March 2024 – Keith Robertson

Week in Review – March 31st, 2024

“Freret Street Fest”

Monday and Tuesday were quiet days, and we relaxed with a couple of good movies. “Tyson’s Run” is about an autistic child who takes up running and wins a marathon race.

“Mending the Line” is about the healing effect of fly fishing for soldiers with PTSD.

I recommend both of these.

My barber, Derek, had mentioned they were going to be filming some of Spinal Tap II near the shop on Wednesday afternoon. Diana and I took a wander down and, sure enough, they had converted a store front into a “cheese and guitars” shop. I think that’s the director, Rob Reiner, that you can see inside the shop.

Kenny joined us in Lafayette Square on Wednesday evening for the regular concert series. A couple of bands perform every Wednesday for a couple of months until it gets too hot.

Trumpet Mafia opened for RAM de Haiti. I had heard a little of Trumpet Mafia and was interested to check out some more. Impressive jazz musicians with a little bit too much noodling to show off skills that didn’t feel overly musical to me. When the group played as an ensemble it sounded good.

DJ El Camino, Anne’s friend Marlena’s husband, performed during the turn over between bands.

Diana got us some food from “Plate” restaurant, a tapas place we’ve been meaning to try. The smoked fish dip and lamb skewer were both very good. We listened to a couple of songs from RAM (horns mixed at a much better level than at Fete Francaise) and then headed home. It’s always good to travel downtown with Kenny – we get VIP parking at the closest fire station. “Always got a spot for you, Chief.”

Neffie and Shaun arrived in the wee hours of Friday morning, driving from Dallas after work. We let them sleep in and then had a late lunch at the Columns.

Probably the best burger in town at the Columns.

Diana convinced Shaun and Neffie to join her for some oysters at Superior Seafood and I relaxed at home and regrouped for the evening.

We enjoyed Tom Fitzpatrick’s Sax and the City at Dos Jefes cigar bar. A really good group of musicians.

Saturday was Freret Street Festival – about 10 blocks of Freret, a unique shopping and dining street, are closed off for three stages and many arts, crafts, and food tents.

We wandered down to the far stage on Napoleon to see some of Valerie Sassyfrass – always hilarious. Here’s the T-Rex song:

The krewe assembled during those performances:

I enjoyed the band after Valerie, Beach Angel:

We wandered down to Val’s for some lunch in the calm, inside section, and then retired to Kenny’s porch for a while.

Tootsie, Neffie’s dog, did provide some entertainment. Weighing in at about two pounds, she really is hilarious.

We’re having a quiet Easter Sunday. I’m cheering for Purdue as I write this – the game is a lot closer than I would like it to be.

A great song about New Orleans from Steve Earle:

Something new from New Orleans born Mary Gauthier:

I hadn’t heard this early Steve Miller song before – can you hear the start of him working out “Fly Like an Eagle?”

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all!

Week in Review – March 24th, 2024

“Vampyres and Fete Francaise”

I took cousin Colin to the French Quarter on Monday, while Diana had an appointment around lunchtime. He really wanted to try the Vampyre Apothecary and so we stopped there to check it out. I didn’t believe they were selling a dozen oysters for $6 during Happy Hour – but it is legit.

Colin was in search of Vampyre souvenirs for friends back in Greenville. So we visited the store so he could pick up t-shirts and blood bags.

We rambled through the quarter a bit, down Bourbon with a stop at Jean Lafitte’s blacksmith shop, back over to Royal, stopped into a gastro pub for a light snack, and decided on where to meet Diana for lunch.

We did make a quick stop into the Dirty Coast t-shirt store:

I chose Saint John and Diana met us there. They were actually serving a brunch menu – unusual for a Monday. Diana was able to talk them into giving her the steak tartare from the dinner menu, and Colin enjoyed a breakfast po-boy.

We tried to visit the “Almost Rock ‘n Roll Gallery” that Steve, Andy and Jude’s friend, runs just down from the restaurant. Alas – a sign in the window saying they are closing and everything is 50% off. We do have a few weeks to make a purchase if we find something we like.

An Uber home to rest up a bit, and then off to Dos Jefes in the evening for John Fohl.

Here’s John performing “Bet you didn’t see it coming:”

I think Colin really enjoyed the casual Dos Jefes vibe.

We dropped him at the airport early on Tuesday morning and then really “enjoyed” the rush hour traffic back into downtown. Diana enjoyed Happy Hour with the girls at Wine on Oak in the evening.

Wednesday and Thursday were pretty mellow work days. We did watch the new movie “Irish Wish.” This was a corny and predictable Lindsay Lohan vehicle that I found strangely funny and enjoyable. Must have been in the right mood.

