Hello Hometown Pt. 2
0 Comments Published by Oh Wayward One on 08 July 2010 at 7/08/2010 06:22:00 pm.
OMG OMG! I have to hurry with this... we're getting ready to leave for the fambly reunion and I'm in a rush. But I had to update my iTunes so i figured what the hey, I'll log on and do some computerizing.
So basically this trip has been the following:
exciting
hurried
rushed
awesome
fun
friend-filled
musical, and
legendary!!!!!
It's always like this, isn't it. I have so much fun when I come home and then I just BARELY get everything done that I want to by the skin of my teeth, and then realize.... oh that's right, I was supposed to do some relaxin' too. Uh oh.
But nonetheless, I can't go through every last detail because of the time crunch but for now I'll just say I'm on top of the world because last night Dave and I were able to squeeze in a jam session!!! It wasn't in Gary's basement like old times, but the only gang he could manage to shuffle together was this bluegrass band that he plays with sometimes who are just now sort of starting to form, so they're all laid back and unrehearsed and unpolished and relaxed.... just perfect for someone like me who just shows up and hasn't played other than solo-with-iPod for over a year now. IT WAS SO FREAKIN LEGENDARY I CAN'T STAND IT!!! And Gary did come over (he doesn't know these guys either) just so he could see me, so that killed that bird off the fence too, which was great.
I met Dave at Paddy'O'Whatsits for a drink first, and then we went over to "Nick's" house. Now, I was like "Nick Whoever...." because of course I didn't think I"d know this friend of Dave's. (He's one of the guys from the bluegrass trio... that's all I was told) and lo and behold what do I see in front of me when we get there??? (besides the super cute bassett hound named Roscoe) My old buddy Nick from FREAKIN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL!!!! WHAT ARE THE ODDS?!?!? and then moreover, what are the odds that the mandolin player would be one of the consultants from my dad's big client??? but it was! He knew my pops really well, and even knew that he was a banjo player. Small freakin world. We played and played and played for hours and it was so great I'm still floating on a cloud. We did some Split Lip Rayfield, some traditional bluegrass (with me playing lead), some of Dave's originals, some Wilco, some Grateful Dead, even me and Gary's old 2-part harmony standard from the old days: "You Aint Goin Nowhere". And it was so blissful I didn't want it to end. They offered me a spot in their band, and I was all "hmmm, it's very tempting but I believe the commute might kill me" (truthfully, earnestly and seriously turning down the offer broke my heart to say the least) So after all the boys packed up around 11 (It was a school night after all and they all have real jobs) Gary and I decided to go back to Paddy's and have one beer just to wind it up since I wouldn't be seeing him again til my next visit. we had such a great time. And we stuck to the 1 beer too! (it was just one beer on speed level 1, so it lasted for EVER). I bumped into an old friend from school there too, and she really wanted to talk to me but i just wanted quality gary time so i kind of cold shouldered her til she made some excuse to go away but then she came back again later which I guess was good because I could atone for my earlier distantness, even though I still was kind of -meh- about her bogarting my gary time!!! But still, humans are humans and we gotta love one another and all that rot, so I sucked it up and included her in our banter. He (Gar) and I were right in the middle of a good old deep & meaningful and the 3rd wheel was kind of a pain, but oh well, that's part of being a lover not a hater these days, so I rolled with it the best I could.
The consolation prize for having to say goodbye to music whenever we leave this place, is that now through the miracle of technology, Dave and I have vowed to write some songs for his band together, over the interwebs, as well as him sending me some tracks to fill in some banjiggity on, and send back. Blessed are my friends for they are the ass kickers.
A noteworthy aside to this story is that The Mr. turned me loose for this night because he has some serious work-related issues that he had to take care of and I have been distracting him from this the whole week, so he finally just threw his hands up in the air and said "just please go by yourself" and I said "great timing, because I doubt you want to sit around in some stranger's basement and listen to amateur music hour!!" so it all worked out like magic.
But this is only the tip of the iceberg of awesomeness!!!
Obviously Adelly's visit from Houston was a highlight as well (combined with the fact that she and Uncle Brandon are friends too which means it was an OARSOME FOURSOME!!!), and she just left on Tuesday so I have been mourning her departure for the last couple days (although the musical Cloud-9 helped a lot). You know how empty house syndrome goes. Well, not that she was in our house, but rather in Brandon's house, but still. She will surely do a much better recap than I will, but I'll give it a whirlwind go before walking out the door here... in reverse....
