This is a tale of a long walk, a doughnut, a chance meeting, and John Platt’s On Your Radar featuring Matt Marshak, Sarah Eide (rhymes with hay duh), and Martin Swinger. Sorry I’m posting so late; the coda will explain why.
Yesterday was a beautiful day and I decided to take advantage of it. Instead of going straight from home to Rockwood Music Hall, I stopped at my post office box in Columbus Circle and walked to the lower east side. Google Maps says that was a little over four miles. I feel better both physically and mentally when I take long walks. I used to make that walk all the time; it was my favorite way of getting to Rockwood from school. I’ve had a dearth of dessert in my diet so I planned one stop on the way, The Doughnut Project. I did not know the name of the place till I looked it up just now. I just call it the great doughnut shop across the street from Carnegie Hall, or simply the best doughnuts in town. It’s an unassuming little shop with no pretenses, just quality. You don’t have to wait on a line to order your doughnut, I was in and out so fast Google Maps didn’t even recognize it as a stop. I had the Black Gold AKA Brownie Batter. Next time I’ll have to try the Bacon Maple Bar. The flavors are not fixed. I go in, agonize over which to order, and always end up happy with my choice.
The shortest route to Rockwood is taking the diagonal path of Broadway but that does not take the least time. It takes you right through Times Square and tourists. Tourists do not know how to share busy sidewalks, and those sidewalks are extra busy. I cut over to sixth avenue after getting my doughnut on seventh. Not long after going down sixth I saw someone that reminded me of my sister Alison. She was walking with someone that reminded me of Alison’s friend, Giordana. There was a reason for this. It was Alison and Giordana. I love randomly running into people I know. Some, like Seth and Jean, I’ve run into multiple times. This is my first time running into Alison. She lives in New Paltz so it is not that surprising. I used to keep a record of everyone I ran into. Maybe I’ll start again. It gives perspective on how often it happens. It also makes me think of a line from the Lord of the Rings. Gandalf spoke of running into Thorin Oakenshield at the Prancing Pony in Bree, the even that sets off the story of the The Hobbit and therefore of LOTR; “A chance meeting as they say in Middle Earth.” The fate of the world can be decided by such chance meetings.
Alison and Giordana were walking down to 35th street so we walked together for about a mile. It might not have decided the fate of the world but it gave me very pleasant company. Alison is heading off to Shetland where she will be off the grid. Guess what I asked her to bring back for me. That’s right, a pony. Think they’ll let her bring it on the plane? It’s a horse, but a small horse. She can say it’s her therapy pony.
An amazing thing, after the doughnut I craved an iced coffee. After parting ways with Alison and Giordana I did not pass a Dunkin’ Donuts or a Starbucks. Usually there’s one on every block. Yes I could have stopped at a few other places but it would take more time and I wanted to walk without taking a break. That’s better exercise.
I arrived at Rockwood exactly when I wanted to, six o’clock. Door are at six thirty; that gives me time to make sure the front row tables are reserved, everything is going smoothly, and to schmooze with the first act who sound checks last. In this case it’s my only friend on the bill, Martin Swinger. This was the fastest sound check in history. Usually if I get there at six the middle act is sound checking when I walk in. Yesterday Martin was already on stage. He was finished by 6:15. That was great as it gave us more time for schmoozing. Martin came to my rescue. When I went to put my reading glasses on, one of the screws popped loose. Martin is a fellow four-eyes, so I asked him if he had an eyeglass screwdriver. He looked but couldn’t find one. While he was doing that I dropped the screw. Rockwood is very dark so that screw was lost forever. Martin still came to the rescue. He didn’t have a screwdriver but he had an extra pair of reading glasses. He didn’t just lend them to me, he gave me the pair! It’s good to have friends.
As usual I sat with friend, we were joined by Coco and Bruce. I was in good company. It’s On Your Radar so I knew many people even though a number of the regulars were MIA. It’s just hitting me how many were missing. Who else was there? Jamie, Ellen, and Peter. Were there others? Was everyone home watching the Mets-Yankees game?
I’ve seen Martin many times. He’s a Budgiedome regular. Somehow I’m still discovering laughs in Consider the Oyster his most performed song. He is so subtly clever. Fred gave him two great compliments. First he said that Martin comes from as odd perspective as Brian Gundersdorf. He didn’t say “odd” he said something better. I’m kicking myself for not remembering. He also said that Martin is clever for a living. That led to my insight for the evening. Part of Martin’s appeal is cognitive dissonance. He’s one of the sweetest and gentlest people you’ll ever meet. You’d expect his music to be kumbaya. If you don’t listen to the lyrics you might still think that. If you do listen you find he has a wicked sense of humor.
Sarah Eide is a pianist songwriter with a degree in film scoring from Berklee. That is not where her music comes from. Some is in the Professor Longhair/Dr. John style and others on the Mommy Track. You write what you know and she’s a mother. She has a song “Cry Cry Cry” about dealing with a toddler. I want Dar to announce she’s going to play “Cry Cry Cry,” have the audience expect Johnny Cash, and then sing Sarah’s song.
Matt Marshak is a singer/songwriter/bandleader from Long Island; always a good way to John Platt’s heart. His background is jazz but he made a change and what he played are more singer/songwriter. His band has two OYR veteran, his brother Chris on drums, and Jon Preddice on guitar and cello. I am pretty sure that Jon has the record for performing the most times at OYR. He came with his own band, Miles to Dayton, and seems to accompany half the Long Island artist that have appeared in the series. We were talking about that after the show. He’s played something like seven times. When you are good people want you to play with them. I’ve known Jon for years now and discovered that I’ve been mispronouncing his last name. I never asked but I’m guessing it’s Italian and pronounced it like that, Pred-ih-chee. Nope, it’s a nice simple Pred-iss. Sometimes a little knowledge misleads you.
After schmoozing with Martin’s husband Brian, Peter, Ellen, Jon, and Sarah I headed home. Instead of getting my favorite pizza at Rosario’s I just stopped at the 99¢ pizza on the way to the subway. This place is new and perfectly located. I can grab a couple of slices and eat them as I walk. Even though I had already walked quite a way; I still walked to the D train instead on the F right by Rockwood. When I through out the napkin from my pizza it blew out of the garbage can. When I went to pick it up I discovered that I was not in as good shape as I thought. My back heavily objected to bending that far. I told myself I’d ice it as soon as I got home. I didn’t a mistake.
I paid for the mistake this morning when I got out of bed. I did put the ice pack on first thing. I’m OK with some back pain, what bothered me was digestive issues. I didn’t wake with my usual appetite. I was also tired. Instead of eating breakfast I fell back asleep in my chair with the computer on my lap. I slept till 2:30. I don’t do that when I’m healthy. This is the second time this has happened since my surgery. I’d think it was Crohn’s and it probably is, but my digestive system wasn’t obstructed, it moved normally. I was finally able to eat breakfast at 3 o’clock. I’m not sure if I’ll eat dinner. Did I overdo it yesterday? I’m taking it extra easy today. I walked enough for two days yesterday so today I’m not leaving the apartment. I wanted to make a quick run to the hardware store to have some keys copied but even that feels like too much. Tomorrow I’ll go back to my regularly scheduled life.
Wise Madness 