Text 34939, 113 rader
Skriven 2016-01-09 04:29:58 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: tastes 782
==================
And a return to Common Ground, Arlington. So I had this concert
last night with this group I've played with since around 1980;
being retired, I mostly play only for long-standing clients, so
it's always old home week, and generally I like this very much.
Today in the orchestra were a few people I'd gone on tour with
decades ago, including one girl whom I liked a lot - she was
gorgeous and agreeable when I met her, when she was 23 and I
in my early-to-mid-thirties, only she was a newlywed (to one
of her teachers). More distressing was one ringer in the back,
also attractive and agreeable when I'd met her even earlier -
close on 35 years ago; but we came to a conflict of sorts with
this very group, the Armenians of whom I have periodically
referred to over the years, soon after. To wit. We had this
gig in New York, and she was concertmaster, and I was in the
wayback of the first violins; but she had overscheduled and had
to miss part of the warmup and sound check in New York, having 
to drive from her previous gig in central Mass. or somewhere.
So the conductor appointed me concertmaster pro tem, it being
easier to fetch someone from the wayback than to do this everyone
move up one shuffle, which would have been disruptive. So I
presided over the warmup, and when this girl showed up a bit
late, and I got up to return to my regular place, the conductor
would have nothing of it, and told me to stay put, essentially
demoting this girl; so naturally after the concert was over
she quit apparently forever, and we have sort of tried to steer
clear of each other ever since, some 30 years ago, during which
time with this group I have sat in that chair (getting paid
a hundred bucks more than everyone else, did I leave that part
out) ever since with the exception of a couple of concerts,
mainly when I was in Alaska or recuperating from an operation.

So while we were getting settled for the concert, whom did I
espy but this other girl. Bear in mind that she was taking 
the place of someone indisposed, and hadn't rehearsed with us,
and I am not the orchestra manager so not responsible for 
hiring (both the orchestra manager and the chorus master are
Armenian guys named Sarkis, one tall and swarthy, one short
and swarthy). So I was kind of blindsided, and I couldn't
tell if she was blindsided, but we put on a brave face
and greeted each other and chatted amiably about the decade
or more since we'd last encountered each other.

The concert went pretty well.

Afterward they have this reception, but being a semi-prominent
part of the group I had to endure the well-wishers and would-be
music critics, so by the time I got to it, all the baklavas
and other good stuff were gone, with only cheese and some stale
supermarket madeleines left. I made a cursory invitation to my 
friends in the orchestra to join me for drinks but was just as 
happy that nobody took me up on the offer, so my friend Link 
(met before in these stories) and I went to Common Ground for 
snacks and beer, mostly the latter as I was still in shock and 
needed something to settle down. Oh, I forgot to add I was sort 
of in love with this girl all those decades ago before the 
bizarre occurrence.

Back to the bar. The place was really hopping. There was one 
table left in the  bar area, this being after 9 on a Sunday night.

A very competent but LOUD blues band in the restaurant area,
which in the semi-dark looked full to me.

They offer two ciders:

the Downeast that I described earlier, amabile (Italian for
"too sweet") and with good apple scents, and

Cider Creek Saison, which was considerably drier (good) and
with a Belgianish funky taste (not so good). After having one of
these, we returned to the Downeast, which is 50c cheaper.

Ginger Libation from the brewery of the same name - this
deserves to have the menu description quoted:
  Considered to be vegan friendly. We produce our 
  Ginger Libation old-school style. We start with
  fresh organic ginger root. Lots of it. We then
  add organic Costa Rican pineapple juice, organic
  lemon and lime juice and organic cane sugar from
  the Manduvira Cooperative in Paraguay. This
  delicious spicy mixture is then ready to ferment.
  We pitch a gluten-free yeast into the fermenter
  and let the magic happen. When the fermentation
  is complete we have our Ginger Libation. Unfiltered,
  unpasteurized, and unmatched.

It was quite good, actually, a sort of citrusy ginger 
ale with 9% alcohol, a surprising hit.

Uinta Bristlecone English brown ale - a standard brown
ale with some off flavors, low alcohol; pretty much
what you'd expect from a beer brewed in Utah.

We were a bit peckish yet, as the post-concert
reception had been a bit disappointing, so we got

crispy calamari - good product expertly fried and
tossed with jalapeno rings; delicious and there were
lots and lots of tentacles; and

BBQ brisket over cornbread, a specialty of the joint.
This consisted of five 1-oz planks of well-trimmed
sort of uninteresting smoked meat, rather resilient,
a big chunk of excellent not very sweet cornbread,
and a scoop of vinegar-and-mayo slaw.

These were from the appetizer menu but were big
enough for main courses, a bargain at $10 per. The
beers more than made up for this, and the bill came 
to a whopping $60, which was tolerable since I got a
$50 raise since the last time I played this concert.
--- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5
 * Origin: Check Out Doc's QWK Mail  Via Web BBS > DocsPlace.org  (1:123/140)