A reasonably quiet week at home for both of us was a nice change. Lots of rain fell most days which took the edge of the scorching August heat a bit.
My parents, on the other hand, had great weather for their short getaway to Portpatrick. This is a picturesque, seaside village on the West coast of Scotland that we visited regularly as kids during our weekends and holidays in Glenluce. I’m reminded of ice cream cones enjoyed while wandering around the harbor, cliff walks with rock scrambling to a secluded beach, and mini golfing. Portpatrick is also a lifeboat station and I remember being amazed at the lifeboat that is fortified to enable rescues in extreme conditions. Mum and Dad seem to have had a very relaxing visit.
Our main activity this week was an outing to the Kessler on Saturday night with Brent. He found a new restaurant for us to try which is a very short walk from the Kessler as you can see up above. We’ve never ventured West past the theater before and so had been deprived of a great restaurant called Nova. This is a remodeled Dairy Queen burger shack and one of the owners told us that Stevie Ray Vaughan’s first job was there.
We really enjoyed Nova and look forward to returning soon to try more of the menu. It’s mostly Southern cooking but there are a wide variety of choices. Diana and I shared the crawfish and chorizo etouffee – absolutely delicious! We made it back to the theater in time for the complete opening act set (a rare feat for us) and were very pleased that Jeff (artistic director) had let us sneak in before heading to dinner to claim some good seats. Here’s an interesting article on Jeff’s background and the Kessler:
https://www.dallasobserver.com/music/a-day-in-the-life-of-kessler-theater-artistic-director-jeff-liles-10123991
He does an excellent job of booking talent into such a small theater (300 capacity with seated configuration) and manages the sound quality to an exceptionally high level.
Rob Baird opened the show with some acoustic country singer-songwriter music which we all enjoyed. Woodrow, the electric guitar player, joined him for most of the set and I think he is very talented and added some nicely nuanced guitar color to Rob’s songs.
It always adds to a show when the performer interacts with the audience via stories and anecdotes between songs and Rob did a superior job of that.
Monte Montgomery and his band were the main act. Diana and I had seen them a few years ago at the Granada theater and really enjoyed the show. We were not as impressed this time. Monte is a very skilled guitar player but sometimes all the fast notes and technique are just too much and the audience started to drift off after a while.
I love the “Live from Daryl’s House” show that started as a webcast and now is on network TV. Here’s a song from the episode that featured Monte with Daryl Hall.
Diana had a very busy work week and so enjoyed a nice, long nap on the drive home.
Sunday took us to the movie theater to watch the Christopher Robin film. What an all around treat – the story, the voices, and the animation were all perfect. Diana commented that it should be required viewing for all working parents. The Pooh voice was so perfect that we wondered if it was the same person that provided the voice in our youth – it was not but what a great job. I have to admit that I had completely forgotten about “Heffalumps”.
I’ve been listening to a new album from Boz Scaggs this week and enjoying it very much. Here’s a song from that: