Dateline Arthouse Hotel: Lena is visiting New York, has an extra bed in her room, so I’m crashing here rather than commuting back to the Bronx. What have we been doing? Music and food; in other words what I always do and write about. Well sometimes it’s food and music. On Monday night we attempted to see the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree. We didn’t want to fight the crowd, so we saw it from the side on 49th street. I should go back one day this season for a closer look. We wanted to eat outdoors so we went to the Bryant Park Holiday Market. I had KFC, Korean Fried Chicken. The guy behind me called in KFC and I liked that. It’s not like Southern fried chicken, it’s hotter than buffalo wings. I love it. Then we were off to a new music venue, Wild Birds. It opened during COVID-19, which is why I had never been there. The music is very much to my taste and my crowd was there. We caught Akie Bermiss’s second set and then Tucci Swing.
Akie is the keyboard player in Lake Street Dive. The first time I saw him with them, Kevin was excited; he’s a fan. That made me want to check him out, then COVID-19 hit. I next saw Akie doing an online reading of Kari Groff’s and Kristin Andreassen’s book, Victor and the Great Pause. You can watch that as soon as you finish reading this.
Akie was delightful reading it, which made me want to see him more. When we walked in, I saw Jared Engel. Lena recognized him as he played bass the night before when we saw Nora Brown and Hannah Read. Brooklyn music is a small world. Turns out he played bass with Tucci Swing. Then we spotted Katie and said hi to her. After we sat down, I saw Alex sitting down front. Later when I went to the bathroom, I saw Andrea. At first, I thought it was Andrea, then I decided she was too young to be Andrea, then I decided it was her, so I went over to say hi. COVID-19 was terrible, but I am enjoying the reunions with people. We are all just so happy to see each other. She was with Dave, the former bass player in her band Cricket Tell the Weather. It just clicked, the first time I saw Akie with Lake Street Dive we were sitting with Hans, who succeeded Dave as Cricket’s bassist. Folk music is a village.
Akie was even better than I expected. He plays jazz, but jazz I can play on Folk Music Notebook. I made sure to introduce myself to Akie after his set. He asked if I knew Andrea and Dave. Wild Birds, like Barbès and Jalopy has a scene. Each is distinctive but they overlap. If they were closer together it could be more like Greenwich Village in the 60s. I will be going back to Wild Birds. If I still lived in Brooklyn, I’d be a regular. I have just two complaints. It’s not that close to the subway, and more importantly, people weren’t wearing masks. I had my KN95 on the entire time. That is my compromise. I’ll go to a place that requires proof of vax; I’ll just to be careful to wear the KN95, not a cloth or surgical mask.
I just saw Katie Martucci on Saturday night, but that was solo, this was with Tucci Swing. I was an idiot and forgot the pad with her mailing list that she left at Voices in the Heights. That doesn’t surprise anyone, does it? Tucci Swing primarily plays music from the 30s and 40s with a sound akin to the Boswell Sisters who they do quite a few covers of. They look the part, and their harmonies are magnificent. People in the audience Swing Danced. They threw in some Christmas songs. They were recording for a live album. If it were out, I’d play a song for my Christmas show next week. I’ll play it next year. It’s silly but I like playing live recordings from shows I attended.
This was a late night. Tucci didn’t go on until 9:30 and we didn’t leave until near midnight. I’m glad I didn’t have to go all the way to the Bronx. I miss doing late shows, I should do that more often. This was much easier when I lived in Brooklyn and had a shorter ride home, or when I lived in Queens and had a car.
Last night we went to John Platt’s On Your Radar; the artists were Gawain and the Green Knight, Zoe Fitzgerald Carter, and the Blessed Unread. Our dinner adventure was Bel Fries, my new Rockwood Show go to. I ate mine as we walked, Lena had hers at the show. I didn’t get there before doors, that’s so unusual for me. I didn’t know any of the artists so there was no socializing and as I was with Lena didn’t do the just checking things are running smoothly.
We were missing three of our first-row regulars, Richard, Viki, and Fred. Dan and Phyllis had their usual seats behind John and Coco sat behind us. Coco moved to Beacon so it’s a big deal that she still comes to many of the shows. She came with the woman that bought her house who was delightful. I remembered her name, Jackie, or maybe Jacqui; that should be easy as it’s my roommates name. I like the idea of staying friends with the Blue House family.
Gawain and the Green Knight were my revelation. The name comes from the medieval poem, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. As a fan of the Morte D’Arthur and Tolkien that was a necessary part of my reading list. Tolkien wrote a translation of it. It’s a super weird story. The Green Knight issues a challenge to Gawain that Gawain can cut off his head if a year later the Knight can cut of Gawain’s. I won’t give any spoilers but if someone offers you a bet like that don’t take it.
Alexia and Mike are as intellectually silly as you’d expect from people that chose that band name. Their ridiculous songs include a lesson on why Louis XIV established the court of Versailles as a means of controlling the nobility. They sing about Greek mythology. They are masters of arcana, my people. They are also great musicians; this is not a novelty act.
I love that in two days I saw two acts for the first time that I got excited over, Gawain and Akie. I just remembered a weird coincidence. When ordering the fries from Bel Fries, I heard the guy next to me say that his name was Aakim. Akie’s real name is Aakim. Aakim ordering fries was talking to someone he just met named Akim, an alternate spelling. It’s clearly national Aakim week.
We don’t have any plans for today other than food. That last two nights were busy, today we take it easy. I had four concerts in four nights, Katie Martucci, Hannah Read and Nora Brown, Akie and Tucci Swing, and On Your Radar. To be careful I took COVID-19 tests yesterday. The rapid turned out negative. Testing is the last part of my compromise with COVID-19. Everything is about balance. This week was a bit extreme in terms of exposure, but I don’t make a habit of it. I don’t regularly eat at indoor restaurants but the few times I did, I didn’t panic. As of now the marginal risk in New York is small. It will go up as people mingle for the holidays. It’s so easy to get tested here that it’s not a big inconvenience to be tested regularly. I want to live my life but keep others safe.
Wise Madness 