The reason I’m getting a late start blogging is something I need to blog about. I never met a meta that I didn’t like. But first music. Musical blogs are my default mode. Maybe that’s the only reason I go out to hear live music so often. The flaw in that theory is that I did that long before I blogged. It’s like blaming school shootings on video games even though the Japanese play more video games and have fewer shootings in a year than the US has in a day.
Yesterday I traveled all the way to the Owl Music Parlor in Prospect Lefferts Gardens. That’s Brooklyn not that far from where I used to live. It takes me about two hours; what can make that worthwhile? A rare New York appearance by Her Crooked Heart, the artist formerly known as Rachel Ries. The person is still known as Rachel Ries. I don’t say, “Hi Crooked!” when I see her. I’m pretty sure nobody does that. If you want to be the first the field is wide open.
My plan was to leave early enough to get poutine at the Mile End Deli. While I’m never late for appointments I often spin my wheels and start late when I want to leave time for myself to do something; that’s what happened. I left so late that all I had time for was to stop for fast food. I went to the Burger King by the Pelham Bay Park subway station, not the best food but they have very cheap specials, they’re fast, and I could eat on the train. Everything was right but the fast. I was there 20 minutes. They could not get anyone’s order right. I ordered a special, two bacon cheeseburgers, small fries, and a small coke for some ridiculously low price like $3.75. It too a long time to make my order as they worked out a problem with a previous customer. Then I waited a long time for my food. Then the guy came out from the back and told me they had no bacon. I give him credit as to make up for it he gave me an extra patty on each burger. He brought them out. There were no fries. I said something. He just then put the fries on. He said, “you’ll have fresh fries, we’re putting them up now.” I said, “You should have done that when I ordered. I had to wait for the fries to cook. Then they asked, “what size fries.” My order was long gone from their system. I said, “I ordered a small, but you should give me a large for making me wait. The guy that gave me the extra patties, who I figured was the manager, said, “give him a large. Then I had to ask my drink. The woman said, “What size?” I just said, “A medium.” I needed to be compensated for my time.
The subway ride went easily, a rarity for a weekend. I got off the train and Sterling St. I knew it was one avenue over then a few blocks south, I just didn’t know which direction. Google Maps decided it wasn’t going to work. I asked someone, “what direction is Rogers?” He pointed. I went that way. It was further than I thought. I asked somebody else. She pointed in the same direction. When I hit President Street I knew I went the wrong direction, that’s north. I had screwed up, it’s Rogers Avenue, not Roger’s street. It was parallel to Nostrand, not a cross street. When I got back to Sterling I was pretty sure I knew how to go. I asked a young man, where Rogers was. He didn’t hesitate, he went the direction I thought. I walked right past Jean and Liam’s house. I should have remembered that. I knew it was near their house. Google Maps finally loaded after I didn’t need it any more. I wasted so much time between BK and getting lost that I walked into the Owl just as they announced that the music was about to start. Katherine had said she was planning on going but I never heard back from her. When I got into the listening music I saw her with Gidge. She had gotten back to me, but it was when I was on the subway. I joined them. They were there on my recommendation.
Rachel has been touring with Siri Undlin, who performs as Humbird. So, you get it, Rachel performs as Her Crooked Heart and Siri as Humbird. Before you ask, Siri is the Norwegian version of Sarah. I would never guess that Undlin is a Norwegian name, but it is. I continue to meet more Norwegian descent than Swedish. All the other last names are clearly Scandinavian, Knudson, Andreassen, Gundersen, and Gundersdorf. I bet I’m forgetting people. I’m proud of myself for being able to spell them all. None of that is at all relevant but name origins are one of my interests. They all mean “son of” what comes before the son or sen except for the last which means Gunder’s Church.
Siri looks and sings like someone that central casting would bring in to play a midwestern girl in the church choir from the turn of the last century. She started with an a Capella song that sounds like it would fit in with Anna & Elizabeth’s ultra-trad repertoire of songs they discovered in archives but with words that mention a punk band. You know how much I love that sort of cognitive dissonance. She surprisingly played an electric guitar that I found surprising when she did her next song; she played it like an acoustic. I wondered why she would do that; then she played the third song. It had loops and effects, and I would have assumed there was a keyboard playing if I wasn’t looking straight at her. Now I knew why she played the electric. She could have done that second song on an acoustic but why switch instruments if you don’t have to? I’m listening to her on Amazon Music now. There’s a lot of production, not what I expected, but he clear voice and lyrics shine though. It blends very nicely with the Mr. Softee theme, a truck just drove by playing it.
