Hung around the kitchen drinking coffee and reading an article in the Phoenix about the historic Glass Slipper strip club in what is left of Boston's Combat Zone. It's funny that folks like Senator Santorum paint Massachusetts as some sort of den of carnal inequity. Compared to a (Southern) city like Atlanta, Boston is quite prim. You know, this is where the Puritans put down roots, where they burned witches, and where until recently you couldn't buy a six-pack of beer on Sunday.
I've been finding watching the contortions that the Hariet Miers nomination is putting the Right through, to be most entertaining and edifying. You see, the extreme right-wing, needs the left. They draw energy from the conflict. They view themselves as conquering demons. If there is no demon to fight, what will they do? So, when Harry Reid lauded Hariet, he stole the Right's power. I don't know if this was intentional, or accidental, but either way, it's brilliant.
Practiced guitar for a bit over an hour, getting the right hand back in shape, and reviewing the Bach piece. Around 5 I printed out directions to the gig, pulled some things together, and MB and I headed out. The directions were terrible (mapquested again), and we got turned around a couple of times, but made it there (Spontaneous Celebration in JP) only about 10 minutes late.
The venue had a lot of crazy lefty hippy energy floating around. The main downstairs space had 10 or 15 large tables set up with various organizations and causes displaying their literature, bumper stickers, apparel, and so on. Billionaires for Bush was a good one. MB and I loaded our stuff up some rickety back stairs (that can not be up to code) and found ourselves on stage. Victor was tweaking knobs on the mixing-board, David and Terry were providing a sound source. MB and I got set up as well. Quite a nice little circulation with the four of us. The room was incredibly reverberant. Our guitars were feeding back, even with our 'busters' in place, and nothing coming through the on-stage monitors. Martin arrived, and we began. Well, not quite a beginning. Didn't even tune together. I guess because we all arrived late, and there was a timetable, we just had to go with it. Circulation. Eye of the Needle. I played this piece horribly tonight. My mind wasn't there. The Bach piece was a bit of a mess, but we made it through. Moving Force and Growing Circle were pretty decent, I thought. The trio version of Bicycling also came off well. At the end of Third Relation, someone was off by a half step through several chord changes. Bridge and a couple of friends played games in the big open space in front of the stage, as we played guitars. And, soon it was over.
I put out some flyers, then bought a sandwich at a concession stand. Talked to a guy from the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. MB was waiting outside in the rain. Had to find a couple of people to move cars out of the way so we could get out. Had a very nice dinner with MB and Martin at a little Mexican place down the road. We talked about Martin's experiences traveling in Israel in the 1970s, and the Porcupine Tree show. By the power vested in me (zero), I retroactively dubbed Martin a Four Quarters Maintainer for that show, since, as near as I can tell, he did more to keep the peace than I did. Also talked about the uselessness of Stadium Concerts.
MB and I stopped at the video store on the way home, and made a couple selections. Curled up on the couch with some tea, and watched an episode of Kids in the Hall, an episode of The Office (second season) and the last half hour of The Big Lebowski. "Come on, man. I had a rough night and I hate the fuckin' Eagles, man!"
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