Another Bachelor watch party happened on Monday, this time with Damon participating in the cooking. He had given Diana a shopping list and very specific instructions on how to marinate the flank steak, turning and massaging at regular intervals. Then there was the discussion about taking the steak down to the grill on the pool deck or using the oven broiler. Given the dreary weather, the broiler was selected. The smoke alarms only went off once during preparation, nonetheless the results were delicious.
McD was picked up after work on Tuesday for another trip over to Warby Parker, this time concluding that the progressive lenses for my glasses would have to be remade. Diana did get her new frames adjusted so that she can see pretty well now.
A work happy hour had me stopping by the Gibson Street bar on the way home. It’s right next to the Odd Duck and we had been wondering how it was – the verdict: a very nice bar with good service, comfy booths and a good patio.
Our work “People First” team staged a Chilli cook-off for lunch on Thursday, and did an excellent job. A $5 donation got me a sampling of 9 different employee made chillis. I liked numbers 2, 6, and 8, ultimately choosing number 6 which had a deep traditional flavour and a perfect pepper kick. The numbers were to make sure no favouritism crept into the voting. We had beef, chicken, and brisket varieties to sample. It was really nice to see the whole office coming together for lunch and fun.
Natalie and Daniel, a couple we met at Juliet Italian restaurant after the Guns ‘n Roses Austin City Limits festival concert, joined us for dinner at Peche on Friday, followed by a show at the Parker Jazz Club. Peche, our go to restaurant for new folks visiting Austin (they just moved), was as delicious as ever, and it’s a very short walk across the street to the Parker.
Red Young and his Hot Horns were playing, and I loved that they started out with a number of songs by Allan Toussaint, the legendary New Orleans piano player, composer, and producer. Here are a couple of those. Red’s piano skills are top notch, with a mixed quality in the horns.
There was a very bright moon as we walked home.
We had a planning session for the much awaited honeymoon on Saturday afternoon. Fortunately the food at Loro was great, because the planning was not particularly productive. Hotels we liked on St Lucia or in the Positano area were ridiculously expensive. We’re not going to spend as much for a week in a hotel as we would on an inexpensive car. There was a sign that made us chuckle above the Loro bar – took us back to Patty doing the “Be vewy, vewy quiet” cartoon walk down the corridor of the Catherine.
And then there was Brent’s reply with a picture of Patty with her new shoes, so that she can be “Sperry, sperry qwiet” 🙂
Big Head Todd and the Monsters (interesting name for a band) entertained us at Austin City Limits Moody Theater on Saturday night. This band has been going strong since the eighties and still has a large live following. I really enjoy their style of music and they always put on a good show. Hazel Miller joined on several songs and provided an interesting change in vocals.
I had listened to the opening band, Los Colognes, before the show to decide if we should arrive in time to hear them. I loved what I heard – a sound very reminiscent of J.J. Cale and Dire Straits, and was looking forward to hearing what they did live. Here’s some of their music from a radio set:
If you know my musical taste, you can hear that this is very appealing to me. Disappointingly, the live sound did not match up, with overdriven, blurry vocals and none of the nuanced guitar playing and drumming in the set above. I lasted a couple of songs before suggesting that we head across the street to III Forks for a drink before Big Head Todd started. The smoke infused negronis were delicious.
The sound was very good for the headlining band. Good news, but also irritating that things weren’t set up correctly for Los Colognes.
Here’s a sampling of the band with and without Hazel Miller:
We went straight home after the show to avoid any more injuries. The last time we visited the Moody theater was when I broke my finger. Interestingly, as a complete aside, my fingerprint has changed after the surgery. The gym uses a combination of phone number and index fingerprint to sign in, and my right one doesn’t work – have to use the left hand index. Who would have thought that? I’m sitting here wondering if Global Entry at the airport uses finger prints – I don’t think so and hope not.
After two late nights, the old folks slept in on Sunday morning, and then made the long drive up to McKinney for the week.
Elton John’s “Me” was my literary companion this week. The book is well written and is a fast, page-turning read. I enjoyed the earlier chapters, more focused on Elton’s musical experiences, than the later sections covering all his addictions and excesses. Ultimately I found this book pretty sad overall – such a troubled relationship with his parents that was never overcome, and so much wasted time and money. Not to take away from the $450 million raised for his AIDS foundation and the music that I’ll always treasure.
I did groan when I read this section: “Leon Russell was touring until the day he died in 2016. If you didn’t see him, I’m sorry: you missed out. Leon Russell was the greatest.” Yes – I had a chance to see Elton and Leon play together a few years ago. Diana even asked me if I was sure I didn’t want to go. I think I have a much better appreciation for Russell’s music now than I did a few years ago. Either that or I was just being a “dumb idiot”.
This passage underscores the prodigious talent: “Bernie would bash out his lyrics and leave them for me on the piano. I’d wake up early, go to the dining room, see what he’d come up with and write songs while I was having breakfast. The first morning we were there, I had three done by the time the band drifted downstairs looking for something to eat: “Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters”, “Amy”, and “Rocket Man”.” Hard to comprehend that kind of ridiculous capability.
And finally, a funny passage about a conversation John had with Prince Philip. Elton had an Aston Martin custom painted in the colors of his Watford football club. “You live near Windsor castle, don’t you?” he asked. “Have you seen the bloody idiot who drives around this area in that ghastly car? It’s bright yellow with a ridiculous stripe.” “Yes, Your Highness, it’s actually me.”
I’ll skip the music section this week since this post has covered a lot of music already and is also a week overdue.
Happy Birthday to my little sister, Elspeth, who’s celebrating today in Scotland.
We did have a more interesting week, as promised at the end of the post last week, with a couple of impromptu evenings (the best kind).
The week started on an annoying note, with a clog and leak in the McKinney house from the upstairs plumbing. It gets used so little that it’s not a huge surprise, and we now have a new turn on all the faucets and flush the toilets schedule. The restoration/dry things out guys got everything installed on Tuesday morning, and we felt safe to leave to drive down to Austin in the afternoon.
Wednesday was a long work day for Diana, and I was determined to get her out of the apartment on Thursday night. We both have new eyeglass prescriptions, and so we headed to Warby Parker on South Congress to see what we could find in the way of frames. We put Vincente, the store manager, to work finding us the perfect frames and he did a great job. Within a few minutes we had five pairs picked out – regular and sunglasses. I have grey and blue frames and some nice sunglasses, while Diana has gold and very cool sunnies. We snapped these pictures int the photo booth before leaving:
The heavens opened right as we were about to leave Warby Parker, and so we ducked into the Italian restaurant next door. We’ve walked past Boticellis many times, but never tried it. The rain introduced us to a new great place – excellent back patio and food.
We sat in this covered patio area and enjoyed an amazing scallop and beet appetizer, with very fresh and perfectly cooked scallops. I hadn’t had enough beets, and so went for the beet salad while McD chose the meatballs and tagliatelle.
We will definitely be back to this delicious place.
It was still raining after dinner, and so we were “forced” into the Continental Gallery for some music. Monte Warden and his incredible band were performing as we relaxed on a comfy couch in the living room style setting. It turns out Monte is a famous songwriter, having written songs that have sold over 100 million copies, for folks like George Jones. I loved the trumpet playing of Erik Telford, and the entire band were great musicians. Here’s a #1 song that Monte wrote for George Strait, “Desperately”:
What a great impromptu evening caused by the torrential rain, and we got Diana out of the apartment and away from her emails for several hours.
I had just arrived home on Friday when a text came in from my Minnesota friend, Greg: “where can a guy find some good jazz in Austin tonight?” Greg and Kristan were in San Antonio for a conference next week and decided to drive up and experience Austin. We made quick reservations for Peche and the Parker jazz club. Kris Kimura, Parker owner, did not disappoint with an excellent set of classic jazz.
I love the sound of the bass flute on “Wonderful World”. After the Parker, we had a quick stop at the Elephant Room, for some more modern jazz and then called it a late night.
Saturday was a lazy day, recovering from the busy week and late Friday night. We did manage a workout and got some good quiet reading in.
Sunday began with the usual workout followed by coffee (or mimosa) and crossword at Opa, and then got more interesting with a walk up to the Continental Club and Jimmie Dreams. New Orleans music is all that Jimmie plays, starting with six excellent Allen Toussaint songs. Midway through the set, McD was heard to say, “We could live in this town”. Such great musicianship with no cover on a pleasant Sunday afternoon. Here’s a Toussaint song recorded by Ernie K’Doe:
We walked back to the Catherine to watch the Packers vs 49ers playoff game. Currently looking like the 49ers will win handily.
Trump was just observed causing a backup on Interstate 35 from our balcony. Apparently he came into town to address the American Farmers conference – telling them what a great new deal he had struck with China to protect them. Thankfully he was only in our town for a couple of hours.
I’m only half way through my new book this week – so more on that next week.
“A Certain Girl” is the song that Jimmie Dreams and his friends are playing up above.
How about this new solo song from Nathaniel Rateliff. This guy keeps getting better and better:
Monte Warden, Thursday night music, led a band in the 80s called the Wagoneers, and wrote this song for them:
Jimmie Dreams played songs by Lee Dorsey (also a boxer and mechanic) and Bobby Charles, classic New Orleans artists:
And finally, I was sad to hear of the passing of Neal Peart last week. He was the drummer extraordinaire for the Canadian rock trio, Rush. I love his drumming and was fortunate to catch a couple of Rush live shows. I also recommend his books, chronicling his travels by bicycle, car, and motorcycle, and his book blog “Bubba’s Book Club”.
This was a relatively uneventful week, with Diana and Alicia in McKinney and me playing at working hard.
