Week in Review – September 17, 2017

“Music makes a house into a home”, Ivor Tiefenbrun, M.B.E..  More about that later.

Things are improving with our work teams in Houston – one of the five campus buildings is open and we’re moving folks out of it so that critical teams can start to occupy it – this means a lot of technology updates and is keeping me quite busy.  While Houston recovers, I was shocked to see videos of the devastation in the Virgin Islands.  All the leaves and limbs have been completely stripped bare from what used to be jungle like vegetation and many buildings are completely destroyed.  I really worry about the future of these islands as they are so dependent on the tourist economy and it looks like it will be many years before they recover.  We count ourselves lucky that we were able to enjoy such a wonderful vacation on St. John a few years ago (see post from February 28, 2016 – https://www.keithjrobertson.com/?m=201602).

My boss was visiting for the week so on Monday evening I took him to the Cowboys Club for dinner.  He’s a diehard Eagles fan but really enjoyed the club and a lovely sunset from the terrace.  I collected another “small world” story – my boss was a chef in Bucks County, Pennsylvania before getting into IT.  He ran the back of the house operation at several restaurants and on occasional nights was a guest chef at the Ottsville Inn which my Uncle Scott and Aunt Evelyn ran for several years.

Ivor Tiefenbrun delivered one of the best presentations I’ve heard at my local audio store on Wednesday evening.  He’s the chairman of Linn Products in Eaglesham, Scotland and was on a speaking tour of the United States.  My friend Raj was in town from California and was able to attend with me – he’s a much bigger audio nut than I am and understands a lot of the technical details.  Ivor grew up in the Gorbals in Glasgow and started Linn in the 1970s.  Their famous and ground breaking product is the Linn Sondek LP 12 turntable and I was lucky enough to receive one from Diana as a gift a few years ago – hence the invite to the event.  I’ve enjoyed countless hours of listening pleasure from my Linn system in my home office.

with Ivor at Audio Concepts

Ivor’s wit and humour reminded me of my Uncle Scott (he gets two mentions in the same week) and he obviously has a huge intellect and is very well read.  He engaged the audience in about an hour of stories from growing up and starting Linn and verged off into all kinds of topics.  I enjoyed one about his Dad who created special purpose machines – some for the Singer sewing factory in Clydebank.  He had the audience touch someone we didn’t know and posited that touch conveys many emotions – love, hate, indifference, curiosity.  He believes that music is the equivalent of “touching at a distance” and that an audio system of sufficient quality allows the listener to be touched by the emotions conveyed by the artist.  He mentioned that hearing is the first sense to develop and usually the last to be lost and told a story of his mother conducting her favorite piece of music, which he was playing on one of his systems in her hospital room, while in a coma.  One of my favourite quotes from Ivor that night is, “Music transcends race, class, religion, education and time”.

The last 30 minutes was a lesson in “active listening” and a demonstration of Linn’s top of the line system using the 2nd movement from Beethoven’s Emperor concerto (one of my Mum’s favourites) performed by Artur Pizzaro.  It was a rare treat to hear such an expensive system which costs almost as much as a small house (in Texas at least).  It turns out that Linn’s Chief Technology Officer is also a Keith Robertson.  This led to an interesting conversation and an invitation from Ivor to tour his factory with him the next time I’m in Scotland.

Raj’s research before the event taught us that Linn in Scotland describes where a watercourse has cut through a shelf of hard rock creating a narrow, steep-sided cut through which the watercourse runs.  Now the name and logo make sense – the needle in the record grooves.

The annual Americana Music awards were held on Wednesday night and I was pleased to see several of my favourites winning.  Sturgill Simpson won Album of the Year for “A Sailor’s Guide to Earth” (see my May 10, 2016 post – https://www.keithjrobertson.com/?

John Prine wins Artist of the Year

m=20160510).  One of my favourite songwriters, John Prine, won Artist of the Year.  His most famous song is “Angel from Montgomery”.  Charlie Sexton, who we saw a couple of weeks ago at the Kessler (see my August 28th post – https://www.keithjrobertson.com/?m=20170828), won Instrumentalist of the Year.  Iris Dement, Robert Cray, and Van Morrison also won awards.

I had bought tickets to see David Gilmour’s new concert film from Pompeii on Wednesday night at the iPic theater but unfortunately had to pass that up to attend the Linn event – I’ll see it on DVD soon I’m sure.  It’s amazing to read that no audience had seen a show in that amphitheater in over 1,000 years until the Gilmour shows.

Saturday started with a workout at Cowboy’s Fit followed by a delicious lunch at Neighborhood Services Grill across the way from the gym.  This location of NHS opened about a month ago and proved to be just as delicious as the original that we enjoy so much on Lovers Lane in Dallas.

After lunch we went to see the movie “California Typewriter” at the Angelika Cinema.  I had asked McD if she’d like to go to a movie and only told her the name of it and that Tom Hanks and Sam Sheppard were both in it.  She asked if it was a documentary and if she could see the preview video – I declined on both because I didn’t think she’d approve the choice if she saw it, and because I suspected her reaction to the movie would be quite funny.  My prediction was correct – she was doubled over in laughter at the end of the movie because it was so strange, dry, and geeky – including an attendee behind us in the theater asking at the end of the movie if anybody else was a typewriter collector.

The movie centers around a repair shop in Berkeley, California and various avid typewriter collectors and historians.  Tom Hanks excitedly demonstrates his collection of over 200 machines and explains why he prefers some over others.  I enjoyed the documentary but think it probably appeals to a very niche audience.  Here’s the preview that McD didn’t get to see:

My sister-in-law, Amy, sent us this Jack Johnson video from a new song that I think perfectly captures the current sentiment about dividing walls.

I’m currently making slow progress (combination of being busy at work and the density of the prose) on Paul Auster’s book “4 3 2 1”.  The book tells the life story of Ferguson in four different variations.  The first couple of chapters show how small variations in the story line can start to have dramatically different impacts on Ferguson’s life.  I think I’m going to enjoy getting into the meat of this one.

