Home Sweet Home after a very busy two weeks on the road.  In thirteen days on the road, we did twelve full concerts in twelve cities, three television performances, five television appearances, and three radio performances.  Pretty full schedule.  All good news.

Finished the tour of with three grand gigs in Pittsburgh, New York, and Altamonte, NY.  Funny thing about Pittsburgh is that, despite the fact that I’ve been there over a dozen times, I always find myself in a new neighborhood with not a familiar building or street corner in sight.  On Thursday, we found ourselves in the Theatre District and I found it quite an appealing downtown with tons of food and entertainment to pick from.  I also enjoyed the views across the River(s) and the dandy walking trails.  Had a great day, and almost went river kayaking right downtown, but a press commitment kept us out of the water.  Next time.

I think I’ll start to bore you all if I go on any more about how much I love Manhattan.  I’ll just ask any newcomers to refer to many previous entries here to find details of my love affair for the Big Apple.  On Friday, though, I may have discovered something about New Yorkers that I had not yet realized.  I’ve always thought that if you live in a city long enough, you being to take on physical traits of others who’ve done the same.  In other words, cities cause people to look a certain way.  

Copenhagen, for example, is completely accessible by bicycle, so many folks in that city look healthy and fit.  A US city, that I will leave unnamed, is only accessible by car and is littered with fast food, so many folks downtown are overweight and unhealthy looking.  Folks in Anchorage look very content in their parkas and snow clothes.  Londoners look surprised each January when Winter comes, and they appear weighed down by their layers and coats.   

Societal opinions also cause citizens to dress and appear certain ways, I think.  I did not notice may Goths while growing up in Petty Harbour or while touring in Utah.  But Seattle is a perfect place to a Goth, I figure.  Yeah, Seattle could be the perfect place to be a Goth.  Rainy, cool music, not too much direct sunlight.  I’ve always felt bad for Goths in cities like Phoenix.  Jaysus, what a heat in the compulsory black skinny jeans, tall leather boots, t-shirt and, trench coat.  But, I digress.

New Yorkers look excited to me.  Excited and very true to themselves.   I suppose they are excited because they love the place and you’ve got to be high energy to last in the city that never sleeps.  They also seem very true and real as they have almost no social limits to put on any kind of artifice.   There exists in New York, such a cross section of humanity that one could truly be whatever one desires…and find a few others to join the club.  You can be really Artsy, Goth, Gay, Macho, Flaky, Conservative, Promiscuous, Religious, Atheist, Whatever in Manhattan, and you would not get a second glance on the M Train.  Such variety and tolerance is rare and allows folks to realize their true selves without restraint.  

Just the spot.  I Heart NY.

I confess that I did not think the gig in Altamonte, NY would be great.  I did only a little research on the gig and as it was called “Irish 2000” or something like that, I instantly assumed it would be a sea of plastic green hats as we performed in a city park on the back of a flatbed truck in between, ‘Wink the Blarney’ and ‘Green Beers and Ham’, or something like that.  It turns out, I was dead wrong.  The Festival was on a great Fair Grounds-ish kind of place with lots of cool concessions and several excellent music venues in various sizes of tents.  The stages were very professional with high-end sound and lights and the bands were excellent.   Watched Celtic Cross, from New Jersey, who had some memorable tunes and a great singer.  Also witnessed Gaelic Storm slay the place with a show that could very well be the best hour of entertainment on the Celtic circuit.  
Had a grand chat with Travis Crickard and his buddies from the Potsdam NCAA hockey team.  Travis is from St. John’s and is playing goal for the team and dropped down to the Altamonte gig to give me a few goalie tips.  Hope I don’t let you down in my next beer league skate.  Good Luck to you and the lads with the season.
Drove overnight to Toronto and played CBC Sunday Morning TV show before blasting off to the airport.  Made it home to catch the Prince before bedtime.  

Best squeeze I ever got.

A few days home before jetting to the West Coast.  Bring on the Clowns.

Cheers,
Alan