Damon came over for dinner on Tuesday night and was able to participate in Diana’s update about the fire department going to Grammie’s house. She called them because she smelled burning – a space heater overloading a plug.
In related news, this large looking mountain lion was caught patrolling around Grammie’s house again. Apparently (according to McD) they make a 150 mile circuit around the Bay Area. I’m not sure I want to come face to face with this guy – the bobcats are one thing, but this seems a lot more challenging. Speaking of bobcats – here’s a picture of a mother and baby on Gypsy Hill this week – lot of nature going on up there on the “hill”:
I attended a fancy work executive committee pow-wow on Thursday night at the lovely Jeffrey’s restaurant in West Austin. We had talked about having my birthday dinner there but chose Justine’s instead, so I was interested to try it out.
The setting is sophisticated but casual, with a very comfortable feel. The bar area was very cool and has a great all night happy hour menu. I laughed when our strategy guy, a 6 foot 6 inch Swede, left his menu on a candle until it almost caught fire – reminded me of a trip to the City Winery in Nashville when our group had a similar experience.
For dinner, I selected the snapper en papilotte (French for “enveloped in paper”), and it was delicious.
It was funny to watch the crew leave at the end of the evening. Blair’s monster, lifted truck coming through the valet, Jacob, our tall Swede, taking off on a monster Harley etc. What a crew!
I left Austin early on Friday, in hopes of beating the monster storm into McKinney. Penelope and I were in the garage around 4pm, just prior to the downpour. We didn’t get the 2 inch hail and tornadoes that were forecast – thank goodness. The temperature was 70 degrees on Friday, and Saturday started below freezing with a dusting of snow. Crazy Texas weather.
The weekend was normal – workouts followed by coffee and crosswords. Diana did win the crossword battle on Saturday by 15 seconds – I really need to step up my game.
Alicia flew back to San Luis Obispo on Sunday morning, then we had late workouts. I enjoyed the NFL playoff game between Kansas City and Houston, while McD read a kindle book.
I warned you up front – a pretty uneventful week. We’ll try to be a bit more exciting in the coming week.
I finished “The Quaker” by Liam McIlvanney this week. Liam is the son of William McIlvanney, one of my favourite authors and writer of my number one book – “Walking Wounded”. This book was a Christmas gift from my parents, under the heading “getting you back in touch with your Scottish roots”. It was the Scottish Crime Book of the Year in 2018.
I really enjoyed the descriptions of Glasgow in 1969, as major portions of the population are moved from old, decaying tenements to supposedly better environments. The story was well done, unfolding slowly and keeping you guessing. I thought I had it solved at page 250 of 400 – only partially. Liam is an excellent writer, but doesn’t have his father’s ability to capture a thoroughly believable character in a few paragraphs.
“What if he does it again, sir?” McCormack drained his glass and set it down. “You thought of that? We have Paton inside and the Quaker does another. What happens then? You’re playing golf in Maidens. We’re still here””.
This paragraph reminded me of the hilarious day in the Maidens, when Uncle Ian’s wheelchair backed into a hole. Good memories of good times.
The Barrowlands ballroom is at the center of this story, and it reminded me of going to the Kings Theater in the Gorbals a few times in High School – all that culture in the middle of a very rough neighbourhood.
I recommend this book to anyone looking for a good crime thriller and an understanding of the Glasgow milieu.
I came across this amazing version of St. James Infirmary this week. What do you think? Best version ever?
What an excellent Jerry Garcia song from his first solo album:
Christone “Kingfish” Ingram is the new face of the blues. We saw him at the ACL Hall of Fame induction ceremony, playing with Buddy Guy, and he was excellent. From Clarksville, Mississippi, he grew up in the home of Robert Johnson and seems to really embody the blues.
The Building is a band fronted by Anthony LaMarca, guitarist for War on Drugs. Very peaceful music.
Penelope and I led the way down to Austin on Monday, with Diana following behind in the racing Passat. Alicia flew in on Thursday and the girls are driving back up to McKinney on Monday, so we needed two cars.
My Christmas present from Diana was delivered in person to the apartment on Monday night. Sharon from the Soundwaves art gallery decided it would be easier to drive over my painting than to mail it. She is married to the artist, Tim Wakefield, who creates these excellent music related pieces. Mine is of The Kinks “Waterloo Sunset” and is signed by Ray Davies. It looks amazing. Thanks D! One of my very favourite songs from such an underrated band.
Sticking with the new artwork theme, we installed Quine and Loon in our Austin bedroom – don’t they look great?
And finally, D’s spin art from the Christmas party was installed in the Austin bedroom as well. It’s an album by The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, a glam rock band formed in Scotland in 1972. I can remember checking their albums out of the High School library in Stewarton. How did the spin art folks happen to have one of these albums in Austin, TX? I think Diana created a very interesting piece.
Our first New Year’s Eve in Austin was a lot of fun. We met up with a work colleague, Issac, and his wife Adrienne. They have a similar situation to us, splitting time between a home in San Antonio and an apartment in Austin. Issac selected La Volpe (the fox) as our dinner destination with a 10:30pm reservation to facilitate ringing in the New Year.
The interior of the restaurant was very modern and cool, and I read was designed by Jennifer Long, who also worked on C-Boy’s Heart and Soul on South Congress.
The special menu was all small plates with some great options. The plates ended up not being so small and we had plenty to eat.
The poached lobster and duck confit risotto were absolute standouts. Great choice Issac! We wandered around the corner to Antone’s blues club to close out the evening and posed for these fancy pictures in front of Eddie V’s:
New Year’s Eve in Austin certainly ended up being more exciting than our typical McKinney experience. Maybe we’ll do it again next year.
We rested up on New Year’s Day and planned some fun for Alicia’s arrival on Thursday. Festivities started with dinner at Diana’s favourite Austin restaurant, Peche. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed their meals. Then we walked across the street to the Parker Jazz Club for the early show. The House Band was playing, but we got very lucky. The trumpet player Mike Sailors was sitting in, along with club owner Kris Kimura (who plays 10 different instruments including various clarinets, saxophones, flugel horn, and ukulele), and an excellent trombone player. Sailors has been a big name in New York for the last several years, playing with the Village Vanguard orchestra and the Birdland band, among many others. He just moved back to Austin to take the role of jazz trumpet professor at the University of Austin, and this was his first gig. What a treat! The music was very much focused around Louis Armstrong – perfect for me. Here’s a sample.
Did I mention an excellent trombone player?
Armstrong’s “The Sunny Side of the Street” took me back to New Orleans and Kermit Ruffins at Vaughan’s on my first evening in that fantastic city:
Everyone thought the music was outstanding. A great first night for Alicia.
On Friday night, Alicia decided she was in the mood for sushi. I suggested Lucky Robot on South Congress based on a quick Yelp search. We had walked by it many times, but never considered dining there. The food and service were both very good, with a menu that included several things that I liked – pork belly bao (steamed buns). There are a lot of origami birds inside.
Saturday was a gorgeous 70 degree day – seriously, in January – so I went for a jog along the river trail while the girls hit the gym downstairs. In the afternoon, we walked across to the Alta coffee shop and enjoyed the sunset. A very nice, relaxed Saturday.
Sunday started with workouts downstairs and then brunch on the rooftop patio at El Alma – such a good, close spot. Then we drove over to Covert Park to hike up to the top of Mount Bonnell. This is the highest spot in the city limit of Austin at 785 feet – I know, not that impressive in the scheme of things, but does offer some excellent views of downtown, and up and down river. There are some little multi-million dollar shacks right below the peak. It’s 106 steps up from the parking area to the top of Mount Bonnell. Whew, we made it!
McD took advantage of a table to enhance her view, and I snapped this picture of the two girls looking up river.
“Mission Song” by John Le Carre was my first book this week. I “borrowed” it from the bookcase at Mum and Dad’s house. The story is told from the point of view of Bruno Salvador, “Salvo”, a very talented interpreter of African, particularly Congolese, languages. This is Le Carre’s 20th novel, published in 2006, and it focuses attention on the atrocities committed in the Congo, and largely ignored by the British and American press. Salvo begins his interpreter assignment thinking he is helping Britain find a good solution to the problems in Congo, then realizes it’s just another plan to take advantage of the region’s natural resources. He decides to attempt to stop the plan, with dire consequences. This was a typically beautifully written Le Carre book, with another really disappointing ending. A 375 page book, that comes to a conclusion with a report occupying the last page and a half – I’m getting really tired of less than rewarding endings. The commentary on the role an interpreter plays and the skill associated with the position seemed very well done.
My second book was “Made in Scotland” by the hilarious, and very Scottish, Billy Connolly, a Christmas gift from my parents. What an excellent read, but fair warning, the language is very salty at times.
There are so many great stories from a very interesting life, starting with Billy’s tough childhood and initial working life at 15, as a welder in the Clyde shipyards – building the Queen Mary and QE2.
I learned that Connolly had a band in the early 70s and recruited a young Gerry Rafferty to join. The duo were quite successful, but Rafferty was clearly a more sophisticated and talented musician, going on to release some amazing albums. Did you now that Dire Straits opened for Rafferty on some of his biggest tours?
I enjoyed the stories about Connolly’s Dad taking he and his sister to Rothesay, on the Isle of Bute, for summer holidays during the Glasgow Fair. And handing their buckets and spades to the incoming Paisley Fair kids as they left. The descriptions of the trauma of a knitted swimsuit are very funny.
This book has a lot of heart and soul, and captures the Scottish population very nicely.
