“Gretna Fest, 2025”
When I left you last week, I was watching the Saints and Bills football game. The Saints hung in well and ended up losing – a much more promising game than last week.
After that game, we walked over to NOLA Brewing to listen to The Walrus, a very good local Beatles cover band. Denny joined us for a while.
Next we made the short walk to Peet’s out in the cold so that Diana (and Denny) could get a frozen Pimm’s cup. Denny was then going to drop us home. We let him drive a little while before asking where he was going (seemed to be heading home and not to our home.) He was confused and we ended up driving further down Magazine to check out a brand new place called Studio. This seems to be a high end steak and other exotic meats place and they say they will open a butcher shop soon.
Then it was time for the Cowboys and Packers game. Very evenly matched, ultimately going into overtime and ending in the first Cowboys tied game since 1969.
Here’s a more detailed recap:
Diana had finished her new puzzle before lunch on Monday. I’m going to get more than 1,000 pieces going forward.
Diana had to get a sore tooth looked at on Monday afternoon – likely a root canal candidate. While she did that, I hosted Tommy at the house to investigate a leak from the A/C duct in our living room. I was also able to track down a guy in Gulfport, Mississippi who may be able to fix our electric grand piano. The annual termite inspection was also scheduled for this week. Look at me cranking out administrative tasks at the start of the week.
“Roadtrip to Gulfport, Mississippi” was the Tuesday theme. We left around 10:30am and arrived before noon. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, the intent was to rendezvous with a guy who might be able to fix our Yamaha electric grand piano. I met Eric and handed over the patient – I had disassembled the keyboard and I thought identified the issue – a capacitor on the amplifier/sound board. We went to find some lunch while Eric worked on things.
I had assigned Diana the task of finding a nice place for lunch during our drive. She chose “The Chimneys”, a somewhat upscale place on the beach road.
We were both pleased with our seafood lunches. Diana had a crab and shrimp salad and I had grouper with scallops. The setting was lovely – mature oak trees and a view of the beach and ocean.
Eric called, as we were enjoying an after lunch coffee at Boozers, to let us know that all was fixed.
I enjoyed the piano pickup – made the pleasant mistake of asking if he worked on Hammond organs. Eric took me to the other room, full of Hammonds and regaled me with stories of the various churches that he had retrieved them from and how he maintained all the local church’s Hammond organs. Good stuff.
The capacitor was indeed the issue – an $0.18 part – good grief!
All fixed:
Here’s a bunch more info on Gulfport and the history:
Gulfport Mississippi Information
We listened to a podcast of Terry Gros from Fresh Air, in conversation with Mark Ronson about his new book, “Night People – How to be a DJ in New York in the 90s.” This was a very good listen. Ronson has won 9 Grammy awards as a producer and collaborator and has an amazing musical ear and creativity. His step father is Mick Jones of Foreigner and I enjoyed his stories about helping Mick decide which mix of famous Foreigner songs was best.
Here’s a quote from the podcast:
“You just get this crazy blowback, this charge from the crowd all going like, ‘Oh!’ at the same time. You can call it the scream, the chant, whatever it is,” Ronson says. “It’s like clay or Play-Doh, like the whole crowd is this thing that you’re able to mold together. It’s incredible. It’s kind of why I can’t stop DJing. It’s still a feeling that I only get from this one thing, no matter what else I do in my work as a producer.”
I enjoyed talking to our friend Nick about this book. He was a DJ in New York around the same time and says Ronson was his idol.
I was sorry to read this article about the wonderful Austin, TX guitar player and singer, Ian Moore, and his voice loss:
The Tuesday newspaper included an article about the “skeleton house” on State Street – it’s up and running and one of the new pieces for this year is hilarious:
This just made it on the Sunday morning national news show with Willie Geist.
I did not make it to trivia on Tuesday night and the krewe came in third. This was the final question, which they answered correctly:
My guess is iPod, Office, Farmville, Netflix. After research the correct list is:
Farmville 2009
Netflix 2007
Office 2005
iPod 2001
I’ve never heard of Farmville, so no wonder I got that in the wrong spot.
If it’s Wednesday, then it’s likely that Diana, Kara, and Laurie are running in Audubon park and doing yoga. Yes – this is a typical Wednesday.
Then we went to see the movie “Eleanor the Great” starring June Squibb, 95 years old and amazing, playing a 94 year old lady who has moved back to New York.
