“Birthday Music Week”

Bryce the piano tuner came on Monday.  He was impressed with how well our piano had survived storage, moving, and settling in to a new home.  As is typical here, he was quite the character, sharing stories about tuning Paul Simon and Harrick Connick’s pianos, and videos of rock concerts that he attended in the 1970s.   Here he is testing out his tuning job, while I stay out of his way in the living room:

Denny and Anne were headed out of town, so took me for an early birthday dinner at Husky.  As a special treat they brought me some meat pies from a butcher in Lafayette.  We followed that with a visit to Dos Jefes to listen to John Fohl – always a treat.

And now we move into the heavy music rotation part of the week.  On Thursday we joined Kenny, Julia and John for a singer songwriter night at the Broadside Pavillion.  The artists performing were Gregg Hill, Mia Borders, Alex McMurray, and Johnny Sansone.  The highlight for me was Alex McMurray’s solo set, with Mia Borders as a close second, particularly the song she did with McMurray.

On Friday we met at Kenny and Kara’s house for a birthday drink and they presented me with this lovely gift from the local artist, Simon.  We could easily walk to his gallery from our home.

The four of us decamped to a restaurant called “Pigeon and Whale.”  This place specializes in seafood and we shared a number of dishes.  They also have a large selection of different negronis.  Kenny and Diana insisted on dessert, and I’m glad they did as the lemon thing was delicious.  Thanks for a lovely dinner with wonderful friends, Diana.

After dessert, we met the boys at NOLA brewing.  Alex McMurray, who we saw the previous night, was playing with his band.  It was nice to hang out with the boys for a bit, and we had to call it a relatively early night as I was taking Diana back to the airport at 5am on Saturday morning.

Meanwhile, my old Executive Committee team was enjoying dinner at Phil’s place in the Hamptons.  I miss that krewe.

The music continued on Saturday.  This time it was the second annual Bob Dylan birthday tribute at the Broadside.  I thoroughly enjoyed it last year and so was quite excited for the show.  Anne, Mason, Jack E and Peggy all joined.  The show was excellent all around!  Excellent backing band, singers, and venue.  Gal Holiday performed my favourite Dylan song:

I enjoyed the opening song by the organizer of the music, Sam Price:

I drove Anne home after the show and we passed a restaurant called “El Pavo Real.”  I had seen it many times and never been there.  “We’re going there tomorrow,” said Anne.

She picked me up and we enjoyed Sunday brunch.  This is a great Mexican place and wasn’t busy at all.  Excellent chilaquiles and palomas.

Meanwhile, in Redwood City, California, Diana had made it in time to dress up and attend Olivia’s high school graduation celebration.  The pictures would say that they had a great time.

Have I had enough music yet?  No – it’s my birthday week, I want one more night.  Sunday brought “Rock for Aegis,” a benefit for Scott Aiges who was the music journalist for the local paper and is fighting aggressive brain cancer.  The power was out in Uptown New Orleans, apparently part of a necessary rolling brown out due to unforeseen demand.  We had planned on meeting at Fred and Kelly’s home for a drink before the show, but they had no power.  I invited the group to meet at our home, as we still had power, and worst case a generator.

The show was local musicians playing Tom Petty songs.  And for the third night in a row, Alex McMurray was involved.  The highlight for me was Samantha Fish (excellent blues musician) covering “American Girl.”

Meanwhile, in Pacifica, California, Diana was hosting a party for Alicia’s 25th birthday.  She always loves that our birthdays are just a few days apart.  Look at the spread she assembled.  It looks like everyone had a good time.

Interestingly, the “end pieces” of the sourdough loaves were all that remained.  Olivia noticed and realized that Grammie used to eat those first.

