With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.
The good life, as I conceive it, is a happy life. I do not mean that if you are good you will be happy - I mean that if you are happy you will be good.
Too much sanity may be madness and the maddest of all, to see life as it is and not as it should be.
The only way to find the limits of the possible is by going past them into the impossible.
July 20, 2009 - 3:59 p.m.
The Iliad
Yesterday was my Fifty Second birthday and I wanted to celebrate. I broke my elbow on the Fourth of July and I had a Crohn's disease attack the last two days but I woke up Sunday morning feeling great and ready for action. I had not eaten in two day so in true hobbit fashion I had two breakfasts, a peanut butter sandwich at home then sausage egg & cheese on a croissant at Dunkin' Donuts. The latter was the first stop of my travels with Chris. That was not our objective of course, when he picked me up he asked if there was a DD nearby since he hadn't eaten and that was all that I needed to talk me into the second breakfast. Then we were off to Ringwood New Jersey to see everyone's favorite New Grass band, Crooked Still. We avoided the heavy traffic on the Whitestone Bridge, took alternate routes and me it there just about when we planned; We were the first ones on the line by a matter of a minute.
While we were waiting outside Aoife came out to get something from their trailer. When she came back in she spotted me and smiled. I love the feeling of putting a smile on somebody's face. She came over to say hi before finishing her preparation for the show.
This is the point I always get stuck at, I never know how to write about shows. I can talk about them but find the monologue difficult. I'll do the best I can. Crooked Still is one of the bands whose strength is their musicianship and their style emphasizes it. In blue grass fashion everyone other than Corey, the bass player take turns with the lead. This means they all have to be a virtuosi on their instruments: Aoife's – voice, guitar and ukulele, Greg – banjo, Brittany - violin, Tristan on Cello. Corey holds it all together.
Brittany and Tristan are relatively new to the band and I love the way I remember their names. Brittany is a Celtic enclave in the west of France. Cornwall is a Celtic enclave in the west of Great Britain. In the Arthurian legend the one great Cornish knight was Tristan. If I remember one I can remember the other.
I was surprised how few people I knew at the show, it was pretty much just Bob, a WFUV volunteer.
After the show we headed up to Bodles Opera House in Chester NY to see Red Molly. We got their early and had dinner across the street first at the "Saloon/Restaurant." We got there at 4:55 and their was an early bird Prime Rib dinner till 5:00 I ordered at 5:01 but they gave it to me anyway as we got their on time. When my parents were alive they traditionally took me out for prime rib on my birthday. I loved honoring the tradition. I also loved the Prime Rib. I had some doubts about how good it would be but it was great. In keeping with another tradition, Chris had BBQ. I love tradition.
Near the end of our meal we heard someone at the next table say, "I'm the only one at the table whose birthday isn't today." I of course had to say something. It was actually the birthday of two of them, I suspect a grandfather and grand daughter. The other grand-daughter's birthday was last week. The mother was the only one not celebrating. Alan loves pointing out that if you are at baseball game, movie, or restaurant, more it will be the birthday of more than 1/365 of the people there. People go out to celebrate.
After dinner we moseyed across the street to Boodles. They had already set up the merch so we just needed the bank. The Mollies weren't around though and we hung out with Dennis, Anthony da Costa's father. Anthony was the opening act. A little while later Abbie came down, then Laurie. She said that we should go up with her to the Green Room, get the bank, and say hi to Carolann. As soon as we walked in the room Everyone, Abbie, Carolann, Laurie, Anthony, Dennis, and Chris sang happy birthday to me! There was even a cake! A red velvet cake! On the cake it said, "We Love You Gordon!" As I just read in an entry I wrote years ago, "Nothing says love like chocolate."
I was really moved. I hope I showed my appreciation. I hope they know how good it made me feel. I hope they know that I love them too.
Oh, Laurie said that I have to tell you that the cake came from Buddy Valastro, The Cake Boss, from the TLC show. All I know was that it was really good. Have I mentioned that nothing says love like chocolate?
After the cake and party we left Red Molly to get ready for the show and returned to our merching duties.