The Levon show on Monday was stellar, but of course with its attached sadness on my part because I always get whimsical and sad about my favourite musicians getting old and tired when I see them fading before my eyes (therein lies the bittersweetness of loving musicians of someone else's generation). I was really impressed with Justin Townes Earle although I find him a bit of a fraud because he looks like a junkie but apparently in real life he is clean and sober, plus he acts like a sly dog but in real life he is engaged and in a stable relationship. See? Damn these musicians and their fakeness and "stage personas"!!! Posers!!! Nevertheless, awesome show, awesome night in KC.... convenience store snacks and all.
Brandon was kind enough to drive our asses up to KC and the ride up was full of fun and iPod hooliganism amongst the 4 of us. The best part though was that he enjoyed the show, which the other 3 of us were concerned about since it was a long trip up there and we didn't know if he would dig it since he's never listened to LEVON before.... as he kept ensuring to remind us by calling him "Warren Zevon" all the time.
4th of July weekend was excellent because it was a combination of exercise, hanging out, fireworks, drinking, not drinking, eating, not eating, and general merriement. The best part was that I got to/had to combine brotherly/sisterly bonding time with friend bonding time and it worked out pretty well (the bwuddaman was only in town for the very same days that Adelly was in town, because of his job) and everyone got along and laughs were had in bucketloads. I even managed to keep both family AND friends happy by making all my appointments and arriving punctually to everything that had been micro-scheduled throughout the weekend. It was all good.
The LJJ saw her first ever fireworks at about 10pm on the night of the 4th, and she didn't scream or anything (I got worried about this after hearing the story from my mother that when I was a baby and taken to my first downtown fireworks display on the 4th, that i screamed bloody murder for an hour straight, including the ride all the way home!) and she fell asleep on my lap, even, during the last few blasts. This was a good thing since it was way past her bedtime.
Brandon has been a godsend this past week, being on tap for squeezing in hang-out time, whenever I have a space to fill, as well as acting as (relatively) sober chauffer and pickup artist as well as organizing the Mayor's email address for me so that I can write to him finally and confess my huge fanship. This is a silly thing but it was one of my goals to meet the mayor while i was home this time because HE IS AWESOME and i have been secretly following his blog for over 2 years now. I just now finished my email to him which took me over an hour because I didn't want to sound like a stalking freak, but at the same time wanted to tell him how I genuinely appreciated his efforts at holding my little ol' hometown together.
OK like I said, this is rushed, so I'll probably think of a million and 10 things to say in "Memories of my 2010 Holiday to USA" blog posts to come, but at least right now I have the fambly reunion, the Tom Petty concert, and Vancouver to look forward to... so no more mourning what has passed.... it's all onward and upward!!
(but then why do I feel so sad...) :'(
So basically this trip has been the following:
exciting
hurried
rushed
awesome
fun
friend-filled
musical, and
legendary!!!!!
It's always like this, isn't it. I have so much fun when I come home and then I just BARELY get everything done that I want to by the skin of my teeth, and then realize.... oh that's right, I was supposed to do some relaxin' too. Uh oh.
But nonetheless, I can't go through every last detail because of the time crunch but for now I'll just say I'm on top of the world because last night Dave and I were able to squeeze in a jam session!!! It wasn't in Gary's basement like old times, but the only gang he could manage to shuffle together was this bluegrass band that he plays with sometimes who are just now sort of starting to form, so they're all laid back and unrehearsed and unpolished and relaxed.... just perfect for someone like me who just shows up and hasn't played other than solo-with-iPod for over a year now. IT WAS SO FREAKIN LEGENDARY I CAN'T STAND IT!!! And Gary did come over (he doesn't know these guys either) just so he could see me, so that killed that bird off the fence too, which was great.
I met Dave at Paddy'O'Whatsits for a drink first, and then we went over to "Nick's" house. Now, I was like "Nick Whoever...." because of course I didn't think I"d know this friend of Dave's. (He's one of the guys from the bluegrass trio... that's all I was told) and lo and behold what do I see in front of me when we get there??? (besides the super cute bassett hound named Roscoe) My old buddy Nick from FREAKIN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL!!!! WHAT ARE THE ODDS?!?!? and then moreover, what are the odds that the mandolin player would be one of the consultants from my dad's big client??? but it was! He knew my pops really well, and even knew that he was a banjo player. Small freakin world. We played and played and played for hours and it was so great I'm still floating on a cloud. We did some Split Lip Rayfield, some traditional bluegrass (with me playing lead), some of Dave's originals, some Wilco, some Grateful Dead, even me and Gary's old 2-part harmony standard from the old days: "You Aint Goin Nowhere". And it was so blissful I didn't want it to end. They offered me a spot in their band, and I was all "hmmm, it's very tempting but I believe the commute might kill me" (truthfully, earnestly and seriously turning down the offer broke my heart to say the least) So after all the boys packed up around 11 (It was a school night after all and they all have real jobs) Gary and I decided to go back to Paddy's and have one beer just to wind it up since I wouldn't be seeing him again til my next visit. we had such a great time. And we stuck to the 1 beer too! (it was just one beer on speed level 1, so it lasted for EVER). I bumped into an old friend from school there too, and she really wanted to talk to me but i just wanted quality gary time so i kind of cold shouldered her til she made some excuse to go away but then she came back again later which I guess was good because I could atone for my earlier distantness, even though I still was kind of -meh- about her bogarting my gary time!!! But still, humans are humans and we gotta love one another and all that rot, so I sucked it up and included her in our banter. He (Gar) and I were right in the middle of a good old deep & meaningful and the 3rd wheel was kind of a pain, but oh well, that's part of being a lover not a hater these days, so I rolled with it the best I could.