My Crooked Heart counts as one of my bands and Rachel as one of my people. She doesn’t play here often but I don’t miss her when she does. I first heard of her when she did an album of country music with Anaïs Mitchell. I don’t remember the first time I saw her live, she instantly became an old favorite.
I was surprised that I didn’t know anyone in the audience other than the people I invited. If I’m at the owl I expect to know people. Usually I’ll run into Jean, Liam, Alec, and with Rachel playing, Anaïs. I didn’t see anyone until the intermission when I saw that Alec was there. The first time I saw Alec he was with his band Cuddle Magic opening for Anaïs and then being most of her band. Most, because Rachel played keyboards. It’s a tiny world.
The best praise I can give My Crooked Heart is that on the surface she fits the mold of a type of performer I usually complain about, yet I don’t just like her, I love her. She sings sad songs with slow tempos backed with simple guitar or piano parts. It’s what people that can’t write or play well do, that’s why I have negative feelings about it. The thing that must be remembered is that even though it’s what people who can’t sing or write perform, they aren’t the only ones that perform in the niche. Rachel is an extraordinary songwriter. Her lyrics are both complex and straight from the heart. Her singing and playing perfectly complement the lyrics. She breaks your heart while making you think. She can sing a beautiful song about a sewage treatment plant. She also has a back story. Her parents were African Missionaries who were on a break in the US when she was born. That’s fortunate as she won’t have to face a constitutional challenge when she’s elected president. While still a child she moved back from Tanzania to rural South Dakota. Is there any other kind of South Dakota? She moved from there to Brooklyn which has three times the population of the entire state. Now she lives in a tiny house she built in her brother’s yard in Minneapolis. She’d be a great interview even if her music was never mentioned.
I’m picking this up the next day as I had to run. It would be great if I remembered what I wanted to write. I can assure you that it was wonderful things about Rachel, Her Crooked Heart, and her Brilliant Brain.
After the show I introduced Katherine and Gidge to Rachel and I did my annual exhortation to her to go to NERFA. I just came up with the simple reason I love Her Crooked Heart; she has something to say and says it very well. It sounds simple, but I’ve found that most songwriters don’t have something to say, that’s the problem. I don’t get distracted when Rachel sings, the words hold my attention; they do more than rhyme.
After the show Katherine walked to the Q while I showed Gidge the way to the 5. We got lucky, the 5 doesn’t run frequently but we had a short wait and then a nice talk till he got off to switch to the PATH.
When I came home I went upstairs, turned on the light, and nothing happened. I figured the bulb blew. That seemed odd as it’s a compact fluorescent and I think that I’ve changed that in the last two years. I shrugged and went to the bathroom. The bathroom light was out too. I used my phones flashlight to navigate the bathroom and then went in search of the circuit breakers. First, I went to get a flashlight from my room. I checked, my room had electricity. That wasn’t that surprising as I sleep in an attic room. I didn’t have to sleep there, I chose that room. It’s a cozy hobbit hole.
Nothing had tripped on the upstairs circuit box, but a major breaker had on the one downstairs. I unplugged the AC, I figured that was the most likely culprit and tried again. No luck, the circuit breaker wouldn’t stay on. It was late, I decided that I’d handle it in the morning.
In the morning I unplugged everything on the section of the top floor that was out. The circuit breaker still wouldn’t stay on. Ugh. We called an electrician, but he said he couldn’t come till Monday. I’m me so I jury rigged something. My room had electricity and one working outlet. I ran a very long extension cord to the outlet splitter the Wi-Fi and Verizon Box were plugged into . Then I ran another extension cord to the sun room where I spend my time, so I could plug in my lamp, computer, and phone charger. That worked fine except the bathroom was still without light.
All that took some time, so I started blogging late. That’s why I didn’t update yesterday. That and the fact that I wrote so much. Now it’s even more. This is going to be a magnum opus.
