This was a quiet week until Saturday when we were able to squeeze a number of fun activities. The day started with a matinee of the 
“Bodyguard” musical at the Fair Park Music Hall just south of downtown Dallas. The venue is quite old with a nice art deco flavor and lots of room to mill around before the concert started. We had seats in the balcony and were able to move to better seats as it wasn’t very busy upstairs. The musical is based on the movie starring Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner from 1992 and has 20 songs – mostly popularized by Whitney Houston. The big number is “I Will Always Love You” towards the end. The story didn’t completely follow the movie – particularly in the second half. The singing was fine but not quite as good as we were hoping for.
We headed from Fair Park over to the Bishop Arts district in Oak Cliff and the “Wild Detectives” bookstore. This is my favorite bookstore in Dallas (not that there are many to choose from these days). It’s very small with a nicely curated selection of both books and music. It also serves coffee and drinks. We had a coffee and crossword in the outside garden which was fun until I started melting in the 100 plus degree heat.
The fantastic French restaurant, “Boulevardier”, across the street offered
some welcome air conditioning and a delicious cocktail and steak tartare (served with a quail egg). Next was dinner with Patty and Brent at the Meddlesome Moth. We shared several delicious appetizers and then I had a wonderful rabbit pot pie. It paired beautifully with my Firestone Walker Velvet Merlin Nitro beer.
We managed to cram a lot of activity into Saturday afternoon and evening.
Monday night saw the first concert at the new Frisco Star – the indoor practice field for the Dallas Cowboys. James Taylor and Bonnie Raitt put 
on a very enjoyable show. We had been concerned about echo in the venue based on a lunch we attended on the field, but some very large curtains took care of that nicely. The highlight for me was Bonnie’s cover of the “Angel from Montgomery” by John Prine – so soulful and heartbreaking. James Taylor highlights were “Fire and Rain” followed by “Sweet Baby James”. It was nice to have dinner at the Cowboys Club and use the private “Jones family elevator” to get down to the concert. Diana actually went back up to the club to get her drinks rather than waiting in line in the venue – and beat me back to the seats.
I finally finished up “Moonglow” by Michael Chabon. The narrator in this book is chronicling Chabon’s conversations with his dying grandfather
and mother about his family. He weaves together tales of the various generations and relatives very cleverly and sometimes with just a bit too much detail. Chabon is right up there with Ian McEwan as one of my current generation favorites based on his wonderfully clever and descriptive similes and metaphors. “He had maybe two minutes before the rocket of his anger burned up its fuel and fell back to earth”. “Inside the airduct was a smell like the taste of a new filling”. I didn’t enjoy this as much as the last of his books I read, “Telegraph Avenue”, but would definitely recommend it.
I discovered an excellent Aretha Franklin song during dinner at the Meddlesome Moth due to the amazing Shazam app. “Share Your Love With Me” was originally recorded by Bobby Blue Bland in 1963 and covered by Aretha in 1970. There are very good covers by Van Morrison and The Band as well. Richard Manuel’s singing on The Band version is amazing.
The other song I heard this week that really caught my attention was “(Wish I Could) Hideaway” by Credence Clearwater Revival. It has a lot of the same elements that I love about their song, “Long as I Can See the Light” with the “Candle in the Window” line that made it into Diana’s vows.
The latest chapter in my jazz book covers Charles Mingus – the renowned bassist and composer most popular in the 1950s. My favorite recording is “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat” which he released in 1959. I learned that it was written as an elegy to Lester Young who had died a couple of months earlier and was well known for his broad-brimmed pork pie hat when playing the saxophone. I remember enjoying the Jeff Beck version from the early 70s when studying in university. Joni Mitchell released an album dedicated to Mingus where she added lyrics to his compositions – I’ve never been able to get into it although I’ve tried a few times.