In some ways yesterday was a rerun of the Friday before, geographically it was identical; I went from home to therapy then back home and then to the Jenkins House Concerts on the Upper West Side. That’s a very convenient schedule for me. What happened in therapy and at the concert were of course quite different. In therapy we dealt with my successfully navigating my health insurance crisis and preparing for COVID-19. Therapy is not a good thing to write about as the whole point of therapy is that it’s confidential. I’ll just say that it’s very helpful, I would not have gotten through the health insurance crisis as well without it. I also enjoy it. If you find your therapy problematic find a new therapist, don’t give up on therapy. With the right person it’s great.
Great is the theme of the rest of this entry. I saw Rosier at the aforementioned Jenkins House. The band and the name are from Quebec, keep that in mind when pronouncing it. I sat down with them learning how to say the name when they played Hudson West Fest and I’m still not sure how close I am. It me it’s close to the way we pronounce Roget’s Thesaurus. It’s two and a half syllables. I struggle with the names of the members of the band too, all subtly different than the English pronunciation.
Colin Savoie-Levac (mandoline, banjo, lapsteel, pieds)
Marie Savoie-Levac (bass)
Sarah Marchand (Voix, Piano)
Éléonore Pitre (Guitare)
Béatrix Méthé (violon, voix)
I copied and pasted so it’s giving the Quebecois version of all the instruments. I bet you can figure them all out except perhaps pieds. I like they there was no attempt to Francofy, lapsteel.
I first saw them at NERFA where they blew me away, then at last year’s Hudson West Fest, where they again blew me away. They’ve been a band for twelve years under the name Les Poules à Colin until last summer. That name caused a lot of confusion for English speakers. They had a gig in Ontario and found the name Paula Collins on the marquee. Now they have a song called, Paula Collins. Now they have a new French name for English speakers to butcher.
They have the chemistry of a band that’s played together for 12 years which is amazing because of how young they are. Yesterday was Marie’s 30th birthday. Beatrix is just 24. I didn’t ask anyone else’s age, but Colin is Marie’s little brother. I seem to be putting off writing about why they are great. See what I learn from therapy? I always want to find the perfect way to describe a band, and I don’t have one for them. Quebecoise is in my sweet spot. It’s Celtic influenced and shares its Joie de Vivre. Rosier shows that but they are also self-consciously dark. There are times they wander into jazz. They can lift your spirit and break your heart. They play your heartstrings as deftly as they play their instruments. That ability is what distinguishes the great musician from the great technician.
I was joined at the show by Dan who fortunately I still speaking to me. He was angry because I didn’t tell him that Sean Watkins played there the week before. I was sure I had. I know he loves Sean and the Jenkins House is just 9 blocks from the Dan House. Last week I was joined by Jim, I told him about the series when we saw Crooked Still. He was back again for this show. I’m recruiting people for the Jenkins Crowd. They have amazing people play and they have a beautiful house. They even provide their own opening act as Richard and Sandy’s children, Cassie, Steph, and Reid are all great musicians with their own musical careers. Last night it was Cassie, last week it was Steph. Richard and Sandy are musicians too, it’s a musical family. They used to play as a family band. They are like the Partridge Family except they could all sing and play their instruments and they played good music. Other than that, exactly the same
Tonight, I’m off to see Darlingside at a Common Ground Coffeehouse show at the Irvington Town Hall Theater. I’m in a great musical stretch. I’m also in a great breakfast stretch. This morning, well this afternoon, I got a late start, I had matzoh brei with peanut butter. You have to try that, it’s amazing. I told you I was going to try poutinized grits ala Horvendile, but I never told you how it came out. I thought I’d be making it with beef broth but discovered that I had enough beef gravy to cook the grits in that. I add the curds with three minutes to go then poach eggs for three minutes in the grits. Usually I poach eggs for four minutes but as I keep the eggs in the grits they keep cooking while it’s being served. This way they come out perfect. It was amazingly good but there was a problem. The thick broth stuck to the pot even though it’s porcelain and a no-stick surface. It took a lot of soaking and scrubbing to get it clean. Next time I’ll try it with broth. It won’t taste as good, but it will save me half an hour of cleaning hard labor.
I should have made poutine to serve last night, treated the Quebecoise band to their national dish. I just couldn’t figure out how to do it and bring it there.
Wise Madness 