The Sandwich Life

Random Notes from the Sandwich Life

1. Tomorrow I will have assorted Vertebrats in my living room AND Malcolm Holcombe. Life indeed is good.

2. I don't see Matt Brandabur all that often so sometimes I do still think of him this way:

3. Of course I still see myself this way:

4. Owen has been asked to play bass in the jazz band. Congratulations to me sweet pea!

5. Some Malcolm Holcombe to warm you up... As Hippie Jack says, "my heart is full, Malcolm Holcombe is here."

 

6. I can't WAIT to hear Matt's new songs!

7. One of my all time favorite Mark Gerking posters! I'll have a few extra to sell for a few bucks but if you definitely want one let me know asap!

 

 

Champaign in 1981 Sends Its Regards

The boys have decided that they want to move the Lego room to the basement. Our basement is not finished and is not the most pleasant place in the world, but they would have room to expand which the small upstairs room does not afford. So Owen and Ernie were downstairs working on cleaning out part of the basement. There have been a few floods and the detritus of living in the house for 15 years (shocking...but we'll have owned that house for 15 years come this Monday) is spread throughout. 

They threw out a lot of old kids toys that weren't in good enough shape to donate and various odds and ends. And of course they dug up a few treasures. One is an old turquoise suitcase that had belonged to Ernie's mother and it's full of high school era sketch books of Ernie's and a few other random things. One of which was the News-Gazette Weekend section from August 14, 1981. 

He had saved it, of course, for the center spread on the Vertebrats. I think this article has been published online before but it's fun to see. What was almost more fun were the pages of calendar listings and restaurant and club ads.

Wow. Look at the Mabels listings....it's the week Iggy Pop was there.

If you click on the  images you can enlarge them a bit (for those 40-50-something year old eyes)

Lord Forgive Me For My Sins

Sigh.

What is it?

Is it age?

Is it menopause?

Although they tried to give me a pregnancy test before my injection this morning and when I demurred the nurse said, "oh, but you're so young, that never occured to me." O.k....thank you.

Anyway.....FIRST I forgot Owen's award ceremony. Now technically, that IS the one that I should feel the worst about....but..um...honestly it's almost WORSE that I missed Rockfield Lock on WEFT last night. 

Geesh. My boys, here in town. Everyone...if this happens again CALL Ernie...or skype Leo for God's sake!

A few days ago I thought to myself that I should email Kenny and Jimmy to check if they'd have any free time....but did I do that? NOOOOOO!

Heartbroken. 

I've got to figure out some better calendaring system. Or a better brain.

I was sort of distracted by the spinal injection stuff today. Not that it was any big deal but I was distracted just the same. It went fine. It still feels funny to be the one that's the 'patient.' The doctor sat down with me to go over things and said that he thinks I'm probably on my way to surgery because I have 'severe stenotic' something or other. I want to say he said activity but that doesn't make sense and makes it sound as though I have a little tornado in my spine. Oh well. He said the injection should help some but he doesn't think it will help for long.

What's wrong with cheerfully lying to patients?

After he said that all I wanted to say, "Don't you realize that I am CYNTHIA? I'm the one that takes CARE of people?" I mean, yes, I'm overweight, yes, I have high blood pressure and yes, I pick up every random cold or other virus....but overall I'm pretty damn healthy. Not that I'm saying this is any huge deal...just feels funny to be on this side of things.

Damn. Damn a number of different things.

 

How Come?

How come it feels so good to leave your children and even better to get home to them?

How come I feel closer than ever to my friends...even those I didn't know that well...is it the loss or the drifting away of the others that used to be there?

How come it blows my mind that we left Chicago coming up on 20 years ago?

How come standing by endless water feels so good?

How come they tore down the old private school at the end of Chase Street by our old apartment and turned it into surface parking?

How come?

