The Scene
By Jane Harrison
It’s been a very long few months. Between the storms every few days in February and a few personal tragedies, I’m very much looking forward to the spring-like weather predicted and the rejuvenation it will bring.
Even the music scene seems to be itching to make a comeback with “incidental music” popping up from High Falls to Parksville. Incidental music refers generally to solo artists and sometimes duos that pop into eating establishment and play a few tunes. The few I’ve been privileged to run into, diners are socially distanced and generally sparse and fully masked when leaving their tables. COVID is still a very real concern and everyone is playing by the rules. And those who don’t have been shown the door. I’m very impressed.
If you’ve been following the COVID numbers like I do, you’ve noticed a drop in confirmed cases. I honestly don’t believe it is because Sullivan County has finally awoken to the dangers, but more that people are chasing the vaccine. When someone I know from Neversink drove to Callicoon for her first dose, I thought that was crazy. Then I started hearing from others who received the vaccine. One went to Monroe, NY for the first dose and to Middletown for the second (because they couldn’t get an appointment for the second in Monroe). Another drove to Rochester. Still others drove into the city and the Javits Center. The average time spent on the computer to obtain these appointments is six consecutive hours. What do people who don’t have a computer do? And what happens if the antibodies only last three months as they do in people who have had COVID, as was told to me by a health professional?
I had a really bad day last month. You know the kind, the kind where every contact with the outside world frustrates you to no end. I was recounting…ok, complaining… to friend CASWYN MOON of my rotten day to which he graciously shared a new song, still a work in progress, with me. As I’ve said before here, I’m a lyrics person. Lyrics are the poetry of message set into the delivery system of the music. And the lyrics here resonated with my day and I found these and the music absolutely delightful (a description that I’m sure Caswyn would not appreciate being an incredibly deep thinker and rather taciturn by nature). And the tentative name of this song? “Screwed.” It’s a love song.
The hope rides high with the tentative scheduling of an outdoor concert at the ARROWHEAD RANCH in Parksville in August. This is a unique concert to honor a regular guy named Lon who garnered an association with the Vermont band TWIDDLE. Lon died suddenly recently of natural causes in his fifties. How Lon became so venerated not only by the band, but hundreds of fans of the band, is unclear. Friends who have known him for 40 years, attended Jam Cruise and countless other music venues with him, are just as baffled. But there it is in the form of LonCon Fest, an apparent mash-up of his first and last names. I sincerely hope this happens because I would love to know more.
Another high point of this last month was the reopening of FIBER ON MAIN. The hours are limited to Fridays from 3 to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and only two people in the store at a time. I’m looking forward to visiting and checking out the new yarns from The Center for Discovery farms and from Berroco. The weekly Wednesday get-together of fiber artists will now be continuing virtually, which is exciting….IF I can figure it out. My friends all laugh at me, I can do so many things but I haven’t figured out video chat/conferencing/anything. I do need to figure this out. I do want to show off “what I did on my COVID vacation.”
Socks. Five pair so far, and working on a sixth. And my Penance Blanket, the one that is not my taste or style but I had SO much acrylic yarn. My penance. Keep the faith.
Stay strong, stay well, stay masked. Until next time……