Gordon n: A device for converting coffee into blog posts. Here is an example.
I’m going to write about seeing Miles and Mafale and friends but before that I’m going to tell an ugly story and use an ugly word. If you want to skip that and get to fun it begins after the horizontal line.
I have much to catch up on, I didn’t write yesterday and had a busy day. I have to start with an incident from Thursday. The gastroenterologist wrote me a prescription for vitamin D and I went to CVS to pick it up. As I approached the pick-up counter I heard and then saw a man raging at a woman I could not see. I could see his anger building and even though I couldn’t see the woman I suspected the kind of thing he was about to say. He called her nappy-haired. That sort of rage at a stranger so often has a racial basis. It wasn’t long until he progressed to “nigger.” My apologies to those offended by my use of the word not a circumlocution but the offense is integral to what happened and I will not fetishize a mere word. I would never use it myself but I quote accurately. His rant then turned to Spanish and I was told by one of the people that what he said was even worse than what he said in English. Does it surprise you that the racist was Hispanic? It shouldn’t. Racism and hatred know no boundaries. I knew a Hispanic that supported Trump in 2016 because of their shared misogyny. I’m not inferring, he said it was because of Trump’s attitude towards women and the fact that Hillary was a woman.
Between “nappy-haired” and the verbal escalation the man physically charged at the woman. When that happened I took out my phone and called 911. It’s too late to call once the violence has started. Unfortunately I was thwarted by the 911 operator. Our conversation went something like this.
Operator: Do you need police, fire, or is this a medical emergency?
Me: Police
Operator: Where is the emergency?
Me: The CV on Bainbridge Ave in the Bronx, the address is 3125 Bainbridge Ave.
Operator: Is this a private residence or an apartment
Me: I told you, it’s a CVS.
Operator: Is that 3-1-3-5
Me: No 3-1-2-5
Operator: What is the nearest street?
Me: I don’t know, I think 204th street. Never mind the emergency is over.
She never once asked me what the location was. We have enhanced 911 in the City which gives the callers position. Yet she wasted minutes on this, minutes that could have meant a person’s life. I have to find out who to talk to complain about this. 15 minutes later I got a call back from an unfamiliar number. I answered. The person on the other end said hello but nothing else. I asked what this is about and got silence, I hung up. The number called again. This time the person asked, “Did you call 911?” I said, “I did.” I thought I’d get to tell somebody what happened. He asked, “is there still an emergency?” When I said “No” he hung up.
Now on to my peripatetic Friday. In the morning I Beruthiel drove me up to Melissa’s house. Many of my things are stored there. I needed my fall and winter clothing. I found everything I needed but my trademark Irish twill hat. Melissa and Yoram gave me Yoram’s deerstalker cap, like Sherlock Holmes is always pictured wearing. It won’t do as well in the rain but I’ll look cool.
This was pretty much due North in Westchester. Beruthiel drove me home, I dropped off the suitcase and bag of winter clothes, and headed south to Fordham Rd where I could catch the MetroNorth to therapy in Harrison. That’s pretty much due east of Melissa’s house. I forgot to tell the therapist something important that I can’t share with you. I don’t have therapy next week because of NERFA. I hope I remember it in two weeks.
From Harrison I had to go to Garden City on Long Island via public transit That meant a bus to the MetroNorth, then the Times Square Shuttle and the 2 train to Penn Station where I could get the Long Island Railroad to Nassau Blvd, a few blocks from the Garden Stage. I can’t have a day without at least one frustration and it came when I got dinner at Nathan’s. In the height of rush hour in the busiest transit hub in the country they had only one person working. He had to both take the orders and make them. I had to wait 15 minutes for a hotdog and fries. Good thing I had enough time for that.
