Day 6-8: Spectrum
We've enjoyed quite a range of experiences over the past few days.
Tuesday morning we woke up at my uncle's in Brooklyn, then drove into the face of a fierce snowstorm on the way to Philly. The temperature dropped from 60 the day before to 19. In Philly we settled at our hotel, then went to the Manhattan Room, which is nothing at all like Manhattan. The show was mostly not worth mentioning due to a variety of factors, with one notable exception - the attendance of COJO, art juggernaut and my best friend from ages long past (like 17+ years past.) Steph and COJO and I spent hours talking in the aforementioned nothing-like-Manhattan Room, while lost in the expansive Philly slums, and finally in a cool all-night diner near the bizarrely immaculate Rittenhouse Square. Many ideas were exchanged and it was great to catch up. We didn't get to sleep until 5am.
On Wednesday we woke late, ate dinner at a fabulous restaurant and hit the road for Ossining, NY to visit my aunt. After having shows on 5 of the prior 6 nights, it was great to take a rest and spend time with family. We played a killer game of "I doubt you" with my young cousins Emma and Gabe (you might know this card game by another, less kid-friendly name) and then went to sleep on the early side, but not before listening to some of Pete's beautiful guitar compositions.
On Thursday we drove north to visit my grandmother in Millbrook, NY, where I also played a (very quiet) concert for the residents of her senior citizen's community. It was refreshing how well-received I was, though I was amazed at the range of questions I was asked ("so were you teething with a guitar?" "you have to tell us what's going on - we have no idea what you are doing up there.") Above all, it was agreed that I needed a short description of my musical style. I settled on "loop music."
After the concert, we hopped in the car and drove north on the lovely Taconic Parkway to I-90, stopping at an amazing Diner that rose from the twilight like Emerald City about 10 miles south of Massachusettes. A diner is not really a diner unless it serves two things - 1) a greek salad (which I never order) and 2) a malted milk shake. Anything less is not a diner. This was a diner, and a clean, sparkly one at that. The waitress was really sweet and over-run and we ate an amazing portabella wrap with sweet potato fries and, of course, a malted vanilla milkshake. (Actually, we ordered vanilla, but were brought chocolate by mistake, then vanilla when the mistake was noted without our saying anything. Like I said - great service!)
Finally, we finished the drive to Boston (Cambridge, really) and are now partying hardy with our dear friend Deb, who is wonderful and refreshingly bombastic. We went for truly crap ethiopian food (Addis Abbaba in KC is still the best ethiopian I've ever had!) and then to a teensy bar called River Gods that was covered in rubber snakes. Now Steph and Deb are chillin' in the kitchen while I blog, and later we will watch Ed Wood movies until we fall asleep. Life couldn't be much better.
Rock on!
Jesse
Tuesday morning we woke up at my uncle's in Brooklyn, then drove into the face of a fierce snowstorm on the way to Philly. The temperature dropped from 60 the day before to 19. In Philly we settled at our hotel, then went to the Manhattan Room, which is nothing at all like Manhattan. The show was mostly not worth mentioning due to a variety of factors, with one notable exception - the attendance of COJO, art juggernaut and my best friend from ages long past (like 17+ years past.) Steph and COJO and I spent hours talking in the aforementioned nothing-like-Manhattan Room, while lost in the expansive Philly slums, and finally in a cool all-night diner near the bizarrely immaculate Rittenhouse Square. Many ideas were exchanged and it was great to catch up. We didn't get to sleep until 5am.
On Wednesday we woke late, ate dinner at a fabulous restaurant and hit the road for Ossining, NY to visit my aunt. After having shows on 5 of the prior 6 nights, it was great to take a rest and spend time with family. We played a killer game of "I doubt you" with my young cousins Emma and Gabe (you might know this card game by another, less kid-friendly name) and then went to sleep on the early side, but not before listening to some of Pete's beautiful guitar compositions.
On Thursday we drove north to visit my grandmother in Millbrook, NY, where I also played a (very quiet) concert for the residents of her senior citizen's community. It was refreshing how well-received I was, though I was amazed at the range of questions I was asked ("so were you teething with a guitar?" "you have to tell us what's going on - we have no idea what you are doing up there.") Above all, it was agreed that I needed a short description of my musical style. I settled on "loop music."
After the concert, we hopped in the car and drove north on the lovely Taconic Parkway to I-90, stopping at an amazing Diner that rose from the twilight like Emerald City about 10 miles south of Massachusettes. A diner is not really a diner unless it serves two things - 1) a greek salad (which I never order) and 2) a malted milk shake. Anything less is not a diner. This was a diner, and a clean, sparkly one at that. The waitress was really sweet and over-run and we ate an amazing portabella wrap with sweet potato fries and, of course, a malted vanilla milkshake. (Actually, we ordered vanilla, but were brought chocolate by mistake, then vanilla when the mistake was noted without our saying anything. Like I said - great service!)
Finally, we finished the drive to Boston (Cambridge, really) and are now partying hardy with our dear friend Deb, who is wonderful and refreshingly bombastic. We went for truly crap ethiopian food (Addis Abbaba in KC is still the best ethiopian I've ever had!) and then to a teensy bar called River Gods that was covered in rubber snakes. Now Steph and Deb are chillin' in the kitchen while I blog, and later we will watch Ed Wood movies until we fall asleep. Life couldn't be much better.
Rock on!
Jesse
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