The consolation prize for having to say goodbye to music whenever we leave this place, is that now through the miracle of technology, Dave and I have vowed to write some songs for his band together, over the interwebs, as well as him sending me some tracks to fill in some banjiggity on, and send back. Blessed are my friends for they are the ass kickers.
A noteworthy aside to this story is that The Mr. turned me loose for this night because he has some serious work-related issues that he had to take care of and I have been distracting him from this the whole week, so he finally just threw his hands up in the air and said "just please go by yourself" and I said "great timing, because I doubt you want to sit around in some stranger's basement and listen to amateur music hour!!" so it all worked out like magic.
But this is only the tip of the iceberg of awesomeness!!!
Obviously Adelly's visit from Houston was a highlight as well (combined with the fact that she and Uncle Brandon are friends too which means it was an OARSOME FOURSOME!!!), and she just left on Tuesday so I have been mourning her departure for the last couple days (although the musical Cloud-9 helped a lot). You know how empty house syndrome goes. Well, not that she was in our house, but rather in Brandon's house, but still. She will surely do a much better recap than I will, but I'll give it a whirlwind go before walking out the door here... in reverse....
The Levon show on Monday was stellar, but of course with its attached sadness on my part because I always get whimsical and sad about my favourite musicians getting old and tired when I see them fading before my eyes (therein lies the bittersweetness of loving musicians of someone else's generation). I was really impressed with Justin Townes Earle although I find him a bit of a fraud because he looks like a junkie but apparently in real life he is clean and sober, plus he acts like a sly dog but in real life he is engaged and in a stable relationship. See? Damn these musicians and their fakeness and "stage personas"!!! Posers!!! Nevertheless, awesome show, awesome night in KC.... convenience store snacks and all.
Brandon was kind enough to drive our asses up to KC and the ride up was full of fun and iPod hooliganism amongst the 4 of us. The best part though was that he enjoyed the show, which the other 3 of us were concerned about since it was a long trip up there and we didn't know if he would dig it since he's never listened to LEVON before.... as he kept ensuring to remind us by calling him "Warren Zevon" all the time.
4th of July weekend was excellent because it was a combination of exercise, hanging out, fireworks, drinking, not drinking, eating, not eating, and general merriement. The best part was that I got to/had to combine brotherly/sisterly bonding time with friend bonding time and it worked out pretty well (the bwuddaman was only in town for the very same days that Adelly was in town, because of his job) and everyone got along and laughs were had in bucketloads. I even managed to keep both family AND friends happy by making all my appointments and arriving punctually to everything that had been micro-scheduled throughout the weekend. It was all good.
The LJJ saw her first ever fireworks at about 10pm on the night of the 4th, and she didn't scream or anything (I got worried about this after hearing the story from my mother that when I was a baby and taken to my first downtown fireworks display on the 4th, that i screamed bloody murder for an hour straight, including the ride all the way home!) and she fell asleep on my lap, even, during the last few blasts. This was a good thing since it was way past her bedtime.
Brandon has been a godsend this past week, being on tap for squeezing in hang-out time, whenever I have a space to fill, as well as acting as (relatively) sober chauffer and pickup artist as well as organizing the Mayor's email address for me so that I can write to him finally and confess my huge fanship. This is a silly thing but it was one of my goals to meet the mayor while i was home this time because HE IS AWESOME and i have been secretly following his blog for over 2 years now. I just now finished my email to him which took me over an hour because I didn't want to sound like a stalking freak, but at the same time wanted to tell him how I genuinely appreciated his efforts at holding my little ol' hometown together.
OK like I said, this is rushed, so I'll probably think of a million and 10 things to say in "Memories of my 2010 Holiday to USA" blog posts to come, but at least right now I have the fambly reunion, the Tom Petty concert, and Vancouver to look forward to... so no more mourning what has passed.... it's all onward and upward!!
(but then why do I feel so sad...) :'(
Labels: holiday recap, music
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