I’m quite late with this posting as some of my free time this week was spent helping with this high school project for Advanced Placement Government:
“The essay should address the historical evolution of the two major parties, changing viewpoints, and targeted voters by demographic (Age, Income, Education, Gender, Race, etc.). Also, you should include each party’s position on the following topics: abortion, social security, the economy, gun control, immigration, gay rights, and health care. Be sure to address the geographic nuances within the party. You will find that in some cases, there are differing views even within the party.”
I learned quite a bit in the process including that the original Democratic Party had conservative views and the original Republican Party was the liberal one. Their positions started to flip in the late 1800s. Now back to the update on activities and highlights from last week.
Tuesday through Friday were spent in New York in a workshop with Microsoft at our Wall St office. On the flight to New York I read an interesting article in the American Way magazine about new restaurants in the Finnieston region of Glasgow, “Glasgow moves beyond haggis and deep-fried pizza, Finnieston is revitalizing the Scottish city’s culinary reputation”. The pictures of the food, particularly from “The Gannet”, looked very good but I do take umbrage with the implication of the title of the article that Glasgow hasn’t had some excellent restaurants for many years now.
https://americanwaymagazine.com/glasgow-moves-beyond-haggis-and-deep-fried-pizza
The movie “Baby Boss” provided some excellent light entertainment on the flight. Something about the combination of a baby in a suit and Alec Baldwin’s voice had me laughing a lot.
On Tuesday evening I made a return visit to Birdland to see Ron Carter’s Great Big Band. This was a 17 piece big band that sounded excellent. Ron Carter is 80 years old and looks and carries himself like a man 20 years younger. His dexterity on the double bass at his age is phenomenal as demonstrated in this short video.
Carter has played on more than 2,000 albums including my favourite Miles Davis recordings and with Cannonball Adderley, Bill Evans, B.B. King, and Dexter Gordon. The song I enjoyed the most was “Caravan” by Duke Ellington. It evokes a picture of a line of camels crossing the Sahara desert and arriving in a town bazaar with snake charmers and the like.
Here’s another short video with the great Freddie Hendrix on trumpet.
The trombones in the big band had a gorgeous lush legato tone that blended with the rest of the band beautifully. They made me think of a concert by Don Lusher that I saw in Kilmarnock many years ago and his gimmicky tune “The Typewriter”. I found a video of it and teased McD with it since she had enjoyed the “California Typewriter” movie so much a few weeks ago.
Wednesday evening brought a rare treat – a night out with my friends Ron and Tim. Tim and I used to work with Ron and hadn’t seen him in a 
couple of years (other than on FaceTime during our irregular “strategy sessions”). Tim had suggested to Ron a couple of days before my visit that he join us in New York and by some magic Ron was able to pull off a trip from Los Angeles in very short order. We met at Jim Brady’s Pub and I enjoyed a very good shepherd’s pie. Ron and I then reminisced with a wander through some of our old haunts from a few years ago. What a pleasant evening catching up!
Bruce Springsteen just started a 4 month run on Broadway with a one man show creatively titled “Springsteen on Broadway”. It’s presented in a very small theater with just Bruce, a guitar, and a piano and includes a lot of storytelling about his life and song inspirations. It was preview week when I was there and I strongly considered trying to attend. I waited until an hour before show time and ticket prices hadn’t quite fallen into what I deemed an affordable range. Maybe on my next visit they’ll be more reasonable but I don’t hold out a lot of hope.
Plan B for Thursday night was a visit to the City Winery to hear Joshua Davis. We first visited a City Winery in Nashville and thought it was a great venue. The New York incarnation is a bit different with a more open feel with windows to the street and a smaller menu. The wine list, menu, seating and sound were all excellent. We had seen Joshua Davis on “The Voice” and enjoyed his laid back vocal style. Here’s his blind audition with a great song choice:
I forgot to mention that I was looking to have a drink before the concert and did my usual Yelp – Nearby Bars and Restaurants routine. The closest was a cocktail bar that sounded really good and I started walking in that direction. On arrival I realized this great sounding place was housed in a hotel owned by our senescent twitter troll who poses as a national leader. Did a quick about face and found a much less pompous place on the corner that was playing “Simple Man” at loud volume – much better.
I enjoyed the show and particularly his tribute to Tom Petty who had passed away unexpectedly a few days earlier. Here’s Joshua’s cover of “Time to Move on” from Petty’s excellent Wildflowers album.
Thinking of Tom Petty took me back to listening to his “Southern Accents” album in our flat in the Meadows region of Edinburgh while studying for final exams in the spring of 1985. I couldn’t get enough of the wah-wah guitar riff in “Don’t Come Around Here No More”. We were fortunate to see him at the New Orleans jazzfest a few years ago and enjoyed a rundown of the greatest hits with some interesting covers including “Traveling Light” by J.J. Cale. It must have been a good cover if my aging brain cells have retained the memory this long.
Diana’s foot is healing a bit but she still can’t walk very far and certainly not downhill. To get her out of the house for a while after my New York absence we had “Coffee, Crossword, and Quiche with Keith” at Filtered coffee in downtown McKinney. I should mention that McD beat me on the crossword two days in a row this week – completely unacceptable.
Sunday started well with a delicious brunch at Zin Zen – they started weekend brunch recently and we hadn’t tried it. The omelet and breakfast pizza with fried eggs and sausage were both very good. I plopped down on the couch after that to enjoy the Cowboys and Packers football game. The first 58 minutes of the game were good from a Cowboys fan perspective but the last 2 minutes were very annoying as Aaron Rogers marched his team down the field for a winning touchdown. Our defense made it way too easy for him with Sean Lee (star middle linebacker and captain) out injured.