“Pickleball, Trivia, Music”
Our pickleball set arrived on Monday and Diana organized a court for us at The Exchange (indoor with air conditioning) for Tuesday. I chuckled at a sheet of stickers in the package – stick on the bottom of the paddle handle and then you can use it to pick up the whiffle ball without bending all the way over – they know the target demographic for the game.
Kenny was kind enough to come along and give us some pointers. It’s the common sense things – “Angle your paddle up unless you’re hitting it really hard”, “get down lower before you swing at ground balls” – that really help. I had a good time and think Diana and I might make this a regular part of our week.
I might be most comfortable with the backhand – that was the same at table tennis.
On Tuesday afternoon I had scheduled an appointment to have the sebaceous cyst on my back looked at. I had this several (3 or more) years ago and ultimately had to have it cut out as it got large and painful. They warned me that it may come back. Well, now it’s back and still very small. After consultation with McD, I decided it was a good idea to get it cut out before we switch to a new benefits year (October 1st) and a new deductible kicks in.
Diana dropped me at Baptist on Napoleon and went on to drop some shoe returns off at the UPS store. I made my way up to the 6th floor and was confused when the room it told me to check in at had a “Women’s wellness and menopause center” sign on the door. Oh well, apparently that’s where the general surgery patients check in as well. The lady behind the desk couldn’t find my appointment. “Don’t worry – I’ll look it up n my phone. I’m sorry I got the wrong week. My appointment is next week.” As if that wasn’t enough embarrassment, I’m leaving the menopause office and run into Julia – “What are you doing here?” Ah geez! I explained my situation and gave her a laugh. She’s recovering from shoulder surgery and probably needed the laugh.
Returning home, I watched a new Cowboys Netflix documentary – “America’s Team, the Gambler and his Cowboys.” I thought the episodes that I watched were very well done, and that even non-Cowboys fans might enjoy them. I should have known better than to voice that opinion at trivia with a bunch of diehard Saints fans. Aikman, Irvin, and Emmitt Smith were amazing – surviving the 1-15 season before all the Superbowls.
On to trivia. We had a good session on Tuesday evening. For the first time, I captured some pictures of the questions along the way. We were behind at half time – all these peppy Tulane and Loyola students back in town and ready to play. I’ll take you on a bit of a play by play from there:
The half time question – 3 points for every correct answer, up to 4 guesses:
We maxed out with 12 points – Cowboys (they didn’t want to write it down), 49ers, Steelers, and Patriots. We are often a second half team:
I enjoy the “mashup questions”:
We were looking at the gasses and several of us triggered on “Noble Gasses” – must be “Barnes and Noble Gasses.” Correct!
The group had settled on “Jailhouse Rock” and then I started trying to process on 1956 and a female blues singer – “Ain’t Nothing But a Hound Dog” popped into my head. That was it.
I don’t know “Don Quixote” well, but had some brain flash on this horse name. Again, we lucked into being correct. We’re now on a big second half roll.
I should be the right guy to answer this. I flashed back to a dinner at Tim’s house. His son, Tegan, was playing “Trouble” with me. I told him it was called “Sorry” in the UK. He was very strongly opposed to that concept. “No, it’s Trouble.” I told the gang that “Sorry” was the correct answer. Tom, quiz master, said the correct answer was “Frustration.” I objected and he came up with an alternative question, that we nailed. I did some Googling and found that “Frustration” is the current name for the game, and apparently they recently changed it from “Sorry.” I don’t feel badly for objecting.
For some weird reason, I knew the answer to this. Not sure how. Maybe because I watched the series on TV about Uber and remembered the years. I don’t know. I’ll take the points. I was positive on 2012 versus 2013 though. Thom was thinking 2013 initially.
We were in first place with 101 points going into the final round. The competitors had 93. For the last question, one can wager up to 20 points. Given our standing, we wagered 13 points. Unfortunately we lost to “Phlat Phil” who got the last question right – we were somewhat close, but no cigar. Second place and $25 of Dat Dog food and drink.
That’s a lot more trivia detail than I plan to share in the future. It’s been a hot and slow week so far here.
On returning home, glowing in the second place aura, I watched a Netflix documentary on the band Devo. Alex mentioned at trivia, and then I learned in the film, that Devo stands for “de-evolution”. The members of the band attended Kent State university during the Vietnam protest incident – “Four dead in Ohio.” They decided that mankind had “de-evolved” – “beginning to regress as demonstrated by the dysfunction and herd mentality of American society.” I think they might have been onto something about the present day.
