Month: May 2024

“Birthdays and Graduations”

I dropped Diana at the airport on Tuesday afternoon, so that she could fly to California for Alicia’s graduation ceremony.  She had a very long day with flight delays and missed connections, but ultimately made it late in the evening.

I treated myself to a yummy breakfast sandwich from Gracious bakery, around the corner from our home, to kick off my birthday.  Wonderful fluffy eggs and biscuit.

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile, in the stadium at San Jose State, Alicia was graduating!

I enjoyed this video of Ben, Lilly, Madison and Petey celebrating:

Kenny and Kara took me to Irene’s in the French Quarter for dinner on Thursday to celebrate my big birthday.  This is a wonderful Italian restaurant, and I enjoyed a delicious drum almandine meuniere.  It was so thoughtful of these guys to take me out to celebrate.

 

 

After dinner, we had a cocktail at Peychaud’s and enjoyed their patio.

The evening came with door to door transportation included – always convenient to park at the Fire Station.

How about this birthday gift from Andy?  He’s getting really good with his improvisation:

We had been looking forward to the Bob Dylan birthday tribute on Friday at the Broadside for several weeks.

Sam Price, bass player for the Honey Island Swamp Band, organized the event.  All the folks in the poster played two or three Dylan songs.  This made for a great variety of styles and voices.  John Fohl (guitar), Keiko Komaki (keyboards), Sam Price (bass) and a good drummer who’s name I don’t recall, were the “house band.”  Kenny and Kara joined again, and unfortunately Thom (our biggest Dylan fan) was not able to make it.

Here’s a selection of video clips from the evening:

“I Remember You”:

“Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door:

A tasty John Fohl solo:

“Lay Lady Lay”:

“I Shall Be Released (with Tom Fitzpatrick on sax)”:

“A Simple Twist of Fate”:

What a wonderful evening of music by all those local musicians – it really took some work to pull it off so smoothly.

On Saturday, there was a special Jazz Funeral and Second Line to recognize those that couldn’t have a funeral during the peak of COVID.  I thought it sounded like something worth checking out, and so made my way over to City Park in the heat of the afternoon.

Kenny let me know that evening that I (or at least the rear view of me) was on the local news:

The procession was interesting with marchers followed by the To Be Continued (TBC) Brass Band and a couple of Wild Magnolias Indians.  It started with the jazz dirge (funeral part) and quickly transitioned into the upbeat second line dancing music.

I enjoyed “A Life Impossible” by Steve Gleason this week.  This is the book I got at the event across the street at the Garden District Book Store a couple of weeks ago.

 

 

 

 

Here’s an online summary:

“In 2011, three years after leaving the NFL, Steve Gleason was diagnosed with ALS, a terminal disease that takes away the ability to move, talk, and breathe. Doctors gave him three years to live. He was thirty-three years old. As Steve says, he is now ten years past his expiration date.

His memoir is the chronicle of a remarkable life, one filled with optimism and joy, despite the trauma and pain and despair he has experienced. Writing using eye-tracking technology, Gleason covers his pre-ALS life through the highs and lows of his NFL career with the New Orleans Saints, where he made one of the most memorable plays in Saints history, leading to a victory in the first post-Katrina home game, uplifting the city, making him a hero, and reflected in a nine-foot bronze statue outside the Superdome. Then came his heartbreaking diagnosis. Gleason lost all muscle function, he now uses Stephen Hawking-like technology to communicate, and breathes with the help of a ventilator. This book captures Gleason and his wife Michel’s unmatched resilience as they reinvent their lives, refuse to succumb to despair, and face his disease realistically and existentially.

This unsparing portrait argues that a person’s true strength does not reside solely in one’s body but also in the ability to face unfathomable adversity and still be able to love and treasure life.”

I loved this book!  The writing is so brutally honest and direct.  It’s hard to understand the vast hope and support that Team Gleason has provided to ALS patients in the last decade – over $40 million invested in research, and countless appearances at great stress on Gleason’s body.

