I became insane with long intervals of horrible sanity.
The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.
Many people would sooner die than think; In fact, they do so
What I have been telling you, from alpha to omega, what is the one great thing the sigil taught me — that everything in life is miraculous. For the sigil taught me that it rests within the power of each of us to awaken at will from a dragging nightmare of life made up of unimportant tasks and tedious useless little habits, to see life as it really is, and to rejoice in its exquisite wonderfulness. If the sigil were proved to be the top of a tomato-can, it would not alter that big fact, nor my fixed faith. No Harrowby, the common names we call things by do not matter — except to show how very dull we are ...
February 10, 2008 - 1:30 a.m.
Once again I have no idea why I waited so long to update. At least it is before midnight. I'm actually in the middle of an online bridge tournament. I'm dummy now and using the time to write.
I started the day giving a new meaning to "hot breakfast." I had an omelet I beat hot sauce into the eggs. I made it with andouille sausage and jalapeno jack cheese with and put Cajun blackening on it. It was delicious.
The peanut butter free diet seems to actually be working. This was the least itchy day I've had in ages.
I signed up on the Trachtenburg Family mailing list ages ago. I think it was last summer. They finally put me on the list this week. There were no Slideshow Players shows announced but there was one for Rachel's Morning Show. I had a preview of it the last time I saw the whole family together and figured I had to check it out. You can get a feel for it by watching The video of it they have on their website. . It is as neuro as it gets, pure Trainwreck with Clowns. As a matter of fact if Trainwreck wasn't on hiatus I'd be very tempted to ask Rachel if we could play in the show. I have a feeling she'd say yes. So what is Rachel's morning show? I guess I should start with who Rachel is. She is the drummer in the band and the daughter of Jason and Tina. She is all of 13 years old, which actually seems old as I've known her since she was 8 or 9. She puts on shows for kids that I think the parents enjoy just as much. I wasn't the only childless adult there. There are puppets and arts and crafts and snacks and music and special guests and a barrel of monkeys would fit right in. Today was the Valentine's Day show. One skit consisted of one of the cast members being stood up on a date and in search of new Valentine. Guess who she picked? Yes, yours truly. I now have a fine Valentine's Day Card made out to "My New Boyfriend." I also made my own Valentine that I cut out with the plastic scissors they handed out. I also got a lollypop. I am so mad that I forgot to bring the camera batteries I left in my charger at home. The ones in my camera went dead before I took my first picture. This was a gold mine of photo ops. At then end of the show there is a sing-a-long. As a change of pace instead of having it in the theater we all put on our coats and went outside and sang If I Had A Hammer as we paraded down Bleecker Street. This really needs to be seen to be believed. Who wants to go with me to the next show in two weeks?
I planned on doing a musical doubleheader today. Jason Trachtenburg had his own show tonight in Brooklyn. I wanted to go but then decided against it. Does that mean I'm getting old?
Part of the reason I stayed home is that I had to run out to Home Depot tonight because the other bulb in the Kitchen fixture went out. I should have bought two when I was there a few weeks ago. It was close timing. I put in my potato then planned on going to Home Depot while it cooked but I got a phone call as I was about to leave. It was from the Census Bureau. A representative had visited the house today to interview me but I wasn't home. The guy left a note and I called him back but got his voice mail. He then called me back as I was leaving. He did his interview on the phone. Before you ask the way I know it is legit is that I got mail from the census bureau telling me to expect a visit.
The other reason I stayed home is that I am going out tomorrow night to see Antje Duvekot at the Uptown Coffeehouse. Anyone want to join me for that? The one thing I don't like is that the show is at 5:00. When am I going to eat dinner? I don't want to do the linner thing because there is an open house tomorrow. I can't really enjoy a meal while people are running around the house. I might go to the movies during the Open House just to avoid them.
Does anyone want to join me for Antje's show? If you haven't seen her you should.
I finally posted the photos I took last week at the Red Molly show. Here is a link to them
Now I'll continue with my musical autobiography.
I left you off in the mid-Nineties. I was by this time going out to hear live music at least once a week. If there was nobody playing that I knew I'd just go down to Cafe Sine or the Sidewalk Cafe and listen to whoever happened to be playing that night. This is also the period when I started volunteering at WFUV. I started out doing one shift a week but after a few years I started doing as many as possible. I started helping out other people and became the unofficial volunteer supervisor. It didn't become official for many years.
The station started a series at the Bottom Line called "Required Listening." They'd bring in four bands and you'd see all of them for one low price. If you liked the first show you could stay for the late show free. In addition after every 5 shows the sixth was free. I discovered so many acts that way including The Kennedys and Eddie From Ohio. My musical horizons kept expanding.
