20110501

Garrison, Paulstro & Possible Futures ...



















After putting in four dreadfully slow hours at the 'Seed (and running into The Muse just as I was getting ready to leave) my day really got underway at 1230, as I turned onto the Palisades Parkway and headed North into the glorious Hudson Valley.

Up up up I went, with Spring springing all around me, up to Bear Mountain and over the bridge, further North still up to Garrison's Landing.  Having forgotten my usual camera, the picture above was actually taken on my iPad, which is a toy in comparison.  Still, I am pleased to have gotten the shot.

It was fun to sit on a bench down by the River, over by the gazebo, across from West Point, and use Face Time to have a video call with Bug.  To be able to be in one of my places, yet still connect so viscerally with home is something that will be quite useful this summer.

The whole reason I went up that far was to meet up with my band mate Paul, who was doing a workshop with Jean Houston up at the Garrison Institute.  He and his partner Laura invited me to lunch before they were set to head back down to Philadelphia.  I, of course, need very little arm twisting for things like this.

We actually ended up meeting at the Mount Ivy Diner, a fair bit back down the Palisades Parkway.  I hadn't seen them since January (the night of the Bhagavan Das gig, actually) and though they knew about me stopping my transition, they hadn't actually seen Icarus.

Their reaction was the same I always get.  (How are you?  I must say, you do look healthier.  What do we call you now? Etc etc etc.)  It's still so amazing to me to be surrounded by so many wonderful, supportive and loving friends, who are all really stepping up and providing continuity as the world moves too fast under my feet.

They wanted to hear the story, so in between bites of my inordinately late breakfast, I told them everything from the last two months.  I've been privately referring to the whole business as The Ballad of Mary & Icarus.  Each time someone asks me to tell the tale, it makes me sad, but it also keeps her close to my heart.

As important and heart opening as it was to share all of this, what meant just as much to me was when Paulstro started talking about playing music together again, and about tracking down our wayward third member and, as they say in The Blues Brothers, putting the baaaaaand back together.

Do I really think there is a snowball's chance in hell that he will find T, much less get him to commit to playing?  Hells no!  But at the very least, it will be wonderful to play with Paul again, after so many years.  Maybe we can improvise some things, maybe record a few things.

Still, I would love to get behind the kit and REALLY have a go.  It's been so long ...

Getting home after 6, Bug and I played with our Pads a bit, spending time getting to know Evernote and Flipboard.  When E pulled in around 10ish, it was so lovely to see her, especially after such a long journey (which I will let her tell you about in her own blog.)

I'm getting very tired, to the point of nodding off between the lines of this entry. To bed, then.

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