Entry date: 12-30-2022 - Penultimate Musings - Letters to My Friends

Dear Friends,

So as of right now, today, I will have met my goal of writing 1000 words a day for a solid year when I finish this particular blog. It’s probably getting close, if not well beyond, 400K in words, and that is not counting the KISS and Placebo bonus stuff I have added this week. With reviews and other stuff I have shared, I’ve added a lot content to the site.

Yesterday I saw the largest pair of cleats I have ever seen. Michael and I were stocking up on some provisions for our upcoming trek to Happy Jack and we dipped into Burlington Coat Factory. To say they were huge is an understatement.

What a fun day we had, though, collecting things. We also took a break and had some food and beverages at Far Away Wine and Provisions which is a cool place on 32nd Street and Indian School. Good people, great provisions, and awesome music and food. It was nice to commune a bit with Tom and Rick and just enjoy a break in the day. Those of you who love wine should know about this place.

We also stopped into Heidelberg Bakery, also on Indian School, and got some rye bread to have with our pastrami sandwiches this weekend. What a charming little place. I have passed it 10,000 times, probably, but have never been in there. It’s always weird to go into a place like that after so many years of co-existing and see what the inside looks like. It was so familiar and so welcoming that I felt like I had been going there for years.

The world is funny that way. You can fall in love with a place in a few seconds and then feel like it is a part of you forever. There are so many little spots I have enjoyed over the years all over the place that are like that for me. Just a niche, here and there, that feels like it is mine. I do like to share, too, though. There is nothing more fun than to show someone a place you love and have them love it too.

One of those places, as I think of them right now, is Escape from NY Pizza in San Francisco on Haight. During my time in Berkeley, I would often go to San Francisco on days I wasn’t working and just sort of meander around. I didn’t have a whole lot of money, but I would always have enough to get a slice of pizza from Escape From NY. They were the first place I ever had Pesto pizza and it was the bomb.

Always interesting punk folks working in there and if I would have lived closer, I would have probably tried to get a job there. They had a drawing on the wall that Matt Groening did that said, “Pizza is Hell.” How cool is that? If you are even in San Francisco on Haight Street, you should check it out. Great pie.

I would like to make it up to San Francisco again before too long. It has been almost 15 years, I think, since we have been there, and Liam and Teresa have never been. That’s a shame and bad parenting on my part, although I don’t think I would trade a trip to Maine for a trip to SF at this point. Maybe it is good parenting.

But not really, though. There is something about that town that always just spoke to me. Maybe it is because it has been kind of gray and gloomy in Phoenix a lot lately, but I miss the different colors of that place a lot. The grays and reds and the color of the bay. Not really blue, not really green. Just the bay. I loved to go up in the Berkeley hills and look out over it.

I wonder if the Bay Area would still speak to me in the same way. Probably not, if I am being honest. When I was in my teens and 20s, even 30s, the energy of that city really spoke to me. It was alive and vibrant. History buffs would like to say that it was better in the late 60s, but I’m not sure it was as great as the movies about hippies and the Grateful Dead and stuff might make it seem.

I’m not sure I am looking for that kind of thing anymore and I am certainly not digging the big cities the way I used to. Smaller seems better and the pace is more to my liking now. I’d still be stoked on playing music up there, I think, but most of my friends that I used to see there are spread around the country (and world) now. I don’t even know what a good venue to play up there anymore would be.

At the moment, I can’t imagine taking a band on the road. I think those days are firmly in the past. I did my fair share of out-of-town gigs and I’m good with that. Maybe if I am ever in a position to have a little band out on the east coast, just maybe, I’ll try to do a little east coast run and play music in Boston and New York. That would be a bucket list type thing.

Life is full of surprises, though, and that’s a good thing. Even when the surprises aren’t great, they are opportunities for growth. As I type, I’m listening to my friend’s music which is an unexpected treat. The DGC Players song, “Who Invented Love?” is such a cool little jam. Highly recommended.

Later today, we head for the snow. One more 2022 post in the ol’ Ergonomic Mischief to go. I’m sure I will talk about this tomorrow, but there is a core of y’all who have kept me going in this by talking to me about what I’ve written or sending me encouraging messages. I have appreciated them so much. Thank you!

See you tomorrow.

That's a big shoe. I mean, my hands are not exactly small...