Alan Mac's 50th in Montreal

I hadn't been to Montreal in almost 20 years, so it was great to get back for my cousin Alan MacIntosh's 50th birthday. It was a surprise so we spent the day on Friday walking around the city. It is a great place and you can see quite a bit in a day. We stayed at the Sofitel on the Golden Mile which was very nice. This is the part of town that was first settled by rich Scottish folks and has many beautiful homes and buildings, as well as McGill University, Canada's Harvard.

From the hotel we walked downtown, through old Montreal all the way to the port. But first we stopped for a little breakfast and I can highly recommend the Universel Déjeuners et Grillades, 2055 rue Peel.

There are several amazing historical buildings in old Montreal you have to see, but the one must see is the Notre Dame Basilica. Finished in the 1850's, it is one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever been in. This iPhone photo does not do it justice. Unfortunately we unable to see it, but they have an amazing light show they put on several times a week.

Right next to the Notre Dame Basilica is the oldest building in Montreal, the Old Sulpician Seminary, designed by Francois Dollier de Casson in 1684.

If you keep walking through Old Montreal, you hit the Latin Quarter, home to more historical buildings and some great new restaurants. A great place to stop for lunch at one of the open cafes. If you keep heading towards the river, you will get to the Quays which serve as the port along the St. Lawrence river. Most are not in operation any more and now serve as the home to pleasure boat docks, tour cruises, restaurants and most importantly Cirque du Soleil, where we took in the new shw Ama Luna on our last night.

   

Of course the main reason we were all in Montreal was to celebrate Alan Mac's 50th. Here are my mom and dad greeting their nephew at the surprise party. Alan's wife Manon had done a masterful job setting up the party as well as other weekend events for all of us, without Alan suspecting anything.

Alan has done a lot of great things over the years, but nothing better than raising three amazing kids. This is Eloise, Clara and my godson Christophe.

We ate a lot of great food while we were in Montreal, but you know how I love to go low brow. Here is the crew, Alan, Peter, dad, Christophe and me at Lester's deli eating a Montreal classic smoked meat sandwiches. The meat is very salty, like corned beef or pastrami and Lester's is the place to go to get it.

After lunch, we made our way over to Olympic Stadium to watch the Montreal Impact vs. the LA Galaxy. David Beckham was playing for LA, so the stadium was packed out with 60, 000+ the largest crowd ever to see a soccer game in Canada. The game ended up a 1-1 tie, but it was a lot of fun.

 

Don't leave Montreal without going up to the top of the park, so you can get a great panoramic view of the city.

Songs We All Love

NPR's All Songs Considered is doing something super cool, they are trying to find songs we all agree on, songs that you can play in a room full of people and almost everyone is going to like them and know all the words.  They kicked it off with 11 songs, and I found myself singing along to all of them: Graceland from Paul Simon, Rockaway Beach by the Ramones, and Back in Black from AC/DC to name three. The idea is not to find bland, vanilla songs that everyone will agree on, but the really great ones we all love.

Here is the fun part, you can post songs you want to be included and vote on the ones you like. I am thinking of adding 1999 by Prince, Train in Vain by the Clash, I am still in Love With You by Al green. Go check out the latest show and add your favorites.

East India Grill

I love Indian food and for several years I have walked by the East India Grill in downtown Portland on my way home and thought, that place smells really good, we should eat there some time.  Last night we finally made it in the door, and that's where the hiccups began. I had made a reservation for two, but the computer said three. This seemed to throw the hostess off her game and she spent several minutes dealing with the computer before we got a seat in a relatively empty restaurant.

After we were seated the wait staff was very nice and helpful. We got a couple of tasty and strong cocktails to start, then some popadom. For our entrees we had the Chicken Tikka Masala ($18) – Chicken marinated in spices and yogurt, baked in a tandoor oven and served in a masala sauce – which was very good, as was the Chicken Korma Curry ($17) - a characteristic Indian dish based on a mixture of spices along with cashewnuts, fresh ginger, green chillies and cream. Everything comes with rice and of course you have to add naan bread.

East India Grill is a perfectly serviceable restaurant, the room was nice, the staff were helpful and the food was pretty good, but it does not live up to it's self designation as, "the best Indian food in Portland." I would much rather eat at the Bombay Cricket Club, or if I was in this neighborhood, I would make the short walk to the India Grill where there is always an inexpensive and delicious buffet on offer.

