we had a caravan in Glenluce. I remember walking along the cliffs, looking at the lifeboats, and enjoying ice cream cones. Back to the music now. I had seen Jackie Greene several years ago in California and enjoyed his blues piano playing and so hoped he was going to have a piano in addition to his guitar. Turns out he had a very nice grand piano and sounded great on some of his classic songs. I believe Anders Osborne is best in a quiet setting on the acoustic guitar and really enjoyed his songs as well. Here are short videos of both and the encore of “Break Down” – another in the recent series of Tom Petty tributes.
and setting of the restaurant in an old Victorian house with its own herb and vegetable garden very much. The smoked trout deviled eggs were a definite stand out.
The Butcher and Bee was our dinner destination and we tried a speakeasy style place for a drink before dinner. Rosemary is a lovely bar and patio in what looks like a small house at the end of a quiet street – all except for the large bouncer checking identification on the porch. I highly recommend Rosemary and the patio out back to anyone visiting Nashville. The walk to Butcher and Bee was the perfect length to finish working up our appetite. Food and drinks were very good with highlights being 
braised lamb and seabass dishes. The food came out in a somewhat random order with some entrees before some appetizers were ready and dessert after our coffees were finished but we enjoyed it nonetheless. The East Nashville neighborhood where these establishments are located seems to be a very up and coming part of town with a lot of great looking restaurants. It reminded me quite a bit of the Bishops Arts district of Oak Cliff in Dallas.
extra hour gained from the clocks “falling back”. Anne suggested the Hillsboro Village neighborhood for brunch and so that’s where we headed. There were several places to choose from including Biscuit Love which always has a very long line and must be good. Some of our group weren’t feeling like standing in a line and were ready to eat so we opted for Jackson’s and a decent brunch. Part of the strategy in selecting this area near Vanderbilt University was a potential trip to the Parthenon. Timing didn’t work out 
but a very kind Uber driver gave us a tour of Centennial Park on our way back to the hotel. The Parthenon is a full scale replica of the Athenian original and was created for the 1897 Tennessee Centennial Exhibition. It includes a 42 foot tall statue of Athena just as in the original. The park housing all of this seems to have a lot to offer with amphitheaters, Shakespeare in the Park, art exhibits, dancing classes and lots of open space for other activities.
This piece of art from the hotel room sums up my thoughts on the weekend and music very nicely. Tennessee Williams was spot on I think.
view of the fall colors as we arrived in Nashville and a video from the Aerosmith concert of “Dream On” with Tyler and Perry posing on top of the white grand piano.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
videos of the devastation in the Virgin Islands. All the leaves and limbs have been completely stripped bare from what used to be jungle like vegetation and many buildings are completely destroyed. I really worry about the future of these islands as they are so dependent on the tourist economy and it looks like it will be many years before they recover. We count ourselves lucky that we were able to enjoy such a wonderful vacation on St. John a few years ago (see post from February 28, 2016 – https://www.keithjrobertson.com/?m=201602).
Cowboys Club for dinner. He’s a diehard Eagles fan but really enjoyed the club and a lovely sunset from the terrace. I collected another “small world” story – my boss was a chef in Bucks County, Pennsylvania before getting into IT. He ran the back of the house operation at several restaurants and on occasional nights was a guest chef at the Ottsville Inn which my Uncle Scott and Aunt Evelyn ran for several years.
where a watercourse has cut through a shelf of hard rock creating a narrow, steep-sided cut through which the watercourse runs. Now the name and logo make sense – the needle in the record grooves.
Saturday started with a workout at Cowboy’s Fit followed by a delicious lunch at Neighborhood Services Grill across the way from the gym. This location of NHS opened about a month ago and proved to be just as delicious as the original that we enjoy so much on Lovers Lane in Dallas.
I’m currently making slow progress (combination of being busy at work and the density of the prose) on Paul Auster’s book “4 3 2 1”. The book tells the life story of Ferguson in four different variations. The first couple of chapters show how small variations in the story line can start to have dramatically different impacts on Ferguson’s life. I think I’m going to enjoy getting into the meat of this one.