Since being back in New York City, or "the city" as locals like to call it, I've had access to the Kinnie's bike. I've been riding as much as I can, saving money on train fare and getting some good cardio in the process. Tonight I decided to take a stroll just as the sun was going down and I ended up at a strange little place called Roosevelt Island.
For those who aren't familiar, it's an island on the East River between Queens and Manhattan. For some reason it has a very strange stigma to most who live in "the city". There's only one train that runs there, and remember that scene in Spider-Man when Green Goblin lures Spider-Man to the top of the Queensboro Bridge by taking Mary Jane and a tramway car full of children hostage? Well that was the Roosevelt Island Tramway, which is part of your daily commute if you live there. Scary stuff if you believe Green Goblin could be real. Also, there used to be an insane asylum there. Also, it housed the prison before Riker's Island.
But as I rode my bike around the island, I was shocked and awed. It's not creepy at all. It's a completely functioning little city. It's quaint, it's quiet, it's downright cute. I really felt a strong sense of community, which is pretty rare in these parts. I found my way to a little grass hill right on the river and I just sat there...beholding the majestic quality of the city. Say what you will, believe what you will about New York City, but I assure you there is nothing else in the world like it. It's an immeasurable force on this planet Earth. Sometimes it's bad. Like Wall Street-disabling-the-world's-economy-bad. But sometimes, like tonight, it's just so inexpressibly good.
I wasn't a New Yorker 10 years ago. I was an Okie. I was in college. On September 11th, 2001, I had an early morning piano lesson with Marilyn Rosfeld. We heard the news. We had a very quiet and sobering moment together. To this day, she and I have a very special friendship. I know that we all experienced great fear that day. We all questioned many things that day. We all felt overwhelmingly human that day.
Tonight as I sat there gazing towards downtown at the two incredible beams of light piercing the sky, I lost myself in thought. I wondered how it must have felt to have been here on that day, to have been sitting on that hill enjoying a cup of coffee and suddenly staring at a falling sky, to have attempted to go about my day, days. It humbled me. It inspired me.
Every New Yorker lost someone that day. Every New Yorker lost something that day. New York City is only great because a shit-ton of people truly believe it is. New York lost a lot of New Yorkers that day. And to all those lost New Yorkers, we remember you. We miss you. "The city" won't be the same without you.
TJ
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Behind the scenes
It's hard to believe we've been here over a week. At times, it feels as if we've been here an eternity. Time doesn't really exist here. This place runs in it's own dimension.
We got to spend our first week on the island with beautiful ladies visiting from NYC. Their positive energy and good nature kept our smiles at a double-wide all week long. Two of our visitors had never been here. The third happened to be a dear friend who drove TJ and I down here last year. I couldn't wait to share this place with them for a whole week! My favorite moments on Ocracoke are when the moon is waning. It gets so dark that you can't see your hand in front of your face. It's incredible. Coming from NYC, these girls are used to illumination at all hours of the day. It was a real sight to see them all trying to ride their bikes in the dark with just headlamps to light the way. I tend to be a little pushy and competitive, so I presented them with a challenge: turn off your headlamps, let your eyes adjust, and enjoy the ride. There is nothing on earth like riding through the dark of night. It's so exhilarating. Although a little scared at first, everyone ended up really enjoying themselves. Being entirely vulnerable to the night, the road and foreign surroundings frees your soul. The connection with the earth while darkness embraces you is something that cannot be explained in words. It must be felt. And it feels good.
All of the girls got to take something magical away from this island. Shooting stars, late night beach trips, wild shows at St. Jimmy's, rough waves, and tree house escapades highlight some of the many shenanigans that occurred throughout the week. We know our lives as a touring band are less than ordinary. It's so fulfilling for us to be able to share our blessings with our friends. They got to see how we live, work, and play. It can be hard for us to explain how much work goes into what we do. From the outside it's easy to only see the excitement, the parties and shows. Our friends got a week-long backstage pass to observe us in our natural habitat of BAND. Every morning there were emails to send out, CD's to burn, websites to update, people to call, songs to rehearse, the list goes on and on and on. They listened as we rehearsed, they helped with the loading and unloading of gear, they even helped label our CD's. We were so grateful for them and their help.
