Who knew that Iggy Pop could sound so much like Tom Waits, albeit without the raspy, deep bass voice. Enjoyed this one very much.
Do I owe you time for this one L.H.?
Week in Review – May 15, 2016
I worked in New York from Monday through Wednesday this week on business. Home base was the Hyatt Regency in Jersey City. The water taxi is a great way to get from the hotel to Wall St.
The hotel bar/restaurant area has a great view of the new Freedom Tower that sits very close to Ground Zero. Here are the night time and early morning views:
The extensive travel allowed me to read quite a bit, listen to some new music and revisit some old favorite music. I finished reading Kate Atkinson’s “A God in Ruins” – an enjoyable novel centered around the life story of a WWII bomber pilot and 4 generations of his family – I’ll be posting a detailed review later this week. I started reading Anthony Doerr’s “All the Light We Cannot See” and am looking forward to digging into it.
On the music front, I’m really enjoying new releases from Keb Mo’ and Sturgill Simpson – see my separate post in the music category.
I stumbled across a great video deconstructing Steely Dan’s “Deacon Blues” – again more detailed in my separate post.
The same “Daily Music Break” that led me to the “Deacon Blues” video also reacquainted me with Ry Cooder’s excellent early albums – particularly “Paradise and Lunch” and the song “Jesus is on the Mainline”. I’m off to write a separate post on that song and his albums from the same early 70s period now.
The flight back from New York on Wednesday night was smooth and on time (albeit a bit hot and stuffy on board). I watched the movie “Pawn Sacrifice” to pass some of the time. The plot was a bit slow (since we know the outcome) but a good historical perspective on the Cold War told through the 1972 World Chess Championship. Tobey Maquire (always get him confused with Jake Gyllenhal) and Liev Schreiber both give strong performances as Bobby Fisher and Boris Spassky. The most interesting part was watching Bobby and the Peter Sarsgaard character play mental chess – all the masters are apparently to carry the picture of an active chess board in their minds and manage multiple moves ahead without the need for a physical representation.
On Thursday our friend Tim was in Plano on business from Pennsylvania. He treated us to dinner at Harry’s on the Harbor and then we hung out on the patio, caught up on families and listened to some music. It’s been around six months since I was able to catch up with Timmy in a relaxed environment – a very enjoyable evening.
The magnolias in our back garden are in a blooming frenzy – several new blooms open up every morning.
I was reading a New York Times article about Paris and this picture of the blossoms made me wish I could head there for nice long weekend at this time of year – not until August.
Saturday was our normal morning dancing lesson. I worked really hard to get the “cross body lead” step in the Bolero down – it feels really unnatural and awkward. After some practice at home in the afternoon it’s getting better. We also learned how to do a 180 degree turn in the Texas two step and then how to flip back the other way. Our instructor, Kathleen, commented that I had a “predisposition to small circles” for the two step. I explained that comes from avoiding various pieces of furniture when we’re practicing.
On Saturday afternoon we went to see the move, “Sing Street”. We really enjoyed it and were reminded of “The Commitments” from 20 or more years ago – also based on kids in Ireland and music.
It’s directed by John Carney who did “Once” and “Begin Again” – both movies that I really enjoyed, “Once” being a top 10 movie for me. The main character, Conor, starts a band to impress a girl who claims to be a model. The relationship between Conor and his older brother is one of the highlights of the film – particularly as Conor is educated on the best new 80s music that we grew up listening to. The other highlight is the music videos that the kids create to accompany the new songs they write – all very clever and funny.
I should watch “The Commitments” again this coming week – it’s been a long time since I’ve enjoyed it.
Sunday morning was quite busy. I made us one of my signature veggie omelets with special additions of some sliced Brie and pancetta. Then headed to my health club for a swim, a soak in the hot tub, and a steam. After that we made a Home Depot trip for various light bulbs and some flowers for the front garden. We spent a happy couple of hours getting everything arranged and planted. Thankfully we’ve had a lot of rain and the ground is very soft and easy for planting.
My 6’5″ nephew, Struan, earned his Queen’s Boys Brigade award and it was presented to him in St Columbas church in Stewarton today.
From the Boy’s Brigade website:
The Queen’s Badge is the highest award that may be gained by a member of The Boys’ Brigade. It’s a real opportunity; it aims to challenge and equip the individual, provide new opportunities and expand horizons while remaining accessible to young people of all abilities.
A young person wishing to work towards their Queen’s Badge must first have completed their President’s Badge. The Queen’s Badge offers the chance to engage with the local community, take on responsibility, set personal goals, build self confidence and experience a sense of achievement.
In 2014, young people completing their Queen’s Badge contributed over 75,000 hours of volunteering within The Boys’ Brigade and their wider community.
