11 years later…

photo by Scott Friedlander

List of things to do today:
Messenger revised printed drawings to contractor for showroom bid.
Send synagogue/rabbi’s residence/office/dormitory building drawings to printer for copies to go to contractors.
Email photographer to get photo of Human Feel.
Write invoice for showroom.
Pack broken hard drive that has been sitting on my desk for at least a month into box with filled-out service order form and ship to cleanroom in Florida so that read/write heads can be replaced.
Email Giovanni to tell him the clients he recommended to me are screwing up my life.
Tell ex-boyfriend what to offer for an apartment in Brooklyn Heights.
Call mechanical engineer to figure out where his drawings are.
Draw hung ceiling detail.
Write blog entry.
Move columns on rear wall of so that they are not in front of windows.
Explain in meeting to structural engineers why it is not a good idea to place columns in front of operable windows in best deadpan, non-judgemental voice.
Console ex-boyfriend who ‘tooted’ in yoga class while trying to do the splits.
Eat BBQ.

Oi, and this has been the best to-do list in the past two weeks!

Chris Speed (clarinet/ tenor saxophone) gave me a copy of the latest Human Feel cd (to be distributed by Carrot Top, North Country, and directly from the Skirl website) after their performance on Saturday night at the Tea Lounge on Union Street here in Brooklyn. There were at least 150+ people in a packed lounge where they played two blistering sets of their latest and greatest along with the old, reinterpreted. This is the first cd they’ve put out in 11 years and it is beautiful- better than I remembered them. You can listen to a few of their tunes here or to the podcast next week where hopefully they will make it into EM’s mix.

Ok, so what has happened in the intervening 11 years and why are they so great? I know a bit of their personal trials, but not all. What I do know is that they’ve been torn in different directions and it must be great to be able to reconnect and communicate with old friends. I know Jim (drums and percussion) used to run off to beaches in Portugal every chance he got as a respite from all of the touring he does with other bands while also managing to put out a number of records with his band AlasNoAxis. Kurt (guitarist) had been recording for Verve for the past 8 years and lives in Switzerland with wife and two kids. Andrew (bass clarinet/alto saxophone) has turned into a bit of a rock star with a cult following among aspiring young jazz musicians in Park Slope- or so it would have seemed at the Tea Lounge. There was something about a fight between Chris and Andrew but then they somehow ended up becoming next door neighbors, and well, hell, how long can anyone keep being angry at anyone? It takes a lot of energy to stay angry- especially when you can hear the person you’re angry at practice an instrument very similar to your own across an 8’ driveway. Meanwhile, Chris has been busy starting a record label and a number of other groups such as Pachora (with Jim), The Clarinets, and his own bands.

Look for a photo to be posted as soon as the photographer responds to his part of my to-do list. Please note: that’s a smoke machine; Jim is not literally on fire.