Checking Out Some Rock And Whatnot

Last night, I went to see Joan Wasser play an early show at the Living Room on Ludlow Street. I don’t know Joan personally, but various bands I’ve played in over the years have played on the same bills as various bands she’s played in over the years, so I’ve seen her play quite a bit since the mid-90’s or so. Also, she plays violin with Rufus Wainwright, so she was in the short little movie my friend Deirdre and I made with Rufus and Martha Wainwright a while back. So there’s that.

Anyway, thanks to the magic of the Internet, I was able to check out some of Joan’s solo stuff a while back and really dug it. I’ve been trying to go see her play for about a year and a half now, but somehow just never got around to it because of my crimefighting duties mostly. Last night, I decided to make things right once and for all and go to her show. I’m glad I did as she was awesome- beautiful songs played by a beautiful woman. It’s a pretty good combination in my book. She should sell T-shirts or something. I would wear one and if anyone asked about it I would say “Yeah, I totally just saw her playing and it was pretty f*cking sweet.” Then I would probably just get back to whatever I was doing.

After Joan’s show, I walked a couple blocks to a bar where my friend Justin was celebrating his birthday. I have been experiencing plague-like symptoms for about three weeks now and probably should have gone straight to bed so as to avoid dying, but I like Justin a lot so I figured I would challenge the spectre of death and stop in and say hi anyway. Along the way, I happened upon a Chinese dumpling shop on Eldridge Street that had 10 dumplings (chive and pork) for two bucks. I threw them down and was generally pretty psyched about that.

Since I was feeling death-like and all, I didn’t stay too long at Justin’s birthday-type celebration, but I did stay long enough for my cousin Kieran and I to punch Justin in the leg a few times for no apparent reason so I was pretty happy about that. I’m generally not the punching-someone-in-the-leg-for-no-apparent-reason type of guy, but at the time it seemed like a really good idea. I’m hoping Justin wakes up with big bruises on his legs this morning and knows that Kieran and I love him.

In other news, apparently the NYC subway transit strike is underway so the city has ground to a halt or is at least giving some serious thought to that sort of thing. I hadn’t planned on any subway excursions until later today, so so far it has not affected me in any way that I am aware of. I do have an appointment in the Big City this afternoon that I would prefer to keep. Maybe I’ll walk or something. I could use the exercise. I have been feeling a bit plus-sized of late, mostly because I pretty much stuff my face like Walter Hudson 24 hours a day it seems of late. Oh well, I can’t worry about that now. It’s time for breakfast. Ha, the joke there is that I can’t be concerned about my weight because I have to concentrate on getting more food to eat. I don’t know where I come up with this stuff. The ideas just keep popping.

Dave Hill