The pickle blues

Last weekend was what passes for a Party Weekend these days. We went dancing Friday night and all day Saturday, and then Sunday I cleaned house and put up pickles. And hobbled around a bit while I did that. More rickety than "naughty", drat it all.

Friday was the outdoor FREE concert in Pt. Richmond, which is about 20 minutes from where we live. It's a cute little town right between gritty old Richmond and the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. Once a month during the summer, they block off a street downtown and have live bands, food from nearby restaurants, wine, and dancing in the street. This Friday we got there in time to catch the last couple of tunes by Irie Fuse (catchy name), a hot reggae band, and then danced our butts off to Andre Thierry and Zydeco Magic, who play (duh) fabulous Louisiana zydeco.

Saturday we drove out to Isleton, a little burg of 923 people about an hour into the Delta, for the Isleton Cajun and Blues Festival. For this weekend Isleton becomes a city of 20,000 people and it was great! What a sweet place! The festival headliner was Elvin Bishop (fabulous!), but we also enjoyed several other groups: Kyle Rowland Blues Band, Magnolia Sisters, Terry Hanck. It was hoppin', and even though my legs were just a tad creaky from all that boogyin' the night before, we still cut a rug. Of course we had to sit down and rest once in a while; guess I'm not the party animal I once was. It sure was fun! I had to pass on the crawfish though...can't do those heads.

When Sunday rolled around and we finally rolled out of bed (before noon, but not much), I started cleaning. Lordy, I dislike cleaning house but I wanted it to be clean so there you have it. Partway through, I took a break and put up six jars of pickles using our cucumbers from the front yard, so prolific they threatened to take over the fridge. Here they are, those bad boys!

Love these party weekends!!!!

Cleaning vinyl albums

Dear readers, not long ago I told you about the new 1970s stereo system that Wayne put together for us. The thing I didn't mention was the cleaning. Between us we have about 400 old-school record albums. Some of them we kept from the old days, some of them we bought at garage sales and thrift stores. Most haven't been played for 20 or 30 years, and when they were played, they were played a lot. We didn't know much about taking care of things in the old party days - drinks got spilled, records covers doubled as tables, records got left on the turntable for weeks, people smoked like chimneys and flicked ashes all over everything. It was a chaotic time, full of fun and bad habits!

Bottom line is the records are dirty. In truth they are worse than dirty. They are filthy, and filthy records not only don't play well, they can ruin a brand-new old-school needle quicker than anything. They have to be cleaned before they can be played. Drat.

We started out cleaning one or two with water, and then with alcohol, but they didn't get clean. So we went to the internet and, voila!, there was the solution - a Spin-Clean Record Washer. We ordered it from Amazon for $80. Cute as can be, here it is:
 
It's a plastic reservoir with two removable brushes. You fill it with distilled water and add three capfuls of a cleaning fluid that comes with it. Then you rotate the records three times in each direction through the brushes, let the water drip off, and dry them with anti-static cloths. Suddenly the records are like new - no clicks, superficial scratches gone, sound as clean and full as it was when they were right off the shelf. They sound great!

One reservoir-filling will clean 50 records before it gets too dirty to use. So far we've had three 50-record-cleaning sessions. The first time, we had no idea how long it would take and we started too late in the evening. At 3 a.m., we were just finishing (major yawn), because of course we had to play all the records as they got clean. It was a disaster trying to function the next day.

Now we start earlier, and finish before midnight. It's great fun, and more and more of our records are ready to play. What a pleasure!!

Here's Wayne cleaning a record, equipped with his trusty headlamp. Many more records to go, and we're still accumulating . . .

Groovin' in a four-car garage

There we were, Wayne and I and our friend George, lounging on a leather sofa in a garage in Berkeley, groovin' to some pretty fantastic live blues along with maybe 50 other people. Outside, rain poured down. Inside, young guys popped cans of beer and older gals like me pulled bottles of wine out of cloth bags.

We were at Birdland Jazzista Social Club. A guy in Berkeley, a professor at City College, has opened up his four-car garage, outfitted it with a stage and a sound system, booked bands, and even fired up a grill and smoker in the front to feed his guests. He calls it Birdland (he makes birdhouses, which are all over the garage). It started out to be free, because that's the custom of the guy's homeland, the Phillippines. Then it got so big that people spilled out into the street, and of course the city of Berkeley got involved. I know, you're thinking, well Berkeley - everything goes in Berkeley. Apparently not partying in the street all night!

Anyway, the guy turned his weekly party into a social club and limited it to whomever could fit into his garage with the door closed, and into his little backyard behind the garage. It costs $10 to come in, and that pays for the bands. The BBQ (chicken legs, smoked ribs, sausages) is still free, as is the rum bar in the back of the garage. Otherwise its BYOB.

We left about midnight after hearing two great bands, and even boogying a bit in the aisles! Ernesto had just announced that the third band would come on shortly and would probably play till 3a.m. Yikes, just a little too much action for us, but what a deal!

We slid into the rainy night and back to reality.

Here's a link to Birdland's website, and the history of the Social Club (kind of long-winded). http://birdlandjazz.org/about/history/. It's been going on for two years, and will now end in a few weeks when Ernesto returns to the Phillippines. Maybe he'll be back!

Eating and drinking in Clearwater FL

So much has happened, it seems ages since I was in Clearwater, Florida, lazing around in the sun and soaking up fabulous music. It's really only been two weeks. Nevertheless, while the taste of all the good food Donna and I ate still lingers, I'd better tell you about it.

