“When did you become a citizen?”
We celebrated July 4th with a pool party at Alex and Laura’s home. When I arrived, Kenny and the krewe were quizzing me about when I became a U.S. citizen – I couldn’t immediately recall the month or year, much to the chagrin of Kenny. I was able to look up a picture of my certificate and report that it was on September 20th, 2022. Kenny has promised to make sure this date is celebrated every year – fine with me, Kenny.
Once the ribbing about citizenship dates subsided, Thom and I advanced our idea of a monthly gentleman’s lunch. It’s amazing how much fun the group was able to have establishing rules and bylaws around governing the monthly lunch group. I’m looking forward to our first outing to Plume in Algiers. We’ll vote on the group name and logo at this inaugural event, and then pick the location for the following month. Each attendee is to make presentations on name, logo and next destination. Here’s what I’ve worked up so far for name and logo:
I think the first meeting on July 18th could be quite good fun.
We met Denny and Anne on Friday for Happy Hour at Chais Delachaisse. This is perhaps my favourite Happy Hour destination – the food and drink options and prices are so good. We tried their octopus for the first time – served with some pineapple like Avo, so I suppose that is a more popular thing than I realized. It was very good as expected.
Again the weekend was pretty quiet as we got ourselves organized for our trip to Scotland.
I started the massive, 900 page opus that is “Southern Man” by Greg Iles this week. Here’s the online summary:
“A senseless tragedy
When a brawl at a rap festival triggers a bloody mass shooting in Mississippi, Penn Cage finds himself in a country on the brink of eruption. As the stunned cities of Natchez and Bienville reel, antebellum plantation homes are being torched and the deadly attacks are claimed by a Black radical group as historic acts of justice. Panic quickly sweeps through the communities, driving the prosperous Southern towns inexorably toward a race war.
A rising star
But what might have been only a regional sideshow of the 2024 Presidential election explodes into national prominence, thanks to the stunning ascent of Robert E. Lee White on social media, a Southern war hero funded by an eccentric Mississippi billionaire, who seizes the public imagination as a third-party candidate.
A country ready to implode
As his hometown devolves into chaos, Penn Cage tears into Bobby White’s pursuit of the Presidency and ultimately risks a second Civil War to try to expose its motivation to the world, before the America of our Constitution slides into the abyss.”
This story is almost scarily current given all of our election drama of the last few weeks. I’m almost half way through and am most impressed by Iles’ capability to weave three or four main narrative arcs together in a cohesive way. More to come in the next few weeks – the book is too heavy for travel.
What an amazingly laid back and subtle guitar riff from the amazing Lee Ritenour. I have it stuck in my head for over a week:
I always enjoy the guitar tone and vocals of Snowy White:
And finally, the technique and guitar tones of Alvin Lee – beautiful:
Coexist peacefully with kindness and patience for all!
The band was made up of two different jazz groups from Argentina – one of older folks and another of younger people. Local guitarist and banjoist Hunter Burgamy rounded out the ensemble. The performance space at the jazz museum is a very pleasant venue with great sound. We hadn’t been there since the cigar box guitar festival.