 

Vertebrats Memories

The other morning I was quizzing Ernie on the Vertebrats set list Owen had found in the garage.....when it was from and why he might have had it. He laughed and said he had no idea. I asked him how he originally met the guys and we started talking. He said he'd first seen them at Caucus (???) Studios in downtown Champaign. An old building now gone (of course...sigh). He said he and his old girlfriend Jeri went to a party there and walked down the long hallway and and into the main room. In the center of the room the Brats were set up. Matt was singing TV Eye. He was wearing a tie and looked well....as young as he probably was. Ernie said he was immediately intrigued. He knew Kent and after that Kent told him when they were playing, so off he went to Mabel's....still in the days of cushions on the floor. He said he loved dthem and after the show he went and talked to them. And like me....he was at pretty much every show after that first one.

I suppose it was right about these times:

Later in the day he took me out for a drink while Owen was at band practice because he knew I wanted to murder everybody in the family. Side note: why would a child think that a day would go well when the first thing they tell their mother is "You're a lot like Annie (our cat) Mom, you can be all cute and sweet but sometimes you're really mean." Why, oh WHY would they think things would go well for them after that? Anyway we sat and talked and the set list came up again. I said, "Didn't you help them with sound one time?" Yes my friends....Ernie and I are now at the point in which we seem to know each other's lives better than our own. His face lit up and he said, "Oh YEAHHHHH....one time Willie couldn't be there, or could only be there for part of the night or something and he came and set it all up but then I ran it....these must be the notes from that night."

So the mystery is partially solved....although we still don't know exactly when......

I liked hearing Ernie talk about the first time he saw the Brats. I've written about the first time I saw the guys before. What I have never managed to communicate is the feeling of excitement and discovery and the feeling of 'this is mine.' Not the band per se....but the FEELING they gave me....it just went to my core. There were other local bands I absolutely loved but there has never been another band that, on just the right night, made me feel like I could do anything.

Anybody up for writing about the first time they saw the Brats please feel free to post away (if you can post on here rather than facebook it would be great as it's easy to lose facebook posts---they're kind of ephemeral).

  

THE VERTEBRATS: THREE SETS AND FREE ICE WATER!

Three sets of the Vertebrats....just how it's supposed to be. Owen has decided to 'clean' the garage...which means he goes through all the mysterious boxes that are out there. First he came in with some little starched lacy....um..things...I guess they're handtowels...NO idea where they came from. Maybe they were Judi's. Then he showed up with a couple of copies of NME and an old Screams picture that I had never seen with five members and a bearded Brad Steakley. However, then he came in with the piece de resistance.....a set list from a Vertebrats show. Have I ever seen this before??? Not to my memory.

Ahhh....I should probably go dance in the living room and then ask for a glass for a glass of ice water. Poor Mabel's....never did give them much money but damn.....

Blessed Circles....Thanks to Ken Draznik, Jim Wald and all!

Man....I've got that post house concert glow...and this one has an additional warmth from the familiarity and comfort of old friends. Some of them are new friends but made intimate by the shared memories of a past...and others are new friends made by a shared love of music and warmth.

In the afternoon, when Kenny and Jimmy set up and did a few songs I looked at Ernie ,as they did an old Vertebrats song (a classic Jimmy song---Heart Touchers), and said to him, "My 18-year-old heart is bursting." It wasn't merely nostalgia though...there were only a few Brats songs. Wonderful heartfelt songs by the two of them and classic Jimmy goofiness....and great guitar by Todd Fletcher and Tim McKeage. One of my favorite parts was watching Kenny's face when Jimmy went off into Jimminess....and the pleasure of sitting next to Bob Draznik as watched and listened to his beloved son, and watching Jimmy's wife Jan laugh and smile as she listened to Jimmy as well....  Such pleasure.

And so many people I love....people that traveled from Chicago and St. Louis----Bob Draznik, Annette, Rob Arrol, Pat and David....so wonderful. And Kent...who missed the music for sad family reasons, but whom I was so happy to see and give a hug. I hope I'm not forgetting anyone...

Thank you all.

I know a few people recorded some things---I'm afraid I didn't at all. Please share video and pictures if you have them. I'll start an album on the Sandwich Life House Concerts facebook page. 

