Keith Robertson

Week in Review – November 17th, 2024

“Keep Austin Weird”

Shortly after we left the Bywater last Sunday, (you’ll remember we were driving around looking at the art exhibits) there was a second line for the “Death of Democracy.” What’s a second line? Well…it’s typical a brass band led parade for a jazz funeral or a wedding. The family or newlyweds are the “first line” and the folks dancing behind them are the “second line.” Only in New Orleans would you find something like this related to the election results:

https://www.nola.com/gambit/news/the_latest/new-orleanians-hold-jazz-funeral-for-democracy-following-trump-win/article_3f80f38a-a06c-11ef-ba85-cf2bfab10e8c.html

We flew to Austin on Monday morning and I attended a Board Audit Committee meeting in the afternoon. That was followed by an excellent Austin evening – dinner at the Odd Duck followed by Bob Schneider and Lonelyland at the Saxon Pub.

But I get ahead of myself again. As we were getting ready for dinner there was an outburst from the hotel bathroom. I had to get up and investigate – the nail polish bottle had broken, covering Diana’s hand and ring in red goo. She Door Dashed nail polish remover from Walgreens and was going to send me to the Odd Duck and then meet me there. Better plan – I found a nail salon just across the street from the restaurant. They got Diana all cleaned up in a few minutes, and we were actually early for dinner. Crisis averted.

We had the usual amazing dinner at the Odd Duck. McD was delighted to find they had those yummy Palomas back on the menu and I was impressed with the fancy martini glass.

We started with ceviche, followed with a goat pizza, and finished with cappelini. All creative and delicious.

We walked across the street to the Saxon pub for Bob Schneider and the Lonelyland band. They sounded amazing and Bob had his usual hilarious stream of consciousness commentary. We sat with a young couple from Spain that had a great time at the show. Bob oscillates from heartbreakingly beautiful ballads to crazy rap and rock songs. He typically starts with a lovely song:

Here’s one of his humorous songs:

Back to a beautiful ballad:

And finally, he always asks what style the audience would like the goodbye song to be played in. Somebody said “Gary Numan.”

We enjoyed the walk back downhill to the hotel – what a great Austin evening.

Tuesday brought the full Board meeting. They gave me a round of applause for my contributions before retirement – very sweet to be appreciated. We enjoyed a Meditteranean lunch on the beautiful patio at Aba, migrated to the San Jose hotel patio and finished up with dinner at Two Hands, described as an “Australian restaurant” – D thought it would appeal to Tim. A very fun afternoon/evening.

Wednesday in Austin – must be lunch at June’s all day. This has become our on the way to the airport routine. We had to get our favourites – steak tartare for D and bone marrow Bolognese for K.

Will and nine friends came into town on Friday for a bachelor party – Blake is getting married. I picked up some cutouts that they had to have and delivered them to their Airbnb in the Marigny.

After that we went to a 50th birthday party for Debra at Kenny and Kara’s home. A very fun evening all around.

Will took the guys to Gallatoires. He reports having crab gratin with a New York strip on top and the redfish special. Good grief. Is that grey in his beard?

I watched the UT game on Saturday morning while D had a walk around town. Will and the krewe took airboats out looking for gators, and apparently found some:

Everyone should have a yellow rubber duck shirt ready to go.

Our neighbors got in on the action with a reptile birthday party – no thanks! Britney is completely freaking me out with this pic (such a poser):

And little Auggie (sporting the shirt we brought him from Honduras) clearly got his Mom’s love for snakes:

For the first time in ages, Diana and I had different activities on Saturday night. Diana was invited to watch the Lakers and Pelicans basketball game. Seems like she had a great time:

Thanks Julia! And particularly thanks to John who wanted to watch college football (Georgia Tennessee) over Lebron James.

I joined Kenny, Thom and Libby for the 25th anniversary Lost Bayou Ramblers show at the Broadside. They played the documentary about the band, followed by the show:

It was a nice treat when Rickie Lee Jones joined as a guest. I’ve played her self titled album with “Chuck E’s in Love” so many times over the years.

I love the rhythm of the Ramblers:

Will’s Airbnb host was raving about Bar Pomona on St Claude Avenue and so D and I gave it a try on Sunday for brunch.

The food (Turkish eggs for me and Salad Nicoise for D) and particularly the bread was very good. The service was “interesting.” Diana had to have some soft serve pomegranate ice cream:

My book this week was “The Bee Sting” by Paul Murray. This is a massive 600 page plus book, and I’m about half way through.

The book started out really well, then moved into a section with no punctuation at all – difficult to read and I don’t understand the purpose yet. I like the story and am interested to see how it all works out. Here’s the online scoop. This was a New York Times top ten book from last year and it better live up to that with the time investment that I’m making.

“The Barnes family is in trouble. Dickie’s once-lucrative car business is going under―but Dickie is spending his days in the woods, building an apocalypse-proof bunker with a renegade handyman. His wife, Imelda, is selling off her jewelry on eBay and half-heartedly dodging the attention of fast-talking cattle farmer Big Mike, while their teenage daughter, Cass, formerly top of her class, seems determined to binge drink her way through her final exams. As for twelve-year-old PJ, he’s on the brink of running away.

If you wanted to change this story, how far back would you have to go? To the infamous bee sting that ruined Imelda’s wedding day? To the car crash one year before Cass was born? All the way back to Dickie at ten years old, standing in the summer garden with his father, learning how to be a real man?

The Bee Sting, Paul Murray’s exuberantly entertaining new novel, is a tour de force: a portrait of postcrash Ireland, a tragicomic family saga, and a dazzling story about the struggle to be good at the end of the world.”

