I’m sleepy, have a cold, and I’m cold. I feel like crawling back into bed and getting under the covers. Why am I not doing that? I did write yesterday, so I owe you a blog. My Gentle Readers are more important than my creature comforts. I’m a saint, the patron saint of bloggers. Once the Nobel committee straightens things out with the corruption in the Literature Prize they can start work on deciding if I’m going to win the Peace or Literature prize. I’m sure they will be glad to hear your opinion.
Now to recap my Nobel-worthy life.
On Thursday I headed over to Jane’s to help her prepare her apartment for sale. I have a key and let myself in. When I walked in she to her friend Marilyn, who was visiting, “It must be a rapist.” Then later when I said something totally innocuous she kicked me! She claims she meant to come up short of contact. See Trump is right! It’s a hard time to be a man. We can’t walk into an apartment without being called a rapist! We get physically abused with no recourse.
The reason they needed my help was to get some notebooks down from the high shelves of a floor to ceiling bookcase with built in ladder. Jane said, “We needed a male for that.” All I said to elicit the kick was, “You mean somebody intelligent.” Snowflakes!
I hate that I need to say it but while all the facts I just gave are true, I said what I said with irony. The kick was real and connected! The connecting was unintentional. I should point out that they didn’t need someone male, they needed someone taller than they were. I have many female friends what could have done it.
The WFUV member drive started yesterday. My shift starts at 6 AM but as I supervise I want to be there early, especially the first day. I need to be brought up to speed on what’s new or special. I love living within walking distance. I didn’t have to wake up until 5 AM and I walk to the station. It’s a 25-minute walk but as fast as any public transit option. I left later than I wanted to because I forgot to shower the night before. I still got there 10 minutes early, the same time as Linda the admin. As is typical in most offices, nothing can get done until the admin arrives.
We had new phones I had to learn to use, that was easy. The computer had some glitches we had to work around. That’s often happens the first day. Jim, the other supervisor arrived early, a little before eight. Things were still being worked out but it helped having two of us working on the issues.
I got some quality time with Kathleen, the new Membership Director. She was there before me and Linda. That was helpful as some of the computer glitches required her access to fix.
The most disturbing thing all day was when Gail came in and said to Jim and me, “I just saw one of you two; Which was it?” There are few ignominies comparable to being confused with Jim; being compared to Brian comes to mind. While talking to her we figured out that it was both of us; she was talking about the Hudson West Folk Festival. It could be worse, she could have confounded me with Brian. This is what guys do; we nail each other to the wall. It’s how we show our love.
I was scheduled to work to only 1:00 because I have therapy on Fridays. I got a message from my therapist early in the morning that she was ill and had to cancel. I could have stayed till 6:00 but I didn’t sleep well the night before and my tummy wasn’t quite happy, so I decided to go home and rest before going out at night.
I usually avoid going out during drives as I get so little sleep but I don’t go in on Saturdays and this was something I didn’t want to miss; Hanneke Cassel with Tristan Clarridge and Christopher Lewis at Jenkins House Concerts. I had never heard of Hanneke or Christopher. I went for two reasons; Tristan was the cellist in Crooked Still, after Rushad left, and I haven’t seen him since their last performance in New York State, four years ago. I have seen everyone else in the band multiple times since then. First time I saw Tristan with the band he and Brittany were not old enough to drink. The other reason is that I hadn’t been at the Jenkins’ since January, when I saw Moira Smiley. She is one of my top discoveries of the year. Sandy and Rich Jenkins have a beautiful home, are two of the nicest and most interesting people, and at the top tier of music curators. They don’t put on that many shows a year but each one is likely to be a highlight.
To make it extra appropriate that I go, their middle child is Steph Jenkins who I saw perform last week in a concert I raved about. Yesterday was the seventh anniversary of my meeting her. To tie it all together in a nice bow, that was when her band, The Calamity Janes opened for Crooked Still in what I think was their last New York City performance.