I was still writing when I had to leave to meet Dan for dinner. We had plans later at Bowery Electric and needed a place to eat in the East Village. Dan is a vegan, I’m a meatan; it’s not easy to find a place we both like. I googled, “vegan friendly East Village.” The key is the word “friendly” that way I can find a place I can eat too. The best bet looked like The Westville on Ave A and 11th Street. I looked at the menu and it sounded almost perfect. The almost is necessary as I can’t fully accept a restaurant called “Westville” in the East Village. It should clearly be Eastville. Both the food and service were excellent; it is now our official place to eat when we are in the neighborhood. What make it even better is it’s only few blocks from Davey’s Ice Cream and was right on our way to Bowery Electric. It is the one place that can compete with Cones. It’s not better but it’s not worse. It’s different enough that they can’t be directly compared. They are both superior to every other ice cream I’ve eaten anywhere. I had strong coffee and chocolate chocolate on a waffle cone. Davey’s doesn’t take half measures. The strong coffee is strong. The chocolate chocolate is well, chocolatey. I’ve now visited my three favorite ice creams in the city, Cones, Davey’s, and Ample Hills. Oddfellow was up there but they have abandoned all traditional flavors, now it’s all foo foo. I don’t do foo foo ice cream. I have strong opinions, don’t try and shake me on this.
Then we went to see the Traveling Ones at Bowery Electric. What I wrote in my calendar was “The Traveling Ones, not Wilburys.” I had never seen them, Dan had met them at FAI (Folk Alliance International).They were crashing with him.
We got there right on time, but the music had already started. I was confused as it was one musician and I thought the Traveling Ones were a band. Certainly, sounds like a plural. I was also confused as I was pretty sure that Dan would know that I wouldn’t like performer. I was surprised he even went to FAI. Turns out that he was not the Traveling Ones but an unannounced opening act. Then came another band, a quartet with three singers. They sounded just like Crosby Stills and Nash. That’s not easy, it shows great skill, but CSN was defined by their sound so anyone that sounds like them comes off sounding derivative.
The Traveling ones were the kind of band I was expecting, a male/female duo based in Nashville. I would have liked to talk more to Emily and Justin; I bet they know many of my friends. They play guitar, harmonize, sing ballads, and cover John Prine. That’s what you expect to see at FAI.
I couldn’t stay and talk to them after the show as Google Maps showed that I needed to leave immediately if I wanted to make the 10:50 bus back to City Island. I tried to say goodbye, but they were busy talking to the previous band about business and didn’t want to interrupt. I told Dan to give them my regrets that I couldn’t stay.
That little wait I made attempting to talk to them proved a problem. I just missed the 6 train. The next didn’t come for 10 minutes. I just missed the bus to City Island when I got to Pelham Bay Park. I would have made it the train didn’t have to wait for the previous train to pull out and leave mine a place to go. That happens most of the time in the evenings.
This morning the electrician came. I explained what happened and discovered that I’m an idiot. He reset the circuit breaker with no trouble. The big breakers are on when they are pulled to the left. When it pops it goes to the middle. You reset every circuit breaker I ever used by flipping them back to the on position, left or right. I’ve been doing this since I was a little kid. Before that I changed fuses as a very little kid, under my father’s supervision. What I hadn’t done if flip a breaker like this one. You have to flip it to the right to reset it and then to the left to turn it back on. It doesn’t say that anywhere. Then we had to figure out what tripped it. I figured it was the air conditioner. Even though it didn’t work to cool I kept it on to circulate air. That helps keep it cooler. It was on when I went out. As soon as I plugged it in the breaker opened. I didn’t even have to turn the AC on.
I felt so stupid, I could have done all that myself. How did I not think of flipping the switch to the right? I’m not going to beat myself up, but this is a time where I’m not an idiot, this time I was disappointed in myself. I think of myself as being handy. I’m on meds and years of therapy so I’m not going to dwell on it. Everybody makes mistakes, even me.
Now you are all caught up; it only took 2819 words. That’s often enough for three editions of Wise Madness. I’m counting on you having the ability to concentrate one thing long enough to finish this. I’ve written over 1400 words today yet I’m finishing early. That’s good. Maybe I’ll make grits ala Horvendile for breakfast.
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Wise Madness 