I didn't realize how much I need those girls and their sweet, sweet energy last week.
I passed a church sign recently that read: Get rich quick! Count your blessings.
Add three more to my blessings bank account.
Yes Team, GO!
Kinnie
We got to spend our first week on the island with beautiful ladies visiting from NYC. Their positive energy and good nature kept our smiles at a double-wide all week long. Two of our visitors had never been here. The third happened to be a dear friend who drove TJ and I down here last year. I couldn't wait to share this place with them for a whole week! My favorite moments on Ocracoke are when the moon is waning. It gets so dark that you can't see your hand in front of your face. It's incredible. Coming from NYC, these girls are used to illumination at all hours of the day. It was a real sight to see them all trying to ride their bikes in the dark with just headlamps to light the way. I tend to be a little pushy and competitive, so I presented them with a challenge: turn off your headlamps, let your eyes adjust, and enjoy the ride. There is nothing on earth like riding through the dark of night. It's so exhilarating. Although a little scared at first, everyone ended up really enjoying themselves. Being entirely vulnerable to the night, the road and foreign surroundings frees your soul. The connection with the earth while darkness embraces you is something that cannot be explained in words. It must be felt. And it feels good.
All of the girls got to take something magical away from this island. Shooting stars, late night beach trips, wild shows at St. Jimmy's, rough waves, and tree house escapades highlight some of the many shenanigans that occurred throughout the week. We know our lives as a touring band are less than ordinary. It's so fulfilling for us to be able to share our blessings with our friends. They got to see how we live, work, and play. It can be hard for us to explain how much work goes into what we do. From the outside it's easy to only see the excitement, the parties and shows. Our friends got a week-long backstage pass to observe us in our natural habitat of BAND. Every morning there were emails to send out, CD's to burn, websites to update, people to call, songs to rehearse, the list goes on and on and on. They listened as we rehearsed, they helped with the loading and unloading of gear, they even helped label our CD's. We were so grateful for them and their help.
I didn't realize how much I need those girls and their sweet, sweet energy last week.
I passed a church sign recently that read: Get rich quick! Count your blessings.
Add three more to my blessings bank account.
Yes Team, GO!
Kinnie
Monday, July 4, 2011
Third time's a charm.
The first and only thing you need to know about Ocracoke Island, as quoted by the mayor of Ocracoke himself: "This place is wild!" It's only been a few short days since I arrived for my 3rd summer stint in the Outer Banks (the OBX if you will...and I will), and I'm quickly reminded of how wild this place really is. Island folk are just a little (and by a little I mean completely) off. I don't know if it's something in the water or that fact that they're completely surrounded by it, but they definitely have their own way of doing things.
Example:
On our first day on the island, we decided to take a walk around and see what was happening. I decided to bring my new Starbuck's reusable iced coffee cup (thanks Jojo) along to enjoy refreshing iced coffee on my walk. As we approached the Ocracoke Coffee Co. (the best and only coffee shop on the island) I saw a dude I knew from past years. He's a nice guy, a gentleman in fact. He helped A-Ron and I find a place to live my first year on the island. We'll call him Luke. I'm genuinely happy to be on this island and I was genuinely happy to see him, shake his hand, and greet him. He, however, had other plans in mind. Before I could even say a word, he slapped my shiny new Starbucks cup right out of my hands straight to the cold hard pavement. I stood there for a moment processing what had just happened, but each moment only left me more puzzled than the last. Such things have no explanation. He didn't apologize or even pick it up for me. I retrieved my cracked cup from the ground and was reminded of one simple fact...
THIS PLACE IS WILD!
