SUMMERTIME/
DONE COME AND GONE

Paris Plage, August 2012.
Here are a few snapshots of the waning days of summer here in the City of Light. Even though many restaurants and shops were closed for the August holiday, you’ll see that we nevertheless managed to find wine, women and song throughout this town.

On August 9 Marti and I helped our friends Glaucia and Christian celebrate Glaucia’s aniversário at two-starred Michelin chef Sergi Arola’s new restaurant in the W hotel: Arola.

Because we wouldn’t be going on vacation until October’s Eurotrash Tour, Marti and I played Paris tourists by taking a three-hour cruise on the Canal Saint-Martin.

Glaucia and Marti. An August Christian Brenner Trio gig at the Café Laurent.

Jody and Emmett, our longtime NYC pals – we’ve known Jody since 1977, the summer Marti and I met – came to visit for a couple of weeks. Here they are at the Church of St Etienne du Mont, where Owen Wilson awaited the witching hour arrival of the Peugeot Type 184 Landaulet in Midnight In Paris.

Brasserie gals. Jody and Marti at Bofinger, Place de la Bastille.

Is it time to eat again? Emmett and Jody brought us to the James Henry-created Au Passage restaurant next to their apartment swap. Henry cooked at the highly-regarded resto Spring here in Paris, before developing this excellent small-plates eatery.

With Jody.

After dinner the four of us strolled through the Marais, stopping for nightcaps at Le Dôme du Marais.

Lounge lizards at Le Dôme du Marais, a former pawnbrokers’ auction house.

Place des Vosges, 2 a.m.

On several Monday nights I could be found at Le Piano Vache listening to phenomenal gypsy guitarist Rodolphe Raffalli and his trio. Early one morning after the gig Rodolphe, my friends Curtis and Terry and I wound up hanging and surreptiously burning a couple down in an all-night café at Place Saint-Michel.

In mid-September our friend video artist Gary Hill and his wife Magdalena came to Paris for a gallery exhibition.

Marti with Gary.

From Gary’s show: Cutting Corners Creates More Sides. A sense-disrupting installation.

Depth Charge. Love that LSD. This installation consisted of a filtered image of guitarist Bill Frisell floating above five monitors of Gary describing his altered-state experiences.

Gary’s bride Magda and I had a little project of our own: a cooking video for allrecipes.fr. Here Magda chooses blooms for the table with our neighborhood florist Farrell.

Ingredients establishing shot.

Prepping the fruit.

Cooking the magret de canard (duck breast).

Marti, Magda and I got to eat the results.

Here’s the video for Magret de canard aux fruits:

Marti’s birthday weekend kicked off with a Calexico concert at Le Trianon. She loves their Spaghetti Western border sound.

Later that night: we dropped by our pal Rob Armus’ gig a few blocks away at the Aux Noctambules Café. Rob works off the most eclectic repertoire in Paris – Cole Porter to Percy Mayfield to Henry Mancini. Every set of Rob’s is a musical road trip.

Marti with Rob’s girlfriend Emma.

September 18. Marti’s birthday dinner. In the ‘hood, at FontanaRosa. Always a delicious choice, especially in the company of a beautiful woman.

In Amsterdam with my veteran Grateful Dead tour bud Scott and his daughter Rachel. Wave that flag . . . My oh my.

Next up: Marti & Phil’s 2012 Eurotrash Tour.