Let’s start with some more of “Sunny Side of the Street”. The original and Kermit’s version from Vaughan’s:
The Australian Teskey Brothers came across Spotify again this week. What a great sound:
And this song by FREEMAN popped up again. I really like this one:
Here’s an interesting biography of Diana’s Mum, Clorinda, written by a fellow member of the Pacifica Historical Society.
Written by Jean Bartlett, December 4, 2019
(APacificaHistorical Society Project)
In 1977, Clorinda Di Lonardo Campagna, her husband Dr. Sebastian Campagna, and their daughter and five sons moved to Pacifica, California. Prior to that, the growing family lived briefly in places that included: Nebraska, Michigan and New Zealand. How did the couple meet? Sebastian first noticed Clorinda when he saw her photo in the San Jose Mercury News. It was an announcement. The soprano would be performing with the Santa Clara Philharmonic.
“It is because of music that Sebastian and I met,” Clorinda said. “It was in the late 1950s and Sebastian saw my photo and decided to call me up. He wanted to meet me and I said, ‘No, I’m too busy and I don’t know you.’ But I did tell him to come to the concert. I remember my father asked me, ‘Who called you?’ I was embarrassed. This sort of thing had never happened to me. But Sebastian came and he introduced himself.”
“We didn’t really date,” she said. “We were both very busy with our professional lives. I was teaching full-time in the Alum Rock School District in San Jose and Sebastian at that point in time was in general medical practice in San Jose.”
But they did like each other and love bloomed. In 1963 they joined their paths at the altar.
* * *
Clorinda’s life has its roots in Guardia Sanframondi, Italy. In fact, the home where her father Carlo Di Lonardo was born still remains in the family. Guardia Sanframondi is a small town in Italy’s Campania Region in the Province of Benevento. It is 1,400 feet above sea level and looks out over the Titerno River Valley and the Valley of the Calore. The castle at the top of this hilly, cobble-stoned city was built in the
late 1400s. Rich with surrounding vineyards and olive trees, the medieval town is famous for its grape harvesting, olive pressing, annual wine festival and its Rites of Penance Festival.
“My father was from a family of five brothers and two sisters. His family’s business was olive oil and they had acres of olive trees. My mother, Costanza ‘Connie’ Foschini, was also born in Guardia Sanframondi. She and her sisters were known for never leaving their family home unless they were dressed perfectly! My mother and father were the same age, both born in 1898. At the very least they met in school, if they didn’t know each other beforehand. My father used to say, ‘The only thing Mussolini did for us is he made every child in Italy go to school.'”
After Carlo and Connie married they lived in Carlo’s family home. That is where the first of their five children, all daughters, were born.
“My sister Ludovica was born at home in Guardia Sanframondi in 1922. On the day she was born, my father was on the ship to the United States. It was a hard decision and it took a lot of courage to leave his wife and their daughter. But he and Connie knew it was best. He had cousins in Hackensack and two of his brothers lived in New York, and like a number of his family members he felt there was greater opportunity in the States. When Ludovica was 7, she and my mother came by ship to New Jersey. By then my father was established. He had bought a home on Grove Street in Hackensack, he had steady work as a cement finisher and he had planted a large garden filled with fruit and vegetables. His family would be taken care of.”
Connie,Ludovica and Carlo Di Lonardo, circa 1929.
Pasqualina “Lena” was the couple’s second daughter and 14 months later, Clorinda came along on October 24, 1931. In Latin, the name “Clorinda” means renowned. Her father told her that when she was born, he was reading some Italian literature where the heroine, a warrior, was named “Clorinda” – and now, so was she.
“My mother was so proud that I came along on the 24th,” Clorinda said. “Because that was the official day the George Washington Bridge opened.”
New York Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated the bridge the day Clorinda was born. The bridge which spans the Hudson River, connecting Fort Lee, New Jersey to Washington Heights in Manhattan, New York, opened to traffic on October 25. It was eight months ahead of schedule.
Shirley was Carlo and Connie’s next daughter, and Margie was born in 1936. “We lost Margie in 1977 and it was heartbreaking. My parents were so stoic. Margie was very talented. She could play the piano without ever having taken a lesson and she couldn’t read music. She was an artist and a painter. She taught music in Orinda and the sound she got from her fifth grade students just made tears roll down my cheeks. She died of a primary tumor in the liver. I still miss her.
“I understand Italian but I don’t speak it. My parents both spoke English and both became U.S. citizens. My father formed a night school in the community to help prepare other immigrants for U.S. citizenship. He had real leadership ability, including with children. We had one boy in our neighborhood who was frequently in trouble and who often made trouble over at our local school. There were two families in our neighborhood that were German – we were all immigrants – and at school, he was calling their kids ‘Nazis.’ When my dad heard about this, he got all the boys in our neighborhood to come sit on our front steps so he could talk to them. We were told to go inside and we were a bit nervous because these boys, all of them, were our friends. What was my father going to do? But my dad talked to this boy and all the boys. He said, ‘We are all Americans and neighbors here and we don’t call anybody names. That just can’t be.’ My father and my mother were both very much about community – always help where you can help.
“At one point I remember that people wanted my father to run for mayor of Hackensack but he said,
‘No, I can’t be mayor, I don’t have the education for that.’ My father was a people person. He was devoted to his faith, as was my mom, and he was handsome. I remember when I was 11 or 12, after I went to church with my family, I was going to walk to the candy store around the block and meet my girlfriends. But they were waiting for me when I got out. ‘What are you doing here?’ I said. ‘I thought we were going to meet at the candy store?’ And they said, ‘Well, we are waiting to see your dad.’ ‘How come?’ I asked. ‘Because he is as handsome as a movie star,’ they told me. That really shocked me. He was just my dad!
“As to my mother, oh how she could sing. Everybody knew when Connie was baking bread. She was singing at 5 o’clock in the morning! She was, however, most definitely the more serious of the two and my dad loved to tease her and she never smiled when he teased her. I remember one New Year’s Eve in Hackensack, my dad had made wine with grapes from California’s Santa Clara Valley and he shared it with the neighborhood. We had a three story house, which included the basement, and the wine was down in the basement. This particular New Year’s Eve he thought it would be fun if his daughters came downstairs with him and then when we went back upstairs – we all pretended that we were drunk. My mom did not laugh and was so angry that she told us all to go outside. It was freezing cold and it was dinnertime and we were hungry. So my dad went to the store, bought hot dogs, came back and heated up the barbecue and my dad and all of his daughters ate outside. Eventually my mother let us back in. She knew we were there. She could see us through the window. But that was my father and my mother!”
During the Depression the family struggled financially and her father worked every hour he could. But her parents grew their own vegetables and kept chickens and rabbits and there was always enough to eat. In addition, there was always music playing.
“My mom constantly tuned into all this wonderful Italian music on the radio, straight from Italy, and we never missed a Metropolitan Opera broadcast. I liked opera from the moment I heard it.” (Like the George Washington Bridge, the Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts were also launched the year Clorinda was born…and they are still going.)
Clorinda also began singing as a little girl and her ability to sing was recognized early on.
“I’ll never forget my kindergarten teacher,” Clorinda said. “She was a tall, beautiful blond woman with a beautiful voice, and she had us kids singing all of the time. When she realized that I could carry a tune too, she really encouraged me and invited me to sing.”
Clorinda sang in school performances. She sang with her church’s children’s choir, intermediate choir and when she became a teen, with their adult choir. Serious vocal lessons began when she was in sixth grade. Her school principal talked to Clorinda’s father. “Mr. Di Lonardo, Clorinda is ready for professional lessons.” He recommended vocal instructor Mary Olney Smith. Mary was just graduating from Mannes School of Music in New York City. And so Clorinda’s musical career began.
“Our cousins that lived next door were all musicians. I had an uncle in Italy who had a beautiful tenor voice and his son was a boy soprano with the Metropolitan Opera Boy’s Chorus. So it was not a surprise that I went into music.
“I really had a wonderful childhood in New Jersey. One of the things I so fondly recall are Sunday car rides with my dad. He loved the country, and he would take his girls to the southern part of New Jersey where there are some beautiful lakes. We would bring bread or crackers to feed the ducks and he would say, ‘If you are good, you can get all the ice cream you want at the creamery just across the way,’ and that’s exactly what we did!”
Fourofthe five Di Lonardo sisters: Clorinda, Lena, Shirley and Margie. Circa 1947.
In 1945, the family moved to California’s Santa Clara Valley.
“My father’s cousin was stationed in California during the War. When he came back to New Jersey, he described all the orchards he saw and he said to my father, ‘Carlo, California is for you.”
The Santa Clara Valley, which in the 1940s had more than 100,000 acres planted with orchards, was known throughout the world as the “Valley of Heart’s Delight.”
“My dad and my sister Lena came out first,” Clorinda said. “They drove across the country with another relative who was moving here. My dad wanted to be sure it was the kind of place he wanted to bring his family to – and the minute he saw it he knew this was where we belonged.”
“Through relatives my dad met Frank Iusi,” Clorinda continued. “Frank was a realtor and he was very successful. He became my father’s mentor and friend, and he helped my dad find the house that became our first home which was in the village of Agnew, California.” (Agnew has since incorporated into Santa Clara). “We packed up the house, put things on a moving truck and then my mother, my two younger sisters and I came out to California on the bus. My eldest sister, who like all the Di Lonardo daughters went to college, was married and remained in New Jersey. We stayed in that first home for maybe a year and then moved to another home in Santa Clara. Frank found us that home as well. Finally, and this is all within a four-year period, we settled in Campbell. Frank found a home which had five acres of apricots and was exactly what my dad wanted. My dad was a grower and always wanted fruit trees.”
