Performances

Fishing boat...did not take the Nikon D out to Long Island because of concert camera restrictions
...so we snuck the Olympus out with us. Fish at a fish market...below, these little guys are alive in there. Craig poked at a few and one even tried to snatch Craig's finger in a claw!
Yesterday was one of the greatest days, ever. I apply superlative characteristics to many things, which is pointed out to me on occasion, but still - I'd re-live yesterday in a heartbeat. Friday, Craig and I ate dinner and drank wine at Nina's, with a flan on the house compliments of Gracie (owner). Saturday morning we woke up and geared up to travel to the Long Island Rail Road. We weren't timing things very efficiently, as we usually do, but it didn't matter - we wound up on a train to Freeport, Long Island by about 1.30. The trip to Freeport is quick - I bought a People because what I'm finding more and more is that when I've got little slips of transportation time, I better kill that time with mindless magazine reading than anything else. I'm going to be working to correct that by replacing magazines with books again. Either way, the train ride was quick. We got out at the Freeport station and experienced slightly annoying complications with getting a car service, but later I realized I was more or less concerned about the unknown (were we going to get a car from the lady who placed calls to dispatch her drivers?? When?) but once we were seated in a driver's backseat, I felt relieved. The driver took us to this street in Freeport nicknamed the Nautical Mile, and despite the bright sun, Craig and I managed to sit outside at most of the places we ducked into. The air was swollen with the smell of fish - many of the boats docked were similar in appearance to the above posted photograph - rickety, rusty, almost unsafe! but it seemed so very New England out there. Craig and I both noticed the New England feel of the place instantly. We had our first beer at a place called Jeremy's Ale House, out back on the deck. I can't explain precisely why this place seemed so unique, but there is definitely personality to Jeremy's. It felt like walking onto a movie set, similar to a dive you'd find in a movie taking place in a remote New England location. We ate outside at the next place - Craig ordered a seared tuna wrap with wasabi mayo and I ordered the lobster roll. Sea food, fish air, boats drifting by, cold beer...it was all very overwhelming and perfect. Craig said it felt like we were on vacation, even. I agree. During lunch, Craig kicked the table and my Blue Moon did a slow motion tip and perfectly streamed across the table to drench his lap! Oops. And we met some guy who dances all over the Nautical Mile - he's an older guy named Rocco. He was a hoot. He reminded me of Beatle Bob only older. I will have to tell Roger and Mary that I met Long Island's version of Beatle Bob (a St. Louis dancing machine we knew from our live concert-going, when living there.) After lunch, we traveled further down the street and found a mostly open bar with a live cover band. They had a small dog tethered to their speaker leg, and he seemed to enjoy being friendly with the bar patrons. I'm not sure how well his little ears liked the cymbals. The band was pretty decent at what they covered, really. Craig and I had a couple of beers at this place, then moved along and found another place. We were getting close to time to head to Jones Beach, to the ampitheater, so we returned to the place with the live band and ate a dreadfully tasty basket of fried food, then called another car to drive us to Jones Beach. We had been given VIP passes by someone at work, which was great because Jones Beach, unless you're in the VIP section, is a dry venue! I had no idea that such a thing existed - and while I admire the principle of it, we also appreciated access to beer under the VIP tent! So, a band from Brooklyn called The National opened. They were alright. We stayed at the VIP tent to hear them. Then we moved to our seats for Modest Mouse. They sounded good, but Craig and I only really know two of their songs. We probably could have heard them, if not for the performance Mother Nature displayed to counter the Modest Mouse performance...lightning striking! heavy rains! thunder!...and Modest Mouse was pulled off stage and Jones Beach Theater was evacuated. No! REM! They couldn't cancel our show, right? Nope - we simply endured approximately two hours of waiting and then the lightning subsided, and the fans filled their seats again and when Craig and I made it down to ours, REM was midway through South Central Rain...appropros, obviously! The next two hours were sheer amazement for me. I could not believe how timeless and ageless Michael Stipe seems. His stage persona is nothing short of brilliant. Buck and Mills were amazing support. They played such a perfect blend of old and new, plucking songs from lots of different REM albums - they even played what Stipe announced was an "unrehearsed" "It's the End of the World as We Know It..." and the crowd roared. What was extra memorable, and what will stick with me forever as I remember the polished quality of this event, was that we stood, all of us in attendance, in roughly two hours of rain to cheer them on. Craig and I (well, and everyone else there, of course!) were drenched, to the bone, every last bit of our clothing, from the rain. But somehow, it just fit. It felt right to watch their set unfold through a curtain of thick rain, as if the universe wanted to step up and debate everything he stands for and has to say, but the universe couldn't win the argument. Oh, it was a glorious experience. Craig, at some point, expressed to me that they might rock as hard as a couple of other of his favorite, most favorite bands! Oh, they so did, for us yesterday. My only, if any, mark of disappointment is that they did not sing "Leaving New York", which is basically my sad anthem when I begin to worry we might not stay here forever.*I was reminded, last night, of how all of my years spent flooding my ears with song will just keep evolving but will also not let me forget the material that changed my life. I know of Kristin Hersh because of REM, and she's just about the best thing to ever have happened to a song lyric/guitar chord, if anyone asks me. Anyway, the day was perfect and the night was soaked, so to speak, in positive vibes. We took a bus back with a lot of other wet fans to the Freeport train, and on our ride back, Craig and I listened to one iPod together, sharing ear buds and song selection. We took a cab back to 91st and 2nd, dropped into Biddy's for a couple of beers, then came home by 3. Oh, what a day. These are the things that New York just freely offers - chances at building memories, going on adventures, finding unexpected interesting corners. Well, today has just flown by. I've accomplished a lot but now it's time to cook dinner - Cheddar and Adobo Chile Pasta, Spicy Black Beans and salad - and then I'm hoping to resolve a few more issues with books I plan to sacrifice for space when we move. I managed to delete about 12 today...three books of letters - Katherine Anne Porter, Marianne Moore and Radclyffe Hall - and a few miscellaneous titles that I'm not sure why I own?? So the small bookshelf in this second bedroom has two empty shelves of three. It feels like forever away that we're moving to a new apartment but in actuality, it's so soon! Next weekend is devoted only and entirely to packing/organizing. I hope to remove quite a few items from this apartment and deposit them at the nearby Goodwill. It's time for a fresh outlook. New perspective is always a good thing!*Off to be culinary. I hope Sunday evening slows down a little bit. I've only got a couple of hours left!