Dinner at Johnny Corrino's Friday.

This is gonna be a quick one. We went down to Florence to see my third set of Seniors graduate Friday night. It was fun. One girl's brother showed up. He was in my first set of Seniors in '06. Now he's a sub sailor based out of Georgia. Very proud of him. It was good to see him. After that Denise and I headed further south on 195 to I35 and ate dinner at Johnny Corrino's in Roundrock.



I had the Skilletini, which is Chicken, Italian sausage and shrimp grilled in a skillet with garlic, onions and bell peppers, and then mixed with spaghetti noodles.



Wonderful. You guys need to try this. Seriously!



Denise had the Timbala, which was very similar to the Skilletini, only a lot less spicy. No shrimp ether.



After that we shared a slice of New York Cheesecake. Mmmmm, Mmm, Mmm!

Gotta go. We're drivin' down to Pappasito's in Austin and then to Bee Caves to see Joe Cocker and Steve Miller. Later. Cheers.

Friday night with my womens.

Took Mom, Denise and my cousin Trish to Dynasty Friday night, as a huge thunderstorm bore down on the area. Tornadoes and hail and everything, but we were not to be deterred.



The food was great and the company was even better.



After eating we all went back to Mom's place for an after dinner tipple, and then Denise and I went to the mall to see Iron Man. What a hoot that flick was. Excellent!

Sunday is Mothers Day, so I'm gonna take mom, sis, Trish and Denise all down to Austin to eat at Pappasito's. If I survive it I'll post about it some time. Y'all have a great Mothers day and we'll talk later. Cheers.

Update: Mom called me at about 10 this morning to say she'd changed her mind. Now she says it's such a nice day, all they want to do is work in the garden all day and then Denise and I will bring them burgers, fries and chocolate malts at about 5PM. Truth is, I think my sis called her this morning and told her she wasn't coming, so Mom just wants to stay home and take it easy. It bums me out (I had my pallet set for those brochette shrimp), but it's her day, so whatever she wants is what's goin' down.

And here's a special message to all you hotties out there pushin' rug rats around. Huge hugs all around. Happy Mothers Day.

Ok, I don't have much time (school is kickin' my ass) but I've got stuff to post.

First off, last Fridays dinner was great. Mom was feeling puny and didn't feel like it so I called one of dad’s old cousins, Wilson Moon and his wife, and Denise and I met them at BJs.



The dinner was great, again, and the company was even better. I'm steadily workin' my way through their menu, but there's so much good stuff on there I think I can continue to go for a long time before it gets boring. The Moons felt the same way. They'd never been there before and loved it. We'll meet them there again soon.



Both of these folks are in their 90s but they’re both still bright and alert and old Wilson’s got great stories to tell. He was about a decade older than my dad, so they didn’t hang out much as they grew up. Dad was more friends with Wilson’s brother. But when they got older they hit it off and became fast friends. That big ring on his finger is from Texas A&M, where he graduated in the early 1940s, back when you HAD to serve in the cadet corpse and go into the army if you went to A&M. I told ya, he's got interesting stories to tell

We used to go over and visit the Moons some nights after going to dinner at the Chinese place. You may recall, it was Wilson who got me goin’ at dad’s funeral when he hobbled up to me on that cane and said “Well, we lost out buddy didn’t we?” I was holding it together till then. It’s always great to see them and hear about their latest cruise, or their grand kids.

After dinner Denise and I went to see “88 Minutes” at the Temple mall. She liked it more than I did. Something about all those hot women chasin’ after Al Pacino. What is he, friggin’ 80 now? That’s WAY too much disbelief to have to suspend. It was pretty cool, even if the plot seemed a bit too convoluted to believe. This Friday we’re gonna go see “Rocket Man”. I can’t friggin’ wait! I hear they’re already workin’ on the sequel.

Anyway, Saturday afternoon my buddy Jim from Ft. Worth drove down and we headed down to Bastrop, East of Austin, to see Eric Johnson in a little live show. A local developer down there who is a huge Jazz fan has been having a Jazz Jam in his house every year for the last 6 or 7 years. Lots of local talent, including Johnson (who lives in Bastrop), show up every year.



This year they held the jam on the patio of a new medical plaza that this developer just put up east of town. Twice as many people showed up this year, donating a minimum of $50 to attend the concert. The money goes to the local Boys & Girls club in Bastrop. We hear the number 400 bandied about, but the crowd seemed smaller than that. It was very cozy.

They played a free form jam for about an hour, with EJ sitting in about half way through it. The main guy there was this local jazz guy named Hannibal Locumbe. he was amazing, and the other musicians accompanied him really well. It was a wonderful time, and both Jim and I decided we'd definitely come back again next year.



After that they served dinner to everyone in the crowd. We lined up and went through the line and got a nice plate of food. After that, as the sun went down and the temps got as bit chilly, EJ and his band took the stage.


They played all the familiar tunes we associate Johnson with, like "White Cliffs of Dover", and then they closed the show with wonderful renditions of “Crossroads” and “Red House”. I was blown away.

After the show ended an beautiful young singer and her boyfriend/guitar player took the stage to play and we were impressed with her style. She sang some old standards and some great old Sergio Mendes stuff and did a wonderful job. Meanwhile I got in line to get a CD signed and have my picture taken with the dude.

The CD was for Jim. The picture was cool enough for me. Anyway, I figured I’d rip the CD to my hard drive when I got home and have it anyway. We got back to my place and Jim sacked out in the guest room. Denise and I slept in till about 10AM, by which time Jim had long since hit the road. He’s an early riser. He said when he got up I was snorin’, and when he got out of the shower I was still snorin’, so he just hit the road.

Denise and I slept in till... Well, lets say we finally rolled out of the sack by about 2PM and then showered and headed for Houston. The Roger waters concert was set for 8PM at the Woodlands Pavilion, north of Houston. It was great! We ended up meeting a good friend there and eating great Mexican food and then took in the concert. I took 418 pictures during the concert and it's taken me till now to get the best shots processed and on FlickR. I'll post some of those shots and a review of the concert tomorrow. Click over to FlickR to get a look at some of the shots. They're set up in that set in the order they were taken.

Ok, That was long in comin', but I hope you enjoyed it. We'll chat again later. Cheers.