eats

Second or third time so far this year.  You meet up with Pamella and Holmes.  Had the usual: black beans, collards, broccoli, with your home(there)made vinaigrette dressing.

dinner

With Philippe at Ammaza.  A first.

Later, you dreamed about your dad.  He was old and sick.  He came into your (a) bedroom while you were in bed.  You touched his hand.  He struggled to get into the bed and you snuggled next to him, hugging him, loving him, not saying anything.  When you awoke, you wished you had done this in real life.

the juicer

You've had your spiffy Breville juicer for half a year and used it not once.  You recently bought some sugar snap peas that turn out to be tough as dinosaur but you don't want to throw them out; you decide, finally, it's time to juice!  Instructions read and followed, you place the peas down the chute, and, you've got juice!  You taste the watery, mildly sweet liquid; it needs something else.  You combine some carrot, pear and a touch of lemon juice with it, and: dinner.

You get sucked into a TV vortex consisting of Anthony Bourdain, Guy Fieri, the big-ass college super bowl and the bald guy who does Hotel Impossible.  And now you make a public admission of it.  

Jesus.

downton abbey

With Pamella, you watch the first episode (two hours worth) of season three.  It is engaging, beautiful, ridiculous, well-done, over the top, cliched -- in short, masterpiece theater.

your mother's apartment

Which she hates.

You go over to help her do . . . what?  From the phone call it sounded like there were many minor emergencies going on all at once, i.e., the usual, and it's up to you to fix them all.  Now.  When you get there, all she wants to do is talk and show you pictures of when you were a child.  You gotta love the misdirection.  Or you'll blow your brains out. 

 It's a cold, rainy night.  Pamella takes you out to dinner; you eat at the bar (you can't believe you're actually eating again.  Oh, how soon you forget). 

last night was . . .

Rather unpleasant.  Delirium.  Headaches.  The staggers.  The sweats.  Chills.  Aching body.  Thoughts of suicide.  Depression.  Weakness.  The bathroom.   You never want to eat food again.  You get the picture.

So this is what dying feels like.  Happy new year, again.

You begin to come out of it by the afternoon and are coherent enough to make a phone call.  You look for your cell phone, which is unfindable.  Well, shit.  

You go back to bed.

 You watch John Dies at the End at home by yourself.  It's hilarious, hallucinogenic, splatter-y, visual, smart, good-looking.  It makes you feel better.

which was a . . .

Big mistake.  After eating lunch at Little Bangkok (wtf?!) with Holmes, you get home, crawl into bed, and begin to realize how the next 24 hours are going to unfold.  Oh, shit.

idiot

You want to eat dinner, call a couple of places to see if they are open; you discover they're not, and dig out some week-old Thai food from the refrigerator.

happy new year

You're flying from SFO back to ATL with Pamella, who is feeling the . . . reverberations of new year's eve.  You arrive and eat dinner in the terminal's steak house, which is a first.

your front yard

For one more day.

p&f

12 .6 .12

fwiw

At 12:12 (p.m.) today (12 .12 .12) you were stretching up and to the right in half moon position.

TXR recap

The weekend was as clear and sunny as last weekend was torrential with rain and floods.  Meals: lunch on the water at Sausalito; lunch in Berkeley with Olivia and Dan at Café Gratitude (with dishes like: “I Am Extraordinary,” “I Am Humble,” etc., so that when you order a dish, you affirm yourself); lunch at the Panama Hotel; lunch in Fairfax (where Olivia urged me to move – Pamella wasn’t too sure).

Saw Nick and Jess as soon as we unloaded our stuff at the hotel; they’d arrived last Sunday and saw the final Scofield show;  they would stay for Thursday and Friday-only for the Q.

Highlights:  the Terrapin Crossroads venue.  The musicianship.  The 25-minute opener: jam > Golden Road, the longest version of this song you’ve ever heard.  The UJB / Night of 1,000 Stars from the third night.  The covers: Good Times, Bad Times; Southern Cross, Jessica, Give Me Love, Can't Find My Way Home.  Having Philip and Witt come up for Sunday night, standing right in front of Jimmy’s amp.  Giving Rob a t-shirt; he said he would keep it on the DL.  A China Cat > (Midnight) Rider.  Molo -- sweating, grimacing, gesturing, leading -- all the time.

Lowlights: no “Just a Little Light.”  Not recovering from jet lag as quickly as you’d like.  Warren seemed like more of a grounding, anchoring factor than inspirational leader, (whereas Jimmy burned the whole time).   Super low light: the final night encore of Attics of My Life: Rob and Jimmy on acoustic guitars; Rob, Phil and Warren singing into one mic; Rob's voice cracking and missing notes left and right.  In 12 years you've never heard him miss a note, period.   This was  . . . unsettling.

theQ -- sunday -- TXR

PLQ
TXR
2012-12-09
Set 1 (7.38 - 8.46 PM 1h 8m)
01 Alabama Getaway (WH) > Jam >
02 Dire Wolf (RB)
03 Ramble On Rose (RB)
04 Loose Lucy (WH)
05 Broken Arrow (PL)
06 Brown Eyed Women (RB)
07 The Real Thing (WH)

