Get ready for an action-packed edition of Wise Madness filled with classical music, food, good friends, and what you all care about the most, a major idiot story. Fasten your seatbelts it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

I’m finding it harder to stay disciplined and write every morning. As I enjoy writing and enjoy having written even more, that’s not a good thing. It comes down to getting back into good sleep habits. I’m making a start. This is far from ideal lede for this edition of Wise Madness but I’m looking at the big picture and trying to the blog better, not just what I write today. I know. I’m going to just move this down to the second paragraph and write a strong lede.

The weekend before last Harpeth Rising played the Hudson West Folk Festival. I found out that Maria, (Say her name and it’s almost like playing), the cellist organized a benefit on Sunday for the Semper Fi Fund, an organization dedicated to providing urgently needed resources and support for post 9/11 combat wounded, critically ill and catastrophically injured members of the U.S. Armed Forces and their families. I grew up an anti-war activist in the 60s; I am delighted that we’ve evolved enough that we can be against war but for our troops. My father was a WWII hero and that’s always how I felt. There’s a poem with many variations, and multiple claims of authorship, But they all come down to the essence of the last stanza.

It’s then we’ll hear St. Peter
tell us loudly with a yell,
“Take a front seat you soldier men,
you’ve done your hitch in Hell.”

Or

And when he goes to Heaven,
To St. Peter he will tell:
Another marine reporting, Sir;
I’ve served my time in hell.

Prefer the latter, which was which came later except for it specifying marines. But my Dad, the army vet, said that Marines had it rough. Even if a combat veteran is an SOB he or she will get my sympathy. It’s something the rest of us can not imagine.

But that’s not why I was there. I was there to hear great music by great musicians, one of which is also a great friend. That was easily worth a trip from the Bronx to Carroll Gardens. For once the total disruption of the subway on the weekends worked in my favorite. The church the event was held it was right near the F train. This weekend The D train was running on the F line in Brooklyn. I live on the D line in the Bronx. That meant a one train trip and it took only an hour and a quarter or so. There was a family sitting across from me on the subway, parents and young children, one in a stroller. The kid in the stroller was trying to name all the subway stops before we reached them. My kind of kid.

I wish I hadn’t misplaced my program from the show; Looking online I can find the performers but not the pieces played. In order of appearance the artists were

• Maria Di Meglio, cello
• Donald Gilbert, voice
• Trío de Reinas
  • Blanca Cecilia-Gonzalez, violin
  • Asuka Elias, clarinet
  • Kristin Samadi, piano

I asked a lot of Brooklyn friends to go with me but none could make it. I figured I’d see the show alone. When I walked in I saw Jordana, Maria’s Harpeth Rising bandmate sitting on a pew with her violin and luggage. She not only surprised me, she surprised Maria. That made things perfect. Now I could share my love of the show with a friend that I knew would appreciate it as much as me.

Maria started with the prelude for Bach’s Cello Suite #1. Even if you don’t think you know it, you know it. Here it is played by some guy named Duncan or top or some sort of toy.

I have a feeling it was used in an ad for either a sleep aid or anti-depression drug She followed that up with a jazz piece unlike anything I’ve heard her do, involving a technique I have never seen. Her left hand didn’t just hold down the strings the right hand plucked, they slapped the strings to provide a rhythm section. For the life of me I can’t remember the third.

Donald Gilbert is an opera singer. I was not familiar with the songs but he ended with one by Verdi. Jordana asked if I liked opera. That’s the weird thing, there are lovers of classical music that hate it. Not me of course. I cut my teeth listening to opera. There are few art forms that are capable of the same impact.

Who knows what Trío de Reinas means? You should, trio of Queens. They are from my natal borough and went to my alma mater Queens College, a real school. Maria, Donald, and Jordana all went to Indiana University. They shouldn’t let schools in cities without subways grant degrees. Good thing I know that Maria and Jordana love me. Right guys? Still love me? Whew. Not sure why anyone even likes me.

After the show there was a reception in the back. Jordana had to go but I got to hang with Mike and Louis, Maria’s father and brother. I even got to meet her five-month-old nephew, Mike. There was a raffle. I want the Harpeth Rising Album. I told them to choose again as I already head it. They pulled another ticket. It was also mine. This is an example of quantum entanglement. Harpeth Rising and I are forever linked. The third time somebody else won. My consolation price was taking home the leftover food.