Let’s start with some classic Kate Bush:

Great drum sounds:

A great new sound for me:

Coexist peacefully, with patience and kindness for all!

Week in Review – November 10th, 2024

“Sick Week”

I picked up a virus this week that shut me down for several days. The symptoms were shortness of breath, bad cough, and high blood pressure. It started to break on Thursday and I feel good now. Whew! Several friends report having similar symptoms – seems to be going around.

My oldest son turned thirty-six on Thursday, reinforcing how old I’m getting. I asked him what he was doing for his birthday and came away exhausted – are you ready for it? Here you go:

“I am going to get a shoulder workout in this morning and haircut, then take Ollie up to his groomer in South SF and go to my favorite sandwich shop Deli Board that won top #10 sandwiches in the nation! Then home for some meetings and then back to the gym again for a back and bicep lift before dinner with a big friend crew at Doppio Zero in San Carlos (certified Neapolitan pizza like Terun).”

I like to relax and not do too much on my birthday – apparently not passed on to the next generation.

It wasn’t until Friday that I started to feel like a human again. Let’s try and put a Happy Hour together. We had read in the paper that the new Saint John location had a “generous” Happy Hour.

The drinks and food were indeed generous for the price. We worked our way through several, with the help of Thom and Kenny. It took Thom a little bit of time to relax after the trauma of election day – much of his infectious disease research at Tulane is funded by government grants.

After Saint John, Thom drove us over to the Milan Lounge for a Jeopardy session, we didn’t keep official score but I think I won handily.

Kenny, Kara, Greg, Tyler and Oliver met us for the Laurel Street music on Saturday afternoon. These neighbors do such a good job of presenting excellent music. This time was the New Orleans Nightcrawlers (one of my favourites) and Peter Harris and the Allstars doing the music of James Black.

These concerts started during the pandemic to provide musicians with a place to play and have continued since. Always excellent.

Here’s a snippet of the Nightcrawlers:

The Allstars were amazing – David Torkanowsky on piano, who I think is the best piano player in a city with many amazing pianists:

There was a new feature as the bands swapped out – a magician and juggler:

That guy was great and the kids of all ages were well entertained. Here’s Greg’s grandson, Oliver, with some balloon art:

On the drive back home, we passed La Cocinita, a restaurant scheduled to open soon with arepas and empanadas (two of my go to foods). “Slow down so I can see when it opens.” “It just opened a few minutes ago – let’s go.” “Sure!”

The food was excellent, particularly for a first night. Diana had the Venezuelan sampler and I had an empanada and arepas – everything very tasty. A great addition to the Prytania strip, that should do very well given the constant stream of customers on Saturday night.

Kenny and Kara invited us to experience the Prospect 6 art festival on Sunday. We picked them up around 11am and set off for parts unknown.

Kenny took an interesting route across town to avoid the Saints game traffic. We found ourselves by St Roch market and decided to stop in for a snack. This is a converted old fish market that has about a dozen different food stalls. We enjoyed some loaded hummus (very good) and a drink.

Next stop was an old Ford factory that housed several interesting exhibits.

Sometimes the descriptions of the art are as entertaining as the exhibit. This one of a moving luggage carousel represented various aspects of human migration:

That was followed by an office chair chandelier:

Upstairs there were some interesting sculpture pieces – basketball goals?

Then there was the long tube of shipping barrels with chairs to talk from. It was really amazing how much the tube amplified speech. Kenny serenaded Kara:

We’re running a caption contest for this one:

We had a pleasant lunch at the Sneaky Pickle and then drove by a couple of outdoor exhibits on the way back home.

The Cowboys are currently losing badly to the Eagles, as could have been predicted.

My book this week was “Sonny Boy”, autobiography of Al Pacino. The writing wasn’t great but the story was excellent. How does a poor kid from the South Bronx get so addicted to the theater and literature, and then become such a massive movie star. Just a great journey.

Here he talks about his early influences:

“It had started with Brando. He was the influence. The force. The originator. What he had created, together with collaborators like Tennessee Williams and Elia Kazan, was more visceral. It was threatening. Brando had become part of a triumvirate of actors, along with Montgomery Clift and James Dean. Clift had the beauty and the soul, the vulnerability. Dean was like a sonnet, compact and economical, able to do so much with the merest gesture or nuance. And if Dean was a sonnet, then Brando was an epic poem. He had the looks. He had the charisma. He had the talent.”

And about his admiration for Hoffman:

“And then Mike Nichols got hold of him, all of him, for The Graduate. The Graduate was contemporary and of the moment, a commentary on the world we were living in, and it fit him perfectly. It came along at the right time, right when we were ready for it. And its success made Dustin a movie star supreme. I was working up in Boston when The Graduate opened, and I said, this is it, man—it’s over. He’s broken the sound barrier. The excitement for me was in seeing an artist doing something so well, something original, that you recognized had never been done before.”

How it all started with Coppola:

“My relationship with the director who would change my life began oddly. Francis Ford Coppola had seen me onstage, when I did Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie? on Broadway, but I didn’t meet him at the time. He was a young up-and-comer who had already directed a couple of films. Out of the blue, he sent me an original script that he had written, a wonderful love story about a young college professor with a wife and children who has a love affair with one of his students. It was mythical and a bit surreal but beautifully written. Francis wanted to meet with me about playing the role of the professor. That meant I had to get on a plane and go to San Francisco, which is something I would have difficulty doing. I didn’t like to fly. I thought, Is there any other way to get there?”

His thoughts on the next generation of film directors:

“I thought Francis had been touched by genius. He had this excitement in him. He was a leader, a doer, and a risk-taker. He brought me to his company, American Zoetrope, in a big building—basically an above-ground bunker where he worked surrounded by a mixed crowd. If my memory is correct, I think I saw George Lucas and Steven Spielberg there. Martin Scorsese and Brian De Palma were also part of the group. I had no idea who they were at the time, but I knew they weren’t actors. They were a band of young radicals who came from the sixties and were about to bring moviemaking into the seventies. They were alive to bigger changes in the film culture.”