Example:
On our first day on the island, we decided to take a walk around and see what was happening. I decided to bring my new Starbuck's reusable iced coffee cup (thanks Jojo) along to enjoy refreshing iced coffee on my walk. As we approached the Ocracoke Coffee Co. (the best and only coffee shop on the island) I saw a dude I knew from past years. He's a nice guy, a gentleman in fact. He helped A-Ron and I find a place to live my first year on the island. We'll call him Luke. I'm genuinely happy to be on this island and I was genuinely happy to see him, shake his hand, and greet him. He, however, had other plans in mind. Before I could even say a word, he slapped my shiny new Starbucks cup right out of my hands straight to the cold hard pavement. I stood there for a moment processing what had just happened, but each moment only left me more puzzled than the last. Such things have no explanation. He didn't apologize or even pick it up for me. I retrieved my cracked cup from the ground and was reminded of one simple fact...
THIS PLACE IS WILD!
We're baaaaaack!
What? Where am I? Did I somehow end up at blogspot? What's blogging...I remember maybe, just maybe, doing it once upon a time. Don't I?
Alright, so, I'm back. Back behind these little plastic keys and my beautiful piece of technology and I'm gonna just get on my soapbox for a real hot tic tock.
NYC: The Tour at Home is finally over. It was a blast! It seemed as if everything was in slow motion. I had to go back to work (and I use that term loosely) at my table waiting job in the city upon returning. Thankfully I was living with my bandmates and two sublets and bills were low (5 people 2 and a 1/2 bedrooms). This allowed me to just be at work as much as I needed to be. I thought going back would be fun. I'd get to see old friends, make some money and maybe even spread word of our band to new people. Really it just ended up being going back, with the feeling of going backwards. After suffering for what you truly love to do it's hard to suffer for anything else.
I made due and it was great to see a few familiar faces. The main gift of returning to NYC was to see my oldest friends in Astoria. They go from 8 years to 12 years of friendship and after being removed for four long months it was like heaven. Easy laughter, easy silence and the strongest support system (besides my family) that you could ask for. We packed our gigs and shared what we had been creating for the past four months. We even made a little bit of money.
The real mountainous task that was ahead of us was mixing/mastering our cd and getting our rewards out to our Affirminators on Kickstarter. This had been a task that had been staring at us since we completed the project in April. We foolishly thought we could get it all done by June 28th and I'll say this. We gave it hell! We started to worry about the mixing process when Dave Stipe, our producer and recording engineer, and his wife gave birth to their first song. We celebrated their first born, but were concerned about everything getting done. Dave went above and beyond our expectations and killed the mixes for us. It amazed me how fast the money went. From paying Dave to paying for mastering it just flew right on out of the ol' band fund. We are now rebuilding our funds to press our first release. Luckily we met a very talented graphic designer, Hannah Lee, who did an amazing job getting together our album art :). We're closing in!
The biggest hurdle has certainly been fulfilling the Kickstarter pledges. We have Skype concerts to give, tees to mail and songs to write. That's right. Songs. We readily admit that we get some cockamamy schemes up in these positively charge minds of ours, but this is a hum dinger. We said we'd right a song commissioned by each Affirminator that pledged $100. It seemed simple enough. We ended up with 13 of them. That's a lot of words, music and harmonies to write, but we're getting there. Over half way and we're about to start sending them out. It's going to be a huge relief to be done with this Kickstarter. Relief and gratitude are two amazing feelings when mixed together :).
So, we finally left NYC after an amazing last show at The Pig and Whistle. It was a great show and the amount of support that we had was amazing. We packed up and headed southeast. Back to the sea. We holed up at my parent's house in Hampton, VA and got our minds at peace and ready for tour. We did this with a new addition...Christine Dunbar! We took TJ's lady away from the complications of that big bad city to give her a taste of what things are like when you step away for a while. She rocks and we are happy to have her energy with us!
