April 26, 2020 – Keith Robertson

“Jazzfesting in Place”

Hello Quarantiners. Hope you are all staying healthy and getting some exercise. Our exercise program came to a sharp stop on Monday afternoon. After our Week 4 Day 3 run on Saturday I had some muscle pain and didn’t think too much of it. It subsided on Monday and so I did 30 minutes on the elliptical – bad idea. Now it’s pretty painful and as a result I haven’t been able to run or do much exercise this week. Don’t worry – McD has made up for it with very consistent and vigorous workouts. Maybe I should try the universal cure recommended by our Commander in Chief this week:

My Mum sent a poem and some pictures from 1918 (and 1869) that indicate the leadership and information flow over 100 years ago may have been better:

We grilled the rib-eye steak from Rye on Monday evening – the first nice day we’ve had in a while. Diana did a lovely job since I wasn’t up for moving around too much. The perfectly cooked steak and grilled vegetables were a real treat. And we have plenty of leftovers to enjoy all week long.

After dinner we enjoyed some light relief with the Matthew McConaughey movie, “My Crazy Ex-Girlfriends”. This was a recommendation from Alicia and was perfect for our mood – just silly, good fun.

The Tuesday New York Times puzzle made me laugh with a clue “__ Gatos” next to a clue with the answer “Elroy”. How does that happen? I’m always pleased to finish any day of the NYT puzzles in less than 20 minutes.

We had the rest of the quail for dinner and 8 mins in the oven versus 10 from Saturday was the perfect adjustment. What a delicious and somewhat decadent quarantine meal. The regular Band of Heathens Supper Club live stream provided entertainment with dinner. It’s fun to watch the shows get more professional in quality as the weeks pass. Ed’s guitar and harmonica sounded particularly good.

Diana cooked sole on Wednesday, a nice healthy option when not done meuniere style. Do any of you know what meuniere means? Sorry there’s no way to do an accent grave in this blogging tool that I can find. I can think of one particular reader who likely does. It means “miller’s wife” – referencing the dredging in flour prior to cooking. We watched the “Jersey for Jersey” fundraising broadcast with dinner. Stand out performances included Tony Bennett’s “Smile” and Springsteen’s “Jersey Girl”, performed a la Tom Waits at a much slower tempo and with a melancholy feel.

A text from the Ogans on Thursday morning alerted me to “Jazzfesting in Place.” This would have been the first weekend of Jazzfest in New Orleans (canceled for 2020) and the local radio station, WWOZ, put together a line up of broadcasts from prior years in the same schedule format as the real deal. Apparently the food vendors are set up all around town offering to go treats. I wonder where my favourite Mrs. Wheat’s pies is located? Nothing to worry about – they have a website and I’ve ordered up a sampling of pies for weekend 2 of festing in place.

Snooks Eaglin was the stand out for me on Friday. I was reminiscing about seeing him at the original Rock ‘N Bowl with the Ogans and Sean a few weeks before he passed. Those crazy fingers flying over the fretboard. I set up some jazzfest photos on the patio to put us in the mood. Diana enjoyed the show from her “home office”. Anne is setting up a festing in place party on their courtyard. We laughed when she said Denny would only go on Friday or Sunday because Saturday was too busy.

Later in the day, Diana returned from Wallgreens with more excellent pictures of Jazzfests past to enhance the patio experience.

The festival is one of the highlights of our annual calendar and we really miss hanging out with our friends and enjoying great music and food. Here’s a sampling of memories:

Liuzza’s gathering spot prior to entering the fest

First year and the weather did not cooperate

The trio – one of each on the sign – always a go to

We had hoped that a visit from a pair of ducks to our pool on Friday morning was a one-off. They showed back up again on Saturday morning for an extended stay – enjoying a swim, a wander through the bushes, and some posing on top of the waterfall.

Santos came to trim up all of our trees and the ducks were scarce for a while. Diana just came in to report that she had chased them over the fence to the neighbours’ pool this morning. What a difference trimming up the big tree in front of our house has made. You can actually see the front of the house and I’m hopeful the grass will start to fill in under the tree.

Several huge loads of trimmed branches were hauled off.

Dinner on Saturday night was rib-eye tacos and elote (Mexican style street corn) from Rye. I cooked it all outside on the grill and we thoroughly enjoyed the sauce and butter that Rye provided to set it all off. I forgot to snap a picture last night but we have plenty left for another batch next week. We tried to watch the “Ford versus Ferrari” movie, but even with our recently upgraded internet bandwidth, were not able to tolerate all the delays and buffering caused by all the extra demand on our local circuits. I’ll have to download in advance so that we can try again tonight.

We’re packing up now to head out the patio for Sunday Jazzfest. Highlights that we’re looking forward to are the Soul Rebels brass band, Henry Butler, and headliner Trombone Shorty.

My book this week was “Maid” by Stephanie Land. This seemed particularly relevant as we see so many low paid workers struggling to survive in an economy mostly closed down. My eyes were hugely opened by Land’s story of survival as a single parent and house cleaner.

“Being poor, living in poverty, seemed a lot like probation – the crime being a lack of means to survive.”

The writing is excellent and I was thoroughly drawn into the struggle against ever changing government aid programs. It’s amazing that a very small increase in earnings took so many of the programs that Land needed to survive off the table. The dehumanization of hourly paid workers is a constant undercurrent – something that may have changed recently as we all come to understand how vital grocery store and delivery workers really are to society. Land reacts to a house cleaning client who has bought her a couple of lobsters for her birthday dinner:

“I stammered out a thank you. I had never encountered a client being so kind to me, treating me like a human being. I didn’t know how to receive it.”

Land’s description of the way people made her feel guilty and embarrassed for using food stamps in the grocery store are heartbreaking. An online posting that she quotes:

“Today’s lesson in irony: The food stamp program, a part of the Department of Agriculture, is pleased to be distributing the greatest amount of food stamps ever. Meanwhile, the Park Service, also part of the Department of Agriculture, asks us to PLEASE DON’T FEED THE ANIMALS because the animals may become dependent and not learn to take care of themselves.”

Wow! The cruelty on display every day is hard to fathom.

Land’s dream was to attend a writing program at the University of Montana in Missoula. “A River Runs Through It” by Norman MacLean and “Travels with Charley” by Steinbeck had her quite excited about living there. She ultimately accomplishes the dream, and this book is the first result.

On the music front, Bob Dylan continues to amaze with so much new music. This one was released this week and I love the lyrics that describe his wide and varied interests.