Usually this space would share an experience that included attending a Broadway show; not this year. Absent Broadway, about which my friend Vincent Russo’s son, Robert, writes a nice newsletter, yesterday’s celebration found a different way to inject culture and visual experience; and instead of the theatre musical, dinner included a live musical performance. Interestingly, as I shared a year ago in this space, Shelly and I discussed doing something different this year. Who knew how different it would in fact be.

This year’s celebration for Shelly involved the Whitney Museum followed by the High Line through Hudson Yards. This year we dined and the new City Winery at Pier 57. As Thursday’s blogger shared his own joy at listening to some live music the week before last, this dinner included live music. Dinner and a concert. A perfect way to conclude the special evening.

When I made the reservation, nothing indicated any concert as part of the deal. I later learned of the bonus but still no news about the prospective performer. We entered to sound of sax player Freddy DeBoe (see pic above at left) backed by a keyboardist and drummer.

Since COVID wrecked my summer show plans, my expectations for attending live music shows pretty much fell by the wayside. Then, last month, I got to attend an outdoor show by my friend Curt Arnel’s band (he’s the drummer), Off the Record. The only other live event involved a Richie Furay live stream as August ended. I look forward to “attending” (virtually) a new “edition” of “Live from the Back Porch” at the end of this month.

Back to the City Winery, a big improvement over the original site with a nice view (see pic below) of the Hudson River and Hoboken across the waterway.

The venue and staff follow all rules strictly. Good food and nice selection of wines.

Shelly already expressed interest in returning. Anyone in?

And keeping with the live music theme, I listened to live show by Kingfish and the New Riders of the Purple Sage -- both sharing Dave Torbert on bass and vocals --- while drafting this blog.