A dear friend’s mother who was also a friend and patron and big fan of local food passed away suddenly and her memorial was this last weekend.  Even after the beautiful service, I felt quite low.  I went out to WSU and shot four videos.  Two of the moving sculpture by George Rickey near the student center, and two of the fountain in the courtyard of the Frank Lloyd Wright Corbin Education Building.

Mainly the videos are of quietness and place, with the majestic Kansas clouds in the background all the time.  Sublime and beautiful, but transitory and fleeting.

Hi All,
Seems like that last video was pretty popular, so for those of you who like a little bit more subdued music, here is Hot Club of Cowtown, from good old Austin “Keep Austin Weird” Texas.  They are a wonderful little three piece with violin, guitar, and bass.  They played right up until the final minute, with lightning in the background and some fairly good Kansas wind!  They have a nice little country twang with great instrumentation; in some ways it reminds me of a more fully developed Django Reihhardt, with several instruments:

Very nice people.  I said hi to the bassist and guitarist, and joked about playing in the lightning.

During the set they said the wind, the lightning, and being outside between tall buildings added up to the best sound they had had in 10 days on tour!

The last night of the festival was really cool; great bands, a little cooler weather, and lots of people hanging out in downtown.  Thanks LIV Fest!

 

Here is a little video of my favorite band playing live around Wichita and pretty much just in general.  They are just amazing.  Spirit of the Stairs:

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The audio drops off a couple times, I guess because the wall of sound got the best of the little iphone and it cut out recording?  Here is info on the rest of the festival:

http://livfest.com/

 

Hot Club of Cowtown plays tonight!  Here is the line-up:

http://livfest.com/?page_id=831

 

See you there!

Here is the latest and greatest application of our new logo.  The old logo sign from the 1980s was weathered and dated and we just had the sign company finish the re-fresh!  Take a look:

Photos were taken last night about dusk, one with the sun on the sign, and the other in the shadows with the sun on the opposite side, which lets the neon light come through a little bit brighter.

Here is a link to our designer’s site, that shows the progression of the West Douglas sign, and our thinking in doing this work:

http://chrisparks.me/#969375/NuWAY

I think the old time style of the neon on the bottom for “Crumbly Burgers” is a perfect compliment to the new logo!  Thanks for checking on our progress.  And ……. Thank you Chris Parks!  Looking good!

I was just at the National Restaurant Assoc Food Show in Chicago.  I stayed with an old friend; even though we planned decently well, I did not book my airline tickets with adequate advance notice, which made an excellent excuse to try and alternative mode of transport!  Travel by rail.  How old fashioned and fun.

 

Here are two little videos I shot from my phone as the train was en route to Chicago as we passed a HUGE freight train, and one as we were leaving Union Station in Chicago.

The dining car is interesting.  The observation car is really cool.  And the people are — different.

 

Over all I think it is definitely worth it to at least try train travel.  I liked it immensely.  I had a great time on the return trip at dinner.  I was seated at a table with a couple that had been married for 40 years and they were traveling from Nevada to Tonganoxie, KS.  They did not know where it was, for their daughter and son –in –law’s 25^th wedding anniversary.  Their kids had booked their travel from Winnemucca, Nevada to Chicago and then a change of trains, and to Lawrence where they would be picked up.  They were loving it.  They had never been on a train either.  Next to me was a woman who travelled frequently from Iowa to New Mexico on the train.  I thought the food was passable, but the conversation was enlightening.  The married woman collected glass bottles and vases, and was going to save the single serving wine bottle she got with their baked chicken (shared!) because she had never seen such a small bottle.  It was very touching.  We got to hear about her collection.

 

At the food show the theme this year was gelato.  Everyone was selling gelato machines, gelato recipes, gelato coolers, and gelato ideas.  Last year was coffee and espresso.  If the Italian theme continues I wonder what next year will be.

 

As NuWay does not do gelato, I did not see much of interest.  I was looking for coffee again.  And décor for the new store at 21^st St and Amidon.  There are plenty of great local places to have gelato in Wichita.  I will touch on that in a later post.  As well as great local coffee.  For now, some pictures and video from the train.