Monday, April 10, 2017

Soooo...last year my wife was having a minor (let’s call it minor) nervous breakdown related to, in no particular order:
1. Her parents and issues related to aging,
2. Her daughter with issues related to...marriage (to a nice boy),
3. Her marriage to a deeply and profoundly troubled man (me),
4. Finishing her Masters (forensic accounting),
5. Life.
It isn't a small list and those 5 were just the high points.  Anyway, in mid 2015 I ran across references to the OUTLAW COUNTRY CRUISE!  Outlaw Country is a brand of Alt-Country/Americana/Country promoted by SIRIUS Radio on their channel 60.  It is my type of music, twangy songs about drinking, love, death, sex, music, cars and existentialism.  Steve Earle is a DJ and Buddy Miller and Shooter Jennings and Elizabeth Cook and they play music by bands like… well I could go on an on but here is a sample from 2008:


The motto of the station is a rip off of “Blazing Saddles” which is “”No Fences, No Badges, No Borders and No Commercials.”  There is an ethos there… but I don't know what it is.  
Anyway, so my wife was having a breakdown and I saw Elizabeth Cook (who we had a mutual affection for) was going to be on a cruise and when I looked I saw Steve Earle and Lucinda Williams and The Mavericks and...I was intrigued and I forwarded the link and shortly thereafter got an email from my wife telling me that we were going.
I was taken aback that my sure thinking, accountant wife would act so hastily but upon reflection I realized that my wife was not necessarily the woman I had married and perhaps that was a very good thing.  So we went.  We had a blast.  I thought I blogged about it but when I checked back, apparently not.  I think my dad died shortly after we got back or something relatively trivial like that might have distracted me...maybe.  Or maybe I was just lazy.  I know I posted a lot of pics on Facebook but we had a blast and so we signed up to go on the second one.  Evidently we were on the inaugural cruise.  Apparently it is now a “Becker Tradition”.  #sad.
This year along with the usual suspects Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams, Elizabeth Cook and the Mavericks we were going to have my personal favorites The Old 97s and local favorites The Bottlerockets.  I was...really excited and so was Sandy.  
People who do not understand the concept always ask the same question when they hear you are going on a cruise which is, “where are you going?”.  This is a “tell” that they do not understand the concept and I have to explain that “nothing could make less difference than where it goes”.  Last year we went from Miami to the Caymans.  This year it was going to Cozumel from Tampa.  In each case you sail for two days, spend 8 daylight hours on whatever place your going and then sail back.  Meaningless.  They could (perhaps should) just go out and sail around for 4 days and not waste our time.
I enjoy traveling but I don't enjoy flying. I have no phobias about getting in an airplane and no worries about crashing but the lining up, the partial stripping, the showing of papers has all started to really freak me out. It seems somewhat dehumanizing and totalitarian. I realize this is childish but... I need too remember to talk to my doc about Xanax.

I had not been to Tampa in a long time and Sandy was not sure that she ever had the pleasure.  By the time we booked a hotel any reasonable place on the Bay was sold out so we stayed in an Embassy Suites out by the airport.  I like the Embassy Suites and my wife is happy with their breakfast but I was pleased by the existence of a near Waffle House. They are so beautiful. I think that there is a credible and cogent argument to be made that all Waffle Houses, wherever located, all be put on the National Historic Building Registry. I mean Waffle Houses are beautiful, they are architecturally significant and they have shaped our culture in ways much more meaningful than say...Mc Donald's.

We arrived on a Saturday and that night went down to Ybor City because it was the only thing I remembered from being there before.  I think it might have been some law/insurance thing and I think, perhaps I was over served.  In any case we Uberred (is that a verb now) down there from out by the airport.  I had jumped on Yelp or something and apparently if you go to Ybor you eat at Columbia.


