I became insane with long intervals of horrible sanity.
Edgar Allen Poe

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.
- H. L. Mencken

Many people would sooner die than think; In fact, they do so
-Bertrand Russell

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 ...
-James Branch Cabell

July 22, 2013 - 10:56 a.m.

Tribal Ritual

I'm in a weird state emotionally. I might have an apartment but I'm dealing with someone in Thailand so it isn't easy. There are other issues. But it''s a great location.

I'm going to write about my Saturday. I went to the Huntington Folk Festival but I'm not going to write much about music. I'm in a touchy feeing space and I'm going to write about people.

I started writing that last night and got too sleepy. Now I'm picking this up again. I'm going to try and throw in last night too so I'll be caught up. It can fit in the theme of community.

Part of the appeal of Festivals is the gathering of the tribe. Seeing your friends is as important as hearing the music. During the day Huntington is two "stages" with no actual stage, no sound system, and no lights. It's two patches of ground where musicians play and people sit or stand around them. I always spent a lot of time standing on the fringes and socializing.

Getting there without a car is a challenge. I took the LIRR out to Huntington Station and Fred picked me up there. I made those plans late, so late that I had to rush out of the house without eating. I realized that I left my stadium chair that I always sit on at Bag End,. But guess what Katherine got me for my birthday; come on and guess. You'll get it right. Yes a stadium chair. I was going to exchange it but I figured OK I'll bring it and can use the extra when I go to shows with people who don't own one like Katherine and yes Fred. Perfect right? I'm brilliant right? I'm also an idiot. I left the chair home.

I got the the LIRR just seconds before the train left. I heard them say "Last Call" as I entered the station. Good thing the LIRR is better run that NJ Transit. It was really easy to find the right track and I raced on the train less than a minute before the doors closed, I didn't have time to buy a ticket so I had to buy it on the train. You have to pay a $5 penalty for that but I didn't want to miss the train. The ticket is $10.75 and if you buy it on the train %17. I just checked, it is more than a $5 penalty. Why did I have to check? Because when I handed the conductor a $20 he gave me back $13. Why? He obviously charged me the senior rate. Let me check now. Yes seniors are $7.25 and they don't charge the on train penalty. I could have been offended. I could have been honest and offered to pay the extra $10. Instead I didn't look the gift horse in the mouth. But I have to admit I find it disconcerting that I turn 56 and the next day I'm taken for 65. I decided that he didn't think that I looked 65 but felt sorry for me and didn't want to charge the on train fare and that was the only way to do that. Yeah that's it. I'm still a sexy sexy monotreme, right? That reminds me that I'm working on a new song, "You're Cute in a Spiny Anteater Sort of Way"

You're cute in a spiny anteater sort of way
For an echidna you look OK
What I mean by that is that you're smart and sweet
In so many ways you're really neat.
But I'm never ever going to have sex with you.

Yes I write songs of rejection to myself. In my head I heard Bobtown singing it in three part harmony. What's even better than rejection? Rejection times three. This is going to be a big hit. Hear that Katherine, Karen, and Jen?

The train does not stop in Huntington, it stops at Huntington Station. Huntington Station is not civilized. There is no place to get something to eat by the station There is nothing by the station,. Remember I hadn't eaten. I had to wait for Fred anyway so I used my phone to find a Dunkin' Donuts, There was one 0.7 miles away right on the way to the festival so I walked there, That was about half the distance. I really could walk the whole way if I had to.

Wait, I was supposed to be writing about the tribe not me being an rejected hungry idiot. Of course I'm an idiot so what did you expect?

Can I even begin to list all my friends there? One of the stages is presented by Mike and the other by Richard and Viki. That means I'm getting lots of my friends playing. There were more in the audience. There was Fred of course but also Rona & Bob and I'll play it safe and say tons of others.

The Yayas and Honor Finnegan played even though they had a gig in Yonkers that evening with the Chicks with Dip. I almost came out there with Honor and Aviv who played guitar and drove her but that worked out right after I got on the train.

Jeremiah, Scott, and Kirk are stalking me. This was the third time I saw them in eight days. I then saw Jeremiah and Kirk again last night.

I found out that I've been mispronouncing the Levins since I met them. It isn't the Lev-ins, it is the Lev-ins. They did a song that I adored, a geek fest zipper song about Charles Dickens. I thought it was too hard for the audience to sing along but they learned. Even I learned. I'm not as dumb as I look. Nobody is as dumb as I look. Not even a spiny anteater.

I discovered that Skyler is a fellow Theobromatic. He even knew what theobroma means. No I'm not telling you. Use your research skills. I'll just say that Theobromatic is my religion.

I invited Rona to my 60th birthday party. Like my 50th its going to be at a Churrascaria, Brazilian barbecue. Don't worry vegans there is always a huge salad bar, you'll have plenty to eat. You're coming right?

Two of the performers always give me cognitive dissonance, Scott Wolfson and Other Heroes and Kat Quinn.. To put you in the right frame of mind Scott is a former bandmate of Mark Berube and Scott is the cynical one. Scott is even geekier than me. Scott's singing? Beautiful and angelic even when singing about the apocalypse caf�. Kat is one of the sweetest people on the planet. She has a smile that doesn't light up a room but an arena. But even when singing about how cute somebody is her voice has a cynical edge. This led to a series of thoughts. One is that they would actually work great on a co-bill. Jeremiah hated to admit it but he thought so too. We then had Scott lip-synch while Kat sang. This is so going to be a a video. I'm brilliant. My actually telling them all this led to me thinking, "am I nuts? You can't tell people things like that." I have a lot of confidence in people knowing that I love them which lets me get away with things like that. I also thought that I like myself for loving both of them as people. They are quite different but both my kinds of people. I have broad tastes.

That happened at dinner. I always thought I was sneaking into the dinner for musicians but found out that Mike let me do it. I'm disappointed. I became friends with Kat at that dinner a year ago. I had met her at John Platt's On Your Radar with Pesky J. Nixon. She sat with Kathy. I thought she came down from Marblehead with her. I didn't know that she had moved to New York and I didn't even know she as a musician. I missed her at the festival last year. So this was our anniversary of becoming friends. I love when there is a bright line event like that.

I usually leave before the headliner at Huntington but this year it was Spuyten Duyvil, more favorite people and favorite music. I sat with Fred on his wet blanket. There was a shower during dinner. It was actually nice it cooled things down before Spuyten Duyvil heated things up. They are getting better and better. I said I'm not going to talk about music but when they did their encore of Shady Grove I wanted to get up and dance. I just wasn't going to do that with Fred. If I had been with one of a number of women I know I would have. I felt the spirit move me and that kind of music I can fake dancing to.

My original plan was to drive back to the City with Scott, the Other Heroes, and Jeremiah. Skyler lives in Jersey and drove. Jeremiah is in Queens. I'm in Brooklyn. But when we started talking about the logistics in the car I realized I'd get home faster by LIRR and subway and they drove me to the station. I bought a ticket this time. I wasn't going to count on the conductor being kind and making believe he thought I was 65 when he really thought I was 25.

It is amazing how much better the LIRR is than NJ transit. It's pleasant and easy and well worth the $10.75. I even made a quick connection to the subway.

I'm still a day behind on my blogging. At some point I have to catch up. I might be moving today, I have to see if I can work things out with the woman in Thailand. I have some trepidations that need to be alleviated before I move in. As for now the place I'm in is quite livable I'm not feeling undo pressure.


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 July 22, 2013
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