One last note: it was doubly perfect to have Kenny here. In many ways Kenny is the force behind our house concerts. It was in May of 2008 that Ernie and I were just trying to keep our heads above the water, dealing with my father's Alzheimer's, my mother's health, my sister's bile duct cancer , Ernie's health, two young boys....and random other things....it was then that Kenny emailed and said that he and Paul Budin and Pat Dailey were going to come down and just play some music for us. It turned into a magical healing night. Just a few days later Ernie had surgery and my father died while I was in the recovery room with Ernie. That night of feeling loved helped us so much though as we struggled on. And the intense joy of having live music in our living room stayed with us and eventually led us to having Kane Welch Kaplin play...well, and here we are today. So thank you Kenny.....there are so many circles....

Thanks all for being part of one of those circles....

Getting Ready, Getting Ready....

Kenny Draznik and Jimmy Wald tonight!

Farmers' Market this morning....all the fixings for the panzanella:

Can I just say that I LOVE the sound of a lawnmower and knowing it's one of my sons cutting our grass? Oh yes!

 

Panzanella and Vertebrats and Rockfield Lock

How can it be Thursday already? Yeah, yeah, I know....Labor Day and all that. I'm still surprised. That means the Rockfield Lock (Kenny Draznik/Jimmy Wald) house concert is only two days away. And yet...do I know what I am serving for food? Why NO I don't! I'd planned to make a big batch of ratatouille as I always think of September as ratatouille weather with the wealth of tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant and colored bell peppers but I made some the other day and found it distinctly uninspired. In fact Ernie just asked me if I wanted to take some for lunch today and I said, "eh, naaaaah." Hmmm.  Maybe I'm back to a big batch of panzanella....it has been a good year for tomatoes. So perhaps a big platter of panzanella and a stack of grilled sausages.  Whaddya think?

Speaking of the Vertebrats (well, I kinda was)...has anyone seen all the videos someone in Spain (at least according to YouTube) has put up? They're just a montage of photos put to the recordings but still fun. She even uses one of my all time favorite pictures of the boys at the infamous Pete's party. That picture is the first thing that came to mind when I saw the picture of John Lennon and Paul McCartney that's making the rounds on facebook etc. right now. Kinda universal I guess....

O.k....off to work I go. Do NOT forget about Saturday's house concert. Remember---free to all, kids welcome, bring something to drink or eat or just come by yourself. There's usually plenty of vegetarian options....mmm....let's see... what else? Bring some money to stuff in the tip jar and invite anyone you think would enjoy it!

 

Sweet Relief

I can NOT tell you what a relief it was to have the fence moved yesterday. I was giddy. Hopefully NeighborGate is completely over. I will cross my fingers. Although legally we had until September 15 to get everything moved said neighbor had already started cutting the grass on the area, always while we are in the house, and always with lots of glares toward our property. I think he's a tad obsessed. He went back over the property line with his lawnmower several times yesterday. Owen depicted it thusly:

SK Fence gave us a GREAT price on moving it and were in and out quickly.....they were abolutely wonderful. Thank you so much to them!!! They just took the existing fence and 'turned' the corner sooner...so it now extends further along our northern property line. When you sit in the yard you can still see the field but I'm thinking of moving a couple of ornamental grasses...or maybe even my hydrangea...to block the view and make it more private. I may even have to put curtains on my dining room and living room windows! I never have because I kinda hate curtains and they face north and empty field....we'll see.

I'm somewhat embarrassed at myself for being so relieved because I know that shows how much this got to me. I've tried hard to keep it in perspective though. Honestly I really like the yard now....it truly is not about the land....just the crazy nastiness. How often in life do we say that, "it's not the blah-blah-blah...it's the WAY it was done." As Bob Draznik pointed out...whoever came up with that sticks and stones bromide was freaking crazy.

Here is the yard as we were getting ready to move plants. The red arrow is where the fence now turns the corner.

And here it is this morning:

Thanks for the support during NeighborGate. Thanks to Rayne DeVivo for being an attorney that makes me feel like someobdy has our back----as someone who grew up with an attorney in the family it feels good to have that once again. Thanks to SK Fence and thanks to my husband who called SK Fence more times than he wanted to because I was so anxious.

Don't forget----a week from today....Kenny Draznik and Jimmy Wald, two of my beloved Vertebrats, known as Rockfield Lock HERE in our house! I can not WAIT!!! All are welcome----just check the Sandwich Life House Concerts page on facebook or email me for info!