Category: Books

Week in Review – January 19th, 2025

“Back to Pacifica, CA”

On Monday, we walked to Walgreens to drop off a Kate Spade FedEX return.  I bought Diana an iPhone bracelet for Christmas and it’s the wrong size.  I got quite confused and called Kendra Scott to ask about it, prior to realizing that the bracelet was actually from Kate Spade.  I even tried to visit the Kendra Scott store for help, before realizing I had made the same mistake twice.

After the walk, we drove over to Frenchy’s gallery on Oak Street to look at a painting that he did of Jon Batiste at Jazzfest last year.  We had a very nice visit with Frenchy, just back from the Big Easy music cruise.  He told us stories and showed the paintings he made on the cruise.  I liked the Marcia Ball one, and he also had a great one of Keb Mo.

We liked the Jon Batiste painting very much – it captures the show that we saw at Jazzfest very well.  It is now hanging on the wall behind my piano.

Frenchy said he snuck Tab Benoit in as the middle marching Jazzfest guy.

Here’s some biographical information on Frenchy:

“Born to a boxer and a saint on August 16th, 1970, in Lowell, MA, Randy Leo Frechette – a.k.a Frenchy – has been drawing since he could grip a pencil.
In grade school he impressed friends with caricatures, but he realized his true calling when The Boston Horns persuaded him to paint their Orlando performance LIVE. Since that day, Frenchy’s presence has filled venues around the globe with an explosion of creative spirit.
New Orleans has been his home, and his muse, since 1997, where the eclectic street and music scene continuously inspire his creative expression. Immersed into the sights and sounds of New Orleans, he could be found in music clubs such as the Maple Leaf Bar almost any night, mastering his “acousti-optics” with musical legends such as the Grammy Award-winning ReBirth Brass Band and more.”
I really enjoy seeing the painting each time I come in the front door.
We dropped “Table for Two” by Amor Towles off to Kenny after Frenchy.   After that I tried Mint for a Vietnamese lunch – closed on Monday.  Val’s Oaxacan Mexican was our backup.  Delicious – mushroom queso fundido and an empanada for me, very unique and creative nachos for Diana.

Julia dropped off these pretty tulips as a get well from back surgery gift:

Clorinda was admitted to the hospital again, and so we flew to San Francisco on Wednesday afternoon.  We spent the majority of the rest of the week shuttling back and forward to Mills Peninsula hospital to spend time with her.  The NFL playoffs provided a little bit of distraction:

Alicia shared the annual report from her work with us.  She had a big part to play in the content and layout, with particular attention on the Director’s message.  Communivercity seems like a wonderful organization that brings together Community, University (San Jose State), and City in partnership to solve problems and encourage our youth.

It’s nice to see Alicia so happy and rewarded by such a worthwhile job.

My sister Elspeth’s birthday was on Sunday.  I enjoyed telling her that it was also:

My first book this week was “Walking with Sam:  A Father, a Son, and 500 Miles across Spain,”  by Andrew McCarthy:

“Andrew Thomas McCarthy is an American actor, travel writer, and television director. He is most known as a member of the Brat Pack, with roles in 1980s films such as St. Elmo’s Fire, Pretty in Pink, Mannequin, and Weekend at Bernie’s. He is ranked No. 40 on VH1’s 100 Greatest Teen Stars of all-time list.”

The book had me remembering a wonderful movie, “The Way”,  where Martin Sheen walks the Camino de Santiago with his son filming and directing.  A great movie, and this is a pretty good book.  A quick and enjoyable read.

McCarthy’s son takes a while to settle in to the routine of the walk and to feel comfortable opening up to his dad:

“Then—I’m not sure exactly how—the topic turns to school. “School lowered what I perceived I’m capable of,” Sam says. “It did me more harm than good.” There is suddenly real emotion in his voice, real hurt. This is not fresh hurt, like the hurt he has been working through regarding The Ex, but a more saturated hurt. A hurt he has carried for years, for most of his life. It is the hurt born of lazy definition and judgment thrown heavily upon him like a wet overcoat. A hurt that blindsided him, then threatened to define him. His is the hurt of someone who was misunderstood and dismissed out of hand, before he had a chance to define his own experience. It is a hurt that, for a time, came closer to swallowing my son than I knew. It is a hurt with calcified edges.”
A fellow walker comments on the father-son relationship of the McCarthys:
“James nods. We sit. “I want to thank you,” he says softly. “For what?” “For showing me what a father-son relationship can be.” I wave the remark away. “You don’t see us when I’m trying to get him out of bed, or when I’m tired, or when he’s hungry, or, or, or…” “Just accept the love.” James smiles, throwing my words back at me. “I’ve wanted to walk this with my son… so thank you.” I sit with his remark. “You two talk about a lot, don’t you?” he begins again.”
McCarthy really opens up to his son:
“I went to my dad while he was dying, after years of estrangement. His eyes betrayed him, his terror. I took his cool, now lizard-like, hand in mine. I wanted to let go but didn’t. I sat with him. I apologized for not being the son he had wanted.  I loved him. When we were beyond words, we released our past—let it fall to rot on the ground where it belonged. More than a vestige of love remained. I had gone to my father selfishly—and it must be said, at my wife’s urging. I did so that I might be a better father to my own children. The gifts children bear us are complex. Sam hurries to catch up. “Wow, Dad.” “I’m sorry, Sam. I shouldn’t have spoken like that.” I shake my head. “I’ve learned nothing.” “No, you were right.” “That doesn’t matter.” We walk. “Dad?” “Yeah?” “Your Spanish has gotten really good.””
As the duo approaches the end of the 500 mile trek, they are joined by many more walkers who are just doing the final section and haven’t endured the full experience:
“Older couples march with determination. Teens whoop and holler. Long-haul pilgrims stride with confidence. Gone is any resentment over newbies or interlopers to the trail. “All these people,” Sam says, “this is so cool.” He begins to sing Bruce Springsteen’s “The Promised Land,” loudly. Mister I ain’t a boy, no I’m a man And I believe in a promised land.”
On completion of the 500 miles:
“We order Coke and coffee. I go into the bathroom and, as the door locks behind me, I’m surprised by a burst of sobs. Relief, sadness, joy, somehow disappointment, confusion, exhaustion, exhilaration, comingle—the awful truth of the sweetness of life throbs in an unguarded mix of emotions.”
I’m about halfway through my second book, “Martyr” by Kaveh Akbar.
Here are some online reviews:

“NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • SHORTLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD • ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW’S 10 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR • ATIME MUST-READ BOOK OF THE YEAR • A newly sober, orphaned son of Iranian immigrants, guided by the voices of artists, poets, and kings, embarks on a remarkable search for a family secret that leads him to a terminally ill painter living out her final days in the Brooklyn Museum. Electrifying, funny, and wholly original, Martyr! heralds the arrival of an essential new voice in contemporary fiction.

“Kaveh Akbar is one of my favorite writers. Ever.” —Tommy Orange, Pulitzer Prize–nominated author of There There

“The best novel you’ll ever read about the joy of language, addiction, displacement, martyrdom, belonging, homesickness.” —Lauren Groff, best-selling author of Matrix and Fates and Furies

Cyrus Shams is a young man grappling with an inheritance of violence and loss: his mother’s plane was shot down over the skies of the Persian Gulf in a senseless accident; and his father’s life in America was circumscribed by his work killing chickens at a factory farm in the Midwest. Cyrus is a drunk, an addict, and a poet, whose obsession with martyrs leads him to examine the mysteries of his past—toward an uncle who rode through Iranian battlefields dressed as the angel of death to inspire and comfort the dying, and toward his mother, through a painting discovered in a Brooklyn art gallery that suggests she may not have been who or what she seemed.”

I have mixed feelings about the book so far – hasn’t really sucked me in too well.  Hoping for a pick up in the second half.
The New Orleans Jazzfest 2025 lineup was announced this week, and it includes the jamband Goose.  I heard a great set from them on my friend Matt’s Houston radio show a few weeks ago.  I’ve been doing some listening, and am not sure I love them – a bit too much sameness to the guitar noodling.  What do you think?
And yes, I’m having trouble embedding Spotify links over the last two weeks – always upgrading and breaking things.  After an hour or so of putzing around, I think it’s fixed:
I do like this Goose song quite a bit:
And finally, something from the latest Chuck Prophet album.  We were supposed to go and see him at Chickie Wah Wah on Thursday night, but will have to wait on the next tour now:
Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all!

Week in Review – January 12th, 2025

“Carnival Kick-off”

We just took down Christmas and now it’s already time to put up Mardi Gras.  Here’s some helpful information on when Carnival starts and how Mardi Gras Day is decided:

“As the new year rolls in, a much more important holiday for New Orleanians follows closely on its heels: Twelfth Night, the official start of Carnival season in the Crescent City.

Each year on Jan. 6, as other Americans are taking down their Christmas decorations, residents in New Orleans and other parts of the Gulf South start hanging Mardi Gras beads and ordering their favorite king cakes.

As the name suggests, Twelfth Night always comes twelve days after Christmas, no matter where Fat Tuesday falls on the calendar. Though the tradition has evolved into a night of revelry and a kickoff to the celebratory season, the holiday’s roots lie in Christianity.

In the Christian tradition, Twelfth Night is also known as the Epiphany. On this day, believers celebrate the Magi, aka the three kings, visiting baby Jesus with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

But some historians say the post-Christmas celebration stretches back even further to Roman and Celtic times.

Twelfth Night celebrations reached their height during medieval times, according to a 2021 article form History.com. The day served as the exciting end to the Christmas season and as a time when social cues were turned upside down as mischief and revelry were celebrated.

Europeans living in the Middle Ages also celebrated the holiday with a special cake that contained a bean or another trinket hidden inside. Whoever found the trinket was king or queen for the day and would be responsible for hosting the party next year. Sound familiar?

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The Krewe de Jeanne d’Arc parades through the French Quarter of New Orleans on Saturday, January 6, 2024. (Photo by Chris Granger, The Times-Picayune)

How it’s celebrated now

Instead of being the culmination of the Christmas holiday, Twelfth Night in New Orleans is just the beginning of a season full of parties, merriment and costumes.

