Wise Madness and Gord’s Gold are starting to blend in my head. The thoughts that I used to organize as imagined blog posts now sometimes come out as imagined things to say on Gord’s Gold. I almost started this with Welcome My Gentle Listeners. You aren’t My Gentle Listeners, you are My Gentle Readers, and I don’t know if I ever started by welcoming you. My brain is confusing, I better write about things I understand.
Yesterday was a very Gordon day, something happened to me that happens to me far more often than it does most people. Around four o’clock I got a message from Marty asking me if I wanted his ticket to see Sarah Jarosz; he couldn’t use it. I can’t count how many great shows I’ve seen that way. Why? What is there about me? I suspect it’s for the same reasoning I use when choosing who I will give an extra ticket, who will appreciate it the most. It’s not exactly a virtue but when I love something, I feel it deeply, it’s not a pleasant diversion, and that leads me to tell the world as I want others to feel the same thing. This is a big part of why I blog and the main reason I DJ. I want everyone to be aware of the beauty that surrounds us all. My friend Jon feels the same way about New York City parks and blogs about it, Park Odyssey. Wait, what am I doing? I’m writing about my mind; didn’t I say I wasn’t going to do that? Fine, I’ll accept that I write about something I don’t understand despite a lifetime’s effort to do so. I do have some insights.
I got the ticket four hours before showtime, and three hours before doors. In some ways that’s short notice, but it did give me time to make dinner early so I wouldn’t have to eat out. Fortunately, I had a simple dinner planned, a cheeseburger on garlic Texas toast. Despite being a favorite, I haven’t had it in ages. Why? The frozen burgers I knew were buried in the freezer. Yesterday morning went on an arctic expedition to discover what else was buried in the ice. That’s not just metaphor, the ice cube tray above them leaked and part of the bin in the freezer was encased in ice. It was another remake of The Thing, one of the few films where the remake was far superior to the original. Make sure to see the John Carpenter version, it’s a masterpiece. Far closer to the original John W. Campbell short story, Who Goes There, on the short list of greatest science fiction. How many layers will I go through before I get to the story? You’ll find out when I do.
Dinner was great but left me no time for anything if I wanted to get to Webster Hall in time for doors. I raced out and dashed to the subway. As soon as I went through the turnstile, I realized it was the wrong subway! I needed the 4 train, not the D. The commuting gods were on my side for a change; the train came very quickly, and I took it to Yankee Stadium where I could switch to the 4. I had a short wait there too. As the D is closer than the 4, I arrived earlier than I would have if I hadn’t made the mistake, an idiot story with a happy ending.
When I arrived, I was surprised at how short the line was. Was this an effect of the COVID-19 world? Webster Hall is one of the big box venues, the only reason to get there early is to get a spot by the stage. Unless the show is packed, you can stand where you want if you are willing to navigate the crowd. There were still spots right in front of the stage after the initial crowd entered. I have no idea why some people went their early to stand in the middle or back of the room when they could have arrived an hour later and stood in the same spot. One of the big advantages of getting their early is the ability to sit down and use the front fence to lean on. I was the only one to take advantage of that. I listened to podcasts until the show started.
There was an opening act, Ryan Gustafson. I had never heard of him, and he never gave his name. I had to look it up now. The crowd loved him, I didn’t. A couple of times I fell asleep and woke up when my knees buckled. I was afraid it was because I hadn’t gotten enough sleep the night before and it might happen during Sarah’s set. Turns out I was fine for her.
Sarah Jarosz was magnificent. It was one of the best shows I’ve seen her give. She was excited to be back in New York for the first time since she fled the plague and to finally get to play the songs from her 2020 release, World on the Ground. Sadly, that’s not the album I am playing a cut from on Gord’s Gold Thursday, I went I went with her 2021 album, Blue Heron Suite. I didn’t realize that she never toured in support of World. My Gentle listeners will benefit from my mistake as I’ll play more Sarah next week.
I was surprised I didn’t see anyone I knew in the crowd, I kept looking. So many of my friends also love her, many are friends with Sarah. Turns out that Melanie was there and saw me, but I didn’t see her. I did recognize someone in her band. I thought that Anthony da Costa might be playing guitar, but he wasn’t. It was the bass player I recognized, Dave Speranza. I have no idea where I know him from, but we have 83 friends in common, most of which are musicians; he must have played with one of them. If that was you, let me know.
Sarah is one of the greats. She started as a mandolin prodigy, playing with everyone since she was a kid. The first time I saw her she opened for Richard Thompson. She’s still an instrumental virtuoso but has added songwriting and singing to her virtuosic skill set. She does it all. She moves you emotionally, makes you think, while still entertaining you. She even did a great crowd-pleasing rendition of U2’s I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, with the audience, including me, singing along. I don’t care how bad you think you are, sing along with the crowd. It’s a spiritual experience. No, I’m not getting spiritual, I am a hard-headed rationalist, but I don’t know a better word to describe the feeling. It is not at all supernatural, it’s psychological.
The show ended at 10:35, I was out of the building by 10:40, and home in less than an hour. I have no commuting complaints today. Good timing now. I’m expecting a call any minute. I better get this posted.
Wise Madness 