California was a beautiful place to move to. Clorinda attended Santa Clara High School and sang with her high school’s chorus. She also studied voice with Helen Kalas. Helen was Clorinda’s first vocal teacher on the West Coast. The daughter of the Czech-born cellist Jan Kalas, Helen came recommended by a national touring concert pianist Clorinda had met in New York at a recording studio. (Clorinda had been sent to New York by her vocal teacher to make a professional recording.) Clorinda also became a member of Santa Clara’s Wutzit Club.
Circa1948. Clorinda meets Robert Alda, center, and also says hello to a family friend at a Santa Clara youth organization fundraiser.
The Wutzit Club was a youth recreational organization. It was started during the Second World War by a handful of youth to put the kibosh on any juvenile delinquency. By the time Clorinda moved to Santa Clara, the Club was run by Father Walter E. Schmidt, Society of Jesus. The Club had weekly radio broadcasts, a glee club, a club newspaper, a dramatic society and a sports program. They also sponsored three dances a week, did community work and offered classes in the arts. When Clorinda joined in 1948, she was one of 1,000 Club members. Father Schmidt was also the co-founder and coordinator of the Golden Circle Theatre Party – an annual “Wutzit” fundraising event at San Jose’s Civic Auditorium – which featured local high school performers and a number of Hollywood stars. At one of the Theatre Party events, Clorinda was singing with her high school chorus and got a chance to say “hello” to someone backstage who she knew from Hackensack. He used to come and sing at her cousin’s house.
“My cousins lived next door and they had converted their garage into a little studio. I remember that when I was a little girl, this fellow from Hoboken (about 20 minutes south by car), used to come over and sing with them and then they’d all hang out at the local soda fountain. I talked to him as well. One time he gave my mother and my sister Margie a ride to the hospital because Margie had gotten her hand stuck in some sort of a chain.” That “fellow” was Frank Sinatra and Clorinda’s cousin was the drummer for the Shep Fields and “His Rippling Rhythm” Big Band.
Following high school, Clorinda attended San Jose State College (now San Jose State University). A spinto soprano, she studied with contralto and professor of music, Maureen Thompson, while continuing to study with Helen Kalas. (A spinto soprano is a lyric soprano with darker color and more weight to her voice. For the spinto, it is easier to push through the big climaxes of the dramatic repertoire. Leontyne Price is a spinto soprano.)
In 1953, Clorinda graduated with a dual major in music and education. While studying at San Jose State, appearances included soloist with the San Jose State A Cappella Choir under the direction of William J. Erlendson, professor of music, and with the San Jose State Symphony Orchestra, in 1952, under the baton of Dr. Lyle Downey.
From an April 3, 1952 announcement in the Spartan Daily regarding an upcoming performance at the San Jose Civic Auditorium, featuring, as pictured above: John Morrison, Gloria Collins and Clorinda Di Lonardo.
Following her graduation, Clorinda continued to perform. She also taught full-time in San Jose’s Alum Rock School District. Along with being a sixth grade teacher, she additionally taught glee clubs and the Teacher’s Choir. She taught in San Jose for four years and then, following her performance with the Santa Clara Philharmonic, she was awarded a vocal scholarship with the Music and Arts Institute of San Francisco. There she studied in an opera workshop with conductor and pianist Dr. Antonia Brico, history’s first woman symphony conductor, and singer Alma Michelini, a protégé of Juilliard School of Music voice teacher Mme. Marcella Sembrich. (Mme. Sembrich was the first star of the Metropolitan Opera performing the day after the Met opened in October of 1883 and immediately becoming a household name.) Clorinda would also perform with Arthur Fiedler, the longtime conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra.
“I was still living at home when I got the invitation,” Clorinda said. “I had never heard of the Music and Arts Institute. I was excited and nervous. I asked my father, ‘Do you think I can do this?’ And he said, ‘Yes you can.’
“I had never driven to San Francisco so my dad came with me the first time. But then when I drove myself for the first time, I was pulled over by a police officer. He told me I was going too slow. I told him I had never driven to San Francisco and he asked me where I was going. I told him and gave him the address. And he said, ‘Follow me!’ Everyone at the workshop knew I was coming and they all saw me arrive with a police escort. Of course they never let me live that down!”
Clorinda’s performance résumé story also includes participation in opera workshops with composer, conductor and professor Fedor Kabalin at the University of California. She was the 1960 Western Regional Winner in the American Opera Auditions. She sang the leading role of the governess in the Northern California premiere of Benjamin Britten’s opera “The Turn of the Screw,” staged by the University of California. She performed with the Oakland Symphony in Verdi’s “Requiem.” In 1961, she performed the lead role of Princess Yaroslavna in Alexander Borodin’s “Prince Igor,” on the stage of the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House. Under the direction of 1955-West Bay Opera founder Henry Holt, she performed the role of Amelia in Giuseppe Verdi’s three-act opera “Un ballo in maschera” (A Masked Ball) at Palo Alto’s Lucie Stern Theatre. (Both the Opera and the Theatre – the latter which is also the stage for TheaterWorks and the Palo Alto Players – are still highly prized Bay Area performance events.)
Clorinda as Amelia in the West Bay Opera production of Giuseppe Verdi’s three-act opera “Un ballo in maschera” (A Masked Ball) at Palo Alto’s Lucie Stern Theatre. Circa 1961.
October8, 1961, soprano Clorinda Di Lonardo was photographed for the San Francisco Opera by the Opera’s photographer Carolyn Mason Jones.
In October of 1961, Clorinda sang the title role of Floria Tosca in Giacomo Puccini’s three-act opera “Tosca” at the Oakland Auditorium. Presented by the Italian-American Federation, tenor Sebastian Campagna sang the role of Cavaradossi – Tosca’s lover. Sebastian is the same man who introduced himself to Clorinda after seeing her picture in the paper. Who is this man she would marry less than two years later?
From Omaha, Nebraska, Sebastian Campagna was a state high school wrestling champion who went on to organize and coach Creighton University’s first varsity wrestling team in 1939, while he was a junior law student at the same school. He, along with his brother Don, additionally served on the Bluejays 14-man squad. Also a stage actor, his credentials included a number of performances with the legendary Omaha Community Playhouse. After he became a lawyer, he moved out to California. Following his service in the Second World War, he decided he didn’t want to be a lawyer. He felt he had much more to give and he wanted to become a doctor. His Creighton professors told him he was too old to become a doctor.
“Before I knew Sebastian, he was doing general practice in San Jose,” Clorinda said. “He then did a surgery residency with Presbyterian Hospital in San Francisco, with Stanford and one with Kaiser. In addition, he was a tenor. Following WWII, he auditioned for the San Francisco Opera Chorus in his Army uniform. Gaetano Merola, the founder of the San Francisco Opera and the director of the Chorus listened and said, ‘The soldier will sing in the Chorus!'” After the couple met, Sebastian studied under Clorinda’s vocal coach Alma Michelini.
On June 29, 1963 Sebastian Campagna and Clorinda Di Lonardo married at St. Lucy Catholic Church on Winchester Boulevard in Campbell, California.
Clorinda andSebastianCampagna, June 29, 1963, Campbell, CA.
The couple’s first child, Diana, was born in San Francisco, where Clorinda was also working as a substitute sixth grade teacher. Their second child, Victor, was born in Lincoln, Nebraska. These moves followed Sebastian’s long list of educational requirements – licensing, trainings, boards – to become a thoracic cardiovascular surgeon. There was a move to Texas and a move to Michigan. The latter is where their son Giancarlo was born. Sebastian did his cardiothoracic surgery fellowship in Auckland, New Zealand where the family lived for close to two years. Their fourth child, Leonard, was born in Auckland.
Clorinda continued to perform throughout their travels. In Auckland, she performed in numerous live concerts with a pianist. In Wellington, New Zealand’s capital, Clorinda recorded the “Poème de l’amour et de la mer” (“Poem of Love and the Sea”), a song cycle by Ernest Chausson, with the New Zealand National Symphony. The recording was subsequently broadcast on various radio stations in New Zealand. In addition, Clorinda did live radio broadcasts in Auckland, with an accompanist, performing songs from a soprano’s repertoire. She also enjoyed meeting New Zealand’s world-renowned lyric soprano Kiri Te Kanawa at a high tea at Dame Te Kanawa’s home.
“You never know what might happen,” Clorinda laughed.
Clorindaathomein Auckland, New Zealand with Victor, Leonard, Diana and Giancarlo. Circa 1970-1971.
When the couple and their family returned to the States, they first went to Mississippi. Sebastian was going to be part of a heart team there. But the family didn’t stay. They wanted to return to the Bay Area.
Their fifth child, Marco, was born in Sanger, California. Next stop, Switzerland – an opportunity came up for Clorinda and the family of seven moved there for about a year. Clorinda had been invited to be a participant/performer in The International Opera Studio, which was established in 1961 under the patronage of the Friends of Zurich Opera. In 1973, the Campagna family was back in the Bay Area and their fifth son, Adamo, was born at Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose. When Dr. Campagna became a part of the Pacifica Medical Center on Aura Vista Drive (now Bill Drake Way), the family moved to Pacifica. It was 1977. They rented at first and then bought their home on Gypsy Hill. Clorinda estimates that she, Sebastian and their children planted over 2,000 trees along their neighboring hillsides.
TheCampagnafamily,circa 1984. Sebastian and Clorinda seated, with their children, from l to r: Marco, Giancarlo, Victor, Leonard, Diana and Adamo.