A few passages about Pacino’s life changing movie – “The Godfather”:

“First he told me he was going to be directing The Godfather. I thought he might be fantasizing. What was he talking about? How did they give him The Godfather? I had read Mario Puzo’s novel, which had become a big hit; it was a huge deal for anyone to be involved with it. But when you’re a young actor you don’t even put your eyes on those things. Just getting any part in a film is a miracle. Opportunities like those don’t exist for you. It just seemed so outrageous. And then I thought, Hey—maybe this is possible. I had spent time with Francis. I saw that he carried himself with confidence, and that gave me faith in him.”

“Paramount didn’t want me to play Michael Corleone. They wanted Jack Nicholson. They wanted Robert Redford. They wanted Warren Beatty or Ryan O’Neal. In the book, Puzo had Michael calling himself “the sissy of the Corleone family.” He was supposed to be small, dark-haired, handsome in a delicate way, no visible threat to anybody. That didn’t sound like the guys that the studio wanted. But that didn’t mean it had to be me.”

“But here’s the secret: Francis wanted me. He wanted me and I knew that. And there’s nothing like when a director wants you. It’s the best thing an actor could have, really. He also gave me a gift in the form of Diane Keaton. He had a few actresses he was auditioning for the role of Kay, but the fact that he wanted to pair me up with Diane suggested she had an edge in the process. I knew she was doing well in her career and had been appearing on Broadway in shows like Hair, and Play It Again, Sam with Woody Allen. A few days before the screen test, I met Diane in Lincoln Center at a bar, and we just hit it off. She was easy to talk to and funny, and she thought I was funny too. I felt like I had a friend and an ally right away.”

I enjoyed this story of the classic phrase from “Scent of a Woman”:

“When I was preparing for the role, I would sometimes get handed these gifts as an actor, and I knew that I had to make use of them. This was one: A military officer was teaching me how to disassemble and reassemble a .45 while blind, the way a person without sight would do it. Try it sometime. I kept doing it, over and over, and on those rare occasions when I’d do it well, when I’d finally get all those pieces to fit together just right, he’d go, “Hoooooo-ah.” And I looked at him and said, “What’s that?” He said, “Oh, when the troops do something that works, we give it a little hoooooo-ah.” It was like a bit of punctuation. I said to myself, That’s going into the picture. It was like Attica all over again.”

Finally, here’s the online summary:

“To the wider world, Al Pacino exploded onto the scene like a supernova. He landed his first leading role, in The Panic in Needle Park, in 1971, and by 1975, he had starred in four movies—The Godfather and The Godfather Part II, Serpico, and Dog Day Afternoon—that were not just successes but landmarks in the history of film. Those performances became legendary and changed his life forever. Not since Marlon Brando and James Dean in the late 1950s had an actor landed in the culture with such force.

But Pacino was in his midthirties by then, and had already lived several lives. A fixture of avant-garde theater in New York, he had led a bohemian existence, working odd jobs to support his craft. He was raised by a fiercely loving but mentally unwell mother and her parents after his father left them when he was young, but in a real sense he was raised by the streets of the South Bronx, and by the troop of buccaneering young friends he ran with, whose spirits never left him. After a teacher recognized his acting promise and pushed him toward New York’s fabled High School of Performing Arts, the die was cast. In good times and bad, in poverty and in wealth and in poverty again, through pain and joy, acting was his lifeline, its community his tribe.

Sonny Boy is the memoir of a man who has nothing left to fear and nothing left to hide. All the great roles, the essential collaborations, and the important relationships are given their full due, as is the vexed marriage between creativity and commerce at the highest levels. The book’s golden thread, however, is the spirit of love and purpose. Love can fail you, and you can be defeated in your ambitions—the same lights that shine bright can also dim. But Al Pacino was lucky enough to fall deeply in love with a craft before he had the foggiest idea of any of its earthly rewards, and he never fell out of love. That has made all the difference.”

The touch and feel of Brad Mehldau on the piano are second to none. Here are a couple of songs that I enjoyed this week:

There’s a new Tears for Fears album out, with all the usual perfect musicianship and wonderful melodies:

Sneaking in a little bit of classic New Orleans funk:

Midge Ure, of Ultravox fame, picked his five favourite albums this week and it was like a trip back to high school for me:

https://www.spin.com/2024/11/5-albums-i-cant-live-without-midge-ure-of-ultravox-visage/

Some great albums in those top five!

Here’s one of Midge’s big hits live from the Albert Hall:

And finally, after a long music section (that’s what happens when I’m sick with nothing else to do), here’s a really interesting version of the Emperor concerto. Much slower than usual but I find it quite compelling:

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all!

Fortnight in Review – November 3rd, 2024

“Happy 93rd Birthday, Clorinda – and Happy Halloween”

Captain Jack assembled the krewe for trivia on Tuesday. What a waste – either last place or second to last – I knew none of the esoteric questions – here’s an example:

Jack claimed to know that Bluetooth was the ruler of Norway – just didn’t know the second country – I picked Denmark but think it was Finland. All those small Nordic countries get so confusing (trying to sound like an ugly American traveling through Europe.)

Kenny has taken to hosting everyone for a “Jeopardy” warm up before trivia. He provided Negronis and snacks – such a nice feature. And he’s walking distance from the venue.

