Weeks In View 32-38/2023

Forgive me blog, it has been 6 weeks since my last confession.

Music

Went to Nashville with a friend and saw The Swell Season on the first stop in the US for their tour. They played at the Ryman Auditorium. Birthplace of the Grand Ole Opry. Glen and Markéta were fantastic, as were the rest of their band which included a violin, cello, bass guitar, and drums, as well as a guest appearance from a local (can’t find his name) performer who played a harmonica.

They did some great covers: Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain by Elton Britt and The Skytoppers; Venusin Furs by The Velvet Underground, Into the Mystic by Van Morrison. But the best cover was saved for last.

Their opener was Lisa O’Neill, an Irish singer/songwriter like Glen. Lisa, Glen, and Markéta had all been invited to Sinead O’Conners funeral which was the same day as their already booked gig in the US. To honor her memory Lisa came out as their final song and covered Sinead O’s Three Babies. It was fucking amazing.

Family Reunion

My mom flew into Raleigh and we drove up to West-By-God Virginia. Overall it was a good trip to take. First mom-son road trip. We both have similar dispositions when it comes to travel, we aren't in a rush, we like to make any stops we wanna take, and we both enjoy the road. One of those stops was Tamarack in Beckley for a lovely outside lunch.

St. Albans, Nitro, Charleston, they are all time capsules of my youth. Ones where the seals were faulty, slowly exposed to a harsh environment; tarnishing, rotting, fading the things stored inside. Like that recently opened time capsule, if you sift through the muck long enough you can find a few things of value. Unfortunately those things that had changed for the better could be counted on one hand.

And there are so many ghosts there. Ghosts of a life that died long ago, homes no longer accessible, filled with strangers and strange things, with a veneer that elicits feelings mixed with loss and the weight of time.

And ghosts of friends and family passed. Visited Burnsy's grave, left him a pizza roll. Visited my fathers side Grandparents. Drove past but mom and I both forgot to turn to go see her parents site.

The reunion, and our final evening of revelry was great fun though. We went to Rio Grande in Nitro, still fantastic Mexican food, and still serving strong margaritas. We, a group of great aunts, uncles, and my mom, then moseyed on over to the casino where some of our relatives were staying and I proceeded to turn $20 into $500 at roulette. Luckiest win streak I've ever had gambling.

I'll need to make more effort to attend these in the future.

The Miscellany

Moved into my own place beginning of Sept. It's interesting how my brain works in various environments. Shared space is a complex trade-off. One where you give up certain controls and adopt many levels of considerations, with the great benefit of built in socialization. I'm going to explore how environments impact my brain, mood, and health more in a separate post that I've already drafted but that needs a bunch of touch-up.

Besides the above I have two other drafts of thoughts sitting and waiting to be finalized. Hopefully I can get the drive to finish them up in the next couple of weeks.