Sometimes the Internet can get something so right.  We went there, they told us it would be a two hour wait, we said great and we walked up and down the Ybor strip, bought some cigars, had a cocktail and enjoyed the evening.  Apparently there had been a pre mardi gras street party down there.  The area is not particularly quaint but it is a slice of America and was entertaining to walk around during the day.  We got back to the restaurant and still had quite a wait but… what the hell.  Evidently if you go on certain nights or have a group you can catch Flamenco dancing.  We don't see a lot of that in St. Louis.  In any case, if you ever get a chance...go there.  Especially with your spouse or significant other.  Great people watching great ambience, GREAT FOOD!  So go there.  We had a blast. IMG_6596.jpg
The next morning we woke up and Uberred to the Tampa Cruise port.  It is like a cruise port.  We had a remarkably easy time boarding and then… you can go to your room right away but your bags do not show up for quite some time so we took a loot at our room, met Juan our steward and walked around.  There is something festive about being on a boat and it was pretty afternoon.  The main concert venue is always up on the pool deck so we found a seat up there (they are at a premium) and sandy needle pointed while I watched a band called Haybale and drank.  IMG_6615.jpgHay Bale is the Saturday night house band at The Continental Club in Austin.  If you don't know how or why that is so cool, I really cannot explain it to you but it was a great way to start the cruise.IMG_6622.jpgWhat is the start of an Outlaw Country Cruise without complimentary shot of tequila?
Tampa...it seems nice...from a boat.
IMG_6621.jpg
So we set sail...listened to a band...took a nap.   We also had the “muster” which is where they gather you and explain to you what to do in the case you are on the Titanic.  It is awesome.
The program looked like this:

IMG_6613.PNGThere are 5 venues on the boat and at least two of them have music at any given time so you get to wander around with a cocktail from place to place and see what tickles you.  Some of the venues are very hard to find a seat at and some of the venues like The Stardust almost always have a seat, even if it is off in the wings.  It is nice to see shows in the Stardust because it is more like a concert experience but one of the things about the cruise which matches a festival experience is the ability for the real frothing fan, which I can sometimes be to stand right up front so that the guitarist can indeed spit on you if that is what your looking for (and who isn't?).

 After "muster" we went to see The Mavericks. Then back to our room to unpack our bags and meet our steward Jose. Jose rocked and kept our ice bucket filled as well as turn down of sheets and everything else. Here is what the view from the room looked like.
So you wake up the next day. We have a balcony. I have a judicial interview by phone. If you ever worry you will not be able to make a call from the boat and you are not certain your cell can work, you can always make calls...for $5.00 a minute. So I got up and had breakfast and there is always amusement at breakfast because you have a lot of hungover people and a lot of musicians, and sometimes their kids... waking up. On the boat you have no newspaper and a newspaper is somewhat integral to my waking up process. Fortunately I had the first 200 pages of Rick Doolings new book to take a look at and make some notes and I had a brilliant new book by Jonathan Lethem called "Anatomy of a Gambler". Reading books at breakfast is a growing experience. I still miss the newspaper. I also don't know why the cruise ship cannot:
1. Subcontract breakfast (and perhaps all meals) out to Waffle House; and
2. Distribute a shipboard news update provided by the Wall Street Journal of NY Times.
These are good ideas. Norwegian Cruise Lines..you are welcome.

 Norwegian Lines seems very competent. In a lot of ways a boat is a boat but this is basically the same as last year. Last year, the Norwegian Pearl, this year the Norwegian Jade. We have been on Royal Caribbean Cruises but never on Carnival. The cruise ship staff is always competent, helpful and...foreign with passable English which

is really all that I have so it is all good. The food on the boat is good but gets boring really quick. There is a general cafeteria type places where everyone goes. You get saintlier sprayed on your hands on the way in, "washy-washy" and then get a plate and walk around 8 or so different food stations. The food can uniformly be described as "not bad" and that is saying a lot. We of course are spoiled and we like to eat and therefore we pay an "up charge" and go to the nicer restaurants on the boat of which there are several. We also bring several bottles of our own wine and you pay, I think, $15.00 dollars a bottle to bring it on board. You can consider trying to sneak your bottles on but I have been assured that they are rigorous about scanning bags for bottles and there is no sneaking. The bottles when you check in are tagged and cannot be uncorked by the restaurants or staff unless tagged. Night 1...La Cucina"!





As you can see it is a nice little menu and we brought a nice bottle of wine. The main thing you get on the Outlaw Country Cruise when you go to one of these places is privacy. Not many of the folks on the cruise pay the extra money so it is kind of nice and kind of romantic and I recommend it for at least a night or two on any cruise.


 We finished the night at The Stardust seeing Lucinda Williams who put on a great show with a great show where she played new songs and old songs but always story telling songs. Evidently it is a struggle to grow up as somewhat counter cultural in the south but she tells the tales. After that we caught a late night set with the pride of the Festus Crystal City Metroplex...the Bottlerockets. It was in the smaller venue and there is just something great about seeing Bryan Henneman tell his stories up close and personal while he and the band strum and thrash away at their catalogue.

Then it was time for bed where our steward had turned down the bed and left towel statuary art!
So... not everyone has their beds turned down so I guess that is cool. The next morning I woke up and had breakfast and watched Rhett Miller eat with his wife two children. Was I creepy? Was I stalking them? Yes and maybe are the likely answers. I did my 20 minute interview phone call...nailed it (I thought).

 I spent the rest of the morning reading and making obnoxious suggestions on a draft of Rick Dooling's new book. The book should come out this time next year and it will be...awesome. About 22 years ago or so I was another cruise with my wife and got to do the same thing with his book "White Man's Grave" so this was kind of a cool "redo". Very relaxing reading and making notes and unwanted observations. I was able to read while my wife was out getting her steps in because she needs to walk 10,000 steps a day and there is nothing weird or obsessive about it. So she walked, I edited, we ate lunch...and then it was time for more music.
 So Sirius channel 60 records some programs when we are on the boat and Steve Earle in one of the DJs and he recorded a show with Jessi Colter (Waylon Jennings widow), Shooter Jennings another guy who was taking the place of Billy Joe Shaver. Billy Joe was supposed to be on the cruise but directly prior to sailing, he fired his band and flew home to Austin. So they sat around, told stories and played songs and... there is something just awesome about them recounting all these songs. They were basically telling the tale of the recording of Waylon Jennings pivotal album, "Honkytonk Heroes" in 1973.
 Roger Alan Wade
 Rosie Flores
 A Masterson
The Stardust 
 Old 97s













SuperSuckers


Here is a complete list off all the bands on the cruise.
The next day....Cozumel!

Not that we cared.  Cozumel was mainly a place to get off the book and look around.  The cruise ports are awful...awful places.  Lots of shops, several bars and people hustling you all the time.  Hustling you to go into the shops, hustling you to go into bars, hustling you to rent a scooter or get a guide.  So it is annoying but we always walk into the town and find a bar and have a beer and look at the 250 emails that came in over the last two days...have a heart attack and then buy a couple of Cubans and head back to the boat.
I don't know what this is supposed to be but would like it recreated on my kitchen wall.
Pretty much you get off the boat, get swarmed by vendors, find a bar, check the Internet and drink.
The Happy Couple about to get back on the boat.




I don't really know what this was...pretend scuba?


Then you head back to the boat for a nap... and then dinner, and then some more music.
El Humongo Returns!

I forget who this was...


And another nice meal on the boat.
Some Band on the deck at night.

THIS...is Wanda Jackson!

Roger Alan Wade, Surius DJ, general hater. Sandy loved him.

The Old 97s, Daryl and Rhett tune up.

Darryl belts out "Mama Tried". But really there is nothing like seeing one of your favorite bands in the world from 3 feet away. I could have spit on man who proudly sings, "My name is Stewart Ransom Miller, and I am serial lady killer!" with a crowd of 150 other fans, at midnight, in the Gulf of Mexico. For me this was the best show of the trip. Sandy had gone to bed after a long day and I was only mildly drunk and there were competing popular shows which meant only the true believers in the OLD 97s were out and it was a drunk sing along and for me...magic!



Steve Earle at the begin venue, the Stardust. Steve always surrounds himself with masterful musicians and this Masterson guy on lead guitar was no exception. He tells stories about Nashville and Austin and people misconstruing his songs. He has a song called "The Devils Right Hand" which recounts a mother warning her son away from guns. When he wrote it, it was not an anti-gun piece. Then his teenage son found his handgun, hid it and would not give it back... and it became an anti gun song.


 We were given a bottle of champagne as a gift by the Sirius people and decided to take advantage of the fresh squeezed juices to kill it with fresh Mimosas! Blue Chip idea!
Roger Alan Wade with a Supersucker 
 LOOK! More wine!
 Steve Earle with The Mastersons
 Steve Earle recording his Sirius show with Jessie Dalton, Shooter Jennings and...someone else discussing recording of one of Waylon's old albums. Fascinating for the fan.
 Our personal favorite from East Nashville and the Grand Ol Opry, Miss Elizabeth Cook.


 Jesse Dayton


Old 97s on the Main Deck! 