We decided to eat late lunch/early dinner out each day before going to the Clearwater Jazz Holiday, which started mid-afternoon most days. This way we would only eat two meals (breakfast and late lunch) and we wouldn't be starving enough to have to eat at the park. What a great decision! I think I actually lost a pound or two this time.

Of course we had to hit Frenchy's Rockaway Grill, right on Clearwater Beach, first. We always go to Frenchy's when I'm in Clearwater for grouper, a delicious fish that's not available in California. Here's a photo from our outdoor table on the patio at Frenchy's:

Sure enough, I ordered grouper, but this time I had Walnut Encrusted Grouper Salad instead of a grouper sandwich. Yum! It had arugula and cranberries and pears and spinach, and a great big filet of grilled grouper on top. Fabulous.

Pair that with a couple of Cuba Libres (Mt. Gay rum and Diet Coke with lime) and you've got a little slice of beach heaven.

The next day we dined at Rumba Island Bar and Grill, which was on the way to the park. Yum again! This time I had to deviate from fish, because they had Caribbean Pulled Pork and I just had to! Plus I had a side of Jamaican Greens and one of Island Cole Slaw - wow, my mouth was happy. Prices are really good here, too!

Another Cuba Libre went really well with all that island food. And you know me, I'm a red wine girl. Apparently not when I'm in Florida!

The third and last day of late lunches (boo-hoo), we hit the Bonefish Grill in nearby luxurious Belleair Bluffs. Back to the fish, as this is the home of fabulous Bang Bang Shrimp - crispy fried shrimp with a hot little mayo/chili sauce dip that was to die for. What a pleasure!

At the Bonefish Grill, Donna convinced me to try a favorite cocktail of hers, Winter White Cosmo. It was delicious, and I think it would be a good drink, whether celebratory or consolatory, for today, which is ELECTION DAY! Don't forget to vote today!!

Here's the recipe for Winter White Cosmo so you can at least celebrate fabulous YOU:

• Shake 1 1/2 oz Stoli Cranberi Vodka, 1/2 oz Cointreau, 1 oz lime juice, and 2 oz white cranberry juice with ice in a shaker.
• Strain into a chilled martini glass.
• Garnish with a lime or with 2 fresh cranberries.

Enjoy!!

Warm days and awesome music!

Clearwater Jazz Holiday 2012 was awesome! As my girlfriend Donna said, the weather had "cooled down" to the 80s, and it was beautiful - not too hot, not too humid. Good thing, because all the music was in a park on the water and it was terrific! Here's the view at sunset from our seats in front of the stage:

 My favorite acts were: Jazz saxophonist and Tampa Bay Area native Mindi Abair & Friends, which included  Jeff Golub and David Pack from the 1970s-80s group Ambrosia. Wow, they were fabulous!
The Avett Brothers, not jazz at all, but a kind of alt-indie-rock group from North Carolina that had the whole place jumping. So much fun!
I also loved Esperanza Spalding and saxophonist Tia Fuller, both of whom perform more straight-ahead jazz and are beautiful talented young women. Whew!

(I missed Bonnie Raitt, darn it, because I arrived in Tampa too late. I think she would have been one of my favorites too - Donna said she was wonderful.)

Of course, very dear to my heart was the food! When I'm in Florida, I feel like I should eat fish, preferably fish I can't get on the West Coast. More to come soon on where we ate Grouper Salad and Bang Bang Shrimp. Yum!!

On the road again to Clearwater FL

Tomorrow I'm leavin' on a jet plane for Clearwater, Florida (right next to Tampa) to spend a few days with my friend Donna and listen to hot music at The Clearwater Jazz Holiday. Bonnie Raitt, Mindi Abair...wow, it's going to be fun - and HOT (Donna says FL has "cooled down" to the 80s).

The Tampa Bay area, which includes Tampa, Clearwater, and St. Petersburg, is such a beautiful place. I can't wait to share photos with you while I'm there. Stand by for more!

Birdland Jazzista Social Club

This must be the season to discover new things. I can't believe I've never heard of this before. What a great concept! So this guy in Berkeley started making food for his friends in his driveway and it turned into an "every-Friday-night" kind of party where neighbors and friends got together and drank and talked until the wee hours. Then one of his friends was in a little band, so they cleaned out the garage and set up a light and the little band played for the Friday night party. And then they decided they needed a stage and pretty soon they were booking bands. I mean, wow!

Wasn't long before the authorities moved them off the sidewalk, of course, and out of the street so now they're a social club with membership but still a laid-back neighborhood attitude and, so far as I can tell, free food. I can't wait to check it out myself...The Birdland Jazzista Social Club.

I learned about it from a musician I know who is going to play there...Nicolas Bearde. He's really good and has played with Bobby McFerrin and at Yoshi's and lots of places here and there. Very cool deal.

Musical Hide and Seek at Chapel of the Chimes?

I can't imagine why I'd go to Chapel of the Chimes, which is a mausoleum, unless I had no choice. Like, I am dead and gone, or possibly it's Halloween.

Well, believe it or not tomorrow, June 21, there is some very cool music happening at Chapel of the Chimes to celebrate the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year - and I am going there. Check out the info http://www.gardenofmemory.com/ . I hear it's a walking concert, with gobs of artists hidden among the urns and turns in the mausoleum, where the ashes of the dearly departed are interred in a beautiful setting designed by Berkeley's first and most famous female architect, Julia Morgan. I'm a BIG fan of Julia Morgan.

OK, so I'm going to hear cool music with (cool) dead people in a cool building. Maybe see you there...end of Piedmont Ave. in Oakland, right next to Mountain View Cemetery (which is also a cool place to walk). Am I getting weird?