April 26 – May 13, 2024

We left Lindy and Greg’s house in the late morning for the short drive to Solana Beach for a night’s stay at Kim and Marty’s condo, enabling us to head to the Belly Up later that night to see Bob Schneider and his band play.  Our friend Mark introduced us to Bob some years ago when we were all in Austin for a conference.  We’ve since seen him at a solo gig at the Venice West near our house with Mark and his partner Roberta and were excited for this show, as Mark, who plays the sax, would be joining the band for a couple of numbers. 

The Belly Up is a General Admission venue, meaning it has limited seating with the rest of the space being standing room only.  Ways to get a seat are to arrive early and stand in line, call ahead and ask for handicapped accommodation, or eat in the Tavern next door (the Venue’s restaurant) which will grant you early access to seats.  Even though we would be provided seats through Mark, we went ahead and made a reservation for dinner, as it would turn out an excellent choice on our part. 

Seated for dinner, we started with cocktails, the Lime in Da Coconut (1800 coconut infused tequila, Cointreau, fresh lime, coconut cream, and toasted coconut flake rim) for Joanna and the Whiskey River (Bulleit Rye, honey syrup, and squeeze of lemon) for me.  For a starter, we had the Hokey Pokey (sashimi grade ahi, avocado and green onion on crispy wontons served with dynamite sauce, seaweed salad, and pickled ginger) which was delicious. 

We then split a bowl of Red Pepper Bisque, the soup of the day, equally good before splitting our entrée, the Grilled Filet Mignon Medallions with cheddar mash, sauteed green beans with chili flakes and a brandy-peppercorn demi-glace, which was as good as it sounds.  When you include a glass of Justin Cabernet for me, our tab came to $133.36, reasonable enough for a venue in Southern California with good food and service. 

Finished with our meal, we entered the venue and found the seats Mark had saved for us, getting a chance to speak with him before the show, which opened with a band of younger musicians with a good rock and roll sound, and then Bob and his band of accomplished musicians came on and we enjoyed the set with the exception that our seats to the immediate right of the stage put us out of range of the PA system.  Thus one couldn’t easily make out the lyrics to the songs, and they are one of his musical strengths. 

His keyboard player was particularly animated, often stepping back from his instrument dancing around and then at the appropriate moment, leap high into the air, turn around and play the appropriate musical notes and sing his part of the lyric.  Late in the set Mark joined the horn section and played two songs, a nice capper for us in a memorable evening. 

The next morning we slept in a little and then after straightening out the condo, got gas at the Costco in Carlsbad and drove north to San Clemente to join Jan and Evan for breakfast at Zebra House Coffee.  Over a cup of coffee we split a sandwich, the Vermonter (sweet ham, sharp cheddar, Granny Smith apple, red onion, tomato, and mustard on sourdough) and a delightful pastry.  We lingered over our coffees catching up on our respective lives, and finally headed for home, arriving early in the afternoon for a quick overnighter before heading north to Oakland the next morning. 

Upon our arrival we made our way to Line 51 Brewing, a regular activity for us.  Gemma is past the age where she loves to climb onto the driver’s seat of the old bus that acts as the tap cooler for the bar, but with all the other kids present, there was no lack of things to hold her interest.  I had my usual hot dog and a couple of beers, and it did me well for the evening. 

The next day, Sunday was Mother’s Day and we all (Kim and Marty were there with us) drove up to Viansa Winery for their holiday brunch.  While there, we met James and Jessica and what would become a long afternoon of consumption got its start.  The buffet was good, everything you would expect and all of it done well along with pretty much unlimited sparkling wine.

Once done eating, we walked up a short hill to the top of the property, spread out our blankets, set up our chairs, the Sonoma foothills spread out below us, and killed the rest of the afternoon drinking wine and socializing.  James is a long time Bay Area friend of Jessica and Kris and he and Jessica were recently engaged.  We’ll get to attend their wedding next year in June and already looking forward to it.  All in all, it was a near perfect way to spend time, one that would close out our short road trip before my scheduled hip replacement on June 20^th, a procedure that could not come too soon for me. 

Links

The Belly Up: https://bellyup.com/

Bob Schneider: https://www.bobschneider.com/

Tavern: https://bellyup-tavern.com/

Zebra House Coffee: https://www.zebrahousecoffee.com/

Line 51: https://line51beer.com/

Viansa Winery: https://www.viansa.com/