SHARING THE SHOWS
To say this week was rough was an understatement. Not so much for my life, but the shooting that recently took place at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas upset me. While shootings have been rampant in the last ten years since Sandy Hook, it just feels like in this pandemic, people’s indifference to human life has increased. It’s upsetting, and one of the reasons why I need live music – it helps remind me there are good things and good people in this world. The school year has ended, I’m “off” for the summer (meaning I still have work, but it can be done on my schedule and at my pace), and I’m visiting my Mom and brother in New York and New Jersey, respectively. And when I was blown away by Railroad Earth’s performance back in March when I saw them with Pete, I decided I had to sneak in a trip to see them in Jersey City. So after a day of researching and putting together my tenure packet, I hopped the 4:56 train from Suffern to Hoboken, a throwback to my 20s, when I used to commute to Manhattan every morning. Before the trip, I picked up a copy of the New York Times, which I used to read on my commute in. These days, since I tend to get most of my news from social media, I don’t read it as much, but I do enjoy it when I travel. Most of the stories were about the shooting and the government’s feeble attempts at gun reform (which is really because they’re really more interested in saving the lives of embryos than those of fully grown humans, but I digress). I arrived at Hoboken a little after 6, and hopped the PATH to Grove Street (while a bit jumpy waiting for the train, I was happy to learn they were still requiring masks; smart with these rising numbers of COVID cases). Getting off at that station brought me back to the days when I’d hit late-night shows in New York, and hop the PATH to my brother’s place, where I’d spend the night. I hadn’t had real German cuisine since Maggie and I went to DC’s Café Berlin when she helped me move my cat/son Chester up to my place, so I made my way to the Wurstbar, where the hostess told me I could sit anywhere. “The world is your oyster,” she said. I sat at the bar, and my eyes became bigger than my stomach. I ordered a gigantic pretzel, along with garlic fries and a Wurst place (a choice of two sausages; I had to go with the bratwurst and kielbasa). While it was all good, I couldn’t even make a dent in the fries. But I did chat a bit with a fellow solo traveler who trekked from Queens, and a couple named Penny and Saul who had stopped in for a brewski. I was impressed by the design of the building, which didn’t even look like a concert venue from the outside; without the sign, I’d think it was just an apartment building. The bouncer gave me a fist-bump upon checking my license and seeing I was from DC. I love being able to say I’m from out of town. The inside reminded me of the 9:30 Club. Intimate with bars on each side, but with a much brighter hue. I ordered my customary Diet Coke for my caffeine burst. I didn’t talk to anyone at the show other than a dude who came across from Manhattan and was loving the show, along with a guy who looked uncannily like my brother Jeremy’s friend, Derrick, but sometimes, that’s great. I like being able to blend in anonymously every now and then.
And I danced up a storm, particularly during my favorite tune of RR’s, “Lone Craft Farewell,” which enraptured me the first time I heard it, at Charlottesville’s Jefferson Theater on 9/30/16, when I went with Drew/Brometheus. The only other songs I could recognize were “Head” and “Come and Go Moon.” During the second set, the room thinned out (people gotta work early on Fridays, and NYC is a work-oriented town), and I stayed toward the back, which was nearly empty. More dancing room for this cat. I’m glad I stayed until the end; the encore “Donkey for Sale”, where they sang “New Jersey is where I want to be,” blew me away. I took an Uber to the Hoboken PATH station, because late at night, one could be waiting for up to an hour for once of those trains. I had a half-hour to spare before my train would leave, so I hiked up to the CVS to get a Gatorade Zero to rehydrate with electrolytes (I have to credit Mark for that tip). During the walk, I saw a bunch of 20somethings out and about and thought back to when I was one of them. I saw a stand selling something called “Pop Nuts,” which are essentially candied nuts. I enjoyed a bag of candied almonds on the ride back. Upon returning to my mother’s house at 1:30, I couldn’t get to bed right away due to Chester’s demands for attention and treats. Once he was satiated, I could fall out. And here's an image of the bag of almonds to take you out:
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