I took a flight to join Diana in San Francisco on Wednesday. Our plan was to celebrate her Mom’s 93rd birthday on Thursday. The best plans – and then life happens. Before I even boarded the plane, Diana was calling to tell me that Clorinda had to go to the Emergency Room from dialysis – turns out she had an infection that kept her in hospital for a few days.

Diana slept on a bed in the hospital room that didn’t look comfortable at all for two nights. I slept alone on Gypsy Hill – Diana noting that she had never slept there alone. Here’s a sunset that was enjoyed on the hill:

Clorinda made it home on Saturday and was delighted to be back to her home and regular routines:

I flew back to New Orleans on Sunday and was home in time to watch the Sunday night Cowboys game. They were losing and I fell asleep – first mistake. Lionel (ghost) decided it would be fun to open the back door while I was napping. I woke up, had a small freak out, and called the security guy to come and check the house. No reason why the back door should be open.

Diana was able to organize the delayed 93rd birthday party on Tuesday night. It seems Clorinda had a great time:

I picked up McD from the airport on Wednesday evening and we met the Krewe at the Ghost Mansion, close to our house. Such an amazing display.

Diana has never been to the famous Gallatoire’s restaurant on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter. I’ve been a few times – before Cowboys and Saints game and for my bachelor party. This place opened in 1905 and is a formal (jacket required), but very fun restaurant. They recently opened for reservations versus standing in line out front early in the morning.

I thought it would be fun to nix the ongoing commentary about never having been there by inviting Diana to join me for Halloween lunch. That turned out to be a great idea. She borrowed our neighbour’s witch’s hat and was all set to go:

The room was hopping with Halloween groups – loud and very enjoyable. We started with a classic foie gras – absolutely delicious.

Diana had a crab and mushroom dish and I had a trout meuniere – both amazing!

There were a bunch of ladies dressed up as Helen Roper from Three’s Company (a 70s TV sitcom.) I love the guy from the kitchen singing to the celebrant:

After lunch we went for a French Quarter Ramble (FQR) with a stop at the Will and the Way and then at a jewelry store where we picked out some things for Diana’s birthday.

Taylor Swift performed at the Superdome all last weekend, bringing in a lot of revenue for the city. I think the friendship bracelet on the Superdome was a nice touch:

There was a band playing when I landed at the New Orleans airport with Swiftie bracelets on the back of the stage and a Taylor cutout for photos – I like that the town works hard to make big events special:

My book this fortnight was “Same as it Ever Was” by Claire Lombardo. The book started out very well and had a number of beautifully written highlights – it was just so long and became plodding to me. The chapters jumping back and forward in chronology started to irritate me – I just wanted the story in order.

The reviews are quite mixed – a number of folks loved the book, and several didn’t like the main character, Julia, at all. Here’s the online summary:

“NATIONAL BESTSELLER • NAMED A BEST BOOK BY PEOPLE AND PARADE • The New York Times bestselling author of The Most Fun We Ever Had (“wonderfully immersive…deliciously absorbing”—NPR) returns with another brilliantly observed family drama in which the enduring, hard-won affection of a long marriage faces imminent derailment from events both past and present.

“Infidelity, dysfunction, secrets – this family novel delivers.”—The New York Times • “Lombardo has such a fine eye for the weft and warp of a family’s fabric.” —The Washington Post • “Witty and insightful…a powerful exploration of marriage, motherhood, and self.”–Bonnie Garmus, bestselling author of Lessons in Chemistry

Same As It Ever Was showcases the consummate style, signature wit, and profound emotional intelligence that made The Most Fun We Ever Had one of the most beloved novels of the past decade. Featuring a memorably messy family and the multifaceted marriage at its heart, Lombardo’s debut was dubbed “the literary love child of Jonathan Franzen and Anne Tyler” (The Guardian) and hailed as “ambitious and brilliantly written” (Washington Post). In this remarkable follow-up—another elegant and tumultuous story in the tradition of Elizabeth Strout, Ann Patchett, and Celeste Ng—Lombardo introduces us to an unforgettable cast of characters, this time by way of her singularly complicated protagonist.

Julia Ames, after a youth marked by upheaval and emotional turbulence, has found herself on the placid plateau of mid-life. But Julia has never navigated the world with the equanimity of her current privileged class. Having nearly derailed herself several times, making desperate bids for the kind of connection that always felt inaccessible to her, she finally feels, at age fifty seven, that she has a firm handle on things.

She’s unprepared, though, for what comes next: a surprise announcement from her straight-arrow son, an impending separation from her spikey teenaged daughter, and a seductive resurgence of the past, all of which threaten to draw her back into the patterns that had previously kept her on a razor’s edge.

Same As It Ever Was traverses the rocky terrain of real life, —exploring new avenues of maternal ambivalence, intergenerational friendship, and the happenstantial cause-and-effect that governs us all. Delving even deeper into the nature of relationships—how they grow, change, and sometimes end—Lombardo proves herself a true and definitive cartographer of the human heart and asserts herself among the finest novelists of her generation.”

The Tipitina’s record club offering just arrived – a solo Taj Mahal set that sounds great. Here’s a favourite:

Something new from Tears for Fears, still making excellent music:

A surprise from Annie Lennox (fellow Scot) from her American song book cover:

Coexist peacefully, with patience and kindness for all!

Week in Review – October 20th, 2024

“The Beatnik, Ocean Springs – Happy 60th Anne!”

I treated Diana to Happy Hour oysters at Superior Seafood on Tuesday. We sat at the bar and first saw Fred enter with a guy who was assessing him for his psychiatry accreditation (we didn’t blow it for him), and then our neighbors Britney, Tony and little Auggie, Britney telling Diana that she and Tony met at Superior years ago – she was his waitress. Me thinks a bit more investigation of that story is needed.

