There are a few exciting performances coming up of “Sasparilla.” This fall (not sure of the date), Tokyo Kosei Wind Symphony will do the piece in Tokyo. In December, Scott Stewart is doing it at the Midwest Clinic in Chicago, and Stuart Sims is doing the piece at California State University Stanislaus. (I’ll be attending both of those performances.) On November 18, Rick Clary is doing it with his (awesome) ensemble at Florida State. On February 13, James Kull, conductor-extraordinaire and frequent blog reader, does the piece at Carnegie Hall. Finally, a few days later, the mother of ’em all — Rick Clary is doing the piece with the Texas All-State Band. That makes two years in a row with Mackey performances at TMEA! Here’s hoping that tradition holds…

Things are going fine here in LA. Lots of cookouts. Last night, we made pork tenderloin, courtesy of a great recipe in my new favorite cook book, “The Cook’s Illustrated Guide to Grilling And Barbecue.” If you have a grill, the book is a must-have. As a side dish, AEJ prepared mashed potatoes — using the best mashed potato recipe we’ve ever found, Michael Romano’s mashed potatoes as prepared at Union Square Cafe in New York City. Wow. It was all rounded out by a glass of wine (or two) from our new neighborhood wine store, Silverlake Wine. Pretty much a perfect meal. As AEJ pointed out, it felt very “grown up.” By the time we were done, we realized we’d each eaten one pound of mashed potatoes (plus a half-stick of butter and 1/2 cup of half-and-half each, as directed by the recipe) and over a half-pound of pork tenderloin. So, we probably don’t ever need to eat again, but wow — tasty.

Seriously. Just the mashed potatoes alone are heavenly. We’ll be preparing them at Thanksgiving, in case anyone is interested…