Business/Pleasure to End 2009

I have an assignment to cover hearings in Easton on New Year's Eve. Joreen and I have turned it into a mini-vacation. This evening we are in Bethlehem, having enjoyed a great meal at the Bethlehem Brew Works. Joreen had bratwurst, purple cabbage and German potato salad. She was kind of moaning at the table, but it was crowded so no one seemed to mind. I had the Thai potstickers and they were outstanding. Add in several different Belgians, and you've got a very nice evening out.

Tomorrow I'll go do the hearing, then come back to watch the Peep drop. If you're stuck in the burg and looking for fun, I can recommend Leghorn at the Winners Circle or Havana Blue at Suba. Both of them will do you fine.

Looking ahead, January 15th will be Just Friends' first gig of 2o1o at the Verhovay. Mark your calendars and make an effort. I promise we're going to show you how it's done. This year will be the year of the Kelly Brothers, with all four of us in working bands: Bill and Dave in Laredo, Steve in Element 22, and your humble blogger in Just Friends. This is gonna be great! Happy New Year to you all.

Christmas Tree, Already.

Compared to past years, we're ahead of schedule on the tree. For the past several years we've gone to the Colonial Park Fire Company tree sale, and I can see why people don't wait until the last minute. It was pretty easy to find a fine little tree. We wanted a smaller one this year, and it's nice and straight and fresh. We even remembered the tree bag.

After 30-plus years, the ornaments become their own narrative, reminders of times, vacations, people who gave the decorations as gifts, a time-travel experience of sorts -- the seashell angel from last year's trip to Cape Cod, the cowboy from San Antonio, the Richard Nixon elf from my very first Christmas on my own that I bought at Murphy's downtown, along with the two we call "Overture to a Holiday in Berlin." The ornaments fight for placement on the little tree like minor league ballplayers trying to make the big time. Joreen announced just now the tree is done. She's right.

It's Beginning to Smell A Little Like Christmas

I'm off to a later start than usual, but the first batch is done. I began this post earlier this evening, then got distracted and had to go play at the Hershey Country Club. It was a blast. But meanwhile, here's a look at the cookie making gear.



You notice the recipe propped up behind the irons. It's got a date of 12/90, which means I've been baking these fershlugginer things for 20 years now. And the worst part is, I never get tired of them. Especially with espresso. Oh, baby.

I started to get into the Christmas spirit tonight, listening to the Bruce Cockburn Christmas album. It's one of my all-time favorites. I bought it as a cutout years ago and don't know if it's still available. If you're interested, let me know and I can let you, uh, borrow it. Yeah, that's it.

Getting Ready to Begin to Get Ready

Cleared the decks in the pizzelle production corner of the kitchen. Bought mass quantities of sugar, flour, eggs and butter. Got out the Christmas CDs. The first one this year, breaking with tradition, wasn't the Joe Pass disc I got for cheap at a drug store years ago and which always kicks off the season for me. I'm listening to a disc given to me by Cheryl Haviland, who passed away this year. It's a mystery disc, from a catalogue company called Figi's. The musicians aren't credited. It's pure smooth jazz, not my usual thing, but the arrangements are unique and beautiful and the playing is first rate.

For those of you who are family and follow this blog, I'd like to have you over the day after Christmas, Saturday, in the afternoon. I'll be calling you about it, but this is just a heads-up.

Butter's cooled down. Time to start mixing dough. Tomorrow the house will smell like Christmas.

What Aren't You Doing New Year's Eve?

Maybe you've noticed that there hasn't been a lot of marketing going on here for Just Friends New Year's Eve gig. There's a reason for that: we don't have one. Despite our best efforts, the perfect storm of a stinky economy and further fallout from the turmoil the band went through this summer has boiled down to our first night off on 12/31 since 1997. We're bummed, but unbowed. Wait till next year.

To all our fans, especially those who've called in the last few days asking where we were playing, we'd like to say we appreciate your interest. Keep next year open. We won't let this happen again. In the meantime, there's this really cool band called Leghorn playing at the Winner's Circle. Maybe we'll see you there.