The Blue Note + Pulphead + SideDish + music on shuffle + Foodimentary

Another great night at The Blue Note Grill!  Three things made it even better.  Number 1.  My old high school friend, Bif, walked in with his guitar. It was a smaller turnout this week which allowed the players to fall into rhythm with each other quicker.  Number 2. I like this place. Owners Andrea & Bill Whittington have this nice way of making you feel like you are hanging out in their living room that just happens to be a bar with lots of drink choices, and if you ask nicely they will bring you some food too. And their wine selection is decent.  Number 3. I kinda fell in love or lust or something like it, but that’s another story entirely, and I don’t know how it turns out yet. Let’s just there were a few stolen “longing gaze” moments that took me entirely and deliciously by surprise.

Pulphead by John Jeremiah Sullivan

PULPHEAD
Fall of  2008, I stole a magazine. I know.  Not like me at all.  But, I was at my doctor’s office, she kept me waiting too long and I got so engrossed in Unknown Bards, an article in Harper’s by John Jeremiah Sullivan  that I thought of locking the treatment room door so I could finish reading.  It was that good. I feverishly (I often do things feverishly) shared it with my Memphis friends.  Last week, thanks to a Facebook post from a friend, I learned that John Jeremiah Sullivan would be reading from and signing Pulphead, a collection of published essays at Flyleaf Books on Wednesday evening.  You probably don’t know him, probably never heard of him, but you should.  He writes alot about music. With a style that makes you feel like he’s sitting across from you just spinnng a good yarn to entertain you. Upon This Rock, published in GQ in fall of 2009 had me laughing out loud and I felt like I was there on his journey to the Cross-Over Festival (Christian music) in Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri.  Run to your favorite bookstore and BUY THIS BOOK!  Today.  ps. Sorry, Doc!

THIS WEEKEND ON SIDEDISH:
Page Skelton/Cackalacky.  Funny name. Serious Zest. It’s even written on his business card. Page Skelton is seriously funny AND funnily serious about everything Cackalacky, And he should be. It’s delicious and there’s pretty much no food immune to its addition.  Maybe cake, but give him time.  Everything else is fair game.  Just ask Page and one of his new sidekicks, Greg Hirsh, the Cackalacky Kid.

MUSIC ON SHUFFLE:  Ready to Start (Arcade Fire), New Automobile (Eric Bibb), Victory (Trampled By Turtles), When The Word Gets Out (Brandi Shearer), November Blue (The Avett Bros.), Murdered in the City (The Avett Bros.) … wildly random, but isn’t that what shuffle is all about?

FOODIMENTARY:  Today is National Chocolate Day! Let’s see … French Chocolate Truffles, hot chocolate, chocolate-covered bacon? How about all of the above.