Happy Anniversary!

It was thirty-one years ago today that Connie and I moved in together. I'm still amazed I'm old enough to have lived with someone for over thirty wonderful years, but I did the math. To celebrate, we had dinner at a restaurant in Bend we hadn't tried before.

The decor was exquisite. The exterior walls were red brick and grey stone, with wooden beams and furniture. Lots of big candles. Big black and white photos on the walls. Cool music (I'll get back to that). I love a restaurant decorated in such a fashion that I'd want my home decorated the same way.

The fare was steak and seafood in creative configurations. Some restaurants serve standard fare and excel in their preparation, and some restaurants try to carve their own niche with unique dishes. For instance, Connie's Caesar salad came with a large parmesan cheese crisp propped up by a trio of large deep-fried polenta croutons. They were great. The plating was fancy, with drizzles and accents. bam! Connie said she felt like a judge on Iron Chef. The food was great.

The music was an eclectic selection of jazz, rock, blues, country and folk. The vocals were all set against a spare acoustic background. Think Simply Red or Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks. The music was a variety of genres, but the common thread was the tempo and acoustic arrangements that worked well together. I'm at a loss to explain how one would describe the theme in a few words, as most radio stations are wont to do. Radio stations attract their audience with high concept taglines. "Adult contemporary." "Light jazz." You get the picture. I wondered what station they were using, and thought maybe it was satellite radio. Inquisitive fellow that I am, I asked about it on the way out.

The source of their music? An iPod. This is the future of restaurant audio, boys and girls. Restaurants can now build their own playlists to suit their ambience. Some clubs allow patrons to connect their own iPods to the sound system to share their vision of what's hot. Or not. That's what I like to do when I travel. Most of the time, I play my own MP3s. No DJ drivel. No ads for boat shows. No suffering through music selections of the deaf and dumb. Here's to a cohesive playlist.


Posted by Dave    Blog Tag: Chatter