Anthony and Red Molly put on their usual wonderful shows. The only ones I knew at this show were Jeff & Karen. I didn't know it till later but they had called me and offered to take me out to dinner before the show. I guess that will have to wait till next year.
This was one of the best birthdays of my life.
I'll give a synopsis of what I left out. Achilles feelings were hurt when he didn't get the slave girl he wanted and sat out the battle. His friend Patrolocus wore his armor and led the Greeks to victory till he was slain by noble Hector. That led Achilles to return to the war. Fleet footed Achilles chased Hector, beloved of the gods, three times around Troy till he overtook and slew him. He dragged his body behind his chariot around Troy. Paris shot Achilles with an arrow in his one vulnerable spot, his heel, and slew him. Wily Odysseus (o-diss-soos) came up with a plan for ending the stalemate. The Greeks made a giant wooden horse in which they hid. When it was taken in the gates of Troy they climbed out, opened the gates to let the full army in and destroyed the city. The surviving Greek heroes including the wily Odysseus returned to their homes.
The Odyssey
After the great triumph of my birthday Chris drove us home. It was an uneventful ride and he dropped me off in front of my house at about 11:40. He made sure to remember that I take my hat which had Anthony's new CD in it. I reached for my keys then remembered that they weren't in my left front pocket where I always keep it because my left arm was still in a sling. They were in my fanny pack. I went to open my fanny pack and realized I wasn't wearing it. I left it on the floor in front of my seat in Chris's car. I went to call him on my cell phone. One problem. It was in my fanny pack. I went to the nearest pay phone. One problem, I don't know Chris's number, or anyone else's for that matter, by heart. I called information but Chris Chin is an incredibly common name. When I called the number I got an answering machine with a voice that didn't sound like Chris's. It didn't help that there was a fire across the street and the sound of sirens was everywhere. My next brilliant plan was to find a computer where I could get on the internet. I could then either find Chris's number on Facebook, if he listed it there, or find him on Facebook, or someone that knows his number there, or email him, or somehow contact him.
There are no internet cafes near me but there are two motels. Motels often have a computer to use even if you have to pay for it. Neither did. I decided that what I had to do was get on the subway and go to Chris's house. I don't know his address but I know where he lives and I know it is on the F line, the same one that I'm on.
One problem, it was the weekend and there was lots of construction going on. The train ran local in Queens and then switched to running on the C train line in Brooklyn. I had to switch to the G train which was running on the F train line. That actually makes sense if you look at a map and think about it long enough.
I had enough time to think about it as the trip took a couple of hours. I’m not sure how long because I didn't want to look at my watch. I didn't want to know how late it was.
I got to Chris's house and rang the bell, nobody answered. I rang it over and over again, nobody answered. I held it down. Nobody answered. I have no idea how long this went on but I realized that Chris's window was right above me so I shouted out. "Chris! It's Gordon." He came down and opened the door and I explained what happened. We went up to his apartment and found that the problem was not that they, Chris and his apartment mate Jill, who I've known a lot longer than I've known Chris, didn't wake up. It was that they thought it was some nut trying to bother them. They had called the police. Jill called the police to tell them everything was fine. She then called a cab for me while Chris and I walked to his car, blocked a couple of blocks away, for my fanny back. The cab company was around the corner from them so it came almost immediately.
I had a great birthday and I have even greater friends. Thank you everyone. Chris and Jill didn't act annoyed at all. They accept having a friend without a brain.
The cab ride home was easy, the driver was nice and I finally got back into my apartment at about 3:50 AM.
When Odysseus finally arrived home he found his dog, that raised it's aged head then died. His wife, Penelope was fending off the suitors that wanted her hand in marriage and the kingship. Odysseus with the help of his son slew the suitors and was able to live the rest of his life in peace. I mentioned the sirens but there were also adventures with Circe, the witch who turned my crew into animals, the Cyclops, Scylla & Charibdis and Calyspo. I didn't have time to include all that in the entry.
How To Be Cool - August 05, 2009
"Get out of America!" - August 04, 2009
Washington Bridge - August 01, 2009
Falcon Ridge 2009 - July 28, 2009
Fralcon Ridge Bound - July 22, 2009
Email me: GordonLew at gmail
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. Horvendile July 20, 2009
