Friday night Duke and I went to a concert at the The Mountain Winery in Saratoga. The Mountain Winery is my favorite place for a concert. It has a relatively small seating area and beautiful setting under the stars with the winery in the background. Whenever we go to a concert there we always have a picnic first in the parking lot overlooking the Santa Clara Valley. If you haven’t experienced a concert at the Mountain Winery you should definitely make a point of going there when you are in the San Francisco Bay area.
We saw Stanley Clarke – Bela Fleck – Jean-Luc Ponty. who are doing a summer concert tour called Trio. All three musicians were exceptional. Bassist Stanley Clarke makes the bass into a solo instrument. Jazz
violinist Jean-Luc Ponty made the violin sound like about three or four instruments playing at one time and banjo player Bela Fleck made the banjo seem like an instrument made for Jazz. When they played together the strength and power of the music took your breath away. This was one of the best concerts I have been to in a long time.
Month: August 2005
A Wonderful Dinner
Pat, Linda, and I have been friend for almost 30 years. The three of us always get together to celebrate each of our birthdays. In a previous post I have discussed the dinner we had at Manresa for Pat’s birthday. I guess I didn’t write anything about the wonderful dinner we had at Gary Danko in San Francisco for Linda’s birthday. Last weekend we celebrated my birthday by going to Cetrella in Half Moon Bay. It was also am amazingly wonderful dinner. I had chicken liver pate to start, then I had the
Pan Roasted Grimaud Farms Duck Breast, Wild Rice, Toasted Hazelnut and Baby Leek Pilaf with Caramelized Mission Fig for my entree and had the Peach Tart Tatin with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream for dessert. It was all wonderfully prepared and delicious. The service was exceptional and the atmosphere was wonderful. I especially liked that the noise level was low. So many good restaurants I’ve been to lately have high hardwood ceilings that make conversation difficult. I noticed that at Cetrella even though the ceilings were high they had acoustic covering.
As you can imagine dinner with three long time friends is always wonderful. We have been through a lot together and never run out of things to laugh and talk about together. It is so wonderful to know that no matter what happens in our lives we will always be friends.
Harry Potter and Travel Plans
Allison and I had dinner Thursday night and got to discuss the new Harry Potter book which we have both finished. Rowling has an amazing ability to do what I think all fiction writers should do, tell a great story and create characters you care about. Someone asked me why the series is so popular and I think it is that simple. Harry Potter books are just meant to be enjoyed and one shouldn’t spend too much time analyzing them, although it is fun to speculate what will happen next.
Work is especially busy right now. We have started the pilot testing for our new software. I am off to Tucson tomorrow for meetings with my boss and the rest of our group. I’m looking forward to meeting the folks I’ve talked to on the phone.
Book Club
Our book club book this month was The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. I got to lead the discussion. It is a very simple read (I read it in a weekend) but it is highly entertaining, thought provoking, and memorable. The story is told from the perspective of Christopher, a 15 year old autistic boy. The author, Mark Haddon, does an amazing job of giving the reader Christopher’s perspective.
Christopher is very talented at Math and applies his own logic to his world. But his view of the world lacks any empathy or understanding of human interaction. One reviewer said that Haddon does what authors are supposed to do, paint the picture and not try to tell you how to feel. As a result when you read it you tend to rush in and fill in the emotions yourself. I highly recommend the book.
Jonny Lang
Last night we went to see Jonny Lang at Villa Montalvo His singing and guitar playing were exceptional. The power and energy came through to make it a great concert. He was billed as a "once in a generation blues talent" and I would have to agree. If you ever get the chance to see a concert of his I would highly recommend it. And he is only 24. His debut album came out when he was 16. I felt like we got to experience something very special. And Villa Montalvo is wonderful outdoor setting.
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