I hit my trifecta yesterday, food, friends, and some synonym for music that starts with an f. Oh wait, this gets even better. Let me try again. Yesterday I hit the trifecta food, friends, and Friction Farm. Does that mean the day gets an F?
Friction Farm, Christine Stay and Aiden Quinn, are erstwhile New Yorkers that now live in the wilds of South Carolina. When they lived here I saw them often, but socially, and to hear their music. Until yesterday I hadn’t seen them in years. I was excited to see them and even more so when I discovered that they were playing within walking distance, from my house. The show was at the Second Sunday Coffee House at the Riverdale-Yonkers Society for Ethical Culture (RYSEC). That was formerly the site of the Uptown Coffeehouse that I had been to many times. I had no idea they started up a new series.
As we wanted social time, Aiden, Christine, and I met before the show for brunch. When I was planning my walk on Google Maps and Irish Pub showed up nearby, An Beal Bocht. I think that means that I searched for it once. As they have music nightly, including Irish Sessions, that’s not surprising. That’s not what I was after yesterday but they serve brunch every day and one of the options was a traditional Irish breakfast. There was no way I could turn that down. I was delighted when Christine and Aiden agreed to meet there. The location was perfect, a six-minute walk from RYSEC. My walk there was not as easy. It’s 1.7 miles from me and not a flat 1.7 miles. The lower Hudson Valley is a fjord carved by glaciers. That created a distinct and steep topography. In some places the escarpment is so steep there are no roads but pedestrians can take stairs. One flight was 101 steps. I wish Google Maps recorded altitude.
I got to the pub first and secured us the last table. The non-music room is small. The big room was being set up for a show. Aiden and Christine parked at RYSEC and walked. That was not easy for them as Aiden has a broken heel bone and his foot is in a boot and he’s on crutches. At least the walk to the pub was downhill.
My traditional Irish breakfast was two rashers, that’s Irish bacon, two bangers, Irish sausages, two pieces of black pudding, two eggs, home fries, and toast. I wonder if I could have asked for soda bread. It came with a free alcoholic drink but they let me substitute coffee.
We had a lot to catch up on as happens when you haven’t seen friends in years. As they are my friends we also discussed arcane topics. One topic was Aiden’s injury. This was not his first.
After brunch we walked up to RYSEC. They sound-checked and I set up merch. For a long time Aiden couldn’t put any weight on his foot so couldn’t carry anything, Christine was the roadie. This led to a change in instrumentation. Christine’s full-sized bass was left home and she played a ukulele bass. Yes it exists. By a weird coincidence the first place Christine had seen one was with me. We went to see Deni Bonet, who was their neighbor at the time, and her bass player had one. I love what a small world Folk is.
It’s been so long since I’ve seen them they had many new songs I didn’t know. That was great. Many of them are based on books. They have two albums of literary books, one for adults and one for children. They are a band you can never call overly-earnest. Even though they talk about important things that they care deeply about they never take themselves too seriously. They have a delightful level of silly.
After the show they had to scurry south, they had a long ride. Even though it didn’t save that much time I took a bus much of the way home. I still had to deal with the 101 steps, this time going up. That was a nice workout. It was hot so when I got home I had ice-creamed coffee.
Good timing as I finish this I’m about to hear myself on Folk Music Notebook. The first segment of Gord’s Gold will be on after Dakota Blonde finishes her song.
Wise Madness 