Chamber Music Concert - Quatuor Van Kuijk

Tonight was a Buffalo Chamber Music concert at Kleinhans. It was a wonderful performance by the Quatuor Van Kuijk along with Parker Ramsay on Harp. The quartet performers were French and Dutch guys. 

The program was very interesting especially with the added harp. There were also a couple of pieces of solo harp. There was a very exciting Mendelssohn String Quartet and a couple of nice Debussy compositions and a couple other French composers. Overall a very good night.

We missed the last performance because of the weather and we were just recovering from bad colds. The next concert is the last of the season next month.

Chicken Cutlets & Rice

We had a nice dinner this evening of chicken cutlets and rice along with some delicious home style peas and carrots. Becky sure does know how to make some seriously good chicken cutlets. It's a regular dinner and that's great.

Rachel's Resistance Zines

Katie and Todd's sister in law Rachel has put together an online publication. They are very creative and very funny. Right on target too. Looking forward to reading more as they come out.

The issues so far.

• First Issue 
• Second Issue
• Third Issue
• Fourth Issue

Blackout Friday

Yesterday was Blackout Friday. An economic blackout. No buying anything for the day unless it was a local business. We didn't buy anything and even avoided online sites where there might be the possibility of clicking on ads. Nothing.

Not sure if this will mean anything to the magas but it does feel good to do something... or not do something. Will it work. It will be hard to gauge the economic impact of a one day action.

Some Guinness - Glass of Beer

Right now I'm having a very nice glass of Guinness Stout. Yesterday we were at Whole Foods getting stocked up and I saw a nice display of Guinness beers which I couldn't resist. I grabbed a four pack of the Guinness Draught Stout in cans which are prominently labeled "Best enjoyed poured into a glass" which of course I always do. I really do like a Guinness every now and then. Becky commented that the last time she had a Guinness was in Dublin at the St. James Gate brewery up in the skyroom.

So right now I'm sipping it while sitting at my laptop writing about various things. Some posts on Bluesky about music and movies, pondering Gene Hackman, about America joining the Axis of Evil, and so much more but while listening to some great music in my headphones.

Early 70s Bob Dylan - Kitchen Listening

I've been looking forward to seeing the new movie about Bob Dylan and listening to some of his albums this week. I'm going to do a series of posts on Bluesky and FB on some of the biographies of Dylan that I've read over the years.

The albums I listened to were from the early 1970s. Here is the sequence.

• Self Portrait, 1970
• New Morning, 1970
• Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, 1973
• Dylan, 1973

Barbeque Chicken Pizza

Today Becky and I went food shopping at Whole Foods which is always a nice and interesting experience. They do have an amazing selections of food. Well, we got some of their frozen pizza which is always very good and this time we got their barbeque chicken pizza. We've had it before and it is always delicious.

We got a lot of foods because tomorrow is that Friday Blackout so we can't do any shopping especially with anything trumpy. 

So this evening we had that pizza and Becky made a salad to go with it. Very much enjoyed this dinner.

Early Santana - Kitchen Listening

It's always fun to listen to some early Santana albums from my collection. Today I played the first three albums and then a live album that was recorded in 1968.

All of the music in this set was from 1968 to 1971.  You just can't go wrong with Santana and I love all of the different periods of their long career.

The sequence.

• Santana, 1969
• Abraxas, 1970
• Santana III, 1971
• Live at the Fillmore 1968, 1997

Washington Square Memoirs - Kitchen Listening

Washington Square Memoirs: The Great Urban Folk Boom 1950 - 1970. A 3 disc compilation released in 2007. 

Lots of great music from great artists in the collection from that particular time and place in music history. Runs for almost four hours.

I played this wonderful set of music while reading the autobiography of Dave Van Ronk. 

Roberta Flack RIP - Kitchen Listening

Robert Flack RIP. I was very sad to hear her passing yesterday. She was 88 years old.

I've always had a fondness for her singing and used a few of her songs prominently in some of my mixes over the years.

I was playing a group of her albums today from the 1970's. Kitchen listening before, during and after dinner.

The albums in my collection I played today were:

• First Take, 1969
• Chapter Two, 1970
• Quiet Fire, 1971
• Killing Me Softly, 1973