We're in Ocracoke now and we're on our 4th day. TJ and Kinnie had warned me about island time and they were right. It feels like we've been here for at least two weeks. It's the most amazing feeling. There's nothing better than watching the world around you slow your pace and bring you down to neutral. Things certainly seem easier here.
We're getting our regiment together, we're making moves and today we start our 5 day a week gig-a-thon! We played our first gig at Teach's, on Hatteras, on July 1st, but as Salty's Fault (and yes, we killed it). Now it's time to show Ocracoke who The Yes Team is.
Tune in next week to hear the full unadulterated story of how I got into a head-on collision (on a bike) my first night on the island!
Until then...
Alright, so, I'm back. Back behind these little plastic keys and my beautiful piece of technology and I'm gonna just get on my soapbox for a real hot tic tock.
NYC: The Tour at Home is finally over. It was a blast! It seemed as if everything was in slow motion. I had to go back to work (and I use that term loosely) at my table waiting job in the city upon returning. Thankfully I was living with my bandmates and two sublets and bills were low (5 people 2 and a 1/2 bedrooms). This allowed me to just be at work as much as I needed to be. I thought going back would be fun. I'd get to see old friends, make some money and maybe even spread word of our band to new people. Really it just ended up being going back, with the feeling of going backwards. After suffering for what you truly love to do it's hard to suffer for anything else.
I made due and it was great to see a few familiar faces. The main gift of returning to NYC was to see my oldest friends in Astoria. They go from 8 years to 12 years of friendship and after being removed for four long months it was like heaven. Easy laughter, easy silence and the strongest support system (besides my family) that you could ask for. We packed our gigs and shared what we had been creating for the past four months. We even made a little bit of money.
The real mountainous task that was ahead of us was mixing/mastering our cd and getting our rewards out to our Affirminators on Kickstarter. This had been a task that had been staring at us since we completed the project in April. We foolishly thought we could get it all done by June 28th and I'll say this. We gave it hell! We started to worry about the mixing process when Dave Stipe, our producer and recording engineer, and his wife gave birth to their first song. We celebrated their first born, but were concerned about everything getting done. Dave went above and beyond our expectations and killed the mixes for us. It amazed me how fast the money went. From paying Dave to paying for mastering it just flew right on out of the ol' band fund. We are now rebuilding our funds to press our first release. Luckily we met a very talented graphic designer, Hannah Lee, who did an amazing job getting together our album art :). We're closing in!
The biggest hurdle has certainly been fulfilling the Kickstarter pledges. We have Skype concerts to give, tees to mail and songs to write. That's right. Songs. We readily admit that we get some cockamamy schemes up in these positively charge minds of ours, but this is a hum dinger. We said we'd right a song commissioned by each Affirminator that pledged $100. It seemed simple enough. We ended up with 13 of them. That's a lot of words, music and harmonies to write, but we're getting there. Over half way and we're about to start sending them out. It's going to be a huge relief to be done with this Kickstarter. Relief and gratitude are two amazing feelings when mixed together :).
So, we finally left NYC after an amazing last show at The Pig and Whistle. It was a great show and the amount of support that we had was amazing. We packed up and headed southeast. Back to the sea. We holed up at my parent's house in Hampton, VA and got our minds at peace and ready for tour. We did this with a new addition...Christine Dunbar! We took TJ's lady away from the complications of that big bad city to give her a taste of what things are like when you step away for a while. She rocks and we are happy to have her energy with us!
We're in Ocracoke now and we're on our 4th day. TJ and Kinnie had warned me about island time and they were right. It feels like we've been here for at least two weeks. It's the most amazing feeling. There's nothing better than watching the world around you slow your pace and bring you down to neutral. Things certainly seem easier here.
We're getting our regiment together, we're making moves and today we start our 5 day a week gig-a-thon! We played our first gig at Teach's, on Hatteras, on July 1st, but as Salty's Fault (and yes, we killed it). Now it's time to show Ocracoke who The Yes Team is.
Tune in next week to hear the full unadulterated story of how I got into a head-on collision (on a bike) my first night on the island!
