What I did on my summer vacation

Well, what I did on one of my summer vacations. I'm not finished with this summer yet. Here is a handy bulleted list of some trip highlights and accompanying photos:

• Saw a great Wilco show at the Warsaw in Brooklyn. To pick one show of those I've seen recently, this was probably my favorite. The Warsaw is small, locally owned, and oozes quirky charm - from the paintings on either side of the stage to the pierogies and blintzes for sale in the back. The crowd was loudly enthusiastic, and the band trotted out a handful of rarer songs that were truly a treat. One was even an all-time first for me - and when you've seen as many Wilco concerts as I have over the years, that's really saying something. I don't expect the band to change things up too much from show to show - I could happily watch the three-guitar interplay in "Impossible Germany" or Nels and Jeff facing off at the end of "Handshake Drugs" or Glenn going crazy on the drums during "Via Chicago" a hundred times. If that weren't true, I wouldn't go. But unexpected songs thrown into the mix can really make an evening. In any case, seeing the same band play multiple shows on a given tour, one becomes a connoisseur of nuances. To those familiar with my love of detail, it should be no surprise that I take great pleasure in this. At the Warsaw, I enjoyed the following: the loud singalong during "Either Way" that made Jeff grin in appreciation, the guitar duel at the end of "Hoodoo Voodoo," singing "Happy Birthday" to Matrix, Jeff pretending he wasn't going to run at the end of "Hummingbird," Glenn wearing a rhinestone bling $ necklace and saluting the macrame owl, and pogoing with the rest of the crew in front during "Outtasite."
  
  
• Went to the best museum ever, in Shelburne, Vermont. It's a museum of Americana comprising many historical buildings (the round barn, an old general store, a lighthouse), collections (paintings, sleighs, chandeliers, Shaker furniture) and random things that are awesome (an opulent train car, a carousel, the steamship Ticonderoga.) All of these are located among little roads and paths on the picturesque museum grounds, and all are open for exploration and in many cases interaction. Really great stuff. I would have died if I'd visited this place as a kid. (Consider that Allison and I once tried to recreate a general store in my basement after a school field trip to the Historical Society. I think I still have some wooden candies we made to put in a jar.)
  
  
• Drove twice in NYC - only after 2:00 a.m., but it still counts! I also drove in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Connecticut. Given the scale of New England, that's not as impressive as it sounds.
  
  
• Spent a couple of obscenely hot and humid days in Boston, walking the previously discussed Freedom Trail, eating at the oldest continuously-operating restaurant in the U.S., wandering around Harvard, seeing a concert, and hanging out with Dave and friends at the B-Side Lounge.
  
  
• Stayed at hotels only twice over nine nights, due to the fabulous and generous Mart, Patti, Paul, and Kelly. Mart and Patti went way above and beyond the call of duty, plying us with Ralph's Italian Ices and Mendoker's donuts during our brief sojourn.
  
  
• Learned to imitate the hoot of the barred owl at the zoo in Florence, MA. Well, to be completely honest, nobody ever verified that Sooz and I were doing it correctly. But we sound so damned owl-like, y'all don't even know.
  
  
• Ate some delicious Thai food at Sripraphai in Queens, though their "medium" hot is probably something I won't be opting for next time. I mean, it was still delicious; it just made my lips burn and every once in awhile I'd get a mouthful that would be kind of lethal. I also found out I'm a fan of palm seeds in syrup.
  
  
• Became a member of Paul's all-girl band, the Foolish Nuns.
  
  
• Walked around Lake Champlain in Burlington, gazing at the Adirondacks in the distance, and almost fell off the end of a floating pier. Not because I didn't watch where I was going, but because, damn, those things really bounce around. The view was worth it, though. The water was ridiculously blue that day.
  
  
• Met, in Boston, someone who went to UW Madison and lived in the same dorm I did, though not at the same time (he noticed I was wearing my old Chadbourne shirt) and was introduced to someone from Racine in Vermont (when he asked where I'd lived in Ktown, and I told him, he actually knew what I was talking about!)
  
  
• Watched a guy juggle flaming torches, on a unicycle, on a tightrope.
  

I can't wait until next time!

Musical epiphany involving Marky Mark

On Saturday night I finished the book All Souls, by Michael Patrick MacDonald. It was really good. It was also one of those books that renews my desire to go up to people who wax poetic about the American Dream, and how everyone, no matter what their circumstances, has an equal chance at pulling themselves out of whatever situation they're in and growing up to be rich and successful, and smack them in the head. The irony there, of course, is that Michael MacDonald did it. (Well, I'm not so sure about the "rich" part of that.)

What I really wanted to talk about, though, was an epiphany I had while reading the last portion of the book. In explaining why the Boston police were so eager to charge his little brother with murder, Michael referenced a case that had made big news a few years before. A middle class white man, Charles Stuart, called the police to report that a black man had carjacked him, killed his pregnant wife, and shot him as well. Eventually the police charged a black man who had been in and out of jail for various crimes in the past. And then it came out that Charles had faked the whole thing, killed his own wife, and shot himself to make it more plausible. The police had been merrily rearranging evidence and falsifying reports in order to charge the suspect. Charles ended up jumping off a bridge.

So I was reading this when suddenly - MARKY MARK AND THE FUNKY BUNCH! In 1991, Marky Mark (who grew up in Dorchester) and the Funky Bunch put out a song called "Wild Side" which borrowed liberally from the Lou Reed original. It featured four verses about corruption and violence, and the odds are good (ahem) that I owned the cassingle. I still remember most of the words. And the third verse was about this case! I'd never dreamed anything in the song was based in fact, but now I don't know what to believe! Were Annie and Ron and Tiffany real people too? Maybe the other verses are true!

Here's the verse in question:

Charles had everything going for him
A top paying job, a good life, a good wife
A baby boy on the way any day
A gentleman attitude is all he displayed
Carol was the wife he loved and adored
Her family and friends treated him like an ambassador
One night on the other side of town
A police dispatcher picked up a weird sound
Charles on the car phone asking for help
Claiming a burglar shot his wife and himself
His pregnant wife lay slumped over
Dreams corrupted and a young life over
Extensive searches throughout the projects
Put a lot of people through misery and wreck
Everyone a suspect til someone was found
Interrogated cause their skin was brown
Then there was Bennett, guilty until proven so
But soon as the case started moving slow
What do you know, sure as as sea gull is webbed toed
Charles was the culprit
The whole plot was an insurance scam
Charles and his brother came up with a plan
Kill Carol, collect a big check
Blame it on a black man, what the heck?
And just before the story was known
Charles had a feeling that his cover was blown
So he jumped offa bridge
Committed suicide
This is how it is - on the Wildside

Yeeeeeeah! Preach it, Marky Mark!



Truth!