Month: August 2018

Week in Review – August 26, 2018

This week was very much a repeat of last week.  A quiet week of work for me at home while Diana traveled to St. Petersburg again for work Wednesday through Friday.  She had a successful but tiring trip and week.

I met Diana’s stepson, John, at the airport on Friday afternoon and took him to Perry’s steakhouse for a drink and a happy hour snack.  He had an 8 hour layover in Dallas between returning from a business trip to Nashville and starting a business trip to Santiago, Chile (which sounds very exciting).  Then Diana met up with both of us at the airport for a little while when she landed and I followed her home.

Diana treated me to dinner at Gregory’s on Saturday night and Brent joined.  What a delicious feast!  I had the weekly special – scallops with crawfish etouffee, goat cheese, and crumbled hatch chile cornbread.  Diana had read about it and knew I would love it.  We started with a gorgeous duck confit – apparently slow cooked for 36 hours – that just fell off the bone.  Diana and Brent both had scallops “sea bass style” – over the lobster risotto that typically comes with my go-to Gregory’s choice, the sea bass.  It’s so nice to have such amazing food available in walking distance from our home.

I finished the Paul Simon biography, “The Life”, this week.  The book is almost 400 pages long and I still felt that some important areas were too short.  I would have liked to have learned more about the recording processes and musicians involved in some of his great albums.  That being said, there were many details on the inspirations behind the songs, and the challenges of getting just the right set of musicians and sounds in the studio.  The section on the making of the Graceland (one of the original world music records) album in 1986 was very interesting as it described Simon traveling to South Africa, assembling the musicians, and trying to get the right sound.

One of my favorite passages covered the 2003 Simon and Garfunkel reunion tour (that I saw in San Jose) that included special guests the Everly Brothers.  I remember the Everly Brothers being invited on stage midway through the show as Paul Simon told of them being one of the original inspirations for their music, and particularly remember a fantastic rendition of “Bye Bye Love” where Simon and Garfunkel sang with the Everly Brothers.

Another memorable passage talks about Simon performing at the 2006 New Orleans jazzfest, the first after Hurricane Katrina.  Quint Davis, the organizer of jazzfest, is quoted as saying: “Paul and the music meant so much to everyone that there were a hundred thousand hands in the air and a hundred thousand eyes crying.  The highlight was when he brought out Allen Toussaint and Irma Thomas to join him on “Bridge Over Troubled Water”.  It was the most emotional moment that we’ve ever had at the festival.  He wasn’t a musician.  He was a hero.”

Here’s a song that I “Shazamed” from a movie that was playing in the background while I was reading – “Holes” by Mercury Rev from their 1998 album “Deserters Songs”.  I hadn’t heard the band before and some quick research told me that this was their big break through album and included appearances by Levon Helm and Garth Hudson of The Band – no wonder it caught my attention as those are two of my favourite musicians.

 

Week in Review – August 19, 2018

This was another quiet week at home for me, with Diana traveling to St. Petersburg, Florida on Thursday and Friday, where she finished out a very busy work week.

McD solving an outage late into the night

We met Brent for coffee and a crossword after our workouts on Saturday morning.  He refused to attempt the crossword after a quick glance over it – “I don’t have a crossword brain – good for puns and witty remarks, but not crosswords”.  The time while not solving the crossword was put to good use – reading an article in the “Scientific Mind” on the fact that men with high testosterone also happen to be better dancers, hence the reason women are attracted to good dancers – honestly!

Saturday night brought a classic Texas torrential downpour and thunderstorm.  This one lasted much longer than normal and provided the garden with a good soaking.

I finished the novel “Wonder Boys” by Michael Chabon this week.  Chabon is  perhaps my favorite author and the film from this book is also one of my favorites, so I had quite high hopes for this read.  It did not disappoint.  I enjoyed it more than Telegraph Avenue, which was one of my most enjoyable reads last year.  The characters and crazy antics built around a writers celebration at a Pittsburgh college are excellent.  It’s difficult to set aside visions of the actors who played the main characters – Michael Douglas, Robert Downey Jr., Katie Holmes, Tobey Maguire, and Patricia Clarkson – but I tried hard and enjoyed the written characters even more than the visual versions.  I’m looking forward to catching up on some more of Chabon’s catalog in the near future.