Back in 1994 or so I heard a band being interviewed on either Vin Scelsa or WFUV that I thought was Bare Naked Ladies. I know I saw them at the Bottom line when they were started out, it might have been a required listening show too. I know there were other acts with them. I was disappointed with BNL live but I loved this interview and the songs they played. I thought they had greatly improved. Then I heard that it wasn't BNL but a band with the unlikely name of Moxy Fruvous. They went straight to the head of my must see list. They announced that they were playing at my favorite hangout, Cafe Sine. For some reason or other I couldn't go and that's what happened for the next couple of years when they came to the City. Then I finally connected with them. When I saw them live it was love at first sight. They became my favorite band. I signed up on their mailing list so I wouldn't miss shows and saw every show in the area. I always enjoyed the company of the people at the shows, far more so than for any other band that I followed. I was disappointed that I didn't form any lasting friendships with any of them. I tried but I guess they were never interested. Just around the same time I got my first computer and entered the world of internet. I started posted on AMMF, the Moxy Fruvous newsgroup. I started to be somewhat known in the fandom, Fruheads. I searched profiles on AOL looking for other Fruheads. That is how I met Lisa. I saw that she had Moxy Fruvous and Rubik's Cube listed as interests. The first thing I IMed her was, "Will you marry me?" She said no but we've been friends for over ten years now.
Rita Houston, the WFUV music director told me that I had to go to the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival. I resisted a few years because I didn't want to go alone but in 1999 I decided that I had to see what it was like. I went up by my lonesome, pitched my tent, and went in search of people to talk to. I came across a big tent with the Moxy Fruvous budgiedog logo on it and the sign "Camp Lori-Steve." I waited around for someone to show up. While I was waiting I met a few other Fruheads attracted by the sign. Finally the owners, Lori and Steve showed up. I had met them previously at a concert and talked to Lori but only knew them as friends of friends of Fruwench. Her real name was Jen but I could never remember that in those days.
I ended up spending all my time away from the main stage at Camp Fruvous, which is what everyone ended up calling Camp Lori-Steve. When Steve found out I was a math Geek he started talking to me about his plans for the next year's festival. He wanted to build this large structure out of PVC pipe, rope and tarp. Yes this is the genesis of the fabled The Budgiedome.
In Falcon Ridge did Steve Martin A stately Budgiedome decree...
So I became part of the planning of the Budgiedome simply because I'm a nerd. That is what led to my friendship with Lori and Steve, it wasn't the other way around.
We never again heard from most of the denizens of that initial Budgiedomeless Camp Fruvous. The next year when the dome went up a new crop of Fruheads joined us but that's getting ahead of myself.
When Fruhead.com started I joined the first day. That is where I really started making friends some of which I still keep in touch with. Some of them are reading this right now. One of them might very well be you.
By the time of the 2000 Falcon Ridge Festival I had developed a sizable group of Fruhead friends that all pretty much knew each other. I was influential in getting a lot of them to go up to the Festival. I pretty much told them they had to go. I even provided a tent for a pair of them despite the fact that I didn't own a tent. I borrowed two from my sister. When one of them proved poleless when I unpacked it I had to run to town and buy another one. You don't let little things like that stop you when you are at Falcon Ridge.
If you build it they will come.
At night after the Main Stage shut down we sat around the Budgiedome and sang Fruvous songs. It was great even though I can't sing. Then a strange thing happened. Professional musicians started coming in and playing for us. I actually slept through most of this but I heard some in the dome and some from my tent. One of the musicians that played was Eric Schwartz. I did not see or hear him at all but Carey started telling me about him. My first exposure to his songs was Carey singing them. She can actually learn a song from just hearing it once or twice, not like me. I went to see Eric with Carey a few times then on my own. By this time I was talking to musicians all the time and Eric and I became friends. Then one day at a show he asks me if he could have a regular gig at the Budgiedome. He'd announce it on his website. I told him I'd check with Lori and Steve but I'm sure they answer would be yes. It was. That is how I became the Budgiedome music coordinator. Once again it was pretty much pure chance. It was just an outgrowth of my being friendly.
Once I was on the path to being a presenter I couldn't turn back. I started asking people to play. It started out with me asking one band to play with the rest of the schedule filled in by the people that just showed up but it soon grew till I was booking every night and the walk-ins played after the booked acts were done. They are still an integral part of the Budgiedome experience. Antje was a Budgiedome walk in.
So now we are all official, there is a The Budgiedome website. We printed up Budgiedome cards. We have our official Emcee, Paul. Every year we end up making more preparations. Next year we hope to have an improved lighting system. We've learned that if that musicians will play just to have an audience. They also won't say no to single malt scotch or chocolate.
So now I spend the weeks before Falcon Ridge frantically trying to make a schedule and keeping up with the last minute changes. Every year one major act has to either cancel or change dates at the last minute. Somehow it always works out. When Russell Wolff was kidnapped by the Big Orange Tarp we had nobody to play the dome and we didn't want to lose our audience so we asked if anyone there wanted to play. Meg Braun and Aviv Roth stepped into the breach and I discovered two new musicians I liked. Meg runs totally in the same circles I do, I see her at shows all the time.
A few years ago I tried something new. I invited Jim Infantino to play. What was new was that Jim didn't know me at all. I had no idea how'd he respond. I was somewhat surprised when he said, "yes." The Budgiedome had taken on a life of its own and people had actually heard of it.
So that pretty much brings us up to the present. I've left out important things though. I'll try an catch up with them next entry.
I signed the Pro-Truth Pledge:
please hold me accountable.
Memories: Not that Horrid Song - May 29, 2018
Wise Madness is Now In Session - May 28, 2018
The NFL and the First Amendment - May 27, 2018
On The Road Again - May 26, 2018
Oliver the Three-Eyed Crow - May 25, 2018
creative commons
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.
Horvendile February 10, 2008
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