Music Rediscovered – Boz Scaggs “Georgia”
As I was posting the Last Waltz New Orleans review which mentions the performance of “Georgia” by Willie Nelson’s son, I was reminded of the Boz Scaggs song “Georgia”. Here’s a great performance from the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco (great small venue) in 2004.
This took me down memory lane to a wonderful Scaggs concert that I attended at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga, CA many years ago. The highlights were his performances of “Sierra” and the rarely heard live “Harbor Lights”.
Jazz at Lincoln Center – Essentially Ellington High School Competition
In my April 4 Week in Review posting (“Best Music Week Ever”) I talked about how much I had enjoyed my visit to Jazz at Lincoln Center to watch Steve Miller.
During my visit I read about the upcoming “Essentially Ellington” contest. This is a competition featuring the best High School jazz bands playing Duke Ellington music. Wynton Marsalis (Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center) participates and presents the awards.
This took me back to my days participating in High School brass band competitions and I enjoyed watching some of the performances here:
http://livestream.com/jazz/FinalConcertAwardsCeremony/?utm_source=wordfly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=EEfundraisingemail&utm_content=version_A
Offbeat review – The Last Waltz New Orleans
Here’s a good review of the Last Waltz show that we saw in New Orleans during jazzfest from Offbeat magazine:
Review: The Last Waltz New Orleans Offers a Satisfying, Heartfelt Tribute to The Band
In a certain sense, Don Was has done this before.
On stage at the Seaenger Theater the last Saturday night of Jazz Fest, April 30th, Was, holding with his bass guitar and wearing a most funky felt Fedora-style hat, was introduced as musical director for The Last Waltz New Orleans, a celebration of the fabled farewell concert (and landark rock-umentary) by The Band occasion of its 40th anniversary. A Grammy-winning musician and producer, Was served as musical director last Jazz Fest for “Nevilles Forever” at the Saenger plus, in tandem with Blackbird Presents, similar all-star tributes to Dr. John, Gregg Allman and Kris Kristofferson.
Despite some disappointment over the announced “special guests” not including special guests in town for the last weekend of Jazz Fest—original Last Waltz performers including Neil Young, Mavis Staples, and Dr. John—Was and Warren Haynes and company, equipped with superb musicianship, love of the material and a swinging joie de vivre, succeeded in evoking the timeless sound and mythic vibe surrounding seminal roots-rock The Band’s swan song held over Thanksgiving 1976 at the Winterland in San Francisco.
Renowned for absurdly complex arrangements in a sprawling, organic rock groove, The Band made music for the masses and the sophisticates. To tackle this considerable canon, Was teamed up with Haynes (Gov’t Mule, Allman Brothers Band) to recruit a band consisting of New Orleans native Terence Higgins (drums), John Medeski (keys), Michael McDonald (keys, vocal), and for that “Down South” flavor crucial to The Band—comprised of Canadians but anchored by the soul of the late Levon Helm, born in Turkey Scratch, Arkansas—Jamey Johnson, an outlaw-country crooner and guitar-shredder. A superb horn section highlighted by local trombonist Mark Mullins was featured throughout the show. As befitting a Last Waltz tribute, marked in stage décor by two large, elegant chandeliers hung above the stage, a parade of special guests continued throughout the night.
Jamey Johnsoon, unfamiliar to many in the preppy hippie, neo-groover crowd, showed he came prepared and ready to rock when he took lead vocals on the opening “Cripple Creek.” Haynes declared, “I know we’re in Louisiana, but it’s still appropriate,” before a cover of Ray Charles’ “Georgia”—one of a handful of tunes not in the original Last Waltz—with McDonald and McDonald trading verses on lead vocals. An expected, but most exuberant, “Down South in New Orleans” by Bobby Charles followed, propelled by guests Cyril and Ivan Neville and which featured the night’s first explosive jam. Willie Nelson’s son Lukas Nelson (in town with Neil Young’s back Promise of the Real) sang “It Makes No Difference” next. Haynes then described how they approached the Band’s song with the intent to mix up arrangements, proving so with up-tempo gusto as Dave Malone’s voice and axe-handling on the early-Elvis romp, “Mystery Train.” With Johnson back on vocals, a thunderous “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” closed.
Organ/piano maestro John Madeski led a chunky, funky keys jam to drive “Rag Mama Rag” to open the second set. Nelson soon returned to lead on “Helpless,” in honor of Neil Young’s haunting contribution (edited-out coke nose notwithstanding) to the Band’s final gig, which fell flat if for other reason than Young’s looming absence and was bludgeoned by McDonald, well, McDonalding all over the vocals. Coming on the 33rd anniversary of Muddy Waters’ death, with promises to “wake him up,” members of Waters’ old bands took the stage for a blistering “Mannish Boy,” with local bluesman Smokey Greenwell fervently working his harmonica to reach both heaven and hell. An annoy euphoria clouded the crowd sing-along of “Forever Young,” a trait that continued in subsequent songs “Caravan” (no Van Morrison), “The Weight” (what was Mavis Staples doing that night?), and the concluding “I Shall Be Released.”