I revisited “Spirit of Eden” by Talk Talk – what a tremendous and unique record from start to finish:

From that I bounced to “Sketches of Spain” by Miles Davis.  Probably the first time that I’ve listened all the way through and concentrated on the musical details.  Now I see what the fuss if about:

And finally, some Chet Baker, the best trumpet tone ever:

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all!

 

 

“Pre-Birthday Week”

Diana continued my “Birthday Month” celebration with the amazing Stanton Moore trio at the Columns on Monday night.  Three musicians that are at the absolute top of their game, just world class.  Here are a couple of samples:

 

All of this in a small room of a boutique hotel with great snacks and drinks.  Another Monday in New Orleans.  Thanks Diana!

Torkanowsky announced that there was a legend in the house.  Sitting just behind us was Maria Muldaur, “Midnight at the Oasis” singer.  Here’s some online info on her:

Her first solo album, Maria Muldaur, released in 1973, contained her hit single “Midnight at the Oasis“,^[5] which reached number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1974. It peaked at number 21 on the UK Singles Chart.^[6] Later that year, she released her second album, Waitress in a Donut Shop.^[5] This included a re-recording of “I’m a Woman“, the Leiber and Stoller number first associated with Peggy Lee and a standout feature from her Jug Band days. Her version of the song peaked at #12 on the Billboard Hot 100, and was her last Hot 100 hit in the U.S. to date. The title of this album is taken from a line in another song on the album, “Sweetheart”, by Ken Burgan.

Around this time, Muldaur established a relationship with the Grateful Dead. Opening for some Grateful Dead shows in the summer of 1974, with John Kahn, bassist of the Jerry Garcia Band, eventually earned her a seat in that group as a backing vocalist in the late 1970s. Around the same time Muldaur met and eventually collaborated with bluegrass icon Peter Rowan. The two became close, and she was chosen to be the godmother of his daughter Amanda Rowan. She appeared on Super Jam (1989).

McD had a good day on Wednesday.  Started with yoga and then pool time with Kara.  Does her face say she’s having a good time?

They took advantage of Merry Lee’s pool for the day.  Looks really busy.

Denny had invited me to a birthday dinner with his family before they left town.  Charlie’s steakhouse was the venue.  I had a great time there on guys night out a year or so ago, and so was really looking forward to it.  I had a haircut at Aidan Gill’s on Friday afternoon, and then put on a suit to dress up for my birthday dinner.

Charlie’s is a classic neighbourhood dive kind of place.  People have been eating here on a regular basis for 30 years.  I had warned Diana that they don’t have menus, they just tell you what they have to offer.  I also coached her that they likely didn’t have a dry, crisp French white wine.  Little did I know that all of that input was unnecessary.  The hostess led us upstairs and I entered a room with all of my best friends.  It was a bit of a shock and also a bit emotional.

The whole krewe (minus Fred and Kelly who were at a daughter’s graduation) were assembled.

I had a lovely time visiting with everyone and received some really thoughtful gifts.  The wait staff was exceptional – following me around with drink and food orders as I moved seats to visit with everyone.  This amazing Dauberge cake made it also:

What an amazing night with such kind and generous friends.  Nicely pulled off Diana!

If that wasn’t enough, Diana took me for a much smaller birthday dinner on Saturday night at Wild South.  The tasting menu at this place is very creative and always different.  It’s nice to have such wonderful food and service in a very casual atmosphere.

The first dish was a king trumpet mushroom with a light tempura style batter.  It was so fresh and flavourful.

That was followed by crab stuffed squash blossom – so creative.

Then a nice twist on shrimp and grits- with yummy heirloom grits.

Then a beautifully cooked trout.

And finally a poached peach dessert.

Thanks to Diana for another excellent meal.

 

My book this week was “Why New Orleans Matters” by Tom Piazza.

This is the best book about New Orleans that I’ve read.  It explains everthing that I love about the city.  It was written shortly after Hurricane Katrina and the loss is evident throughout the book.  Piazza moved here and loves the city deeply, for all the same reasons as I do.  Here he describes the power of Jazz Fest very well:

“Before I lived in New Orleans, Jazz Fest was the gravitational center of my year. I lived through the long, gray New York winter, or the howling, wild Iowa winter, which lasted until the middle of April, and Jazz Fest would loom like a rescue ship on the horizon. If it was a year when I would be lucky enough to attend both weekends and stay the week in between, my only thought was Please don’t let a car hit me between now and the end of April. New Orleans, in fact, is filled with people who came for Jazz Fest and never left. Or who went home and quit their job and came back. I think Jazz Fest teaches them what to love about the city, and how to love it. It is a kind of distillation of the mythology of the city. Jazz Fest constantly underlines the relationship between the music of New Orleans (and Louisiana) and the culture as a whole. The food, the parades, the crafts, are all part of a larger fabric, as they are in the city itself. You won’t find posters advertising individual artists’ appearances at the fairgrounds. Music, the logic seems to run, is bigger than any individual’s music. And, furthermore, culture is bigger than music. Jazz Fest brings this notion into focus, gives it life, better than any other event I know.”

And here he calls out Barbara Bush for her ridiculous commentary on the poor folks who had evacuated to the Astrodome. – one of my deep seated beefs with upper class out of touch behaviour:

“And what about New Orleans? What is the future of the culture that came from all those neighborhoods with their own sense of being, formed over decades and decades, where parents and grandparents and great-grandparents had lived? Former first lady Barbara Bush, visiting the Astrodome, told a radio interviewer, “So many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them.” How could they possibly miss a place where they were, you know, underprivileged.”

“How could they miss a place where they knew everyone on the block? Or where they could walk to the grocery store and buy food and seasonings out of which they could prepare meals that were unique to that place and which they had eaten since childhood and which made them happy? How could they miss a place where there was music all the time, and where they could sit out in the evening on their front steps talking to people they had known for years, and joking in a way that everyone understood, or where their son had gotten dressed in his high school band uniform that they had saved hard-earned money to buy, and then went out to play in the band for the Mardi Gras parade? How could they miss the place where their granddaughter took her first steps, or their father had kept his uniform from World War Two in a cardboard suitcase lined with newspaper? How could you even say such a thing unless you assumed that people who were—you know—underprivileged had no past, no sense of life, no memories and no feelings—in short, weren’t really people at all, as we know them? That they were incapable of finding dignity and a reason to live even in the teeth of a hostile situation? The “underprivileged” people of New Orleans spun a culture out of their lives—a music, a cuisine, a sense of life—that has been recognized around the world as a transforming spiritual force. Out of those pitifully small incomes and crumbling houses, and hard, long days and nights of work came a staggering Yes, an affirmation of life—their lives, Life Itself—in defiance of a world that told them in as many ways as it could find that they were, you know, dispensable. This may seem obvious to you if you are reading this, but it bears saying over and over again: They are not dispensable. Not to New Orleans, not to America. And any scenario of a rebuilt New Orleans that does not embrace the fact of their centrality to New Orleans, that does not find a way to welcome them back and make jobs and a new life for them, will be an obscenity.”

I have a couple of videos to share this week, rather than Spotify links.  Check out this Allmans performance on Johnny Carson with a young Warren Haynes:

And how about a Jazz Fest moment for the ages:

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all!

“Phew!”

After the excitement of two weekends of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, we were very ready for a quiet and uneventful week.

Diana entertained me with some ” Birthday Month” surprises.  First was a box of Whoppers and a card.  Yes – they’re all gone already.

Then I was treated to empanadas from Empanola.  They are so good.  The mushroom one was great for lunch.  And then the next day the Argentina Beef was even tastier.  Thanks for spoiling me, Diana.

Next up was an invite to Happy Hour on Friday.  Of course I checked the correct box.