We used our “culture pass” from the library to attend the World War Two (WWII) museum on Wednesday. This is advertised as the “#1 attraction” in New Orleans. I had heard very positive reviews of this museum from everyone who had attended, and am happy to report that my experience was way better than I expected, even after all those reviews. Such beautiful, professional, and carefully created exhibits.
The main entry hall was very impressive, with a huge bomber lurking overhead. I often found that there were massive things overhead that I hadn’t noticed.
Our first exhibit was about the Aleutian islands – fascinating knowledge of these islands that are such a bridge between Alaska and Russia. Did you know that Russia sold the US Alaska in 1865?
We migrated from there to a D-Day exhibit. It’s hard to imagine the scale of this endeavor these days, and the commitment of the individuals involved. This exhibit tried to convey some of the magnitude:
Did you know that a large number of the personnel involved in D-Day were dropped in via gliders? I had never heard that. Apparently towed across the Channel by boats and then released to glide into the zone.
My favourite exhibit on my first pass through this wonderful museum was about the war in the Pacific. We were down in the bowels of a warship and then in a jungle. The settings, videos and artifacts were amazing:
Of course all this ends up with the Enola Gay on August 6th, 1945. Followed up with another atomic bomb on August 9th, 1945. Reading the flight log from the Enola Gay was chilling. “God, what have we done?”
Our final stop was at the Boeing airplane exhibit. I’m astounded by how they got all these massive objects inside this exhibit hall – I’d love to see a video about that (haven’t checked YouTube yet). The 3rd floor viewing gallery had me marginally dizzy (thanks Dad!), and so I rejected Diana’s request to check out the 4th floor gallery. Look at all these suspended and amazing planes:
Diana wanted to capture my dizzy self with all the massive planes above me:
On exiting the museum I suggested that we visit Taqueria La Lucha – this is a place owned by Kenny’s friend Ryan. He makes wonderful tacos and an amazing hibiscus margarita. We had a nice visit with him. He started off with how difficult it is to run a restaurant in New Orleans in the height of summer – no doubt, and finished with stories about parade rides that his Dad helped him make. Ryan’s hibiscus margaritas are the best that I have tasted, ever:
Here’s the taco menu that we need to take advantage of soon, when the weather cools off:
We got home just in time to meet Tristan who was going to service our generator. He changed the oil, filter and spark plug so that we’re ready for the remainder of hurricane season.
Some interesting facts about what happened on August 20th:
In 1882, Tchaikovsky debuted his 1812 overture. I can remember playing this at the Interlachen casino in Switzerland – such an amazing tour and very difficult bass part. The casino did not reverberate like the mountain churches we had played in the previous few days. One of the highlights of my brass band career. Second only to my Albert Hall experiences. Walking the stairs that Eric Clapton walked in the start of the Cream reunion .
There’s a lot of excitement in Austin and in New Orleans about Arch Manning starting as quarterback for the University of Texas. Here’s an interesting article in the paper about his bond with his grandfather, Archie:
Arch Manning Time Picayune article
On Thursday morning, I watched the Jennifer Lawrence movie “Causeway.” This is one of my very favourite movies – understated with huge emotional connections and set in New Orleans. Unlike some other movies, this could only be New Orleans – almost every scene.
I visited Aidan Gill and Derek for a haircut later on Thursday morning – always a good blether. Then it was over to Rouse’s to do some shopping for an enchilada casserole that I planned on making. I ultimately got too tired to mess with that and just popped a “Sicilian” pizza in the oven. It seemed to be well received by my half Sicilian friend.
We had an amazing musical experience on Friday night. John Boutte was playing in the indoor pavilion at the Broadside. We’ve seen him before as a guest of Jon Cleary, but not with his own band and show. I was happy when the second song in his set was Louisiana by Randy Newman:
And what an excellent guitar solo:
Who is that genius on the guitar? It took a bit of work, and I identified him as Caleb Tokarska. Here’s an Offbeat article about him:
After a while, Boutte started taking requests. Caleb requested this one, “Blowin’ in the Wind”:
In addition to Caleb on the guitar, Oscar Rossignoli on the piano was a wonderful surprise. As Diana said, “He could play anything.” Indeed he could – a complete virtuoso who played all over the map for 2 hours without any music.