Many also consider it to be the first acceptable day to bite into a king cake. These days we’ve traded the bean for a plastic baby, thanks to Donald Entringer, owner of McKenzie’s Bakery.

From there, parades and celebrations will continue throughout Carnival season until Mardi Gras Day, which lands on March 4 in 2025.

New Orleans residents and visitors will be able to don purple, green and gold for a little longer during the 2025 Mardi Gras season, which will last over twice as long as last year’s celebrations.

Longer season this year:

The beginning of Carnival season always takes place on Jan. 6, the 12th night after Christmas. But the actual Mardi Gras holiday depends on Easter and the moon.

Mardi Gras is celebrated the day before the Christian holiday of Ash Wednesday. This year, it won’t happen until March 4, leaving revelers with over eight weeks to celebrate the season.

Last year, Mardi Gras fell on Feb. 13, limiting the Carnival season to just 28 days.

Fat Tuesday routinely falls 47 days before Easter (since Sundays are not counted in the 40 days of Lent), and is held the Sunday following the first full moon after the spring equinox.

An equinox, known as the vernal equinox during spring, occurs when the sun is directly above the equator and day and night are of equal length. This happens twice a year, once in March and once in September.

This year, the spring equinox is March 20, and the first full moon to follow it will be April 13. That means Easter will fall on the next Sunday, April 20, leaving us with a March Mardi Gras date.

We braved the chilly weather on Monday (Twelfth Night) to greet the Phunny Phorty Phellows short streetcar parade.   It’s one of those where you wait around for a while and then it’s past in a minute.  Diana had constructed a special hat from various prior year accoutrements.  I sported the new purple hat the boys gave me for Christmas.
Before braving the cold, we watched the memorial services attended by President and Jill Biden.  They laid flowers at the Bourbon Street memorial, met with families, and then attended a multi-faith service at St. Louis cathedral.
Gail Benson carried the first tribute candle down the aisle, followed by relatives and friends of those lost:
The President gave a short and effective speech to end the very sad proceedings.
Tuesday was mostly consumed with Diana’s back surgery.  We arrived at the hospital at 9am and left a little after 4pm.  The actual procedure didn’t take too much over an hour.  Here’s McD with her space blanket prior to being rolled off to the holding area:
I was confident I had time to sneak out for breakfast and tried the Bearcat Cafe – just a few hundred feet from the hospital.  I enjoyed the food and thought it was a bit expensive and overly hipstery.  I did manage to get some good reading and viewing time in the waiting room for several hours.  The colour coded system to tell you what was happening with the patient, and the text messaging system, worked spottily.
I talked to the surgeon right after she finished and she reported that all had gone well.  The bulging section of the disc was larger than she had anticipated (MRI was from a few months ago), but she got it all out.  Diana seems to be recovering quite well.
Meanwhile, in Steamboat, Colorado, the Ogans and Kirsches were enjoying the first sunny day of their ski trip:
How’s Hamish doing these days?  Well, based on these photos, he seems to be blossoming very nicely:
On Thursday, we took the dressing off Diana’s incision site and cleaned off the iodine and left over glue from the EKG stickers.  All looks good and her recovery seems to be going very well.  Just a bit of lingering pain at the incision site if she sits on a seat that puts pressure on it.
Frenchy has a painting of Jon Batiste at the 2024 Jazzfest that I think would look great behind my piano.  I had been in touch with him, and he said to go by the gallery and look at in the window.  We did that but couldn’t see it – typical Frenchy.  I’ll swing by when the gallery opens again on Monday.
Since we were on Oak Street, we stopped into Juan’s Flying Burrito for lunch.  Their Luau quesadilla (shrimp, bacon, etc) is always delicious.    After that we returned home and then walked over to Aidan Gill for a haircut for me (somewhat overdue, but not as much as a beard trim according to McD.)
I finished up the day by hanging the Mardi Gras flag and bunting.
Diana tried out her new puzzle board and Christmas puzzles as she recuperated.  The penguin puzzle has so many interestingly shaped pieces – lots of penguins.  Diana left one piece for me to finish – a la Denny.
On Friday we made a visit to the New Orleans Athletic Club and then enjoyed lunch at 1,000 figs.  Their falafel plate is excellent and plenty to split between two.
We had the guys and Kara over to watch the UT and Ohio State game on Friday night.  Diana made pigs in the blanket, wings and jambalaya.  Thom brought some Midway pizzas.  We were well fed, even if the result of the game wasn’t to our liking.
On Saturday, we made a trip over to Bright Eyes Optique for Diana to check out new contacts and for us both to get new lenses and frames with our new prescriptions.  Diana got some fun purple coloured sunglasses.
Diana finished her second puzzle (minus the “Denny piece”) – this one is of the flatirons behind Boulder.
I watched a few entertaining movies this week.  The first “Feast of the Seven Fishes” was a direct flashback to Christmas Eve – some classic scenes that took me directly to the kitchen at 1, Gyspy Hill Rd, Pacifica.
Then, “The Company You Keep” with an amazing ensemble cast – Robert Redford, Julie Christie, Susan Sarandon, Shia LeBeouf, Nick Nolte, Anna Kendrick, Stanley Tucci, Chris Cooper.  Are you kidding me?  It’s as if they asked me for several of my favourite actors and put them all together in a movie.  I’m not sure the story lived up to all the star power, but it was an entertaining watch:
And finally, “Brexit – The Uncivil War”.  This was a good insight into the work done behind the scenes that swayed the vote towards “Leave.”  Benedict Cumberbatch is excellent as always, and the story provides some great views into what might have happened:
I finished Amor Towles “Table for Two” this week.  So many folks have told me they either liked the short stories, or the novella, but nobody liked both.  I really enjoyed all of it.  “I Will Survive” and “The Bootlegger” were my favourites of the short stories.  Towles characters and observations are just so well done.
I finished up the “Wonder of Stevie” podcast series – highly recommended.  This horn section intro always makes me smile:
I listened to “Innervisions” and “Songs in the Key of Life” this week.  Such amazing music, and to think he played the majority of the instruments on all of these in his early twenties.
Something from the new Mark Knopfler release – he just keeps turning out great music with his unmatched guitar:
Something from a relatively new Marcus King release.  I much prefer his solo material to his band output:
Coexist peacefully, with patience and kindness for all!

Week in Review – January 5th, 2025

“Happy New Year, followed by tragedy in New Orleans”

We rode a real rollercoaster of emotions this week.  The joy and camaraderie of our New Year’s Eve party, followed by the tragic news of terrorism that we woke up to the next morning.  Thanks to the many folks that contacted us to check on the safety of our family and friends.

The early part of the week was spent on party preparations – several shopping trips, put up decorations, set up the Bartesian bar area, and finally, pick up the Saj (local Mediterranean restaurant) catering.

We invited folks to begin arriving at 6:30pm, not expecting anyone until around 7:30pm.  Wrong – John and Julia showed up right on time and helped with the final preparations.  We had around 35 folks, including the various kids (really young adults) that came and went over the night.  Here are some pictures of the group:

Those are our neighbours, Roeland and Jules, on the right.  Jules brought his famous meatballs to share with the group.  Kenny is standing to the left of Diana, and he brought his very popular open-faced muffulettas.  Here are Nina (one of Diana’s favourites) and the leader of her fan club:

Diana repurposed Mardi Gras throw hats with New Year’s Eve appropriate bands:

Denny and Kenny organized a special performance from the original New Orleans character that is Valerie Sassyfras:

She set up in the side yard and everyone moved outside to enjoy the performance.  Very well received by most (Bad Fred isn’t a huge fan.)  I was amazed that McD was oblivious to the whole thing until I invited folks into the backyard.

We’re all getting older.  Only six of us made it to midnight:

We woke up to the tragic news of the terrorist attack around 3am on Bourbon Street.  I love what Chris Peet, one of our party attendees did to send a message when Bourbon opened up again:

I was reading the paper and thought, “that looks like Chris Peet,” – sure enough that’s exactly who it was, “reclaiming the route for love.”

I joined the guys at the Bulldog on New Year’s afternoon to watch the UT vs Arizona State college football playoff game.  UT had a comfortable lead and then Arizona came back to tie things up.  Double overtime was very stressful for Thom – he had to go inside and away from the chatter of the group to watch the last portion of the game.  UT ultimately prevailed.

On Thursday we celebrated Jack and Mason’s 22nd birthdays (born on o1/02/03) with a dinner at Pascal’s Manale.  The girls (including a special appearance by Julia, whose daughter works at Pascal’s) started with oysters at the stand up bar, and then we had a great time in the “Manning” private dining room.  That was followed by ice cream cake back at the Ogan residence.

Happy Birthday boys!

On Friday we had the pre-op appointment for Diana’s back surgery.  It’s starting to get real and bit nerve wracking for both of us.

In the afternoon we went to the Broad to see the new movie about Bob Dylan, “A Complete Unknown.”

The movie was very well done, with Timothee Chalamet excellent as the young Dylan.

After the movie, we walked across the parking lot to the Broadside Theater for the Willow High School band fundraiser.  This was a well done event, starting with a performance by the Willow band.  That was followed by the Hot 8 Brass Band – a group that I always enjoy.

Shamar Allan’s son is in the Willow band, and he had organized the event as a fundraiser for a trip the band plans to take for a competition at Disneyland.  Shamar’s band gave a fun performance, including a solo from his 13 year old son.

Saturday began with a couple of laps around Audubon park, and then we got to work on taking down the Christmas decorations and loading them up into the third floor attic.  We needed to get those down in preparation for putting up Mardi Gras stuff on Twelfth Night – Monday.  Not much of a break between the two this year.

Meanwhile, in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, David was quite pleased with his completed puzzle:

I started “Table for Two” by Amor Towles this week.  I’ve had it for over almost a year and have been waiting for a quiet time when I can really savour it.  The book consists of six short stories based in New York City and a novella set in Golden Age Hollywood.

I’ve heard mixed reviews on this from friends – some preferring the short stories, and others the novella.  I’ve enjoyed the first couple of short stories quite a bit – very entertaining and well written.

I heard this wonderful song, co-written by Bobby Charles and Rick Danko of the Band again this week.  Great music.