Set 2 (9.45 - 11.00 2h 15m)
01 Truckin' (All) >
02 New Speedway (WH)
03 Eyes of the World (PL)
04 Low Spark of High Heeled Boys (WH) >
05 Forever Woman (WH) >
06 The Wheel (WH)> Space Jam >
07 Dark Star (ALL) >
08 Morning Dew (WH) >
09 Dark Star >
10 Midnight Hour(WH)
11 Encore: Donor Rap
12 Attics of My Life (All, RB & JH acoustic guitars unplugged)

theQ -- saturday -- TXR

Phil Lesh & Friends
12/8/12 
Terrapin Crossroads
San Rafael, CA
I:
Jam >
Here Comes Sunshine
Into The Mystic
Cosmic Charlie
Bird Song >
He's Gone >
Wharf Rat >
Mason's Children

II:
Help > Slipknot > 
space jam >
Other One >
Blues for Allah jam >
Give Me Love >
Uncle John's Band (calypso intro!)
Night of 1,000 Stars >
King Solomon's Marbles >
Slipknot >
Franklin's
Donor
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
(John Lennon assassinated 32 years ago today.)

theQ -- friday -- TXR

Phil Lesh and Friends -- theQ
12 .7 .12
Terrapin Crossroads
San Rafael, CA

Set 1
Jam    >
Golden Road >
Soulshine >
Good Lovin' >
Sugaree
Acadian Driftwood
Mississippi Half-Step >
Cumberland Blues


Set 2
Scarlet Begonias >
Fire on the Mountain
Patchwork Quilt >
St. Stephen >
Good Times,Bad Times >
St.Stephen >
The Eleven >
Foxy Lady jam (instrum) >
Jessica >
Unbroken Chain >
Going Down The Road >
I Bid You Goodnight
Donor Rap
E: Casey Jones

theQ -- thursday -- TXR

Phil Lesh Quintet
Terrapin Crossroads
San Rafael, Ca
12/06/2012

Set1:
Jam >
Passenger >
Doing That Rag
China Cat Sunflower >
Midnight Rider >
China Cat Sunflower
Just Like Tom Thumbs Blues
Althea
Volia Lee Blues

Set2:
Playin In The Band >
Jam >
Shakedown Street >
Cant Find MY Way Home >
Caution >
Southern Cross >
Terrapin Station >
I Know You Rider

Donor Rap

Encore: US Blues

terrapin crossroads -- saturday

2012.12.01

Phil Lesh
Warren Haynes
John Scofield
John Medeski
Joe Russo 

Set 1: 
Jam >
Low Spark WH >
Crazy Fingers WH >
Low Spark WH
Might As Well WH
King Solomon's Marbles
Good Times, Bad Times WH (M. Jagger/K. Richards)
Loose Lucy WH
Cold Rain and Snow PL
Set 2:
Wharf Rat WH
The Other One PL >
Watchtower WH
Unbroken Chain PL
Help on the Way WH >
Eyesight to the Blind WH >
Why Does Love Got to be So Sad WH >
Slipknot >
Franklin’s Tower PL
Donor Rap
Enc: Just Like Tom Thumb Blues PL

terrapin crossroads -- friday

Phil Lesh & Friends  (Warren Haynes, John Scofield, John Medeski, Joe Russo)
11 .30 .12, Terrapin Crossroads, San Rafael, CA

Set 1:
Jam>
Alligator (PL)>
Deal (WH)
Mississippi Half-Step (PL)
Built to Last (WH)>
She Said! (WH)
Chinatown Shuffle (WH)
Midnight Hour (WH)
Fuck Yeah Jam >
Midnight Hour (WH)
(apprx. 70 minutes)

Set 2:
Shakedown St. (WH) >
Jam >
Caution (WH) >
Crossroads (WH) >
Just a Little Light (WH)
Eyes of the World

Eyes (P)
In Memory of Elizabeth Reed (W)
Eyes(P)
Scarlet Begonias (W)
Fire on the Mountain (W) 
E:  And it Stoned Me

You leave after Scarlet; just too tired.  The whole second set burned.  The JALL was really good; you hope they do it again next weekend.  "Elizabeth Reed"  was a big surprise (coming right out of an incomplete "Eyes") but finished with a whimper not a bang.  Sco took the Betts solo (insane) and Warren took the Duane finale solo (not insane). Stood in front of Warren first set; in front of Scofield second set, about 10 feet from the stage.  Medeski is much more the comping sideman than Chementi (who, in his favor, has been playing these songs for over a decade).

on death and dying

In the last year:

John Blume -- your best friend in high school's dad; blind, in terrible pain; a relief

John Clarke -- your across the street neighbor; accidental, sudden

SAH -- your dad; long, drawn out, grueling

Blakestyles -- your friend; lung cancer; he was 33; you saw him at the Sept. Red Rocks shows, three weeks later he's dead

Lee Lowery -- your best friend in high school's nephew; from ATL; murdered in a drug deal gone bad at the Ford Factory; he was 20

Enough already.