arts & eats part 3

So this post is not only a little out of order it takes in several performances and yet another meal (it is arts & eats after all...LOL)

Last Saturday night we traveled up to Largo to the Cultural Center to see Al Stewart in concert with Dave Nachmanoff and Mike Lindauer.  We were treated to several numbers by Dave to start off the concert - including two that I really favored "That Guy" and "Midnight Sea" and one Phil loved "Thing of Beauty". Mike Lindauer - on bass - joined Dave for part of the intro set.

Then the lead act Al Stewart (of Year of the Cat and Time Passages albums which were huge sellers) started off an extended set that included favorites of mine "Broadway Hotel" and "On the Border" as well as "Palace of Versailles"... after intermission several additional favorites including an audience shout out for "Doesn't Come Naturally" and the big finale of "YOTC" - still after hundreds of listenings I am still grabbed by the mystery and lyricism evoked by this song and it's fabulous guitar riffs.

🎵🎵🎵 "She comes out of the sun in a silk dress running like a watercolor in the rain...."🎵🎵🎵

Dave and Mike start the evening-

then Al joins them -

a fun evening made more fun by the fact that because Phil & Mike are friends we got to visit with the performers backstage before the concert (which is where I took this photo LOL)

and just because we are doing our arts & eats posts about last week I will also mention again that we went to a house concert that featured Brother Sun - which got kind of short shrift in the post about our friends visiting from Denmark because it was a week ago and we have bee extremely busy - but these guys were terrific- it is three artists who are solo but work together under the name Brother Sun- so another shout out to them! Many many good songs sung that evening but my favorite was the one entitled "So Far to Come" but the whole new CD called Weights & Wings is worth a listen to...

so to finish off the last week - we also had two more good meals - LOL- of course - and this is an "arts & eats" post so I will include them-

Louie's Modern with Mike before he left town and then Kasa Sushi just the two of us to have a quiet dinner and get home early...LOL -  including a couple of good wines

 Phil's lobster risotto-

my burrata salad-

 
the last 1985 Lynch Bages-

Mike's short ribs-

then on to Kasa Sushi - our new favorite place for sushi- we tried the excellent soft shell crab appetizer and then went to sashimi - I love that they will make the uni and the ikura with no rice and use cucmber bowls to hold those items-

the rainbow roll in front and "fire in the house" in back (previous fave) and in the middle a special for the night - with king crab and spicy shrimp and avocado--- all yummy!

the eel - again served on cucumber rather than rice (by request)  - then a spicy tuna roll and black dragon roll...

so it was a busy two weeks for us- exactly 14 days ago we headed to Chicago and had a busy long weekend there- we came back south and saw Neil on Monday and had the house concert Tuesday (which is also my class day) and then Poul & Lene arrived Wednesday along with my cousin Cathy... she left Thursday and Poul & Lene stayed until Saturday morning then Saturday night Al Stewart, Sunday the ballet and Bern's and then Monday Louie's back to my Tuesday class and then a relaxing evening at Kasa Sushi... this is all in addition to the other stuff- LOL - I had meetings and physical therapy (SI joint problems being rehabbed) and Phil had his appointments with his trainer twice a week and then there were the business side things to handle- LOL so even though we aren't getting paid to work we still are somehow working ...LOL - retirement rocks! Stay tuned... tonight off to the theater....

come with me to the kasbah!

even though I had been to Morocco before, such are the things that rule our imaginations... lines from old movies, images of exotic places seen in books when we were young---

"on a morning from a Bogart movie in a country where they turn back time, you go strolling through the street like Peter Lorre contemplating a crime...from the blue tiled walls to the market stalls there's a hidden door she leads you to..."

those are words from one of my favorite songs of all time by Al Stewart called The Year of the Cat...

so yes, we saw Morocco- and I acknowledge reality but my trip was to a place that was more than just the things we saw... and what could be better? so come with me to the Kasbah in Rabat this morning- I think you will find you can imagine yourself in a song like the one I just quoted or a movie from long ago... people may live here but it is still a place apart...

Aziz models for us...

on to lunch along the rive between Rabat and Sale - lovely fish place called La Pescaria... where the half bottle of wine was half the bill as well- LOL and we learn this constant reminder that we are in a Muslim country... then a late afternoon drive to Fes and our hotel for the next three nights the Palais Faraj... a stunningly beautiful restored palace... but more on that later-

oh and more scenes from a movie as well- think Indiana Jones...coming soon...