The weather in Austin this week was chilly but significantly warmer than most of the rest of the country. Chicago was particularly badly impacted by the polar vortex with the entirety of Lake Michigan freezing. Scotland had a decent amount of snow and I received excellent pictures from both Merrick View and Aberdeenshire.
I had intended to attend a show at the tiny Continental Gallery Club on South Congress on Monday evening. It’s called “Church on Monday” and features Dr. James Polk, esteemed Austin multi-instrumentalist, world-class organist, and former arranger for the great Ray Charles. Instead, I had dinner with my boss at Second Bar and Kitchen to catch up on plans for the week ahead. I’ll have plenty of chances to catch “Church on Monday” in the near future.
The night sky as I headed out to Second Bar was very colourful as the wind began to really whip up. I know a red sky at night is supposed to be a “shepherd’s delight” but this one felt a bit ominous.
I picked another new hotel this week. The Carpenter is a hip and modern hotel just off Barton Springs road, very close to my office, and to several fun restaurants. Carpenter Hall, the onsite restaurant gets rave reviews, and that’s how I found the hotel. One of my favourite features is the lounge area where you can select from a large selection of vinyl albums to spin while you relax and read in the evening. The speaker is also quite unique.
Sunrise on Tuesday was pretty in the Pecan grove where the hotel is situated. I tried the migas breakfast at Carpenter Hall and it was delicious – perfect flour tortillas to wrap around the crispy eggs.
I ate dinner at Carpenter Hall on Tuesday evening as well. The wild mushroom pasta and charred broccoli were both excellent. I look forward to staying at The Carpenter again. There is a very good wine bar right next door with 100 wines available by the glass and many interesting selections. Can you make out that the sign on the back of the building, that I captured from my hotel room balcony, is made from corks?
Wednesday took me back to Dallas on the bus to attend some work meetings there on Thursday. It’s always nice to get home a day earlier than normal.
We saw the movie “The Green Book” on Saturday and both really enjoyed it. The film tells the story of Dr. Don Shirley’s concert tour through the American South in 1962. Shirley is played by Mahershala Ali and his driver/bodyguard/butler, Tony Lip, is played by Viggo Mortensen (my favourite current generation actor).
Mortensen’s transformation into an entirely credible New York Italian heavy is amazing – an entirely different physique and character than his last role in Captain Fantastic (another great movie). Ali’s suave and educated character is equally well acted and the friendship that develops between two men from entirely different backgrounds is quite heart warming. I enjoyed one scene where Don and Tony are locked up in a small town jail. Shirley uses his one phone call to call Bobby Kennedy, who calls the governor, who calls the local sheriff to have them released. I looked it up and this is completely historically accurate.
Shirley played popular tunes in an interesting style that is a hybrid of jazz, blues, and classical styles. He says he would have preferred to play Chopin, but audiences at the time wouldn’t have accepted that from a black man – so his record company insisted that he stick to more popular, current music. Here are a couple of his recordings. Can you hear the classical influence coming through? I think there’s a definite Chopin Nocturne feel in the quieter passages.
I read the book “Asymmetry” this week. This book had some of the most positive reviews of last year from the New York Times and several other well respected publications and I had been looking forward to digging into it.
The book, which is essentially a study of the imbalance of power in relationships, was brilliantly written but a bit confusing and incongruous.
Written by Lisa Halliday, it is actually three novellas, the first two of which have nothing in common and the third of which is a strange attempt to unite the first two in the form of a BBC “Desert Island Disks” interview. I’m just not smart enough to get the linkage and so can’t agree with the rave reviews at all.
The first story, “Folly,” is a May-December romance between Alice and Ezra that some critics say is about Halliday’s own affair with Philip Roth with lots of allusions to “Alice in Wonderland.” The second story, “Madness,” is about Amar, a young American man of Iraqi heritage, who is detained for several days at Heathrow Airport based on ethnic profiling. The story flashes back and forth between the airport nightmare and his life story until then. The third story is the radio interview with Ezra, and in the answer to one of the many questions he is asked, he unites the first two stories. Sort of, but not really for me.
I did enjoy a number of the musical references in the book, as Ezra shares his favourites with Alice. A few are included in the music section this week.
This is the first of Ezra’s favourites from Asymmetry. I love the theme from this piece and the performance by Yoyo Ma and the London Symphony with Andre Previn is excellent.
The second from Ezra’s list is from Faure. I enjoy this piece but it doesn’t resonate with me as much as his Requiem – if you haven’t heard it, I highly recommend giving it a listen.
I stumbled on this song by Breakestra – a band that I had never heard of and know nothing about. The drumming and bass playing caught my attention right away – sounded a lot like the Meters from New Orleans but with a special twist.
It turns out that Breakestra is a rotating cast of Los Angeles musicians, anchored by bassist/guitarist/upright cellist/producer/vocalist “Music Man” Miles Tackett. Miles is the son of Fred Tackett from Little Feat – one of my top 10 favourite bands with an amazing drummer themselves, and a band that we enjoyed at Tipitinas in New Orleans a few years ago.
The final selection this week is from Kurt Vile. I’m really enjoying his new album, “Bottle It In”.
This is my first week in a long while without any live music experiences. I’ve been trying to compensate by playing the piano a bit. I promise to try and do a better job of supporting live music next week.