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 ...
October 12, 2016 - 11:19 a.m.
A little sleepy this morning but I'm going to persevere and not disappoint My Gentle Readers. I could make coffee first and eat first but I think that hurts my readership. Yesterday's numbers were very low.
Yesterday's adventures involved trekking to both Manhattan and Brooklyn. I once again started out too late. I then took more time showering than I planned so I missed the bus. Time was tight and I asked Jane for a ride to the subway, she couldn't do it but Bernie did. Thank you Bernie. From there I went to Union Square for bagels. I have a stash to last to Monday. Then I went to the jeweler across the street. I've been there a few times and I trust him. My watch had stopped. The last two times this happened there was something stuck in the mechanism and he fixed it for free the first time and $10 the next. I was hoping it was the battery this time. It was. So that was $15. He's also a nice guy. I feel comfortable there.
Then I was off to Bushwick. I asked Google for restaurants near where I was going. It found one right across the street, Sincerely Burger. It was Yom Kippur and as long as I'm not going to fast by tradition I eat some pork product but here of course I had a burger. At least I made it a cheeseburger. It was good but I had to eat it with a knife and fork as it immediately fell off the roll and broke into pieces. I wasn't that fond of the special sauce. What I did like was the waitress. She was great. She came to me right away. It took a long time to the food to come out and the place wasn't busy. I give it a mixed review.
What drew me so far? It has to be something special. It was, Dougmore and Kate Copeland. it was called a tribute to Sandy Koufax. Why? Doug of Dougmore's name is Doug Goldstein, a nice Jewish boy. Aren't we all nice? He didn't realize it was Yom Kippur when he booked the gig but went through with it anyway. Sandy Koufax famously did not pitch on Yom Kippur in the 1965 World Series. I give Doug credit for knowing that, it was well before he was born. Kate is half Jewish. I'm pretty sure that Jason who plays guitar is also Jewish, and of course I'm Jewish. This is my kind of Yom Kippur.
I know Kate thought Doug. And I know Doug because he's in Cricket Tell the Weather. Dougmore played NERFA last year and I made sure to check them out and I loved them. Kate plays mandolin in the band. Ironically I've seen Kate a few times since then, she played The Budgiedome but this was my first time seeing Dougmore.
I wasn't sure about the timing and I wasn't sure if the other people playing at Gold Sounds were part of the show or just people on the same night. Kate went on at 8 and someone else at 7:30. I timed things so I wasn't sure if I'd get there before 8 but I made it by a good margin. I was there before 7:30. I didn't catch the name of the young woman on first. The room has one chair in the back and a few stools. It's a standing venue. Before the music started I sat on the one chair in the back and figured I'd move up when it started. She was tuning and doing sound check and I played on my phone. Then she said, "How do I sound? How's the sound in the back?" That got my attention and I went to the front but didn't stand. The crowd, her friends, were sitting on the floor and I joined them. They were happy I joined them. I'm guessing she's a college kid, maybe just out. She's been writing songs since she was 15. So here's the thing. She's unpolished. She could use some voice lessons; she had trouble hitting some of the high notes. But she has a lot more promise than most of the people I see. She has ideas and she knows how to vary the songs and make variations within a song. I'm not tagging her but I hope she finds this and is encouraged. She should be. I'll take her over someone with more polish and fewer ideas.
Kate just keeps getting better and better. I love her with a band. She has both polish and ideas. She has the obvious things that make people popular, a crystal clear voice and energy and she has substance. She was in the emerging artists at Falcon Ridge this summer. She better win; she deserves it. I have lost faith in my FRFF prognostication powers. I've been wrong three times recently. So I'll just say that she should win, not that she will. She can write songs, she can sing, she can play, and she had a great band.
Dougmore is hard to write about. They don't strike you as sounding weird but then you try saying who they are like and can't come up with someone. It's bluegrass instruments except that the fiddler primarily plays drums. Have you ever heard of someone playing fiddle and drum in the same band? The drum is the opposite of the fiddle. Doug plays the banjo but on most of the songs he played electric banjo. Who the hell ever heard of an electric banjo? It seems wrong, like a smart phone designed to look like an old AT&T. But it sounds great. It was laying on the ground before he started and I went over to get a closer look. It looked like a toy. I couldn't figure out what made it look so weird then it hit me. There were pickups.
So what kind of music do they play? Like I said, there's nothing to compare it to. There are elements of progressive rock, trad folk of the lyrical type, and singer/songwriter. What I know for sure is that it's great. It has what I love, lots of things happening at once. It has meaningful lyrics.
I watched most of his set with Andrea, his bandmate from Cricket. I just saw her without Cricket at the Linda Ronstadt tribute. She was the only one I knew in the audience. Kate introduced me to her father. Is he name Mike or Mark? I'm going to bet on Mike. Which makes me think it's Mark. She's going to tell me it's Zephram. I'm used to getting things wrong.
I didn't stay for the last act or even to say goodbye to Doug. I bid adieu to Kate and Andrea and headed home as I wanted to make sure to make the last bus back to City Island. It should not have been a problem as it was 10:05 and the last bus leaves Pelham Bay at 11:53. You know that if I say that, it means there were problems. The trip is easy, the 
to the 
to the 
. Except the terminated at 125th Street. That's where I usually get on it. I had to switch to a shuttle bus to Hunts Point Ave. If I had known this I would have taken the 
and walked a few blocks to Hunter's Point Ave. it would have been faster than the bus. I got to Hunter's Point about when I would have reached Pelham Bay. Instead I got to Pelham Bay at Midnight. I missed the last bus and had to take a cab. Arrgghh. This is going on all week and next week too.
OK I have therapy today and have to eat and get ready. It's Yom Kippur so I'm having my traditional bacon and eggs for breakfast. I am not going to hell. Know why? It doesn't exist. My treatment of the holiday might seem disrespectful but it's not. I don't believe in any of the metaphysics behind it but by doing something special I keep it in mind. Ignoring is the opposite of worship not irony.
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
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Horvendile October 12, 2016
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