Blips

Yesterday was the second Tuesday of the month and it’s not August. Raise your hand if you know what that means I did last night? I always see the same hands. If you were there you aren’t allowed to answer. You there in the back, what did I do?

“You went to John Platt’s On Your Radar?”

That’s right! Why the question mark? You should have more confidence in yourself. As for the rest of you, I hope you learned something. Pay attention and learn. But of course if you aren’t paying attention you missed that. Teaching is tough. Good thing I’m cute.

I was good and left early enough to stop by my post office box to pick up the coffee I ordered from Ahrre’s Coffee Roastery. Ahrre aka Arpie is evil. First he puts on great concerts so I would come out to Jersey to see them. Then he serves his coffee at the shows. Then he befriends me. Then he mentions that I can buy the coffee online. Now I’m addicted. Classic pusher tactic and it worked on me.

Of course that meant carrying around 3 lbs of coffee with me. Doesn’t sound like a lot but when it’s in your backpack long enough you notice it. More importantly it made me not realize what wasn’t in my backpack, my copy of A Clash of Kings. I had time to read before the show but nothing to read. There are no mistakes, only happy accidents so I decided to use the time to call a friend that I’ve been meaning to call for a month. She wasn’t home. But everything was not for naught. I used the extra time talking to John Platt and two of the musicians in the show, Grace Morrison and Scott “I have such a mental block with his last name” Cook. Those are the two that I had previously met. The third act was Crowes “No apostrophe before the s” Pasture. When you do the social media to promote an event these are the things hammered into your head. Scott’s name took extra hammering. I had to picture him with a chef’s hat and then remember that his name is not Scott Chef.

On Your Radar takes August off so there was pent up demand, and the room was filled with regulars. I’m going to resist listening everyone there. I will give a count of how many people I know. This will include John but not the musicians or me, I counted a lucky 13. This was a home game.

I like to think of myself as a musical scout. I go on ahead and tell others of the great musicians coming along. That’s my job description on Folk Music Notebook. Gord’s Gold is about introducing people to musicians they might not have heard about. Sometimes I fail to recognize talent immediately and should own up to it. I wasn’t blown away by Joe Crookston when he did the Falcon Ridge Emerging Artist Showcase. As Joe is one of the greatest talents out there I remind myself of that as a hubris warning. You can add Scott umm, what’s his last name? Chef? No Cook! To that list. I heard great things about him from my Canadian friends, especially Shawna. I met him on Wednesday night before the Festival even started. He played the Lounge Stage, so he impressed that crew. I saw him on the Lounge Stage, and in the Emerging Artist Showcase and emerged wondering why everyone else thought he was so great. I was ready to get into my iconoclast mode when seeing him last night. But something happened to change that, Scott. Last night it clicked. I saw what everyone else saw in him. I wondered why I hadn’t seen it before. Sometimes things happen that can’t be explained. There were subtleties of my mind set when I saw him at FRFF that affected how I perceived him. Overall it’s a good thing that happens, otherwise I’d worry that I was just defending my original judgement irrationally. As I do change my mind when I continue to think somebody isn’t good I can feel confident about it. Of course it took me about 15 years to appreciate the Ramones. Sometimes I’m slow. I’m not sure when but you’ll be hearing more about Mr. Cook on Gord’s Gold. I had him send me his album so I listen and then write while I listen again. That’s my procedure.

I didn’t start writing until late today. Usually I end by telling you what I’m about to eat for brunch. I finished that hours ago and I ate it late. That’s what happens when you sleep until noon. I’ll fill you in, had matzoh brei to make my bubba cry. I finished off the last of the 5 lbs of matzoh I bought for Pesach. That’s sad. Now I have to buy more expensive rest of the year matzoh. The reason it makes your bubba cry is that I cook it in bacon fat and top it with ham and cheese. It looks sort of like a pizza. It’s amazing. Give it a try.