East India Grill 

821 SW 11th Avenue

Portland, OR 97205

503-227-8815

info@eastindiacopdx.com

OPEN MON-SAT, CLOSED SUNDAYS

Lunch: 11:30am - 2:00 pm

Happy Hour: 5:00 pm- 7:00 pm

Dinner: 5:00 pm - 9:30 pm

Blunderbuss by Jack White

If like me, you are a huge White Stripes fan, you have been waiting on the edge of your seat for this record for a some time now. So here it is, Jack White's first solo record, Blunderbuss.  First off, thank you Mr. White, you have given all your fans a very accessible record, that is comfortable in the right places and pushes us a little too. I also have an early contender for single of the year with "Sixteen Saltines." This song totally rocks out, and while it is an outlier on the record, it is like a special gift.

I really don't feel like going off on Mr. White's musical genius and how he seems to be the only one having any fun in the music business right now with his record company Third Man, putting out some of the most unique stuff out there, I'll just say, buy this record, listen to it about five times and enjoy.

Carless in Portland

I have been without a car since November of last year. At the end of the summer I put the hard top back on my car and when I pulled the car back into the garage I hit a ladder. How do you hit a ladder in the garage? Well you lay it down on its side to store it, then for some reason it falls over just enough that the leg drives into the front headlight as you drive in, crushing the front end of the car and destroying the ladder.


Obviously I was very sad to see my lovely car scared. I always get a little depressed when I hurt it (when you have had a car for almost 30 years you tend to think of it as more than just a car). But there was more pain to come. I started to take it to body shops around town and no one wanted to work on it. Despite the fact that I have a great insurance company, all I heard was, "this is going to be too much work" or "I don't want to deal with that."


Finally I found a place that will tenderly nurse it back to health. The only drawback is that it's taking a long time.

So, I am carless in Portland. There are a lot of younger people I work with that don't have a car or only have one between them and a spouse, so I thought no problem. Plus, I am a big fan of public transportation, but it has its limitations. When the bus is the only way you can get somewhere it's not so great and cabs are damn expensive. It might only be once a week or a few times a month, but there are times you really need a car.

Hopefully we'll be reunited soon.

The Best Records of 2011

Better late than never, here are my picks for the best records of 2011.

21 by Adele
Many of you may feel like this was the most overplayed record of the year. All I can tell you is stop listening to pop radio. It will kill your love for good music, they play the same stuff over and over until you hate it. If you just load up you iPod and only listen to what you love, when you love it, you can look at a record like this and still love it months after you first heard of it. My only concern is where do we go from here. Two bad breakups have lead to two great records. I would like to think that Adele could be happy and make a good record.

Boots Met My Face by Admiral Fallow
From one extreme to the other. The most overplayed record of the year to one you may not have heard of. Admiral Fallow are a Scottish band that fuse beautiful vocals with eerie, electronic pop music. They easily move from the soulfully sweet song, with disturbing vocals, "Dead Against Smoking", to jamming, dare I say dance songs like "Squealing Pigs." The thing I love most is the thick Scottish accent of lead singer Louis Abbott, that they are not afraid to put front and center.




Back to Love by Anthony Hamilton
If you love old school R&B, think Marvin Gaye, Al Green, you will love Anthony Hamilton.  This guy has been around for a while, releasing several records in the 90's and early 00's without getting much love.  He has finally broken through and was on most of the top 20 lists for 2011. This is the kind of record you need to buy on vinyl, put on the record player, pour a glass of cognac, and cosy up to the person you love.

The King is Dead by The Decemberists
I can't imagine a Decemberists record being released and it not making my favorites list. This band would probably have to take a serious crap before I stopped listening to them. The record was recorded in a beautiful farm just outside of Portland, and it is much more stripped down and simple than anything we have heard from them so far. Lead singer Colin Meloy points out that creating straightforward, unadorned songs can be at least as hard as building complicated musical epics. "For all my talk about how complex those records were, this one may have been harder to do," he says. "It's a real challenge to make simple music."

Diamond Mine by King Creosote & Jon Hopkins
This is my vote for record of the year. It is hard to talk about this record without sounding overly emotional, which in a strange way is exactly what this record could have been in lesser hands. King Creosote is Kenny Anderson from the East Nuek of Fife, in Scotland. He is an amazingly prolific artist, who plays in several bands and musical collectives. This is his best selling solo effort to date. He describes the record as a "soundtrack to a romanticized version of a life lived in a Scottish coastal village." It is a beautiful record.

For True by Trombone Shorty
Troy 'Trombone Shorty' Andrews' is proof that New Orleans is not dead. I am not talking about the damage inflicted by Hurricane Katrina here, I am talking about New Orleans Jazz being a dead language. Like Latin, you can speak it and read it, but there has been no new words for way too long. On For True, Shorty continues to move the genre forward. He calls his amazing mix of rock, funk, jazz, hip-hop and soul: Supafunkrock. The energy on this record is intoxifying, there is no way you can listen to this without getting up and wanting to dance.

