Up at 10 AM, wondering about the jet lag, is it hitting or not? I slept through the night, so that is a good sign. We spoke to the lady who had the Airbnb before we left and we extensively stroked her cats. We took an Uber to Portugal Ave (believe it or not) in Newark to meet our friend Jeanne, who lives in Jersey City, and we had lunch with her in Portuguese Town (Ironbound is the area) before we had to get another Uber to Newark Airport for the continuation of our journey. We were flying to Minneapolis and the plane was leaving from the new Terminal A with its sci-fi security machines that allow you to put your laptop through without taking it out of its case, finally.
The flight was horrible, we were next to the engine that was sending out an extremely noisy F note and I was listening to Roy Buchanan in E and the dissonance was driving me nuts. The air vents were noisy and there was someone in front of us letting out their own F notes, disgusting. I was falling in and out of sleep as the engine noise became smoother and grooving to Martina Topley-Bird’s Quixotic (Anything in the US) whilst wondering how cold it was going to be on arrival. Fred and Gerri Ann met us at the airport and it wasn’t too cold, mild for this city at this time of year, but the chance of snow is 30% tomorrow.
This is our third US trip this year and our second visit to Fred and Gerri Ann’s house. The last time we were here, it was Christmas and it was -32°C, so this is simply tropical. Last time I played the guitar on the songs, this time Fred will be singing and we have an earlyish start in the morning. We are going to the same studio as last time, The Terrarium, and working with Todd, who engineered the guitar parts. It’s nice to go to a studio I’ve been in before and the owner Jason is as cool as the place itself.
At Fred and Gerri Ann’s house, we sat and chatted, Fred ordered Thai to be delivered and we ate, trying to get back into a routine of sleep and dinner. Soon after, everyone went to bed, except me, I’m staying up to write this and do a sesh with Arktik Lake Tony in Sydney at midnight.
Music today has been many things including Procol Harum as well as the other artists I mentioned, but although these were all wonderful records, what stood out was the Tim Buckley anthology, Morning Glory (2001). On eBay, the double CD is so cheap, it’s hard to imagine that such amazing music isn’t being snapped up. Perhaps access to everything and anything through streaming stops focus and buying the physical version of something you really like whether it be on vinyl or CD allows you to concentrate on that purchase fully instead of breezing over everything.