Yes! I’m starting to write before 10! That counts as a victory, especially when I have a 1 PM appointment. I set my accomplishment bar low.
Last night I went to see Sam Baker at Kathryn’s Space. This is both exciting and a home game. Sam is at the pinnacle of my musicians, and Kathryn is a great friend. She is the one that introduced me to Sam. As it should be, I was the first one there. The next ones through the door were Dan & Phyllis with Jeff & Carol. This was like being at John Platt’s On Your Radar. As I was standing by the button I buzzed them up. Kathryn mentioned that her usual door person wasn’t there so I volunteered. That meant going downstairs and letting people in. It’s a bit awkward as there is a double locked door and if people are too slow they get locked out of the second one.
I went down and the first person to come I walked to the outer door and let them in but let the inner door close behind me and I didn’t have a key. I had to buzz up to Kathryn to let us in. I told the people who came in to tell Kathryn that they had to buzz because Gordon is an idiot. Kathryn soon came down with a key so it wouldn’t happen again. Then I figured out how to get the inner door to stay open.
It was fun playing doorman, two more sets of friends showed up. First Dan and Noah. I told them where I was sitting and to grab the seats next to mine. Then Carolyn and Peter. I’ve known them the longest. Carolyn is an old school Fruhead and they used to camp with us at the Budgiedome. I told you this was a home game.
Raise your hand if you’ve seen Sam perform. I knew it, I don’t see many hands. That’s unfortunate, as all My Music Loving Gentle Readers should. He’s not just as good a songwriter as it gets, he is an incredible performer. It’s not that he’s a great vocalist. He said that when he got started he had a two and a half note range. It’s not that he’s a great instrumentalist. It’s that he’s a great storyteller with a captivating stage presence. While his songs are often sad, he’s as funny and charming. He says he doesn’t know what his own songs are about. He says that when you sing and play like he does key doesn’t make a big difference. He’s right and I’d rather listen to him than almost anyone that would headline at a major festival. The closest thing to him is John Prine. He comes from the same world of odd world creators.
Noah requested a song he never plays, White Heat inspired by the Jimmy Cagney film. Sam hardly remembered it but pulled it off perfectly. He kept asking Noah for other requests. He asked me about his scarf. I thought it was made of silk. He traded a scarf made from one step up from a bounty paper towel for it.
Such is Sam, he can go from being totally goofy to profound in the blink of an eye. He was caught in a terrorist attack on a train in Peru, a backpack in the rack above him was a bomb. The people around him all died and it was just a series of unlikely events and great doctors that allowed him to live. That changes a person. He’s been close to death. He’s been addicted to pain killers. He came out of it with an appreciation of the beauty of the world and the goodness of people.
After the show Dan, Noah, and I walked to Union Square, they were taking the subway, I was shopping at Trader Joe’s. Sam Baker asked, “What’s that numbers thing at Union Square. I answered confidently that it was the National Debt. After the show Dan and Noah Rauchwerk told me that I was wrong, that it was simply a weird clock display. We decided to settle it by walking to Union Square. I was going to show these kids from New Jersey not to contradict a native New Yorker. I remember when they put the damn thing up.
When we got there it looked wrong. it was only one line, i remember it having more than one line. Even worse it was a weird display of the time, using military time adjacent to how much time was left in the day. Dan and Noah were right. I was wrong. .
My first thought was that they changed it. Nope, it was always this way. There is a debt clock someplace else and i confounded the two. I am not claiming the Mandela effect, that says i came from another universe where it was a debt clock, as i am guessing many of you think it is too. Nope, memory plays tricks and you remember things that never happened. Mea Culpa.
One thing shook my confidence before we got there, Noah used to live two blocks away. He saw it all the time. I was stubborn and didn’t drop my bluster. Another mea culpa.
This is great, I finished nice and early. I’ll have time to shower and eat before I leave for my infusion. Montefiore lists the appointment for one hour. Last time it took all afternoon. We’ll see how it goes today. If I have time I’m going to see Captain Marvel afterward. The last time I went to a movie in a theater was the Friday after Hurricane Sandy. My cataracts were too bad for me to appreciate a film in a theater. When I get my second eye done next week I want to see something in 3-D. I’m still getting joy from simply being able to see clearly. My right eye, the one that still has a cataract is extra bad today. Until I got them I had no idea that your vision varied when you have cataracts. Today things are not just blurry but I have the classic haze in front of everything. That’s fading now. When I woke up I couldn’t see things up close to read.
Now it’s time for sausageeggandcheese on a ciabatta roll that I bought last night.
Whoa, I wrote 1065 words before this and spell/grammar check didn’t catch a single error. I’m an idiot but I’m learning.
Wise Madness 