“Road Trip!”
My fancy new kettle arrived on Monday. It allows me to heat water to the perfect temperature for my fancy new cafetiere – 96 degrees, and also features a “goose-neck” spout for precision pouring. I know people in Guatemala who take the art of preparing coffee way more seriously than this – they have three different setups for different styles of coffee. So I’m not that nuts at least.
Damon managed to send my gifts to himself and so the replacements arrived on Monday. Very funny.
I read today that the New York Public Library has published a Spotify playlist of New York sounds. Apparently residents are getting increasingly anxious because of the lack of street noise. It’s called “Missing Sounds of New York” and here’s “Romancing Rush Hour”:
My rescheduled dental cleaning was on Tuesday. I got a full set of x-rays and a very good report out. The hygienist said I was her easiest patient of the morning. Don’t think I’ve heard that before and good to hear at least some small part of me is holding up well.
We passed Tuesday evening in typical fashion with live streams from Hayes Carll and the Band of Heathens. Check out the “Big Lebowski” movie inspired version of Dylan’s “The Man in Me” that they put together – excellent stuff.
The album featured on the Supper Club this week was Miles Davis’ “Kind of Blue”. This choice was inspired by the death of Jimmy Cobb, the drummer and last surviving member from the group that recorded this 1957 classic – one of my very favourites and an album that never gets old after hundreds of playings. It was also mentioned that Levon Helm celebrated his birthday on Tuesday. I texted with Denny about that and he reminded me of us seeing him together at Jazzfest – that was when I first heard Stanton Moore on drums. Levon left his drum kit to sing up front and I asked Denny who the excellent drummer was that took over. It was nice to see the musicians again after my private birthday show. Gordy did another great take on “Hurricane” by Levon Helm:
Alicia turned 20 on Wednesday and we hosted a Zoom call for friends and family to celebrate. PCD, Lisa and Renee all joined from Australia, along with family and friends from around the US. The call was lovely with everyone sharing stories and thoughts about Alicia. In the aftermath of all that love, Diana was quite depressed about not seeing her Mum or daughter any time soon. In a weak moment I suggested that we could always drive to visit them. This suggestion was well received and a few minutes later McD indicated that she could be ready to leave at 9:40am on Thursday morning. Yes – that is a very precise time. Apparently calculated from the time a meeting ended plus a few minutes to get organized. And the road trip was on!
As you can see, this is no short Sunday drive. We planned to take about 2.5 days and arrive in time for a barbecue being hosted in Pacifica for Alicia’s birthday on Saturday afternoon. After a delayed start, we made it to Amarillo for an early dinner. Diana did an excellent job of selecting a restaurant with an outdoor patio. The Drunken Oyster is a relatively new place done up to look like a classic New Orleans joint. We started with a fondue that included andouille sausage and seafood. It was absolutely delicious and well presented. That was followed by a very pretty but chewy and tasteless kale salad (deducted from the bill), and a very tasty steak and scallops special. Who knew Amarillo had such good dining options? Nicely done D!
With our tummies full it was time to embark on the 4 hour leg over to Albuquerque and a bed for the night. We arrived around 10pm and were soon snoozing comfortably.
A reasonably early start on Friday had us on our way to Bakersfield – estimated at 12 hours or so away. The drive was mostly smooth and easy as we traversed the mesas of Arizona and the Mojave desert of California. Temperatures rose to over 110 degrees in the desert. Not a good place to run out of gas or have a flat tire. We passed the time with a long audio book – Liane Moriarty’s “Truly Madly Guilty”. The narration is excellent and the characters kept us entertained. It’s a 17 hour book! We did have a couple of pauses in the book – one for the Space X Dragon launch – an amazing sight. Isn’t it interesting to look at how the rocket consoles have changed over the years:
The second pause was to wish “Good Lord Alex” a happy birthday in New Orleans. As we were chatting with Alex, we arrived at a checkpoint on the CA border that I wasn’t anticipating. The lady asked me, “Where are you coming from?”, and my heart sank at the prospect of being turned around. Not to worry, she just wanted to know if we had any plants, fruits, or firewood in the car. With a “Welcome to California” we were on our way again. Whew!
We arrived in Bakersfield around 9pm and were again ready for a comfortable bed and some sleep. Early Saturday morning I heard something I would not have anticipated a few months ago. “I need to find somewhere to go for a run”. We found a nearby park and I enjoyed my Taco Bell breakfast while Diana ran around the park several times. After showers we were on the road again. While Bakersfield could not be described as a pretty tourist destination, it is known for the musical contribution of “The Bakersfield Sound”. What’s that, you ask?
The Bakersfield sound is a sub-genre of country music developed in the mid-to-late 1950s in and around Bakersfield, California. … Wynn Stewart pioneered the Bakersfield sound, while Buck Owens and the Buckaroos, and Merle Haggard and the Strangers are the two most successful artists of the original Bakersfield era. We stayed just off Buck Owens Blvd and I played a couple of his songs for Diana on the drive.
We were not sure what type of reception to expect from the Campagna crew on arrival in Pacifica on Saturday afternoon. Fortunately everyone was delighted to see us and we enjoyed a fun celebration for Alicia’s birthday. The surprise from all as we pulled up almost made the long drive worth it.
Francesca, the newest Campagna addition, is absolutely gorgeous as her Auntie D continues to remind her. She had a lot of fun attacking Uncle Marco with a birthday balloon.
Sunday was a somewhat relaxing day – as relaxing as hanging out with a loud Italian family can be expected to be.
I finally finished the Robin Williams biography this week. The first half was a bit of a slog but the second half really captured my attention. What a tortured and supremely talented individual. I forgot how many wonderful movies he made in the early 90s – “Good Morning Vietnam” being the first big breakout from stand-up comedy to blockbuster movies, followed by Awakenings, The Fisher King and many others. It seems that a lot of people took advantage of his kindness and generosity. Very sad that he couldn’t ultimately handle his Parkinson’s diagnosis.
I’ll start out the music section with something fun from Buck Owens of Bakersfield fame:
Good Lord Alex turned me on to a new band, the Monophonics, this week. I like the retro-soul sound quite a bit:
I replied with a favourite song from the Stereophonics. Get it? Monophonics to Sterephonics:
And finally something from a new artist, Still Wilson, that I read about this week. Good trumpet and guitar: