high points of weekend

1) going to fred's friday night and hearing saint frinatra, with the fiery young slovak jozef bobula on 6-string bass. not only does this cat have monstrous chops (which he deploys intelligently), he's entertaining as hell to watch. he looks like he has springs in his feet, and his facial expressions while playing are a show all by themselves. along with danny chacko detonating lots of little explosions on drums, the rest of the band (brian sharp, trumpet; frank hailey, piano; ron thayer, percussion) and singer rebecca gillespie were inspahrd to new heights of performance. appropriate, too, since there were a godzillion ppl out on the patio (enticed by the guest chef from nola; at $30, the four-course special-of-the-day was a little beyond our means, but it looked and smelled fabulous).

2) spending most of saturday painting a friend's house and afterward, sleeping better than i have in six months. there's something to be said for doing physical labor outside where you can see the results of your efforts immediately. sunday after the rain i got out from behind the 'puter and went out to pull some weeds. felt good. could make a habit of this.

3) seeing the throngs who came out to see the new works by jesse sierra hernandez, greg bahr, and kate mcdougall at jesse's studio 4 on gallery night. running into ppl i hadn't seen in yrs. laughing at the silly wonk walking around with a copy of foucault who asked my wife, "of course you know this book?" (to which i would have replied, "yes, i know all about 'fuck-all'").

4) learning that my dtr's b-f had the presence of mind to leap up and call 911 when they had a car drive into the front of the house where she lives after the driver suffered an epileptic fit, plowing through a brick pillar, smashing windows, and filling the living room with dust and debris. maybe the kid is okay after all.