Yesterday’s adventure was seeing Debi Smith and Garrison Keillor at City Winery New York. That’s not how I wanted to start this, but all my English teachers taught me to put the most important idea in the first sentence. I like to work into things gradually.
I got my assignment for Election Day; I’ll be working at my local polling place, a ten-minute walk from home! As I have to be there at 5 AM I’m delighted that I don’t have to travel far. I might get to sleep as late as late as 4:30. It’s in the constitution that they have to supply us with coffee, right? How can you have free and fair elections if poll workers don’t have coffee at 5 AM? My job is Scanner Inspector. I suspect that means I might have to stay late. I wonder if somebody thought, “he looks like someone that can keep machines working.” Maybe I mentioned that I was always the one that fixed that copier in the math department. Maybe this is sexism, and they give a man the mechanical job. Maybe it’s random chance? My money is on the last. I suspect nobody gives it enough thought for the other hypotheses. I’m falling asleep just thinking about getting to work at 5 AM.
I’ve been wondering if I’m going out too often in light of COVID-19. I’m almost back to my pre-plague concert frequency. This was my second concert in as many nights. Debi Smith counts as high priority, I love her, I love her music, I hardly ever see her, and she just came out with a wonderful new album, Then and Now that is getting lots of play on Gord’s Gold. The counterargument is that she was not the headliner. That wasn’t enough to keep me home. I’ve been to plenty of shows primarily for the opener. An added enticement was that the show was at the new City Winery; I haven’t been there yet. The location is on the Hudson River right next to Little Island Park. If I were smart, I would have left early and visited the park first. I haven’t been there and it’s intriguing. It’s about a half mile walk from the 8th avenue subway line. It’s two trains for me but an easy transfer. As it’s assigned seats I didn’t get there early. There was a sign out front saying that masks were mandatory, I was the only one wearing one. I understand that it’s difficult at a place that serves food, but most people were not eating, and nobody was eating the same time. I just had water and pulled the mask down when drank.
Debi started with a song about having a crush on her high school English teacher. When are people gonna learn that it’s the math teachers with the sex appeal? Jim Infantino knows, he wrote Math Prof Rock Star. Debi is a rarity for me, someone I love first and foremost as a singer. A beautiful voice is never enough for me. If your pitch to me about a singer is that she has a beautiful voice, you’ve lost me. Debi has a beautiful voice but what matters is how she uses it. She’s a great singer. The euphony is a bonus. How can I not be moved by her a capella rendition of Shenandoah? Debi is from Virginia, and Virginia is famous for the Shenandoah Valley, but that’s not the Shenandoah of the song. That Shenandoah is a tributary of the Missouri, that’s why the song has the words, “across the wide Missouri.” I learned that from Richard Thompson. I pay attention in class. Debi has this beautiful bel canto voice that’s in contrast to her personality. You don’t expect someone that sounds like that to be funny and silly, unless you remember Beverly Sills’ talk show. In between songs she’s a total Gordon Friend. It makes sense as she’s one of the Four Bitchin’ Babes and they have always been my people starting with Christine Lavin. I am an official Man-Babe. Totally independent of seeing Debi I was talking to online with fellow babe Deirdre Flint yesterday. Another bonus for Debi is that she plays the bodhran even though she is only 1/32nd Irish. As I was watching her, I was simultaneously having a running conversation with her, writing this blog, and planning Gord’s Gold. That’s pretty typical of me. I got to talk to Debi after the show and say the things that I had been telepathically sending her. I was gratified to see the audience totally enraptured with Debi’s singing. I looked around and everyone had their eyes glued on her and there wasn’t a cellphone in sight. Yes, that means that my eyes weren’t glued to her. As much as she held my full attention, I always have to check on how the rest of the audience is reaction, then judge them on it. They passed.
The headliner was Garrison Keillor. I was not thrilled with the idea of seeing Garrison. Back in the day when WNYC was on my radio presets I’d hear some great music and listen. Then this annoying guy would come on with his cloying folksy approach talking about Lake Wobegon. It took me a long time to discover that Prairie Home Companion was a cultural touchstone and that many of my friends adored him. As I wasn’t a fan I considered leaving after Debi’s set but decided that was stupid. I should give Mr. Keillor a chance. Things are different live. Maybe I’d find out that I loved him. So, I stayed. You know what? He’s even more annoying live than on the radio. The show started as autobiography then segued into Lake Wobegon. The story of the genesis of the fictional town was interesting. He got a job right out of college at a small rural college radio station. He had no qualifications but nobody else applied for the job as it was the 5AM shift. Hey I could do that, I’m doing it on Election Day. Then comes the part where his story was inconsistent. When he explained why he was unqualified for the job part of the reason is that he had a puritanical family that didn’t listen to the radio. Then he said the reason he came up with Lake Wobegon is that he grew up listening to commercial radio. I’ll take the part about not listening to the radio as the stretch of truth as it makes for a better story if he did. He was at a non-commercial station but felt that a radio show should have sponsors and he started promoting these small businesses. Then he invented a town where the businesses existed. One person in the audience was shocked to discover that Lake Wobegon wasn’t real.
Hey Garrison if you are reading this don’t hold it against Debi. I made up the part about knowing her for years and talking to her after the show. She’s probably drawing up a restraining order as I write this. Nope, none of that happen, and I certainly didn’t see many people looking at their cell phones during your set or one woman falling asleep. He did get a standing ovation at the end. I did not stand, I resisted the social pressure. There’s nothing wrong with being the one person in the crowd that feels differently.
I did not take my daily donut walk so I went for a walk after the show. Instead of getting on the A train at 14th street and switching to the D at Columbus Circle I walked up to 34th Street and Sixth Ave to catch the D. That isn’t quite far enough so I walked very quickly. I’ve either slowed down with age or they made the Manhattan lights cycle a hair faster. For years my rule of thumb was that when I was walking very quickly on an avenue the timing with the lights was perfect. If I crossed one street as the light turned green, I would reach the next one right before it turned red, I would have to run a tad at the end to catch the light. If I maintained the same speed, I’d have a short wait at the next block for it to turn green, so I’d try and walk a hair’s breadth slower. I found that I had to run faster and longer to make the second light. The difference is miniscule but it’s there.
I have no plans for today. I will take my Donut Walk™ or maybe get a flu shot and a COVID-19 test. Perhaps I can do all three. I have a wedding on Saturday and want to make sure I’m not infected before I go. Now to make my breakfast.
Wise Madness 