2000-10-28
feeling kinda
it was interesting to compare concert work to theatre work. we never really had to deal with bouncing drunks out of the theatre. and there were a fair number of them last night. it was actually quite the show in the audience as well. dykes of all sizes and shapes, several girls who really didn't look old enough to spell 'beer', let alone drink it (how to feel old in one easy step), a scattering of halloween costumes, some very uneasy guys who clearly had been dragged in against their will and were unsettled by the raging estrogen, and one woman whom i swear i know from the RaChaCha, '70s hair and all. there was also one blondie who kept skittering by me and decided in her tipsiness that i was her best friend. mind you, i was stationed by a landing on the stairs, and i had to explain to her how to get downstairs. mm hmm. when she came back up, she stopped in front of me and said 'where am i going? i mean, where did i come from before i went downstairs?' well, honey, if you don't have your ticket, i'm not going to be much help. i just pointed her off in some random direction, which seemed to work for her. takes all types. this somehow won her undying affection, because she dragged a friend of hers back and introduced me as 'my new best friend!'
i get to go back and work pretty much any show i want, as mark's word carries a lot of weight with ken. so far, i'm lined up for Medeski, Martin and Wood, Joe Jackson, and Phillip Glass, and am gonna try to get in to the Comics Come Home benefit, which Denis Leary hosts for the Cam Nealy Foundation, a home away from home for cancer patients.
today's little adventure was going down to Providence to see Waterfire. it's an ambient art installation in the newly refurbished downtown. when i was at school there, the downtown was pretty slow, and it was hard to tell there was a river there, as nearly all of it was covered with pavement. i think they were actually in the Guinness Book of World Records for the world's widest paved bridge, or some such silliness. and there was a rotary, affectionately nicknamed 'Suicide Circle', as the traffic was horrendous. in the center was a tall pillar statue, sort of like in Trafalgar Square, but not nearly as nice, and since you could never get near enough to actually read what it was for, we decided that it was a monument to all the pedestrians killed trying to cross that rotary. now, the downtown is very different. the bridges have been rehabbed, many taken out, there's a park along both sides, and Suicide Circle is gone. the statue has been moved to the middle of a park right at the bottom of College Hill. the installation is a series of braziers in the river basin, and at sundown, the volunteers raft up and down the river, lighting and re-stoking the fires. there's a musical part to the installation, too, with all kinds of funky world music. or, as one guy put it, 'he sure plays some weird shit.' it was definitely neat to walk around and see all the fires in their various stages, and watch the black boats rafting up and down the river, and listen to the music echoing off the granite walls along the river. but it was damn cold! we lasted about an hour, then retreated to the warmth of L'Elizabeth's, a very eclectic little caf� with sofas and wing chairs and marble-topped tea tables that does nothing but pastries, coffee and after-dinner drinks. i could never really afford to go there as a student, and was frankly rather intimidated by the woman who runs it. now, it's great. low lighting, comfy seats, and great jazz playing. we snuggled up on the leather settee and just zoned out while warming up.
unfortunately, we switched seats after i came back from the ladies' room, and i didn't trip over my purse on the way out... so i left it there. and guess when i discovered it was missing? you got it. when we got home. **heavy sigh** when i finally found an operator who could spell, i got the number of the place, and the lovely bartender (tall, elegant black man who is very Family) said they had it - 'drop on by and pick it up'. 'wellllll... we're back in Boston. could i come by tomorrow?' he was quite sympathetic and told me to come by in the afternoon when he'd be setting up. my sweetie is The Man, because he didn't miss a beat when i found it was missing. he just said, 'well, looks like we have a few more errands tomorrow.' he rocks like bob for not just giving me bus fare and sending me on my way. i so owe him for this. of course, he agreed. 8) i'm sure he'll find some creative ways for me to pay him back.
it was wonderful to walk around the town before the bonfires. i was so excited when my honey said we could go anywhere i wanted that i got all giddy happy and jumped up and down on the sidewalk. goofy, happy girl. we wandered around all my old haunts and i probably bored him to tears with stories about all the places we were walking by. it felt good to be back there and have time to see the place. lotta changes since i graduated. but a lot has stayed the same. it was odd to be habit walking the route i used to take from my dorm to main campus. without even thinking about it, i headed thru the playground, not really knowing where i was going, but trusting my feet, which seemed to know the way.
