Domingo 8 Abr 2007, 20h:03
I had the pleasure of attending a dinner w/ supermutti and tenderbranson69 along with Karen, my Mom's friend at Suba in Harrisburg. It is a nicely decorated mediteranean style restaurant across from the capitol. I had never had the chance to eat tapas so I was intriqued. I sat down and within moments I was perusing the menu and enjoying the first sips of a Troeg's Hopback Amber ale.
We asked some questions since the menu was in spanish and decided on Crab in puff pastry + Piqualle(?), Tuna w/ currant, purple onion and cilatro, Green beans with apricot and soynuts, White asparagus with lemon aiolli and Scallops w/ prosciutto. We decided we may enjoy more variety, so we ordered Fierce potatoes (they lived up to their nam), Roast pork kebob w/ sweet sauce and rice flour, Skirt steak w/ yucatan potatoes oregano and vinegar and a few more including: Baby octopus in lemon and garlic butter.
The bathroom was just as nicely decorated with a handpainted sink and cherrywood toilet seat. My brother ordered a mojito and we shared a pair of fruit tarts - Mom's had a candle for her B-day and A chocolate desert with vanilla cream.
I walked with my brother while Karen and Mom took a short drive over to the Forum. The Forum is a beautiful concert hall where I had seen the Harrisburg Symphony when I was in elementary school. The ceiling is adorned with lights outlining the constellations. I once went to a planetarium like program there.
We found our seats and enjoyed the sounds of Alejandro Escovedo and a string quarted who had already commenced playing. The next song heard was Arizona, which I was familiar with. It was done very well and the strings added a nice feel not heard on the studio version. Alejandro was explaining the titles of his tunes frequently between songs. For example: ]Dear Head on The Wall's lyrics were explained as his wife ( a vegetarian) describing a bar with copius amounts of taxidermy on the walls during a phone call while they were getting to know each other. Next we heard Rosalie which was soft and moving, along with ]Wave for his last number.
Lucinda Williamsarrived onstage and began the first measures of Drunken Angel when she had to cough interrupting the tune. She got the band going again and finished out the tune following it up with Car Wheels on A Gravel Road. Lucinda took the chance to describe song meanings also when explaining Lake Charleswas about the town where she grew up. We enjoyed Fancy Funeral, Crescent City, I've Lost it, Out of Touch, Too Cool to be Forgotten[/trackC'Mon, I am Waiting on Suffering, A depression era song by Skip James, Hard Time Killing Floor Blues which made me think of my Grandmother and how she does thing that need to be done without hesitation. A tune by Betty LaVettewas performed next, which I considered a highlight - You took my joy when Alejandro came back to join Lucinda's band on guitar. Get Right with God was next and then Alejandro's string quartet returned to do Everything has changedand the encore: Come out West.
Thanks to tenderbranson69 for the invitation and supermutti remarked later she could see herself enjoying some of Lucinda's songs. Karen said she preferred Alejando.