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.
October 11, 2009 - 4:24 p.m.
I'm back within hours of my last entry writing another. I'll finally be caught up.
My plan yesterday was to go to Madison Square Park to see Tao Rodriguez-Seeger and Lindsay Mac then come home and take it easy. I'd read the paper, watch TV, and listen to Vin Scelsa. That isn't how it turned out.
I got to Madison Square Park early and grabbed seats for me, Chris, Lori not LORi and three of her friends. It took many sections of the Times to hold all those seats.
I hadn't discussed it with Chris and I've been pretty much in communicado thanks to the WFUV pledge drive. I gave him a call when I got there and found out he was in San Francisco. Yes he told me that but you should know I don't have a brain.
Lori showed up and joined me but her three friends canceled or didn't show up. It was just the two of us and I let other people take the other seats. Richard joined us. Good thing he brought his own chair. Between sets Peter joined us. He's an FUV volunteer too. The people next to us left so he and his friend Jeri (Geri? Jerri?) got their seats.
This was the best show in the Madison Square Studio series this year. Every previous year every show had at least one performer that played The Budgiedome. This year Lindsay was the only one. Perhaps that's fortunate as I wasn't able to make most of the shows.
Lindsay and Tao were both great. Lindsay seems to be rocking out more than she used to. That's not a bad thing. I'd have liked one song where she played the cello conventionally but that's not a big deal. I guess some of you need to hear what I'm talking about. Lindsay plays the cello like a guitar. You have to see it to believe it.
I never saw Tao with the band he had with him. They were great. I particularly like the fiddler.
The strangest thing is that I never had a chance to talk to Maggi or Lindsay. I always schmooze but not yesterday. I got my socializing fix from Lori, Peter, and Richard.
Lori had comps for the Dan Wilson at Zenkel Hall at Carnegie Hall. Cory Chisel was the opener. She was going to go with one of the friends that canceled so guess who she asked? I'll give you a hint, it wasn't Peter, Richard, or Geri. So much for my relaxing plans for the week. I said yes right away but I actually thought, "But I want to write my entry?" See how much I care about my Gentle Readers. I'm not a big fan of Wilson or Chisel but I love Zenkel Hall and more importantly I wanted to spend the day with Lori.
We had 3 ½ hours to the concert so we were in no rush. The first thing we did was go to the market in the park. Guess who I found there? Mon ami, the Mon Ami chocolate guy from France. I usually only see him at the holiday market between Thanksgiving and Christmas. He remembered me. I'm an enthusiastic customer. I not only tell him how much I love his chocolate I tell everyone around me. They probably think I'm a shill.
It was cold so dinner at the Shake Shack was out and we decided to go to Hill Country Market for barbecue. When we got there it was closed for a private function. Instead we went to Hog Heaven, across the street. Guess what kind of food they served. I actually got brisket as I had pulled pork three times this week. The portion was enormous. I couldn't finish it. That never happens. We still had tons of time after dinner so we decided to walk to Carnegie Hall. How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Walk up Sixth ave to Herald Square, Broadway to Times Square then up Seventh Avenue. Practice, practice, practice doesn't work in practice.
We stopped at Ricky's Halloween shop to look at costumes. My plan is to go as the Devil. I almost bought horns and a pitchfork but I wasn't really happy with them, I wasn't sure I wanted to be the Devil, and there was no room in backpack after buying the chocolate. I didn't mention that I bought it but you don't think I'm resisting the best chocolate in the world do you?
We got to Carnegie Hall at 7:30, the show started at 8:30. I didn't think they'd let us in but they did. They took or ticket, they let us into the building but not into the auditorium. We had no trouble amusing ourselves for half an hour. Mostly we talked but we also explored. The coolest thing was in one corner, totally out of the way. Most people will never see it. Zankel Hall is built underground, carved right out of the bedrock. In that corner there is no wall. You see the bedrock. It is Manhattan gneiss, just like you see exposed in Central Park. I think the whole place should be that way. It would feel like you're in cavern. Lori and I had three and a half hours between the concerts and it was much fun as the shows.
Our seats were in the first row of the mezzanine. No one sat past the third row. I think we all got our tickets from WFUV. It was part of their series. Rita Houston is the curator and host.
As I said I'm not a big fan of the performers. I didn't know Chisel at all. He sounds quite a bit like Springsteen. I'm guessing if you heard him and were asked who was singing you'd say, "Bruuuuce" without hesitating. That doesn’t mean he's as good as Bruce. Now that I heard him I'm still not a fan. He's entertaining but doesn't have that spark.
Dan Wilson is someone that I can't see the appeal of. He is so middle of road and totally forgettable. Yet he's something of a star. What was fun was where we sat for him set. Our original seats were at the back. Lori said next time she came she'd like to sit on the side right by the stage. I suggested that we move there after two songs by Dan Wilson. We did. We had the entire side to ourselves. It was like being at a private show. I had trouble resisting throwing the cough drops they supply at him and his accompanist. That isn't a reflection on his performance, it's just hard to resist. If it was someone I was really friendly with like Paul & Storm they'd have been pelted. I mean they were standing right under us. I always wanted to make shadow puppets with the lights.
I'm seeing 5 concerts in 4 days, Runa, Renaissance, Tao-Lindsay, Wilson-Chisel, and today Christine Lavin. Wilson and Chisel played in the largest most prestigious venue but they were clearly the least talented performers I'm seeing. There ain't no justice.
Lori lives in my old neighborhood so after the show she hopped on the R train to Penn Station where she took the LIRR. I walked one block to the F train stop I take from school and headed home. I was back in 45 minutes. That's not too bad.
I did another culinary experiment for brunch today. I made a maple glaze for my ham steak and served it with eggs. I made my usual glaze and substituted maple syrup for honey. That was a success. I told Lena that I'm going to open a restaurant and call it Heart Attacks 'r' Us.
Now I’m going to read the Sunday times then head out to see Christine Lavin.
So on so on so forth - October 17, 2009
Can't Trust This Day - October 16, 2009
Discover my Superpower - October 15, 2009
Charity Can Begin at Home but it Can't End There - October 13, 2009
One Bitchin' Babe - October 12, 2009
Email me: GordonLew at gmail
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. Horvendile October 11, 2009
