Bang! Zoom! To The Moon!

Yesterday was my son Liam's 15th birthday. While doing the usual reminiscing that accompanies such events, Liam reminded me that I have a blog - this one - and that there was a post about the day he was born. He called it up on his phone and read it to Lizz and I and the memories came flooding back, about that wonderful day fifteen years ago and about the fact that I am truly the world's worst blogger. So, once again, I made a mental note that I would for no particular reason, attempt to put my thoughts on pixels for the world to see.

I don't think I have ever written about the New York Roots Music Association, or NYRMA as our friends call us. That seems a bit odd as it has been a pretty big part of my life for the past 8 or so years. I'll save the story of how it all came to be for another time, but NYRMA is a musician's collective that puts on themed musical events about four times a year and we have a show this coming Saturday, July 20th 2019 that will feature over 30 local musicians.

For this show, it was decided that we would not take the more obvious route and do a tribute to Woodstock, which is celebrating a 50th anniversary. Instead, we set our sights on another event from fifty years past - the first moon landing. And we decided that we would hold the show fifty years to the day that the Eagle set down on the lunar surface.

The show is shaping up well. We have a couple more rehearsals to go, but everyone is sounding great. Ticket sales for this one have been a bit slow - we usually play to about 300 or so people - and I'm hoping to see an uptick in the final few days. No matter what, the show must, and will, go on.

I'll write more about NYRMA and the show later. Maybe.

I remember the events of the year 1969 pretty well. I was14 years old and the upcoming music festival taking place in upstate New York weighed heavily on my mind. Music was my world and I had already had quite a few concerts under my belt. However, I knew that there was no way that my parents would give me permission to go and, to be completely honest, I wasn't the most adventurous soul and even at that early age, was fond of creature comforts and personal spaces.

On July 20th of that year, we gathered in the living room to watch what seemed to be an impossible feat, the same room where I watched The Beatles on Ed Sullivan change the course of my life, where we had watched Jack Ruby gun down Lee Harvey Oswald, where I watched "The Adventures Of Superman" and that "strange visitor from another planet" to watch men land on another planet. Yes, I know, the moon is not a planet. But no matter, this was space travel far beyond anything we had seen before and we had a front row seat.

Watching the grainy footage as the LEM touched ground and seeing the reaction on the faces on both the adults in the room and the news correspondents on the television made me realize just how epic the event was. It was if the entire world was holding its breath as they descended to the landing point.

I remember taking my dog out for a walk that night and looking up at the moon in wonder knowing that there were men up there. I also remember thinking about how Joe Cocker was so obviously ripping off Ray Charles. So, for me,  music was a part of that night as it will be fifty years later to the day on Saturday. But there will not be any Ray Charles or Joe Cocker.

There's No Place Like Home

Lizz and I decided to end the Memorial Day weekend - and to celebrate our 19th wedding anniversary - by taking a ride out to the "Nautical Mile" in Freeport to see Brian Halverson and Mark Pohl with their new band, Boomerang. We had run into Bill and Claudia Walsh earlier in the day at the community garden and we're glad that they decided to join us. It was a beautiful day, and we set out in the Mini with the top down and headed to Otto's.

I couldn't remember the last time I had been to Freeport. Lizz and I had been there together, probably way early in our relationship, at least twenty years ago. I had most likely never had been there before. As expected, the place was buzzing. As we pulled into the strip, we had the pleasure of being behind a couple of guys on a couple of rice rockets - which I hope is not an offensive term - who felt the need to rev their engines constantly like a couple of caged lions roaring to be set free.

It was hard to get a grip on what exactly the vibe was - mainly because there were many different vibes happening all at once. Some places were packed, music pumping while others, like a nice looking brewery was almost totally empty. Lot's of different cultures on the street, but sadly it felt more like ships passing cautiously in the night than a melting pot block party. But that could have just been my take.

We arrived at Otto's and we had done a bit of prep work, reading the menu and the various on-line reviews. Based on that, our expectations were low. Sadly, they were right on point.

More on that in a bit. The reason we came was to see the band, and they were a lot of fun. A crazy mix of songs including a few that you definitely won't hear at your local bar. If you can say anything about Brian, it's that he's all in, whether channeling Pet Clark or Michael Jackson. Plus, it's always great to hear and watch Mark behind the kit. That was a good time. So was running into Mark Mancini and his lovely fiancee Josette along with daughter Gracie. It was Mark's birthday, so we all had something to celebrate. One of the things that I love about my friends is that we always manage to make the best of any situation - it always starts with just being able to spend time together and builds on that.

But Otto's was just kinda sad. The staff was just overwhelmed even though there were many empty tables. I don't know what was going on in the kitchen, but I'm pretty sure it was full on panic mode. I read a review that was spot on - they said that they kept expecting Gordon Ramsey to pop up, firing people on the spot and closing the place down for a reboot. One could only hope. I mean the place is obviously a gold mine, great location, people willing to line up to get in - why not even attempt to make them happy?