 

The Cowboys are playing Denver in Denver right now.  There was about an hour long weather delay as a thunderstorm with heavy lightning moved through.  The game is tied at 7-7 and looks like it might be quite exciting.

Week in review – September 10, 2017

Tuesday through Thursday of this week was spent in New York in meetings with Microsoft. Their offices are next to Times Square which is filled with hustle and bustle at all hours of the day and night.  The view from the conference room included the New York Times building and huge TV screens with advertisements and breaking news – quite distracting. I stayed at a hotel called The Sanctuary which is at 47th Street and 8th Avenue – half a block off Times Square but a quiet and modern boutique hotel which was a nice find.

On Tuesday night I made a repeat visit to Birdland jazz club having enjoyed it so much a few weeks ago. I enjoyed the NYT crossword before the show and a nice dinner during.

Joey Baron chatting at the Birdland bar

The music was by the Steve Kuhn trio which featured Steve Kuhn on piano, Steve Swallow on bass, and Joey Baron on drums.  Steve Kuhn made his initial name playing piano with jazz legends like John Coltrane, Stan Getz, and Chet Baker.  Steve Swallow is a wizard on the bass and a very well respected jazz composer.  He has played in the Stan Getz and John Scofield bands.  Joey Baron is one of my favorite jazz drummers – he brings a huge positive energy and excitement to his nuanced playing and is always completely in tune with the other personnel in the ensemble.  I saw him play with Bill Frisell at the Blue Note a couple of years ago for the first time and was very impressed.

Here are a couple of videos of the show that highlight Steve Swallow and Joey Baron’s skills.

Wednesday was a full day of meetings and then a family style Italian dinner at Tony di Napoli’s restaurant on 43rd Street.  The food was good and we got to share a number of Italian classics – veal Saltimbocca, penne pasta a la vodka, eggplant parmigiana and the like.   After dinner I took my boss and a colleague from California to the Stinger bar in the Intercontinental hotel that Mc D and I discovered on our last trip for the excellent “Smoking Sipper” cocktail.

Thursday was another full day of meetings and then travel back home. Thankfully all travel both ways was smooth and uneventful.  I even had the seat next to me vacant on the flight home which is quite unusual for a Thursday night when all the consultants are usually traveling home.

Much of Friday was spent working from AutoHans while Penelope was attended to. She needed an oil change and new brakes.  I did find a very nice neighborhood bistro only a five minute walk from the garage called Astoria.  I was able to sit outside in the nice summer transitioning to autumn weather and enjoy lunch, the newspaper, and good coffee.

On Friday night we watched a documentary about the Chinese-American artist Tyrus Wong who created the sketches that were the original inspiration for Bambi.  Tyrus lived to be 106 and endured all kinds of discrimination during his lifetime but never stopped creating excellent art.  Late in life he studied library books about Chinese kite making and created some amazing flying machines.  A recommended documentary for sure.

Saturday was a very pleasant day – not too hot and no humidity.  So I sat outside and finished the book “Bruno, Chief of Police” by Martin Walker.  This was a light, quick and thoroughly enjoyable read.  Martin Walker was born in Scotland and moved to the Perigord region of France in 2006.  He published the first Bruno novel in 2007 and has been pumping out a new one each year since.  I enjoyed the local village characters and the food and wine descriptions – life in St Denis sounds perfect.

Here’s how Martin Walker describes Bruno:

“Bruno cooks, he hunts, he builds his own house and grows his own food. He organizes the parades and festivities and fireworks displays and keeps order in his fictional home town of St Denis. A pillar of the local tennis and rugby clubs, he teaches sports to the local schoolchildren.

Bruno finds lost dogs, fights fires, registers births and deaths, and enforces the parking regulations. But he maintains a sophisticated intelligence network to outwit the interfering bureaucrats of the European Union in far-off Brussels. The country folk of the Perigord have been making their foie gras and their cheeses and sausages for centuries before the EU was ever heard of, and see no reason to bow to its rules and regulations now.”

An article in the newspaper this week had the phrase “topsy turvy” in it.  I had a flashback of about 50 years and a book called “Topsy Turvy Land” that I loved – all about a world that was upside down for the people who lived in it.  I tried to find some pictures of the pages online but didn’t find anything that looked like that book – maybe it’s still in the attic in Stewarton.

For dinner on Saturday night we were joined at the Cowboys Club by Patty and Brent.  With the cooler weather we were able to enjoy coffee and dessert on the lovely patio.  Everyone was excited for the start of the football season on Sunday and the Cowboys versus Giants game on Sunday night.

The Cowboys had a nice 19-3 victory over the New York Giants on Sunday night to open the season.  Highlights were an amazing one-handed behind the shoulder circus catch by Cole Beasley and Jason Witten setting the franchise all-time receiving record by passing Michael Irvin’s 11,904 yard total and scoring a touchdown doing it.

Jason Witten sets all time Cowboys receiving record
Cole Beasley over the shoulder catch

“Southern Blood” by Greg Allman got a posthumous release on Friday. I’ve listened to it a couple of times now and it is my favorite release of this year by far.  Greg’s voice has a frail, less gravelly quality to it that lends even more poignancy to songs like “Going, Going, Gone”.  The arrangements and musicianship are excellent throughout.

I heard the song “Jealous Moon” by Hayes Carll and it really caught my attention.  I’ve seen him listed on the schedule at several of our local music clubs – Dan’s Silverleaf, the Kessler, and Poor David’s Pub – but hadn’t heard any of his music.  We’ll have to give him a try next time.

 

 

 

Week in Review – September 4, 2017

This was the busiest work week in a long time due to Hurricane Harvey recovery efforts.   The campus buildings that house 3,500 colleagues were (and still are) offline due to significant basement flooding.  Here are before and after pictures – the tall building is one end of the campus.  To see the roads that I’ve driven so many times to work in Houston completely submerged really made an impact.

Some staggering statistics about the Hurricane – 51 inches of rain fell in Houston over 6 days, 37,000 displaced people are currently in shelters, 84,000 homes were damaged and 6,400 totally destroyed.  The estimated economic impact is over $40 Billion.  Most of my friends and colleagues in Houston have homes that remained dry throughout the storm – only one family had to evacuate to San Antonio.

