I had yet another birthday celebration on Thursday. (I am not complaining.) SMA took me out to eat in his one day in town. He was heading to Nashville the following day to see The New Pornographers in concert at Mercy Lounge and Vanderbilt University's Rites of Spring music festival. While he will be seeing some great independent artists such as Feist and Spoon, I am most pleased that he will witness rapper Lil John live and in concert. Yes, SMA, the music afficionado, is seeing a man who has an album titled “Crunk Juice” and whose vocabulary may or may not reach double figures.
SMA gave me a “Colin Meloy Sings Sam Cooke” EP for my birthday. Meloy is the lead singer of one of my favorite bands, The Decemberists. This is the third in a series of cover EPs, following Meloy's renditions of Morrissey and Shirley Collins songs. The CD can only be obtained in concert. Last Thursday, he learned Meloy would be in Ashville the following day and went on a whim to the show. I wish the event had been a week earlier or later so that I could have gone with him.
We went to the Disc Exchange prior to eating. Saturday is National Record Store Day. Check your local record store as there will be special offers at most locations all day on Saturday. The Disc Exchange will feature live music from several artists as well as a showing of Juno.
We then went to Long’s Drug Store where we were joined by WRK. The last time I ate with them, we sat next to Built to Spill lead singer Doug Martsch. This time Tennessee basketball coach Bruce Pearl sat at the table next to ours with his son Matthew. We decided not to disturb his meal as virtually every other patron did. This took great restraint as I really wanted the inside scoop on whether Tyler Smith would be returning to school.
The meal was great. I ate a bacon and egg sandwich and a grilled cheese with tomato. I never knew one could put something on grilled cheese. The only negative was that slow service forced WRK to miss her history class. Fortunately SMA and I explained the Cold War to her over lunch. We covered most of the landmark Balboa-Drago battle and even volunteered to reenact Rocky IV as she had not seen it. She declined our generous offer.
On Thursday night, I went to watch JTH play in the semifinals of the slow break basketball league. His team was shorthanded as two of the members were at a rehearsal for Farragut High School’s production of “Beauty and the Beast” Even so, they led throughout, extending a 29-22 half-time lead to a 55-31 victory over the #1 seed in the tournament. JTH hit four 3-point buckets, uttering that he had misfired as he released the shots. The championship game will be played next Thursday night.
I sat with AMTT and AS. AMTT enlisted me to paint children’s faces at a function for Harmony Adoption Services next weekend. No, I have absolutely no experience painting faces or any known artistic ability. You would think all of those years as a pro wrestling fan would have led to some experimentation, but no. I figure I am better than the alternative - no one.
After the game, I went to RAW’s and watched yet another episode of SpongeBob SquarePants before heading to dinner. KJW spent the day playing at the YMCA while her daddy exercised. She did well with the other children, though when some got too close she admonished them - "No, Baby!" Since she was exhausted, she did not mind me using her as a pillow while she watched her program.
We decided to eat at Estelita's Mexican Restaurant (located at 120 West End Avenue). Though we had never been, we learned that the business has been open for five months. We quickly recognized many of the employees from our former favorite Mexican restaurant, the now defunct Monterrey.
This Mexican is much more upscale than Monterrey, but without excessively high prices. The food was very good and the service was better. We will be back.
In closing I want to acknowledge the April 17 birthdays of one of my all-time favorite professors PRJ and my high school friend JTP.
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