Aretha Franklin passed away this week.  “Live at the Fillmore West” is one of my top 10 live albums and I listened to it a couple of times this week.  Aretha’s concert piano technique coupled with the versatility, soulfulness, and range of her voice make this album very special.  Here’s a sample – a duet with the unforgettable Ray Charles:

Wow! – I’ve seen some amazing shows at the Fillmore in San Francisco, but nothing like this.  One of my all time favorite Aretha performances was at the Kennedy Center Honors when she performed for Carole King’s induction – “Feel Like a Natural Woman”.  The reactions from Carole and President Obama say it all.

An advertisement for a Blue Note concert by Maceo Paker, saxophonist for James Brown in the 1960s and Parliament Funkadelic in the 1970s, included a link to this video featuring Trombone Shorty from New Orleans.  This might be the best trombone solo I’ve come across:

And finally on the music front, a music video that a friend turned me on to this week.  The band is called Meute.  They hail from Hamburg and describe their music as “German techno marching band”.  I like the horn arrangements and performance very much.

 

 

 

Week in Review – August 12, 2018

A reasonably quiet week at home for both of us was a nice change.  Lots of rain fell most days which took the edge of the scorching August heat a bit.

My parents, on the other hand, had great weather for their short getaway to Portpatrick.  This is a picturesque, seaside village on the West coast of Scotland that we visited regularly as kids during our weekends and holidays in Glenluce.  I’m reminded of ice cream cones enjoyed while wandering around the harbor, cliff walks with rock scrambling to a secluded beach, and mini golfing.  Portpatrick is also a lifeboat station and I remember being amazed at the lifeboat that is fortified to enable rescues in extreme conditions.  Mum and Dad seem to have had a very relaxing visit.

Our main activity this week was an outing to the Kessler on Saturday night with Brent.  He found a new restaurant for us to try which is a very short walk from the Kessler as you can see up above.  We’ve never ventured West past the theater before and so had been deprived of a great restaurant called Nova.  This is a remodeled Dairy Queen burger shack and one of the owners told us that Stevie Ray Vaughan’s first job was there.

We really enjoyed Nova and look forward to returning soon to try more of the menu.  It’s mostly Southern cooking but there are a wide variety of choices.  Diana and I shared the crawfish and chorizo etouffee – absolutely delicious!  We made it back to the theater in time for the complete opening act set (a rare feat for us) and were very pleased that Jeff (artistic director) had let us sneak in before heading to dinner to claim some good seats.  Here’s an interesting article on Jeff’s background and the Kessler:

https://www.dallasobserver.com/music/a-day-in-the-life-of-kessler-theater-artistic-director-jeff-liles-10123991

He does an excellent job of booking talent into such a small theater (300 capacity with seated configuration) and manages the sound quality to an exceptionally high level.

Rob Baird opened the show with some acoustic country singer-songwriter music which we all enjoyed.  Woodrow, the electric guitar player, joined him for most of the set and I think he is very talented and added some nicely nuanced guitar color to Rob’s songs.

It always adds to a show when the performer interacts with the audience via stories and anecdotes between songs and Rob did a superior job of that.

Monte Montgomery and his band were the main act.  Diana and I had seen them a few years ago at the Granada theater and really enjoyed the show.  We were not as impressed this time.  Monte is a very skilled guitar player but sometimes all the fast notes and technique are just too much and the audience started to drift off after a while.

I love the “Live from Daryl’s House” show that started as a webcast and now is on network TV.  Here’s a song from the episode that featured Monte with Daryl Hall.

Diana had a very busy work week and so enjoyed a nice, long nap on the drive home.

Sunday took us to the movie theater to watch the Christopher Robin film.  What an all around treat – the story, the voices, and the animation were all perfect.  Diana commented that it should be required viewing for all working parents.  The Pooh voice was so perfect that we wondered if it was the same person that provided the voice in our youth – it was not but what a great job.  I have to admit that I had completely forgotten about “Heffalumps”.

I’ve been listening to a new album from Boz Scaggs this week and enjoying it very much.  Here’s a song from that:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Week in Review – August 5, 2018

Diana made her first business trip for her new job on Monday and Tuesday.  The destination was San Jose and the meeting seems to have gone well.  She was entertained to find a picture of an old typewriter in her room – they show up everywhere since we saw the California Typewriter movie.