A subset of the group enjoyed the sunset on the beach:

Meanwhile, somewhere off the coast of the Florida panhandle, Denny and Jack were catching pleny off red snapper:

My book this week was one that I’d been waiting on for a while, “Run for the Hills,” by Kevin Wilson.  I’ve enjoyed all of his previous books, so uniquely creative and funny.  This one didn’t disappoint.  Here’s the summary:

“Ever since her dad left them twenty years ago, it’s been just Madeline Hill and her mom on their farm in Coalfield, Tennessee. While it’s a bit lonely, she sometimes admits, and a less exciting life than what she imagined for herself, it’s mostly okay. Mostly.

Then one day Reuben Hill pulls up in a PT Cruiser and informs Madeline that he believes she’s his half sister. Reuben—left behind by their dad thirty years ago—has hired a detective to track down their father and a string of other half siblings. And he wants Mad to leave her home and join him for the craziest kind of road trip imaginable to find them all.

As Mad and Rube—and eventually the others—share stories of their father, who behaved so differently in each life he created, they begin to question what he was looking for with every new incarnation. Who are they to one another? What kind of man will they find? And how will these new relationships change Mad’s previously solitary life on the farm?

Infused with deadpan wit, zany hijinks, and enormous heart, Run for the Hills is a sibling story like no other—a novel about a family forged under the most unlikely circumstances and united by hope in an unknown future.”

We’ve had a lot of musical discussion this week and so I’ll leave you with just one sample.  Sansone played this at the singer songwriter show:

Coexist peacefully, with patience and kindness for all!

“A Normal Week”

I’m not sure what a normal week is these days.  But this seemed like one.

On Monday, I visited Tony to get my hearing aids cleaned and adjusted.  As is typical, we spent the first 30 minutes talking about who we had seen performing at jazzfest and veered off into other musical discussions.  The only problem was that my appointment was only for 30 minutes, the poor guy behind me had to wait a while.

I took advantage of being in Metarie (a solid 6 miles away, but seems like a totally different place than New Orleans, and we complain about having to drive that far) to make a Trader Joe’s visit.  Diana was quite impressed with the fullness of the fridge on return.

We followed up our trivia win last Tuesday with 2nd place this week.  We were quite pleased with ourselves.

Diana arrived home at 1:20am on Wednesday morning.  She had delayed flights and had to sprint through DFW airport to catch her flight to New Orleans.  I couldn’t sleep until I knew she was home.  Thankfully I didn’t have any “important” work to do on Wednesday.

Wednesday was health care day.  I had my teeth cleaned – good report of no issues.  Then I drove Diana to an appointment over at the Jefferson hospital complex – less than 5 miles away and less than a 15 minute drive, but again it feels like a long way to us these days.  We routinely drove 30 minutes to do anything at all in Dallas, but things change when you can walk to most everything you need.

Coming back from the store, we ran into this second line parade on Prytania Avenue.  There a lot of weddings in May, and it did seem a bit hot for them to be walking too far in those fancy outfits.

Diana suggested a route around the parade to avoid following it all the way home – good thinking D.

The Prytania movie theater shows a classic movie each week at 10am on Sunday and Wednesday.  This week was “Moonstruck” with Cher and Nicholas Cage.

The talks before the movie starts are a very enjoyable part of this experience.  The detail and background provided on this occasion was very impressive.  I have no idea how the gentleman memorized all that he shared.

My big take away was that I didn’t remember the film being so funny and corny.

After the movie we had lunch at our old standby – Juan’s Flying Burrito.

My book this week was “Wild Dark Shore” by Charlotte McConaghy.  This is a murder mystery set on a remote island near Antarctica, but it’s a lot more than that.  I learned about emergency seed banks, and lots of nature, including deep details about penguins.  A very good read.

“A family on a remote island. A mysterious woman washed ashore. A rising storm on the horizon.

Dominic Salt and his three children are caretakers of Shearwater, a tiny island not far from Antarctica. Home to the world’s largest seed bank, Shearwater was once full of researchers, but with sea levels rising, the Salts are now its final inhabitants. Until, during the worst storm the island has ever seen, a woman mysteriously washes ashore.

Isolation has taken its toll on the Salts, but as they nurse the woman, Rowan, back to strength, it begins to feel like she might just be what they need. Rowan, long accustomed to protecting herself, starts imagining a future where she could belong to someone again.

