Did you notice that I was hardly online yesterday and didn’t even blog? That’s because I was too sick to use my computer for very long. I had an old school Crohn’s attack. That’s a very different experience than I’ve had the last 20 years. This was not about an obstruction in my intestines, at least that’s not how it feels. The symptoms are so nebulous that back in the day one of my doctors didn’t believe I was sick at all. I get a fever and have no energy. I have to fight to stay awake. When I switched doctors I was told that it was Crohn’s. I had been diagnosed before I started going to the first doctor, he just didn’t know about this manifestation and neither did I. For years I’d just say, “I’m sick with my usual thing” without having a better name for it.
I had to cancel my plans for yesterday, they were good plans. First I was going to the Tolkien Exhibit at the J. P. Morgan Library with Lauren. Lauren lives in Atlanta and I rarely get to see her so that was doubly disappointing. Last night was the WFUV volunteer party. That’s always a highlight of my social calendar. Instead of doing those fun things I moved as little as possible and slept. I didn’t eat until late at night.
At 2:30 AM I woke up and felt I was better. My temperature was down to 97.2. The entire episode lasted about 24 hours. It started when I got up the night before and went to the bathroom and started shivering. That’s how it often starts. Shivering is the body’s way of raising its temperature quickly. When I got back to bed I wore two hoodies and two heavy comforters. I kept the two hoodies on all day. I kept a comforter on while I sat in my chair.
Now I’ll write the entry that I had planned on writing yesterday, about the great time I had on Monday night. I went to see Nickel Creek with Laura. A few days earlier Kevin wrote me; he had two extra tickets for the show and wanted to know if I wanted to go and if I knew someone that might want the second ticket. Of course I jumped at the chance to go and knew exactly whom to ask, Laura. She’s a huge Chris Thile (theel -ee) fan and we hadn’t seen each other since the last time we saw him together, or at least that’s what we were thinking. We know it was at Celebrate Brooklyn. It might have been someone else from “The Scene.” Things worked out even better than planned, I didn’t know it when I asked but Sunday was Laura’s birthday. I got to help her celebrate.
The show was at the Music Hall of Williamsburg, two doors down from National Sawdust, where I saw Hawktail the week before. I eschewed the world’s greatest gelato from Gentile that I had just discovered and ate at Crif Dogs to save time. Crif Dogs is right at the Bedford Ave stop when I get off the L train so is very convenient and very good. I had a hot dog with bacon, peanut butter, and potato chips. Half of you said yum and the rest wretched at the thought. I had cheese tots and a chocolate shake with it. No big deal that I didn’t eat yesterday, that gave me enough calories for the week.
As Laura noted on her Instagram, she and I have the same concert style, get their early and stand up front. Chris and Kevin arrived later and stood on the raised area on the side, not up front with us. We were right with the action. We stood on the side with Chris Thile’s mandolin, stage right. Then the pulled a fast one, Chris stood in the middle.
Laura and I disagreed on the opener, Madison Cunningham, she did nothing for me and Laura liked her. After the show I found that like me Kevin compared her to Margaret Glaspy, though he felt the similarity was only her on first few songs. The crowd loved her; I was bored.
Nickel Creek was great. I was a late adopter. I was not a fan during their heyday. I was wrong. I know that’s a shock but occasionally it happens. They combine two things that I love, great musicianship, and showing how much they enjoy playing. Chris Thile is ecstatic. He goofily prances around the stage and faces his bandmates and gets lost in the music. When he faced the bass player he turned his back to the audience. Someone shouted at him to turn around. I enjoyed it.
Sara Watkins is in two of my favorite bands, Nickel Creek and I’m With Her. She’s a relatively recent addition to my musical pantheon. I’ll be seeing I’m With Her the day before my birthday at Celebrate Brooklyn. That’s my birthday party. I should invite Aoife even though she has to work. Aoife O’Donovan is in I’m With Her and she’s an old addition to my pantheon, we’ve known each other for ages.
It was a great concert, the band was on and into it, the audience was psyched and not annoying. Nobody was talking or crowding us or singing along loudly off-key. There were 654 people having a great time together, musicians and audience. And got to hang with Laura before during the show and Kevin and Chris afterward. I even shared a cab with Kevin and his friends into the City. They were mainly going to Rockwood. I was just getting out of Brooklyn since the L train was running with limited service, a train every 20 minutes.
Tomorrow I’m having surgery. I found out yesterday that I will probably have to spend the night in the hospital. I specifically asked about that when I made the appointment and was told that I wouldn’t have to. We’ll see what happens. It just makes it difficult to arrange a ride home. I had to cancel my therapy on Friday and I doubt very much if I’ll be going to the Sunset Singing Circle. If I am feeling up to it, I will. It’s just a matter of dealing with pain.
I missed writing yesterday but this is as early as I ever post. That’s great. I am going to take it easy today as I don’t want to get sick again and have to postpone my surgery. It’s a beautiful day and if I get rested enough I’ll go for a walk.
Wise Madness 