Snow, Folks.
Snow.
It had been a while since I had actually seen snow. I still kind of took it for granted like it was no big deal. It isn’t, really. I have seen a lot of it in my life. I just hadn’t seen it in a few years and I wanted to make sure I really took it in. I enjoyed the crisp, cold air on my face, the stinging wind, the trying not to slip in the wrong kind of shoes, the hoping my brakes don’t lock up and I lose control of the rental car.
I knew the snow was coming. I panicked I wouldn’t be able to get home to record the intro stuff for today’s show. I’m typing this on the plane. So, if you get this, I made it.
Let’s back up. I flew into NYC last Tuesday night. I got off the plane and rented a car and drove to New Haven. Crashed. Woke up and went to the Yale Art Gallery. Then went and ate way too much pizza with Dean Falcone and his crew at Pepe’s. Clam, White, Margarita, Sausage and another kind. Then, Italian pastry. Then, shame. Then, eating to not feel the shame. But wait…
I did a show in New Haven that first night. It was great. Many people on this run of shows hadn’t been out to do anything since the plague. They were excited, giddy even. The next morning I drove across the countryside to Troy, NY to perform at The Music Hall. That place is special. Built in the 1800s. Perfect acoustics. You can feel the age of the place but it’s still alive. I did one of the best shows of my life there. The next day I drove to Mass MOCA in North Adams and blew my mind on art for a few hours. Truly blew my mind.
The amazing thing about Mass MOCA is the exhibits are mostly installations. Artists work with the space to create art that only exists to live in that space. It’s the pure stuff. There is a lot there that seems to be fairly permanent that I had seen the last time I was there years ago. The James Turrell retrospective was elevating.
I drove from there to Laconia, New Hampshire. It was during that drive I had the flashbacks. I had started my career as a working comic in the late '80s driving to one nighters all over the New England region. As I drove those roads they became the neural pathways that lead back to the trauma of driving alone into the unknown as a younger man and the further down the road I drove, the more I knew that the gig would be terrible or at the very least hard. It all came back to me. The panic, the fear, the anger. As I approached Laconia, I was in full spiral. I was thinking how did I come full circle? How am I driving these roads to unknown shows again? How the fuck did my agent find this place?
It was a great show at the Colonial Theater in Laconia. Great crowd.
The following morning I left at 6am to try to get ahead of a snow storm that I knew was coming for days. I started to worry I would be snowed in when I got to Vermont. I did get ahead but it was raining and about two hours into the drive the snow started coming down. It was beautiful. By the time I got to Burlington I was driving very slow. They let me check into the hotel early. I had breakfast with Hari Kondabolu and Mohanad Elshieky. They were working the comedy club there. The snow was coming down all day. I didn’t know if it would keep people away but it didn’t. I did an almost two-hour show at The Flynn Center. Great crowd again.
I slept for about three hours and dropped the rental off and got the 6am flight to Chicago. Then onto LA.
Great trip. I feel disgusting.
Today I’m posting a new short conversation I had with Keith Richards AND the old long talk I had with him in 2015. Because…why not? It’s Keef. On Thursday I talk to Oscar-nominee Ariana Debose about her life and dance and West Side Story. Great talks.
Enjoy!
Boomer, Monkey and LaFonda live!
Love,
Maron