But Rowan isn’t telling the whole truth about why she set out for Shearwater. And when she discovers sabotaged radios and a freshly dug grave, she realizes Dominic is keeping his own secrets. As the storms on Shearwater gather force, they all must decide if they can trust each other enough to protect the precious seeds in their care before it’s too late―and if they can finally put the tragedies of the past behind them to create something new, together.

A novel of breathtaking twists, dizzying beauty, and ferocious love, Wild Dark Shore is about the impossible choices we make to protect the people we love, even as the world around us disappears.”

I really enjoy this band – always a little bit different:

Something folky and quiet:

And finally, a song from 1976, back when the music could play for over a minute before the vocals start – not suitable for the attention spans of today:

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all!

“Movie Week”

Kenny and Denny joined me at the Prytania theater on Monday afternoon to watch the Oscar nominated live action shorts.  These were five short films with quite varied subject matter and styles.

I did get in trouble for talking during one of the films.  We had dinner at La Cocinita to share our thoughts.  No clear agreement.  I thought “I am not a robot” from the Netherlands was the most entertaining.  I think Denny and Kenny preferred “The Last Ranger” about rhino horn poaching in South Africa, but maybe Kenny liked “The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent” from Croatia – that’s the one the critics think will win and was my least favourite.

We did not do well at trivia on Tuesday night.  I believe we were between eighth and tenth.  Things started to go badly when Denny insisted on answering “Is chemical energy an example of potential or kinetic energy?” with kinetic, even after I gave the example of a battery which is stored up or potential energy.  And they got worse from there.  A bad night for the Bayou Boyz.

I talked Kenny into attending the Wednesday morning movie matinee with  me at the Prytania.  The offering this week was “The Conversation”, starring Gene Hackman and directed by Francis Ford Coppola in 1974.

We agreed that this film was pretty slow, with a confusing and convoluted plot line.  Coppola apparently was very committed to writing and directing this movie and only agreed to direct “The Godfather II” after the studio agreed to “The Conversation.”

Kara joined us for lunch at Martin after the movie.

It was a cold and early start for me on Thursday morning – 30 degrees when I left home at 6:30am for my flight to San Francisco.  Diana picked me up at the airport and we resumed the routine of helping Clorinda.

Today was a busy day – visits from cousin Joelle and Jerry, Adam, and Victor and Jennifer – all three at slightly different times.  We made a new recipe – orzo Mediterranean salad – and thankfully had enough for everyone.  This was a good recipe from the New Orleans Times Picayune newspaper.

Diana has fallen way down the rabbit hole of bracelet fabrication.  Look at this whole enterprise and the tools involved:

This all started with a desire to make a “few” Mardi Gras bracelets.

Andy and Jude came down on Friday night.  They are always such great company.  Andy had to make a quick trip home when his new replica of Prince’s Telecaster was delivered.

Jeff and Merry Lee sent some pictures of penguins that they took in Antarctica:

I finished up “Rabbit is Rich” – an enjoyable read but not really my thing, and started “James” by Percival Everret.  This is described as:

“#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER• NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER • A brilliant, action-packed reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, both harrowing and darkly humorous, told from the enslaved Jim’s point of view.”

I’m not far into the book but am enjoying it a lot already.

Here’s an old classic that I heard on the local radio station, WWOZ:

And a couple from a band that’s been around for a long time that  I just heard this week:

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all!

“More of the same”

This week was quite similar to last week – helping to make Clorinda as comfortable as possible as she regains her strength.  The good news is she has a very good appetite and is always so alert and responsiveness when her grandchildren show up:

We did manage to escape for lunch at Puerto 27, a very good local Peruvian restaurant, while Clorinda was at dialysis.  Diana went for comfort food and was very happy with her burger, while I chose an avocado and crab sandwich.