The movie is directed by Scarlett Johansson and I teased Diana that we were just going to see it to support the director. We both loved this movie and highly recommend it. There are not many movies made like this these days – a great story, small cast, wonderful acting, and lots of quiet scenes with no dialog.
After the movie, I surprised Diana with a wander through the French Quarter to Patula, a hidden restaurant near the Toulouse and Royal intersection. This was our first visit and an excellent experience. A beautiful hidden courtyard, a wine that Diana loved, delicious Turkish style meatballs with yogurt and dill sauce, and wonderful service. Highly recommended and going on the regular rotation.
Here’s a more detailed write up on Patula:
Diana just told me there’s a new article about Patula in the paper – from a selfish perspective, that’s not helpful.
We had a walk and run in the park to start out Thursday. I even ran a bit as the weather starts to cool marginally. The termite inspection guy decided to try and come a couple of hours early as I was in the park – and wanted to argue with me that he had no control over his schedule and it wasn’t his fault I was told the wrong time – “I really don’t mind and am happy for you to reschedule.” Surprisingly (not) he was able to fit us in during the afternoon – and we are termite free.
We watched “All the King’s Men” on Thursday evening. This is about Huey P. Long and stars Sean Penn in that role. Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Patricia Clarkson, Anthony Hopkins and James Gandolfini all have parts. The movie occurred to me as I read in the Kermit at Vaughan’s book that they remodeled the bar with the money they received from the movie. I’ll have to watch again as I didn’t see anything that looked like Vaughan’s.
Diana had a run with Laurie on Friday morning, and I walked the 2.5 miles to meet her for breakfast at a new place afterwards. Cafe Malou opened on Monday and is connected to the wonderful Octavia Books via louvered book shelves, giving a speakeasy feel.
I listened to a podcast interview with the bluegrass phenom, Bill Strings, during my walk. This guy has had a very difficult life. My goodness. Thankfully music seems to have saved him so far.
The restaurant is small and loud when filled with the uptown ladies meeting up after dropping their kids at school. We will time our arrival differently next time. The food, however, was very good. I had grits carbonara – baked eggs with creamy grits and bacon – yummy. Diana had smoked salmon toast and a side of bacon – also yummy. I was notified that we’ll need to return soon to try the chocolate pot de creme:
Friday afternoon brought one of my weekly highlights – making groceries (that’s what they say here) with my wife. Always a treat. We bought supplies to make a lemon chicken and orzo dish and to reprise the breakfast casserole that I enjoyed recently.
Here was my mis en place preparation for the lemon chicken. Just like a cooking demonstration on TV.
I listened to WWOZ (local radio station) reprising their “Festing in Place” series:
“Festing in Place” was such a treat during COVID. Reliving Jazzfest experiences – and Diana decorated our patio with all the wonderful photographic memories over the years.
After dinner we watched Jon Batiste performing the opening show of the new Austin City Limits series (maybe the last given funding situations these days.) Excellent as always and highly recommended – such a variety of music and musicians.
Here’s a short biography of the wonderful Batiste:
And after that we watched about half of “The Lost Bus”- about a bus of school children trying to make it out of the Paradise, California wild fires. Matthew McConaughey is the bus driver.
Diana met Julia for a walk in the park on Saturday morning. I made my breakfast casserole and added Italian seasoned chicken this time. Here’s the recipe if you would like to play along:
And here’s a recommended cooking playlist that I used with the casserole:
Diana showed me this post from our neighbours and the three pups:
It rained off and on all afternoon, and I decided to break open my model car that Mum gave me for my birthday. It’s a large, complicated undertaking and comes with a 500 page assembly manual. After over an hour, I had just this start to the chassis done. It took a while to figure out the difference between many pieces that look alike. I think things will go much faster now that I’m over some of the basics.
Denny and Anne picked us up to go and see the Honey Island Swamp Band at NOLA Brewing on Saturday evening. Greg, Colleen, Fred and Kelly also attended.
The opening band went on forever and then the Honey Island tuned up forever. A show that was advertised to start at 7pm (albeit with an opening band) didn’t start until 9pm. They lost at least half of their audience. Once the band started, I enjoyed them:
I made the mistake of suggesting frozen Pimms cups on the way home – Anne and Diana were all in. It took a while for Anne to convince Denny to take a picture with this “Shout out to my arms for always being by my side” sign:
I enjoyed an article in the Sunday paper about the ability to get a haircut and a shot for $20 at the R bar in the Marigny. Diana was there recently with Kenny and Kara and took a picture of Kenny relaxing in the barber chair. This happens on Monday nights from 7pm until midnight. One puts one’s name on the list with the bartender and waits one’s turn.
https://app.nola.com/article/a-cut-of-the-action/content.html
We braved the rain on Sunday for Gretna Fest (one of my favourite annual festivals.) My weather app showed no rain from noon until 5pm – that would allow us to see the three bands I like before heading home.