Typewriters everywhere

 

San Jose from McD’s hotel

 

 

 

 

 

This picture from her flight home shows the layer of smoke from the massive California wildfires that continue to burn.  The Mendocino fire is now the largest in recorded history with close to 300,000 acres burned.

I dropped Diana off for her flight and we stopped into my favorite Dallas area coffee shop, Redefined coffee in Grapevine,  for coffee and a crossword on the way.  When I arrived at my office I found a nice new mousepad on my desk – a gift from Mike Mead that merges the Scottish and American flags in a creative way.

Redefined Coffee

On Thursday we flew to Pensacola, Florida to rendezvous with Denny, Anne, Jack, Mason, and Sabine for a long weekend in Navarre beach.  Anne’s parents, Carolyn and Jack, have a condo there that they live in during the winter months.  Navarre beach is located on a very thin sliver of an island that parallels the coast – it takes just a couple of minutes to walk from the leeward to the gulf side of the island.

We stopped at the Union Public House in Pensacola for a drink and a snack before making the drive.  The crab fingers and scotch eggs were very good.

 

 

 

 

Our next stop was at Joe Patti for fresh seafood.  This place had the largest and most impressive array that I’ve seen – amazing variety.  Denny picked up some scallops and lump crab meat.

 

 

 

 

 

Diana captured this picture of the gorgeous sandy beaches as we drove along the island.  Here are some of the lovely views from the condo after we arrived.

 

 

Denny and Anne cooked up an amazing feast for dinner including perfectly cooked fresh scallops with tzatziki sauce.  That was followed by a pretty wild game of cards against humanity which Mason won, just edging Denny and me.

 

Diana and I did some work calls first thing in the morning and after a late, lazy breakfast, we headed over to the beach on Friday and stayed there until a thunder storm rolling in from offshore seemed ready to soak us.  Then we headed to T.J.s in Navarre proper on the mainland for a late lunch.

 

Our Friday night entertainment was a walk down to Juana’s to listen to the live band.  The music was classic rock which everyone (except maybe Denny) enjoyed.  The people watching in the music section of the bar was some of the best I’ve seen in a while with all kinds of characters involved.  It became clear why the floor of the bar was nice soft sand.

Saturday morning was a repeat of Friday with a trip over to the beach.  The current and waves were much calmer and so we were able to spend some more time playing in the sea.  Lunch was at Windjammer on the pier where Anne and Diana had found some impressive sand art on their earlier walk down the beach.

Sunday morning brunch was amazing crab benedicts assembled by Chef Denny, Anne with a small contribution from me.  After brunch we enjoyed some quality time on the massive blow up island in the water out behind the condo.  Diana tried out Anne’s paddleboard and did very well – no falling at all.

D paddle boarding – should she be that far out?

Then it was that awful time again – time to leave the Ogans and fly home to boring, land-locked McKinney.  Thanks to Mr. Denny for driving us to the Pensacola airport.  The candle that Anne gifted to Diana caused some brief interest from the Pensacola TSA staff.

My cigar cutter and ashtray set up caused me to be stopped for a bag check on the way out of Dallas to Pensacola and I was lucky to get a TSA agent who was also a cigar aficionado and let it pass.  So we were able to get extra screening on both legs of the trip.

 

 

Jack had Anne send us home with a gift from him (one that didn’t alert TSA) – a piece of wine cork art that is now hanging in our bar area.

A huge thanks to Jack and Carolyn for the use of their condo for an excellent long weekend!

My reading this week has been from the new Paul Simon biography.  I’m about half way through and around 1974 when “Still Crazy After All These Years” was released.  This has been a very interesting read – I enjoy hearing about the inspiration for the songs and the special recording techniques and musicians used on the various albums.  I was interested to learn that the Muscle Shoals “Swampers” were the key musicians on the “Rhymin’ Simon” album – one of my favorites.  It’s amazing how many of the records that I love were recorded at Muscle Shoals with that great cadre of musicians.

Here’s a song from that album:

Denny turned me on to a great version of “As Long as I Can See the Light” by My Morning Jacket while we were in Navarre:

And to finish out the music section this week, here’s an excellent song by Little Richard with Jimi Hendrix on guitar and Billy Preston on organ that I heard about through the Immortal Jukebox blog (highly recommended):