I passed some of the time with the new documentary series about Saturday Night Live on Peacock.  The episode on “More Cowbell” was hilarious and well researched, the episode on the musical guests, a pleasant walk down memory lane.

We flew home to New Orleans on Saturday and were surprised to see the airport so quiet on our arrival before 8pm.  TSA closed, all stores and restaurants closed, so clearly no departing flights.  Seemed unusual.  It will not be like that next week when the Super Bowl comes to town.

We were getting parade updates for Chewbacchus, a walking parade that we’ve enjoyed in previous years.  It has a science fiction geeky theme, and certainly doesn’t take itself too seriously.  We were much too tired to venture into the fray and so missed Kara and Debra in their Wonder Women krewe.  I think McD should join them next year – what are your thoughts?  She just needs a little encouragement and some help with her outfit.

It’s always hard to wind down after a day of travel.  We watched a very good movie, “The Peanut Butter Falcon”, to try and relax and it did the trick.  Great acting and a nicely understated and calm storyline.

The weather today was the best of the year so far – 70 degrees, blue skies, and, most importantly, no humidity.  We celebrated with a couple of laps around Audubon park – always a treat.

I started “Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story” by Bono this week.  I’m about half way through just now, and am really enjoying the read.  The writing is honest and lacks any of the bombast that you might expect, given his public persona.  I’ll share some of my favourite passages next week.  Here’s some of the online chatter:

“NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • Bono—artist, activist, and the lead singer of Irish rock band U2—has written a memoir: honest and irreverent, intimate and profound, Surrender is the story of the remarkable life he’s lived, the challenges he’s faced, and the friends and family who have shaped and sustained him. • A VOGUE BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

“A brilliant, very funny, very revealing autobiography-through-music. Maybe the best book ever written about being a rockstar.” —Caitlin Moran, award-winning journalist
 
“When I started to write this book, I was hoping to draw in detail what I’d previously only sketched in songs. The people, places, and possibilities in my life. Surrender is a word freighted with meaning for me. Growing up in Ireland in the seventies with my fists up (musically speaking), it was not a natural concept. A word I only circled until I gathered my thoughts for the book. I am still grappling with this most humbling of commands. In the band, in my marriage, in my faith, in my life as an activist. Surrender is the story of one pilgrim’s lack of progress … With a fair amount of fun along the way.” —Bono
 
 As one of the music world’s most iconic artists and the cofounder of the organizations ONE and (RED), Bono’s career has been written about extensively. But in Surrender, it’s Bono who picks up the pen, writing for the first time about his remarkable life and those he has shared it with. In his unique voice, Bono takes us from his early days growing up in Dublin, including the sudden loss of his mother when he was fourteen, to U2’s unlikely journey to become one of the world’s most influential rock bands, to his more than twenty years of activism dedicated to the fight against AIDS and extreme poverty. Writing with candor, self-reflection, and humor, Bono opens the aperture on his life—and the family, friends, and faith that have sustained, challenged, and shaped him.
 
Surrender’s subtitle, 40 Songs, One Story, is a nod to the book’s forty chapters, which are each named after a U2 song. Bono has also created forty original drawings for Surrender, which appear throughout the book.”

I didn’t save off any new songs this week – that’s a first.  Not sure why.  Here’s a classic that was in the soundtrack to a movie I was watching, can’t remember which one:

The wonderful guitarist, Julian Lage, has a new album out with a lot of very varied content:

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all!

“Back to Pacifica, CA”

On Monday, we walked to Walgreens to drop off a Kate Spade FedEX return.  I bought Diana an iPhone bracelet for Christmas and it’s the wrong size.  I got quite confused and called Kendra Scott to ask about it, prior to realizing that the bracelet was actually from Kate Spade.  I even tried to visit the Kendra Scott store for help, before realizing I had made the same mistake twice.

After the walk, we drove over to Frenchy’s gallery on Oak Street to look at a painting that he did of Jon Batiste at Jazzfest last year.  We had a very nice visit with Frenchy, just back from the Big Easy music cruise.  He told us stories and showed the paintings he made on the cruise.  I liked the Marcia Ball one, and he also had a great one of Keb Mo.