I enjoyed Boutte’s story about meeting Paul Simon and this cover of “American Tune”:
And this Cyndi Lauper cover:
Finishing with the song that made him all that HBO money from Treme:
I read this interesting article about living in and leaving New Orleans:
New Yorker New Orleans article
The Krewe of OAK rolled on Saturday night. This is a walking parade on Oak Street and Carrollton midway between Mardi Gras celebrations. We met Anne and Jack for dinner before the parade. Chais Delachaise was close to the parade route. We found out that Fred, Kelly and Richard had the same idea when we arrived. Here are a couple of the walking groups:
Meanwhile, on the Mississippi coast, the boys were watching the Marshall Tucker Band, or rather, the one surviving member of the original band. Apparently they found him after the show:
I read “Hell of a Book” by Jason Mott this week. It wasn’t a long read and one that I should perhaps have abandoned midway through. I found this a strange book, not totally devoid of great writing and promise, and just not cohesive at all – different writing techniques and approaches that don’t come together, if at all, until the last few pages.
Here’s the AI summary of Amazon reader reviews:
“Customers find the book heartbreakingly poignant and eloquently written, with great insight into the complexities of race and humor throughout. The storytelling receives mixed reactions – while some praise its astounding narrative, others find it confusing at times. The authenticity and pacing also get mixed reviews, with some finding it true and timely, while others question its reliability and find it challenging to follow.”
I can get behind that summary. It’s always interesting when I don’t love a book that gets universally hugely positive reviews from so many sources, e.g. from The Sunday Times:
“Brilliant and inventive. What is most surprising, however, is how funny the novel is. Jason Mott, an already successful American novelist, has dared to bring anarchic farce, vertiginous layers of irony, and often riotous hilarity to the Black Lives Matter movement. Striking . . . intelligent . . . ingenious.”
There were certainly some funny passages, but I would not describe the overall novel as “funny” by any stretch of the imagination.
Some passages that I enjoyed:
Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols on “5 Albums I Can’t Live Without”, discussing Bowie’s “Ziggy Stardust” album. His list also included Rod Stewart, Roxy Music and Steely Dan. That last one just makes me smile. Steve Jones loves the precision and musicianship of Steely Dan.
“I know he had a few albums before that when he had curly hair and wearing dresses. I knew a couple of the songs, but that whole look, the glam look, I was sold hook, line, and sinker when that came out. I saw him a few times. I love Mick Ronson, Woody Woodmansey is a fantastic drummer, and Trevor Bolder. They were just a great band. I know it was basically David Bowie’s thing, and then he left them after two albums. Pretty much all of them anyway. Mick Ronson went on a bit longer to play with him on Pin Ups. That album was definitely one of my favorite albums. Very inspirational to me. Steered me in the direction. I loved all that glam, to be honest with you. T. Rex, Mott the Hoople. Good glam. There was a lot of cheesy glam, which I don’t mind now, but at the time, I was a bit particular. They had to look a certain way. Slade and The Sweet and bands like that, they seemed a bit more just manufactured and Top of the Pops friendly. I liked a bit more avant-garde with Bowie, and the next album, I’m going to say, as well. If you want me to still talk about the rise and fall, I will, or are we done now?”
Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all.
From the only in New Orleans files, this was the headline this week – our Mayor indicted on 18 counts. Thankfully she only has a few months left in office.
My book this week was “Culpability” by Bruce Hoslinger. Here’s an online summary:
Diana made it home from Julia’s beach house, trapping a mouse in a closet for John to deal with when he arrived after their departure. We enjoyed a late “welcome home” lunch at the Columns on Tuesday, sharing the delicious burger (best in NOLA?) and their new chopped salad.
We participated in our classic retiree activity on Wednesday morning – the classic 10am movie at the Prytania. This week was “Roman Holiday” – the 1953 movie with Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck.
We arrived a bit before check in time and so enjoyed a burger and yummy onion rings at the Starlite diner.
My book this week was “So Far Gone” by Jess Walter. I really enjoyed this – the first half quite a bit more than the second. First half was more character driven, with a lot of dramatic action in the second. This is not as great as Walter’s “Beautiful Ruins”, but worth the read. Here’s the online summary of the plot:
I got a NOLA.com alert at Cafe Degas about a man running down Bourbon street with a “Love” flag. This could only be our buddy, Chris Peet. Here’s the article – really well written with some good pictures:
I finished “King of Ashes” by S.A. Crosby this week. My summary – very dark content, great characters, sad story. Off to find something a bit lighter.