Personal Landmarks

Commonwealth Avenue Mall in the Back Bay with Winter Lights 

It's May, the flowers are blooming, and I've been back in Boston for about 5 months now. I wasn't planning on a stay that lasted this long (I'll be moving back to New York in July), but it's been pretty fruitful for the most part, and I was made a housing offer that I couldn't refuse. Among other things, I played a solo set at the Advent Church in March, and FULL CIRCLE TIME MACHINE appeared in Jordan Hall as part of the CI department concert last month. I'm finding myself really happy with the way things are going here. Though I'm excited to return to NY and pick up where I left off (I've already arranged a couple of performances), I'm not feeling any rush to get out of here soon.

At a JP house concert performing
Lemming (or Advent, 138th st., Williamsburg & Brighton Rails)

When I signed a sublease in Vermont (10/2012), the first thing I did was buy a bus ticket in advance to come back and play a gig here in November (only three weeks after I moved).  On that first trip back it didn't quite hit me, but later on I found myself constantly revisiting specific places that had personal significance to me. Living here again, I've definitely added a few places to that list, and I'm always going back to them  - sometimes on purpose, and sometimes spontaneously. Those places exist in NY and VT now, too. I know I'll always walk by W.138th Street in Manhattan thinking about the Autumn months that I lived there, being able to walk to the Hudson River in about 45 seconds. One recent piece of mine is somewhat of a comment on this (and playing trio with Allison & Eve at the Advent Church last year). Over the last year I've started naming and constructing pieces after places I've lived, or people I've met while there. I'll be playing another one of these in Somerville this weekend.

The Charles River near Harvard

I could go on and on detailing some of these places, but I don't think I will too much, other than that this time of year has a bit more of a lift to it that makes me want to actively ponder them. This could be due to a slowing of activities centered around schools, the weather being nicer, or people leaving for the summer (my roommate just moved back to NY, so I have the place to myself for most of the next 5 weeks).

I've been living in this apartment near Cleveland Circle since January, and I'm about a mile away from Brighton Center, where I lived in the winter of 2007. For a few reasons, it wasn't the most pleasant time or living situation, but it's been in my brain for the last several weeks, that maybe one of these nights I should walk over there and see the neighborhood and house where I used to live. I have no doubt that my perception of that area will change, and that l may get some sort of strange feeling from walking by an old house that I haven't seen in 7 years. If I get a vibe walking by my old apartment in Burlington, or when I pass my former street in Roslindale on a bus, I can imagine that this will have similar affects, maybe deeper due to the time that has passed since then.

Other places, like the Commonwealth Avenue Mall, ArtsRiot in VT, or 808 Gallery at BU are ones that I pass by much more frequently (usually en route to somewhere else), but am making an effort to revisit. Now more than ever, I feel like a miner in places like these, and I'm happy to find a little piece of gold every now and then.

North Street in Burlington VT