Their other two children are also musicians, Reid, the youngest, is a fiddler/singer-songwriter with an EP coming out tomorrow. I’ll be at WFUV. Cassandra aka Cassie is a touring musician playing at Littlefield on October 14. Something tells me I can’t make that either. Otherwise I’d go.
Rich and Sandy live on the upper west side, easy to get to for me. I zoomed there in less than an hour. People who live out of New York don’t appreciate that I’m not being ironic. I grew up in Queens, beyond the reach of the subways; anything closer than an hour and a half is not far.
The specialty of the Jenkins House is chamber folk. It’s not all they present but it’s the most common genre. It fits the setting and how they run things. As we walk into the music chamber, Rich plays the piano; it’s a musical family. Then there is a warmup act. For yesterday’s first set it was “The Twins.” That seems to be what they are known as. Their first names were given but not their last. They are sisters; my guess is about 16 or 17, and identical. I could be wrong about both of those. I was sitting right by their mother, I could have asked. They play fiddle and cello just like the Brother Brothers who are also identical twins that have played the Jenkins House. I wonder if birth order determines which plays which. We need a twin study!
They were excellent. The did two pieces, the first Irish Jigs and the second the theme from Cinema Paradiso. I have not seen that film but it directly quotes Moon River. Was Breakfast at Tiffany’s playing in the title Cinema?
Hanneke was a revelation. I told Sandy that not knowing the artists playing her house is a reason to go; I made discoveries. She is a Scottish style fiddler who started as a Texas style fiddler. She’s known Tristan since they were children. She is the Alyson Hannigan character in American Pie (I’ve never seen the films), except that all her stories start with, “This one time in Fiddle Camp. That’s where she met Tristan. We know him as a cellist but before that he was a champion fiddler. Christopher is the rhythm section on guitar.
There are few things kinds of music that can bring me the joy of chamber folk. I enjoy it with the Bach part of my brain. The instruments dance around each other with intricate choreography. Even when it’s a solo fiddle piece it leaves that impression, the dancer is filling all the dance floor as the piece progresses. I was not surprised to discover that she studied under the great Cape Breton fiddler, Buddy MacMaster, he’s Natalie’s uncle. Hanneke is not from that magic musical isle but she’s part of its tradition. This is music that I get totally lost in. I’ve been listening to her since I woke up this morning.
Sadly I never got a chance to talk to Tristan, he was too much in demand. He was the only one there not named Jenkins that I knew. I kept to myself most of the evening. It was one of those times where there were so many people, I had trouble striking up a conversation with anyone. That is, until I was leaving when I met a Dodger fan that complimented me on my Mets cap. He is a baseball kindred spirit. I love meeting people that realize that baseball is a spiritual experience just as much as music is.
Who is going to join me next time I venture to the Jenkins House? I guarantee you there will be great music. I almost forgot there was also great food. They usually serve ham. This time there were marvelous rich brownies and apple cider. I was content.
I had a bad night, I fear I’m coming down with a cold, it kept me awake. I woke up my normal time, around 8:30. Sat at my computer did things and dozed a bit till after 10. Then I started writing this. I got up to “Must be a rapist” and fell asleep. I woke up around one and found pages and pages of exclamation points. I must have had one finger on the shift and the other on the 1 key.
Now I’m totally caught up including writing about writing this. No way I’ll get any writing done tomorrow as I’m doing a 13-hour shift at WFUV. I have 12-hour shifts most of the rest of the week. I might try bringing my computer to the station and try and do some writing there.
I almost forgot one incredibly stupid thing that you can thank Sean Altman and Rob Tannenbaum for. I want to find an appropriate musician named Monica to open for Hanneke; the show will be billed as Hanneke with Monica. Sean and Rob started their Jewish comedic musical careers with the song Hanukah with Monica. Curse you Sean and Rob.
Wise Madness 