The children all attended Good Shepherd Catholic School once they arrived in Pacifica. Diana attended San Domenico High School in Marin, Victor attended Oceana High School in Pacifica, and Giancarlo, Leonard, Marco and Adamo attended St. Ignatius College Preparatory in San Francisco. Clorinda continued to sing at various Bay Area events. She was also the volunteer choral music instructor at Good Shepherd for many years and later did some substitute teaching in Pacifica. Then there were her additional volunteer projects.
She’s been involved with Pacifica’s Annual 4th of July Celebration at Frontierland Park for more than 30 years. When the late, legendary Pacifica Tribune columnist Paul Azevedo passed in May of 2004 (Paul’s column “The Reactor” ran for three decades), Clorinda took over what he had done for many, many years at the Celebration – read to the crowd from the three parts of the Constitution – all of the Preamble, and some of the Articles and Amendments. The Declaration of Independence is also read in full.
“What I do is bring in people of all different ages – adults, elementary school students and high school students – to be readers,” Clorinda said. “When Paul passed away I thought we shouldn’t stop doing these readings. I think it is important that we realize our patriotism because we are kind of reluctant to show it or talk about it. I also think bringing in our young people as participants is important. They are our future.”
In addition, Clorinda provides the vocalist who sings “The Star Spangled Banner.”
“This is generally a young person from our town who is in high school or home from college,” Clorinda said. “All of the students who take part in our Annual 4th of July Celebration do so because they care.”
For a number of years Clorinda served as member of Pacifica’s Open Space Committee. She continues to be very active with Good Shepherd Church and is a longtime member of the Church’s Women’s Guild. She has been on the Committee for Pacifica Coastside Relay for Life since 2006 when her grandson, now in his twenties and a cancer survivor, was diagnosed with childhood cancer. She is a longtime volunteer with the Pacifica Historical Society, constantly working with its dedicated team of volunteers to successfully save Pacifica’s history. One of the Society’s projects, now completed, was to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to restore Pacifica’s oldest public building, the Little Brown Church, and turn it into the Pacifica Coastside Museum. Clorinda chaired a number of partnering events to bring in contributions. One such partnering event brought Pacifica’s iconic Winters Tavern to the table. Billed respectively as “Pacifica’s down ‘n’ dirty bar featuring live rock, folk & bluegrass bands in a rustic, wood- paneled space” and “the best dive bar in town,” Winters held a “Prom Night” in fundraising support for the Museum’s extensive, foundation-to-roof renovations.
“When you partner together with people and businesses in your community, everyone feels like they have a stake in the project and they want to be involved.”
She also continues to support the Pacifica Sea Lions. The Pacifica Sea Lions swim team is a competitive swimming program for youth 5-18 years of age. All of Clorinda’s kids were Sea Lions growing up and Clorinda has long been a force behind the Sea Lions hamburgers and hot dogs booth. She has also been a longtime believer in and fundraiser for UNICEF. On a family note, she is thrilled to be the grandmother of twelve, six boys and six girls.
In 2010, Clorinda was presented with an Outstanding Individual Contribution Award from the Pacifica Chamber of Commerce. In 2018, she was one of eight honorees singled out by Pacific Coast TV for continuous efforts which inspire and strengthen the community. For an opportunity to hear Clorinda sing, click into this link. It was recorded in 2012 at St. Ignatius Church in San Francisco. The occasion was the wedding of her son and daughter-in-law, Adamo and Amy.
Jean Bartlett photo
In 2011, Pacifica Historical Society members Clorinda Campagna, Pat Kremer, Jim Kremer, Kathy McGuire and Shirlee Gibbs get ready for “Prom Night” at Winters Tavern, a partnership fundraiser chaired by Clorinda.
Pacifica Historical Society photo
HelenJamesandClorinda Campagna, at Pacifica’s Sam Mazza Castle, put the details in order for a Pacifica Historical Society fundraising event for the Pacifica Coastside Museum. Circa 2005.
Sebastian Campagna died on June 4, 1993. Clorinda still remembers it as if it was yesterday.
“We were both going to visit my father’s old friend Frank Iusi to provide some paperwork he needed from us. At the very last minute, we were almost out the door, I got a call from Cabrillo Elementary School wanting to know if I could be there as a substitute immediately. I figured they really needed someone or they wouldn’t have called so late. I was dropped off at Cabrillo by either Sebastian or Adamo. At 4 o’clock I was waiting to be picked up but no one came. Then Adamo came and when I saw his face, I knew something had happened.”
Sebastian was killed in a car accident. His car was hit by a train earlier that day as he made his way to the Hall of Records in Redwood City. He was 77.
“Sebastian was such a good man, such a smart man and a wonderful husband. He was also a wonderful father. I’ve often thought about how I was supposed to be in the car with him. I guess God was just ready for Sebastian. There must be more things I need to do and I am happy to do them.”
Jean Bartlett photo
Clorinda at a Pacifica Coastside Museum fundraiser in 2014.
Clorindawithherparents,Carlo and Connie Di Lonardo, on her wedding day in 1963.
Both parents were always very supportive of Clorinda’s singing, but her dad said early on, “How are you going to make a living?” But he also said, “Whatever you do, Clorinda, be true to yourself.”
ThefiveDi Lonardo daughters, June 29, 1963: Ludovica, Clorinda, Lena, Shirley and Margie. “My sisters also very much supported my music journey. I had opportunities I wouldn’t have had without such strong family support. I’m very grateful.”
Clorinda andSebastiandance together for the first time as husband and wife.
Onstage with two of the leads in the Omaha Community Playhouse presentation of A.B. Shiffren’s comedy, “I Like it Here.” Sebastian Campagna, left, as Willie M. Colombo, and Charles Hoffman, right, as Sebastian Merriweather. April, 1947. (Sebastian was studying medicine in Omaha.)
FollowingtheSecondWorldWarandbeforehe met Clorinda, Sebastian auditioned for Gaetano Merola, the founder of the San Francisco Opera and the director of the San Francisco Opera Chorus. The conductor listened to the tenor’s vocal and Sebastian was immediately awarded a spot in the Chorus.
Clorindawith her childrenonthe occasion of her 75th birthday, l to r: Leonard, Victor, Clorinda, Giancarlo, Diana, Adamo and Marco. October 24, 2006.
Clorinda Di Lonardo Campagna and Sebastian Campagna, June 29, 1963.
Penelope and I made the drive down to Austin on Monday morning. I was pleased to finish the trip with no back pain or other issues. P was happy to get up some decent speed for once – she typically maxes out at 45 mph on my short commute to the office.
The pins were extracted from my finger on Tuesday afternoon. The doctor says everything looks good, but my finger looks pretty ugly still – new nail required. I did find this ornament in the doctor’s office quite entertaining. That finger looks much better than mine.
The University of Texas was hosting an event to celebrate ground breaking on the new Moody Center – a basketball and concert venue to replace the 40 year old Frank Erwin center. This event started right after my finger appointment and was a short walk away – why not?
The event turned out to be quite something. Intro speeches by all the University brass and the “Minister of Culture” for the new Center – Oscar winning actor Matthew McConaughey. Free food trucks from several Austin classic spots – I enjoyed an empanada from Four Brothers and a delicious green chile pork taco from Torchy’s.
Moon Taxi (an indie rock band) performed after the speeches and I thought they had a very pleasant sound.
The whole event is what would be called a langiappe in New Orleans.
I almost forgot to share a picture from the event. I had my picture taken with the UT mascot – Bevo. Turns out this is Bevo XV – who knew there had been so many?
Those cheerleaders seem quite excited to be getting their picture taken with me. McD’s comment – I leave him unattended for a couple of hours and look what happens.
I enjoyed a nice long walk back home from the event. Here’s a nice view of the Capital on the way. Can you believe the tree in front of the Capital is fake? It’s true – I watch them assembling it level by level.
Diana’s bus wasn’t due for another 45 minutes and so I made a minor detour to Antone’s to listen to some free Blues music – what a deal.
The band included Denny Freeman and Sarah Brown – a couple of our favourites.
I was able to drag myself away from the music just in time to meet Diana arriving on the bus.
We had a delicious dinner with Damon on Wednesday at the Odd Duck. This is the last time we’ll see him before the holidays. He was very effusive in describing the Frozen play that his daughters are performing in this coming weekend. We just heard a recording and he had every right to be proud – beautiful voices.
I watched an inept Dallas Cowboys performance on Thursday night (at least until I fell asleep). Such a disappointing game from a team with so much talent!
We enjoyed a good Austin evening on Friday – starting with the Rosie Flores Review at C-Boy’s Heart and Soul. Rosie is 69 and belting it out and playing the guitar beautifully. I love their cover of the Blind Faith song “Can’t Find My Way Home”:
Diana chatted up Wayde who has a new food truck on the C-Boys patio. I laughed as he walked the waffle fries we ordered around every table asking – “Did you order these?” – a great advertising trick. He was quite a talker and turns out a fire fighter when not operating the truck.
Here’s a cover of Springsteen’s “Luckytown” from Rosie:
I really like the feel of C-Boys Heart and Soul. From there we made our usual stop just up South Congress at June’s, enjoying escargot and steak tartare. From there it was a pleasant one mile walk back home.
On Saturday we did some minor grocery shopping and some Christmas shopping on South Congress. There was a nice artist market set up by Guero’s and interesting gifts in some of the weird little stores. It was a beautiful day to be out and about, with temperatures in the mid 70s. We enjoyed an episode of “The Crown” in the evening. This one was set in 1967 and featured Prince Philip’s mother being rescued from Greece and visiting Buckingham Palace – a piece of history with which I was not at all familiar.
Sunday included the usual standards – workout, coffee and crossword, and football. No Cowboys but an excellent game between the New Orleans Saints and San Francisco 49ers in the Superdome. San Francisco ultimately winning 48-46 in a thrilling back and forth game. One of the best that I’ve seen in several years. Now we’re both working on things we need to have ready for work tomorrow – very boring!