And now comes the fun stuff, I have finally arrived at the Garden Stage to see, Miles and Mafale. Follow the link, the splash page is a picture of them doing the tango. They used to be two-thirds of the YaYas, the other third was Paul Silverman but for various reasons, none of which involved bad feelings with Paul, they became a duo. Theory and practice do not always align, they are a duo that did a full band show. They were joined by Carolann Solebello on backing vocals, Mark, the only one I didn’t know, on what I think was an electric cello, Eric Puente on drums, and Paul Silverman on keyboard, organ, and accordion. So yes, they left the YaYas and Paul and as soon as they had a gig hired Paul. Muses work in mysterious ways. Carolann is their bandmate in No Fuss and Feathers. This Miles and Mafale show included all of the YaYas and three quarters of No Fuss and Feathers. Good thing Jay and Catherine wanted to do something separate from their bands.
All my Gentle Readers don’t know the players so I should point out that Jay, is Jay Mafale and Catherine is Catherine Miles. Notice the band is Miles and Mafale, but I call them Jay and Catherine, reversing the order. I worked up an entire theory that when giving the name of a duo or couple the shorter name goes first, Abbot and Costello, Pete and Maura, Mike and the Mad Dog. Talking to Catherine about this before the show she shred my theory to pieces. It isn’t even true of myself. I was so happy to come up with a theory that I distorted the facts to myself. It hit me when I said “Dave and Rita” my parents’ best friends. I never called them that. The canonical order was Rita and Dave. I often write about how people fool themselves, I know because I do the same thing. We need others to keep us honest.
Right now Jay and Catherine are thinking, “Isn’t he ever going to talk about our music?” “Did he travel two hours to get to the show just so he could blather on and on about his mental aberrations?” I love Jay and Catherine and I can’t leave them hanging like that, now on to the show.
It was great. It was not just great it was great in a way that can only be done by Miles and Mafale. Their music, like their personalities, are filled with kindness, gentleness, and unabashed silliness. They have mastered being totally sincere without being overly earnest. They aren’t trying to be kind, gentle, and silly, they just are kind, gentle and silly. They are also brilliant, you can’t pull it off without genius. They did disappoint me at one point. They discussed not knowing what to call one song and said, “we just call it “The Cricket Song.” I was hoping for Not Fade Away. That was a lie, but I couldn’t resist the joke. It’s a funny song about guess what, a cricket. Carolann sang on it too and her facial expressions sealed what it most reminded me of; a Rose Marie/Morey Amsterdam duet. That’s high praise indeed for a funny song. With a full band they do something more difficult than as a duo, they rock out! You might have trouble picturing them as a rock band, but they can do it. The show had many different flavors of music. More musicians need to learn to do that.
Once again I sat with Gene and Isabel, short name/long name, that’s two weekends in a row sitting with them. Mike was there, good thing. He let me know that I had to fill out a form if I wanted to eat at NERFA. I ordered the meals but for some reason the hotel sent out a separate invoice and I didn’t read it as I’m bad with keeping up with my mail and thought NERFA was all taken care of. I’ll do that as soon as I’m finished here.
I sold the merch of course. The big item was the new album that is not finished yet. We still sold them. Daria, who runs the Garden Stage, gave M&M CD mailers she had taking up space and if you wanted an album you addressed the envelope and put your money in it.
I’m getting things out of order. There is an open mic before the show and Joe Iadanza played in it. I just saw him playing a gig with Carolann. He still impresses the hell out of me every time I hear him. All men are created equal but not all musicians. Some are more equal than others.
I was not looking forward to the trip home. It’s the LIRR to the subway and would take close to two hours with the wait for the train. I didn’t have to Eric lives in Westchester. I’m right on the way for him. I asked and he quickly agreed to give me a ride. It took all of 40 minutes. That made my life better.
Oh no. I just noticed insanity on my schedule. On Wednesday night I’m seeing the Sea the Sea and Front Country at Mercury Lounge. It’s a late show. I have a CT scan at 8 AM the next morning and I’m going straight from there to NERFA where I’ll get no sleep. I think I might have to skip the show. I don’t want to skip the show. It’s my only music until NERFA. I might cry.
Wise Madness 