Almost entirely by chance, my brother in Lower Manhattan was out walking on his lunch break when he read a tweet of mine with a picture of mine taken backseat in the Lincoln Tunnel. A New Yorker by day, Tom asked me suspiciously what I was doing taking pictures inside one of the city's tunnels. I guess I was just hoping for something as cool-looking as these.
For the first time, I met Brian, another of my fellow Led Zeppelin blog authors, who had driven down from the Toronto area. We spent the afternoon walking: first to Times Square, where one of us (I'm not saying which) managed to get his ass kicked by Elmo.
Our walk also afforded my Canadian friend and me a glimpse of one particular national treasure; we didn't step inside, so we didn't get a good idea of how high the ceiling is.
Our next stop is one sought out by Led Zeppelin and Rolling Stones fans alike: the building at 96-98 St. Marks Place, on whose steps Mick and Keef can be seen sitting in the video for "Waiting on a Friend," which also happens to be the building you see on the cover of Physical Graffiti.
Finally, Brian and I dropped by the vinyl shop Bleecker Bob's in Greenwich Village, upon my insistence, with the intention of finally fulfilling my dream of procuring the 1967 Jake Holmes record with "Dazed and Confused" on it. It consistently hasn't been there the past five times I've times visited, but once I was able to obtain another Holmes LP, So Close So Very Far To Go.
At Irving Plaza, we headed back to meet the group before their three-hour show.
Most of the time, I planted myself two rows from the stage, air-drumming throughout, between my new Canadian friend and a milfy New Yorker who was impressed I seemed to know every word to "Whole Lotta Love," "The Ocean" and even the rarity "Down by the Seaside." We laughed when we took turns choking on consecutive lines in "Kashmir."
After the show, I rode with the same band and crew members back to the Philly area -- no after-show shenanigans, just traffic into Jersey where they'd closed the two left lanes and made us all go single-file outbound. I slept at the home of one of their guitarists, who woke me for breakfast with jam. (Get it, jam?) We played piano and guitar for a bit until I had to go.
Then I drove over to tour a house in the Philly suburbs where I figured I'd be staying from now on, paying $500 for a room in this woman's house each month until I don't want to do that anymore. The place was nice; I'm sitting there right now typing this.
Once I decided the room would be mine, I hopped into her truck lugging a trailer behind. We went to pick up her boyfriend, the singer in a rock cover band I'll soon be playing with, to get us all to Wildwood, New Jersey, for their gig in a restaurant and pub just off the boardwalk.
They're the Lords of Nothing. I wanted to hear their three sets since I'll be the "permanent substitute keyboardist" starting next week (
). It would give me a heads up on what they've been used to with their usual keyboardist, a School of Rock teacher and prog/Zappa fanatic. Holy crap, I'm in for a challenge if I'm expected to play anything like this guy!
Great stuff, Steve! Have some great gigs!
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