Tuesday was a full day of work in Houston with an early morning start and a late night return – but sleeping in my own bed was worth it.
The big night out this week was on Sunday. We started with our first trip to T
rinity Groves with Patty and Brent. This is a new area on the opposite side of the Margaret Hunt bridge from downtown Dallas. There is a walking path along the Trinity river levee which provides great views of downtown. We stopped into the Cake Bar where Patty picked up a slice of cake for later. It appears to very popular as 
most all of the cakes were sold out before 5pm. Kate Weiser chocolate next door had some of the most creative and colorful treats I’ve seen. The Easter eggs were especially impressive.
Brent chose Casa Rubia for dinner. It’s a Spanish tapas place with an interesting menu of tapas and Spanish wines. We really enjoyed the paella, bacon wrapped dates, mushrooms, and chicken liver mousse. A wander around the area after dinner left us ready to go back soon to try some of the other restaurants.
A short drive to Oak Cliff and the perfect Kessler theater to see Shawn Mullins. I first heard him via his album “Soul’s Core” in 1998. It featured the single “Lullaby” which hit number one on the charts but my favorite was his cover of Kris Kristofferson’s “Sunday Morning Coming Down” which I still listen to several times a month.
Rick Brantley opened the show and was the typical pleasant surprise presented by openers at the Kessler. Rick is from Macon, Georgia which was also home to Otis Redding and the Allman Brothers. There must be something in the water there for so much talent to come out of a rural city with less than 100,000 population. Here’s Rick doing the Redding classic “Show a Little Tenderness”.
Shawn Mullins was equally enjoyable with the usual excellent sound experienced in the Kessler. Here he is doing my favorite.
You can see the threatening weather looming behind the Kessler billboard and while we were enjoying the concert it broke. Areas north of Dallas experienced some serious hail and winds. Fortunately Penelope missed the storm at Patty and Brent’s house. Our house was not so fortunate and will need a new roof and fence due to the hail and wind damage.
ncert that was the main reason for our trip. We saw the Southern Soul Assembly perform at the City Winery. This is a group of 4 singer songwriters – Anders Osborne, Marc Broussard, JJ Grey, and Luther Dickinson – who usually perform on their own but did this short acoustic tour where they each take turns singing with acoustic guitars. The music and the venue were both excellent – we appreciated the table seating with food and drink service and the sound was very precise. We had heard Anders and Marc perform separately before and both agreed that JJ Grey was the star of the show. Here are JJ Grey, Anders, and Marc – you can decide which you like best but the variety was really entertaining.
Friday started with coffee and the crossword followed by a workout on the elliptical machines. We had lunch at a restaurant called the Little Octopus near the hotel. We were disappointed they didn’t have ceviche at lunch but enjoyed the Caribbean style food very much.
had a pleasant couple of hours exploring the exhibits and learned quite a bit about the local Nashville session musicians who played on music by Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Johnny Cash and a host of others.
On the walk back to the hotel we stopped for a picture of Diana with her new angel wings – do you see the guitars in the wing design? We laughed as Diana jumped in between a group of silly young girls who were taking forever to take multiple typical teenage poses in front of the wings. There was another couple waiting patiently and Diana told them, “That’s how it’s done”.
Thursday night’s routine with a trip to the rooftop bar at the hotel – quite a bit colder this time though so we sat inside. Then it was a quick Uber ride over to the Butcher and Bee restaurant – excellent Mediterranean food. The night finished with a quick visit to the Sambuca music club across from the hotel where we enjoyed a good cover band.
er in
Record factory and store. This is run by Jack White of the White Stripes band. Have you heard of them? Diana hadn’t and didn’t recognize their song “Seven Nation Army” when I played it on my phone on the walk over.