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Valentine's Weekend
Mary Beth and I had a big Valentine's weekend extravaganza with a little staycation downtown. During the day on Friday, I got a package in the mail with The Terminator on blu ray (need to start getting ready for the festival-adjacent live score). Then after work we went to the air bnb we rented in an apartment downtown. The idea was to spend the weekend doing the stuff we don't usually do because of the hassle of going downtown and all that. So we started off that night going down to the piano bar in the Peabody and had some drinks listening to piano and singing. Then after that we walked over to Gus's for our traditional romantic dinner. We even hit up their jukebox with its requisite triumvirate of James Brown, Stevie Wonder, and AC/DC. And after that we went to the Rumba Room. They have a dance lesson we were curious about. The plan was to get there early and enjoy some menu items and get the lay of the land beforehand, though we didn't realize we'd literally be the first people there. But it didn't take too long for others to show up. We got a polaroid of us taken by the guy that runs things. Then after a bit the dance lesson started. Mary Beth decided against actually taking part at the last minute. But we watched the others doing the dancing. The steps seemed both easy and hard (especially towards the end when too many steps had built up). The dance instructor guy was pretty heteronormative as there were these ladies trying to dance together but he split them up and paired them with some random guys he grabbed. Anyway, it was fun watching the people dance.
Then yesterday we got up and after a bit went over to Alcenia's for lunch. It was super-duper good. Then we had realized I might not have brought adequate attire for the thing we were doing "tomorrow" (that's yesterday's tomorrow, which of course is today) as Mary Beth had gotten an email reminder that mentioned needing to wear a jacket (I'd brought business casual kind of nice clothes but not a jacket of course) so we went back home to pick up that (also dress shoes as I'd otherwise just had my Converse). While there, I had a package waiting for me with some cds from Important records: Meredith Young-Sowers: Agartha: Personal Meditation Music box set and Kid606: Songs about Fucking Steve Albini. Okay, so we grab the stuff and go back downtown to our apartment. I didn't mention that yet, but it was a pretty nice little place to stay. It was sunny in the earlier part of the day but then it started storming so we stayed in and snuggled up. We were putting off dinner to see how things would turn out weather-wise. We were planning on going to the Rendezvous but that's quite a walk from where we were and we decided against it and instead just went to The Green Beetle which was almost next door to where we were staying. Never been there before and the goat cheese burger was very delicious so I'm not mad at all about how the weather made things turn out.
OH! I almost forgot to mention that after getting back downtown from stopping off at home, we walked down to the end of Main St. and Mary Beth looked around The Broom Closet and then we went to the bookstore next door. I ended up getting The Water Cure by Percival Everett. I almost passed it up because it's a hardcover and I don't usually read hardcovers because I don't like the bulk. But I saw on the display his newer book and I was curious to check and see if they had any others of his and they had this used. At first I wasn't sure I should get it but I looked it up and it's never gotten a second edition so never published in paperback. So I figured it was definitely worth snatching up! (And pretty happy about it now.)
Then today we woke up to go to The Peabody again for a morning and afternoon of Peabody stuff. We started by being total tourists and watching the whole duck ceremony. We came pretty early but you've gotta get over there super early so we had a spot where we could see some though not great. We were by the elevator so we got to watch them coming out of it. Then when things cleared out we got to look at them swimming in the fountain. Then we had tickets for the tour. It was led by Duckmaster Kenon (who we used to see around a lot well before he got this gig, presenting stuff, I'm pretty sure he presented at Indie Memphis events a good bit back in the day). So we wandered around being told some about the hotel. The tour was pretty leisurely and we had reservations for tea at Chez Philippe. We just so happened to be shown Chez Philippe on the tour right at the time our reservations were for so I conveniently just got to ask them if it was okay to be late and finish the tour and they were fine with it. We ended up on the roof where it was cold but there's a great view. Okay so back down to Chez Philippe for tea which was very delicious. It was three courses: first little tea sandwich things, then scones, then little tea cake things. And the tea was quite nice. I had a black tea (English breakfast) but Mary Beth had some oolong. Then we came back home and here we are! It was a nice romantic weekend! (Okay, yes with lots of heavy food, but that's romantic too.)
Then yesterday we got up and after a bit went over to Alcenia's for lunch. It was super-duper good. Then we had realized I might not have brought adequate attire for the thing we were doing "tomorrow" (that's yesterday's tomorrow, which of course is today) as Mary Beth had gotten an email reminder that mentioned needing to wear a jacket (I'd brought business casual kind of nice clothes but not a jacket of course) so we went back home to pick up that (also dress shoes as I'd otherwise just had my Converse). While there, I had a package waiting for me with some cds from Important records: Meredith Young-Sowers: Agartha: Personal Meditation Music box set and Kid606: Songs about Fucking Steve Albini. Okay, so we grab the stuff and go back downtown to our apartment. I didn't mention that yet, but it was a pretty nice little place to stay. It was sunny in the earlier part of the day but then it started storming so we stayed in and snuggled up. We were putting off dinner to see how things would turn out weather-wise. We were planning on going to the Rendezvous but that's quite a walk from where we were and we decided against it and instead just went to The Green Beetle which was almost next door to where we were staying. Never been there before and the goat cheese burger was very delicious so I'm not mad at all about how the weather made things turn out.
OH! I almost forgot to mention that after getting back downtown from stopping off at home, we walked down to the end of Main St. and Mary Beth looked around The Broom Closet and then we went to the bookstore next door. I ended up getting The Water Cure by Percival Everett. I almost passed it up because it's a hardcover and I don't usually read hardcovers because I don't like the bulk. But I saw on the display his newer book and I was curious to check and see if they had any others of his and they had this used. At first I wasn't sure I should get it but I looked it up and it's never gotten a second edition so never published in paperback. So I figured it was definitely worth snatching up! (And pretty happy about it now.)
Then today we woke up to go to The Peabody again for a morning and afternoon of Peabody stuff. We started by being total tourists and watching the whole duck ceremony. We came pretty early but you've gotta get over there super early so we had a spot where we could see some though not great. We were by the elevator so we got to watch them coming out of it. Then when things cleared out we got to look at them swimming in the fountain. Then we had tickets for the tour. It was led by Duckmaster Kenon (who we used to see around a lot well before he got this gig, presenting stuff, I'm pretty sure he presented at Indie Memphis events a good bit back in the day). So we wandered around being told some about the hotel. The tour was pretty leisurely and we had reservations for tea at Chez Philippe. We just so happened to be shown Chez Philippe on the tour right at the time our reservations were for so I conveniently just got to ask them if it was okay to be late and finish the tour and they were fine with it. We ended up on the roof where it was cold but there's a great view. Okay so back down to Chez Philippe for tea which was very delicious. It was three courses: first little tea sandwich things, then scones, then little tea cake things. And the tea was quite nice. I had a black tea (English breakfast) but Mary Beth had some oolong. Then we came back home and here we are! It was a nice romantic weekend! (Okay, yes with lots of heavy food, but that's romantic too.)