A wonderful cover by the Scotsman, John Martyn:

I really like this cover of “Treme” by Mahmoud Chouki, originally from Morocco and now based in New Orleans:

And let’s finish up with something celebrating the good aspects of the Crescent City:

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and compassion for all!

 

 

 

 

Week in Review – December 29th, 2024

“Holiday gatherings – and another one, and yet another one”

Diana’s friend, Amy, joined us in Pacifica on Monday.  I encouraged the girls to get out of the house for a while and they took me up on it.  Champagne at Nick’s and a view of the waves:

You don’t really get the perspective from the video, but those were some large swells – the same ones that washed away the pier in Santa Cruz.  After that the girls shopped at Sirens and then ran some other errands.  Diana always enjoys hanging out with Amy.

Tuesday (Christmas Eve) started with a visit from Campbell, Will, Christine, and Ollie.

Will brought some very yummy Indian food from Redwood City.  I don’t remember the name of the lamb dish, but that and the chicken Tikka were both delicious.  Thanks Will!

We had a fun gift exchange – I’ll have to show you a picture of my fancy purple hat when I wear it for the first time.

One of the more entertaining episodes was Will reminding us of his track and field and cross country activities in high school.  Funny that Campbell and I don’t remember anything about that.  He called his friend, Otter, who verified that they did high jump and long jump.  Hmmm.

I do remember Will skateboarding ALL THE TIME.  Told him to bring his board next time and take advantage of the new half pipe in Adamo’s back garden:

Immediately after that, it was time to start preparing for the Feast of the Seven Fishes.  Do we really need to go to this trouble every year?  Absolutely, apparently!  The seven fishes were:

Petrale Sole with prep by Giancarlo:

Scallops and lobster by Adamo:

Smoked salmon from Diana and Marco.  Regular salmon from Diana.  Anchovy pasta from Diana.  Shrimp wontons from Carolyn.  And it seems like we had a bonus fish that I’m forgetting.  I would ask Diana, but she’s having a well deserved nap.

There were a total of nineteen people for the fishes.  Clorinda had a great time holding court with everyone.

That feast was a lot of work and delicious.  Everyone had a good time.

Next up – Christmas dinner.   We worked on lamb lollipops, baked ham, and scalloped potatoes.  Carlo did a great job with the lamb, Alicia with the potatoes, and Giancarlo with a very healthy salad.  This was a more manageable group – Marco and Julie and family, Giancarlo and Carlo, and the residents of 1 Gypsy Hill road.

We wondered about adding the livestock outside the kitchen window to the feast:

Dinner was followed by a gift exchange.  I should have made a video of the dancing dog singing “We wish you a Merry Xmas” that Marco got his Mom.  She has quite a collection of those silly things now – that she loves.

Boxing Day – we met Sean and Sheri at Buck’s in Woodside for lunch – halfway point between south San Jose and Pacifica.  We hadn’t seen these guys in a while and we had a lengthy catchup on family, jobs and everything else.  A very pleasant few hours.

Friday – time for another group.  A lovely group consisting of Diana’s stepsons John and Joey and their families.  The four kids are so wonderfully interactive and well behaved.  Diana did a great job raising those two boys.

You don’t hear about these guys too often, so from left to right:

Bonna, Joey, Lilly, Ezra, Diana, Clorinda, Lianna, Ben, Alicia, Maddie, and John.  Such a great group of people.

We had leftovers and a gift exchange for the kids.  One of the highlights was a mask for Lianna that Diana got her in the French Quarter after her birthday brunch.

She has a masquerade ball dance coming up and was very excited.  Grammie is sporting a mask that she’s had in her closet forever.

This was such a nice visit and so calm – maybe my favourite of the week.

Saturday – time to pack up and head home.  I couldn’t believe how quiet the airport was.  We left early, expecting a very crowded situation.  There was nobody in front of us in the TSA line and the entire concourse was empty:

Gave us time for a drink and a salad at the Lark Creek Grill – very good.  We had a very friendly flight attendant that made the flight to New Orleans fun.  Fortunately our flight arrived just as the thunder storms moved out of the area – the three flights ahead of us were diverted to Dallas, which would have been a real pain.

We dropped off my library book and made a visit to Martin to stock up for New Year’s Eve.  Interestingly, Jude Law was spotted there this week:

I pulled up to the intersection of Prytania and Washington and it was all blocked off by police vehicles.  After discussion, they allowed us in to park in our drive, just before a second line parade came down the street in front of our house.  This is unusual – they usually turn on St. Charles.

The rest of today will be spent watching football and prepping for New Year’s Eve.

Look at this gorgeous view from my sister and brother in law’s home in Aberdeenshire this week:

I finished up Demon Copperhead this week – finally.  Kelly had recommended this to me with:

“This is a book that is funny, sad and endearing.  5 stars for sure.”

It won the Pulitzer prize and was an Oprah’s book club selection.

All that is well and good, but it really wasn’t a great read for me.  I must have missed the “funny” parts.  It was a slog through all the sad things that happen to disadvantaged children in the midst of the opioid crisis in underprivileged parts of the country.

I think Kingsolver did an amazing job of putting herself into Damon’s mind and writing from his perspective.  Really amazing.

