“Keep Austin Weird”
Shortly after we left the Bywater last Sunday, (you’ll remember we were driving around looking at the art exhibits) there was a second line for the “Death of Democracy.” What’s a second line? Well…it’s typical a brass band led parade for a jazz funeral or a wedding. The family or newlyweds are the “first line” and the folks dancing behind them are the “second line.” Only in New Orleans would you find something like this related to the election results:
We flew to Austin on Monday morning and I attended a Board Audit Committee meeting in the afternoon. That was followed by an excellent Austin evening – dinner at the Odd Duck followed by Bob Schneider and Lonelyland at the Saxon Pub.
But I get ahead of myself again. As we were getting ready for dinner there was an outburst from the hotel bathroom. I had to get up and investigate – the nail polish bottle had broken, covering Diana’s hand and ring in red goo. She Door Dashed nail polish remover from Walgreens and was going to send me to the Odd Duck and then meet me there. Better plan – I found a nail salon just across the street from the restaurant. They got Diana all cleaned up in a few minutes, and we were actually early for dinner. Crisis averted.
We had the usual amazing dinner at the Odd Duck. McD was delighted to find they had those yummy Palomas back on the menu and I was impressed with the fancy martini glass.
We started with ceviche, followed with a goat pizza, and finished with cappelini. All creative and delicious.
We walked across the street to the Saxon pub for Bob Schneider and the Lonelyland band. They sounded amazing and Bob had his usual hilarious stream of consciousness commentary. We sat with a young couple from Spain that had a great time at the show. Bob oscillates from heartbreakingly beautiful ballads to crazy rap and rock songs. He typically starts with a lovely song:
Here’s one of his humorous songs:
Back to a beautiful ballad:
And finally, he always asks what style the audience would like the goodbye song to be played in. Somebody said “Gary Numan.”
We enjoyed the walk back downhill to the hotel – what a great Austin evening.
Tuesday brought the full Board meeting. They gave me a round of applause for my contributions before retirement – very sweet to be appreciated. We enjoyed a Meditteranean lunch on the beautiful patio at Aba, migrated to the San Jose hotel patio and finished up with dinner at Two Hands, described as an “Australian restaurant” – D thought it would appeal to Tim. A very fun afternoon/evening.
Wednesday in Austin – must be lunch at June’s all day. This has become our on the way to the airport routine. We had to get our favourites – steak tartare for D and bone marrow Bolognese for K.
Will and nine friends came into town on Friday for a bachelor party – Blake is getting married. I picked up some cutouts that they had to have and delivered them to their Airbnb in the Marigny.
After that we went to a 50th birthday party for Debra at Kenny and Kara’s home. A very fun evening all around.
Will took the guys to Gallatoires. He reports having crab gratin with a New York strip on top and the redfish special. Good grief. Is that grey in his beard?
I watched the UT game on Saturday morning while D had a walk around town. Will and the krewe took airboats out looking for gators, and apparently found some:
Everyone should have a yellow rubber duck shirt ready to go.
Our neighbors got in on the action with a reptile birthday party – no thanks! Britney is completely freaking me out with this pic (such a poser):
And little Auggie (sporting the shirt we brought him from Honduras) clearly got his Mom’s love for snakes:
For the first time in ages, Diana and I had different activities on Saturday night. Diana was invited to watch the Lakers and Pelicans basketball game. Seems like she had a great time:
Thanks Julia! And particularly thanks to John who wanted to watch college football (Georgia Tennessee) over Lebron James.
I joined Kenny, Thom and Libby for the 25th anniversary Lost Bayou Ramblers show at the Broadside. They played the documentary about the band, followed by the show:
It was a nice treat when Rickie Lee Jones joined as a guest. I’ve played her self titled album with “Chuck E’s in Love” so many times over the years.
I love the rhythm of the Ramblers:
Will’s Airbnb host was raving about Bar Pomona on St Claude Avenue and so D and I gave it a try on Sunday for brunch.
The food (Turkish eggs for me and Salad Nicoise for D) and particularly the bread was very good. The service was “interesting.” Diana had to have some soft serve pomegranate ice cream:
My book this week was “The Bee Sting” by Paul Murray. This is a massive 600 page plus book, and I’m about half way through.
The book started out really well, then moved into a section with no punctuation at all – difficult to read and I don’t understand the purpose yet. I like the story and am interested to see how it all works out. Here’s the online scoop. This was a New York Times top ten book from last year and it better live up to that with the time investment that I’m making.
“The Barnes family is in trouble. Dickie’s once-lucrative car business is going under―but Dickie is spending his days in the woods, building an apocalypse-proof bunker with a renegade handyman. His wife, Imelda, is selling off her jewelry on eBay and half-heartedly dodging the attention of fast-talking cattle farmer Big Mike, while their teenage daughter, Cass, formerly top of her class, seems determined to binge drink her way through her final exams. As for twelve-year-old PJ, he’s on the brink of running away.
If you wanted to change this story, how far back would you have to go? To the infamous bee sting that ruined Imelda’s wedding day? To the car crash one year before Cass was born? All the way back to Dickie at ten years old, standing in the summer garden with his father, learning how to be a real man?
The Bee Sting, Paul Murray’s exuberantly entertaining new novel, is a tour de force: a portrait of postcrash Ireland, a tragicomic family saga, and a dazzling story about the struggle to be good at the end of the world.”
Let’s start with some classic Kate Bush:
Great drum sounds:
A great new sound for me:
Coexist peacefully, with patience and kindness for all!