The rain was light when we arrived and soon let up – I thought we were in the clear.
This scary looking wolf thing was guarding the Italian village food area. Sent it to Adamo as his Lupo constrcution is named after this species.
You can tell from the pictures that this festival was very lightly attended when we arrived just after noon. Even fewer people in the margarita area – usually very busy:
We set up near the front of the main stage and awaited the first band, Uncle Lucius.
We like this band a lot and have seen them several times. Kevin Galloway has a great voice. I thought this was the best that I had heard them – I think a new guitar player was helping lift their game but haven’t researched that yet. You might see someone you recognize up on the big screen in this video:
Next up was St. Paul and the Broken Bones. I have seen them on TV quite a few times, but never live. The band was very good and the singer very passionate, but they didn’t grab and keep my attention as much as other live bands. I know they’ve sold out Tipitinas a few times and think that might be a better venue for them.
Some heavy rain arrived during the St. Paul set. Thankfully Diana and I were prepared with ponchos and her wellies, Denny – not so much:
Look at these four drowned folks:
Denny, in an attempt to needle me, mentioned a young up and coming Country artist playing on the other big stage on the Riverfront. I offered to accompany Diana over there and miss the second half of St. Paul.
The offer was well received and she enjoyed John Foster quite a bit. He was quite impressive for 19 years old. Here’s the band doing the Charlie Daniels classic, “The Devil Went Down to Georgia:”
We returned to the Main Stage for JJ Grey and the rain rejoined us – quite heavy now. I’m amazed that these shows continue with as much water on the stage. JJ Grey was a real highlight for us – even better than I’ve heard him before, with two backup singers this time. Diana looked to see where he’s playing in the future that we might want to visit – that’s how much she enjoyed the show:
And finally, here’s what that sounded like a year ago at the same location:
This was a wonderful day of music and fun, despite the persistent rain. We did leave before Trombone Shorty – enough rain and stuff for the day already.
Here’s a wonderful personal history story from Ann Patchett, published in the New Yorker:
Clorinda loved Ann Patchett, particularly “The Dutch House”. I’ve enjoyed everything of hers that I’ve read, the only disappointment being “Bel Canto”, which others really enjoy but I just couldn’t relate to at all.
I read less than normal this week, making meager progress on “Real Tigers” by Mick Herron. I’ve always enjoyed the “Slow Horses” TV series and have been happy to find this series of very well written books. Here’s a summary of the story:
“London: Slough House is the MI5 branch where disgraced operatives are reassigned after they’ve messed up too badly to be trusted with real intelligence work. The “Slow Horses,” as the failed spies of Slough House are called, are doomed to spend the rest of their careers pushing paper, but they all want back in on the action.
When one of their own is kidnapped and held for ransom, the agents of Slough House must defeat the odds, overturning all expectations of their competence, to breach the top-notch security of MI5’s intelligence headquarters, Regent’s Park, and steal valuable intel in exchange for their comrade’s safety. The kidnapping is only the tip of the iceberg, however–the agents uncover a larger web of intrigue that involves not only a group of private mercenaries but the highest authorities in the Secret Service. After years spent as the lowest on the totem pole, the Slow Horses suddenly find themselves caught in the midst of a conspiracy that threatens not only the future of Slough House, but of MI5 itself.”
I really like the opening paragraph of this book:
“Like most forms of corruption, it began with men in suits.
A weekday morning on the edge of the City; damp, dark, foggy, not yet five. In the nearby towers, some of which reached upwards of twenty storeys, random windows were lit, making haphazard patterns in the glass-and-steel grids, and some of those lights meant early-bird bankers were at their desks, getting a jump on the markets, but most were a sign that the other City workers were on the job, the ones who wore overalls, and whose pre-dawn tasks involved vacuuming, polishing, emptying bins. Paul Lowell’s sympathies were with the latter. You either cleaned up other people’s messes or you didn’t–and that was the class system for you, right there.”
This Bowie cover was playing on the Patula patio and caught my ear:
This was on a radio show this week, I just can’t remember which one:
One of my cooking soundtrack songs:
Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all!