The weekend was spent catching up on some exercise, relaxing by the pool, finalizing the wedding albums, and pulling together information for our estate plan –  nothing very exciting.  I did watch most of the movie “Gentlemen prefer blondes” starring Marilyn Monroe and Jane Mansfield (a native of Dallas).  I’d never watched more than a few minutes of this before and McD was entertained by my constant chuckling at what is a very silly but quite funny movie.   It’s maybe best known for the song “Diamonds are a girl’s best friend”.

So far the Labor Day holiday has been spent on a troubleshooting bridge since 6am for an outage.  It’s after noon now and so hoping the 6 hour marathon ends soon.

I finished “Bel Canto” by Ann Patchett this week.  Given how much I enjoyed her most recent novel, “Commonwealth”, this was a disappointing read to me.  The first section of the story where a world-renowned soprano sings at a birthday party in honor of a visiting Japanese CEO in an unnamed South American country and is then taken hostage, along with 58 other visiting dignitaries, in the vice-presidential mansion was quite engaging.  The middle section where the hostage situation drags on for weeks and then months becomes slow moving and struggled to keep my attention.  Interest peaks again in the last few pages as the hostage situation is resolved but it was too late for me to give this read anything above an average rating.  On a positive note, the descriptions of the operatic aria performances and piano accompaniment are very well done.

I’m looking forward to receiving the new John Le Carre book this week.  The New York Times review of this book by Dwight Garner  is very well done:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/28/books/review-john-le-carre-legacy-of-spies.html?_r=0

“Among this book’s pleasures is a reminder that adults were once in charge of the destiny of the free world.”

“Le Carré’s prose remains brisk and lapidary. His wit is intact and rolls as if on casters. He is as profitably interested as ever in values, especially the places where loyalty, patriotism and affection rub together and fray. He wears his gravitas lightly.”

“Le Carré hauls out his greatest creation, the Yoda-like spymaster George Smiley, for a cameo appearance, as if he were taking a ’60s-era Lamborghini long kept in the garage — Smiley’s last appearance was 27 years ago, in “The Secret Pilgrim” — for a jaunty Sunday spin.”

Another excellent article in the NYT the week is “Charlie Parker and the Meaning of Freedom” – it discusses that even highly improvisational jazz has to live within a set of well-established musical rules.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/29/opinion/charlie-parker-freedom.html

On the music front I heard “Maybe Your Baby” by Stevie Wonder on the radio and don’t think I’ve ever heard it before.  The funky bass and piano immediately grabbed my attention.  This is from the excellent 1972 album “Talking Book” which also includes “Superstition” and “Tuesday Heartbreak”.  The challenge of this album is the alternating schmaltzy ballads (“You are the Sunshine of my Life”, “I Believe”) with excellent funky soul.

I also heard the song “This is where I get off” from Robbie Robertson’s 2011 album “How to Become Clairvoyant”.  It reminded me a lot of the song “Somewhere Down the Crazy River” from his eponymous  1987 album that was so amazingly produced by Daniel Lanois.

 

Week in Review – August 21, 2017

The last of our three consecutive weeks of travel took us to New York to accompany Clorinda on her visit to watch our niece, Sophia, perform in an off Broadway play.  We arrived a few hours before Clorinda and visited the “Black Tail” restaurant in Battery Park.  This is run by the folks who have the “Dead Rabbit” close to my work office in the Wall Street area – it was named the best cocktail bar in the world and so we had high hopes of “Black Tail”.

  The cocktail menu was very cleverly constructed as a multi chapter novel and had lots to choose from.  My favorite was the “Doctor Zhivago”.  The place had a Cuban theme including décor and menu options.  A highly recommended stop for a great craft cocktail and good views of the Statue of Liberty from outside.

For Friday lunch we tried “Craft”, a restaurant by the celebrity chef Tom Collichio.  They have a 3 course prix fixe lunch menu that we all thoroughly enjoyed.  The duck liver mousse appetizer was a highlight.  Clorinda enjoyed tasting the desserts.   The restaurant had a nice relaxed feel while the food and service were very well done.

On Saturday we took Clorinda to the top of the Empire State Building.  Diana sprung for VIP tickets and we avoided the very long lines for the elevators.  The views were quite spectacular and everyone enjoyed the visit very much.  The ladies opted for a pedi-cab ride back to the hotel.  It’s been about 25 years since I was up in the Empire State Building – the last time was on a work trip from San Antonio to install computer systems in Pennsylvania.  That was the same trip that I surprised my Uncle Scott and Aunt Evelyn at the Ottsville Inn.

Clorinda went to watch Sophia’s first performance on Saturday night and so we tried a restaurant that Diana had picked from those participating in New York restaurant week named “Batard”.   This was our best dining experience in a long time.  The place is located in Tribeca and has one Michelin star (not that you would know from their advertising or menus – it’s just a small award in the window).  We had foie gras and steak tartare to start and both were phenomenal.  Then duck and lamb to follow – Diana’s lamb was the best I’ve tasted.  The service and atmosphere were just what we like.  We’ll certainly be back as soon as we can.

After dinner we tried to go to Small’s tiny cellar jazz club but it was full and so we opted for the late show at the Village Vanguard.  This is the place that I like to go to on Monday night when they have the Vanguard orchestra.  On Saturday they had a three piece band without any names I recognized and a “special guest”.  The guest turned out to be Joshua Redman – perhaps the best living saxophonist.  We both really enjoyed the show and Diana was able to share some of her left over champagne with the star of the show and his friends.

All three of us attended the matinee of Sophia’s show titled “Show and Tell” on Sunday.  The show was very well done – particularly considering the short rehearsal time the kids from all over the country had together.  Sophia had one of two leading parts and so we got to enjoy a lot of her singing and acting.

A picnic in Central Park was our plan for Sunday afternoon.  We got off to a dodgy start as the subway train didn’t stop where we expected at 81st street and our next option was 125th street in Harlem.  We quickly came back down to Columbus Circle on the next train, picked up some sandwiches and headed into the south area of the park for our picnic.   A short ramble after lunch took us past the carousel, baseball fields and “Library Walk” which features statues of both Robert Burns and Sir Walter Scott.

