Back to New York again this week. The hotel that I usually stay at was transformed into “The Macallan Manor” for several nights as the club members there enjoyed a very fancy scotch tasting experience with some good bands playing.
It’s always very sobering to be in New York on September 11th, as we all remember watching the horror unfold on our television sets in 2001 , while the New Yorkers lived through it. My colleague took these pictures at the memorial – the only night of the year when lights outline the silhouette of the fallen twin towers.
Meanwhile, I was attending a Jethro Tull concert at the Beacon Theater on the upper west side. This was a sold out, 50th anniversary concert by a band that I enjoy very much but have never seen live. My pre-concert meal was at an excellent Mediterranean restaurant, the Hummus place, that is right behind the Beacon theater.
The mushroom hummus was amazing and the falafels were some of the best I’ve had. On exiting the restaurant, I was amused to see the Jethro Tull equipment truck – “Scotsman & Clan Transportaion”.
The concert was very enjoyable with a lot of video accompaniment from the 50 year history of the band and of world events.
It’s fairly amazing that a band with a flute as it’s main lead instrument and with a very classical bent has survived this long. Here’s a video of their Bach cover, “Bouree”.
The concert lasted well over two hours, with an intermission. The Beacon is such a gorgeous old theater with great acoustics – here are a couple of pictures from inside.
Predictably, the last song of the show was “Aqualung” which came with an entertaining video backing.
Hurricane Florence caused me to change my plans and travel down to rendezvous with McD in Florida a day early on Thursday. My flight to St. Petersburg arrived with no issues and a smooth ride overall. Diana’s hotel was within walking distance to downtown and we enjoyed exploring the area. Dinner was at the Copper Shaker which had excellent cocktails, service, and food.
Diana worked most of the day on Friday and so I was able to explore the breakfast joints, bookstores, coffee shops, and cigar bars of St. Petersburg reasonably thoroughly. I found it to be a very friendly, eclectic, walkable, and enjoyable city overall.
On Friday night we moved over to the Sandy Pearl resort in Clearwater Beach. The beaches there are made up of beautifully fine white sand. We enjoyed dinner at the very casual Frenchy’s Café, known for the grouper sandwich and “Crabby fries, and then enjoyed a lovely sunset.
Saturday started with lobster benedicts at Clear Sky café next to the hotel – very good. It was very hot and humid by the pool and so I didn’t last very long before retreating to air conditioning. I heard some great music coming from Clear Sky in the afternoon and so wandered over to listen. Diana joined me, and we met a fun couple from the nearby town of Dunedin. It made me smile because a work colleague recently moved back to Dunedin in New Zealand to run his family businesses. The couple had known each other from Kindergarten until the end of middle school and had recently reconnected – some good stories. They also recommended “Bon Appetit” in Dunedin for dinner.
We enjoyed dinner and the Dunedin sunset very much. Our waiter, Michael, had been in the restaurant business for 52 years, and certainly knew what he was doing. We shared a steak tartare starter, and then Diana enjoyed a nicely cooked lobster tail while I had the Dover sole (deboned table side by Michael). This was very much an old school restaurant.
In an effort to coax me out of air conditioning and down to the pool, Diana treated me to a poolside cabana on Sunday. This was a very special and luxurious way to relax and enjoy football and a book all day. I’m writing his post from the luxury of the cabana couch. Thanks Diana!
The Cowboys don’t play until later today, but the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (the local Florida team) just beat the Eagles, which always helps the Cowboys playoff chances.
I’ve been absolutely loving the book “Rules of Civility” by Amor Towles this week. This is about the exploits of a young lady in New York during the years surrounding the Great Depression and is exceptionally well written. I loved “A Gentleman in Moscow” which was Towles most recent novel and this, his debut novel, is even better in my opinion.
On the music front, I was reacquainted with this amazing Ray Charles song – a tribute to Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, and John and Bobby Kennedy.
Wow! What a song and what a performance.