I don’t think there’s anywhere better to see a concert than at the Kessler theater in Oakcliff, just south of downtown Dallas. The sound is pristine no matter what band is playing, the staff are friendly and helpful, the bar is great and the reserved table seating in front of the stage is excellent.
This trip was to see “The Weight” – a tribute to the music of The Band with members who performed with The Band and with the Levon Helm band.
Patty and Brent joined us and we started with dinner at Hatti
e’s. This was a recommendation from the Wahba’s and a great new place for us in the Bishop Arts district. It describes itself as “An American Bistro with a southern low-country influence”. The interior is quite elegant but casual. We started with a beet salad which was interesting in that it included strawberries – turned out to be a good combination.
Then we split some perfectly cooked New Zealand lamb chops while Patty and Brent had one of their favorite shrimp and grits in Dallas.
Now off to the show at the Kessler. We weren’t expecting an opening act and Floramay Holliday was a nice surprise. Diana commented that it says a lot about an artist when you don’t know any of their material but thoroughly enjoy their performance. Floramay gave her a big hug when she mentioned this to her on the break.
I thoroughly enjoyed “The Weight” show. They covered most of the classic songs from The Band. Here are a couple of short videos. See if you recognize any of the voices in the “Kessler choir”.
ew to New York again on Monday to attend work meetings for a few days. On Monday night I met up with a few work colleagues for dinner and then Darrell Crane took me to a jazz club called Mezzrow. This was a very nice surprise of a place. During breaks in the music they played classic albums on a turntable by the door. Our table was so close it almost felt like we were in the 3 piece band – piano, bass and drums. Several different drummers sat in with the band playing only high hat and snare drum with brushes since the venue was so tiny.
t to see Chick Corea perform at the Blue Note. The show was part of his 75th birthday celebration and on the night that I attended he did a tribute to Miles Davis. The concert was sold out and there was quite a line when I got there but I was still able to get a great seat with an excellent view of the entire band. And an all star band it was! Mike Stern, who played guitar with Miles in the early 80s, Marcus Miller who co-wrote and played bass on Miles’ Tutu album, Kenny Garret who played saxophone with Miles in the late 80s, Wallace Roney who inherited Miles’ trumpet, and the amazing Brian Blade on drums.
The show didn’t start until almost 11pm but was really a one of a kind treat and easily worth the loss of a few hours of sleep.
ve until you review all of life’s journeys since those graduation ceremonies. We spent the weekend in California to attend Diana’s 30 year Santa Clara University reunion.
realize that it certainly has been 30 years since graduation. The food at this Peruvian restaurant was very different and good. Will had an excellent paella and I tried these “causa masaki” – like sushi rolls but wrapped in causa which is yellow potato puree infused with lime and Peruvian ahi – yum. I met Finn the next day at one of my favorite places on Santana Row in San Jose, the Straits cafe. Singaporean food and all delicious.
in Colorado. We flew into Grand Junction and then drove to Telluride with a short stop in Montrose for refreshments at an interesting dive bar (Niko’s).
Saturday began with the first of a couple of torture sessions that I was in store for – a hike 1200 feet up the Beaver Creek trail to some waterfalls. Breath doesn’t come easy at that altitude and climbing that quickly. And for pure humiliation I was passed by a 3 legged chihuahua on the way up and down. The views were excellent though. There was no time for lolly-gagging on the trail since the Grand Tasting started at the festival at 11am. This is an event where 30 or so local breweries provide tastings of their brews – and it’s included in the price of admission and so not to be missed.
The next morning, after a multi-course breakfast buffet, it was off to Montmartre for one of our favorite meals. We almost worked off our breakfast climbing the never ending stairs from the Abesses metro station to Montmartre but weren’t quite ready for lunch. Stopped at a great open air cafe for a Bloody Mary and the crossword. Then on to Cafe Bruant for their amazing duck and foie gras salad and a huge pot of moules frites.
arrival celebration champagne. As usual I was thoroughly spoiled by my Mum with great cooking – Stornoway black pudding for breakfast, steak pies, fantastic deserts. On Friday the fishmonger comes to the house and delivers “Fresh Fish” – delicious and now known as “Fresh Fish Friday”. We had a nice trip over to the beach at Irvine where the wind blew out any remaining cobwebs from our jetlagged heads.
My Mum gave my Dad an iPad for his birthday present. It was loaded up with pictures from the dinner (see selfie of Diana and my brother in law, David, below) and pictures and videos from the family. We were quite nervous about the technical challenges that the gift might present, but are happily surprised with the ease that Dad places facetime calls on Sundays.
I was able to enjoy a couple of good nights out in Tokyo with our excellent hosts. Here’s Deepak with his model of the “Black Ship” that Captain Perry sailed to Yokohama in 1854, and began opening up Japan to the West.
Our second outing was to Mixology, a craft cocktail bar in Akasaka. This is an area of Tokyo with a lot of small and very unique stores. The cocktails were excellent and watching the precision and detailed work by the bar tenders was very educational. 
I had a cocktail that was mixed with smoke in a skull vodka bottle – very good – almost like a Talisker peaty scotch from Islay. The food was very creative as well – here’s a picture of an egg with a syringe of Sauterne wine that was injected after the soft boiled egg had cooled for a few 
minutes. I can’t imagine this dish would be allowed in the United States.
The flight home was smooth and uneventful. Just a few days to rest and get time zone adjusted before heading to Scotland for my Dad’s 80th birthday celebration.
finished their diving certifications on Thursday and Friday. Here they are hitting the beach after certification dives on Thursday while we relax under an umbrella with Blood Marys. We joined them on the boat on Friday as they finished up the checkout dives.
enjoying the sunset on our last evening. I head the question, “Can’t we just stay one more day?”, several times throughout the day.
esting to see the Village Vanguard in a documentary called “Becoming Mike Nichols” that I watched between catch up naps on Saturday – apparently he and Elaine May performed there in their early days as an improv duo. The documentary was about Nichols work up to and including “The Graduate” which was his first movie at age 36. It was also Dustin Hoffman’s first movie – Nichols had seen him perform at an off-Broadway production.
Tuesday and Wednesday were long work days at 180 Maiden Lane in the Wall St area. 80 folks locked up in an auditorium with rotating speakers, panels, and group discussions.
day I made my first Blue Apron meal in a while. Catfish with ponzu and red pepper sauce, ginger toasted peanuts, garlic infused rice, and sesame seed zucchini.
ed the book “Just Mercy” by Bryan Stevenson this week. This is a mind blowing account of the racial injustices of the judicial system in the South (particularly Alabama) told through stories of many cases that the author, a Harvard lawyer who has never really earned much of a living, has worked on over the last 20 years. The progress that Stevenson has driven almost single handedly over the years with many Supreme Court hearings is phenomenal.