Birdland jazz club was our destination on Sunday evening.  We saw the Birdland Latin Jazz Orchestra which was in the midst of a five week Sunday residency.  The music was excellent – mambo and salsa style and the band was very well rehearsed and together.  Here’s a video of the rhythm section getting a workout.  I hadn’t been to Birdland before and was very pleasantly surprised by the white table cloths, food, service, sound and room to move around the tables.

After the show we stopped into a cocktail bar in the Intercontinental hotel across from the club.  The craft cocktail performance making the “Smoking Sipper” was quite something as was the presentation.  We met a few interesting characters at the bar – a former McKinsey consultant from Dallas and a couple from Canada who had owned and worked in the “Horseshoe” – apparently the most famous music club in Canada.  The club owner was named “X-Ray” and told us a story about the Rolling Stones playing his 180 person club.

Travel home for us on Monday was smooth (after the horrible traffic into LaGuardia airport with the construction) but Clorinda didn’t fare so well with multiple cancelled flights and redirection to Cleveland rather than Akron.  It was very late when she finally arrived at her destination in Wooster, Ohio.

I finished the book “A Gentleman in Moscow” by Amor Towles this week.  Amusingly the lady across the aisle from me on our flight home was reading the same book and was at about the same place.  We had a nice chat about how much we were both enjoying being transported to Russia in the early 20th Century.  The book details the exploits of Count Alexander Rostov after the Russian revolution and his “house arrest” in the Metropol hotel.  The Count spends more than 40 years in the hotel and finds ways to pass his time, ultimately becoming the head waiter of the excellent restaurant in the hotel.  This was a very interesting view into a period and location in history that I don’t know a lot about.  A couple of favorite quotes:

“his fingers were half an inch longer than the fingers of most men his height.  Had he been a pianist, Andrey could easily have straddled a twelfth.  Had he been a puppeteer, he could have performed the sword fight between Macbeth and Macduff as all three witches looked on.  But Andrey was neither a pianist nor puppeteer – or at least not in the traditional sense.  He was the captain of the Boyarsky, and one watched in wonder as his hands fulfilled their purpose at every turn.”

“As the willow studied the Count, he noted that the arches over her eyebrows were very much like the marcato notation in music – the accent which instructs one to play a phrase a little more loudly.  This, no doubt, accounted for the willow’s preference for issuing commands and the resulting huskiness of her voice”

I heard the song “Senor Blues” by Taj Mahal this week and was taken with its combination of jazz and blues – particularly on the piano part.  Some research showed this to be the 36th album from Taj Mahal, released in 1997, and with the fabulous Jon Cleary (an Englishman who has lived in New Orleans for many years that I’ve had the pleasure of listening to several times) on piano.

The oldest of nine children, Taj Mahal was born in Harlem to a gospel-singing schoolteacher mother and a West-Indian born composer-arranger father who was a big jazz fan. So from his youth Taj Mahal was immersed in the music which would become his career. He writes that his father had a short-wave radio, and when young Taj was growing up, he was able to tune in to styles from all over the world. Later, his heroes would be American blues masters like Mississippi John Hurt, Sleepy John Estes, Big Mama Thornton, plus rock & roll pioneers like Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry. In his college years at the University of Massachusetts, before his graduation in 1964 with a degree in animal husbandry, Taj had an R&B band playing on campus. Then he turned professional after graduation, co-founding a group with fellow blues aficionado (and one of my most favorite guitar players) Ry Cooder called The Rising Sons.

Having finished my book on jazz, I picked up a new “car book” – the book I keep in the car for a quick and light read if I stop for coffee or have to wait for someone or something for a few minutes – titled “The Olivetti Chronicles – Three Decades of Life and Music” by John Peel.  Peel was a late night Radio 1 DJ in England when I was growing up and I love the walks down memory lane that his short stories provide.  Here are a couple of snippets:

From “Kenny Dalglish” in the Guardian, 12 August 1994

“Of course, we were well aware of Kenny’s abilities long before he came to Anfield.  I stood on the Kop for his first home game and we warmed to him in a way that we had never really warmed to Keegan.  The most impressive of his abilities in those early matches was the way he seemed to know where every player was at all times.  Even a superb Liverpool squad, by far the greatest team the world has ever seen, took a few weeks to catch up with Kenny’s speed and anticipation”

From “Tubular Bells” in The Listener, 7 June 1973

“With Tubular Bells we have a record that does quite genuinely cover new and uncharted territory.  Without borrowing anything from established classics or descending to the discords, squeals and burps of the determinedly avant-garde, Mike Oldfield has produced music which combines logic with surprise, sunshine with rain.  In the process of so doing he plays a bewildering range of musical instruments without ever playing merely for effect.”

Finally, a couple of other songs I heard this week and really enjoyed.  A cover of “Hey Joe” by Jerry Douglas, the amazing dobro player from Nashville.

And a song from the upcoming release from “The War on Drugs”.  I’m looking forward to listening to the whole album.

Week In Review – August 7, 2017

This was the first of three weekends of travel in a row.  We flew to San Luis Obispo to visit Diana’s stepson John, his wife Madison and their family.  Our arrival was delayed as we missed our connection in Phoenix so didn’t get in until late evening on Friday.  We’re so spoiled by being able to take a direct flight to almost anywhere from Dallas.

John and Madi picked us up at the airport and drove us to our hotel, “The Carlton”, in downtown Atascadero.  I kept thinking of the dance on the Fresh Prince of Bel Air show that the character Carlton does.  This is a very small downtown but has most everything you could need – a good hotel, a great bakery and several very good cocktail bars.  We enjoyed the dive bar, “Whiskey and June”, for a nightcap after arrival.

Saturday started with coffee and a very buttery and delicious croissant from the Back Porch bakery.  Then we enjoyed a lovely brunch at the “Kitchenette” in nearby Templeton.