Happy Hour was at Chaise Delachaise, one of my very favourite spots.  They have excellent prices on drinks and snacks and the service is always good.  It is a bit far away – which is probably a good thing.  When I say “a bit far away”, it’s a solid 13 minute drive – funny how our perceptions change.  We would have thought nothing about driving 30 minutes to Happy Hour in Dallas.  There are just so many good places in walking distance here.

The mussels are wonderful – and such a big serving at a very good price.

And the dry, crisp white wine that McD loves is not hard to find here.  Don’t the cheeses sound tempting?

Steve Gleason is a New Orleans hero of the first order. He played for the Saints and blocked a punt to win the first game played in the Superdome after Hurricane Katrina tried to wipe this city off the map.  In 2011 he was diagnosed with ALS, and has been a massive advocate in encouraging folks living with the disease.  At this point all that he can move is his eyes, and he wrote a book using infrared technology that tracks his eye movements.

He did a book event at the Garden District Book Store, just across the street from us.  This was a real tear jerker.  He had recorded a message talking about the book that was so life affirming and heartbreaking at the same time.  His wife, Michel, had a stamp she was using to sign the books.  If you have a box of Kleenex that needs to be used up, watch the movie “Gleason” and you’ll get more of the story.

If you look into Steve’s eyes you will see an indomitable life force shining back at you.

Colleen invited me to join her, Greg, and her brother Hugh, our across the street neighbour, for the Echo and the Bunnymen concert at the Joy theater on Saturday night.  This was a new venue for all of us.  Our tickets were downstairs standing room.    We arrived a little before 8pm, the band advertised to start at 8pm.  The place was packed and we waited for the start, and waited….  The stage was all set and we didn’t understand the delay.

The band finally took the stage at 8:35pm.  Not a big deal – they sounded good and the music was well mixed and produced.  And then, at 9:05pm, a solid 30 minutes into the concert, Ian McCullough, the lead singer, mumbled in an unintelligible northern English accent, that they were taking a 20 minute break.  That was it for me.  Rude and disrespectful of their audience.  Never again.  I hopped in an Uber home.  If the Rolling Stones can play for 2 hours straight at 80, then Echo and the Bunnymen can do more than 30 minutes at 60.

And another thing…what’s with the back lighting only?  We couldn’t see anyone’s face – just their silhouette – again, just rude!

Oh well, lesson learned.  Here’s my favourite of their songs:

I’m back to reading again, finally.  My book was “Listen for the Lie” by Amy Tintera.  I haven’t chuckled as much at a book in a long time.  Wonderfully written.  I suppose when Stephen King is gushing about a book, it’s worth reading.  Here’s some online chatter about the book.

“A world-class whodunit.”
―Stephen King

“An extremely successful high-wire act, balancing between dark comedy and darker thrills.”
―Alex Michaelides, #1 New York Times bestselling author

“Laugh-out-loud funny, thrilling and twisty…”
―Liane Moriarty, #1 New York Times bestselling author

What if you thought you murdered your best friend? And if everyone else thought so too? And what if the truth doesn’t matter?

After Lucy is found wandering the streets, covered in her best friend Savvy’s blood, everyone thinks she is a murderer. Lucy and Savvy were the golden girls of their small Texas town: pretty, smart, and enviable. Lucy married a dream guy with a big ring and an even bigger new home. Savvy was the social butterfly loved by all, and if you believe the rumors, especially popular with the men in town. It’s been years since that horrible night, a night Lucy can’t remember anything about, and she has since moved to LA and started a new life.

But now the phenomenally huge hit true crime podcast “Listen for the Lie,” and its too-good looking host Ben Owens, have decided to investigate Savvy’s murder for the show’s second season. Lucy is forced to return to the place she vowed never to set foot in again to solve her friend’s murder, even if she is the one that did it.

The truth is out there, if we just listen.

Something tasty from the wonderful Robbie Robertson:

Something poignant from Loudon Wainwright (such an amazing songwriter):

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all!