I attended Dat Dog trivia after oysters and we had a mediocre fifth place win – my contribution was also mediocre. We need to pick up our game! Anne and Kara joined for the second half and might have been a bit of a disruptive distraction, depending on one’s point of view.

Anne’s sixtieth birthday was a couple of months ago, and Denny had presented her with a certificate for a beach getaway. We picked up Kenny and Kara, made the ninety minute drive to Ocean Springs, Mississippi, and rendezvoused with Fred and Kelly to surprise Anne at the Beatnik.

This is a motel with four units, a pool, firepit and nice seating areas. Denny rented out the whole shebang for Thursday and Friday night. The ladies put together a beautiful array of charcuterie, dips and fruits, and I think Anne was genuinely surprised on arrival – she thought it was just going to be her and Denny. Smart idea from Kelly to move our cars over to the dive bar across the street so as not to blow the surprise.

Here’s a map to orient you on Ocean Springs location:

We walked across the street to Sweets Lounge in the evening and had good fun playing various different pool games.

I had Diana challenge the amount of the bill when we left – “It can’t possibly be that inexpensive.” The bartender explained that drinks were reduced when a Saints game was showing – even before that they were prices from 15 years ago.

I walked across the street to the Lazy Oak for breakfast on Friday morning. McD joined me after her run around town and ate the fruit that I had pushed to the side of the plate. Then we had a nice time hanging out in the pool for a couple of hours.

We wandered around downtown Ocean Springs in the afternoon. What a nice and eclectic little town.

Glory Bound provided us with a yummy Greek dinner.

We hung out around the firepit in the evening, with Kenny participating in a pool tournament at Sweets, and as is typical, making friends with a number of the locals.

We drove back via the coastal road on Saturday, meeting up with Kenny’s long time friend, Chris, for lunch at a marina side taco joint in Bay St. Louis.

Diana had texted Amy, also a resident of Bay St. Louis, to see what the chances of swinging by for a boat ride looked like. The timing worked out well and we drove to Captain Randy and Amy’s place after lunch. We were soon out on the water and enjoying the Jourdan river trail.

I had planned on watching the Cowboys and 49ers game on Sunday night – wrong weekend – the Cowboys are on a bye week and that’s next week. Probably good for the Boys to rest up before that challenging game.

My book this week was “The Radleys” by Matt Haig. I had enjoyed another of his books, “The Midnight Library”, and this one sounded good, except that I totally missed it was a story about vampires trying for abstinence from vampire activities. Here’s an online review:

“Just about everyone knows a family like the Radleys. Many of us grew up next door to one. They are a modern family, averagely content, averagely dysfunctional, living in a staid and quiet suburban English town. Peter is an overworked doctor whose wife, Helen, has become increasingly remote and uncommunicative. Rowan, their teenage son, is being bullied at school, and their anemic daughter, Clara, has recently become a vegan. They are typical, that is, save for one devastating exception: Peter and Helen are vampires and have—for seventeen years—been abstaining by choice from a life of chasing blood in the hope that their children could live normal lives.”

Given the silly subject matter, I did still find this tale well written and entertaining. I’m sure it’s not for everyone.

A very good cover:

And an even better cover – I love this one a lot:

And finally, some great 70s feel:

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and compassion for all!

Week in Review – October 13th, 2024

“Return to Roatan”

It was a very early start on Monday – in an Uber to the airport at 4:30am. We caught a 6am flight to Miami, “enjoyed” a couple of hours layover, and then took the next short flight to Roatan, Honduras. A very bumpy thirty minute ride over an often washed out road and we arrived at the Kimpton Grand Roatan Resort. The resort was purchased by Kimpton since we visited two years ago, and they have made many improvements, upgrades, and expansions. While quite luxurious, with new restaurants and amenities, we missed some of the character of the old set up.

Here’s a map that shows the location of Roatan island:

After some lengthy negotiations, we secured a beach front condo with a wonderful view.

The trip is to honour the top performing employees from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador – there were about forty of them in attendance. We had a reception for them on Monday night, and the girls enjoyed dinner on their own – a wonderful paella topped with lobster.

Tuesday was a full day of presentations and discussions. I participated in a panel discussion on “mindset” that seemed to be well received. My very favourite segment was a presentation by Andrea Cardona, the first Latin American woman to summit Everest. This was the best business talk that I’ve heard – beautifully linked back to the topic of the day, and presented with a complete lack of ego. The answers that Andrea gave to the audience questions were excellent.

Andrea has asthma and it was fascinating to hear all the approaches that she deployed to counteract the impacts at the highest elevations.

Here’s a video of a short segment of Andrea’s presentation:

She said that she had a whole special speech planned for the summit, but just couldn’t get enough air to do it:

Meanwhile, the girls were enjoying some quality beach time. The weather was not perfect – quite windy – but they made the best of it.

They did pick up an extra member of the “girls” group – Lee, Belinda’s husband:

There was a fancy reception with dinner and dancing on Tuesday night, starting with a group picture on the beach:

Here’s the leadership team subset:

The dinner was good, and the fun really began with the dancing.

Unlike two years ago, when Lisa and Diana had to get the party started, the group was raring to get the dance floor up and going. Of course Diana took full advantage of the opportunity to show her moves:

It wouldn’t be a real party without a conga line:

There were meetings again on Wednesday afternoon, and then free time in the afternoon. The group enjoyed the ocean and sunset pictures.

That’s Diana, Jorge, and Sofie waving to me.

A small group of us enjoyed dinner in the Mediterranean restaurant on Wednesday evening, and then Blair arranged for the very talented guitar player in the restaurant to give us a private outdoor concert :

Some dancers joined in:

The guitar player went in to get a capo, so Jorge took over – is there no limit to this man’s talents?