Then it was off wine tasting in the Paso Robles wine country.  Diana had organized a large van through Uber that worked out very well.  John, Madi, and her parents, Tad and Terri, joined us.  First stop was the Tablas Creek winery where Tad had arranged a private barrel room tasting for us.  We liked a few of the wines but nothing jumped out and grabbed us.  Our hostess was a wine student at Cal Poly who really knew her stuff and could answer all of Tad’s various questions with ease.  Madi wasn’t dealing with the twisty roads too well and so we chose close wineries for our next stops.  I was amazed at how mountainous the region was – much more varied than Napa valley and more difficult to navigate.

Next stop was Adelaida and we all agreed that this was our least favorite stop – sweet and fruity wines for the most part.  The views from the mountaintop were very good with a straight line view to the Hearst ranch where the famous castle sits.  We finished up at McPrice Myers which was the smallest and friendliest of the wineries.  Our hostess invited us to bring in our meat and cheese and enjoy it on the counter during the tasting.  I made friends with the house Westie.  A couple of the wines at this stop were quite pleasant.

We headed back to Atascadero to relieve the babysitters who had been watching John and Madi’s kids – Ben and Lilly.  They are quite busy and time consuming for sure – both being under the age of two.  John had been smoking a brisket for 12 hours or more and we enjoyed it for dinner in the garden of Tad and Terri’s house with a nice breeze and a great view over the valley.

Sunday had a lazy start with breakfast at the Back Porch bakery and then hanging around outside at Tad and Terri’s home reading and enjoying Bloody Mary’s and bagels and lox.  In the evening John and Madi took us over to Morro Bay on the coast for dinner.  The water front looks directly out on Morro Rock, a 581 foot volcanic plug that is connected to shore by a causeway.  It is the last peak of the Nine Sisters which extend from San Luis Obispo to Morro Bay.  It was named by Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo (a Portuguese explorer) in 1542 – “Morro” in Spanish translates as crown shaped hill.

We had appetizers at 3 different places that were quite different and enjoyed them all.  Tognazzini’s was our first stop where we had oysters and calamari on the deck with a good country singer for entertainment.    Next was Morro Bay Wine Seller where champagne flights were sampled by all but me along with the “ultimate” crostini and some very pleasant live music.  We captured this silly boardwalk picture on the walk to the final  progressive meal stop at Windows on the Water where I sampled some yummy risotto.  Some shuffle board and pool at Whiskey and June and then it was off to bed.

Travel home on Monday was smooth with no delays and actually arriving home a little early.

 

 

 

I finished the book “Swing Time” by Zadie Smith this week.  The British author writes about friendship between two girls growing up in a poor part of London.  One of them goes on to dance on the stage in London while the other works for a pop star and travels the world.  A key theme is the attempts by the pop star to create a school in Africa and the challenges that ensue.  The book was very well reviewed and was a quick read but didn’t really do a lot for me.  Some of the references reminded me of things I had forgotten all about – “I ventured into the kitchen to get two beakers of Ribena”,  “I sometimes sang for him – the theme tune to “Top Cat”” – now I can’t get that tune out of my head.

In the credits for “Moonglow”, Michael Chabon comments on enjoying music from “A Winged Victory for the Sullen” while writing the book.  This is interesting and relaxing music that would be helpful background music while concentrating.  It’s kind of a cross between Keith Jarrett’s Koln concert and Brian Eno’s ambient music.

This thought sent me off to listen to the Koln concert again and I came across an excellent TED talk explaining how Jarrett wasn’t going to perform that night because the wrong piano was delivered.  It was too small for the 1,400 seat hall and unplayable in the high register.  The seventeen year old promoter convinced him to go ahead and he had to improvise around all the flaws of the piano.  I had never heard this story before – I just really enjoyed the concert.  Amazing what a challenge can bring out in a world class musician.

Two other songs really caught my attention this week.  “I’d Rather Go Blind” by Julie Rhodes showcases a powerful new voice and some excellent guitar.  This song was written by Ellington Jordan and first released by Etta James in 1967.  I’ve listened to a few versions including this one, Beyonce, and Joe Bonamassa and definitely prefer the Julie Rhodes rendition.

The next is “Tell Me” by Meena Cryle.  I found this because she also does a version of “I’d Rather Go Blind”.

Week in Review – July 31, 2017

This was a quiet week until Saturday when we were able to squeeze a number of fun activities.  The day started with a matinee of the “Bodyguard” musical at the Fair Park Music Hall just south of downtown Dallas.  The venue is quite old with a nice art deco flavor and lots of room to mill around before the concert started.  We had seats in the balcony and were able to move to better seats as it wasn’t very busy upstairs.  The musical is based on the movie starring Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner from 1992 and has 20 songs – mostly popularized by Whitney Houston.  The big number is “I Will Always Love You” towards the end.  The story didn’t completely follow the movie – particularly in the second half.  The singing was fine but not quite as good as we were hoping for.

We headed from Fair Park over to the Bishop Arts district in Oak Cliff and the “Wild Detectives” bookstore.  This is my favorite bookstore in Dallas (not that there are many to choose from these days).  It’s very small with a nicely curated selection of both books and music.  It also serves coffee and drinks.  We had a coffee and crossword in the outside garden which was fun until I started melting in the 100 plus degree heat.

The fantastic French restaurant, “Boulevardier”, across the street offered some welcome air conditioning and a delicious cocktail and steak tartare (served with a quail egg).  Next was dinner with Patty and Brent at the Meddlesome Moth.  We shared several delicious appetizers and then I had a wonderful rabbit pot pie.  It paired beautifully with my Firestone Walker Velvet Merlin Nitro beer.

We managed to cram a lot of activity into Saturday afternoon and evening.

Monday night saw the first concert at the new Frisco Star – the indoor practice field for the Dallas Cowboys.  James Taylor and Bonnie Raitt put on a very enjoyable show.  We had been concerned about echo in the venue based on a lunch we attended on the field, but some very large curtains took care of that nicely.  The highlight for me was Bonnie’s cover of the “Angel from Montgomery” by John Prine – so soulful and heartbreaking.  James Taylor highlights were “Fire and Rain” followed by “Sweet Baby James”.  It was nice to have dinner at the Cowboys Club and use the private “Jones family elevator” to get down to the concert.  Diana actually went back up to the club to get her drinks rather than waiting in line in the venue – and beat me back to the seats.

