FlamingText

A few of my favorite things

Things that have made me happy in the last several days:

1. Friday at the Conor Byrne, playing with the Inkwell Rhythm Makers and Miss Mamie Lavona. The Inkwells was a trio out of Eugene, Oregon consisting of washboard, gutbucket (i.e. washtub bass), National Steel guitar and lots of hollering. Gutbuckets make me happy. Also, I played, got paid. Getting paid makes me happy. (Played, paid and laid is the sacred trifecta, but alas...)

2. Saturday I got a haircut and shot the shit with my barber, er, stylist, who is a great guy. However, we spent so long shooting the shit that by the end a really alarming amount of my former hair lay on the floor. I now look oddly respectable.

3.Sunday I was out walking around my neighborhood and I went in to the drugstore to buy some sunglasses. Up at the counter, the cashier told me "You know there's a two-for-one deal on these, right? Go back and get another pair FOR FREE!"

Those last two words put together like that have always been nearly impossible for me to ignore so I went back and picked out another pair. When I got back up to the counter, however, I discovered to my dismay that the second pair I had chosen was identical to the first in every way. (What can I say? My tastes are consistent.) So I went back and got another pair and went back up to the cashier with them and he said "Isn't that great? I don't tell everybody about the two-for-one deal. Just the people I like."

So you see what happens when you look respectable? Flamboyantly gay cashiers give you free sunglasses, that's what.

Then that evening I went to see the Billy Nayer Show at the Rendezvous. They played mostly brand-spanking new material from the album they are currently recording in New York. Lead singer and autoharpist/ukelelist Cory McAbee explained that they were just sneaking out of the studio for a couple quick club dates before finishing up. "The perfect crime," he called it.

The new songs were amazing. My favorite is "I'm your peg-legged father," although I'm not sure that's its real title. I don't know what the CD will be called either, but by the sound of it it will be essential listening. Seeing this guy's songwriting and performance skills filled me with inspiration and, frankly, more than a little envy. Mr. McAbee's ability to push an idea further than you possibly thought it would go and then a little further is remarkable. Also, who knew an autoharp, the instrument of, as McAbee put it "Kindergarten teachers, hippies, preachers and me," who knew it could produce such nightmarish walls of screaming feedback alongside the more standard sweetly plucked mellifluous tonality? Holy crap was it ever cool. The perfect backdrop, along with the badass rhythm section, to stirring tales of demons, bunnies, copulating houseflies and peg-legged fathers.

If this band comes to your town, go see them. Also, rent The American Astronaut. It is brilliant and weird.

4. Monday I was walking in my neighborhood where all the cherry and plum blossoms are in full bloom and it was lovely. When the wind blows hard, as it did on Monday, the fragrant pink and white petals swirl around like snow flurries. Everything looks like a Japanese painting.




My neighborhood is unspeakably beautiful this time of year.

5. Tuesday. I foolishly have my clock radio set to the local NPR station. This means many days the first thing I hear upon awakening is a story about massive sectarian violence in Iraq or how many people died in a mining disaster or something equally unpleasant. But today I was awakened by the news that Tom Delay is stepping down from his seat in Congress because of his ongoing legal troubles. It was like being awakened by a ray of sunshine falling warm upon my feet while the scent of coffee and fresh-baked biscuits wafted up through the house. Okay, not that good, but pretty damn good.

It could only be better if he was resigning because compromising pictures of him commiting unspeakable acts with dachshund puppies had been posted on the internet. Anyone?

Okay, I realize I'm pushing my luck here. Anyway, there you have it: Plum blossoms and schadenfreude. One pure joy and one guilty pleasure. Happy spring!

Posted by flamingbanjo at April 4, 2006 05:48 PM