Sooo... that was really it, but it wasn't. There was a lot more and I cannot say enough nice things about the whole experience. It was "immersive' and joyous and you did not get one day of news casts or information coming over the phone. Just music, with myself, my wife and a 1000 or so strangers. I will go back. I will love it all over again. In the meantime if you want to stick your toe into this type of music consider Twangfest 2017 at Off Broadway. Music can save your soul... believe it.

http://twangfest.com
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Sunday, February 19, 2017

The Throwback Special: The Diner Book Review

24724594Soooo…. I like books.  I am somewhat passionate and obnoxious and pretentious about how much I like books.  I really don't even like to talk about books with people who don't really like books.  I will not say “literature” since I believe some of you might have heard or read of the unkind soul who said my shelves look like the “Remainder” section at the Barnes & Noble store.  Very unkind.  Anyway, a friend of my son, whose parents are also friends was kind enough to give me a book for Christmas.  I don't like receiving books.  I like to pick out my own books but this young man writes and teaches English and maybe literature and he dates a lovely woman who is editor of a top notch little literary Journal called “Boulevard”.  You should check it out and subscribe (I have),




Anyway, he gave me a book and I was reading another book and as my sad regular readers know...it takes me a month to finish a book now whether due to my need for more sleep or my drinking problem or the deteriorating plasticity of my brain.  It just takes a while but out of respect I wanted to read this book because a thoughtful person who reads gave it to me.  It was a finalist for The National Book Award and since my friend Rick Dooling did that (I think) with his great book “White Man’s Grave” I tend to pay attention to that award.


This was a short book (210 pages or so) which I like and I like the writers style.  His name Chris Bachelder (I don't how you pronounce it) and he writes with a nice sparse style.  I don't want to say a Hemingway like style but he uses words with economy to describe things in great detail.  The book's premise is this… a bunch (21 or 22) guys gather at a nameless one star hotel somewhere in a nondescript part of the country to reenact “The Play”.  Now many different people have many things they describe as “The Play” in several different sports.  If you Google it you get a plethora of hits relating to several things which are amazing and interesting to watch but in this case “The Play” was when Lawrence Taylor ended Joe Theismann's career on November 18, 1985… which I remember as my first year in law school.  It was a surreal and grizzly event on Monday night football and if you watch certain replays you can see Theisman’s bones sticking out of his leg from the compound fracture.




In any case these guys get together each year and spend the weekend together, go through a lottery to get their positions (no one can ever be Theismann twice (or I think Lawrence Taylor either) and then suit up, go to a local middle school field and re-enact “The Play”.  I won't go into details about the play but it is historically remembered as a tragically stupid call (a flea flicker) where Theismann hands of to Riggins who then laterals back to Theismann who…. Is destroyed.


Bachelder gives nearly every guy a voice and a roll and they gather for this odd annual event in their lives, catch up with each other and slowly go through the weekend’s rituals.  It can be kind of numbing because the writing is such that you can picture how mundane and uninteresting the whole background is.  99% of the book takes place in the lobby and a few of the bedrooms of the hotel.  Normally they would at least meet in a conference room but that conference room has been commandeered by “Prestige Vista Solutions” for a sales meeting (and you can feel everything that “Prestige Vista SOlutions” means as they occasionally run into the re-enactors and one lucky, lucky guy gets to take part.  For me, the interesting thing is I just finished the book and could not tell you anything about any of the characters other than “Bald Michael” who I think stood out because he was Theismann and because I am bald and Michael.


You might think...uggghhh...you can't remember any of them and the answer is no, I cannot but it isn't because they are boring or uninteresting, it is because they were all so real.  Middle aged men with insecurities, triumphs, challenges, prejudices, failure, marital problems, kid problems… it is just a beautiful book about what it is to be a middle aged man in America and while that sounds less than sexy, the book is so well written and has such occasional moments of poignancy and brilliance that anyone could love it.


The payoff is of course in the last ten pages when they finally take to a rainy field with a handful of people (some from Prestige Vista Solutions) looking on and it is a great payoff, wind up and it turns out to be their last gathering and (I know you won't believe it) but it makes a great commentary on the tragedy and the beauty of the human condition and every day and the complicated lives of basically simple men and the rituals we revel in, hate, despise our self for, and need to organize and order how we view our lives.


“They sat in silence, staring up at the television, the muted anchors.  Each man was indignant.  Beneath the indignation there was an exotic and diverse world of feeling, as dark as an ocean trench.”