I finally finished up “Moonglow” by Michael Chabon.  The narrator in this book is chronicling Chabon’s conversations with his dying grandfather and mother about his family.  He weaves together tales of the various generations and relatives very cleverly and sometimes with just a bit too much detail.  Chabon is right up there with Ian McEwan as one of my current generation favorites based on his wonderfully clever and descriptive similes and metaphors.  “He had maybe two minutes before the rocket of his anger burned up its fuel and fell back to earth”.  “Inside the airduct was a smell like the taste of a new filling”.  I didn’t enjoy this as much as the last of his books I read, “Telegraph Avenue”, but would definitely recommend it.

I discovered an excellent Aretha Franklin song during dinner at the Meddlesome Moth due to the amazing Shazam app.  “Share Your Love With Me” was originally recorded by Bobby Blue Bland in 1963 and covered by Aretha in 1970.  There are very good covers by Van Morrison and The Band as well.  Richard Manuel’s singing on The Band version is amazing.

The other song I heard this week that really caught my attention was “(Wish I Could) Hideaway” by Credence Clearwater Revival.  It has a lot of the same elements that I love about their song, “Long as I Can See the Light” with the “Candle in the Window” line that made it into Diana’s vows.

The latest chapter in my jazz book covers Charles Mingus – the renowned bassist and composer most popular in the 1950s.  My favorite recording is “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat” which he released in 1959.  I learned that it was written as an elegy to Lester Young who had died a couple of months earlier and was well known for his broad-brimmed pork pie hat when playing the saxophone.  I remember enjoying the Jeff Beck version from the early 70s when studying in university.  Joni Mitchell released an album dedicated to Mingus where she added lyrics to his compositions – I’ve never been able to get into it although I’ve tried a few times.

Week In Review – July 23, 2017

On Wednesday I was able to convince McD to give the Cowboys Fit another try – this time the music and machines were much more to her liking.  We enjoyed the new breakfast service at the Cowboys Club after a good workout.

The Ogans arrived on Thursday evening and we enjoyed a relaxed evening at home.

Patty and Brent joined us for pizza and some games around the dining table.

Friday kicked off with my pulled pork eggs benedict for breakfast – Denny commented that I had upped my breakfast cooking game quite a bit.  The afternoon entertainment was iFly indoor skydiving.  Denny and Anne had double fly time as Jack and Mason decided it didn’t look like fun to them.  We enjoyed watching Denny’s cheeks vibrating in the upward air blast.

Friday night dinner was at Wasabi where the food was good but the service was very slow.  We found afterwards that one of the line cooks had walked out just as we were sitting down to eat and another one had an accident.  I had commented that it was nice to see the restaurant full and we were concerned that they weren’t able to keep up – little did we know.

Diana and Luna were both exhausted after the evening and a look through the amazing wedding album that Diana compiled.

Got all the way through to the back page of the 100 page album and went off to sleep

Saturday started out with pool time and then a lovely brunch at the Cowboys Club.  There’s not a chance that I was going to get a smile out of either Jack or Mason when I forced them to pose in the Cowboys Star – Saints fans wouldn’t dare.

The USA versus Costa Rica soccer semifinal of the soccer championship was the big event for Saturday night.  We tried out the soccer experience set up in a parking lot of AT&T Stadium but the kids were melting outside.

But Dad, We’re Melting

The cooler option was dinner at the Stadium Club inside the stadium.  The first half got off to a slow start with neither team able to string together effective breaks.  The only exception was a very narrow miss by the USA in the first 10 seconds.  The second half was much more exciting with two excellent goals from the USA.

The second by Clint Dempsey was one of the more impressive bending free kicks that I’ve seen.  I learned afterwards that this goal tied him with Landon Donovan for most goals for the USA.

The breakfast offering on Sunday was my Gorgonzola cheese grits and eggs which were again well received by Denny and the crew.  Then some more pool time and the traditional ice cream in the hot tub for the boys.

And then all good things have to come to an end again.  We really enjoy the Ogan visits and they always seem way to short.

On Sunday night we watched a show called “American Epic Sessions”.  This was executive produced by Jack Black and was a series of recording sessions using original 1925 recording equipment that had been restored over a 10 year period.  The care was amazing as the engineers set up the gear and cut the sessions directly to LP.  Here’s one of the sessions with Elton John and Jack White.

The latest chapter in my jazz book is on Ben Webster – a saxophone player most popular in the 40s when he started as the lead player in Duke Ellington’s band and then recorded a number of excellent solo albums.  I’m really enjoying his ballads and here’s one of my favorites.

The full Stanton Moore tribute to Allen Toussaint was released on Friday and I’ve listened to it a few times now.  I still enjoy Java – the first track that was released last week and here’s another favorite.

 

Week in Review – July 15, 2017

Last weekend we enjoyed a few days in California.  There was a special treat for me in the fridge at Clorinda’s house – dark chocolate covered pistachios with a special message on the bottom, “For Keith, but Clorinda tasted”.  Diana’s still searching for her special treat.  I was able to reciprocate with some handmade ginger flavored chocolate hearts that were well received.

During a dinner at Adamo and Amy’s home, a local policeman showed up to return a sign that had been stolen from Gypsy Hill and spotted in a yard in town.  Luciano took advantage of the visit to enjoy his first experience in a police car with the lights on.

The sunsets from Amy and Adamo’s home can be quite spectacular – even more so now that some trees have been trimmed back.

 

 

 

 

 

On Sunday I had a very enjoyable lunch at Santana Row catching up with Finn while Diana met up with her girlfriends for “Sip and Dip” at Kristina and Cat’s home.  Finn shared his website which showcases some of his graphic design and mobile application work – finnrobertsondesign.com.  He’s working on finding the perfect job match in this field just now.  I met up with the crew at Kristina’s and we enjoyed a lovely dinner and sharing stories with her Mom.  We spent the night in Los Gatos and I was able to visit some favorite old haunts – Carry Nations pub, The Great Bear coffee shop where we met up with Los Gatos Amy, and The Los Gatos Cafe for breakfast (and a special carrot and walnut left over treat for Clorinda).