Until then...
Listening to the Sea
So here's The Deal:
We haven't even been gone a week and already things are movin and groovin. We spent last Thursday lazily making our way down the Outer Banks. We ended up in Hatteras. It's the last stop on the mainland where you catch the ferry to leave civilization and set sail for the Outer Banks' southern most habitable island, Ocracoke. We wanted to wait to head to Ocracoke on Friday morning. Like we tend to do, we found the one and only open mic for miles and miles around. We went. It was awesome. It was outside on the porch/square of a few shops in town. There were tons of people sitting outside, listening to the music and sipping on beers. We played four songs and got to talk a little about our performance schedule on the islands for the next month. Our first gig was the next night about a mile away from the open mic. We had several people from the night before come to check us out. Word spreads fast on these tiny islands. The YES movement on the Outer Banks has begun.
We couldn't have rolled into town at a better time. The holiday weekend has this island boppin. This was our only weekend off this month, and we definitely took advantage. The beach time has been the best. We've had great waves for swimming, playing, and body surfing. Many of you know that I teach swimming to little kids when we're not touring. My favorite part of coming to the Outer Banks is my ocean swim. People go into deep meditative places through all sorts of activities. I get there through swimming. I love forgetting everything around me and just focus on my stroke and breathing. Saturday's waves were especially good for this. We walked down the shore about a quarter of mile to float/play/swim back to our spot. I left the group to body surf and set off swimming. I got into an amazing rhythm and let the world slip away under each roll of the waves. Then out of nowhere I heard a huge BOM, BOM, BOM. I was on my feet in the next second. Completely freaked out I started scanning the water for boats, whales, sharks, secret underwater sea stations, the usual. I have great respect for the ocean. At times when I've neglected to honor her power she sends in a swell to knock me off my feet and give me a thorough nasal cleansing. These BOM, BOM, BOMs had me paranoid. I talked myself out of the whale/shark attack scenarios and decided to keep swimming. I got about a minute into the new swim when the BOM, BOM, BOM happened again. I like to think of myself as a smart individual with a good head on my shoulders. I was determined to figure out where these strange scarey underwater noises were coming from. Turns out these BOM, BOM, BOMs were not sharks and whales plotting my attack. I get so incredibly focused while swimming that I slip into a meditative state and start listening with new ears. I was hearing......my own feet kick the water. Yep. My own feet. I cannot explain the relief/embarrassment of the entire situation. I thought I was going crazy. Turns out, I just heard what all those fish hear when we're up there kicking and splashing on the surface. We are loud. True story.
We couldn't have rolled into town at a better time. The holiday weekend has this island boppin. This was our only weekend off this month, and we definitely took advantage. The beach time has been the best. We've had great waves for swimming, playing, and body surfing. Many of you know that I teach swimming to little kids when we're not touring. My favorite part of coming to the Outer Banks is my ocean swim. People go into deep meditative places through all sorts of activities. I get there through swimming. I love forgetting everything around me and just focus on my stroke and breathing. Saturday's waves were especially good for this. We walked down the shore about a quarter of mile to float/play/swim back to our spot. I left the group to body surf and set off swimming. I got into an amazing rhythm and let the world slip away under each roll of the waves. Then out of nowhere I heard a huge BOM, BOM, BOM. I was on my feet in the next second. Completely freaked out I started scanning the water for boats, whales, sharks, secret underwater sea stations, the usual. I have great respect for the ocean. At times when I've neglected to honor her power she sends in a swell to knock me off my feet and give me a thorough nasal cleansing. These BOM, BOM, BOMs had me paranoid. I talked myself out of the whale/shark attack scenarios and decided to keep swimming. I got about a minute into the new swim when the BOM, BOM, BOM happened again. I like to think of myself as a smart individual with a good head on my shoulders. I was determined to figure out where these strange scarey underwater noises were coming from. Turns out these BOM, BOM, BOMs were not sharks and whales plotting my attack. I get so incredibly focused while swimming that I slip into a meditative state and start listening with new ears. I was hearing......my own feet kick the water. Yep. My own feet. I cannot explain the relief/embarrassment of the entire situation. I thought I was going crazy. Turns out, I just heard what all those fish hear when we're up there kicking and splashing on the surface. We are loud. True story.