I’ve very much enjoyed “Nine Lives: Mystery, Magic, Death, and Life in New Orleans” this week. Dan Baum tells the tales of nine New Orleans residents from Hurricane Betsy in 1960 through Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Baum was reporting on Katrina and fell in love with the city that Hurricane almost destroyed. His writing on the nine characters from different races, sections of the city, and backgrounds, captures New Orleans very well. It really is heartbreaking to read the stories of Hurricane Katrina – particularly that the city survived the actual storm but was then let down by the levees and water management system. Such a wonderful city that still suffers through so many problems.
All this talk of New Orleans has reminded me of the wonderful nights I’ve spent at Vaughan’s listening to Kermit Ruffins (features in the Nine Lives book as a kid at a backyard barbecue).
But let’s start out with a very catchy new song from the Lumineers that I’ve been hearing on the radio:
My Spotify Discover weekly took me to New Orleans also. This song from Snooks Eaglin – a superb blues artist that I saw at the original Rock N’ Bowl weeks before his death and not too long after Hurricane Katrina.
The same Discover list had me back at the Kessler listening to the unique James Hunter from England.
And let’s have Kermit finish things out this week with a song I heard the same night as I heard Snooks. Denny and Anne took me over to the broken down shack that is Vaughan’s to revel in Kermit’s genius. The late, great Henry Butler was sitting in on keyboards. What a memory.
The week started off on a bittersweet note. We had a farewell dinner for my boss, Mark, who is leaving the company. I’m sorry to see him go and it brings a lot more responsibility for me. D and I will miss going out with him in Austin.
We organized the dinner at Eddie V’s – an excellent seafood and steak house in downtown (next door to the legendary Antone’s blues club). Team members joined us from Guatemala, Canada and Australia. Everyone that Mark wanted there showed up. Diana did an exemplary job of selecting wine and appetizers for everyone. We particularly enjoyed going around the table telling our favourite Mark stories. Adam was hilarious. Going clockwise from me we have Caleb, Mark, Adam (Canada), Issac, Roy (Australia), Norma (Guatemala) and Damon. And not to forget our excellent photographer Diana.
Norma thought she was very funny in the office on Tuesday. Sitting with a bandage on her finger just waiting for me to notice. In her defense, she brought an amazing bottle of 23 year old Ron Zacapa rum from Guatemala that we all enjoyed very much.
Saturday started with the normal routine – workout followed by coffee and crossword. Then we walked over to the excellent downtown Austin library, walked back on the river trail, made a Xmas shopping stop at the Yeti flagship store, and relaxed on the balcony with books. What great weather.
Festivities picked up nicely on Saturday evening. We tried a new Vietnamese restaurant called Mandala. What delicious flavours and creative dishes. Edamame with truffle oil and sea salt, surf clam ceviche, mini rice pancakes, and Vietnamese curry chicken – all excellent. McD was pleased with an inexpensive and very good French champagne. This place is certainly a good addition to the expanding Austin restaurant rotation.
clam ceviche
A short walk from Mandala and we were at the One-2-One bar for Shelley King’s new CD release party. And it was indeed a party – for the great value price of $10.
Here’s a favourite from the new CD – “Levon’s new drum set” – a tribute to the late, great Levon Helm of The Band. Shelley was in Woodstock to play one of Helm’s Midnight Rambles in the barn by his home. This was the week that Levon passed and there was no Ramble. At the time that the concert would have started, there was a massive thunderstorm. Shelley viewed this as Helm playing his “new drum set” in heaven. What a great song:
Then special guest Carolyn Wonderland joined the band, picking up the energy and guitar level immediately:
The next special guest was long tall Marcia Ball on the keyboards for “Hurricane Party”. Shelley told the story of Marcia being scheduled to play shows in Florida that were cancelled due to the hurricane. She called Shelley to arrange a dominoes game – like a “Hurricane Party”:
Another lovely night of music in a small Austin club. Four different bands were playing in the One-2-One on Saturday – an amazing array of talent.
We were up early for a workout on Sunday morning, and then packed up and made the drive to McKinney. I arrived just in time to catch the last few exciting minutes of the Saints game – they eked out another last minute win. The Cowboys are not doing so well now in freezing cold, rainy New England.
I finished “Conviction” by Denise Mina this week. Here’s the Amazon synopsis:
The day Anna McDonald’s quiet, respectable life exploded started off like all the days before: Packing up the kids for school, making breakfast, listening to yet another true crime podcast. Then her husband comes downstairs with an announcement, and Anna is suddenly, shockingly alone.
Reeling, desperate for distraction, Anna returns to the podcast. Other people’s problems are much better than one’s own — a sunken yacht, a murdered family, a hint of international conspiracy. But this case actually is Anna’s problem. She knows one of the victims from an earlier life, a life she’s taken great pains to leave behind. And she is convinced that she knows what really happened.
Then an unexpected visitor arrives on her front stoop, a meddling neighbor intervenes, and life as Anna knows it is well and truly over. The devils of her past are awakened — and in hot pursuit. Convinced she has no other options, she goes on the run, and in pursuit of the truth, with a washed-up musician at her side and the podcast as her guide.
A true-crime podcast sets a trophy wife’s present life on a collision course with her secret past in the “blazingly intense, exciting as all hell” (A. J. Finn) new thriller from Denise Mina. We just listened to A.J. Finn’s “A Woman in the Window” on audible, and now we’re listening to Mina’s “The Red Road”. Audio books make the drive back and forward from Austin to McKinney pass much quicker.
I enjoyed this passage as the protagonist arrives at Skibo castle:
“First the hills across the water rose into view, pale and round. Then the sea became visible on the left, molten grey with the winking lights of oil rigs in the bay for repair. They stood ankle-deep in the shallow water, like giants wading, home for tea. Lastly; the castle rose up from behind a screen of strategically grown trees.”
This passage looks much better with double spaces after the periods. Something about the font and the single spacing after periods really bothered me. That and the five or six typos I found in a published book.
I heard this song by Patty Griffin on Sun Radio – what a pretty tune. So many great “River” songs – Springsteen, Joni Mitchell, Leon Bridges, and the young Dallas blues guitarist whose name I can’t remember right now.
Seth James was playing the Sun Radio Wednesday night show at Guero’s Oak Garden. Listening on the radio, I loved the Little Feat feel, the horn section and his guitar playing.
Kevin Galloway was playing at the Saxon Pub on Friday night – but not until 11pm – too late for us old folks. I do love his music and hope to catch an earlier show.
Busy, busy, busy with work all week and into the weekend for both of us. I had a big system migration project that we’ve been working on for months, and Diana had a variety of annoying challenges.
McD arrived in Austin on Thursday evening on the bus. Our friend Vinod had to spend his birthday in Austin to work on the migration, so we took him out to a nice vegetarian dinner on Friday night at Bouldin Creek Cafe. His gift was his very own Baby Penguin, which also became our migration mascot.
Our BP was very happy to have some brief company.
After dinner, we decided to see if we could make our way into the Austin City Limits music festival to see Guns ‘N Roses. We were very fortunate to run into “Marcus the ticket guy” on Barton Springs, and he fixed us up with wrist bands for a very reasonable price. The wrist bands are very fancy. A few minutes later we were transported back to the classic rock of the late 1980s.
The stage show was the most elaborate and impressive that I’ve seen, complete with fireworks for the finale:
Axl Rose’s voice wasn’t too bad, but Slash’s guitar playing was as good as ever. He seems to be channeling some Texas blues here:
Cold November Rain and Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door were the two highlights for me:
I think Diana and Damon enjoyed the show almost as much as I did. We herded back out onto Barton Springs with the hordes and made it to Juliet to regroup and have a drink. We met a nice couple, Daniel and Natalie, and invited them to join us for the late night show at the Continental Club. Our luck continued, an SUV was parked right outside and ready to shuttle us over.
Western Youth had just started when we arrived at midnight. This is my favourite local band and they put on a great show.
Diana snapped a picture of the setlist:
After such a late night, we muscled through a late workout on Saturday morning and had a pretty lazy day. We met up with Damon for dinner at El Naranjo. This is an Oaxacan style Mexican place that I had been wanting to try. The ceviche and duck with mole sauce were very good. Apparently over 30 ingredients go into that thick, dark mole. I have a little left over for dinner tonight, and I’m thinking it may be even better now. After all the excitement on Friday, we called it an early night.
I had to wake at 4am for a checkpoint call on Sunday morning for our system migration. It has mostly gone well, but we’re still troubleshooting some printing issues as I write this post.
Workouts were earlier on Sunday and we were able to make a quick trip to Opa for coffee and crossword before I had to resume work. The Cowboys had a weak showing against the winless New York Jets, ultimately unable to eke out a win in the last few minutes – very disappointing.
I thought this news story was entertaining. Penelope was not laughing.
I finally finished the 500+ page novel, “The Most Fun We Ever Had”, by Claire Lombardo. I enjoyed this book, but it did go on for a while. Here’s what NPR had to say:
“Lombardo, a Chicago native and recently minted University of Iowa MFA graduate, has crafted an intricate multi-generational saga about the vicissitudes of a passionate but not perfect marriage over a 40-year span. Her capacious novel also encompasses the “vast hormonal hellscape” the couple has spawned — four cattily close, constantly sparring grown daughters trying to figure out their place in the world as they measure themselves against their mother and each other.
Set in the Chicago suburbs, Lombardo’s book has been compared to The Corrections,Jonathan Franzen’s seminal ode to a dysfunctional Midwestern family.”