The last quarter of the book held my attention much better than the earlier sections – likely because a bit of optimism crept in.

The last page was maybe my favorite, as it uses an oyster metaphor for the relationship between Demon and Angus:

“I was extremely unclear about where we were headed. Was she still my sister?

She smacked her forehead. “Oh my God. Oysters.”

“What about them.”

“You can only eat them in winter! June, July, August, they’re poison.

You have to wait till the months that have the letter R.”

This sounded highly doubtful. “Why is that?”

“Believe it or not, with my amazingly advanced degree, I don’t know.

It’s one of these things you pick up. I went to New Orleans a few times with friends.”

There he was, the friend. “And you’re saying it’s worth the wait? Because I’m saying Mrs. Peggot used to cook them in soup at Christmas, and I was not a fan.”

“This is nothing like that. At the beach they’re fresh. You crack them open and drink them right off the shell. Raw. Technically I guess still alive.”

“And that’s a good thing?”

“You won’t believe how good. It’s like kissing the ocean. Demon.” She leaned forward so I could see her face, and drilled those bad-girl eyes into me with a look that threatened my perfect driving record. “And it’s kissing you back.”

Oh my Lord. The girl has set her cap. Not my sister.

We talked the whole way through the Shenandoah Valley. The end of the day grew long on the hills, then the dark pulled in close around us. Snowflakes looped and glared in the headlights like off-season lightning bugs. Ridiculous nut that I’d been to crack. I drove left-handed with my right arm resting on her seat back, running my thumb over the little hairs on the back of her neck. The trip itself, just the getting there, possibly the best part of my life so far.

That’s where we are. Well past the Christiansburg exit. Past Rich-mond, and still pointed east. Headed for the one big thing I know is not going to swallow me alive.””

I don’t think I agree with all the hype around this book, and really don’t recommend it unless you want a deep view into the tough life of disadvantaged children from many aspects.

I really enjoyed the guitar sound and atmosphere of this new one from T Bone:

This sounds like something modern from the Grateful Dead’s “American Beauty” album:

Kathleen Edward’s voice is so pure on this Springsteen cover:

Another great version of this song:

And finally, Nick Lowe showing all the age in his voice to great effect:

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all!

 

 

 

 

Week in Review – December 22nd, 2024

“Multiple Birthdays”

When I left you last week, Kenny was coming to pick up Diana and shuttle her to the “Birthday Girl’s Brunch” in the French Quarter.  The ladies loved their time at Broussard’s and the location was a complete surprise to Diana.  Kenny and Keith know how to keep a secret!

Anne and Kara had spent some happy hours together crafting special cat eye glasses and bracelets:

Here they are modeling them in the Broussard’s lobby:

The ladies thought Diana needed a commemorative ornament:

Kenny had been trying to find a time when Diana would be gone for a few hours, so that he could execute on his birthday gift.  He spent over three hours pressure washing the front bricks while the girls were at lunch.  What a great job, and such a kind gift:

Look at the handmade card Kenny attached to the top of the stairs:

The ladies weren’t quite finished yet – they walked down Bourbon Street to Bar 33 (the bar owned by and next to Gallatoire’s) for French 75s.

Kenny drove down to the House of Blues to see a friend, Nina, perform and several of the ladies met him there.  Thanks to Kenny and Kara for delivering the almost sixty year old home safely.

We surprised Merry Lee for a late birthday dinner at Acamaya on Monday evening.  We arrived early and she was very happy to see us there.  Jeff pulled off a great surprise.  I love this restaurant – wonderfully creative Mexican seafood and different drinks.

After dinner we were looking for some music and I finally found a piano player at the Saturn bar – a short stroll from Acamaya.  BC Coogan treated us to “Classified” by James Booker on arrival.

 

 

 

Tuesday brought another birthday – Kenny this time.  Diana made some jambalaya, and the trivia group assembled at Kara and Kenny’s home for dinner and cake pre-trivia.

We did all right at trivia but did not place in the top three.  After that, we got to the Maple Leaf in time to catch a good amount of Bookerfest – the annual tribute to James Booker on his birthday.  This has become an annual celebration event with Kenny.  It was entertaining to see our trivia master at the show – we had a good chat about music and trivia.

Here are two song clips from the wonderful Joe Krown:

The night finished up with six hands on the piano – so, so good and fun to watch:

A very enjoyable Tuesday night all around.

Are you feeling sleepy after all this activity?  Well, time to catch a second wind because we have another birthday on Wednesday to talk about.

Beautiful birthday flowers from Kris and Cat:

And an excellent birthday song from Andy.  He’s getting so good and seems to have quite the recording setup going these days:

I had reserved a section of Oak and Ale to host a birthday dinner for Diana.  We had about twenty four people there.

We love that our friends kids are part of the group and wanted to attend the event:

Here’s a selection with friends:

Chickie called a few minutes before we were leaving for the restaurant – his flight to Vegas had been diverted to New Orleans due to an emergency.  He wanted to know what we had planned.  So we added him to the party list:

I think Diana had a good time with everyone.

Merry Lee came over for a walk with Diana on Thursday morning, and suggested that we meet Jeff downtown for lunch.  We had another yummy meal at Meril – the restaurant that Emeril named after his daughter.

