Deni for Your Thoughts

What’s my lede? Seeing Deni Bonet? Taking a walk? No, it’s that for the second day in a row I had to call 911. That caught your attention.

It was Friday, that means therapy. I had extra need as the week before my therapist had to cancel over a family health emergency. Therapy also means getting exercise as I walk to the MetroNorth station. I started my walk and got a text; it was from my therapist, she had to cancel. This time it was a personal dental emergency. I decided to continue my walk and do some errands on the way. As I walked down Webster Ave, I saw a gentleman that didn’t seem in good shape. At first, I thought he was just a drunk homeless person but as I got closer, I saw it went beyond that. He was taking a jacket off, it was hanging off one arm, and he couldn’t get it off from there. He couldn’t hold his head up. He was bent at the waist and looked like he was about to fall over. His eyes were closed, and he was unresponsive. He finally leaned on something but seemed incapable of moving further. That’s why I called 911. It was probably from drugs but could be insulin shock. My friend would get like that if he didn’t eat fast enough after injecting the insulin. That was clearly the educated guess as the 911 operator asked if he were a diabetic when I described his symptoms. I wasn’t going to leave him there, so I waited for the ambulance. He was not easily visible from the street, so I waited on the street to flag down the ambulance when it came. Other people had tried to move him or help him, but he didn’t respond. I told them to wait for the ambulance. When the ambulance came, I pointed to the gentleman. He responded to them. I guess, pros know tricks. They were able to walk him into the ambulance. That’s the last that I saw. I continued on my way. If my therapy hadn’t been canceled, I’d have missed my train, as I wouldn’t have left him till the ambulance came. I would have made the next train and then had to take a cab when I got to Harrison.

My next stop was a tailor. The sign outside said they relined and put zippers in leather jacket. I stopped in to see what it would cost. He couldn’t tell me; he has to see the jacket. I have a beautiful jacket that was old when I bought it 20 years ago. If I can afford the repairs, I’ll have a jacket that might last another 40 years. I also asked if he could replace the zipper in my backpack. He thought that was absurd to ask. He only fixes clothes. It’s sewing a zipper onto cloth, seems reasonable to me that he could do it on a bag if he can do it onto a jacket.

Further stops were the bank, Checkers for $1 fries, and White Castle for a shake. It was a long walk. When I got home, I went to check my health app to see how far I walked. Nothing! When I had the phone’s camera repaired the health app was turned off as was Google Maps tracking my movement. All that good exercise and no record of it so I could pat myself on the back.

When I got home, I did laundry. One of these days I will not wait until I run out of underwear to do it. I’ll consider that a life goal. It’s like when JFK said we’d send a man to the moon and return him safely by the end of the decade. I’m not sure which is the bigger challenge.

Deni’s show was late, 9 PM at Paddy Reilly’s Music Bar. That mean I could relax and eat dinner at home. I tried something new, an andouille rope sausage. I love andouille but never had it in the rope form. It was delicious and inexpensive. It is one of those high pleasure to effort dishes.

When Deni plays at Paddy’s I always seem to arrive just as the show starts. I took my usual seat at the table next to Andy, her husband that sold the merch, but realized that she changed her stage plot. That table is off to one side of the stage and the bulk of the bar at a right angle. She used to stand where she could be seen from both, now it was only from the bar area, so I moved over. It’s not as comfortable, and I don’t get to hang with Andy, but the sound is much better there.

Deni just got back from a month in Zanzibar! Do you know anyone that’s been to Zanzibar? Have any of My Gentle Readers been there? I need to have a talk to Deni and hear all about it. I did get to tell her the joke I’ve been saving. When she was ordered coffee in Africa it was served by a Zanzibarista.

I just wrote Deni to ask her when her next album is coming out as she is someone that will certainly get a Gord’s Gold segment. Deni’s music is filled with contrasts. Her main instrument is the violin, her background is conservatory classical. With the possible exception of the piano, it’s the most respected musical instrument. Her second instrument is the accordion, the Rodney Dangerfield of the musical world. She has that classical training, but her first national exposure was as a regular on that bastion of folk music, Mountain Stage. Most of her music is neither but a mixture of rock, pop, and party music. While she sounds nothing like them, I bet her fandom overlaps with the B-52’s. I thought that before Fred Schneider joined her on a recording of one song. Maybe there’s some Victor Borge mixed in as there’s the combination of instrumental virtuosity and humor. Most of all, seeing Deni perform makes me happy. So, does talking to her.

I wish the show wasn’t so late. Coming on after her was The Prodigals. I haven’t seen them in ages, and they are great. An Irish Rock group that I used to see often, once at the Baltimore Irish Festival, going onstage right before O’Malley’s March. That’s Martin O’Malley’s band, at the time he was the mayor of Baltimore. Then he became Governor of Maryland, and in 2016 ran for President. I’m not sure how good a president he’d be but he’d rock more than anyone. The Prodigals weren’t coming on until midnight and I’ve been having enough problems getting my sleep schedule where I want it. As it was, I didn’t get home until near 1 AM.

Today I’m going up to Common Ground Coffeehouse to see Her Crooked Heart and Rachael Price. Let’s see if I can get through the day without calling 911. The way things have been going I’ll probably have to report a fire, the only emergency service I have not called this week.