I liked Franzen’s “The Corrections” a lot, and I suspect it was that comparison that encouraged me to read this one.
I thought this was a very pretty song when I heard it this week:
I enjoy the Fruit Bats and am surprised they are still so unknown:
A work colleague saw Fastball in Austin this week and raved about the show. I didn’t realize they were based here.
Warning – whiny paragraph ahead. We closed out September in Austin with 16 days over 100 degrees. Ridiculous. Ludicrous even. Why such an effusive reaction, you ask? Well, an average September has 3 days over 100. Why is it necessary to have 5 times as many as normal on the year that I spend most of my time here? Just to torture a guy that was designed to excel in 50 degree, rainy weather. Just to finish off my whine, I’ll share that we’ve had 54 days over 100 so far this year – which interestingly is quite a bit below the record.
I’ve enjoyed watching the preparations for the ACL music festival this week on my commutes down Barton Springs. Oh sorry, some of you haven’t heard of ACL I’m guessing. Fast forward if you know all about it already.
Austin City Limits (ACL) is a long running and totally excellent Public Television music series filmed live in Austin. I’ve been enjoying the show for at least 20 years now. The ACL music festival was born in 2002 and has grown into a mammoth production, staged over two weekends in October. The event has 8 stages across Zilker Park and this year is October 4-6 and 11-13. 450,000 people attended last year and so you can imagine that central Austin is very busy right now.
I was by myself again on Monday night, but Diana did leave me some of her leftover sea bass. What to pair with that delight, I wondered. A tour of the freezer yielded the perfect accompaniment – veggie tater tots. A delicious bachelor meal. McD commented that she particularly appreciated the squiggle of mayonnaise.
We successfully concluded a massive, global, highly complex (I know I’m really overdoing it now) project at work on Tuesday. Seriously, they have been at it for over 3 years, with all kinds of challenges and starts and stops, and we finished successfully with our last sites in Mexico this week. Lots of back slapping congratulations, flowery thank you emails, and the like ensued. That lasted about 10 minutes, and then it was time to get back to work again. Worn out from all the celebratory high jinx, I enjoyed quiet nights at the apartment on Tuesday and Wednesday, reading and listening to music. More about the music discovered later, as usual in these posts.
Thursday took me from the “Live Music Capital of the World” (Austin) to “Music City USA” (Nashville) for a long weekend.
Diana made a similar trip from Dallas – greatest musical claim being the birth place of Stevie Ray Vaughan – and we rendezvoused in Nashville around the same time. A quick Uber to the Westin downtown and we were ready for a quiet dinner and an early night. The Decker & Dyer restaurant in the hotel fit the bill perfectly.
What do you think of this as a replacement for Penelope? I’ll be tallying votes and will report out next week. They do say that orange is the new black. Take my back condition and size into consideration when casting your ballots please.
Why did we choose Nashville for a few days away? Well…after the Marc Cohn and Blind Boys of Alabama concert that we saw in California a few months ago, McD said that she hadn’t had enough of just Marc Cohn at the show and wanted to see him again when it was just him playing his regular catalog. The best location we could find for that was the City Winery in Nashville on Sunday.
A workout was called for after a lazy start to Friday. Then, as it was a beautiful sunny day outside, I suggested lunch on the rooftop of the Thompson hotel in the Gulch area. My wife quickly approved that plan. One of our party should have applied sunscreen prior to the walk over to the Gulch and time in the direct sun on the rooftop. I’m sure it’s difficult for you to imagine who could have been so silly.
A quick regroup at the hotel, and then it was time to head over to East Nashville to reprise a few of our favourite haunts. There really are a lot of similarities between Austin and Nashville – a rapidly gentrifying East area of town with great restaurants and bars, a compact and walkable downtown, and a vibrant music scene.
We started with a cocktail on the back patio of the Rosemary speakeasy. This place has become a bit more commercial since our initial discovery, and not in a great way. Still a good spot, just not as charming. It was on the patio, once I had a drink in hand, that Diana informed me that she would like to go to Blake Shelton’s restaurant the next day. Yee haw!
Unlike Rosemary, our dining destination, the excellent Butcher & Bee, seemed even better than we remembered. The whipped feta and grilled mushrooms were fabulous. A huge thanks to Diana for asking the hostess to seat us away from the loud party of girls – they were very high pitched and loud and I wouldn’t have lasted through the meal beside them. Nashville has become a huge bachelorette party (hen party for my Scottish readers) destination – we saw so many groups riding around town in open topped buses and trailers, even a party fire truck, dancing and having a good time. At least it keeps them out of the way of folks trying to enjoy the restaurants. The book that our bill was delivered in sent us on a trip down memory lane – Beatrix Potter. I read some in my best upper crust English accent.
We were proud to get a workout in again on Saturday morning, before setting off for the madness of Broadway. This is a street similar to 6th street in Austin – one honky tonk with live music after another for 3 or 4 blocks. It was particularly packed at lunchtime on Saturday.
We satisfied D’s request and had a pleasant lunch at Ole Red, Blake Shelton’s place. The downstairs was communal seating and we sat with nice folks from North Carolina, who ordered the largest plate of nachos I’ve seen. Our fried pickles and quesadilla were equally massive. Lance and Lea provided a pleasant mix of musical accompaniment. I texted Alicia: “You’re Mom is torturing me!”. The rapid reply: “Welcome to the club. We’ve been waiting for you!”. Phunny girl.
My navigational skills failed me again after lunch. I was trying to follow the walking directions on my phone to get to the Ryman auditorium. Diana was quite convinced we were headed in the completely wrong direction – even more annoying because I was headed uphill. Of course she was correct, and we got some unnecessary exercise in after the large lunch.
We did a self-guided tour and really enjoyed exploring the Ryman. The movie that starts the tour was exceptionally well done and did a great job of covering the history. Originally opened in 1892 as the Union Gospel Tabernacle, its construction was spearheaded by Thomas Ryman (1843–1904), a Nashville businessman who owned several saloons and a fleet of riverboats. Ryman conceived the idea of the auditorium as a tabernacle for the influential revivalist Samuel Porter Jones.
Lula Naff leased the building in the early 1900s and promoted all kinds of shows and events. Some of the names to perform in the early years include Marian Anderson in 1932, Bill Monroe (from KY) and the Bluegrass Boys in ’45, Hank Williams in ’49, The Carter Sisters with Mother Maybelle Carter in 1950, Elvis in ’54, Johnny Cash in ’56, trumpeter Louis Armstrong in ’57, Patsy Cline in ’60, and Minnie Pearl in ’64. The Ryman also served as the regular Sunday venue for the Grand Ole’ Opry and Johnny Cash TV shows.
After falling into disrepair, and a renovation spear-headed by musicians, who loved the acoustics (said to be better than Carnegie Hall) and atmosphere of the venue, the Ryman hosts performances by big name musicians most nights of the week. Here’s a picture of some of the folks that have played there:
The tour finishes with a photo opportunity. Here are the next big stars to be discovered at the Ryman. Poor Diana is just trying to avoid being bonked on the head with my guitar.
I’m not sure you’d be very comfortable in the ancient pews while listening to us perform:
After another short rest at the hotel, it was time for a real highlight of the trip. I had read about a restaurant named Bastion that sounded right up my alley: only 24 seats large, advertising an “adventure menu”, and spinning vinyl records. On arrival through a sliding metal door, you are welcomed into the little bar for a pre-dinner drink. Jeremiah took very good care of us. Then we were seated at the kitchen counter and presented with our “adventure menus” to make selections. Only a couple of ingredients are revealed to aid in the decision making process.
D’s choices
The courses were excellent with lovely presentations and descriptions.
All of this deliciousness was set off beautifully by the “Fly Blind” wine pairings – some really unusual selections. And of course there was the treat of vinyl albums for background music – some early Elvis Costello for the 2nd course.
A very impressive fire was burning outside the restaurant with coals transferred inside regularly for the inside grills.
Bastion is so good that I would recommend people make a trip to Nashville just for the experience of dining here.
Sunday made three workouts in a row – a rare feat with our work schedules. Then we reprised another old favourite – brunch at Husk. The shrimp and grits were different and tasty, but still not up to the gold standard – Ricks in downtown McKinney. The rain stopped long enough for us to walk back to the hotel, passing the City Winery on the way. They were having their 5th anniversary harvest festival outside, with really good bands playing – including Ivan Neville and Dumpstaphunk. We chose not to spoil our musical appetite for the big evening show.
The Cowboys played the Green Bay Packers at 3:25pm and I found a sports bar just off Broadway to watch the game. The Corner Pub had a massive screen showing all the games and we found a good spot in time for kickoff. What a horrible first half – nothing working for the Cowboys and everything clicking for the Packers. Ugh! The Boys pulled it together in the second half with some good play, but it was all too little and too late. What a disappointment.
Can you guess what wasn’t a disappointment on Sunday? That’s right – Marc Cohn. Mark Erelli opened the show – a very talented singer songwriter, who had recently played at the Ryman. The sound in the City Winery is really fabulous. I appreciated his song “By Degrees”, which I believe is about the need for improved gun control. Erelli showed up later to play guitar on several Marc Cohn songs – and did an excellent job on slide guitar.
I have another of Erelli’s songs that I’ve been enjoying in the new music section at the bottom of this post.
Marc Cohn played all of our favourites and sounded as good as ever. Diana commented that she could hear the Blind Boys in her head on “Work to Do”:
Then came my favourite, “Listening to Levon”, a tribute to the late great Levon Helm of the Band:
The song that put Cohn on the musical map, “Walking in Memphis”, with the classic “Ma’am I am tonight” line:
“Silver Thunderbird” always tugs at the heart strings:
And now it was time for the closer, also the opener to our wedding reception and my marriage proposal, “True Companion”.
