Bluesman Blog 9 |
Bluesman Blog 9
Although I feel very much a city kind of guy, concrete, noise, hubbub, wailing sirens and clattering trains, I enjoy an occasional trip up country. Two weeks ago I was offered such an opportunity. True, as in most of my trips, there's a modicum of work at the other end of the ride but nothing I don't enjoy. I rode up with a co worker to a little town called Leeds up on the edge of the Catskill Mountains in aptly named Greene County, not too far from Albany, the State Capital. Green hills, well surfaced twisty roads that climb, twist and plunge and a bunch of hamlets; including Berne, where the church we were doing the installation for, was located, and the quaintly named Coxsackie. The job was never finished, coitus between wiring and equipment definitely interruptus, equipment was withdrawn from the building and we had to leave disgruntled. No doubt, once various monetary considerations are resolved, we'll be back. Bit of a waste of time really, as the bishop said to the actress. If you'll excuse the laboured metaphor. Anyway two and a half days of country will do me.
The town of Catskill (cat creek) was named by the Dutch who settled that region in the 17th century around Fort Orange, modern day Albany. It's the town that Washington Irving's Rip van Winkle lived and slept in. Eventually, despite the reluctance of the British who took over in the late 17th century to hang on to anything Dutch, the region became known by that name. It's easy to imagine the stern, stoic, peg legged disciplinarian Petrus (Peter) Stuyvesant the Director-General of New Amsterdam cracking a rare smile had he been able to see into the future at all the surviving Dutch place names in New York. Indeed one of them being Bowery, for his farm which then stretched from Whitehall to Harlem where, after honourably surrendering New Amsterdam in 1664 to the British, he lived until his death in August 1672.
I returned to Manhattan, to a busker ending an excellent rendition of ‘I will always love you', the applause echoing behind me as I walked through the underground complex from the Bus Depot to Times Sq subway station, where a crestfallen Latino youth was being measured for a pair of cuffs by the NYPD while a second officer reassured his friend that ‘he's not in too much trouble'. Contrasts!
Finally managed to get four out of the five band members at the same rehearsal studio at the same time. We went through the song list that I had previously worked on with bits and pieces of the band. Our new female vocalist worked out well. Once we've done that a couple more times gigs become an option. It's a lot tougher converging in the City where schedules, trains and studio availability all need to be juggled, rather than in the suburban areas where one can drive up to a band member's house and make some noise in relative isolation from the neighbours
Last week saw a gathering of the clan of sorts as my younger daughter and BF, friend and her BF converged on my No.1 daughter and BF's Astoria apartment joining my daughters' mother (no BF) who had flown in from Texas. The event was a baby shower (excellently organised by sister and friend) for, and eventual birth of, a granddaughter who showed up late and hungry but hale and hearty.
The summer season of outdoor entertainment rolls on, even if summer has been reluctant to put in a personal appearance and the weather remains confusingly blustery. Rain clouds sweep through for three or four days at a time keeping the temperatures below the norm. The Sunday of the Third Avenue Festival was not such a day however and the event took place under sunny skies. The stage I'm responsible for is sponsored by the Gramercy Brass Orchestra. I do it every year so I'm familiar with what's needed and have a good relationship with the Director, John Lambert. John singlehandedly sets up a backstage area for the bands under a couple of pop-up tents stocked with ice water, coffee and muffins. The jazz band under the leadership of Mike Fahie proceeded to wow the audience with his compositions, as well as arrangements of transcribed, pieces from Bartok, Debussy and Tchaikovsky. They were followed by a group of youngsters specialising in tight riffing funk and the last act, whose set had been cut short by rain last year, playing a controlled explosion of powerful rock blues. All in all, a good day!
THE BLUESMAN
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The Bluesman is a Maltese sound engineer working in New York.
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Posted by | Mon, 13 Jul 2009 23:39:29 +0200 | Discuss comment
Well written, as I read it on the train while listening to Donovan trying to catch the wind
ciao ciao
dennis
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