 

 

 

Friday was packing and organizing day.  We had our own Christmas gift exchange in the evening, followed by an impromptu visit from Anne with some gifts.

Saturday came with an early start.  Out the door at 4:30am for our 6:30am flight.  Adamo picked us up at San Francisco airport around 9:30am.  We made it smoothly and a bit early.   Time to catch our breath and relax a bit.  I enjoyed the UT and Clemson college football playoff game (UT won).

Today, we did some shopping for Christmas Eve dinner and I’m looking forward to the Cowboys game this evening.  I’m comfortable enough to admit that I’m currently watching “A Merry Scottish Christmas” – a classic Hallmark style movie – with McD.

With all that activity, I had little time for reading or finding new music – so we’ll skip those sections this week.

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all.

Week in Review – December 15th, 2024

 “Retirement Celebration”

We flew to Austin early Monday morning and checked into the Carpenter hotel.  I had an executive committee meeting on Monday night, which turned into an early retirement party for me.

We went to the Guest House, which is an amazingly delicious Austin establishment.  I had a parmesan crusted filet that was ridiculously tasty.

There were lots of toasts and speeches that almost brought me to tears.  This has been such a wonderful work experience because of the people that I work with.  The team gave me a $500 gift certificate to Shaya, one of my favourite New Orleans restaurants.

Nikki and I shared a martini that came with quite the presentation.  Dry ice poured over the bottom:

Desert was quite a show:

What a lovely dinner and memory.

Tuesday was the annual holiday party at Bar Peached.  Great food, drinks and company.  They had a “Braveheart” cocktail in my honour:

Here I am with the IT team:

And here is a reprise of the “girls” from Roatan:

Here’s’ one of my favourites – the EXCO group (three of the people it has been a complete joy to work with.)

And finally with Neffie:

We had our usual pre-flight lunch at June’s.  Lisa joined us and we saw Lachie (CEO) walking by and he joined us for a drink.  This is where I had lunch after interviewing for my job, and where I had the last meal of my retirement celebration – seems appropriately bookended.

Here are my two cards:

And a ridiculously expensive bottle of bourbon from my team:

I enjoyed two separate free outdoor concerts on Saturday afternoon with most of the krewe.  “The Walrus” performed Beatles songs at the corner of Marengo and Dryads.  Such a good band.

That was followed by the Panorama Jazz Band at the Kingpin, which also had an outdoor Christmas market going.

Kenny will be arriving soon to shuttle Diana to her ladies brunch to celebrate her upcoming birthday.  All she knows is that it’s somewhere in the French Quarter.

I continued to work my way through Demon Copperhead this week.   Slow progress due to all the travel and holiday excitement.  I look forward to finishing it up next week in the lull leading up to the real holidays.

 

 

 

 

I love this Ethiopian song that I heard at the Carpenter hotel:

And another one from the same source:

Very relaxing:

And finally, some classic Bonnie Raitt:

Coexist peacefully, with patience and kindness for all!

 

Week in Review – December 8th, 2024

“Xmas parade and Meads visit”

Diana was back out in California to be with her Mom this week until late Thursday.  This is an amazing sunset picture.

 

 

 

I went for a walk in Audubon park on Monday and made a small diversion for brunch at Tartine.  Diana had told me about going there with Kara and it sounded very good.  The baked eggs in brioche was excellent and I look forward to returning soon.  Every plate I saw going past looked tasty.

 

 

I suggested to Kenny and Kara that we might want to attend the free concert by John Boutte in St Louis cathedral.  Kenny drove down, parked us at the fire house and then we had a drink at the Pirates Alley bar by the cathedral.  We got there fifteen minutes before show time and were very surprised to find the place completely full – standing room only.  One can go and see John Boutte at DBA during the week and have five to ten people join you – but a free concert draws thousands of folks?

The show was very good – including a version of Ave Maria where Boutte didn’t remember all the words the first time through.  The band was very nuanced and accomplished.  Video was not allowed in the cathedral and so here’s a taste of Boutte’s soulful voice from Jazzfest:

We had a drink at Fives bar after the show.  This is a sister to the Columns and has excellent craft cocktails.

 

 

I took this picture of Kenny and Kara on the walk back to the fire house.  The city has some lights to repair on the riverfront tree.

Diana was scheduled to fly home midday on Thursday.  She let me know there was a tsunami warning in place as she was packing up.  What?  Yes – there was an offshore earthquake north of San Francisco and they were evacuating the kids from the schools down the hill from Clorinda’s house.  The warning was lifted just before McD left for the airport.

Diana made it home safely late on Thursday night.

My friend Mike Mead was in town for the weekend – his wife had a girls trip for a cruise down the Danube (tough life), and Mike and his three boys decided a trip to New Orleans would be fun – they have not visited before.

I invited them to meet me for lunch at the Columns on Friday – we had a very entertaining time catching up and revisiting stories from our past.  Mike’s son, Simon, is very into music and audio equipment.  He asked me if there was any Japanese style jazz playing in town.  What on earth is that?  He described it some more and I called Denny for input.  There was a show at Snug Harbor in the evening that totally met the requirements.

