#1414, Monday, April 27: Among us, not of us

Post 1414, Day 117 of 2015
- 1,578 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

Locally, there was a tragedy last night. A well-known member/booster of the blues scene, a pillar of the music community, sat in at a gig, then had a heart attack and died.

I did not know him, although I was very familiar with his name, we were Facebook friends, we often found ourselves in the same audience. But, somehow, we were never formally introduced, and we never played together (he played blues harp).

A lot of people assume I have always been in Syracuse. I have participated in countless conversations where people, talking about events, places and other people that aren't part of my background, have to be reminded that I don't know, I wasn't here.

I had never set foot in Syracuse before the interview for the job that brought me here. The only places I know in and around Syracuse are places I have gone to to see or play music. I haven't really done any kind of sightseeing. I've plopped myself here, with a "Here we are, just as we are" attitude about the relationship between locality and resident.

The thing I love about the area, the thing that is keeping me here now and for the foreseeable future, is the music scene, with which I have a total symbiotic relationship. I try to nourish the scene - I go out and support live music. I show up at open mics. I show up at your gig if you're known to me. I'll sub for your bass player. I'll talk with you about anything.

In return, I get a music scene. But...

It is an aging scene. A lot of the people I play with are old guard, old school. I don't know many local musicians who didn't grow up here; and not a single person who came here after I did (so, no college students in my circle).

Which means, some of the gigs I could play, like the great one that came to a bad end last night, aren't open to me. Because, there's a bass player for that gig that has been there, and is a life-long friend of the other musicians.

It creates a little tension for me, because I am greedy, I want to be a part of all good music-making. Then I remember.

I play pretty much as much as I choose to. These people have accepted me as part of the scene. Even though they forget I haven't been here forever, they remember who has, and the deserved and understandable preference for a known, versus the guy who, while not seen as new or even unknown, doesn't have a common accessible history.

I am among them, but not of them.

Food and Diet Section

Today's Weight:                   201.0 lbs

Previous Weight (4/24):           203.4 lbs

Day Net Loss/Gain:                - 2.4 lbs

Diet Comment

Another sickly, unproductive, listless weekend, and back to weight loss.
 

Food Log

Breakfast
Onions, peppers and cheese omelet with bacon.

Lunch

Salmon salad (Wild Alaska pink salmon, celery, mayonnaise) on baby kale, baby spinach, chardand cole slaw mix.

Snack
A Quest bar.

Dinner
Grass-fed beef burger with cole slaw and a Quest bar.

Liquid Intake
   Coffee:  28 oz.   Water: 96+ oz.

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