Welcome Breakfast, Drum Lesson, and Cajun Tunes

 

This morning Travalon and I went to church an hour early for a new member breakfast. We felt a little funny about it, since we have been going for two years now, but another couple at our table said they have also been going for over a year, so we weren't the only ones attending and not joining. After Mass we took a walk on Governor's Island, since it was such a beautiful day out. I felt a bit sad about missing the Scottish Fest going on this afternoon, but it was my first drum class of this session.

I got to drum class a half hour early because the cavaquinho player said he would be having a casual pagode practice before our lesson, but there was no sign of him, and the "real" players' practice ran long. I hung out in the parking lot with a couple who got the time wrong; I knew the woman from pagode practice on Friday night. A lot of my buddies came back to drumming school, and in fact there were no new people this time, so we just got into a groove. I played the marcaçao, which is the lowest drum, and sort of the easiest because you just play on the downbeats, and I kind of got into a trance until the stand my drum was on had some sort of structural failure. Fortunately I managed to catch it before it crashed. One of the teachers came over and fixed it, so then I was off and playing again. The leader of the women's pagode group was there, helping to teach. I love this group of people - they are so fun and chill.

Afterwards I was quite tired. Travalon and I went to a park on the lake which I can never remember its name, and we debated going on a boat ride, but I was just too beat. I sat on our porch and prayed a rosary, and then I felt rested enough to go to band practice. We worked on Cajun music again, and the hostess's grandson came in and then left because I'm sure there's little more annoying than bad Cajun music. Even when played well, it's kind of whiney, which I love but some people hate. And believe me, we were not playing it well at first, but we definitely improved over the course of our practice. I have no idea why we are working on Cajun music; I am not aware of any upcoming Cajun gigs. Though if you know of any, drop me a line - we might be up to speed by then.

Here are some recent acquisitions. Travalon got this tiny British engine.

And he got me a model NYC subway car with graffiti, different on each side.

He also got himself a new railroad shirt.

As we were walking on Governor's Island, I saw this bright sumac leaf from a distance and thought it was something manmade, since the color was so vibrant.

And when we stopped by my parking lot on the way back from my drum lesson, we saw this graffiti.

And here are screenshots from the second half of Travalon's video from Thursday.

There were several cars where it looked like they might have painted over graffiti with some boring grayish paint somewhat like the color of the car, and if that's true, what a shame. Why not enjoy free art instead of destroying it? Someone posted a video on social media of a train with some cool graffiti, so maybe tomorrow I will post screenshots from that.

Famous Hat