It’s been a busy few weeks. Winter is over and one or twice a week we get a day nice enough to be hopeful that spring will be here any day now. I’ve been going into the city alot recently. The week after our trip to Chicago we went to a tribute concert to Billy Joel at Carnegie Hall. I’d never been to Carnegie Hall before (even though I practice every day), so that was pretty cool. The concert itself was great. The band was Billy Joel’s backing band, and a series of guest artists sang a bunch of his hits and deep tracks, some doing pretty different interpretations. Among the highlights were the singer who did River of Dreams on ukulele, and Natalie Merchant’s rendition of Allentown, which Michelle called “the saddest version ever”.
The week after that we saw Kurt Elling at Birdland, with the Future of Jazz big band. The show was excellent, and afterwards we were talking to the bass player because his father was sitting next to us in the audience. Kurt did Joco’s Three Views of a Secret and he remarked that he wasn’t really familiar with the song and it blew his mind. I was thinking, you’re a jazz bassist in a big band and you don’t know the record Word of Mouth? Kids today I tell you.
Only a couple days after that I went into the city for work, mainly to go to lunch and say goodbye to my friend Sukhi. She was the product manager on our product Permission Slip, but CR is getting out of the privacy business, so she’s moving on. The general vibe of the company now is fear and uncertainty, so it makes me wonder about the future of the Innovation Lab.
Finally, Jeannie and I took a quick little trip to Boston for a special event for the Global Jukebox. It was in induction ceremony for the Americana Roots and Folk Music Hall of Fame, and Alan Lomax was one of the honorees. Anna accepted the award on his behalf, and got to invite a number of people as guest to the ceremony. So we were part of her entourage. I met Odysseus and his family, and some others of the Lomax clan, and Kiki and Robert were there too. The event took place a beautiful old theatre. There was a cocktail hour in the lobby with amazing bacon Old-fasioned’s. The main event was a dinner with the tables set up on an enormous stage with the band turned around facing us. The house band that played a few songs after each honoree’s acceptance speech, with numerous guests. All very good. Anna mentioned the Global Jukebox in her speech and me by name, so I got to stand up and take a box. Very kind of her.
Finally, my band Spacecats had a gig last Friday. It was a good crowd and the music went over well, although we didn’t make much money. One of the new songs we did was Joy Spring. Another was a jazz interpretation of Black Hole Sun by Soundgarden. This went over amazingly well. Several people sitting way over at the bar came out to stand in front of the stage and record us with their phones.
Meanwhile, like I said we’ve had a few nice days. Over the last two weekends I began the spring cycle of yardwork by raking up all the leaves and debris on the lawn and in the flowerbeds and under the hedges, and did a little but of trimming. I also got the Mustang out on the road for the first time this season. Happily it started right up, even after a brutally cold winter. But now I need to get it into the shop for an oil change, a soft tire, and a bunch of other minor issues. Ah well. Maybe this is the year I’ll finally get it painted.
I’ve also been able to get out on my bike a bunch of times, maybe two or three days a week. I’m over 20 rides and 120 miles for the year already. I’m hoping start going pretty much every day soon.
Ah, spring!!!