Off the Road Again

Morning earworm: a new section of Shape of the World, to be worked on this week. Can't provide a link, as it doesn't exist outside of my head yet. It could be worse - yesterday I woke up with Les Paul & Mary Ford's Mockingbird Hill on the endless loop. That'll get on your nerves in a hurry - lol.

So, it was quite a weekend. Seems crazy in retrospect - 300 miles for a one hour show - but it was worth it in so many ways. Catching up and reconnecting with a number of old friends, some of whom traveled even farther that we did. There was, of course, a measure of adventure involved - I don't know that I'm ready for The Amazing Race, but my skills seem to be intact, despite not traveling much in recent years. The drive up was pretty uneventful; it still amazes me how close together everything is on this side of the country. Having spent my adult life either on the Left Coast or in the vast plains of the Midwest, I have difficulty grasping that DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia and NYC are all on the same highway and only 1-2 hours apart.

Travel time is relative, though. It was nearly 1.5 hours from our hotel to the show, and the venue was nearly visible from our room. The map said it was ten miles. Working the system, we caught the free shuttle from the hotel to Newark Airport; from there, another shuttle bus into midtown Manhattan, a walk of a few blocks and finally a city bus downtown. Adventurous I may be, but I am quite glad that I chose not to drive that particular leg of the journey. My initial impression of the Big Apple is that it is claustrophobic. The legendary "concrete canyons" are as oppressive as they are imposing; everything is packed in so tightly and is so congested with both foot and vehicular traffic that it almost feels like a Third World city. Granted, this was Times Square, which rivals anything in Las Vegas for sensory overload. It wasn't quite as bad when we got downtown to the Financial District; being a Saturday, this was almost deserted by comparison. Indeed, the World Financial Center (the show venue) nearly looked closed, and may of the shops inside were. We were finally able to locate an open restaurant, on the recommendation of a friend we encountered there; a great meal with a delightful view of the harbor.

The performance itself, in the WFC Winter Garden, was exceptional, though the room itself was a bit challenging - it would be a bit like playing at a Mall; there was a fair amount of foot traffic through the space, mostly respectful but there were a few clueless individuals as always. One woman in particular comes to mind, charging through directly behind us during an especially quiet passage in heels that made her sound like a team of Clydesdales. Still, an amazing show, as always. There was surprisingly little weird energy, which I thought might be a bit of a concern, inasmuch as the far end of the performance space is a huge window looking out over the crater and constructions sight of Ground Zero.

On second thought, I can at least provide some sense of the performance.

I could see going back sometime and doing some tourist stuff, when the weather warms up, but all in all, if I feel the need for the Big City experience, I feel much more at home in Chicago.