Time to write an archetypal Wise Madness, one about concerts. I think those are my most popular entries. On Friday I saw Carolann Solebello joined by special guest Meg Braun at Rockwood Music Hall. Carolann and Meg are both Chicks with Dip which guaranteed that this would be a gathering of the tribe, Carolann plays there once a month, but Meg deserted us for Nashville, so this was a special occasion. She was in town for the Marathon. I won’t have to strain to remember who else was there as we took a selfie; I see Kirsten (I always have to check that spelling five times), Carolann, Meg, Aviv, Victoria, and Katherine. Katherine is the one that figured out how to take a selfie of all of us.
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Carolann plays Rockwood monthly, and I go monthly. She’s working on a new album, and I get to hear the new songs. There was one I especially loved. You want to hear about it? So do I. That was Friday night and I have no memory beyond loving it. I think I mentioned it to Carolann, I hope so, I want to make sure it’s included in the album. I’m not sure that most people that aren’t musicians or nerds know that artists almost always write and even record more songs than they can use on an album. As of yet none have used the surefire method of deciding on the right songs, leaving it up to me. I should also replace the electoral college and hand out all post-season baseball awards. And with that I remembered the song I particularly loved at the concert, but that’s Saturday’s concert and that album has already been released and I’m playing the song on Gord’s Gold the week after next. Let’s just say that I loved the set, and I loved Meg’s setlist. This is where I need to make something clear. For the most part I can separate how I feel about a person and how I feel about their music. It’s important to me that others respect my taste in music, that way my opinion carries weight, and I can help the artists that deserve it. So yes, I love Carolann and Meg as people, and I love them as musicians too. I love them so much as musicians that forgot to start taking pictures again when Meg got on stage. Sorry Meg.
After the show we went out to eat and I had my favorite cuisine, post-concert food with friends. I’m difficult and two of us are vegan but it turns out we all like Indian. We went to 6th street which used to be all Indian restaurants, now there seemed to be just one. That seems impossible, were we on the wrong block? I don’t think so. As I want to return to tradition, I’ll tell you what I ordered, Tikka Chicken Masala. I was warned that it was hot. I love hot. I didn’t expect it to be that hot. I still love it but couldn’t finish it. Next time I need a better strategy of alternating bites with the naan. Better than any blog I could write is a record of our conversation. You bring five intelligent creative people with many shared experiences together and that’s a recipe for an Algonquin Round Table except that we are easier to spell. That’s a callback to a 24 year old joke that none of you were there for. Take it from me, it was both hilarious and deep. Sadly, we couldn’t all make the dinner including Meg. She had to get a sleep schedule set for today’s marathon. Victoria had to get back to Staten Island. If this were a sitcom, we’d have made fun of them during dinner. We are too nice for that, well the other people are, and even I had no desire to make fun of Victoria or Meg. Carolann told a true story about how the entire path of her life was set by one night at an open mic where she met so many people central to her life including two husbands and a bandmate, or is that the other way around? This needs to be turned into a play. The last scene would be us at the Indian Restaurant discussing it. Carolann might not have known any of us without that night.
After dinner I headed home. All I did today was record next week’s Gord’s Gold. Tomorrow I’ll write about Saturday. I will once again try and get back into the swing of daily blogging.
Wise Madness 