I left there around five; my plans for the evening was to see the Anna/Kate Band at Pete’s Candy Story in Williamsburg at 8:30. That worked out perfectly as I have no been getting enough exercise or enough poutine. My plan was to walk to the Mile End Deli for the best Poutine in the City, and then on to Pete’s Candy Store. If I hadn’t screwed up it would have been a bit less than five miles but I did, I walked past Hoyt Ave, so it ended up being a bit more than five miles. That’s a good distance for me to start walking. Odd thing, I’ totally out of shape but I am always in shape to walk five miles. I have no idea how that works but I inherited it from my parents. I’m 61 and it shows no sign of fading.

I was rewarded with one of my favorite meals, genuine poutine. I could eat that every day. I think I could eat it for every meal, and Mile End is the best I’ve had. Then it was on to Pete’s

Getting to Mile End was easy. I missed Hoyt but I didn’t need Google Maps to guide me. Pete’s was a different matter. I’ve been there many times but always either on the subway or walking from Crown Heights. This was walking through some areas I wasn’t that familiar with. There were lots of turns I needed Google Maps. It failed me. When I was at Fort Greene Park, it all of a sudden thought I was in New Jersey. I had to turn location off and, on a few times, to get it right. My theory is this is because he fact that there aren’t enough GPS satellites in orbit. It slowed me a bit but I was able to find my way and once I got to Williamsburg I didn’t need the GPS.

My timing was impeccable, I made it at 8:20 for an 8:30 show. The only hitch was that I had been out all day and not used a bathroom. I have been to Pete’s so many times but somehow didn’t know where the bathrooms were. I found them. I got out, went to the stage and found a band there that wasn’t Anna/Kate. What? Huh? They announced a residency on Instagram. I had commented. They were there every Sunday. I checked Instagram again. I found the latest post. They were at Pete’s Candy store every Sunday, … in October! Noooo! I could have just stopped at Trader Joe’s after seeing Maria, then gone to Mile End, then been home at a reasonable hour. I skipped Trader Joe’s as I didn’t want to lug the food around when I walked 5 miles.

I was faced with a classic games theory decision. I had large sunk costs, I had spent so much time and so much walking getting to Pete’s. Do I now stay for the band that I didn’t know at all? The answer was no; I was tired, i was disappointed, and I wanted to get home and lick my idiot wounds. That’s what I did. But you should join me in October. I’ll be there on the 7th for sure. They are worth a trip from the Bronx. They are on my very short list of greatest musical discoveries of the year.

Today’s adventure was going to PT. My body held up from the walk well but my back was sore as I might not have been carrying groceries, I did carry the leftover food from the fundraiser. Noreal the PT found some sore spots at the base of both scapulae. Next time I’m going to get electric stimulation and heat on both shoulders.

I just remembered there was an adventure form earlier in the week I didn’t tell you about. It involves two common topics for me, commuting and the post office. When I went to the Met game on Thursday, I took two buses from City Island to Flushing. From there I took the subway one stop. The reader couldn’t read my MetroCard; it kept saying, “Swipe Again.” I went to the service booth. The clerk asked me to swipe my card. It turned out it was damaged. How did that happen? No idea. What do you do when you have a damaged monthly MetroCard. You might think she’d just give me a replacement. That would make sense but it would involve her having access to my MetroCard account so she’d know how much time I had left. Instead she gave me an envelope and a form to mail my card in. When they get it they will issue me a new card with the time left on it. She let me on the subway but that wouldn’t help me get home.

When I got to Citi Field I went to buy new card. At this very busy station where people need to buy cards fast after a game, they had only two machines. One had a line. I went to the other. It couldn’t read my debit card. I tried again. It still couldn’t read it. I tried it a few more times to no avail. I went to the other machine. I discovered that the reason there was a line was that it couldn’t read anyone’s card. There were two machines neither with a properly working MetroCard machine Can you believe that? I wanted to get a monthly so needed to be able to boy with my debit card. The clerks don’t take cards. I decided to try one more time before giving up and using my card with cash on it that I use for the PATH train. A miracle happened, it read my card.

When I got home I remembered to fill out the form and mail out my old card. This was exciting as I got to use the mail shoot in my building. It’s pretty much right out my apartment door. I never mail anything; I was afraid I’d never get the opportunity. Now we’ll see how long it takes for me to hear from them.

Good timing. My dinner is ready in three minutes. Let’s see if I can get this posted by then/