We liked the Jon Batiste painting very much – it captures the show that we saw at Jazzfest very well.  It is now hanging on the wall behind my piano.

Frenchy said he snuck Tab Benoit in as the middle marching Jazzfest guy.

Here’s some biographical information on Frenchy:

“Born to a boxer and a saint on August 16th, 1970, in Lowell, MA, Randy Leo Frechette – a.k.a Frenchy – has been drawing since he could grip a pencil.

Julia dropped off these pretty tulips as a get well from back surgery gift:

Clorinda was admitted to the hospital again, and so we flew to San Francisco on Wednesday afternoon.  We spent the majority of the rest of the week shuttling back and forward to Mills Peninsula hospital to spend time with her.  The NFL playoffs provided a little bit of distraction:

Alicia shared the annual report from her work with us.  She had a big part to play in the content and layout, with particular attention on the Director’s message.  Communivercity seems like a wonderful organization that brings together Community, University (San Jose State), and City in partnership to solve problems and encourage our youth.

It’s nice to see Alicia so happy and rewarded by such a worthwhile job.

My sister Elspeth’s birthday was on Sunday.  I enjoyed telling her that it was also:

My first book this week was “Walking with Sam:  A Father, a Son, and 500 Miles across Spain,”  by Andrew McCarthy:

“Andrew Thomas McCarthy is an American actor, travel writer, and television director. He is most known as a member of the Brat Pack, with roles in 1980s films such as St. Elmo’s Fire, Pretty in Pink, Mannequin, and Weekend at Bernie’s. He is ranked No. 40 on VH1’s 100 Greatest Teen Stars of all-time list.”

The book had me remembering a wonderful movie, “The Way”,  where Martin Sheen walks the Camino de Santiago with his son filming and directing.  A great movie, and this is a pretty good book.  A quick and enjoyable read.

McCarthy’s son takes a while to settle in to the routine of the walk and to feel comfortable opening up to his dad:

I’m about halfway through my second book, “Martyr” by Kaveh Akbar.

“Multiple Birthdays”

When I left you last week, Kenny was coming to pick up Diana and shuttle her to the “Birthday Girl’s Brunch” in the French Quarter.  The ladies loved their time at Broussard’s and the location was a complete surprise to Diana.  Kenny and Keith know how to keep a secret!

Anne and Kara had spent some happy hours together crafting special cat eye glasses and bracelets:

Here they are modeling them in the Broussard’s lobby:

The ladies thought Diana needed a commemorative ornament:

Kenny had been trying to find a time when Diana would be gone for a few hours, so that he could execute on his birthday gift.  He spent over three hours pressure washing the front bricks while the girls were at lunch.  What a great job, and such a kind gift:

Look at the handmade card Kenny attached to the top of the stairs:

The ladies weren’t quite finished yet – they walked down Bourbon Street to Bar 33 (the bar owned by and next to Gallatoire’s) for French 75s.

Kenny drove down to the House of Blues to see a friend, Nina, perform and several of the ladies met him there.  Thanks to Kenny and Kara for delivering the almost sixty year old home safely.

We surprised Merry Lee for a late birthday dinner at Acamaya on Monday evening.  We arrived early and she was very happy to see us there.  Jeff pulled off a great surprise.  I love this restaurant – wonderfully creative Mexican seafood and different drinks.

After dinner we were looking for some music and I finally found a piano player at the Saturn bar – a short stroll from Acamaya.  BC Coogan treated us to “Classified” by James Booker on arrival.

Tuesday brought another birthday – Kenny this time.  Diana made some jambalaya, and the trivia group assembled at Kara and Kenny’s home for dinner and cake pre-trivia.

We did all right at trivia but did not place in the top three.  After that, we got to the Maple Leaf in time to catch a good amount of Bookerfest – the annual tribute to James Booker on his birthday.  This has become an annual celebration event with Kenny.  It was entertaining to see our trivia master at the show – we had a good chat about music and trivia.

