On Thursday we had breakfast at the Cowboys Club and then watched a bit of the Cowboys training camp at their indoor practice facility at the Star in Frisco. It’s a sign of the popularity of the Cowboys and their new facility that several thousand people showed up to watch them practice. The whole event was a typical Jerry Jones production with a lot of booths and hoopla outside the event. We enjoyed watching the whole team doing their calisthenics and then running drills with the various groups. After that the teams worked on passing and running plays which was the most interesting part. I hope Dez Bryant doesn’t drop as many passes in the regular season as he did in practice. Jason Witten (Campbell’s favorite Cowboy) got the biggest cheer as he ran out on the field and they were passing out replicas of his face on the plaza outside the facility that were quite funny.
Friday night took us to Trinity Groves for dinner with Patty and Brent and then a concert at the Kessler. We met at Beto Mexican restaurant which was so loud inside from both music and people that we only lasted for a drink and appetizer before moving to a neighboring Mediterranean restaurant named Souk. The nitro margaritas at Beto were an interesting table side display. They use liquid nitrogen to freeze the margaritas – not bad but a little sweet for my taste.
The food at Souk was a bit mixed but it was quiet and comfortable and 
gave us a chance to catch up without yelling. I enjoyed the lamb moussaka and had some leftovers to enjoy for lunch on Saturday. We laughed at the restaurant name because my Mum had been telling Diana last weekend that “Sook” was a good Scottish expression for sycophant – a term McD had been using to describe my behavior with her Mom.
The concert at the Kessler was by Charlie Sexton. He’s a Texas guitarist
and singer who was most famously in the band Arc Angels in the early nineties. I saw them in San Antonio in 1993 and still remember it as one of my favorite concerts. Charlie has also played guitar for David Bowie, Bob Dylan (still in his band), and appeared as a session musician on many famous records. He did play one Arc Angels song, “Always Believed in You”, which was the first highlight of the show for me.
Later in the show Charlie and his keyboard/accordion player did a few songs without the drummer and bass player which were very well done. Brent commented that the drummer had “guitar envy”. We didn’t initially understand until he explained that the drummer had been swapping out snare drums several times during the show to provide different sounds just as guitar players swap guitars frequently for different tones.
Rather than make the hour drive home after midnight, we opted to stay at the lovely art-deco era Belmont hotel close to the Kessler. The bar at the Belmont used to have an amazing view of downtown Dallas from just across the Trinity river but now one of the increasingly ubiquitous and increasingly annoying urban loft living developments has blocked it. Great views are still available from the pool area.
One of the benefits of staying at the Belmont is the restaurant Smoke next door. We enjoyed a leisurely brunch on Saturday morning this time opting for a salmon and collard green benedict over the usual pulled pork benedict that I’ve been practicing at home.
After brunch we stopped at a newly discovered coffee shop for “coffee and a crossword with Keith”. The “Magnolias Sous Le Pont” was a lovely coffee shop on the north side of downtown Dallas that you would never know is there if you didn’t stumble across it. The Saturday crossword was unusually difficult taking both of us over 20 minutes – it’s good to get a challenging one sometimes.
Sunday was a quiet day with workouts, coffee and crossword (this time at a boring Starbucks) and some tennis shoe shopping for McD. In the evening I watched the first half of the Cowboys pre-season game and was pretty happy with the overall performance – looked like the practice was paying off although Dez did drop a pass just as he had in the practice that we watched.
Some new or re-discovered music this week included this song by the Velvet Underground that I heard playing at the Belmont hotel – they play such an eclectic mix and this song got stuck in my head all weekend.
I heard this collaboration between Beth Hart and Joe Bonamassa on my commute and enjoyed it. It’s the most bluesy (a la Susan Tedeschi) that I’ve heard Beth Hart.
And finally a very poignant new release from Gregg Allman who passed away in May of this year. I’ve seen the Allman Brothers a number of times including at the Beacon Theater in New York, the Mountain Winery in Saratoga, Dallas, and the New Orleans jazzfest and enjoyed Gregg’s voice and Hammond organ immensely. This is the first song from his upcoming release “Southern Blood” that was recorded at Muscle Shoals studio just before his passing. I’m looking forward to listening to the full album in early September.