Sorry for not.posting for so long. I’m not dead, injured, sick, or kidnapped. As I doubt very much that any kidnapper would be able to duplicate my inimitable style you can believe the first sentence.
What I have been is both busy and discombobulated. So much has gone on that I don’t have the space to cover everything in the detail it deserves. Instead I’ll give you a whirlwind tour of the last week.
Last Tuesday was John Platt’s On Your Radar; the guests were Jaimee Harris, Reese Fulmer, and Girl Blue. Since I started teaching I have found the timing awkward. I get out of school at four and I like to get to Rockwood before doors for the show open at 6:30. As it takes about an hour and 15 minutes to get home, that leaves me time to get home, hang out for 15 minutes, and then head right back out. It takes me only a half an hour to get there from school so I’m left with too much time to kill. Last week the obvious solution came to me, walk to Rockwood and spend the rest of my time eating a sit down meal. I need the exercise so it’s a win-win situation. It’s about three miles away, an hour walk across the Williamsburg Bridge. I love walking across New York’s Bridges. That three miles was according to Google Maps. The Samsung Health app said I walked 4.2 miles. I’ll go with that as it makes me feel better. That’s a joke, I don’t know which is more accurate.
Once that was decided it was just a matter of deciding where to eat. It could be anyplace along the route. I decided to try a highly rated Caribbean restaurant on Clinton Street in the Lower East Side. The place was vastly overrated. My chicharrones were all dried out, I couldn’t finish them, though the plantains were excellent. I will try someplace else next time.
I have a conflict of interest when writing about On Your Radar; I help promote the series and I’m friends with John. My solution is to give what I heard other people say, except for Jaimee who I have already written about so it’s established that I love her and her music. She put on a helluva show, a great blend of songwriting, singing, and personality. The best praise I can give for Reese and Girl Blue is that people came out of the show talking about all of them, not just Jammie. The consensus was that it was one of the best editions of On Your Radar. I hate being circumspect about what I write. What I really hate, as I pretty much never get to do it, is pan someone who is terrible. I have made up pseudonyms for acts, in particular, The Act. That is the only way I have ever referred to them. My favorite line about them (undetermined number and gender) is that when they had to make an artistic decision they didn’t. Another classic about someone else was, “They each sang in their own key and played in a third.” A friend came up with when describing a band, “The singer can’t sing, and the guitarist lost his place.”
Enough of that, This was a week of great music and I should accentuate the positive. That is more fun, it’s just that I get to do that all the time. I hear a lot of fabulous music.
On Friday I had no school because of Eid al Fitr. That meant I got to spend the day close to home. That night I went to The Porch NYC in Sugar Hill. That’s a section of Harlem. I did not know that until Mark and Beth moved there and opened the Porch. It’s a restaurant with live music. I can get there in 20 minutes, it’s as close as any venue has been to my home in terms of travel time. It’s owned by friends, it has fantastic food, and live music. I really need to go there more often. If I go by myself I have to sit at the bar so you should join me. They also have great brunch on the weekend. I was there to see the Terrific Tamar Korn and Kornucopia. I did not see the band name written out but I assumed that’s how it’s spelled. Am I right Tamar? She plays a range of music but that night she was there as an old time jazz band. She’s perfect for it. I watched the show with Beth, that was extra fun as we haven’t hung out in ages. The way I put it to Beth is that if you were going to have a scene in a movie at a jazz club you’d cast Tamar, She also has a total Betty Boop vibe. One great coincidence is that the first time I saw Tamar I said that she could be Beth’s sister. They generate the same energy. They are also both short, adorable, have curly hair and great singing voices. Tamar is perpetually on my “need to see more often” list. If she plays at the Porch more that will be an easy goal to accomplish.
Let’s not forget the food, The Porch is primarily a restaurant. I had a brisket sandwich with a side of fries, it was exquisite. Will I be able to resist it next time to try the pulled pork? I usually prefer pork, but something told me to try the brisket. I can still conjure up the flavor in my mouth. Then I had dessert, or should I say desserts. Apple pie and pistachio cake ala mode. I was not eager to try the pistachio but Beth recommended it. Beth you were right, that was heavenly. The desserts are made fresh and you have to ask what’s on the menu that day. If the pistachio is there, go for it. The pie was very good apple pie, but you can always get apple pie.
Saturday’s adventure was going up to The Common Ground Concerts in Dobbs Ferry. This is their 20th and final season. The show was the penultimate one. The artist was Jill Sobule and it was a sellout. Carter Smith’s taste is the closest to mine of any presenter. He never books nice people playing nice songs nicely. He does book the acts that stand out from the. His artists lean towards pistachio cake more than apple pie. That includes Jill, a true original. She’s a folkie who needed corrective shoes as a kid but has the heart of a rocker. People that seem ordinary but are anything but, inhabit her songs. In my mind, Underdog Victorious is her theme song and the title I’ll use when writing her biography. It will come out on a George R.R. Martin schedule. You can preorder it now, just send me money and have faith in the process.
Jill brought her own merch guy, her road manager, Tony. He’s a true kindred spirit. I’d love to have more time to talk to him. That did mean I didn’t have my usual job to do, so I appointed myself artist liaison. In other words I called my usual hanging out with the artist a job. Jill and I have known each other for over 20 years. Is that right? I’ve certainly known her for over 25, I don’t know when she became aware of my existence.
Guess who else was there, Beth! I n0t only got to hang out with her two days in a row but she also gave me a ride home. As I wasn’t doing merch I didn’t have to stay late I was home earlier than when I’m usually boarding the train home.
That was not the end of my adventures; on Sunday afternoon I went to the Knick game playoff game. They won! They now lead the series 3-1. They have won only one playoff series this millennium. Winning a second would be huge. I still have issues with how the team was built and with the coach Thibideau but I’ll all in now. If they win this round I’ll consider it an extraordinarily successful season.
Tonight, I’m going to the Met game. I told you I was busy. How far behind am I in my blogging, I left out an idiot story. I might write a separate blog about it after a slow day.
Wise Madness 