January 2015

The Strip - Pittsburgh, PA

It's 2/9, and I've been back in NY for about 2 weeks. Since I moved back here over the summer, I've been writing mostly about things that have happened while I've been away. I've made countless trips to Boston, one to VT, and on December 21st, I left NY for a month. I got back on Jan. 25th, after visiting Ohio, Pittsburgh, and family in MA (my first stop).

Previously, I've mentioned applications to Doctoral programs, one of the things that fueled this trip. Aside from feeling good about my portfolio at this point, I should elaborate on my (somewhat sudden) decision to look into school this year. Some of this might sound familiar if you read these posts regularly, but I've left out important and quirky details that I feel ok addressing now. . .

October, 2014: One week in Boston turned into two. I found myself there for a couple different things - HONK, and rehearsals for the Zorn concert. I was perhaps unhealthily committed to putting Hockey together, especially since I don't live up there anymore. I knew I'd probably be up there enough to make it work, and it eventually did. While our progress was noted at a C.I Department meeting following HONK, we still had serious work to do if we wanted this to happen, and I realized that I had to stay in Boston for another week.

I had just booked a bus ticket home, but as I was walking to the station, I found myself on the verge of an existential meltdown over the prospect of going to NY, only to return to MA 4 days later. I had recently told a few people that I was going to apply to doctoral programs this year, so I instead opted to take the commuter train to my grandparents house, where one of the first things I did was call up Zach Herchen and ask him if he would record a solo piece of mine that he had previously premiered. I told him what I was doing, and on that same night I wrote to three teachers to ask for recommendations. They all quickly agreed, and I knew I was going for it. I'm sure I could have done all of this on the bus to NY, but I realized that I needed to stay put to really start on the right foot.

So that's what fueled the past month of being away. Unlike October, I knew most details of my travel ahead of time, and I did a better job at carving out space in my calendar so I could do it effectively.  

Finder's Records in Bowling Green, Ohio

On the 21st (the morning after the last FlatHouse of 2014), Mark and I got up and drove to Boston. We stopped at a surprisingly awesome donut shop in Norwalk, CT and made it to Copley Square by 11:30am. The first thing I did was go to the giant FedEx store. I wanted to print out my application scores earlier, but the print shops in NY are either understaffed, overpriced, or limited in scanning options. Binding and scanning still weren't cheap, but I got it all done pretty quickly.

KANE'S DONUTS

I stayed with my grandparents for most of the time before NYE, when I went back up to Boston for festivities. I hung out with Matt Samolis (a great flutist & curator who manages a residential building downtown), and then met up with Casey and Ryan for a New Years Eve Chinatown feast. We then grabbed a bottle of champagne and watched the fireworks at midnight from their place in East Boston. The next morning, we went on a journey for breakfast that took us past 3 IHOP's, and a horrendously understaffed  Denny's (in Danvers, about 40 minutes from East Boston by car). We actually waited at Denny's (thankfully indoors) for just over a half-hour before walking out. At the risk of sounding really mean, there was no proper hosting staff, and they randomly wrote down names of guests on a blank sheet of paper, in a way which made any sort of order to the process impossible. No Stars for Denny's in Danvers.

Matt Samolis stringing a banjo on NYE

We missed out on breakfast, but ended up at a Friendly's for lunch. Thankfully this included coffee and ice cream. We also stopped by Kane's Donuts in Saugus, but they were unfortunately closed on New year's Day.

If you can't tell, I'm a huge donut fan.

Anyway, I left MA for my doctoral tour on 1/7. I chose only to apply to two schools this year (partially as a result of being late to the game), but these are places I would happily go if I were accepted. Bowling Green State University in Ohio, and The University of Pittsburgh. I was in BG for just about two weeks, visiting Kalindi, meeting with teachers, some of the other students, and getting to know the town. It's an interesting little place, with a couple of great bakeries, and a record store that sells mostly CD's (complete with those giant plastic protectors around the jewel cases). A blast from the past. If you ever find yourself in Bowling Green Ohio, be sure to stop there, and also visit Grounds For Thought, the coffee shop & book store that has... you guessed it, incredible donuts.

Grounds for Thought

On Tuesday the 20th, I left BG for Pittsburgh. Kalindi's mother gave me a lift to the station in Toledo, and I had some time before my bus took off. I went to a 7-Eleven near the station for snacks, and stopped at an old dimly-lit joint for a cup of coffee. It was a neat little place full of locals, with an old jukebox and cigarette machine (neither probably worked) . I thought about taking a picture, but decided I 'd try to find a more representative one online.

