Satchmo On the River with Mims: Meeting Mr. Weiser

It doesn't get any better than this.

On the final night of our incredible New England vacation, Boyfriend made dinner arrangements at a great place called Apricots -an Old World elegantly styled restaurant on the banks of a Connecticut river. The week had been full of firsts. Meeting his best friend (and his girlfriend) from Atlanta, having dinner with his mother the evening before, and tonight his father. You might not think there's anything particularly peculiar or extraordinary about that. It sounds like part of a normal relationship. But Mr. Boyfriend's Father (who set me straight right away about losing the "Mr.") is anything but normal. In fact, he told me, "Who wants NORMAL?!"
If you know a bit about my Prince, you shouldn't be surprised.
And I mean that in the kindest regard.

His zaniness is one of the things I love about him.
We laugh all the time. He cracks me up. I crack me up. I crack him up. He cracks himself up.
We're a silly mess.

But his dad...made me cry.

Let me explain.

Apricots is the perfect place for a quiet, romantic dinner for two. On this particular evening, Mimi Pencil Skirt enjoyed a memorable night with two wise guys. And lived to tell it.
Oh, the scandal.
Bud knew I wanted to hear his dad sing but the piano player that night did not take kindly to anyone upstaging his set; nevertheless, he was determined to have his dad do a number. A couple of subtly persuasive dips in the coffer and the microphone slid right past my plate of scrumptious crab cakes and into his father's hands. No one had to ask twice.
He loves to entertain.


Don't tell my Prince, but I've always had a secret desire to climb atop a baby grand in a slinky red evening gown, grab a microphone and sing "Can't Help Lovin' That Man 'Of Mine" or "Summertime." With a little more vino and a little less skirt that might have happened, but it wasn't about me.

It was about Louis Armstrong. And Boscoe.


I never would have guessed he is eighty-one. He looks anything but. Impeccably dressed, a classy gentleman with twinkling eyes and to my delight - a talented musician as well. He is intellectually as sharp and witty as his outgoing son. I was not surprised at the depth of connection between father and son; or the obvious love of humor and infectious laughter that flowed. He warned me to always be prepared for the punchline. Even though "I'm learning to dodge" with my guy, at times that night, I never saw it coming. (Being a musician myself I commented that I played piano and asked if he played. "Yes," he remarked, "but not piano.") That man is a character.

But I was not prepared to be moved to tears when Mr. Weiser - seated around the piano on my right and his handsome son on my left - sang Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World."
And as well as I've ever heard it performed by anyone.
 
He put every ounce of himself into every single phrase, reaching out to take my hand on the second verse "I see friends shaking hands, saying how do you do....." It was a thrill for me - and so special - that my first encounter with Bud's father was a musical experience. I was totally taken in by this charming man. And hard-pressed to recall when I'd witnessed a more honest rendition of one of the classics.
It was a moment. 

He predictably stole the show and did a couple more songs including "Just a Gigolo." I heard Bud crooning along in my ear. "Let's forget there's a plane leaving tomorrow," I told him. "We'll pretend we have all the time in the world tonight...... " And indeed, it did seem that every ounce of happiness that could be squeezed out of those last few hours, we managed to take. 
Two sad faces and four suitcases later, I was on a plane back to Banister.

We hugged goodbye in the wind and rain. Never one to miss an opportunity and remembering his dad's advice from the night before I said......" And sweetie? One more thing."
"Yes, Mims?"
"Next time...... don't sing."

He really needs to learn to dodge.

What A Wonderful World
I see trees of green, red roses too

I see them bloom, for me and you

And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.

I see skies of blue, and clouds of white

The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night

And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.

The colors of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky

Are also on the faces, of people going by

I see friends shaking hands, saying how do you do

They're really saying, I love you.
I hear babies cry, I watch them grow

They'll learn much more, than I'll never know

And I think to myself, what a wonderful world
Yes I think to myself, what a wonderful world.

Oh yeah...

Fish gotta swim and birds gotta fly. ........Oh yeah.