Taking the stage for the encore, Haynes said to the crowd, “I’ve been told this is the last song The Band ever played,” before sailing into a rollicking “Don’t Do It.” A plea for mercy from the one you love, the song sent the sold-out Saenger audience out onto a Canal Street Saturday Night, smiling and satisfied to a heartfelt tribute to the Band they love and miss that, despite a few shortcomings, was northing short of life-affirming.
Setlist:
Set I: “Cripple Creek,” “The Shape I’m In,” “Stage Fright,” “Georgia,” “Down South in New Orleans,” “Ophelia,” “It Makes No Difference,” “Mystery Train,” “Wheels on Fire,” “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” (67 mins)
Set II: “Rag Mama Rag,” “Life Is a Carnival,” “Helpless,” “King Harvest,” “Mannish Boy,” “Further Down the Road,” “Forever Young,” “Caravan,” “The Weight,” “I Shall Be Released” (65 mins)
Encore: “Don’t Do It”
Music Rediscovered – Ry Cooder
The “Daily Music Break” reminded me how much I love the early 70s albums from Ry Cooder via an excellent video of him performing “Jesus on the Mainline” from the “Paradise and Lunch” album.
I first heard this album when I was 19 and played it on heavy rotation for a few years. The mixture of vintage blues, country and jazz guitar styles with modern slide and gospel arrangements wasn’t like anything I’d heard before. During my commutes today I listened to most of the remastered “Paradise and Lunch” on headphones – highly recommended to enjoy all the different guitars and styles happening on every song. “All Over Now” and “Fool for a Cigarette” are standout arrangements.
The other albums that I enjoy from this early 70s period are “Into the Purple Valley” and “The Slide Area”.
I’m going to revisit his soundtrack from “Paris, Texas” which has some excellent and very sparse slide guitar and the always amazing “Buena Vista Social Club” which I’m expecting will have a resurgence as Cuba opens up to U.S. tourism.
Steely Dan’s Deacon Blues Deconstructed
I came across this amazing short video by the “Nerdwriter” through the “Daily Music Break” newsletter this week.
I learned a new term, the “mu chord”, watching this. This essentially involves adding either a 2nd or a 9th to a traditional major triad and is apparently mostly attributed to Steely Dan. The intro to Deacon Blues is perhaps the best example.
The video also highlights Larry Carlton’s subtle guitar frills and the compressed mid-range horn arrangements by Tom Scott that allow the excellent saxophone solo by Pete Christlieb to jump out of the mix. He’s also responsible for the sax solos on Natalie Cole’s “Unforgettable” and on “FM (No Static at All)”.
The drumming is provided by Bernard Purdie (the most recorded drummer) who has played with James Brown, Aretha Franklin (musical director for 5 years in the 70s), and a host of others.
His legendary Purdie shuffle (triplets against a half-time backbeat) can be seen in this video and heard on the Steely Dan songs, “Kid Charlemagne”, “Babylon Sisters”, and “Home at Last”.
New Music – Keb Mo’ and Sturgill Simpson
Two great new albums were released this week. Keb Mo’s “Live – that Hot Pink Blues album” and Sturgill Simpson’s “A Sailor’s Guide to Earth”. The Keb Mo album reminds me of the wonderful concert he did at the Kessler last year on my birthday. Patty and Brent went with us and we all really enjoyed the music. “Henry” is a real standout on a consistently great live album with great finger-picked National steel guitar solos.
Sturgill Simpson’s album is an amazing stew of R&B/soul horns, country guitar, Joe Walsh style guitar, piano ballads and old school country. I’ve only listened to the album twice so far – but looking forward to listening more.
I hear great things about the new Radiohead album and am off to see if I can stream it easily.
Week in Review – May 8, 2016
Monday was our last full day in New Orleans. I suppose all good things must come to an end. We had an early lunch at St Roch Market.
“St. Roch Market is a southern food hall featuring a diverse lineup of food and beverage purveyors. Open daily, we offer a unique dining experience along with great shopping and an excellent craft cocktail bar. For entrepreneurs, the Market represents the ultimate platform to grow a food brand and build consumer exposure.”
We had some excellent Bao and a quinoa salad. The Bao on the left is the Duo – Stir fry mushrooms, cucumbers, pickled roots, cilantro, fried onions, spicy ponzu. On the right is the Chairman – Roasted pork belly, cucumbers, pickled roots, cilantro, spicy ponzu.
