This was a relatively quiet week and I’m pretty confident we’ll have some more exciting activity to report in the update next week.
Diana took the bus back to Dallas on Tuesday morning and then flew to Tampa for work meetings. I had dinner with some work colleagues at the lovely Juliet Italian restaurant and took plenty of leftovers home with me.
There was some excitement on Wednesday evening – my first Austin City Limits Live concert at the Moody theater. There are two types of shows here – tapings for the famous Austin City Limits TV show where tickets are issued based on an email lottery (haven’t won yet), and live concerts that are normal ticket sale opportunities. This show fell in the latter category. I got to the venue a bit early to explore.
I enjoyed the wall showing the artists with the most appearances on the Austin City Limits TV show. Willie Nelson – 15 shows and a very long guitar neck. My favourites seem to align under 8 shows – Joe Ely, Delbert McClinton, Emmylou Harris, and John Prine.
The show I saw was by Robin Trower with Ian Moore opening. I’m a huge fan of Ian Moore and used to love watching him at small clubs on 6th Street. The last few times that we’ve gone to see him, the sound has been way too loud making it really difficult to even pick out his amazing guitar work. At this show the sound was very good and I enjoyed his short set. Here’s a video of his guitar solo at the end of “Me and My Guitar”:
Robin Trower was born in London in 1945 – yes, another amazing 
rocker still touring strong in his mid 70s – and grew up in Essex. He joined Procul Harem (best known for “A Whiter Shade of Pale”) in the late 60s and played on their 5 first albums. Trower then formed a power trio and is best known for his 1974 album “Bridge of Sighs”. I remember Andy Bull had that album on heavy repeat in one of our University flats. Here is a portion of the title song from that album from the Moody theater:
I loved Ian Moore’s set but got pretty bored by the repetitiveness of the guitar solos and songs in Trower’s set. It was impressive that he was able to draw over 2,000 people to a show so many years after the height of his popularity.
Earlier on Wednesday, we had several inches of rain in a short period and a lot of flooding in Austin. By the time I was walking home, over the 1st Street bridge after the show, the river was totally calm and I was able to take these pictures showing nice reflections:
I rode back to Dallas on Thursday with Vinod and met up with Diana who was traveling back from Tampa at home in McKinney.
Our New Orleans friends attended Jazzfest on Friday and tortured us with this amazing sunset picture of Trombone Shorty jamming with Carlos Santana:
The weekend weather in McKinney was good and so we enjoyed some extended afternoon pool time on both Saturday and Sunday. Don’t worry – I was appropriately protected by my Neutrogena SPF 100 sunscreen and had a good book to entertain me. This is the perfect time for me to accompany my sun worshiper wife at the pool, before it gets way too hot for me.
I hear your concern that the weekend days might not have started with the routine workout followed by coffee and a crossword with Keith. Fear not – we followed the routine on both Saturday and Sunday. Apparently there is a box office record breaking new movie out this weekend called Avengers something or other. I wouldn’t have known except that all the trainers at the gym were dressed up in Avenger outfits -very silly.
I read two good books this week. The first, Washington Black” by Esi Edugyan is quite the crazy saga. The story begins on the Faith Plantation in Barbados in the 1830s, where sugar cane is grown and harvested. Edugyan is brutally honest in her portrayal of the physical and emotional brutality of slavery. We meet George Washington Black, a six year old child born into slavery. Wash’s family is unknown to him and his desperation to “belong to” another human being is palpable. Serendipitously, Wash is chosen by the younger brother of the plantation owner, to serve as his scientific assistant. Under the watchful eye of Christopher “Titch” WIlde, the boy learns some reading and math skills, but especially hones his ability to draw natural objects. This first section of the novel is well written and credible but, after the two prepare for a trip aloft in a hot-air balloon, the novel begins to unravel quickly and become much less believable.
Titch and Wash travel around the world from Virginia to the Antarctic, become separated, and ultimately reunite in Morocco.
I read Edugyan’s previous novel, “Half Blood Blues”, a few months ago and enjoyed it very much. “Washington Black” was an enjoyable read but required too much suspension of disbelief for me to really enjoy the latter sections.
I enjoyed my second book, “The Great Alone” by Kristin Hannah, more than the first. I read this book over the course of the weekend and struggled to put it down. The novel revolves around the family of Ernt Allbright, a veteran returning from Vietnam and suffering from what we now know as PTSD. He moves his family to the wilds of Alaska to start their lives anew. Initially it’s a welcome change, but as winter approaches, and Ernt’s mental state deteriorates, his wife and daughter find themselves in an increasingly precarious position. Leni and Cora are the heart of what is as much a mother-daughter love story as it is a pressure cooker of the pain of living with PTSD. Together they reckon not only with the elements, but with some bad decisions, born from the stubborn faith that Ernt will somehow recover and become the loving person he was before the war.
Alaska is the real star of this story in all its untamed and dangerous beauty. I enjoyed the details of the challenges of surviving the brutal and elongated Alaskan winters.
The story felt very current despite being set in the 1970s. The characters are excellent and the wilderness and family trauma survival stories very compelling. I highly recommend this read. Just make sure you set aside enough time to be sucked in and read it in one or two sittings.
Here’s my favourite Ian Moore song. When I play it I have to go back and play it 3 or 4 more times – that good from Austin City Limits in 1994:
I heard this song on one of McD’s playlists by the pool. Very good, as is the entire album from this London ensemble:
Here’s a new song from the boss released this week and a teaser for the upcoming “Western Skies” release:
And finally, a band I heard that are similar to my new favourite band, Western Sons, the National Reserve from Brooklyn, NY: