The music just below is one one of the recordings I made in Paris, this one of an accordion player on a pedestrian bridge. Hit play now so that the sounds of Paris will accompany you. OK. Can you hear the melancholy French jazz?
accordion player on the Ponte Nuef playing a melancholy Autumn Leaves
Maile and I originally planned to travel to Paris together for our 10th wedding anniversary. Two and a half years later we made it, by ourselves, for a full week. We rented a wonderful loft appartment on AirBnb in the Marais, from which we sauntered out an back every day.
I took about 1600 photos with my little Canon G7X and got it down to about 250 favorites shots that I’ve posted as an album on Flickr. See the slideshow at the end of this post. I’ll try to whittle it way down here and tell the story of our trip primarily in pictures and captions.
We arrived on Saturday morning and took the train into the city (with Charles Beaver, Anais’s envoy).Walking from the Metro to find our apartment we stopped at Le Petite Marcel for lunch.the beautiful blue door to the building where we stayedthe reflection of our front building in the shiny black van oppositeThe beautiful classic bicycle that was always locked outside our door
The Pompidou
We stayed two blocks from the Pompidou, passing it every day, eating across from it. Here are a few of the outside and then a few of my favorite works inside.
Pompidou plazaseven people sitting in front of the Pompidoumy reflection in the window of the line and houses oppositeMan Ray’s room of art and beautiful objectsshiny spinning metal shape with divets in a black and white lined boxGiacometti people
I particularly liked the Gerard Fromanger exhibit, his use of monochrome figures and infographics.
There was so much great street art everywhere, from centuries old sculpture to  to stickers, art sellers and graffiti, chalk artists and street musicians. Hardly a block went by that I didn’t notice a gorgeous door. I was always stopping to snap something and then running to catch up with Maile.
statues throughout the city had been secretly blindfolded in scarlet (an art stunt meant to draw attention to the ubiquitous – and easily overlooked – statuary)i love this chalk drawing, a face made out of squares, making eyes out of cracks in the wallwonderful street art everywhere. vandals with a nice sense of colorHUMANITY shakes hands with POWERTrust The Classicsturquoise pattern with clothing cutoutsa cup of shit (by Space Invader, I think
Now listen to the slow funky Flamenco sounds of a guitarist echoing in the Subway.
Here is the story of my  January, in pictures, songs and videos.  We started the new year by hosting a New Year’s Eve dinner.
Gray, playing guitar for us after dinner, by the fire
Maile, Anais and I spent a lazy Saturday afternoon with Townes having a picnic and wandering around Zilker park.
Anais and Maile, running w Townes at Zilker parkAnais and Townes, kissed by the sunAnais, making a heart with her armsMy tall shadow, waving atop the big rock in Zilker park
Anais snapped these shots of us at dinner one night.
Dad eating dinner, by AnaisAnais selfie with adoring dad
Our first week back at work I ran AV for the Black Student-Athlete Summit. Here is a UT-Austin panel of collogues.
Leonard Moore moderates a panel with Thais, Darren, Louis, Devin, and MJ
While I was helping run the BSA conference, my brother Pete was in town to attend the MLA conference and present with a panel of War Lit writers. It also happened to be free-week at many clubs downtown, so we  walked 6th St. and stopped in a few clubs on Red River.
First we hit the Mohawk and caught a band, then singer-songwriter Ben Ballinger.
Ben Ballinger blowing the harmonica at the Mohawk
Then we hit Cheer Up Charlie’s to meet up with Pete’s fellow panelists, Patrick and AB. We arrived to Girls In The Nose , a band of older women. They were great. A friend informed me that they are a lesbian band that’s been going for decades. And what a refreshing contrast to the cool, unintelligible band that was playing for hipsters next door.
I was smiling before I could see them because as we walked in they were singing about the “pedagogy of the pussy.” Then there was “More Madonna, less Jesus!” My favorite, that was in my head for days, went, “We juxtapose the pantyhose with FREE-DOM, FREE-DOM!”
Girls In The Nose at Cheer Up Charlie’sPeter, Lauren, AB, and Patrick at Cheer Up Charlie’sWar Lit Panel at the MLA Conference: AB, Patrick, Stacey, Peter, and RoyAnais with a pretzel monocle (downtown waiting for Peter’s panel)We had a beautiful Sunday Singalong sitting in the sun at Stacy ParkAnais got a bunch of awards!We biked the boardwalk and had a picnic with all the lovies.All the lovies at the picnicOPNTHDOr (some artwork of Anais’s I found going through a box of her art)A glimpse into Anais’s tiny worldAnais’s room, after she spent a long time cleaning and organizing
Gray and I jammed at his place. Check out the selections below.
Gray’s Delay Delay, which can be heard in our jams below
I photographed and video taped the UT MLK Day ceremony and march to the capitol. Jessica edited it together into the video below.
Girls scouts at the MLK statue on MLK Day
This little guy stole the show!
Marching to the capitol, we ran into Casey and Natalie, Georgia and Adele (lower right w Anais)A misty shot of the river on my morning commute along the boardwalkA full-moon over the sunset from the boardwalk on my commute homeA day at the Menil with Maile’s folks, Joe and EllynMaile and Ellyn, lounging on the grass outside the Menil, with my approaching shadowA curl of steam on my tea makes an “e”Looking up at the cedars in the front yard at Tomball
Maile took me on a great date to see Kool an the Gang at the ACL Live stage.
We FINALLY took Anais out on our kayak and it was a magical morning on GORGEOUS dayEpic bday jam at Gray’sGray and his blue Telecaster on a sea of color
And I’ll end with a song that I improvised one night in the studio. Channeling Mark’s frustrations with DC, I looped some vocal lines and spit this out:
We resumed our Singalong for the New Year in Little Stacy Park. I was thrilled to be playing a new, handmade guitar that I got for Christmas. Check out this beauty and listen to how nice it sounds as we sing, below.
UT sponsored a night at the Austin Trail of Lights again this year and I got to play on the community stage again, this time with coworkers Krysta and Thais backing me up. Had a great time playing the gig and a great time taking Anais around the trail, on the ferris wheel, and to spin under the Christmas tree of lights. View the whole set of photos on Flickr.
Maile, Anais and I drove West for Thanksgiving weekend. We stayed in Marathon and Balmorhea, visiting Big Bend, a rattlesnake museum and Sonora Caverns on the way home. View the whole set of photos on Flickr.