Kinnie
Friday, March 18, 2011
Back to the City: Part One
I'd like to say that being on tour is a double-edged sword, but aren't all swords double-edged? I mean, if I were a warrior wielding a sword I'd like to know that either which way I swing it, I'm gonna cut a bitch. So, yeah, tour...
Tour is where a band finds itself. A band on tour spends every waking AND sleeping moment together (usually on a floor) seeking the heart of what it is you want out of this life you've chosen. The journey itself fuels the creation, which fuels the journey, and so on. It's an incredible circle of life to be a part of. But some days it rains. Some days your phone gets cut off. Some days all hope seems lost. Some days peanut butter just can't fill the void. Some days you just gotta go. So that's what I did.
A while back I was talking to my dear friend Byron Bray on the phone and he sensed that I was in distress. He offered to buy me a plane ticket to get back to NYC for a few days to put my head and my heart back together. I knew it's what I needed, but was bailing on the Team even just for a few days the right move? The answer, as it seems to be most of the time these days, was simply YES! I was convinced that just as much as I needed a break from The Yes Team, The Yes Team undoubtedly needed a break from me. I'm kinda cray cray sometimes. Plus I knew that I could book a show and bring some money back for the cause. So the ticket was purchased and the waiting game began.
See, right before I left on this tour I started seeing a lady. Let's call her "Christine." Things were brand new when I hit the road so there was no real talk of a long distance relationship, but hearts have a mind of their own sometimes. And there I was...smitten by a lady on that other coast. The coast I escaped from. So there you have it...the REAL reason I needed to get back to the city. I had to see about a lady.
So, I got on a jet plane for a 3-day vaycay. A chance to breathe. A chance to reflect. A chance to relate. A chance to bring some Yes to a city that always needs it. And a chance to get some Yes from the people that we really needed it from. See what I did there?
I'll be honest. When I landed, I felt displaced. I wondered if I still belonged in the concrete jungle where dreams are of. But then I arrived at The Flame, Byron's favorite diner for coffee and fellowship with the man who made this little dream a reality. From that moment on there was no question in my mind. I was back! Thanks Byron. Even though you don't have a computer. Mental note: Print this out and send to Byron.
The next 3 days were a blur. I spent most of my time in Hipsterville, USA (aka Williamsburg) with the lady. She took me out to dinner at local spot called The Rabbit Hole. The pulled pork killed it! Going out to eat. Man, I forgot how much fun that was. Wait...was I actually enjoying myself in Brooklyn? Yes!
Wednesday I got to hang with my boys Miles and Joe. Last year we started a band called TJ and the Tater Tots. It was a long overdue reunion gig. We drank juice, played tunes, and finished with a full on PIZZA PARTY! Oh, NY style pizza. I have missed you. Tater Tots: I love you guys!
Tour is where a band finds itself. A band on tour spends every waking AND sleeping moment together (usually on a floor) seeking the heart of what it is you want out of this life you've chosen. The journey itself fuels the creation, which fuels the journey, and so on. It's an incredible circle of life to be a part of. But some days it rains. Some days your phone gets cut off. Some days all hope seems lost. Some days peanut butter just can't fill the void. Some days you just gotta go. So that's what I did.
A while back I was talking to my dear friend Byron Bray on the phone and he sensed that I was in distress. He offered to buy me a plane ticket to get back to NYC for a few days to put my head and my heart back together. I knew it's what I needed, but was bailing on the Team even just for a few days the right move? The answer, as it seems to be most of the time these days, was simply YES! I was convinced that just as much as I needed a break from The Yes Team, The Yes Team undoubtedly needed a break from me. I'm kinda cray cray sometimes. Plus I knew that I could book a show and bring some money back for the cause. So the ticket was purchased and the waiting game began.