Mike reports that Simon loved it.  And I get ahead of myself yet again.  After the Columns lunch, I invited the crew back to the house to check out my Linn audio setup and listen to some music.  We picked up Diana from her hair appointment on the way.  A walking tour of the Garden District ensued.  And then Diana was quite happy to host the group for oysters at Superior Seafood.  I had a very nice time hanging out with the Mead boys.

I heard the next morning that the boys had played poker at Caesar’s casino by their hotel until 3:30am.  Just nuts!

I talked Diana into going downtown for the Christmas parade on Saturday morning.

This was a two hour long parade – over thirty floats, at least ten marching bands, many marching krewes and balloon floats like Rudolph above.  Diana got quite a haul of throws, including a riding Elvii scarf and a light up ornament necklace.  Here’s one of the marching groups that put a smile on my face:

And of course I’m a fan of the balloon penguin:

Diana was excited to see Santa and his reindeer:

The Meads caught the parade outside their hotel:

I got tired of standing in place and so we walked down to Canal Street to see the end of it.  “We’re almost at the Roosevelt hotel, why not go in and see the lights?”  What a silly idea.  There were oodles of families taking their Christmas card pictures – a complete zoo.  Note to self – don’t do this after the parade next year.

 

 

We got home in time to freshen up for the Happy Hour that Kenny and Kara were hosting for his brother, Andrew, and his partner Todd.  Kenny was an excellent host – he had cooked up some gumbo, muffulettas, potato salad and all kinds of other goodies.  It was fun getting to know Andrew better – such a good sense of humor, and the same curious intelligence in his eyes that Kenny displays.

Diana and Kara were determined to go and listen to music, the rest of us quite happy to relax – so you can guess what we did.  Yep, over to the Bayou bar at the Ponchatrain hotel to listen to music.

The music was really good and the good news is that we were able to walk home.  We should frequent this place more often.

Sunday started with Diana getting her second shingles shot.  We followed that up with a trip to the grocery store, and now the Christmas decorations are going up.  Fun all around!

I received an interesting gift this week.  It’s called Bartesian and is like a Keurig machine, but for cocktails.  You fill up the big bottles with whiskey, vodka, gin and tequila and then insert the pods for various cocktails.  We’re looking forward to trying it out for New Year’s Eve.

I watched “Churchill at War” on Netflix this week.  Very interesting series that tracks his life and decisions before World War II – did he really have such a big opportunity to avert the rise of Hitler?

After the disappointment of “Bee Sting”, I moved on to Demon Copperfield by Barbara Kingsolver.  This is a modern take on Dickens’ David Copperfield and is off to a good start.  Much more to come.

 

 

 

I’m listening to a podcast, “The Wonder of Stevie”, that I love.  It covers his five classic albums from the early seventies and is very well done.

I watched a short documentary, “Only Girl in the Orchestra”, about the first lady to play in the New York Philharmonic – so well done.  It featured the second movement from Beethoven’s symphony number seven – amazing.

 

 

Finally, I found a new band this week called The Stews that I like very much:

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all!

 

 

 

Week in Review – November 24th, 2024

“Friends and New Relatives”

Diana made a last minute trip to California to take care of her Mom.  It’s hard for her with the sciatica and long plane trips, but she’s a trooper and muscles through it.  The good news is that Clorinda was released from hospital after a few days and was happy to be home again.

We had an exciting new addition to the family this week.  Heather and Michael’s baby, Hamish, arrived at 8lbs 1oz and “very long.”  Everyone is doing well as evidenced by these pictures.  Not sure the dog, Milo, knows what to make of it all.

Neffie and Shaun and kids arrived on Thursday night late, on their way to New York to support another kid dancing in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade.  They are nuts to drive!

Kenny came over on Friday and we hung out for a while before lunch at Shaya.  Always so amazing – the lamb ragu hummus is still the best I’ve had.

We stopped at Mignon Faget on the way to lunch so that I could do some early shopping for the holidays. That ended up taking way longer than it should have – you know how patient I am with shopping expeditions.

Saturday was an excellent music day for me, thanks to Kenny, Kara, and Colleen.  Kenny got us on the guest list for his cousin, Tim Laughlin’s, concert with Tom McDermott at Tom’s house.  Here they perform my favourite Scott Joplin rag (Pineapple):

It was a bit unusual being in an artist’s home with bedroom and kitchen all open plan to the group attending the show – at the same time very intimate and welcoming.  I think Tim is a huge talent.

We followed that with a visit to the Kingpin to see the Iguanas perform.  These guys were a huge local band about twenty years ago.  Our friend, Derek, was a member back in the day.

I gave up on “The Bee Sting” this week.  I just can’t deal with the complete lack of punctuation for hundreds of pages – no periods, commas, or quotation marks.  Why?  What’s the point the author is trying to make?  I can parse it and read it, and I persevered for a while.  But no more.  This is the first book that I’ve given up on in several years.  Disappointing.  All of you reviewers that raved about this book need to rethink your opinions!

An interesting new take on a classic that I first heard done by David Coverdale and Whitesnake over forty years ago:

I know the Robert Palmer version of this, but had not heard this classic take:

A great sound:

Coexist peacefully, with patience and kindness for all!

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!