On Friday, we decided on Elizabeth Street café at the Saint Vincent hotel for Happy Hour. This is the sister restaurant of the Vietnamese place of the same name on First Street in Austin. I always loved their banh-mi sandwiches.

Happy Hour here is a good deal, $5 off cocktails and half off all food. We enjoyed French negronis and chili oil dumplings. The garden outside seating is very relaxed and pleasant. It’s about a mile stroll from our home – just right. On the walk, we noticed “Molly’s House.” I texted a picture to my future daughter in law.

Reply:

“You bought me a house.”

“I knew I was your favorite.”

Funny Molly!

Next on our agenda was Wild South. This is a brand new tasting menu restaurant that has been open less than three weeks. I read a rave review from the newspaper food critic. You can reserve bar seating and order from an a la carte menu, if not prepared to commit to the full tasting. It was a bit of work to find the place, which does not have a sign. We persevered and were welcomed in by Brian with a complimentary cider that he has been enjoying lately. The tasting menu was very inviting. Diana tried to convince me, but we would not have been able to do it justice after our earlier snack. See what you think:

The a la carte menu includes a couple of the lighter dishes from the tasting one. We enjoyed tuna nduja, shrimp salsa, and fish pieces. All excellent. We’ll certainly have the full menu next time. Alex was a lovely bartender – very patient and knowledgeable as Diana selected a white wine.

It’s always pleasant when a place that is delivering such high quality is also casual, relaxed and welcoming.

On our hike back home, I pointed out District coffee, one of my places for a yummy breakfast biscuit. They had an ice cream banner out front, and so..

The ice cream was really good. Just as well, as we think it’s been over a decade since Diana had any – would be a shame to break that record for something average. We walked home up Philip Street – so many pretty, historical houses lit up at night. We’ll call our Friday afternoon and evening activity a “Lower Garden District ramble.” Our first of many.

Saturday began with a couple of laps around Audubon park. Then we parked the BBB at the Kingpin and walked over to Fete Francaise, the annual fundraiser for the local bilingual French school. Most of the krewe met us there, and we enjoyed some moules frites and a set by local heroes, Galactic:

Galactic were followed by a very interesting group called RAM de Haiti. Thom has seen them a couple of times at an old hotel in Port du Prince in Haiti. They are based here just now due to all the trouble in their homeland. Polyrhythms, punk guitar, big horns like the annoying things at soccer matches, and a saxophone – quite the entertainment.

Here are the horns:

Next up – a short walk back to the Kingpin for the free Saturday afternoon show featuring John Papa Gros. I really enjoyed his solo piano set:

What a lovely day of excellent free music. Time to relax on the couch and enjoy the NCAA basketball tournament – Texas versus Tennessee. I did manage to walk over seven miles on Saturday.

Diana decided to play tennis with the girls on Sunday morning. In a weak moment, I volunteered to drive her over – for an 8 am start. I picked her up around 10am at Kenny and Kara’s home, and then we did a run through the grocery store. Now I’m watching Purdue versus Utah State – I have Purdue to win the entire tournament in my pool. They seem to be pulling ahead nicely.

Finn shared this picture of Holly’s Iranian New Year table setting. New Year was on Wednesday and it is traditional to set a table with little things that symbolize good fortune for the year ahead.

Nothing much to report on the reading front this week. I did add a lot of exciting upcoming new releases to my list. I’m also going to revisit the Graham Greene book that features the hotel where RAM de Haiti played for Thom.

The Black Crowes are back with their first album in fifteen years:

I haven’t listened to much of it yet, but this one sounds good.

Some old and great stuff from the same band:

And finally, from a band co-founded by John Fohl:

Coexist peacefully, with patience and kindness for all!

Week in Review – March 17th, 2024

“Watch out for cabbages”

We made a fun trip to City Hall on Monday afternoon. In order to get a homestead exemption for property taxes, both homeowners need to show up with driver license and an electric bill (water bill doesn’t work.) A lot more work than in Texas. We entered the building via a side door and chuckled when walking past all the metal detectors and security at the main door – typical New Orleans. Once we sat down, the whole process took less than five minutes.

I had my teeth cleaned at the new dentist we found through Kelly on Wednesday. I was pleased with the thorough job. Kenny met me for lunch afterwards. We tried Mint on Freret (Vietnamese) and I was very happy with my lemongrass chicken banh mi. The French bread was wonderful. Cooper Manning was having lunch there – making it two sightings of him in a week.

I finally dropped off the four bags of Mardi Gras throws that have been in the trunk for a while at Whole Foods for recycling.