House of Balloons by The Weeknd
This might be another record that is a little obscure, considering you can't buy it on iTunes or Amazon.  Abel Tesfaye is the Weeknd, and despite a significant web presence there is not a lot known about him. I can tell you he is from Canada and he is a Drake protege, although I think his music blows Drake away. He is an amazingly soulful, dirty mouthed rapper who quietly seduces you instead of shouting at you. If you want to check him out go to The Weeknd's site and you can download this record for free.

Bon Iver by Bon Iver's
Justin Vernon is Bon Iver and on this self titled record, we get more of what we love. Beautiful, soulful music, that is so quite a lot of people don't get it. It is easy to make fun of as being overly gentle, as they did on Saturday Night Live, but not everything has to be an overpowering audition for American Idol. If you loved his last record For Emma (and you should) you will love this one too.

Strange Mercy by St. Vincent
This is another eagerly awaited follow up record. Marry Me by St. Vincent was one of my faves from 2007. On Strange Mercy, Annie Clark has put out a more aggressive, raw record that highlights her playful vocals and killer guitar playing. If you get the chance, this is a young lady you should see live, and if you are a guitar geek, you should find her interview on All Songs Considered, she is not only talented, she is a wonk.

James Blake by James Blake
I don't really know what to say about this record. It's just not quite right. As soon as you get in a grove it kind of pushes you back out. As soon as you feel comfortable it takes a turn that assaults the ear. This may sound like a bad thing, but I assure you it's not. Blake may be challenging to listen to, but it's worth it. It's like how you didn't like single malt whiskey the first time you tried it, but now you have developed your palate and you are ready for big boy stuff. At it's heart it is an amazing example of where electronica can go in the hands of a big thinker.




Honorable mentions: El Camino by The Black Keys; The People's Key by Bright Eyes; Codes And Keys by Death Cab For Cutie; W H O K I L L by Tune-Yards; The Whole Love by Wilco; The Magic Place by Julianna Barwick; and The Unfazed by Deolorian

Laugh it up in the Windy City

Chicago is one of my favorite cities in the US, as long as you don't have to go there in the winter. Unfortunately they were experiencing Portland like weather last week, sideways rain, but colder. Luckily, we spent the day inside attending meetings with one of our new clients at the famous Second City improv and comedy club. It was amazing to be in the room where so many famous comedians got their start. I won't try to list them all, because that would take too long, but basically everyone from the original cast of Saturday Night Live to Tina Fey honed their skills on this stage.


After spending all day at Second City, we decided to go see the show that night. We were lucky to get in, there were only a few tickets left for a Tuesday night show. You need to get there by 7:30 for the 8:00 pm show, as it is first come first serve on the seating. We got a decent seat in the back area, but be warned, it is a small venue and there are a lot of seats with obstructed views and tight seats.

The show itself was amazing and had a heavy Chicago influence. They had a few skits about exiting Mayor Daley and incoming Mayor Emanuel that were great. There are two scripted sessions that are about 45-50 minutes each. The sketches are all work-shopped improv and when they are happy with the idea, they script it for the show. The third act is a 20 minute improv session with all the actors on stage, taking topic ideas from the audience. If you don't want to get pulled up on stage, don't try to volunteer another person, they will always pick you. It was great to see these young actors at work, and I am sure at least a couple of them will be on SNL or some sitcom in the near future. They were all very talented.

If you are looking for dinner before the show, I have a couple of suggestions. Just down the street from Second City is a place called the 33 Club. They have a great bar and a huge dinning room. We were there a little early, so it was pretty empty, but it was still a warm and welcoming room. I started with a tuna tare tare that was great and for entree had the seafood spaghetti. The salads and salmon entree were also very good. This would be a good place for a large party or to watch a game in the bar. The prices are pretty reasonable for Chicago.

You'd have to catch the late show on Friday or Saturday to eat at Gibson's Steak House. This is a classic Chicago steak house. The waiters all wear white coats and they bring out the raw steaks so you can pick what cut you want. I went with the NY Strip which was great and the guy with me got the Chicago cut which was also very good. The steak comes with a soup or salad, I got the green pea soup which was tasty and the salad looked good too. As sides we got a twice baked potato and some asparagus with hollandaise sauce, both were excellent. You better come hungry as the portions are really big.

Second City
1616 N. Wells St.
Chicag, IL 60610

(312) 337-3992

33 Club
419 N. Wells St.
Chicago, IL 60610

312-664-1419

Gibson's Steak House
1028 N. Rush St.
Chicago, IL 60611
(312) 266-8999