I’m back! My shoulder and back are still sore but I am going to try and write today because I’ve been busy and want to catch up. Writing is good for my soul. I was going to write that writing is good for my mental health which seems more fitting for an anti-mystic rationalist. The problem is that it makes it sound like I blog to avoid negative consequences rather than for its inherent value. Saying soul helps convey that even more than for my happiness. It makes me feel good.
OK now what have I been up to the last week? Let’s start with Friday night. Dan aka Dangerous Dan Macgrew. The show was at the Irish Arts Center on 10th avenue in Hell’s Kitchen. Dan found us an amazing place to eat, Cheeseboat.
As you can see this is pretty much designed for me. You might think this is some sort of fast food invention but this is traditional George fare. No, not that George, the Republic of Georgia in the Caucuses. They have one other location just 12 minutes from school. Maybe I’ll go there as a special treat when the mood hits me.
Now back to the Irish Arts Center. We went for an Irish Session. Dan and I both enjoy those. This one was led by Caitlin Warbelow. My Gentle Readers might recognize her name as she was an important part of my life during the great pandemic lockdown. She led the Tune Supply Virtual Irish Session which I watched weekly on Thursday nights. The sessions were highly interactive with Caitlin and her musical and life partner Chris inviting the audience to chat. There were regular features like a dictionary game. People would send in pictures and tell jokes. This is my natural milieu and I participated enough that we became friends without ever meeting. She sent me her music and I played it on Gord’s Gold. Those virtual sessions ending is one of the few things I miss from the lockdown. They were a continuation of the live sessions At Mary O’s in the East Village. I went to those a number of times when they returned but it was difficult. Now that I have to get up at 5:30 making that impossible. I have one other connection with Caitlin, she was one of the onstage musicians in Come From Away. That makes David Hein and Irene Sankoff mutual friends. It’s a very small world.
I saw Caitlin on my computer every week. She only met me twice at sessions. I never expected her to recognize me, especially as I was wearing a mask. Yet somehow she did. We didn’t get to talk, she was too busy leading the session, which rocked the Casbah but she smiled and waved to me while fiddling. I was going to talk to her after the session but that was when my shoulder pain was at its worst. After two and a half hours I hit my limit and had to head home.
I did not leave the house all weekend. The one place I wasn’t in pain was my recliner so I stayed there and kept icing the shoulder. Typing was painful so I didn’t blog. Sorry.
I went to school on Monday but had to leave right after my last class as the pain was still awful. Starting Monday I switched from ice to heat and that helped more. I stayed in my chair most of the time and was feeling good enough the next day to try it without the sling. Most importantly I didn’t wear my one shoulder backpack. That made a big difference. I left early on Tuesday for therapy. When I got home I discovered to my dismay that the hospital screwed up and put me down for Wednesday. That was great for my shoulder but I felt bad leaving early three days in a row.
Tuesday night was On Your Radar; Bobtown was the closing act. If there is any band that I can comfortably say, “I’m with the band” about it’s Bobtown. As they are very much in my social circle I got to hang out not just with the band members, Karen, Jen, and Katherine, and not just the OYR Regulars, especially Fred, Jeff, Carol, and Briana, but friends there to see Bobtown, David, Allison, and Carolann. We originally planned on going out afterward but we got out so late those plans were dashed. We did our socializing there. That should have gotten me more sleep but the train home was slow and I didn’t get back until 11:30 and didn’t get to sleep until after midnight. Remember I get up at 5:30.
The show was of course fantastic. This was not full Bobtown, it was the trio, the men are left out. Alan’s guitar and banjo are awesome but there’s a different charm to the harmony trio. Everyone was wowed.
More adventures on Wednesday. I once again had to leave school early for therapy. Usually I get home about 15 minutes before the session starts. No such luck on Wednesday. I made a great connection from the F to what I thought was the D which takes me home. But no, it was the B. That’s not that big a deal. I just had to change at 145th street. I got off and saw there was a 30 minute wait for the D, my session was in 30 minutes. Oy vey. I had to use UBER which was way expensive. And I still got on zoom five minutes late. Then I got bad news, my therapist is leaving, I have to break in a new one, I hate changing therapists.
After therapy I had about an hour until I had to leave to go back to Brooklyn to meet Kevin for dinner before we went to see The Bonny Light Horseman at Music Hall of Williamsburg. That’s only 0.9 miles from school. If they hadn’t screwed up my therapy schedule I would have gone directly there and saved two and a half hours of subway riding. But it was a great night. We had dinner at Allswell, a restaurant new to us, that is only half a mile from school. That would have been perfect. I had spicy hot chicken. It was fantastic. Then we got to the venue in time to get standing room right by the stage. Because of my shoulder we then tried to get a table in the mezzanine. Sadly the only empty table had a reservation on it for Cassie’s Parent. Cassie is Cassandra Jenkins who opened the show. I know her parents well, Richard and Sandy host a great house concert series that I often attend. It would have been perfect if we could have snagged the table next to theirs.
Bonny Light Horseman is the trio of Anaïs Mitchell, Josh Kaufman, and Eric D. Johnson. We know them through Anaïs. They are one of the central musicians at the intersection of Kevin’s and my tastes. The ticket was my birthday present from Kevin. My birthday is in July, we’ve had them for a long time. Thow show was a sellout.
At the show they played songs from a new album that I didn’t know existed. Rolling Golden Holy. What I heard was fantastic. How did I not know about it? I’m doing my Best Albums show in a couple of weeks and from what I heard it it’l make the list. Why didn’t their radio guy send it to me? I got their last one. I’ll have to email him and ask for it.
By the end of the show my arm was hurting but it was well worth it. I was even able to make it home at around midnight so I could get five hours sleep.
That’s all I have time to write. Maybe I’ll write again tomorrow.
Wise Madness 