6/8: Leaving NYC, visiting family and performing in Boston!
You're back! It's a pleasure to have you...the final day of the first weekend of the Onederlust tour was encouraging and travel-filled....
Goodbye to the Empire State
My wonderful friends...Sunday, purportedly the "day of rest" was the third consecutive day that began at 5:30am for me. I left Doug and Boris a note, gathered my weighty bags (which went well with the ones beneath my eyes) and headed to the bus stop that was roughly an hour's worth of travel considering the stages and allowance for my navigational clumsiness (which I'm proud to report seems to be abating!) Sometimes your surroundings will surprise and spite your inference expectations. Even while I have a general optimistic faith in the kindheartedness and socialization of people, NYC can sometimes whittle away at that. As I'm in the subway at 7am trying to figure out which train to take to the next station I begin to write down this short assessment of my surroundings:
"The Sunday morning subway. People trudge along, seemingly encumbered by their own (half) wakefulness. The tunnel's filth looms oppressively on the hunched defeated shoulders of the shuffling citizens. The sick warm air blows in and out of reluctant nostrils as feet drag along a floor spangled with constellations of stains. It offers a perfect stage for the unconscious melodrama."
Despite this rather sardonic view, soon after that description, a young Spanish man sitting adjacent to me helped me figure out the train I need to take. While trying to figure it out aloud, another man leaned over to offer his input as well! I was writing in my notebook when the correct train arrived , my new friend indicated it was "our" train, and then was even so kind as to offer me his seat on the crowded train car as I was burdened by all of my bags.
Inspiration on the soporific drive to Boston!
I Made my way to the bus, which was one of the most packed bus-lines I've ever seen. At around 8:15am we all sardined ourselves into our Boston-bound-vehicle. I tried to stay up and read and write on the ride but I kept nodding off, my body sore and exhausted from the strenuous skate-activity the day prior (insert geriatric joke). I eventually made a lot of headway reading during the four hour travel. There was a lot of great information and encouragement in the Chicken Soup For The Soul book, but one particular quote stood out to me, which (here come those coincidences again...while writing this and about to share this quote, Doug messaged me an article of writers quotes, and there was one by Anais Nin!) Doug and I were discussing the day prior.
My uncle Ken and Aunt Pat live in a quaint little house in Saugus, just north of Boston. In January 2012 I stayed with them for a week to visit and to play a bunch of open mics in the New England sort of area. My favorite of them being 6B Lounge actually, a Sunday night open mic run by George Woods that I recommend, but we'll get to that later! It was during that stay that I actually wrote some of the first lines for the "Creative Differences, A Split" project!
My Uncle Ken and Pat are fantastic, humble and generous people who live with two funny dogs Skye (left) and Josie (right), whom are treated like children and act just as crazily and loyally as children might. A fascinating story that I will speed through about my Uncle Ken, he is my Dad's half-brother, who had a mutual ignorance of one another's existence up until the middle of their life! Several years before meeting my father, Uncle Ken met someone with the same last name as him, and oddly, with the same first name as my Dad. I don't think they were actually related but they continued to spend time together, go fishing and barbecue ect. The Shawn Hureau who isn't my Dad had a son (who isn't me) who ended up going to school in NY. My Uncle Ken sent him an email one day, accidentally sending it to my Dad. After several clumsy emails they figured out that they were half brothers from when my Grampy had another relationship that didn't work out in Boston a lifetime ago and they never knew one another! They rejoiced, as my Uncle Ken has generally no family of his own until this, and also got to meet his father whom he never knew, and suddenly ended up with all of these brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews! In yet another strange coincidence, they seemed to think this weekend was one of the anniversaries of that discovery!
We ate, we caught up, and we laughed and enjoyed one another's company. Skye and Josie, their dogs are hilarious looking and act so silly and I played with them a lot and fed them, drank a few cups of coffee and then it was time to head out. They helped me as best they could from memory of the trains to take to get to where I needed to go (they were very close) and they dropped me off at the Malden Center, that I decorated with stickers of course, with kisses hugs and best wishes. I sincerely can't wait to return. I'm finding my ability to navigate rather improved already, but that may also be due in part to the Boston area's well-planned and thoroughly demarcated transit system. I ended up getting to 6B Lounge an hour or so early, a bit surreal to be there again after two and a half years. I practiced some lyrics out on the sidewalk! Owen ended up arriving and after expressing his fear of heights we went inside since he was getting a sort of abstracted vertigo from looking at the tops of the buildings which I found fascinating. I feared for him on his inevitable trip to New York City for when we release our album. We ended up sitting with two kind musicians in their forties, Gina and Jeff who shared their Nachos with us. Owen and I got the last slots. George Woods, a great guy, very talented (who later did a CD trade with me for his beautiful and grandiose romantic rock opera album "Heartbeat") is the host and he opened up the set. Check out the Facebook page for his open mic HERE. His live singing voice reminded me of a sort of Michael Buble meets John Mayer, which he didn't seem to agree with, regardless I thought it was incredible. Daniel Howard performed some sweet tunes, Regina and Jeff sang and played well together, and there were several other excellent people. The featured performers were a really great duo called Blue Light Bandits that made love songs with some beautiful harmonies. While sitting waiting for my turn, I worked on a song I've been writing called "Zoom In (there's life here)". George Woods was kind enough to bump me up so I had more of an audience and I performed Work In Progress and Quality Vs. Quarantine, and later Owen performed Walking Nightmare (for the first time we did it with my poem at the end of it) and Pawnographic. Comedian Kevin Seefried closed out the show with some hilarious bits about his fear of dogs and his life in a family of theater folk.