On Tuesday we met up with a couple of friends of D’s from Australia – Renee and Daniel.  Renee taught Alicia dance and singing when she was in Australia many years ago and has since married Daniel.  They walked across the Golden Gate Bridge; we met them on the far side, and took them up to the top of the Marin Headlands for the best view of San Francisco.

From there we headed to lunch at a restaurant in Sausalito called Bar Bocce – an excellent recommendation from Amy that included a small beach and bocce court.  Good food, great company, and excellent views.

Bar Bocce in Sausalito

Then it was back over the bridge for a tour of the city that included Coit Tower, North Beach, downtown, the very touristy Pier 39 (with only a few sea lions in residence), and dinner at The Slanted door in the Ferry building.

Golden Gate Bridge from Coit Tower as the fog rolls in
Creative plating of Slanted Door Spring Rolls and Peanut Sauce by Keith

This weekend was mostly spent relaxing after the trip.  We did see the movie “The Hero” on Saturday afternoon and both enjoyed it very much.  It’s by a director named Brett Haley and starts Sam Elliot as an aging Western movie star.  We looked up other movies by the same director and found “I’ll See You in My Dreams” – a similar movie starring Blythe Danner and Sam Elliot.

Dinner on Saturday night was at Wasabi with Patty and Brent.  This is the sushi and Japanese restaurant that I first experienced with the Halls and loved.  My second visit was just as good as the first.  After dinner we walked over to Zin Zen where The Three Amigos band was playing.  McD demonstrated her varied dance moves with Patty and some new friends that shared her exuberant dancing approach.

During the trip to California I was able to finish the book, “Two and Two, McSorley’s, My Dad, and Me” by Rafe Bartholomew.  This is a very enjoyable read about the oldest continually operating bar in the United States and a father and son who have both worked there for many years – several together.   Lots of insights into the operation of the unique bar are offered along with a lot of commentary on working together with one’s Dad.  I was interested to read that the bar did not close down during Prohibition but was first closed during Hurricane Sandy.  This reminded me of my experience trying to recover connectivity for AIG’s employees stranded at home during Sandy.  This while all of the New York based team was completely offline due to lost electricity and connectivity.  Not something that I hope to have to do again in my IT career.

A favorite music discovery this week was the album “The Convincer “ by Nick Lowe in 2001.  I’ve always enjoyed his music and witty lyrics and this album contains a solid dose of both.

I’ve also been loving the new song “Java” by Stanton Moore’s band from their upcoming tribute to the late Allen Toussaint.   The musicians are all stars, the arrangement excellent, and all backed by the incredible drumming of Stanton Moore.  I was reminded of the first time I heard him – Levon Helm’s band was playing at jazzfest and Levon came out from behind the drums to sing a couple of songs.  Stanton Moore took over at drums and I asked Denny who that amazing new drummer was.  I was an immediate fan and have enjoyed several performances by Moore’s bands Galactic and his eponymous trio since.

 

Week in Review – July 5, 2017

This posting spans about 10 days since we enjoyed a long weekend for the July 4th holiday.

On Tuesday I decided to take advantage of the new living room sofa configuration and finally put a piano in the area we’ve referred to as the “piano room” since moving into the house over 4 years ago.  I did some quick online research and then made a trip to Jack Whitby pianos in Dallas.  Jack is quite the local character and had a good selection of reasonably priced pianos.  I picked one out around 1:30pm and it was delivered to the house by 5pm  – much to Diana’s surprise and entertainment.  I’ve been enjoying the sound and feel of the new Shoenbach piano very much over the last week.

Patty and Brent joined us for “sip and dip” (Patty only) and then dinner on Sunday afternoon.  We made gorgonzola lamb chops on the grill outside and they were well received.

Brent arrived over with a “scroll” he had been working on during the day, “The Profound Historical Significance of Diana and Keith’s Wedlock”.  The story plays out with ancient Roman and Italian interactions and lines  spoken by each party.  Brent’s brain is a very interesting and unique place – he had us in stitches.  All of this set up on his arrival with a story about watching a History channel show about the ancient Romans and Scottish.

We also loved this wedding card from the Scottish penguin series that includes our Christmas present mugs with William Wallace, Batman and Robin, lovebirds, and bagpiper.

 

 

Will arrived on Monday afternoon for the Roger Waters “Us and Them” show which promised to include a heavy dose of classic Pink Floyd songs.  I picked him up at the airport and we headed to the Meddlesome Moth for an early dinner.  We started with some delicious mussels with a Belgian sauce.  Then Will was determined to try the bone marrow which turned out to be delicious.  I had Thai flavored ceviche and then we split a very good steak pie.  Well fed for the music marathon ahead!

 

 

 

 

 

It’s been over 30 years since I last saw Roger Waters.  Andy Bull, Willie Kennedy and I made a trip to the concert arena outside Birmingham to see his “Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking” show which included Eric Clapton as the lead guitarist and some amazing staging.

The Dallas show did not disappoint.  Both Will and I loved it.  The advances in technology over the last 30 years allowed the show to be even more of a spectacle than the famous Pink Floyd shows of years past.

Here’s the staging for a selection of songs from the “Animals” album.  Screens and chimneys down the middle of the arena and perpendicular to the stage reprised the classic album cover of the Battersea power station.  This was also the point in the show where Waters’ feelings on Trump were on full display.  Including a large Trump pig that circled the arena and many graphics and direct Trump quotes projected on the large screens.  It was interesting to look around and see the split of those cheering and those sitting on their hands.  I’d say about 30% obvious Trumpers in the audience – I was expecting less.

Here are some videos that I took.  The first is the “Great Gig in the Sky” – one of many songs from the “Dark Side of the Moon” album.  The lady singers don’t quite get close to the original but the rest of the band does very well.

Next is a very good performance of “Wish You Were Here” from my favorite Floyd album of the same name.  The sound system did a very nice job with the acoustic guitar sound.