I watched the Netflix series “The Gentlemen” by Guy Richie over a couple of days – didn’t love it but it was entertaining.

We picked cousin Colin up at the airport on Thursday evening and fed him jambalaya to welcome him back to New Orleans.

I worked on Friday morning and then we took Colin for the Commanders Palace lunch experience – including the 25 cent martinis. They had a corned beef special for St. Patrick’s day – served on brioche bread with a poached egg on top. Colin wasn’t able to pass that up and really enjoyed it. I had my usual turtle soup, stuffed quail, and bread pudding soufflé.

In the afternoon, Diana and I worked on preparations for our St. Patrick’s parade watching party. Three full trays of cottage pie, haggis, dips, etc.

We had a great turnout on Saturday afternoon for the Irish Channel parade. There must have been thirty or forty folks through the house.

They still drop cabbages from the floats:

Some of the silly boys thought they would entertain Diana with hats decorated with silverware – reminding her that they swapped the drawers around on their last visit, and causing a squeak. Kenny appears to have fixed the squeak for now.

It has been very rainy so far today, so we just gave Colin a quick driving tour. Very few people out at the Tracey’s and Parasols block party so far.

I started a collection of Flannery O’Connor short stories this week. The first one is “The Geranium”, a pretty controversial story due to the racist views held by Old Dudley who moves from the South to stay with his daughter in New York. I ready strong articles for and against the story. It was originally published in 1946 and was part of O’ Connors’ Masters thesis.

Let’s start with the Irish classic:

Charles Lloyd released an excellent new album this week, at the age of 86. He has such a massive discography.

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all!

Week in Review – March 10th, 2024

“Super human Marco!”

Julie posted a note and videos about Marco’s participation in the “Tri for Marco” mini-triathlon at St. Francis school. The competition was renamed when Marco was battling cancer.

Look at what this super-human is doing eighteen months after all that surgery. So inspirational. Marco is so beloved at his school. He still thinks he’s running an Olympic distance triathlon in Hawaii in April, and I am not foolish enough to bet against him.

Here he is completing the final running portion. Notice all the lacrosse players stopping practice to applaud him:

Swimming away from the field easily:

We had some heavy rain earlier this week, which naturally led to street flooding across the city. Our friend, Lynn, was trying to move her neighbor’s car when she was splashed by a rude driver. Her neighbor captured the moment perfectly:

Lynn reports that she was saying “Hello!” Sure you were, Lynn.

I had training and fitting for my new hearing aids on Wednesday. I really like the gentleman that tested me, fitted me, and trained me up on operation. We have great music discussions at my appointments – he had made a visit to a used record store last weekend. The devices are pretty sophisticated, with ability to choose different situations – I’m looking forward to trying out the “Noisy Environment” and “Reverberant Room” settings. Loud restaurants and bars are where I have difficulty hearing everyone.

The directional tuning might be helpful in meeting rooms – we’ll see.

I certainly noticed an improvement in the full spectrum sound when listening to music. I’ve really been missing out on a lot of high frequency information. On the drive home, the low thud from the turn indicators changed to a much more traditional clicking noise.

We watched an episode from the new season of “Somebody Feed Phil” on Wednesday evening. This one was from Dubai and had my mouth watering at every stop. The mix of cultures in that city has led to some fantastic food options.

The positive energy and enthusiasm that Phil exudes is really second to none.

The NOLA Gold rugby match last weekend had me doing a bit of research. I was trying to remember the name “Andy Irvine” (star of so many Scottish international games that I attended at Murrayfield in Edinburgh) – it finally came out of my old brain. He was such an amazing player.

During the NOLA Gold match, I commented several times that #15, the right winger, was the best player on the field. I found out who he is and, of course, he’s from Edinburgh. He had great speed and vision of the field – naturally given the amount of time he’s spent playing sevens.

Diana and I had a “Zoo Date” on Friday. I dropped off and picked up McD from her hair appointment and we headed to the zoo afterwards. Rain was forecast and we thought we could enjoy the zoo in between downpours. Right as we arrived, the heavens opened, and all the school buses loaded up and left. We traded in our library card for “free” tickets and entered into the zoo. We encountered maybe eight folks during our tour of the zoo. The first area we came across was the flamingos. They are hilarious with the extending necks. Clearly, the flamingo with the longest neck is the king of the jungle.

We went to the primate area from there.

The orangutan and gorilla were quite entertaining – the gorilla was really making a mess of his area.

The gorilla was really making a mess of his area:

We both thought the black and white Colobus was lovely –

After the monkeys, our next stop was the Red River Hogs. They were quite lively in coming to see us, and we were amazed by their wispy ears:

Next were the rhinos – such massive beasts lumbering around in the rain:

Next were the leopards – very sleepy.

