I’m trying something new, starting to write even though I won’t have time to finish and will have to pick it up when I get home. I’ve wasted too much time this morning, so much so that it’s mid-afternoon.
Yesterday I went to the Grand Slambovian Halloween Ball. It was at Irvington Town Hall and produced by The Common Ground Community Concerts, Carter’s domain. That meant I was working the show. I usually do merch but The Slambovians provide their own merch person so my job was to help set up the Halloween decorations and do whatever else needs to be done.
As I explained yesterday there was some confusion as to what time I should arrive to do the decorating. The last I told you it was 3:16. I used Google to plan the trip, the D train to the MetroNorth. That should be simple I had a ten-minute cushion to catch the MetroNorth, as the entire train trip is about 10 minutes that should not be a problem. It was. The D train I planned on taking came 2 minutes early, so I missed it by seconds. The next came twelve minutes later. You see where this is going. I arrived at the Yankee Stadium stop two minutes after the train left. The next one wasn’t for an hour. I was prepared for this. I could take an Uber to Marble Hill and make the next train from there. The trains from there leave every half an hour. I called an Uber. It said there were eight cars within two minutes. Great, this would be no problem. I’d have plenty of extra time. I tracked the car picking me on the map. I thought what I was pretty sure was him. I waved, he drove right past me and kept going. The arrival time went from two minutes to six. It stopped showing on the map where he was. I sent a text, “You went right by me.” He didn’t respond. I called. He didn’t answer. Time was now getting tight. Then my phone rang, it was the driver. I told him I needed to make a train. He said he was at the Bronx Terminal Market. I had no idea where that was. I was exactly where the map said I was. I went to see what the building across the street was. It was the Bronx Terminal Market, but he was not in sight. He must have been around the other side. The market is big so that would take too much time. I told him to come where I was and pick me up. He said nothing. A few minutes later I got a text from Uber that the trip was canceled and I was charged a $5 cancelation fee. It was now too late to get another car. I called Carter and told him I’d be an hour late. Then I contacted Uber which isn’t easy. There is no customer service number. I googled how to contact them and found that I had to use the help section of the app. They don’t even label it, “contact us.” I didn’t get to talk to anyone but I filled out a form to challenge a cancellation fee. That provided a space to tell what happened and I let the driver have it. I very much hope that he’s fired. I know people will say, “but he needs his job!” That’s a false argument; a job is not destroyed, it will simply go to another person that needs a job, one that is more deserving. He didn’t just make a mistake he wouldn’t even try to correct it and then had me charged a cancellation fee. I’m sure there are plenty of people that will follow the directions given on the Uber app and not assume that the fare wants to be picked up someplace else and then expect the person to walk to where the driver is. You can tell I’m still mad.
It’s nine hours since I wrote that; I’m no longer mad. But I am planning on going to sleep in 45 minutes so I better finish this by then
I ended up waiting for the next train from Yankee Stadium, an hour after the one I just missed. I got to Town Hall an hour later than I planned. It was all for the good, they were still sound checking and not ready to decorate. I put up signs in the street to make it easier to find the theater entrance. The Main entrance has been closed for ages, you enter through the side. That’s fine for the regulars but we were expecting a large number of Slambovians that had never been there before. After sound check I did help with the decorating. Joyce and I had to run a string of lights. I said, “Yeah, have the two Jews who never did Christmas do the lights. We did it. As you might expect the Slambovians go all out for Halloween. They radiate Halloween all year round. There was a giant inflatable pumpkin head man a ghost. There was a mechanical werewolf with glowing eyes. There were spider webs and autumn foliage and all manner of scary goodness.
As I wasn’t selling the merch I could sit in the auditorium The show as general admission and I asked Gene and Isabel to save me a seat with them. It’s much more fun watching with friends and they are huge Slambovian fans. Usually at a show I’m the insider, not last night While I’ve known the Slambovians longer than almost anyone there I’ve never been a regular. Their annual dance tent gig that is the highlight of the festival for so many people is not for me. But I can see why others love them. They are showman and they are talented musicians. There are shows where I’ve loved them; last night was one of them. Things were clicking on all cylinders. There was one disappointment. There were joined by Gary Lucas, who they identified as the guy that wrote the best Jeff Buckley songs and as the guitarist for Captain Beefheart. I know him from Gods and Monsters, a short-lived but great project. During the soundcheck I was in the lobby and heard Swan Lake coming from the theater. I immediately thought of Dracula, it’s used brilliantly in the 1931 original, directed by Tod Browning and starring Bela Lugosi. When I walked in I saw what looked like the film being projected on the back of the stage. It wasn’t. It was the Spanish language version filmed at the same time on the same sets. It’s the same film scene by scene. The film is legendary but I have never seen it. There it was up on the stage and Gary was playing along to it on his guitar. I don’t know why they didn’t do it in the show, it was special. There was some brilliant use of film in the show; the projected old films with people dancing in exact time to the songs they were playing. One totally neuro film was a dance off between two groups of what I take to be Russian soldiers as they did the Cossack Dance. Sorry I can’t remember what song went with it. Another great film was either by Georges Méliès or in his style. I was totally entranced.
Of course there were jellyfish. Joziah gave the story of their origin, he carried small umbrella on stage, a mummer tradition, at one show, and then the fans came out with the jellyfish. They are umbrellas with tentacles hanging down the side and lights attached to the dome. Among the Jellyfish I saw my friend Paula. This is not a kids’ thing, he’s a Slambovian thing.
I was surprised to find that one of the photographers was Charlie. I know him as a WFUV volunteer but have not seen him in years. I did talk to him on the phone during the member drive a few weeks ago. I had no idea that he was a concert photographer. He knew that I was familiar with the theater and the band and asked some logistics questions and I warned him about the jellyfish. You can’t shoot a Slambovian show without pictures of the jellies.
After the show I stayed around to help with clean up. I had no direction so I took down the stage decorations. It was mainly about undoing tangles of wires. It’s an odd thing that gives me pleasure. I also went through the seats checking to see if anyone left anything. I turned a profit doing that. I found a penny and pencil! I did not turn them in. I’m a terrible person.
I had just missed a train so I had an hour to help till the next one. That worked out nicely. I got to the station and saw someone I recognized, Chen, Joziah and Tink’s son. I had never been introduced but we recognized each other from the theater. It was nice to have company on the ride home. As you might guess from his background he’s an interesting guy; not just a musician but an artist and animator.
Good timing. It’s 12:24. I’ll see if I can get his posted and get into bed by 12:30.
Wise Madness 