Tour addendum

Waking up in Pittsburgh, I feel as though I was arising from some sort of a cocoon, a stasis; metamorphosis complete, I can set my wings to drying. Snow drops heavily, white dots, slow and blurred, against red clay bricks outside the window. It is cold. The top of my computer is icy, warming up, but the lithium energy only does so much.

I remember distinctly, in much younger years, that most of attention focused on butterflies. Delicate, patterned, and fragile, I liked to look at pictures of them flying, resting, emerging; one picture, in National Geographic, captured this woman (a scientist or grad school lackey?) in a remote forest surrounded by Monarch butterflies. I don’t remember the story or what she was doing there, but I remember thinking that that must have been an unparalleled experience, covered in butterflies. From one perspective, she appeared to be sitting on a throne of Monarchs. Read in to that one, please.

My father, a microbiology professor, seized on that opportunity, my interest in butterflies, and brought home a killing jar and a net. The intention was not evil, but now that I look back at it… it’s kind of funny. The idea was for me to capture butterflies and kill them. Use the net, gently trap them so as to not damage the wings and then seal them in a jar of ether. Sleep = death.

That’s what it was like waking up in Pittsburgh this morning.

We were Lazarus butterflies, cocooned in blankets and sleeping bags while flurries of ether gently landed, gathered outside the window.

On the show:

I shall be brief… It was fun! A long unsure wait to get into the joint but all worked out well… singer songwriters were up first, a trio of them… Mark Ceyler, Travis Shane, and our friend from Baltimore (a transplant) Treevahs. Each played according to his gifts… some particularly sad songs from Treevahs about cancer and the line “It’s only oxygen.”

Our set was beset by acoustic guitar issues but we won out… eventually… Timmy played baritone guitar on few songs… great times… Hadley, despite a wicked pisser of a cold, played great. Some old friends from Baltimore were there and requested some tunes which is nice… actually, I asked if there were any songs she wanted to hear… “Baltimore” and “Wedding Girl.” Good stuff.

Chet Vincent and the Big Bend provided an uplifting energetic set! Good to hear them in a bigger room… Tad broke a bass string and soldiered forth… very cool indeed…

Awight… tonight… here we go!

Ann Arbor!

Grimm