The first half of the show ended with “Another Brick in the Wall” and a crew of local Dallas kids dressed in orange prison garb dancing on stage.  They removed their overalls to show “Resist” shirts.  At the end of the show, confetti with Resist stamped on it dropped from the ceiling.  “Resist” is a slogan for a movement that encourages grass roots organizing and action to stand against the current Trump/Republican agenda.

As is typical, the show finished with “Comfortably Numb” from “The Wall”.  This features one of my all time favorite guitar solos.

Based on this text I think Will enjoyed the show as much as I did which makes me very happy.

 

 

 

 

 

For a completely unique cover version of “Comfortably Numb” try this one from The Bad Plus with Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley on vocals.  The jazz piano is excellent.

For Tuesday, July 4th, breakfast I made my becoming famous barbecue pulled pork eggs Benedict.  The hollandaise came from a mix this time after failed attempts at getting it thick enough following recipes – worked out much better and was much quicker.  Will, Diana and I really enjoyed them.

After breakfast we put Will to work on a few tasks that are beyond our technical capabilities – programming the buttons on the Passat and Porsche to open the garage doors so that we don’t have to carry the remotes in our cars.  He claims to have just followed the instructions in the manuals that didn’t work for me…

Then it was off to the Cowboys Club for 4th of July lunch.  Will and “McD” both loved the lobster bake while I enjoyed the typically American burger.  No pictures of lunch since they’re not allowed in the club 🙁  Mc D just finished her left over lobster for a very nice lunch.  Then a quick trip to the airport to drop of Will for his flight back to San Francisco.

We were too tired and lazy to go out and watch the local fireworks display – so we enjoyed the New York show on TV.

In the reading department, I finished “White Tears” by Hari Kunzu.  I found this through a New York Times Book Review recommendation – the blues music aspect interested me.  The Amazon summary reads, “White Tears is a ghost story, a terrifying murder mystery, a timely meditation on race, and a love letter to all the forgotten geniuses of American music and Delta Mississippi Blues.  An incisive meditation on race, privilege and music. Spanning decades, this novel brings alive the history of old-time blues and America’s racial conscience.”  I thoroughly enjoyed this book and it was a quick read as I took a break from the very dense “Moonglow” by Michael Chabon – hope to finish it for next week’s post.

I’ve also been reading “But Beautiful (A book about jazz)” when I’ve only had short amounts of time available.  This book is 8 vignettes, each featuring a famous jazz musician.  So far I’ve read the chapters on Lester Young, nicknamed “Pres” by Billie Holiday and Thelonious Monk.  Listening to Lester Young has been a pleasant discovery – he has a very gentle and lyrical tone as compared to his bebop era contemporaries like Coleman Hawkins and John Coltrane.  Here’s a sample:

I’ve tried to appreciate Thelonious Monk’s piano playing but just can’t get there yet.  I did enjoy this one with Coltrane on saxophone:

The next chapter is about Bud Powell and I’ve been enjoying his piano much more.

In other music news, my very favorite two albums released recently are by Jason Isbell and Dan Auerbach.  Both heavily influenced by Nashville session musicians and both on heavy rotation in my office.

And to round out the music department, here’s an album by the great jazz guitarist Bill Frisell that I stumbled across this afternoon and have been really enjoying – “Telstar” is a highlight.

 

 

 

 

 

Week in Review – July 31, 2016

I arrived in New York on Monday afternoon to a heavy thunderstorm.  Circled La Guardia for a couple of hours before landing and then took over an hour to drive to the hotel due to the weather.  The travel woes were quickly forgotten as I headed to the Village Vanguard jazz club for an evening with the Village Vanguard jazz orchestra.  This is a 16 piece all star ensemble that plays most Monday nights.  The celebrated their 50 year anniversary in February.

I sat next to a middle school music teacher from Chicago who plays drums in a local big band.  He was a great source of comments on the drumming and the band in general and has several students who have gone on to have professional music careers.  What a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

It was intervanguard orchesting to see the Village Vanguard in a documentary called “Becoming Mike Nichols” that I watched between catch up naps on Saturday – apparently he and Elaine May performed there in their early days as an improv duo.  The documentary was about Nichols work up to and including “The Graduate” which was his first movie at age 36.  It was also Dustin Hoffman’s first movie – Nichols had seen him perform at an off-Broadway production.

IMG_1537Tuesday and Wednesday were long work days at 180 Maiden Lane in the Wall St area.  80 folks locked up in an auditorium with rotating speakers, panels, and group discussions.

Wednesday night was another excellent music adventure.  I took the subway up to the Times Square area and saw Joe Ely performing at B.B. King’s club.  This club is set up like a supper club with good food, drinks, and great seating/views.  I remember seeing Joe Ely for the first time at an outdoor amphitheater in San Antonio over 20 years ago – Ian Moore was the guitarist in his band.  He is a great singer/songwriter, originally from Lubbock, TX.  His stories and songs were very enjoyable – particularly in the solo acoustic setting.  Here’s a movie I made from a few clips I took during the evening.  My favorite song of the evening was “Live Forever” by Billy Joe Shaver.  I didn’t get a video of that one but it did remind me of the Bugs Henderson song, “I wish I could write like Billy Joe”; a tribute to his stellar songwriting skills.

Here’s some Bugs Henderson – I really miss seeing him live since he passed a few years ago.  A trademark Bugs solo starts at 2:48.

Thursday was another work day in New York and then travel back that evening – another weather delayed flight that got me back home pretty late.

Friday night was pizza and wine night with the Wahba’s at their home – trying to distract Patty from her bad news.

On Saturcatfish with ponzu sauceday I made my first Blue Apron meal in a while.  Catfish with ponzu and red pepper sauce, ginger toasted peanuts, garlic infused rice, and sesame seed zucchini.

 

 

 

 

I finishjust mercyed the book “Just Mercy” by Bryan Stevenson this week.  This is a mind blowing account of the racial injustices of the judicial system in the South (particularly Alabama) told through stories of many cases that the author, a Harvard lawyer who has never really earned much of a living, has worked on over the last 20 years.  The progress that Stevenson has driven almost single handedly over the years with many Supreme Court hearings is phenomenal.