When I wrote about the utterly sublime Hiromi shows a couple weeks ago, I hadn't mentioned the most important detail: she either performed by herself, with harp player Edmar Castaneda or fellow legendary pianist Michel Camilo because her normal Trio Project was missing Anthony Jackson due to a medical situation.  I have just learned that her drummer, Simon Phillips, is now experiencing a medical problem as well.  I wish them both incredibly swift recoveries, and I wish Hiromi continued strength and vigor as she takes the stage to share such glorious vibrations with all who are lucky enough to go to her show

I read Dreams from My Father just a couple months before I would find myself counting my laundry change so I could buy some groceries, because, thanks to the recession, the jobs weren't coming in.

I remember reading about a future president arriving for school on the Upper West Side of NYC and sleeping in an alley when his new landlord didn't meet him to give him the keys to his apartment.  I remember thinking that the only time his predecessor would have done that would probably have involved blacking out from drinking.

I remember identifying with that writer, because even if the details were different, he knew what it was like to be on an uncertain journey.

Well, lucky for us, his incredible journey brought him to the presidency.

Essential blessing when the sun was being spun all those laps ago in '61, our most highly presiding servant of we, the people, commenced his journey with humanity dancing awesome peace, so he could love his life, love his wife, love his children and bring as many of us with him as any one man can

Six Beautiful Nights

Incredible

A man seated at our table, directly next to the piano:

"My daughter plays basketball, and I'm a musician, and I'm always playing Hiromi's music and they don't get why I like it so much, and I tell her: 'You know how good Michael Jordan and Steph Curry and all those others are at basketball?  Well she's even better at what she does!'"

Tuesday I met an Australian couple in their 60's.  One was an English teacher who taught Japanese students over the internet from her home in Adelaide, and the other hosted a radio program.  She had plenty of tales of hitchhiking and camping back in the 70s.

Wednesday I met a German man and his teenage son.  The man was an architect, and his son is entering his final year of high school.  He'd been playing classical music since he was very young, and had discovered the joys of playing jazz a few years ago.  However, neither of them had actually heard of Hiromi before.  They were visiting New York City for the first time ever, and were thoroughly enjoying themselves.  Sometimes I forget that many of the people I see walking on the street don't live in tiny boxes or depend on the subway to get them from A to B.  Thus, they were very "of course we're having a great time! It's New York!" about their experience up to then.  On top of that, they had planned their final night in the states at the legendary Blue Note Jazz Club.  I promised them they would soon realize how lucky they were to be seeing Hiromi for the climax of their journey in my homeland.  Sure enough, the father asked me to write down the name of just about every song she played so he could find it online afterward.

Tonight I was seated next to a Japanese family of three.  They didn't speak English, so I figured that for one night I wouldn't be getting to know my neighbors, but then a young woman sat down across from me.  It turned out she's from Puebla, Mexico, specifically the city of Cholula, where I once visited the Great Pyramid of Cholula, which has the largest base of any pyramid in the world (I really like pyramids).  Anyway, she's been studying statistics and sociology for 2 years, while also exploring lots of jazz clubs around the city, and I got a lot of new tips for great places to see more performances.  This "visitor" from beyond the border gave me so many new suggestions for musical ways to enjoy my experience in this city I thought I knew somewhat well, whereas all I could do was listen and ask more questions.  That was, until I learned that in a week or so she's going back to Mexico for the first time since she started her grad program two years ago.  As anyone would, she has very mixed emotions about leaving such a magical place where she's seen so many shows and met so many people, but also returning to her friends and family.  We've all been there one way or another.  It just so happens that I began rereading Campbell recently, so the motifs of the hero journey, strangers bringing magical aid and the idea that life is a series of intertwining stories where we all structure and reflect each animated life were all fresh in my mind.  I was able to give her some advice about the transition and how to "bring the treasure back home," so to speak.

Of course, the most magical treasure was the music of Hiromi's piano and Edmar's harp, especially on "Place to Be"!

After all these years of searching, where's mine?

Wherever I am

Especially in New York

I have seen many Hiromi shows, but she still plays songs I've never heard live before, and she plays the ones I have heard a new way each time, and I meet new people, older travelers, 60 somethings, who remember hitchhiking in America and will soon go riding in the great western mountains again, and see new jazz shows in other musical cities, yes

I have once again returned from a vacation.  This one was a long time coming.  51 weeks.  Since I had waited so long, instead of hiking and going on the road, I relaxed with a lake.  On top of that, I am now 32, which is nice.  I think I feel much better than I have after previous vacations, which have usually involved some sort of sinking feeling when I return to the city.  After a week straight at my favorite lake and plenty of time with family, I feel refreshed.

Then again, when I returned to New York, the fire truck wailed and raced by as soon as I parked, the temperature was about 15 degrees higher than when I left the farm this afternoon, and my roommates had predictably filled the sink with several days of dishes... yeah, New York City.  I've equaled my previous living experience here... 33 months.  Last time I made a big deal about an adventure living in New York.  This time around I just moved here because it made sense at the time, and I'm still here, although better off than I was when I got here.  I'm not sure how long I'll stay.  Maybe more years, maybe a few months.

In any case, Hiromi is playing six nights in a row starting 7/26, so I am very happy to be back in the city!