Music: Traces of You

I've been a fan of the indie pop band Ivy since the early days of this blog, but after the release of their 2011 album All Hours, they stopped releasing music. I later learned this was due to internal strife between all the members, including the closure of Andy Chase and Adam Schlesinger's studio, and the marital separation of Chase and Dominique Durand. When Schlesinger tragically died from COVID-19 in the early days of the pandemic, it seemed like Ivy was gone for good.

As it turns out, though, Chase, Durand, and longtime touring bandmember Bruce Driscoll found enough demos, sketches, and riffs from the band's archives to create an entirely new album, with bits and contributions from Schlesinger on every track.  Created with the blessing of Schlesinger's family and estate, the new album is called Traces of You.

Most of the tracks, are, understandably, tinged with melancholy (in addition to Schlesinger, producer Mark Lipsitz, who discovered Ivy, died a few months before the album's release).  But melancholy has long been Ivy's primary stock in trade, and sad tracks like "Fragile People" fit right in with Ivy's oeuvre:

"Traces of You," the title track, is perhaps the most depressing, with lyrics that feel like they are directly about Schlesinger: All the innocent days when we all used to play / It feels strange when they all start to fade / I wish I could have known it would all go away / Still I wouldn't know what to say.  

But it's not all sad - since the material Ivy used spanned their entire career, there are some upbeat tracks that would be at home in their bubbly turn-of-the-millennium album Apartment Life, like the song "Mystery Girl":

Traces of You is an album I never thought I'd get, and a fitting tribute to a great songwriter. It's available now via digital, with physical copies on sale at Bar/None Records.

Food: Unique Dining Experiences for Labor Day

This Labor Day weekend, me and the guys took a little road trip around central and north Florida.  We found some interesting restaurants along the way:

Cafe One

Cafe One is a concept that I have not seen before - a full-on breakfast and lunch diner crossed with a pinball arcade. Now, I've seen plenty of "barcades" (bars combined with arcades), but never one that offered a full menu, kitchen, and table service like Cafe One, with omelettes, pancakes, burritos, burgers, and the like.  The food is decent, and better than the average barcade, but not spectacular.

Where Cafe One really shines are the pinball machines - around 20 or so of the latest Stern games, including glossy new licensed machines like Godzilla and John Wick. They're a bit expensive (a buck a play), but if you take pinball seriously, there's no substitute. Just wipe the biscuits and gravy off your hands before you play...

2/4 stars

Hollerbach's

Hollerbach's is a family-owned German restaurant in Historic Downtown Sanford that serves up traditional fare - bratwurst, pretzels, schnitzel - with gallons and gallons of good German beer (including multiple non-alcoholic varieties). Seating is on beer hall style tables, with live entertainment on weekends.  Suffice it to say, this is not a place to have a quiet romantic dinner:

When we got to the restaurant, there was a half hour wait, so we took the time to check out the other Hollerbach's properties nearby, including their "German Market" grocery store and their "Outfitters" clothing shop (hello, Lederhosen). When we got in we were treated to a warm, party-like atmosphere, platefuls of hearty food, and some of the best Black Forest cake and apple strudel for dessert.

For its commendable ability to instill Gemütlichkeit in its patrons, Hollerbach's receives Shangrila Towers's highest rating:

4/4 stars