The elephants were mostly hanging out by their inside area, so no good photos.

We found ourselves over by Monkey Hill, the highest land in New Orleans, and the name of one of our favorite bars, just behind the zoo.

We were lucky to end up in the “Wings across the World” exhibit as the heavens opened again. We had the entire area to ourselves. Some of the birds were free range in the area, and others in enclosures. I loved the Toucans:

This guy is an aracari, but he looks a lot like a toucan:

I think my favorite bird was the hyacinth macaw – such a beautiful colour and quite feisty:

One of the free range birds was the Argus pheasants – a very interesting bird:

Our next shelter from the downpour was the reptile house. Neither of us were excited about entering, but the challenge of finding the snakes, frogs etc, hiding in their environments was fun.

The green anaconda wasn’t hard to find:

Here’s the reason we had trepidation about entering the reptile exhibit. The black and white rattlesnake:

The last thing I’ll give you from our zoo date is the Komodo dragon – very sleepy:

As we left the zoo, I captured these pictures of the Audubon that these places are named after:

Our date continued at the Parkview Inn and the Gilded Perch bar. Callie took great care of us – hard to imagine a 22 year old carrying on a better conversation with us than she did. The Inn is very lucky to have her. Here are some pictures of the peacock above the bar and the related Muses shoes::

We met Anne at Chaise Delachaise for Happy Hour – and what a great deal it is – mussels, sliders and frites half off, as well as all wines.

I loved our happy hour. Diana got the octopus, which was delicious. We’ll be back here soon.

We started Saturday with a run around Audubon park with Laura “the gazelle.” I chose to do my run/walk , while Diana did her best to keep up with Laura “you’re setting the pace,” Diana.

In the afternoon, we went to the Kingpin for the Panorama jazz band – they sounded like something you would hear from a French café – clarinet lead and singing. Here’s a video with local celebrity, Cooper Manning, and the band:

Sunday began with a very long walk down the streetcar tracks to the Ogans on Webster. Diana got in trouble on the way back. One of the streetcar drivers misunderstood her hand signals and whistled and wagged a finger at her. Hilarious. I’m still laughing.

Now, we’re settled in and watching the Oscars. Here’s my ballot. How did you do?

We’ll see how all the ballots tabulate in the morning.

I watched “The Holdovers” several times this week until getting to the end. I love this movie, and am picking Paul Giamatti as the Best Actor – a bit of an upset, I know.

I loved this quote from the movie, “We cannot sacrifice our integrity on the altars of their entitlement.”

I finished “Come and Get it” by Kiley Reid. This was a very good book with excellent dialog – I loved the “Ohmygoodness” and “Ah didn’t know that Ah thought that way”. Very much recommended.

Speaking of the Oscars, here’s a wonderful film score:

Some local, New Orleans music:

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all!

Week in Review – March 3rd, 2024

“Miami Beach Strategery”

We flew to Miami on Monday afternoon, checked into the Lifehouse hotel, and met up with Chickie (our majority shareholder’s son) for Happy Hour at the South Pointe tavern.

This is what the hotel website says about the history of the hotel:

“In the 1920s, Miami Beach’s first commercial strip, Española Way, became an artists’ colony. Creative types seeking life by the sea moved to the city in droves, including an artist who discovered a unique Tudor home in the South of the Fifth neighborhood. We transformed their eclectic beach cottage, now a landmark, into a House that’s only steps from the ocean, yet far enough away from the noise of South Beach tourists.”

We had been skeptical about the hotel and our “Writer’s Suite”, but everything worked out very well.

After Happy Hour, Chickie had us booked in for an impossible table at Carbone. Probably one of the best Italian meals that I’ve ever enjoyed. Wonderful, old school service and every single dish an amazing treat.

Tuna tartare, beef carpaccio, various salads, amazing pastas, steaks, and on and on. Just a wonderful meal and experience all around. I would love to do it again. We are so spoiled at these company events.

Tuesday began with breakfast at the Patio at the Continuum, our majority shareholder, Phil’s, residence community. Everything was delicious, as always.

We migrated form there to Phil’s condo and began our strategic discussions. Those lasted a few hours, and then it was time for lunch, back at the Patio. Everything went very well with the strategery, which led to a lot of fun at lunch and dinner.

The fig and prosciutto sourdough pizza that we shared was ridiculous. As was the truffle carpaccio.

Meanwhile, a little further up the beach, Lisa and Diana were enjoying their pool and beach time.

I’m very pleased that they had so much time together while we pretended to work a bit.