See, right before I left on this tour I started seeing a lady. Let's call her "Christine." Things were brand new when I hit the road so there was no real talk of a long distance relationship, but hearts have a mind of their own sometimes. And there I was...smitten by a lady on that other coast. The coast I escaped from. So there you have it...the REAL reason I needed to get back to the city. I had to see about a lady.
So, I got on a jet plane for a 3-day vaycay. A chance to breathe. A chance to reflect. A chance to relate. A chance to bring some Yes to a city that always needs it. And a chance to get some Yes from the people that we really needed it from. See what I did there?
I'll be honest. When I landed, I felt displaced. I wondered if I still belonged in the concrete jungle where dreams are of. But then I arrived at The Flame, Byron's favorite diner for coffee and fellowship with the man who made this little dream a reality. From that moment on there was no question in my mind. I was back! Thanks Byron. Even though you don't have a computer. Mental note: Print this out and send to Byron.
The next 3 days were a blur. I spent most of my time in Hipsterville, USA (aka Williamsburg) with the lady. She took me out to dinner at local spot called The Rabbit Hole. The pulled pork killed it! Going out to eat. Man, I forgot how much fun that was. Wait...was I actually enjoying myself in Brooklyn? Yes!
Wednesday I got to hang with my boys Miles and Joe. Last year we started a band called TJ and the Tater Tots. It was a long overdue reunion gig. We drank juice, played tunes, and finished with a full on PIZZA PARTY! Oh, NY style pizza. I have missed you. Tater Tots: I love you guys!
Thursday was the day of the show y'all! I booked my favorite Astoria spot, Winegasm. The night was destined for greatness. It rained. Cats. Dogs. Orangutans. You name it. On my journey from Brooklyn to Queens I got Super-Soaker 5000'd. I had brought Yes Team CD's and T-shirts to sell at the gig, but when I finally got to Astoria they were swimming in a murky pool at the bottom of my backpack. Oh well, visit Back to the Sea: The Kickstarter if you're interested in CD's and T-shirts NOT in the bottom of a wet backpack.
I met up with Ryan Guerra, Gregorio Hernandez, and Whit Baldwin at Guerra's place to jam a little before the show. This proved to be very successful in brushing up on tunes that none of us had played in a long while. Also highly successful in shared broments that were long overdue. After I finished Whit's leftover Bare Burger onion rings, we all braved the rain and headed out for the gig.
Winegasm was surprisingly lively when we arrived so I knew when our peeps showed up it was gonna get rowdy! And that's exactly what happened. One by one almost every person I needed to see walked through that door...with an umbrella and a smile. Aaron LaVigne got out of catering early and it basically turned into a full-on Salty's Fault reunion. Whit and I REGULATED!!!!!!! Meanwhile, the bar was full of standing water. Everything was wet. Life was good. Everbody that showed up fought heavy rain and subways and umbrellas to come out and share a night of music with me. That night I realized, more so than usual, it's not the place. It's the people.
"Where you invest your love, you invest your life."
Mumford & Sons
Yes Team, GO!
The MessNext:
Back to the City: Part Two, "Back to the Sea"
Thursday, March 17, 2011
As we ride in Purple Reign across the Coronado Bridge and head to PB to busk I'm overwhelmed with emotion. San Diego is absolutely gorgeous today. The sun is shining. The temperature is perfect. We've experienced 2 1/2 months full of blessings. We continue to meet and fall in love with the most amazing people. This journey never ceases to take my breath away. We'll be leaving soon. And while I'm anxious to head back home to be with my NYC family, I'm going to miss my new San Diego circle. This place has stolen my heart. Today, we're going to our normal spot on the beach to make a little cash. Hopefully all of the drunk college kids will throw us a little extra green on this silly drunken holiday.
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