New York in the summer may be kind of hellish, but it certainly is full of good music. Tuesday was the all-girl inter-state band Uncle Earl at Joe’s Pub, after I nearly got us all kicked out of the restaurant across the street for playing a viola while there were customers in the restaurant–the horror! It reminded me of when my friend Bill and I were sitting in Union Station, New Haven, during the blackout. I was trying to get down to New York to play there with Underbelly, but train service wasn’t running. So Bill picked up my ukelele, which he plays about 10,000 times better than I do. But a policeman walked up, looked at us with great suspicion, and said “I’m going to have to ask you to put that away.” Hmmm.
Wednesday the Michael Daves Bluegrass Mob, including yours truly on fiddle, opened for the all-guy Asheville bluegrass band, Steep Canyon Rangers, at Ace of Clubs. After the coolest conversation I have ever had with a bartender (at Ace of Clubs), which ranged from religion to law school to crossword puzzles to Latin American politics, we brought the Steep Canyon boys over to the Wednesday Night Baggot Inn jam. My favorite moment, besides just listening to Nicky tear up the bluegrass fiddle, was playing twin fiddles with him on my favorite waltz, the Utpik Waltz (or Ookpik or whichever version you prefer). I was transported again, but not to Union Station this time, rather to the Tortugal Marina in Rio Dulce, Guatemala, the winter before last, where we played that waltz every night for two weeks.
Thursday, back to Prospect Park for the outdoor concert. So far I have seen Canadian indie rock, bluegrass, and funk at this free concert series. This time it was Ozomatli, kickass Latin/hip hop fusion from California, who ended their show by coming offstage and turning into a marching band in the crowd as we chanted “Ozomatli, ya se fue, ya se fue.” Masses of cheering barefoot fans followed the band around on the grass on a warm Brooklyn night. Ahhh Brooklyn.
And tonight at BAM, Annette and I saw the Brooklyn Rock showcase, with Jeremiah Lockwood’s band Sway Machinery, which was beautiful, kind of like if you put Tom Waits, Hasil Adkins, and an old-world cantor together, stirred them all up, and then separated them into two guys, one on drums and another on electric guitar/voice. What more can I say.
Tomorrow, Golem at a street fair in midtown. More music, more sweat, bring it on.
