Graham at Drew's house

As always, Graham put on a great show, even with 'wine girl' heckling (sometimes ya gotta pace yourself, girly) Anyway, the stunt du jour was Live at Newlands Tavern in it's entirety...
Then he pulled out these:

Silly Thing
Between You and Me
Nothing's Gonna Pull It Apart
The Raid
Don't Ask Me Questions
Gypsy Blood
Not if It Pleases Me
Express Delivery
Back to Schooldays
Soul Shoes
Chain of Fools
Wrapping Paper
Bring Me a Heart Again(debut)
Snow Gun
Head on Straight
Problem Child
Life Gets Better
New York Shuffle
Bad Chardonnay
Temporary Beauty
Black Lincoln Continental
Get Started. Start a Fire.

Bellboy, Mrs Jersey J, and M-the flower girl in attendence...a really nice pic of me and mo - thanks BB!

Richard Russo at NYS Writers Institute

Had the opportunity to see my literary hero, Richard Russo, speak at the Writers Institute. In the afternoon he was on the uptown SUNY campus, doing a question and answer period, and talking about his new book (and signing). In the evening, he was at Page Hall with another author, Lorrie Moore, who I hadn't know before and she was reading from her new book as well. Then they had a joint q & a.

Richard Russo has won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for his book Empire Falls, but my favorite book of his is Bridge Of Sighs.
I loved this book; I mean I loved everything about this book. Some criticisms of it include that it is far too wordy, but in my view, the picture is painted in such rich detail with all those words. I feel that Russo gives us so much of the reality of life...it isn't all car crashes and wild excitement, but an exploration of the characters and feelings and interaction that make a family, a relationship, a town real.

I had such an epiphany as I read this book...The characters Sarah and Lucy each come to their own realization of Bobby's place in their lives, seeing how much (mental, emotional) energy has always been spent on him, despite not having seen or talked to him in 40 years. When finally Lucy realizes 'How many times, after all, does the same person get to break your heart?'- To me that was such a huge 'lightning bolt' moment.
Some details I admit I missed on the first read, but as I read it again, questions filled in, and I just appreciated the scenes - such as the description, the importance of the picture of Sarah's mother with the cigarette ash....the 'surfing' in the milk truck, finding out that the teenaged Lucy had actually seen Sarah's picture of Bobby through the train window -

Choosing to be happy is not the same as being too gullible to know the truth.

When Richard Russo was speaking about his new book 'That Old Cape Magic' he did say that Bridge of Sighs was so dark and emotionally draining, that he wondered if he had any stories left to tell. Luckily, he found another.

Wine Group at dp

The wine group for October went to dp on Chapel St. - I have been here before, and really like it. The food is good, and they have a great selection of wines. I had a flight, with the grenache blend just delicious.

http://www.dpbrasserie.com/

The Namesake

One of the book clubs for September read "The Namesake" by Jjumpa Lahiri. I had previously seen the movie, which I liked. Of course I enjoyed the book better, but certain scenes from the movie were absolutely spot on from the book. I love when that happens.

Pinhead Susan's

Met a friend here for dinner on the 17th. Couldn't believe how packed it was! Very casual, had burger and a beer. Said 'friend' seemed disappointed that it was not a romanic dinner. I think that ship sailed long ago....

Creative Writing at HVCC

Taking a class on Wednesday evenings, called Creative Writing: short fiction. From that title along with catalog description, one might think it was actually about learning something about writing... What this class is actually about is listening to the professor talk about his own writing career, and the promotion of his new book, which just came out in September..

Here is a hint of how the first class went....2.5 hours talking about his books, and some notes, as follow verbatim:

Plot = a character trying to do something.

A big waste of time AND money. I'm disappointed.

Greg Klyma at the Black Swan

Greg Klyma played every Tuesday in September at the Black Swan Bar in Tivoli, NY. It's about an hour or so from Albany, but a really nice quick drive. Greg played 2 or 3 sets, from about 930 to midnight or so.

Now, Tivoli is a lovely little town, all of about 3 blocks - and is just up the road from Bard College... Well, my college-age life is LONG gone by, and staying out till midnight on a 'school night' especially with an hour ride home is a little crazy, even for me....but I did get out to support him 3 of the 5 nights. It wasn't too crowded...

The Black Swan is a really cool bar; and every week there were dogs in the bar as well....maybe the Che would like to get out there too.

The first week was like having a personal jukebox - He played 'Trust' for me (I totally relate to that song) and also nothing can beat Greg's version of the Talking Heads' Wild Life - that was priceless.

One week he had some friends join him, and THAT seemed like a lot of fun - bring your friends, play songs you like, and even get paid a little....what could be better?

Greg will be doing Tuesdays at the Black Swan again in November.

His "KLYMALIVE" in Buffalo CD just came out in September as well. It is a perfect snapshot of a GK show- ya laugh, ya cry, ya sing along....

H1N1 update, DOH

Went to a back to school update from the Health Dept. on August 26th. Lots of talk about the flu, and initial instructions that anyone with a cough or sore throat or nasal congestion -even without a fever- should not be in school. How crazy is that? Sometimes a cold is just a cold, and is not a pandemic. Since then someone in charge has come to their senses and said that the chances of anyone having the flu without having a fever is very rare. Yes, obviously, since fever of rapid onset is THE hallmark symptom of influenza.
I don't want any epidemic either, but common sense dictates, don't you think?

Bruce at SPAC August 25, 2009

So my sister and I headed up to Saratoga Performing Arts Center to see Bruce. First a few complaints about SPAC, since I only went once last year for the Police show, and brought my snack with me - when did SPAC get so incredibly expensive? what I mean is more like such an stinkin rip off? we got one burger, one chicken tender and 2 sodas for 32 dollars. Wow. I will remember that for next time. Ok so the second comment about SPAC is that it seems so small and crappy after having gone to Bethel Woods earlier in the season - everything is relative I guess.

Ok, now on to Bruce.
What can you say? He was fantastic, as always, and on a beautiful August night under the stars - it was amazing. About a hundred times more enjoyable than the spring show at the TU Center...and Jay Weinberg is tons of energy on the kit.

No Surrender
Badlands
Radio Nowhere
Outlaw Pete
Spirit in the Night
Working on a Dream
Rendezvous
Atlantic City
Johnny 99
Raise Your Hand (Instrumental) while collecting signs
Summertime Blues
Two Hearts
Surprise Surprise
Because the Night


Waiting on a Sunny Day (with this kid he pulled up on stage who remarkably knew the lyrics)
The Promised Land
Racing in the Street
Lonesome Day
The Rising
Born to Run
Rosalita
Girls in their Summer Clothes
Thunder Road
American Land
Bobby Jean
Dancing in the Dark
Hungry Heart.

He had first pulled a teenage girl up on stage to dance with him ala courney cox during Dancing... then a lady a little bit older, like 60....she was hugging and kissing him, it was a riot. Who wouldn't be????

I was really lucky, cause I found the bootleg of it - a great recording. That was one great show.

Back again!

Seems like forever since I've posted....and it has been about 2 months....time has just flown by in a whirlwind. Can't even say what I've been doing! but will post what I remember for posterity's sake.