Most of the group left on Thursday morning, and so Diana and I enjoyed some quiet time by the pool, followed by a relaxing meal in the Mediterranean restaurant. Diana had some more of the excellent octopus, while I enjoyed some more of the squid ink linguini with shrimp, mussels and clams. We had shared those with the table the previous night, and were happy to repeat the highlights.

We did take advantage of the “social hour” on the upstairs restaurant balcony before dinner – what an amazing view:

We snapped a quick selfie and then took a shuttle to the airport for our long day of travel back home. The four hour layover in Miami really was a bit too long, getting us home shortly before midnight.

The Kingpin had a band called “The Been Around Band” on Saturday afternoon. Most of the Krewe (minus Denny and Anne – in Alabama) assembled and enjoyed the music – quite a different kind of band than normal.

The Blues and BBQ festival is an annual event put on by the Jazz and Heritage Festival folks – so the sound and timing are always impeccable. Here’s the lineup for Sunday:

We arrived in time to see Billy Iuso at noon. The event was very quiet due to the Saints game at the same time.

We humoured a Jazz and Heritage employee who was taking pictures and videos with signs:

Iuso played a great set of covers and originals.

That was followed by Mitch Woods and his Rocket 88s, with John Fohl on guitar – he really can play any style of music. Here’s the song I hear every morning as Diana’s alarm clock:

We finished up with a wonderful sounding Eric Lindell band:

What a wonderful free day of music!

We headed back home to watch the Cowboys game and should have stayed at the festival – a pathetic performance all around.

I finished up “Tell Me Everything” by the amazing Elizabeth Strout. What an excellent book – weaving together the characters from all her previous novels into a new set of tales.

The characters are some of my favourites in all of my reading. Highly recommended.

Some of that great 70s feel from Candi Staton:

A great sounding song from the Allman Bros offspring:

And finally, a deep cut from Tom Petty:

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all!

Week in Review – October 6th, 2024

“Tim and Dee visit”

We did manage to stay awake and attend the Old 97s concert at Tipitina’s on Sunday night, and are quite proud of ourselves for staying out that late. This was a very good show, and a great way to close out Kara’s birthday weekend. Here are Kara and Nina enjoying the show:

The Old 97s are from Dallas. They formed in 1992 and have released thirteen albums. Starting out as a bar band, they were pioneers of the alt-country movement in the mid to late nineties. Lead vocalist and main songwriter (and Kara’s favourite) Rhett Miller describes their music as “loud folk”.

Here’s one of their more popular songs:

We had a sports medicine spine doctor visit on Tuesday. She ordered an epidural for pain relief and relaxation of the bulging disc and also enrolled Diana in a back and spine physical therapy group. So, Diana was excited when she got scheduled to go to the hospital on Thursday. Not so fast – that was for a visit with a doctor who really didn’t know why we were there. Not well received in the slightest! That doctor did manage to work some magic and get us in for the epidural procedure on Friday afternoon.

I picked up Tim and Dee at the airport on Thursday evening, while Diana cooked up a batch of jambalaya for dinner. We had a nice time hanging out and catching up.

Our guests met Denny and Anne for lunch at Juan’s Flying Burrito on Friday, while we visited the hospital for the procedure. Diana’s “angel hair pasta” veins didn’t cooperate with an IV – success on the sixth try, after over an hour of two nurses giving it their best shots. After the IV was in, the rest of the procedure went very quickly.

Oops – I forgot to share pictures of the visit we made to the State Street skeleton house prior to lunch at Juan’s:

We were in an Uber over to Gretna fest within a couple of hours. We set up in time to enjoy an excellent set from Galactic:

We had missed the opening Neil Francis set due to rain and the procedure. Fortunately he joined Galactic for a few songs:

I always love watching Stanton Moore, Galactic drummer:

The Revivalists followed Galactic, after a bit of a delay, and also gave us a great set. Here they are with a Radiohead cover:

What a pleasant and uncrowded evening at Gretna Fest.

We visited Elizabeth’s in the Bywater for brunch on Saturday morning. Tim and I laughed as we passed the empty field where Mirliton Fest happened years ago – it’s kind of a squash like vegetable and I’ve only ever heard of it in Louisiana.

Diana and Dee had their pink breast cancer awareness shirts on, and those were matched with the drink cups:

We had a very casual and enjoyable lunch:

Elizabeth’s was followed by a French Quarter Ramble (FQR) with Denny and Anne joining in. We started at Molly’s at the Market for frozen Irish coffees – a Timmy special request and progressed from there:

The ladies joined the Krewe for the Magazine Street Art Walk on Saturday night, running into our neighbors in some fancy menswear store:

We enjoyed lunch at the Rum House before dropping Diana back at Gretna Fest to meet up with the gang.

She had a good time and was dropped back at the house in one piece after enjoying this tiny cocktail chair:

Tim and Dee left for the airport in an Uber around 5pm, saying that they had done more in a few days than they typically do in three months – and I thought it was a pretty tame weekend.

I didn’t get much reading done this week – hopefully more to report next post.

Something new from Marc Broussard – he played at Tipitina’s recently but it would have been way too crowded for us old folks:

What about this different version of the Nick Lowe classic made famous by Elvis Costello (featured earlier in the skeleton pictures):

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all!

Week in Review – September 29, 2024

“Bayou Boys for the Win!”

Diana had the MRI of her back on Tuesday evening. I followed that by joining the guys for trivia night at Dat Dog. What do you know? We won!

I contributed on a few questions – the very first one was, “Where was curling invented?”, easy – Scotland. The guys were leaning towards Canada – geez! We completely failed on this halftime question, lucking into one of the four opportunities:

We needed a Swiftie on our team. She takes over New Orleans for three nights in late October.

