A great radio station!

As I was perusing the New York Times on the web this morning, I ran across an article about Scott Johnston. He's a Montana man with a dream, which he made come true. Johnston runs a low power radio station playing wonderful music - - from his front porch! The 100 watt wonder has a coverage area of only a few miles north of Creston, Montana. But thanks to streaming audio on the Internet, KXZI can be heard all over the world. I've been listening to it this morning and I'm hooked. Johnston bases the station's playlist on music you may never have heard but wished you had. Just scanning the list now, one finds Precious Bryant, Eric Clapton, Clinton Fearon, Koko Taylor, Duke Robillard and the Eagles.

Johnston's radio station is a 24-hour one-man band. He's the only employee and he's got a great smooth delivery. You don't hear him much. He never announces the songs he plays though you can identify all the performances by scanning the playlist on his website.

That website is http://www.montanaradiocafe.org Check it out. I think you'll become a fan as I have.

A rainy day . . . and a movie!

SWMBO and I finally took in the movie - Julie and Julia - this afternoon. We so seldom go to a theatre that I can't recall the last movie we saw in one but suffice it to say it was a year or two ago. I'd been waiting for Julie and Julia to come out and was anxious to see it when it first appeared in the theatre but, procrastinator that I am, it had been a month or more before we finally attended a showing.

We both enjoyed it immensely. SWMBO said she couldn't imagine Meryl Streep not getting another Oscar for her portrayal of Julia Child. As is usual in her performances, she was spot on.

It was raining when we entered the theatre and still dripping when we came out. Enroute home, I had to stop for a photo of this very low-lying cloud bank hugging the ground.

Lunch+++++

That tuna melt lunch yesterday was pretty good but not nearly as good as lunch today with the BRD and SWMBO at the Asylum in Jerome. This hotel restaurant has marvelous views with a few tables right by the windows overlooking the Verde Valley.
Here's a guy with one of the busiest jobs in the place.

Dark wood. Candlelight. It's enough to make you want to spend the day. And the night. If you didn't have to drive back down the mountain to home. Nice afternoon, though.

Lunch

A few . . oh, that's a lie . . . it was more like 15 years ago, I had my first tuna melt sandwich. I liked it but I don't think I'd ever had another one. Until today. I stopped at a Subway sandwich shop with tuna melt on my mind. They don't have one on the menu but I asked if they could make one and the guy said "sure!"

So I ordered tuna salad on Italian bread topped with pepper cheese. That went into a toaster oven for a minute or so. I had them top it with some chopped black olives, chopped green bell peppers, and chopped red onion. Topped it off with a splash of vinegar and oil dressing. And it was pretty darned good. SWMBO was amazed.

Rain on the horizon

I took a couple of pictures from behind the wheel yesterday.

Yes, I know I shouldn't try to take pictures while I'm driving down the road at 65 miles an hour. But it was only a couple of snaps and I wanted you to see our rain.

You can see it better if you click on the photos to expand them.

Speaking of music . . .

. . . and of old memories. Here's a song that's come to be popular on the Internet. The singer is Tom Rush.

Jazz

This past weekend the Prescott Jazz Summit kept aficionados of the form content for three days. I stopped downtown to visit with an old friend, Joel Goldenthal, who is the executive director of Jazz in Az. He performs as Joel Robin and has played piano behind many newcomers who have become stalwarts. I reminded him that I had seen Margo and Francine Reed perform for probably the first time in Arizona. It was at a big outdoor jazz festival at the Town and Country Shopping Center in Phoenix. The Reeds had just moved to Phoenix from Chicago and came out of the audience in blue jean cutoffs to perform with the Armand Boatman band. They tore the place up! Joel said "that was my first gig in the Valley, too!"

Later he said he met Timothy Johnson, who opened Timothy's Restaurant. Johnson asked Joel what he thought about bringing in some live music. Joel, always looking for gigs, brought in Francine Reed and the place became a reknowned jazz club. Francine, incidentally, is more commonly known these days for performing with Lyle Lovett's band.

I didn't get to hear much of the jazz this weekend but what I heard was spectacular. Mike Vax, who fronted the Stan Kenton bend for years, did a great job in putting it together and bringing in some great artists. Toni Tennille was the headliner but Margo and Blaise Lantana and Joel's wife Delphine Cortez and Dennis Rowland were on hand for the festival, as well as a number of very talented musicians. The BRD and her Beau took in one of the final sessions at the Hassayampa Hotel and she said the jazz was fabulous.

Next year I may have to shell out the money to attend myself.