“Three nights out in a row”
Happy Guy Fawkes day. Dating from 1605, this is a British celebration of defeating the Gunpowder plot to blow up the house of Lords and eliminate the rule of King James I and his parliament.
Halloween was very quiet on Washington Avenue. Auggie and his parents next door were beautifully dressed as the Addams family. Auggie was Gomez with a tiny suit for his two and a half year old self. We waited a while for the trick or treaters that didn’t show, and then drove over to Denny and Anne’s for dinner. It was a very chilly day and our penguin suits were nice and warm. Did you notice BP’s Halloween orange bowtie?
Earlier, he was eyeing the candy bowl from inside:
I got Auggie a little Halloween book and Diana did some excellent artwork for the gift bag:
Diana walked over to the Skeleton House on State street and took these pictures of the myriad of skeletons on display:
Here’s one of my favourite skeleton displays from a house down the street:
Kenny and Kara went to the My Morning Jacket show – he says he took off the astronaut helmet once he got settled into his seat:
Laura was ready to “Lock Up” Alex “Trump”:
Here are the nephews, niece and grandkids dressed up:
Meanwhile, in Philly, Vince was some kind of land fish:
Kenny and Kara had been talking to us about the Jonathan Richman show at the Toulouse Theater on Wednesday night. We told them we were too old to go to concerts two nights in a row – we had Houndmouth on Thursday night. I got a text on Wednesday afternoon asking me to “reconsider” the show. Ok – we’ll pretend we’re young and do it. That was a good decision. What a unique show. Songs in Italian and French and some beautiful guitar. Here’s a song about Vermeer, the painter:
An Italian song:
And a French one:
Before the show, we had dinner at Irene’s. So delicious and in a wonderful environment. We sat at a corner of the bar and were treated to some great piano and singing. We enjoyed a soft shell crab, escargot stuffed mushrooms, and an amazing cioppino. Diana said it was one of the best she’s ever tasted. There was plenty for leftovers – so much delicious seafood in a wonderful broth.
On Thursday, we had made appointments to get our driver licenses and to register the car. What a pleasant experience. Less than thirty minutes from arrival to real license in hand. So much better than Texas, where you wait forever and then get a paper temporary license. Registering the car wasn’t as smooth – I need to get some documentation from the auto loan company before that can be completed. This was not clear on the Louisiana DMV website. They still get huge brownie points for how easy the whole process was and for the pleasant folks working there.
Houndmouth was our concert on Thursday night. I had bought tickets a long time ago, and Kenny, Kara, Trey and Lynn joined us. It’s hard to fit this band into any particular genre – some folk, rock, punk and other influences in there. Here’s their big hit, “Sedona”:
McD got a kick out of me singing along to “Darling”:
We thought that was it for the week, but along came an email from Denny offering us tickets to see “MJ, the Musical” at the Saenger Theater on Friday night. This is a musical about the life and music of Michael Jackson. I could tell that my D really wanted to go. We agreed that we could at least make it through the first half. The show was good and we stayed for the whole thing – up after midnight for the second night in a row. I did get in trouble for singing along to a few songs.
We reprised our Friday afternoon Columns lunch this week. It was such a gorgeous day and who knows how many more we’ll get before it gets chilly. The lamb skewers were a new D choice that worked out very well.
We spent some good time on the front porch on Saturday and had a nice chat with our neighbor, Hugh, who was telling us about his “vagabond” son.
Then I took McD for breakfast at the Rabbit’s Foot – so good. We enjoyed a stroll through the neighborhood after eating.
Other excitement on Saturday included a trip to the local hardware store for various items, replacing a bulb in the outside motion detector light, plugging in the patio light string, and using the Kamado Joe smoker for the first time. We made a really tasty pizza – great results for our first attempt.
Now I’m settling in for football. The Cowboys play the Eagles and it’s the biggest game of the season so far. We’re off to Baton Rouge this evening to see Alejandro Escavedo at the Red Dragon listening room with Kenny and Kara – should be great.
With all the concerts and activity, I didn’t get to spend much time with my book – maybe next week.
Here’s an excellent cover of “Wish You Were Here” with some “Comfortably Numb” mixed in by Warren Haynes:
Speaking of covers, here’s a great one from Houndmouth:
And finally, here’s one from the amazing Fela Kuti that I heard during our lunch at The Columns:
Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all!
Warren Wish You Were Here