Goodbye to the Empire State
My wonderful friends...Sunday, purportedly the "day of rest" was the third consecutive day that began at 5:30am for me. I left Doug and Boris a note, gathered my weighty bags (which went well with the ones beneath my eyes) and headed to the bus stop that was roughly an hour's worth of travel considering the stages and allowance for my navigational clumsiness (which I'm proud to report seems to be abating!) Sometimes your surroundings will surprise and spite your inference expectations. Even while I have a general optimistic faith in the kindheartedness and socialization of people, NYC can sometimes whittle away at that. As I'm in the subway at 7am trying to figure out which train to take to the next station I begin to write down this short assessment of my surroundings:
"The Sunday morning subway. People trudge along, seemingly encumbered by their own (half) wakefulness. The tunnel's filth looms oppressively on the hunched defeated shoulders of the shuffling citizens. The sick warm air blows in and out of reluctant nostrils as feet drag along a floor spangled with constellations of stains. It offers a perfect stage for the unconscious melodrama."
Despite this rather sardonic view, soon after that description, a young Spanish man sitting adjacent to me helped me figure out the train I need to take. While trying to figure it out aloud, another man leaned over to offer his input as well! I was writing in my notebook when the correct train arrived , my new friend indicated it was "our" train, and then was even so kind as to offer me his seat on the crowded train car as I was burdened by all of my bags.
Inspiration on the soporific drive to Boston!
I Made my way to the bus, which was one of the most packed bus-lines I've ever seen. At around 8:15am we all sardined ourselves into our Boston-bound-vehicle. I tried to stay up and read and write on the ride but I kept nodding off, my body sore and exhausted from the strenuous skate-activity the day prior (insert geriatric joke). I eventually made a lot of headway reading during the four hour travel. There was a lot of great information and encouragement in the Chicken Soup For The Soul book, but one particular quote stood out to me, which (here come those coincidences again...while writing this and about to share this quote, Doug messaged me an article of writers quotes, and there was one by Anais Nin!) Doug and I were discussing the day prior.
"We don't see things as THEY are, we see them as WE are" - Anais Nin
I take this to mean that our perspective of the world and experiences around us is inescapably interpreted through the filter of our experiences and preconceptions. A friend of mine was recently showing me an article about this idea several weeks ago. Understanding this truth can change many things, as far as prejudice. It may also come in handy when we react to something in the present moment, to assess whether the actual events are deserving of our reaction, or we are reacting more to or our crippling fears and suspicions due to our jadedness and prior experience. Things like this have ruined many relationships, mine included, so I heavily suggest you consider this often!
I was due into Boston at 12:30pm, and didn't have to perform at 6B lounge with D.o.drent until later that night around 8pm. With this in mind I endeavored to make use of my time in a wise and rewarding manner and phoned some relatives I have in the area...
Long lost Uncle Ken and Aunt Pat
My uncle Ken and Aunt Pat live in a quaint little house in Saugus, just north of Boston. In January 2012 I stayed with them for a week to visit and to play a bunch of open mics in the New England sort of area. My favorite of them being 6B Lounge actually, a Sunday night open mic run by George Woods that I recommend, but we'll get to that later! It was during that stay that I actually wrote some of the first lines for the "Creative Differences, A Split" project! My Uncle Ken and Pat are fantastic, humble and generous people who live with two funny dogs Skye (left) and Josie (right), whom are treated like children and act just as crazily and loyally as children might. A fascinating story that I will speed through about my Uncle Ken, he is my Dad's half-brother, who had a mutual ignorance of one another's existence up until the middle of their life! Several years before meeting my father, Uncle Ken met someone with the same last name as him, and oddly, with the same first name as my Dad. I don't think they were actually related but they continued to spend time together, go fishing and barbecue ect. The Shawn Hureau who isn't my Dad had a son (who isn't me) who ended up going to school in NY. My Uncle Ken sent him an email one day, accidentally sending it to my Dad. After several clumsy emails they figured out that they were half brothers from when my Grampy had another relationship that didn't work out in Boston a lifetime ago and they never knew one another! They rejoiced, as my Uncle Ken has generally no family of his own until this, and also got to meet his father whom he never knew, and suddenly ended up with all of these brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews! In yet another strange coincidence, they seemed to think this weekend was one of the anniversaries of that discovery!
