“Monte Warden and the Dangerous Few!”
We drove down to Austin on Tuesday afternoon, arriving in time to join Timmy and his finance team for drinks and appetizers at Bar Peached. This was a new place on West 6th street for us to try – Tim did well – creative food done really nicely. Diana enjoyed meeting the various members of the finance team during our brief stay. Oh, forgot to mention that I introduced Diana to a great little Greek place in downtown Waco for lunch – Alpha Omega has yummy food and good coffee – a nice way to break up the drive.
We left Bar Peached early as we had a reservation for dinner with Damon at The Odd Duck – a place we try to visit on each Austin trip. The experience was as wonderful as ever – we enjoyed ceviche, watermelon and cucumber salad, falafel, scallops, and pork loin – all relatively small shareable plates. Guess what? Yes – Damon was still hungry. So we ordered the burger and let him have most of it for himself.
Tuesday was back to school day in California. Gianluca and Olivia look a wee bit less thrilled with the photo experience than Ben does – I suppose they’ve had to endure for a few more years.
Wednesday was a full work day for me – I’m just not used to being in physical meetings with live people all day – no opportunity to catch up on emails or do my puzzles. I enjoyed lunch with my team at Salt Traders – always such fresh seafood. Diana was enjoying pool time at the Carpenter hotel with Lisa – so glad they have each other to hang out with when Blair and I are working too much.
Only in Austin do you find a dog boarding place next door to the hotel where the dogs on the sign are sporting David Bowie face paint. “They call them the Diamond Dogs” – very clever Patty.
Then more food – we had an executive team dinner at Sammie’s Italian. This is apparently the latest hot spot in downtown Austin. The food was outstanding all around and we enjoyed some lovely wines. One of the more entertaining quotes of the week came from Tim over after dinner drinks – “There was the time I was checking in at Burning Man and had this girl we smuggled in the trunk of the car.” That certainly required further investigation.
I was in the office again for most of Thursday. Then Diana and I had a night just for ourselves. We visited two more of our favourite haunts – Peche for a 
lite dinner and then the Parker Jazz Club. I miss both very much. What do you think Diana had at Peche? Indeed – her usual – steak tartare and fig foam Manhattan.
If I had to design a music club just for my tastes, it would be exactly like the Parker. Wonderful sound and lighting, comfortable seats and tables, great drinks, excellent service and management – just perfect all around. Monte Warden and the Dangerous Few were the band for the evening. We had seen a portion of them at the Continental Club Gallery several years ago and enjoyed the musicianship and positive energy. Warden has written songs that have been chart toppers for several folks, including George Strait.
We had such an enjoyable evening. Here are some of the performances I liked best, starting with “Martini”:
The trumpet player does a lot of the band arrangements and is quite the virtuoso – here he is showing how to handle a wah-wah mute:
And now with a very sweet flugelhorn sound:
We miss being able to walk to this world class venue so much.
I worked in the office for a few hours on Friday, then we had our last Austin meal at June’s All Day, and started the drive back home. Diana resisted their wonderful steak tartare and frites – opting for the Nicoise salad instead – better chance of her staying awake to keep me company on the drive. There was a bit of rain but we made good time and were home before 5pm. Diana did stay mostly awake for the duration.
My book this week was “The Mars Room” by Rachel Kushner. I enjoyed one of her short stories in the New Yorker and decided to give this a try. Great writing but so dark and disturbing. Here’s the Good Reads summary:
“It’s 2003 and Romy Hall is at the start of two consecutive life sentences at Stanville Women’s Correctional Facility, deep in California’s Central Valley. Outside is the world from which she has been severed: the San Francisco of her youth and her young son, Jackson. Inside is a new reality: thousands of women hustling for the bare essentials needed to survive; the bluffing and pageantry and casual acts of violence by guards and prisoners alike; and the deadpan absurdities of institutional living, which Kushner evokes with great humor and precision.”
I see the “precision” but can’t say I found “great humor” anywhere in this book. Not sure I’d recommend this unless you are doing some deep research on what it’s like to spend a long time in prison.
Here’s a treat from the wonderful Nathaniel Rateliff. I’m looking forward to this Leonard Cohen tribute album coming out in October:
And another one where Rateliff is practicing with Jon Batiste:
Finally, something new from the Band of Heathens:
Coexist peacefully, with kindness and compassion for all!