The girls joined us for drinks before dinner on Phil and Maria’s fourth floor terrace. It’s entertaining to view the size of the cruise ships that roll past the terrace. Oh, and I do enjoy a work environment where shorts and flip flops are perfectly acceptable.

Blair called an audible for dinner on Tuesday night – he really wanted to sit on the waterfront at Smith and Wollensky. This is a very popular place and so Chickie was deployed to negotiate a last minute prime table. Of course he was successful as you can see below:

The views out onto the water and over to the lights of downtown Miami were quite something. I enjoyed the custom martini glass:

How many senior executives does it take to order wine, and how long will they ponder? At least two and what seemed like ten minutes or more:

We slept in on Wednesday morning and opted for a walk along the beach front road rather than breakfast. I enjoy the art deco style hotels and the vintage cars parked in front of them. Kenny got a kick out of the old “Fire Dept” vehicle.

We had a coffee and then found a Cuban restaurant (they seem to be on every corner) for lunch. I chose this one based on the positive reviews of their octopus dish.

The octopus did not disappoint – completely fresh and delicious. We really couldn’t face another heavy meal, passing on the Cubano sandwich that I would typically have ordered.

Travel home to New Orleans on Wednesday evening was smooth. I knew Diana was tired and not at all hungry on Thursday evening when she passed up an invitation for oysters with Anne.

We had planned on an outdoor concert at the Broadside on Friday evening but the weather was a bit bleak and dreary and we were still tired from our travels. I was sorry to miss the event and there will be plenty more in the near future as the weather warms up.

I convinced Diana to attend the NOLA Gold rugby match on Saturday afternoon. I had made the mistake of having her watch some of the Six Nations series on Netflix. “It’s a very violent sport, not something I’m sure I want to go and watch.”

McD reported enjoying the event a lot more than she expected to. The entertainment around the game was well done – kind of like attending a minor league baseball game. Big Sam’s Funky Nation performed before the game and at halftime. He marched up and down the roof of the baseball dugout (the field used to be the home of the local baseball team.)

There were a lot of kids in attendance and they enjoyed interacting with King Creole.

We had great seats and they were quite affordable – $25 for two. The first half was pretty boring, and things picked up in the second with two tries from NOLA Gold to win.

I forgot to mention that the opposition was Old Glory from Washington, DC. Here’s the upcoming schedule. This was the kickoff game for the season.

Our neighbor, Hugh, is an investor in NOLA Gold, and had told me that the commentator would briefly explain the reasons for penalties and other rules, so that folks unfamiliar with rugby could learn and follow along better. The overall goal being to encourage return customers. The commentator did a good job of that, while not talking over the play.

This was a good afternoon of entertainment and I look forward to doing it again in the future.

We watched a good film on Saturday night, “Dreamin’ Wild” is based on the true story of Donnie and Joe Emerson, who released an album when they were 16 and 17 years old. It didn’t generate much interest at the time, and then was found 30 years later by a company that finds hidden gems and re-releases them.

Donnie wrote the music, played the majority of the instruments, and produced the record, all in a small shack that his father built on his farm. The real album is available on Spotify:

Casey Affleck plays the older Donnie, and gives a typically nuanced performance. I recommend this movie to any music lovers.

We’re just back from a walk and run in Audubon park – the weather is so nice today. It is not forecast to be so pleasant over the next couple of days – rain storms coming.

Most of the guys from the local krewe are skiing and snowboarding in Colorado today. I’m waiting for video of Thom taking his first snowboarding lesson. I would have liked to join them, but it would have been too much on the heels of the Miami trip.

I started “Come and Get It” by Kiley Reid on the short flights to Miami and back. I loved “Such a Fun Age” and am enjoying this one so far. I haven’t reached the key part of the story yet. Here’s the online summary:

“From the celebrated New York Times bestselling author of Such a Fun Age comes a fresh and provocative story about a residential assistant and her messy entanglement with a professor and three unruly students.

It’s 2017 at the University of Arkansas. Millie Cousins, a senior resident assistant, wants to graduate, get a job, and buy a house. So when Agatha Paul, a visiting professor and writer, offers Millie an easy yet unusual opportunity, she jumps at the chance. But Millie’s starry-eyed hustle becomes jeopardized by odd new friends, vengeful dorm pranks, and illicit intrigue.

A fresh and intimate portrait of desire, consumption, and reckless abandon, Come and Get It is a tension-filled story about money, indiscretion, and bad behavior—and the highly anticipated new novel by acclaimed and award-winning author Kiley Reid.”

Here’s a song from the large band that we missed on Friday night:

Something from the excellent new Julian Lage album:

Something from our local hero:

And finally some 70s cool (12 minutes of it):

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all!