Since then, he has come to visit us several times as well as we, them and it has been wonderful, ever since my trip they've offered to open their home to me whenever I need, and keeping that in mind I couldn't miss the opportunity to see them, they harbor a warmth and a sincerity that is immediately enchanting! Aunt Pat picked me up with her car A/C thankfully blasting, we made food (BBQed chicken, sausage, potatoes with peppers and onions, and salad with honey vinaigrette. Such a delicious meal, a warm home cooked meal is unlike anything else when you're on tour!)
An altruistic anecdote from Uncle Ken:
While at dinner, Uncle Ken related to me a tale, which I will share with you here, as I feel it is a testament to the subtle and humble goodness of people they are. The past winter, several of their neighbors had complications that disallowed them to take care of the snow in their own driveways. One woman hurt her back, another was in a cast and hurt his ankle, another group of neighbors didn't have a snow-blower and simply weren't prepared for the snow, and two other people my Uncle Ken helped out who were down on their luck. Whenever there was snow this winter, he was out there snow-blowing five driveways not including his own. "It's not difficult to do, the thing practically pushes itself" mind you, this is from a smoking guy in his sixties with diabetes who works overnights full time with a weight problem who pays to have his lawn done because he can't get from one end to the other without having to take a break...still he's doing this out of the generosity of his own big and struggling heart! Later on, one neighbor gave him a $25 gift card to Dunkin' Donuts, "This is to thank you for all your help" they explained. "What?" Ken exclaimed incredulous? "This is totally unnecessary, I was just doing what neighbors do. This is what it means to be a real neighbor." Like Kareem and his feeding of pigeons, this is a simple sign of a hugely important personality type!
6B Lounge, returning with Owen
We ate, we caught up, and we laughed and enjoyed one another's company. Skye and Josie, their dogs are hilarious looking and act so silly and I played with them a lot and fed them, drank a few cups of coffee and then it was time to head out. They helped me as best they could from memory of the trains to take to get to where I needed to go (they were very close) and they dropped me off at the Malden Center, that I decorated with stickers of course, with kisses hugs and best wishes. I sincerely can't wait to return. I'm finding my ability to navigate rather improved already, but that may also be due in part to the Boston area's well-planned and thoroughly demarcated transit system. I ended up getting to 6B Lounge an hour or so early, a bit surreal to be there again after two and a half years. I practiced some lyrics out on the sidewalk! Owen ended up arriving and after expressing his fear of heights we went inside since he was getting a sort of abstracted vertigo from looking at the tops of the buildings which I found fascinating. I feared for him on his inevitable trip to New York City for when we release our album. We ended up sitting with two kind musicians in their forties, Gina and Jeff who shared their Nachos with us. Owen and I got the last slots. George Woods, a great guy, very talented (who later did a CD trade with me for his beautiful and grandiose romantic rock opera album "Heartbeat") is the host and he opened up the set. Check out the Facebook page for his open mic HERE. His live singing voice reminded me of a sort of Michael Buble meets John Mayer, which he didn't seem to agree with, regardless I thought it was incredible. Daniel Howard performed some sweet tunes, Regina and Jeff sang and played well together, and there were several other excellent people. The featured performers were a really great duo called Blue Light Bandits that made love songs with some beautiful harmonies. While sitting waiting for my turn, I worked on a song I've been writing called "Zoom In (there's life here)". George Woods was kind enough to bump me up so I had more of an audience and I performed Work In Progress and Quality Vs. Quarantine, and later Owen performed Walking Nightmare (for the first time we did it with my poem at the end of it) and Pawnographic. Comedian Kevin Seefried closed out the show with some hilarious bits about his fear of dogs and his life in a family of theater folk.
All in all it was a fantastic experience full of talent and experimentation and encouragement for one another, if you're ever near Beacon Hill, head down to 6B lounge on a Sunday in Boston, say hello to George for me, share something of yours, and walk away with a lot! Owen and I headed back to his place, he bought me a bag of trail-mix at a gas station, and we promptly passed out at the Lefebvre residence, ending the day with another sleepy lengthy drive and a prompt most of this tour will certainly be spent traveling between and throughout cities! As nothing was planned for Monday the 9th, we were happy to have a late morning to sleep in a little (8am!).
Remember, try to see things as they are and try to give while expecting nothing in return!
-AllOne
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Owen, George Woods and I  |
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