The final question was worth up to twenty points – you have to decide how much to gamble based on the competition – we were only a few points ahead and so went all in with twenty. The answer was a single number, made up by adding the number of major tournaments that Jack Nicklaus won, to the number of the king to whom Marie Antoinette was married, to the number of Oscars won by the original Wizard of Oz. We came within one of the correct answer for the overall win! Having a few different age groups represented on our team certainly helps. I need to make the effort to attend more often as I always have a great time.

Ian McNulty, our local food writer, got my attention with his review of a brand new local restaurant, Aguasanta:

https://www.nola.com/entertainment_life/eat-drink/aquasanta-opens-in-new-orleans-with-elevated-mexican-food/article_1e1f6bd4-6fc2-11ef-ae20-23f0cd916917.html

I made a reservation for Friday and invited Denny and Anne to join us. We started with a visit to the Old Alker distillery, right next door to the restaurant.

The restaurant is very modern and welcoming. Service was good and the food was nicely different and creative.

The stand out dish was the birria style lamb shank, perfectly cooked:

My second favourite was the suckling pig terrine – different flavour and a great sauce:

And then the crab rice arancini. What a yummy meal – and very well done by a brand new place.

Diana noticed that the Saturday afternoon concert series at the Kingpin started up again this week, after taking a break for the height of summer. Jon Papa Gros kicked things off with a really enjoyable set. Kenny and Kara joined for part of it – celebrating Kara’s birthday.

The weather was perfect for an outdoor afternoon free concert. Typical of what we love about this city.

Diana invited Kara to brunch on Sunday to celebrate her birthday weekend.

I had suggested Café Amelie in the French Quarter and Diana liked the idea. I provided a Kuber (Keith Uber) to and from the restaurant and took advantage of the close proximity of the New Orleans Athletic Club to hang out and get some exercise between drop-off and pickup. The restaurant had moved a couple of doors down from what I remembered – the girls thought the smaller patio was actually better and had a very tasty meal.

Kara adores the band the Old 97s and we may join her and several others to watch them tonight at Tipitina’s – just depends on how sleepy we are at show time. I’ll report out next week.

Finn and Holly just sent some pictures from their lunch at Shiawase in Allen – this is a sushi place that Finn and I used to enjoy. Look at the Romeo and Juliet roll:

He also shared this “melon monster” from employee appreciation day:

I took a break from “The Patron Saint of Liars” by Anne Patchett, which I don’t love yet but plan to return to soon.

I switched over to “Tell me Everything” by Elizabeth Strout, which I love. It features all the regular characters from her previous novels, and I really enjoy the way it takes time to revisit the characters with nothing crazy happening. I’m not quite a third of the way through and things are starting to get interesting. I highly recommend all of her books.

Let’s start off with something from local hero, Anders Osborne:

Alex introduced me to this band and I love them:

I have a feeling many more of their tracks will make it into these posts.

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all!

Week in Review – September 22, 2024

“A Quick Austin Visit”

We flew to Austin on Monday afternoon, arriving in time to check into the Carpenter hotel, and then for me to attend a reception in downtown for successors to the Executive Committee members with our Board of Directors. The reception was very nicely done and thankfully didn’t last too long.

We had our three year strategic plan presentation with the Board on Tuesday morning. That went well and our budget was approved. We retired to the Soho House (a private club that our CEO, Lachie, belongs to) for lunch. I had been there once before and while the space is beautiful, was not impressed with the service. The food was very good, and again the service was slow and spotty. Such a shame they can’t get it all together at such a fancy place.

Meanwhile, Lisa and Diana relaxed at the Carpenter pool. They always have such a good time hanging out.

We had planned to be finished with the afternoon event and Blair and I were going to meet Diana and Lisa at the Odd Duck for dinner. The best plans! The group was still going strong at the time of our dinner reservation. Lots of frustrating back and forth ensued on what to do. The Odd Duck didn’t have room for our extras, so Lisa and Diana enjoyed a very yummy dinner there, while the rest of us visited the crazy Tiki bar across the street.

Odd Duck is one of my very favourite Austin spots – so creative and different. Here are some of the pictures that the girls taunted us with as they worked through the menu:

We had some snacks and crazy Tiki drinks:

We met Damon at June’s All Day, our typical last stop in Austin on the way to the airport, for lunch and were home early Wednesday evening.

My excitement on Thursday was getting my teeth cleaned – all looks good – whew! Patience is required for a full set of x-rays.

Diana joined the Krewe for Happy Hour and tacos on Friday night. I was worn out from the Austin trip and took a pass for an early night.

Saturday was a relatively busy day. We started with a visit to NOAC – I had a pleasant swim (timing after the aqua aerobic ladies) and an even more pleasant visit to the steam room.

Diana picked our after workout brunch spot – Paladar 511 in the Marigny. She was pleasantly surprised that I quickly agreed with her first pick. It’s close to eight years since we last ate here, and it’s still very good. Diana had a crab and corn Benedict – the corn cake base was phenomenal, the corn very fresh and the sauce delicious – a wonderful brunch. I had the huevos rancheros – also delicious. I’m going to have to think about my choice for the next place – Paladar will be hard to beat.

After lunch we got our COVID and flu shots. Diana was going to get the shingles shot as well, but they were out of stock – probably a good thing as I had a bad reaction to it and she was looking forward to Greg and Colleen’s pool party on Sunday.

We enjoyed watching the Saints game on Greg’s new outdoor TV by his pool. He cooked burgers and a sweet potato dish – always a very good chef and host. Trey, Lynn, Danny, Chris Peet and Tyler, Claire and Ollie (Greg and Colleen’s one year old grandson) were additions to the normal krewe. Unfortunately both the Saints and Cowboys lost this week. But it’s not about winning – it’s about spending time with friends!