That is good shit.  It is a good book and you should read it.  Even if the story does not get you, the writing style and voice is good enough that you should take notice.  The author has a few other books out and I might take notice of those myself.
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Sunday, January 22, 2017

The Nix: Nathan Hill

Soooo…. We are well into the new year and I am just finishing the book I was reading when the year ended.  Not because it was hard to read but because I am an old man who only gets in 10-20 pages a night before the eyes just get too… heavy.  Very sad, brain plasticity among so many other things deteriorating.  Ah well.  
So this book was on a lot of short lists for best book of 2016 and it is with good reason:

A New York Times 2016 Notable Book
Entertainment Weekly's #1 Book of the Year
A Washington Post 2016 Notable Book
A Slate Top Ten Book
I would concur with the gushing.  It is author Nathan Hill’s first novel and other than winning some prizes for his short stories he had not been on anyone’s radar.  This is a really ambitious first novel, essentially the story of a screwed up (really, really screwed up) mother son relationship and you spend a great deal of time dealing with the results of the dysfunction but more importantly he unravels the causes of it and at the same time pokes at, but does not really explore our current societal, political maelstrom with a blowhard hate speech candidate.
The main backstory in the novel unfolds during the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago  and it is a pretty dark picture.  Walter Cronkite appears as a beleaguered hero of sorts, Hubert Humphrey cannot believe his crowning moment is unfolding amongst violence, pepper spray and the stink of blood and death from the convention which was close to the Chicago Stockyards.  In what I hope was an apocryphal scene the candidate is obsessively showering to get the stink off of him.  There is some pretty good commentary about police, policing and the specter of violence and the manipulation of these images and Alan Ginsberg makes a brief appearance.
But that is not the only story as our main protagonist, the son, a failing writer/college professor is dealing with an entitled co ed when his long estranged mother is arrested for terrorism (throwing a handful of pebbles at the Trumpian candidate).  After that...events begin to unfold with childhood nightmares and romances disclosed and ultimately explained.  In a portion of the novel we delve into the son’s excessive video game immersion as an adult and his on line friend Pwnage who is the mightiest of warriors in ElfQuest.  This gaming series and exploration of the characters relationships in real life and on line is...troubling.
With 50 pages left I was a little frustrated because I could not imagine how he would tie it up successfully but… he does.  He does not put a bow on it but ends it honestly with the characters working towards reconciliation of relationships as they try and first reconcile with themselves.  

I think this is the best modern literary fiction has to offer and it is worth the extended pages.  Read it.  You will see things in the narrative that resonate.
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Sunday, January 8, 2017

Post Fact

Soooo… I have been laying low since the election.  

What I discovered in the election is that...

MY SILO WALLS ARE VERY THICK AND HIGH AND I THINK MY SILO SITS OUT BY ITSELF IN A FIELD SOMEWHERE.  

To say I was confused by the result is a dramatic understatement.  I pride myself on being well read, well informed and kind of an information junky.  I proudly discussed the fact that I sought out all of the input I could on a day to day basis from what I thought was the “spectrum” of opinion.  This generally included:
1. The Wall Street Journal (Subscribe)
2. The Post Dispatch (Subscribe)
3. NPR (Send them money and listen as default in car)
4. Patriot Radio (Because my brother is Tea Party Conservative and listens to them
I mean that is pretty diverse.  And I listen and read a lot.  I read things on line.  I know the difference between Fake News and a journalistic piece.  I assumed any 6th grader knows that but once again I discovered that I was wrong.
The Drive By Truckers, a southern rock band (being totally unfair to them) came out with a song this year called “What It Means” regarding the current status of the “Black Lives Matter”, “Blue Lives Matter” racial divide that we are all living in post Ferguson.  It is a great song and here is the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mY0qOCUy27Q

But one of the many great lines summarizing our morass is this:

"And we're standing on the precipice
Of prejudice and fear
We trust science just as long
As it tells us what we want to hear
We want our truths all fair and balanced
As long as our notions lie within it
There's no sunlight in our ass'
And our heads are stuck up in it”-DBT

So we are are all just hearing things that confirm our own innate world view and we don't hear anything that disagrees with that. And we all come to the table loaded with opinion. The Internet that was supposed to bring us all together and level the playing field instead is dividing us more than ever in ways we never imagined.

