Haven’t had much rest since the Origami USA convention last week. Been going into the city alot lately. First off, I saw Rush at Madison Square Garden last week. Jeannie got me tickets for my birthday. It’s been over ten years since they last toured, the first time since Neil Peart’s death, and the fist time with their new drummer Anika Nilles. I must say it was a very emotional experience, especially when they did songs like The Garden. The band was in top form. Geddy can still sing high, and his bass playing is as dazzling as ever, and has gotten more interesting and abstract in the jam sections. Alex too, displaying all his virtuosity and tonal and emotional range and having a great time. Anika’s playing was amazing, she handled all of Neil’s parts and brought her her own energy to the show. She played the first few songs staring intently into the distance like someone driving a motorcycle in a snowstorm. In the middle of the first set they did La Villa Strangiato, and when the big drum break came this big grin came over her face, and she totally nailed it. The place went nuts. In addition to La Villa they played a number of deep tracks. They opened the show with Xanadu, did the greater part of 2112, as well as Natural Science and By Tor and the Snow Dog, neither of which I’d ever seen them do live before. They played for over three hours and did songs from their whole career, including Subdivisions, Freewill, Spirit of Radio, Headlong Flight, Far Cry, Red Sector A, Distant Early Warning, and most of Moving Pictures. Truly amazing.
Second, over the weekend I helped Michelle move into a new apartment. She got a place in the upper west side, not too far from Columbia University, with a friend from college who is now a medical student. It’s quite nice, pretty roomy for an apartment in Manhattan, clean and bright and in good shape. The building and the neighborhood seem nice too. Michelle works in the Bronx, so her commute is about the same but now going north in the morning instead of south. Her current project is coming to an end soon, so she’s trying to get on a new project at the Museum of Natural History, a little ways downtown from her new place, as her next thing. The move went pretty smoothly, but it was alot of work carrying all her stuff of the stairs. Luckily when we showed up, her roommate’s brother appeared to help with the schleppage. After the first round of unloading, I took Michelle to Ikea in New Jersey where she bought a bed, dresser, desk and some other stuff. The Saturday night and again on Sunday I helped her put together all that furniture. Now she’s largely settled in, but she’s gonna come back for the rest of her stuff sometime this week. Anyway, onwards and upwards!