This is going to be a very music-oriented week for me, because Tuesday we had an "emergency" band practice before our gig on Saturday, and Sunday is the Slow Irish Jam, and of course last night was the classic rock jam at the East Side Club. As usual, they made me get up there and play "Norwegian Wood" with way too many sharps, "Lucky Man" (a song I find incredibly boring), and "Maggie May," but if that's the price of getting to hear all these fabulous musicians for free, so be it. Travalon recorded my songs, so I can see that I am improving but am still not at the level of these other musicians. Guess I'm a lazy musician; I only know how to play in about four keys. Last night a bunch of guys got up, including a bass player who was dressed like a sexy woman, and they killed it with "Man in the Box" by Alice in Chains. Later the man in the sexy black dress sat down at the keyboard, and he led the others (including a guy who'd been playing guitar earlier but then grabbed a trumpet) in "So What" by Miles Davis, "Green Onions" by Booker T and the MGs, and "Take Five" by Dave Brubeck. The guy who leads the jam, who usually plays guitar but can also play keyboard and drums, pulled out a flute for "So What." I am in awe of the talent! That's why I LOVE this jam - you never know what's going to happen! But it will usually be amazing! It was also Game Night, so there were a lot of people there, sometimes randomly shouting "Uno!" Because today is a holiday, instead of ending at ten, the jam went until after eleven, and late in the evening the guy who does Billy Joel songs showed up and did some, and also "Fantasy" by my favorite band of all time: Earth, Wind, and Fire. I had wanted to try to sing "Jolene," but I forgot my phone at home and so couldn't look up the words, so forget that. Maybe next week. They did a couple of Rush songs too, "Limelight" and "YYZ," and while I have never enjoyed listening to Rush, hearing the songs live made me realize how intricate they are, with lots of time changes and stuff. Is this the next step to my becoming a Rush fan??
Today we had a lot to be thankful for, like Jordan Love and Rashan Gary. They led the offense and the defense to an amazing victory over the 8-2 (now 8-3) Lions in Detroit. Such hot offense! Love was lobbing them in the air! Such vicious defense! Gary got three and a half sacks and two strips, and the whole defense put so much pressure on the Lions' quarterback, Goff, that he was off-balance for most of the game. Right at the end he looked like he might pull it off, but it was too little, too late. It was a relatively nice day out if you bundled up, and very sunny, so before the game I took a rosary walk, and afterwards we took a hike at Jackson's Landing.
As usual, we went to Rich's house for Thanksgiving dinner, and as usual we provided the turkey (but he cooked it). As usual, the dessert guy brought three desserts (key lime pie, butterscotch pie, and an apple pecan cake), and also a couple of sides, like a custard noodle dish. Cecil Markovitch brought his famous spinach salad, and Rich made peas and stuffing and rolls, but nobody thought to bring cranberries because Kathbert went somewhere else for dinner today. I totally could have made some cranberry sauce - I learned a couple of years ago how ridiculously easy it is to make. The family with the three boys brought pumpkin bread pudding and scalloped potatoes. The two older boys are memorizing famous speeches, and the four-year-old is learning just from watching them. He recited the Gettysburg Address for us! And then he laughed and grabbed something he wasn't supposed to, and later he threw up on his plate because he's four, and that's what they do. He was also obsessed with the pink hippo Jilly Moose once gave Rich for his birthday that raps about how she likes! big! hugs! on a takeoff of "Baby Got Back," so we heard that in the background for a lot of the dinner. El Vegetariano was there too, and he and Travalon could talk about nerdy stuff I don't know about, like comic books. Travalon also talked to Dessert Guy a lot, and I talked to his son. Their daughter and sister, who is about to give birth in a week, won a whole bunch on Jeopardy! She was amazing to watch! So I know someone who's almost kind of famous! If you google her name, it calls her "Fan Favorite Lady Harriet Whimsy" (not her real name, her blog name), so she may not have won the tournament, but she won the hearts of the viewers!
Here is a beautiful sunset I saw from work yesterday:
Famous Hat
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