After St Roch we headed over to the Louisiana Music Factory on Frenchmen Street. This is a local music store that specializes in local Louisiana music. The Creole String Beans were just starting a concert in the store and played through their new album.
From the music factory we embarked on the traditional French Quarter ramble. First stop was at Miss Molly’s for a frozen Irish coffee. Then stops at Diana’s favorite New Orleans themed stores – Razzle Dazzle, Roux on Royal etc. We picked up some chocolates at Sucre and then headed back to Frenchmen St via Tableau.
For our last meal on Tuesday we had lunch at a relatively new Israeli restaurant on Magazine Street called “Shaya”. The annual James Beard restaurant awards were presented on Monday night and this restaurant won “Best New Restaurant in the U.S”, a very prestigious award.
http://www.nola.com/dining/index.ssf/2016/05/shaya_best_new_restaurant_jame.html
From the restaurant website:
Shaya is an innovative restaurant with a warm and welcoming approach to the dining culture inspired by Chef Alon Shaya’s Israeli upbringing. Chef Alon sees modern Israeli food as a grand mosaic, drawing influence from North Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Turkey and Greece. The food of Alon’s heritage represents a country rich in diversity of cuisine and culture, inspired by years of tradition while also looking to its contemporary future. The menu at Shaya reflects the ongoing evolution of Israeli food, while celebrating the abundance of Louisiana, and Alon’s close relationships with local farmers, fostered by his ongoing work with the Crescent City Farmer’s Market. In keeping with the the ethos of all of the Besh restaurants, Shaya uses seasonal, responsibly- and locally-sourced ingredients.
Similar to Alon’s other establishments in New Orleans, the wood-fire oven is central to both the menu and the dining experience, starting with the incredible homemade, wood-fired pita. To create the menu, Alon looked to his past (many recipes are those that he cooked with his grandmother), and his recent travels; in 2014, he spent time in Israel immersing himself in the vibrant culture and cuisine of his homeland. Many of the dishes on the diverse menu are meant to be shared.
We sat on the back patio and enjoyed one of the few pleasant and dry days during our visit. I had the falafel sandwich and Diana had a delicious lamb kebab (my favorite after the lamb ragu hummus.
On Wednesday we received the next Blue Apron delivery and continue to really enjoy the meals and the cooking experience. On Wednesday we had crispy cod tacos with chipotle cabbage slaw. I added all of the pepper sauce to the coleslaw and it was a bit too spicy for comfort.
Saturday was Pork Tteokbokki with asparagus and spicy black bean sauce. It also included Korean rice cakes which had a chewy but crisp consistency like the Korean Bao sliders from a few weeks ago. This was my favorite of the three meals this week. On Sunday we made Spring Chicken Fettuccine with sauteed asparagus, kale, and rosemary. Alicia commented that the kale tasted much better than she expected and for a while she didn’t even notice the asparagus that she was eating.
We had a surprise guest for the weekend. On Thursday night Diana heard from Paul Castle Dine (PCD) in Australia. He let her know he was coming to Dallas from Sydney for the weekend on his way to Raleigh, NC and was hoping to stay with us. PCD worked for Diana when she was in Australia and they became great friends.
We learned when Paul arrived that while he was in the air for 16 hours from Sydney to Dallas, his Raleigh plans had changed and he was to go directly to London. He is taking a new job with Cisco in London supporting a huge new deal with Barclay’s bank and is moving there from Sydney sometime soon.
On Saturday morning I took PCD for a haircut and then a beer at Delaney’s (our local Irish theme pub). We sampled the Franconia beer made locally in McKinney.
Then a late lunch at Rye in downtown McKinney. I tried the barrel aged Negroni cocktail which was much smoother and tastier than I was expecting.
On Sunday we had Tari and Bill over for a mother’s day brunch. Tari was PCD’s boss in Australia immediately before Diana – so he had his two “chiefs” together. Tari and Bill are in the midst of a downsizing move from their home in Allen to a private lake community in Gainsville.
What we anticipated to be a quite week after returning from New Orleans, picked up steam over the weekend. It was great to host PCD – he’s such an easy guest and hilarious company.
Prince’s Guitar Gently Weeps
Hearing My Morning Jacket’s tribute to Prince at jazzfest in New Orleans this week reminded me of this Hall of Fame performance.
For George Harrison’s posthumous induction in 2004, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, Steve Winwood, Dhani Harrison and Prince performed “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”. Marc Mann from Lynne’s band plays Clapton’s solo from the original album version, and Prince, having stood in the background until around 3:30 in the song, explodes in the 2nd half of the song.