Hello 2013

Well, we're 13 365ths into 2013, and I'm back to VT from Massachusetts. I returned on Tuesday. I didn't mean to take such a long break from being here, but I'm glad I did. It rained yesterday, and it's been hovering around 40 degrees ever since - getting to see a whole bunch of snow without the sidewalks flooding was good while it lasted.

I played my last church gig before 2013 on Christmas Sunday, and left VT later that night. Megabus thankfully ran on schedule, but their weekend busses leave at 11am, and 8pm. So, I got into Boston a little before midnight, and headed over to Somerville. I was staying with my friend Casey Kent, who I lived with for 3 years before I moved to VT. We go way back to middle school, though we weren't uber close until we both ended up at schools in Boston. The only thing that was a bit off about going to visit Casey in Somerville is that Pumpkin (Casey's cat) doesn't seem to remember me that well, but you can only ask a cat to remember so much I guess...

"Pumpkin"

I wanted to eat something when I got in, but even Davis Square was out by the time I got there. Casey and her boyfriend Ryan live on a street right off Broadway on Winter Hill. I took a cab there because I didn't feel like waiting for the last bus. When I got to Casey's, I was quickly handed a bottle of cold beer. "Have this one," said Casey. "When you visit, We'll give you all the beers we don't like." Apparently, there's a huge liquor outlet near Lechmere station with heavily discounted bottles. They try new ones all the time, and don't like some of them, but I'm not going to argue with any offer of free beer (I have another story about that later).

The next morning, we got up and went to this diner in Ball Square, about 20 minutes walking from where they live. It was a nice place (Somerville is loaded with good places to eat), and relatively cheap. Later, we drove down to East Bridgewater (our hometown) and parted ways. My father and stepmother have had a Christmas eve dinner party for the last few years, and it's always a good time to catch people who you won't see on Christmas day. I had a really great Christmas. When I gave people in my family their gifts, I unloaded most of what I came with. I was given much-needed winter clothing, and some giftcards. I spent the next few days there in East Bridgewater basically catching my breath. Though I managed to get out of the house every day, I really realized how active I have been up here. It's a good thing, but I was glad to have a rest. It was great to spend some time with my folks, and visit another new pub. It seems like every time I go back there, there's a new pub...

Around new years, I went up to Boston to see some friends, and do all of the fun things that don't happen up here, like riding the green line, visiting Russian grocery stores, walking across the Charles River, and going to hear music at Weirdo Records. I think I may have found my new favorite view of Boston, from the BU Bridge:

(I didn't take this, but it's a pretty accurate representation of what I saw then)

After Mark Johnson's set at Weirdo, I went to a new year's eve party hosted by my friend Brett Walfish, who lives in a large building on Huntington Avenue. I was staying with my friends Mark and Clare in JP, and though Mark was out of town for NYE, Clare (like Brett, a violist) was there, along with Ben Wu. Ben and Clare have become two of my closest friends, and we've done two shows as a trio. our Weirdo set, along with out set at YES OUI SI (coincidentally the last show they had before shutting down) were definitely highlights of my year.

Clare and I spent the next two days wandering around Boston, drinking lots of Starbucks (due to giftcards), and cooking. We also watched probably over 3 hours worth of TED talks on Youtube. If you haven't skimmed these, I highly recommend them. There's alot of interesting stuff on there, and I keep going back - watching, and re-watching.

Before coming back up north, I made another trip to see my family. This time to Middleboro, where my Nana and Granddad live. My uncle Dan and his wife Azusa were visiting from Austin. They just moved there from L.A, and they come out here pretty infrequently. It's always fun to see them when they come in. My cousin Miona is 2 1/2 now, and ever more friendly.

Dan and Miona

When I passed through Boston again, NEC had reopened, and I visited Jordan Hall to practice organ one day. I discovered upon arrival to the room with the working organ that it was missing its pedalboard. This made for a very interesting practice session. I found a couple of bass notes, that I could gently hold down with my toes (while the pedals were missing, the little metal stubs that further trigger production of sound were functional). Clare was also practicing in Jordan at the time, and after we were both finished, we met up to play a little. As a viola/piano duo, we work pretty well coming up with short little pieces. I'm hoping we can record sometime soon. It's sort of cartoonish, how short and varied our little pieces are. the tracks could be titled Classical, Pointillistic, Minimalism etc - somewhat in jest, but it also is how we come up with a unified scheme for these little things.

Last Tuesday, I returned to Burlington to play a show at the ArtRiot Space with a bunch of different folks. Cowboy Band, Cult & Leper, and Friendship Ceremonies (Andy Allen) are all folks that I went to school with who were on tour.  ArtRiot is new gallery that's part of a converted industrial complex about 6 blocks south of Downtown Burlington. It's on Pine street, which is quite separated from the more residential part of the South End. Musicians in particular really like this, because it means that they can be as loud or quiet as they need to be, without any kind of potential for interference. 

This was a great homecoming for me, and it was awesome to see everyone up here. I played a trio set with Andrew Clinkman (of Cowboy Band), and Sam Lisabeth (of Cult & Leper). I recorded it, and here's what I thought came out the best:

Everyone's set was great, and we had a pretty big audience, which grew and peaked around the time that Cowboy Band played. Cowboy Band puts a great big noisy spin on old country songs, and I thought it was terrific. I sort of regret not getting a copy of their CD (they have only one track on their soundcloud), but I'll get on that someday. One tune in particular stood out to me, their rendition of "Hallelujah, I'm a bum," heard below as sung by the great Harry Mclintock:

The next night, I went to the Radiobean to catch Arthur Brooks' Ensemble Five, and they asked me to play with them. The bassist (Anthony Santor) is a friend of Andy Allen's, and he recognized me from the show the night before. I had a blast playing with them, and I was particularly struck by the cellist (a guy named Nelson Caldwell), who I'd never heard of. I knew about Arthur and Anthony, but I think not knowing Nelson made his playing have a great impact. They play at the Radiobean every month, and I think they'd be interested in doing more if we can create the opportunity for it. Since Anthony was at the show the night before, he was telling Arthur and Nelson about the space, and they seemed very interested. I'm looking forward to playing with them again.

After our set, we met a guy named David, who told us that after missing the last bus to Winooski (the next town over), he decided to come have a drink. He said he liked what we did, and before the set he asked us if we were a blues band. "No," Arthur replied. "We are a sound band." Nelson and I stuck around for a bit to catch the Irish Sessions band, and we ended up sitting with David, who insisted on buying us a round. I was sort of confounded, but as I've said before I think people in Burlington are just friendly. After Nelson left, David kept buying beers, and I left when the fiddlers stopped (around 12am). I don't normally find myself in situations where I get drunk with complete strangers while listening to live Irish music, but I didn't see any harm in it. David told me all sorts of stories, from his days in Brooklyn, to attending Quaker services, and I think we ended up with 4 or 5 more rounds before I called it a night. I thanked David for his generosity, and headed out quickly (the Bostonian in me comes out a bit in situations like this, where I don't really know someone). I'm not sure if we'll ever see David again, but this being a city of only 42,000 people, we could.  It's been pretty quiet since then, but I'm going to rehearse with The Brass Balagan tomorrow afternoon. I met one of their trumpet players the night of the ArtRiot show, and contacted them the other day. 

It's been a really great week here in VT, and I think it's times like this that give us strength to keep working. This Wednesday, I'm headed to Boston for the Earle Brown Symposium and a few other things, and as always, I look forward to returning.