I have time for a short entry before I take my Donut Walk™. My posts are so varied, do you find that a problem? One day I’ll write a silly recounting of my day with self-deprecatory humor and the next a serious piece on punishment that asks you to rethink the issue. When we aren’t in a pandemic I write about live music, now it’s more about making a radio show and watching sports and TV. I hope My Gentle Readers enjoy most if not all of what I write.
Yesterday was a beautiful day but I did not go for a Donut Walk™. I took a walk but on a different route. I was going to try out the New Popeye’s, but the app wouldn’t let me order. I could have just gone in an ordered, but I wasn’t sure I’d get the same deals and irrationally I didn’t go in. Instead, I walked up to Texas Burgers & Chicken and went in there to order dinner. It cost the same as Popeye’s but included a drink. The food is not quite a good but there was extra value. The reason I ate out was I wanted to make sure I was finished eating by 6:30 so I could check into backstage for John Platt’s On Your Radar. We did our first online show a year ago, June 2020. After a year I finally remembered to change the description of the events to give the artist tip link once the show starts. I also finally learned to monitor all the comments from both Facebook and YouTube on StreamYard instead of going back and forth between the pages. I’m ashamed I didn’t do that from the start. The only reason I needed to go to the websites was to make comments.
The guests were The Accidentals, Tim Grimm, and Jaspar Lepak (lee’- pack). Christine Lavin is a big supporter of Jaspar and was in the audience. It was one of the largest audiences we’ve drawn since we went virtual, and it was one of the best shows too. By coincidence I played a Tim Grimm song later that night on Gord’s Gold. Great minds think alike. My opinion of the Accidentals changed radically this week. I had seen them at Folk Alliance and thought they had a great sound but didn’t make a big impression on me. Every Monday Amazon comes out with a new personalized My Discovery Mix. My own music collection is filled with all sorts of music, I listen to jazz, rock, and Broadway, but somehow Amazon knows that when I want new discoveries I’m looking for folk to play on Gord’s Gold. I listen to the mix as I walk and save the few songs that break through and hit me where I live. It’s a great way to listen as I don’t know who it is until after I make a judgment on it. I was surprised to find myself skipping past most of a song by an artist I like. Then I found myself loving a song and discovering it was by the Accidentals. Listening to music depends on both the performer and the listener, I was having an off day when I heard them previously. That happened with me and Joe Crookston who I love as much as anyone.
That set me up to look forward to their set at John Platt’s On Your Radar. Their set was pre-recorded, so they were active during the backstage chat. I noticed that they had a Star Wars spoof Goat Wars poster on the road behind them and that Katie Larson the cellist was playing a composite cello. I kidded Rob that they were secretly ilyAIMY; that’s Rob’s band, who are ubergeeks, including his cellist wife Kristen who plays a composite cello. Rob is the OYR streaming producer or is that director? He does everything. I didn’t even mention that the drummer Michael Dause played the cajon as does ilyAIMY’s Heather. Sav, who was playing guitar said she was happy they had the poster up and we were off to the races. Sav, Katie, Rob, and I had a geekfest. They are not just great musicians but my people. I felt similarly to how I felt when I first saw ilyAIMY. We need a sci-fi geek folk festival. I brought up Hugo award winning science fiction writer and folk singer Sarah Pinsker and Rob wanted to know how I knew her, she’s a Baltimorean like Rob. If I know someone from the Baltimore area the reason is usually SMAF, the late great folk festival that I miss dearly. Moxy Früvous also came up. I was in my element.
So, you know how I was going to write a short entry before my walk? That never happened. I got a phone call, had to take care of some business because of the phone call, then got lazy, and never made it out. Now I’m listening to the Met game. It started fantastically, Jacob deGrom, the best pitcher in the multiverse, pitched three perfect innings striking out 8 of the 9 men he faced including 7 in a row. The all-time record is 10 in a row. He also drove in a run. For the season he’s given up 4 earned runs while driving in 6. You felt that the way he was pitching he had a good chance to make it to 10 in a row; except …. He then game out of the game with shoulder soreness. NOOOOO. He had to leave his last game early because of elbow tendonitis. Before that he hurt his side. Has he flown too close to the sun? Is the human body not meant to throw a ball that hard? Did someone take a lock of his once long hair and make a voodoo doll and is sticking pins in different spots every start? Was he there when Howard Carter opened King Tut’s tomb? This is why Met fans feel we can’t have nice things. I’m joking but this hurts, seriously hurts. Jacob deGrom getting hurt is like a tear in the Mona Lisa. The Mets are winning 6-1 but I’m not a happy Met fan.
Wise Madness 