After 7 hours on the road with an hour layover in Cleveland, we pulled into downtown Pittsburgh. I kept track of time, and about 20 minutes before we stopped, I was thinking "Holy cow. I'm going to be in Pittsburgh. Am I really doing this? Crazy."

About a week earlier, I'd booked a place to stay via the website airbnb - for those who do not know the all-out glory and wonder of this service, check it out. You can reserve entire apartments for short term rental, or stay in a multi-person household with real humans who host you. It's way cheaper than booking a hotel. I was hosted by a woman named Manar, who's doing a Ph.D at Carnegie Mellon on a Fulbright. The apartment was in Squirrel Hill, about a block from the Frick Park, and maybe a 10 minute walk to the main business area. She was quick to tell me how to get around (streets, busses etc), what coffee shops to visit,  and what she had in her fridge. I didn't cook anything until she insisted, but I'm glad I did. She has this huge one bedroom apartment that she opens to travelers frequently. The real estate there is way cheaper than the east coast, and I was surprised at how much this place went for, relative to how wonderful it was.

Harvey Pekar, because... Cleveland

I spent the next day meeting with the comp faculty and checking out classes at UPitt. By the time that was over, I was totally zapped and went back to the apartment. I spent a minute wandering around Murray Ave, but reserved my real exploring of the neighborhood for the next morning. I went to Pam's Diner, Jerry's Records, then took the bus downtown into the glorious Strip District (full of great restaurants, coffee shops, and generally neat little joints). When we were on the strip last year, it was the weekend and Penn Avenue was closed to motor traffic. I was only slightly surprised that the area seemed slightly deserted on a Thursday afternoon (somewhat of a plus, as there were no lines in any of the stores). I went to a couple of places for coffee, had blueberry peirogies, but missed Peace Love & Little Donuts before closing time (a slight bummer). On a full stomach, I went back to Squirrel Hill via a bus to the UPitt campus, and about a 30 minute walk after that. It was a nice day, and I wanted to be outside as much as possible. From what I can tell, Pittsburgh doesn't have very extreme winter weather. Maybe I've just been lucky. . .

With Liz Bloom in Pittsburgh

That night I met up with Liz Bloom, who I've known for about 10 years. We both were percussionists in GBYSO, and last played together in 2010 (when she called me to do a couple concerts as a ringer with the Harvard Radcliffe Orchestra). She's working in Pittsburgh now as a writer for the Post-Gazette, and wrote about the concert we did last year. It's funny how, even after years, you can cross paths with someone you've known for a significant part of your life. I always look forward to things like that, and they often prove to be fun. We went to two different bars, the second of which closed at 11pm. Pittsburgh has strange alcohol laws, and generally shuts down way earlier than NY, or even Boston.

In my previous post, I wrote about being stuck in PA due to a Megabus cancellation. While that would have been a total blast after an awesome gig, they decided to run service. About two hours before departing for NY, I packed up and left Swissvale for downtown. There's a great busway about two blocks from the Abandoned Store that gets you in way faster than I anticipated. I had luch, got a few snacks for the road, and set off for NY by 2:30. We stopped in State College for about a half hour at 6, at the far corner of a gigantic parking lot. It would be nice if they parked closer to where you could get out and do something, but they don't. About an hour later, we had a proper (but too long) rest stop. This got us to NY at 11:30, and I was home a bit after midnight. I felt pretty good despite initially thinking I wouldn't travel that day, and have pretty much gotten back to the normal swing of things by now.

Michael's in Toledo

I was so thrilled with playing in PA again that I've started booking a full tour for the second half of March. I've thought about it for a while, but this whole experience really makes it seem like the right time (a funny parallel to doctoral apps, maybe). This will start in Chicago (new to me), and take FULL CIRCLE TIME MACHINE (and our friend Louis Goldford) to Pittsburgh. From there I'll pass through NY, spend a week in Boston, and another few days in VT before getting home again. With the possibility of going back to school, this sort of thing might not happen for a while, and it seems like a good thing to do anyway. I've got a good chunk of the dates lined up, and at the risk of turning this blog into a newsletter, will announce them soon.

2015 is off to an interesting and unprecedented start, and I'm looking forward to seeing where I can take it.

FULL CIRCLE TIME MACHINE 2015 MID USA REUNION TOUR !!!