I started Ann Patchett’s “The Patron Saint of Liars” this week. Kindle says I’m only 22% complete – busy week of travel and meetings. This was Patchett’s first novel and I’m enjoying it so far. She will be visiting the Garden District Book Store, across the street, next week. Maybe I’ll pop over and meet her. Here’s the online summary:

“Acclaimed author Ann Patchett’s debut novel, hailed as “beautifully written . . . a first novel that second- and third-time novelists would envy for its grace, insight, and compassion” (Boston Herald)

St. Elizabeth’s, a home for unwed mothers in Habit, Kentucky, usually harbors its residents for only a little while. Not so Rose Clinton, a beautiful, mysterious woman who comes to the home pregnant but not unwed, and stays. She plans to give up her child, thinking she cannot be the mother it needs. But when Cecilia is born, Rose makes a place for herself and her daughter amid St. Elizabeth’s extended family of nuns and an ever-changing collection of pregnant teenage girls. Rose’s past won’t be kept away, though, even by St. Elizabeth’s; she cannot remain untouched by what she has left behind, even as she cannot change who she has become in the leaving.”

Such a great funky feel:

A deep discovery that I love:

I saw Jesse Malin on a morning show this weekend and found this collaboration with the Boss:

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all!

Week in Review – September 15th, 2024

“She Said Yes!”

Finn and Holly got engaged on the beach in Galveston, TX on Monday. They look so happy and had a great meal to celebrate their engagement and Holly’s birthday.

I’m so happy these two found each other.

I was tracking Hurricane Francine and hoping it wasn’t going to disrupt their plans. They were fortunate as it changed paths to come directly over New Orleans. Our new generator was online and ready to respond to any power outages – we were much luckier than most and didn’t have any issues.

The winds and flooding weren’t too bad at all in our area. Thankfully a mild first hurricane experience.

We hosted an expanded Krewe for the Cowboys and Saints game on Sunday. Everyone brought delicious snacks and had a good time. Jeff and Merry Lee brought their “babies”, Jazz and Cali.

My lucky Cowboys jacket did not serve a good purpose, with the game quickly turning into a blowout for the Saints. You can imagine how much fun it is to be the only Cowboys fan in a house full of Saints fans with a huge lead.

All I could do was spend some time with the only non rabid Saints fan – she wouldn’t declare as a Cowboys fan either (a problem!)

I really did enjoy having a house full of good friends – that didn’t happen in McKinney.

An engagement, a hurricane and a football party at the house – that’s quite a week!

My book this week, “My Last Innocent Year” by Daisy Alpert Florin, was a recommendation from Fred. It is beautifully written, and has some big themes, just not what I expected from Fred – he just keeps us guessing. Here’s the online summary:

“It’s 1998 and Isabel Rosen, the only daughter of a Lower East Side appetizing store owner, has one semester left at Wilder College, a prestigious school in New Hampshire. Desperate to shed her working-class roots and still mourning the death of her mother four years earlier, Isabel has always felt like an outsider at Wilder but now, in her final semester, she believes she has found her place―until a nonconsensual sexual encounter with one of the only other Jewish students on campus leaves her reeling.

Enter R. H. Connelly, a once-famous poet and Isabel’s writing professor, a man with secrets of his own. Connelly makes Isabel feel seen, beautiful, talented: the woman she longs to become. His belief in her ignites a belief in herself, and the two begin an affair that shakes the foundation of who Isabel thinks she is, for better and worse. As the lives of the adults around her slowly come apart, Isabel discovers that the line between youth and adulthood is less defined than she thought.

A coming-of-age story set against the backdrop of the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal, Daisy Alpert Florin’s My Last Innocent Year is a timely and wise portrait of a young woman learning to trust her voice and move toward independence while recognizing the beauty and grit of where she came from.”

Here’s something interesting and different from Ikebe Shakedown:

Here’s what Discogs says about the band:

Ikebe Shakedown plays with elements of cinematic soul, Afro-funk, deep disco, and boogaloo in all the right ways. The group has forged its unique sound together over four years, developing a mighty horn section anchored by tight, deep-pocketed grooves

David Gilmour has a new album out that sounds really good:

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all!

Week in Review – September 8th, 2024

“Football’s back!”

We joined the New Orleans Athletic Club on Monday. We toured a few weeks ago and finally took the plunge (pun intended.) This club is located downtown on the edge of the French Quarter and began in 1872. You can read all about the interesting history here:

https://neworleansathleticclub.com/about/history

The character and the lovely pool were big selling points for me. As well as the reading library and bar. I’m looking forward to becoming a regular. Here are some pictures inside:

The club has a lot of classes each week and I think we’re going to really enjoy it.

The US Open tournament provided some very good entertainment this week – some of the highest quality tennis that I’ve seen in a while. I was pleased to see Steve Gleason in attendance:

We watched the kickoff to the football season at Dos Jefes cigar and jazz bar. It was so nice to listen to the Mark Coleman band, with the very talented John Fohl sitting in, while watching the Kansas City Chiefs eke out a win over Baltimore.

I treated McD to Happy Hour at the Bower on Friday afternoon. They really have great snacks on the special menu. Here Diana is demonstrating how to eat spaghetti for Steve – he cut his up with a knife and fork on our San Diego trip:

We went for our visit to the NOAC on Saturday morning. I enjoyed a swim (before being ousted by the water aerobics ladies – got to pay attention to the schedule). I treated Diana to brunch at Elizabeth’s in the Bywater area after our visit. This is an excellent brunch restaurant – we loved our “pig candy” (praline bacon) and Florentine benedict with fried oysters.