We played in the Highland Bowl over the weekend. Maeve reminded us we had played here with her band back in the early eighties. We saw her (and everyone else from our neighborhood) at the demonstration. I recorded the show but the breeze, which was hardly noticeable, wreaked havoc on the mics. Now I remember why that furry thing came with the recorder.
Margaret Explosion’s two half-hour sets were sandwiched between three different poets, each equally engaging. Ralph Black is a Professor Emeritus at Brockport, Kathy Engel is a Professor at NYU and Patricia Spears Jones is the current New York State Poet Laureate. She read a poem about Sly Stone, so timely after his death I thought for sure she had just written it, but I noticed she was reading from one of her books. I took note of the cover. A few pieces later she read one about James Brown that had us applauding. It was from a different book. After the show I stood in line to buy one of her books. I told her I couldn’t decide whether to get the one with the James Brown piece or the one with the Sly piece. She said “buy them both.” I bought one and Bernie, who played guitar with us, bought the other. We plan to swap.
We listened to our Beach Boys singles over the weekend. Still have thirteen of them, some with Peggi’s teenage signature on them. And we finished that stack with one album track, “Surf’s Up.” They were so good. I have a shorter stack of Sly singles, about ten, on deck for tonight. Long live Brian and Sly.
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Life is the tidal wave.
Saw / heard Brian and different configurations about 10 times and Sly twice. First Beach Boys concert in 1967 , Rochester War Memorial. No Brian. Saw Sly in NYC with good buddy Dave M . In 1968 (?) at a venue called the Electric Circus. Insane. Again at Woodstock. Insaner. Is that a worb ? Nevertheless , insaner. Live music.