Joe Lovano Nonet.

It was a pretty uneventful weekend for me especially after the high and excitement of last weekend. The young adults group did go out for dinner on Thursday to a restaurant that I’ve not been to in a number of years called Phat Chefs. I remembered that it was a very good restaurant and for the price, it was definitely reasonable. All in all there were five of us at dinner. When I spend the evening with the kids around New Year’s time, Joel, Kathy and her sister and brother in law went to Phat Chefs for dinner and Joel was raving about the duck. So, the first thing I did when I entered the restaurant was to greet the chef/owner and introduced myself and mentioned Joel’s name. He’s familiar with Joel because the Iowa Pain Institute meets roughly once a month at the restaurant. I informed him that unless the special for the night really strikes my interest, I’ll be getting the duck. Dean (the chef/owner) informed me that they did not have any special for the evening which pretty much meant that it was duck for me. We ordered a number of appetizers which were good and I had one of the best French Onion soups in my life. It was one of the thickest and heartiest soups I’ve had. When I saw the duck, I knew it was going to be delectable. It was cooked to perfection and it was oh so very moist and yummy. I enjoyed every single bite of it to my stomach’s content. Dessert was right up there too. All in all it was a very wonderful dining experience. Everyone in the group thought so too.

On Saturday, Joel and I went to a jazz concert by Joe Lovano and his nonet. In the jazz world, Joe’s name is right up there with the very best. It’s easier to list the people he’s not worked/collaborated with than to do the opposite because there are just so many people. The concert was out of this world amazing. I told Joel that into the third song did it all of sudden really hit me that these guys are a nonet and the way they played off one another was spectacular. Each individual are accomplished musicians in their own right, but to hear them play together was awesome. Experiences like that do not come often and they were given a well deserved standing ovation. I’m so glad I got to experience it. There are not many jazz nonet groups around and when they can play off one another that well, all you need to do is just sit back and enjoy the experience and my, what an experience it was.

Sunday was a very good day at work. It was quiet in so many ways and the residents for the most part all were respectful of one another. That makes for a very easy work day. Days like these really make start my week out right and that’s just the way I like it.