Here are two song clips from the wonderful Joe Krown:

The night finished up with six hands on the piano – so, so good and fun to watch:

A very enjoyable Tuesday night all around.

Are you feeling sleepy after all this activity?  Well, time to catch a second wind because we have another birthday on Wednesday to talk about.

Beautiful birthday flowers from Kris and Cat:

And an excellent birthday song from Andy.  He’s getting so good and seems to have quite the recording setup going these days:

I had reserved a section of Oak and Ale to host a birthday dinner for Diana.  We had about twenty four people there.

We love that our friends kids are part of the group and wanted to attend the event:

Here’s a selection with friends:

Chickie called a few minutes before we were leaving for the restaurant – his flight to Vegas had been diverted to New Orleans due to an emergency.  He wanted to know what we had planned.  So we added him to the party list:

I think Diana had a good time with everyone.

Merry Lee came over for a walk with Diana on Thursday morning, and suggested that we meet Jeff downtown for lunch.  We had another yummy meal at Meril – the restaurant that Emeril named after his daughter.

Friday was packing and organizing day.  We had our own Christmas gift exchange in the evening, followed by an impromptu visit from Anne with some gifts.

Saturday came with an early start.  Out the door at 4:30am for our 6:30am flight.  Adamo picked us up at San Francisco airport around 9:30am.  We made it smoothly and a bit early.   Time to catch our breath and relax a bit.  I enjoyed the UT and Clemson college football playoff game (UT won).

Today, we did some shopping for Christmas Eve dinner and I’m looking forward to the Cowboys game this evening.  I’m comfortable enough to admit that I’m currently watching “A Merry Scottish Christmas” – a classic Hallmark style movie – with McD.

With all that activity, I had little time for reading or finding new music – so we’ll skip those sections this week.

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all.

 “Retirement Celebration”

We flew to Austin early Monday morning and checked into the Carpenter hotel.  I had an executive committee meeting on Monday night, which turned into an early retirement party for me.

We went to the Guest House, which is an amazingly delicious Austin establishment.  I had a parmesan crusted filet that was ridiculously tasty.

There were lots of toasts and speeches that almost brought me to tears.  This has been such a wonderful work experience because of the people that I work with.  The team gave me a $500 gift certificate to Shaya, one of my favourite New Orleans restaurants.

Nikki and I shared a martini that came with quite the presentation.  Dry ice poured over the bottom:

Desert was quite a show:

What a lovely dinner and memory.

Tuesday was the annual holiday party at Bar Peached.  Great food, drinks and company.  They had a “Braveheart” cocktail in my honour:

Here I am with the IT team:

And here is a reprise of the “girls” from Roatan:

Here’s’ one of my favourites – the EXCO group (three of the people it has been a complete joy to work with.)

And finally with Neffie:

We had our usual pre-flight lunch at June’s.  Lisa joined us and we saw Lachie (CEO) walking by and he joined us for a drink.  This is where I had lunch after interviewing for my job, and where I had the last meal of my retirement celebration – seems appropriately bookended.

Here are my two cards:

And a ridiculously expensive bottle of bourbon from my team:

I enjoyed two separate free outdoor concerts on Saturday afternoon with most of the krewe.  “The Walrus” performed Beatles songs at the corner of Marengo and Dryads.  Such a good band.

That was followed by the Panorama Jazz Band at the Kingpin, which also had an outdoor Christmas market going.

Kenny will be arriving soon to shuttle Diana to her ladies brunch to celebrate her upcoming birthday.  All she knows is that it’s somewhere in the French Quarter.

I continued to work my way through Demon Copperhead this week.   Slow progress due to all the travel and holiday excitement.  I look forward to finishing it up next week in the lull leading up to the real holidays.

I love this Ethiopian song that I heard at the Carpenter hotel:

And another one from the same source:

Very relaxing:

And finally, some classic Bonnie Raitt:

Coexist peacefully, with patience and kindness for all!