We were fortunate enough to have Marc Cohn sign a new poster he was selling, featuring the lyrics to the last verse of True Companion. Diana took the time to tell Cohn about the first time we heard him play the song, and his very kind gift of flowers to a military wife in the Kessler audience, whose husband couldn’t make it to the show – not a dry eye in the house.
Diana was very happy with the show and the experience – and isn’t that what life’s all about – sharing happy times with your True Companion.
She wasn’t so happy the next morning with her 4am start to get back to Dallas for a client meeting. I had a more leisurely start, time for breakfast, and even the best shoe shine I think I’ve had, before flying back to Austin.
Such a fun trip – I’m glad you were able to join me Diana.
As promised, here’s “The Hitter” by Mark Erelli. Did you already forget about him? Remember, he opened for Marc Cohn.
There’s a new album, “Ode to Joy”, by Wilco out this week. I’ve only listened to it once through. I was surprised in the first few songs that there was none of Nels Cline’s angular guitar playing. It did finally show up, but this is certainly mellower than their recent output.
I watched an interview of Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top this week, and he was talking about this Lightnin’ Hopkins song. I’m sure you can here a number of ZZ Top songs in this.
And finally, a new discovery for me, ZZ Top’s superbowl halftime performance from the late 90s:
This was a very busy and enjoyable music week. The festivities kicked off with Lonelyland at the Saxon Pub on Monday. Bob Schneider has been playing this regular residency at the Saxon for 20 years now.
This was an excellent show – very laid back and quiet (mostly) compared to a typical Schneider show. Here’s the setlist for the show – my favourite song was “The Band Played On” – a very melancholy song.
If you’re a real Schneider fan – here’s the livestream of the full show. Don’t miss the humorous “Natural Woman” followed by “Eye of the Tiger” closing.
We met Vinod for dinner at the Bouldin Creek Cafe on Wednesday evening. This is a vegetarian restaurant close to our apartment that we chose with Vinod in mind. The food and ambiance were very good. McD commenting, “These are the best fajitas I’ve ever had”, on her portabello mushroom fajitas. Vinod and I enjoyed our veggie burgers and particularly the chipotle pesto sauce. Meals with Vinod are always very entertaining.
On the drive to the restaurant, I noticed a sign on the El Mercado Mexican restaurant alerting us that John Inmon was hosting Marcia Ball as his guest. After dinner, we paid our $5 cover and enjoyed the last 40 minutes of that excellent show. John Inmon is known as one of the finest guitarists in Austin (pretty rarefied company) and hosts a different guest every Tuesday night. What a treat to see Marcia Ball with a different band and playing songs that you don’t hear in her regular sets recently. Here’s the excellent “World Full of Love”. Marcia and her friend told the story of writing this song after the last election – they were not happy with the result but turned around that sentiment into this beautiful song:
Thursday brought the drive back to Dallas so that Diana could attend a meeting downtown. We listened to more of our audible book, “The Apartment”, getting close to the concluding exciting part. Diana texted me this picture from the client office, asking me if I was interested in attending. “Absolutely”, was my speedy response. I’m a huge Eric Clapton fan and this festival includes many of the world’s best guitar players.
We headed down to American Airlines Center early on Friday afternoon and were the first folks to arrive at Diana’s work suite. The show started with Bill Murray introducing Sonny Landreth (an amazing slide guitar player from New Orleans). Last time I saw him was with less than 50 folks at the Rock N’ Bowl – bit different this time.
Eric Clapton and his band (including Andy Fairweather Low – my Mum’s 2nd cousin) were up next and provided a beautifully nuanced acoustic set – including these two gems:
Gary Clark Jr., another amazing Austin guitar player, joined Citizen Cope for this one – such a great guitar sound:
Sheryl Crow was joined by Doyle Bramhall (last seen at Antone’s small club in Austin) for one of my favourites of hers, “Steve McQueen”:
I think Jimmy Vaughan had one of the best sets of the evening (and there were a lot of good ones). We last saw him a few weeks ago at the tiny C-Boys Heart and Soul club on South Congress in Austin – quite a change in venue. He started out with the same band from C-Boys:
Vaughan’s first guest was the lovely Bonnie Raitt:
Then things picked up on the crowd pleasing dial. Billy Gibbons of ZZTop joined for a couple of songs, getting the crowd going with “Sharp Dressed Man”
We saw Marcus King at the Hula Hut in Austin during South by Southwest and loved his voice. Things were a bit loud and overdriven at this show. I did enjoy this quieter song, “Goodbye Carolina”:
Next up was Peter Frampton – weeks away from entering retirement. He started with a lovely instrumental version of Hoagey Carmichael’s “Georgia on my mind”, and then transitioned into the famous “Do You Feel Like We Do”, from the best-selling live album of all time, “Frampton Comes Alive”:
Then we had a real moment. Frampton introduced a gentleman that he’d known for a long time, but had never played with, Eric Clapton. A real one of a kind experience as they played the Beatles, “My Guitar Gently Weeps”:
Jeff Beck finished out the show. A special guest ambled onto the stage to sing John Lennon’s “Isolation” – Johnny Depp – he did a decent job on a great song:
What an amazing event, finishing after midnight, wait – there’s a song about that. Who wrote that? Eric Clapton you might quickly answer, but you’d be wrong – it was J. J. Cale. Check out the original version later in this post. Thanks Diana, for an excellent event. The logistics of this event were incredible – a rotating stage so that there was a very short gap between music, and satellite stages to add some special interest. The setlist for Saturday (Vince’s buddy was recording the show and provided this) shows the precision involved:
Here’s the setlist from the show we saw on Friday:
Main Event in American Airlines Center from approximately 7PM on Friday, September 20th:
Sonny Landreth: Walkin’ Blues, It Hurts Me Too, Instrumental (Title Unknown), Brave New Girl
Eric Clapton with Andy Fairweather Low, Jamie Oldaker, Steve Gadd, Nathan East and Pedrito Martinez: Circus, Nobody Knows You When You’re Down And Out, Tears In Heaven, Wonderful Tonight, Lay Down Sally
Bonnie Raitt, Keb’ Mo’ and Alan Darby – 1 song. Alan played the new Gibson Custom Eric Clapton 1964 Firebird 1 Recreation which is part of the 2019 Crossroads Guitar Collection.
Citzen Cope – 5 songs including Bullet And A Target and Sideways. Gary Clark, Jr. joined for one number
Gustavo Santaolalla – the Argentinian guitarist and composer opened with the Apology Song, followed by a selection of songs from film soundtracks he composed.
Sheryl Crow – 6 song set with guests Bonnie Raitt and James Bay. If It Makes You Happy, Steve McQueen (with Bonnie Raitt), Live Wire (with Bonnie Raitt), Everything Is Broken (with Bonnie Raitt and James Bay), Every Day Is A Winding Road (with James Bay)
Pedro Martins and Daniel Santiago – 3 song set
Kurt Rosenwinkel with Pedro Martins – performed 6 songs. Songs were taken from Kurt Rosenwinkel’s album Caipi and Pedro Martin’s album, Vox.
James Burton and Albert Lee with Jamie Oldaker and Nathan East: That’s Alright Mama, Rock Around With Ollie Vee
Jimmie Vaughan and The Tilt-A-Whirl Band with guests Bonnie Raitt and Billy Gibbons: D/FW, Roll Roll Roll, No One To Talk To (But The Blues), Baby Please Come Home (with Bonnie Raitt), I Ain’t Never (with Bonnie Raitt), Sharp Dressed Man (with Billy Gibbons), La Grange (with Billy Gibbons)
Doyle Bramhall and Gary Clark, Jr: Rock Me Baby
The Marcus King Band: 7 song set including I Just Want To Make Love To You, Hoochie Coochie Man and Goodbye Carolina.
Peter Frampton with Eric Clapton: Georgia On My Mind (Instrumental), Do You Feel Like We Do, While My Guitar Gently Weeps (with Eric Clapton)
Jeff Beck with guests Johnny Depp and Jimmy Hall (pending confirmation): Jeff’s set included Big Block, Isolation (with Johnny Depp), Somebody’s Nobody (with Johnny Depp), Superstition (with Johnny Depp and Jimmy Hall), Little Wing (with Johnny Depp and Jimmy Hall)
While we were enjoying all of this varied and excellent music in Texas, Will was presenting to a Redwood City elementary class about the solar power system he installed for their school. You can tell he’s loving the chance to interact with the kids:
It’s been a very good football Sunday – the Cowboys won easily over the Dolphins (scoring two TDs while I was facetiming with my parents), the Eagles lost, and New Orleans beat Seattle with a backup quarterback. And Nick Baudin, Campbell’s friend since elementary school in Los Gatos, hurdled a defender for a first down for the Detroit Lions.
I started “The Most Fun We Ever Had” by Claire Lombardo this week. The first 100 of 500 pages have been enjoyable. I suspect it’ll take me a few weeks to finish this one. The multi-generational story of a Chicago based family seems like it will provide many hours of interesting reading.
There’s a new ablum from the excellent Teskey Brothers, a Melbourne based blues/soul band that I really enjoy:
Here’s the original version of “Isolation”, performed by Jeff Beck and Johnny Depp on Friday. It really reminds me of Dark Side of the Moon era Pink Floyd and could easily be a Roger Waters song:
Let’s finish out the week with even more excellent music, the original version of “After Midnight”:
I highly encourage you to check out all of Cale’s wonderful catalog.