A few days ago I stood doing repetitive shoulder exercises in front of a mirror in my physical therapist’s office.
An old woman hobbled in for her appointment. White hair and bent over. Her PT greeted her with forced enthusiasm, and even then hardly any. She skipped her hello and went straight to sharing her complaints. The exercises he’d shown her had left her up all night in pain. All night! There were ways to fix her back, she said, and what he had shown her was not a way to do it.
“Oh, are you the PT now?” he asked, hackles up.
“What?” she squawked back.
“Are you the PT now? Seems like you want to tell me what to do.”
“No, I’m just telling you that those exercises have caused me enormous pain,” she answered, sounding hurt.
It’s rare and uncomfortable to witness someone being a dick to a full-on elderly person. Besides, it was clear she was in the right to be upset. And yet. It was hard to imagine him being happy to see her name on his Wednesday schedule. Much easier to imagine that she held the title of his most exhausting client. Whether or not he’d been on edge before she came in, today’s session was quickly off to a tense start.
His coworker shot him a look, and he softened, forcing civility. He initiated small talk, asking the old lady little questions. She snapped back her answers, making clear that they were obvious. Through this back-and-forth, I pieced together that she had sent him some of her writing (why? I’m not sure) and that he had not actually read it. I was certain she was offended.
The subject moved on to the approaching blue moon. He mentioned the song, asking if she knew it. “Of course I know it,” she responded. And then, completely unexpectedly, only minutes after being in clear opposition, the tetchy pair began the song together. Blue moon, you saw me standing alone, without a dream in my heart, without a love of my own…They went on. It was a touching moment, and also totally weird.
Was this scene brought to us by the healing power of music, or the healing power of celestial bodies? I lean towards music, of course. My reasoning is that a blue moon doesn’t look any different from any other full moon, and it would take an exceptional event—at the very least a super blue moon—to bring these two together.
Next Wednesday, September 4th, I’ll be playing a solo acoustic show with Dan English and Victoryland in the 6BC Botanical Garden (East Village). Just like any botanical garden, the spot is lush and beautiful. And for those of you who care more for celestial bodies, the moon will be in its waxing crescent phase.
Shouts out ~*~*~*
☆ Homies in Blair put out their long-awaited Blair II
☆ Bestie Grumpy put out “Protein” the catchiest shit
☆ Besties fantasy of a broken heart put out “follow your captain” so freaky good
~*~*~* Solo Shows (all acoustic)
☆ 8/29 at Dinky’s Taven AKA Cassette FKA Sundown with Lefty Parker & 0 stars
☆ 9/4 at 6BC Botanical Garden with Dan English & Victoryland
☆ 9/14 at TV Eye for Charlotte Rose Benjamin’s record release ☆¸☆ also with Annie Blackman & It Girl DJing
☆ 9/20 at Purgatory for Blood’s record release ☉‿⊙ also with Pets
☆ 10/18 + 10/19 in Rotterdam for Left of the Dial. Send Rotterdam recs ٩(̾●̮̮̃̾•̃̾)۶
We are all made of stars, May