Boston and the Lily Pad...

The show went great last night. And getting there from the bus station was no problem either…although there always has to be some element of uncertainty, preferably introduced at the last minute.

Tania and I were riding separate buses and texting each other back and forth the whole way up, trying to guess who would make it to Boston first.  I won.  When we met at the bus station it was only slightly after 4pm and Tania had to eat and run some errands in Boston before the show.  I was going to accompany her but time, as it usually does, was dwindling.  So, Tania was reconsidering her errands which included heading to Staples to make some copies, but decided last second to jump off the train (okay, not off but out of and not jump but run) a stop or two before me and do what she had to do.

Then I was off on my own and though I had hopstopped the directions (multiple times) to the venue, I couldn't quite remember which bus I was supposed to take from Central Square to Inman Square.  The first hop stop directions told me exactly what I wanted to hear but I didn't save or write down the information and every subsequent time I did the same search it kept telling me to go three stops further on the Red Line and travel back in the opposite direction on the bus.  Or it would tell me to walk up Prospect Street instead of taking one of three buses that I knew went down that street.  Instead of fumbling with my phone, hands already full of three heavy bags, though, I decided to do things the old fashioned way and just ask the bus driver "hey does this bus go all the way up to Cambridge Street?"  I received a precursory nod and a "yep" so I figured that was good enough.  Following on the map app on my phone I punched the stop request button just at the right stop and as soon as I turned the corner, there was the Lily Pad.  Not bad, eh?

Okay, so it really wasn't that hard to get there.  When I arrived there was only one guy there and not the audio guy that I had emailed with but someone else who works there.  A nice guy who was sitting around while he had the place to himself practicing the piano.  We had a nice chat about music while I was setting up.  He didn't seem to really know his way around the mixer fully but thankfully, I do. For the most part.  I had everything hooked up but I was getting very faint sound though I had the faders up and the gain "potted up" as they say and had troubleshooted everything else I could think of.  Then I remembered what the Pad buttons do on the top of the channel strips.  They give you a boost in audio gain.  Exactly what I needed…but incidentally, not what you want all of a sudden when you have everything else already turned up and audio going through the speakers.   Good thing the other guy had his ear plugs in…I, however, did not and was pretty startled by the sudden feedback.  Luckily, no one else was there except another of Tania's friends who had shown up while we were waiting.

Tania was stuck in traffic at this point and calling me with instructions of what to tell the audience members who were waiting for the show.  She really only arrived about ten minutes late or so, I guess.  I wasn't really paying attention since I had my setup all finished, usually the most intensive part for me.  The venue was slowly filling up with people and I was comfortably imbibing a Harpoon Cider (when in Rome) and chatting with the bartender, another musician who plays in a psychedelic rock band called Quilts.

When Tania arrived, since I was already set up, the concert started fairly promptly.  I turned pages for the Kapustin piece she played and then we proceeded to do some improvisation, her inside the piano and me with electronics.  I won't say much more about this because we will be doing something similar on Thursday and I want all of you to be uber curious and come to the show to see what we'll be doing.  After that we played Moon, Tides, Cycles and I feel like it went fairly well.  One of our best performances yet.  Of course, some in the audience said they thought the electronics were too quiet…might have had something to do with my fear of feeding back again.

After the concert, the photographer, Jack  Dzamba, whom I had met before the show and with whom we were staying, drove us to where he and Tania were doing a photo shoot.  Also something about which I will not speak as the details shall be revealed at the show on Thursday night!  Luckily, though I was hungry, I had new friends to chat with as Jack's assistant had brought along some of her friends.  We passed the time looking at my Google Skymap app on my phone and trying to find the super moon.

Thoroughly chilled, we dropped the girls off at Boston U and went on to have dinner at Trident Cafe and Bookshop on Newbury Street.  These guys were really great about my gluten intolerance as they take allergies and the like very seriously.  The manager personally dealt with it and asked the cook about everything I ordered just to be safe.  It was great.

Jack put us up at his girlfriend's house in Newton and we each had our own room in this beautifully kept cottage style house.  Coming in late at night, I really didn't get to see the outside that well and had no idea how big it was until we started to wind our way around the house and to our rooms.  His girlfriend's kids no longer live at home so the house was empty except for  her and Jack and four amazing cats, the names of which I cannot remember now.  So, where I almost didn't go to Boston for this concert and originally thought by agreeing to come that I was condemning myself to a night on someone's couch or floor, I found myself in an unlikely but extremely comfortable situation instead.  It was nice to meet new friends and receive their hospitality.

This morning we were dropped off at South Station with about a half an hour left to catch our bus, bought food in the depot and boarded the bus just in time to head back to NYC.  Now, back, shoulders and arms sore from all the walking and lifting, I sit here blogging and preparing for the show this week.  About to send out some press releases and personal messages to some friends and hopefully stay awake long enough to make some progress on the film score.

I had a rock star nap this afternoon after indulging in some Bare Burger at the Park Slope location on 1st and 7th Avenue.  All my cousin has to do is say the word burger to me once after a long weekend of travel and I'm sold.  Anyway, back to it.  For kicks, and before I go, check this out, we're in Time Out NY!