Weeknotes: July 29 - August 2, 2024
Monday, July 29
It's midday and my brother and I are driving up US-23 to Fenton in a borrowed truck. He puts on a low-key electronic mix that reminds me of Ulrich Schnauss' Far Away Trains Passing By, an album we both agree is the ideal downtempo vibe. We're picking up a couch our parents bought from a local furniture store to save them the shipping cost. Simultaneously, we both get a text from our boss. I'm driving, so Jamie reads it to me. Drama at the office. Six of our co-workers have been laid off amid a larger company-wide restructuring. Somehow, we have both survived another corporate culling, though it's hard to feel secure right now.
Tuesday, July 30
Having missed the emergency Zoom meeting yesterday, Jamie and I meet up with our boss for happy hour drinks to get our own debrief regarding the layoffs. We learn a little more, but the conversation digresses into music talk, gossip, and general steam-letting. Out the window, a fluffy dog walks out the pet store's side door onto a little wooden loading dock in the alley. My brother jokes that it came out for a smoke. When I get home my 11 year old neighbor presents Islay with a toy. It's a large floppy-eared stuffed rabbit which she accepts and shakes vigorously in the backyard, putting on a good show of appreciation.
Wednesday, July 31
The humidity now seems to be a regular feature of the entire Michigan summer. I've taken to throwing my earbuds into a bowl of rice after every run. I've already sweated out one pair. Today I need a good think and avoid headphones altogether, letting my mind work on a lingering problem over eight miles. As almost always happens, I come up with a solution and return home in a better state than when I left. I have made so many breakthroughs while running or walking. There is no better path toward progress than on foot.
Thursday, August 1
We're booked at Sonic Lunch, a popular Ann Arbor concert series held at Liberty Plaza. I used to busk here when I was a teenager and just starting out. Before that I skated here as a kid. At 11:30 AM we do a short opening set for our old friends Frontier Ruckus. We've all been around this scene long enough that members of both bands are in other bands with each other. There's a specific bonhomie from this kind of long-shared experience that can't be replicated. It's a long summer day of music and friends which I really needed. After the gig, most of us end up at Old Town Tavern, another place I have a long history with.
Photo by Leisa Thompson
Friday, August 2
My glasses, with their brand new lenses, barely last two weeks. At Ziggy's I reach to pull them out of my jeans pocket to find them snapped in half at the bridge. I work the door during the second band’s set and can't read the bills in the cashbox. I hope I'm not handing someone a $50 as change for a $20, and if I do I hope they're honest enough to correct me. During our set there's some problem with my preamp and we can't get my acoustic guitar working through the P.A. In the interest of moving the show along, I abandon it and play my Telecaster on every song. It gives the set a bit more gravitas, as do my ragged vocals. State Park rises to the occasion. It’s a fun, rowdy bar set.