There was nothing in any of my information sources (and I don't want to label them “media” because that has become a prejudicial term) but there was nothing in any of these sources, liberal or conservative that prepared me for the fact that we could elect a man like Donald Trump to be President of the greatest country on earth and perhaps the greatest power in history on that earth. It felt like and it still feels like we gave the car keys to a drunken kid.

I get that the country rejected Hilary (although she won the popular vote she lost the election under the same rules that she thought had gamed the system for her. She was and is, difficult to like, a career politician, weighing every word and evaluating every opportunity to see how it “played”. Nothing got said that was not field tested to make sure it fit one of the demographics needed to cobble together the votes she needed...and she blew it. And she deserved to lose. Don't ever let me be mistaken for a Hilary lover but she was the kind of politician I knew and frankly the kind of politician that our country has historically rewarded. She played the game. I was happy she lost. Just not to this man. What the election said is that there are 48% of voting Americans who reject that and demanded change and it was change at any cost.

I am amazed at how wrong the polls were. Even Five Thirty Eight, my favorite and the other numbers stats guys had it wrong and evidently they had it wrong because no one would admit to a pollster that they were voting for The Donald. How does it feel that we elected a guy that people were embarrassed to acknowledge that they would consider voting for? Not too good.

But ultimately we get the leadership that we deserve. My hope and prayer is that I am wrong and this man who I loathe everything about (and when people ask me what I am basing that on I am basing it on everything he has ever said or done and his entire predatory, self aggrandizing, proud bullying career). I do believe he will bring change. So we pray that God blesses our country and blesses or leaders and for me, I have to expose myself to more and different people. Outside my silo, outside of my work, outside of my church. The fact is that I know more urban African Americans that I do white, rural working poor. Shame on me.

So I am looking for a source for news and for facts. Facts are something we should all be able to agree upon. If you are aware of a source where I might glean these common accepted facts, please advise. If not then I think we all have right to be scared because if there is not place to get facts that we can all agree on then I believe we are all well and truly #$%&*%$$!
Help me out.
Please.

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Monday, January 2, 2017

The Egg: A Diner Review

It is a beautiful, limited menu.  I sampled the Carnitas Taco with the Covered Sweet Corn Bread with Fennel Pork Sausage Gravy.  As you know your diner reviewer does not normally favor the “fancy” breakfast but with The Yolkerie and now The Egg I might have to start speaking respectfully of these “chefs” and their “take” on breakfast.  I went on a Saturday morning and they don’t open until 9.  I went early and so took the time to head down to Soulard Market and do a little shopping and then swung back a little before 9 and they were open.

Here is the website: 

http://breakfastcamefirst.com
The place is located in the former location of...I cannot even remember the name and it might be the same owners but it was a taco and bbq place that didn’t particularly impress me.  It is one block southwest of Hodaks on Gravois so for most of us it needs to be a destination breakfast but I want to emphasize...strongly that it is worth it.
It was not too crowded and although it is small it is also wide open and there is a lot of table seating.  The Yolkerie kind of suffers in my mind for it’s lack of comfortable seating.  I took a table and they poured me water and got me some brewed tea and i ordered.  One of the minuses to places like this is that they attract a “foodie” crowd and, well, we hate those people.  It is fine to like good food but I had a guy at the bar and another guy (who apparently has weekend custody of his son) at a table and they conversed loudly for 30 minutes regarding the best this and that all over town.  Exhausting, but still not meal ruining.
My food came up after an amount of time I would call respectful and it was clear that this was extremely high quality at every level.  My taco had succulent carnitas as well as a perfect egg.  I also got some white toast and it was thick cut and fancy but did appear and taste fresh baked (kudos) and they served with real butter (double kudos). It was delicious, juicy and manageable either as a taco or you could knife and fork it and not miss anything.
So that was awesome but… the cornbread covered in sausage gravy was more like a metaphysical experience.  This gravy was stuffed with sausage and flavored by fennel and was dumped in a bowl over a square of some of the sweetest and best cornbread I have ever put in my mouth.  The savory sausage and gravy over that perfect corn bread was vaguely sexual.  Perhaps not even vaguely.  It was...awesome.  More than awesome.  I will go back tomorrow to start my year off right.

 I have sent other people there and have heard very good things about the Corn Bread Benedict and the breakfast Sopes.  I will get to those myself sooner or later but in the meantime I am calling this early as the best breakfast for 2017 and I am calling it on January 2, 2017.  Go yourself, and tell me that I am wrong.  I dare you.





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