Taking me out....

[captainsblog]

This day began booking my first live sporting event since 2019, and is ending at my first indoor music event in just about a year.

Western New York’s AAA teams have not seen a live pitch on their home fields since the end of their 2019 seasons. All minor league games were canceled in 2020. Our stadia were busy- Buffalo’s Sahlen Field hosting most of Toronto’s home schedule, Rochester’s Frontier Field the nearby nest for the Blue Jay emergency “taxi squad.” But both venues were closed to fans with actual pulses; cardboard cutoots graced the downtown Buffalo stands, while Rochester's taxi stands were devoid of even those.

A few weeks ago, just as I was securing my second shot, both teams began planning to let actual human beings into the ballparks- the Red Wings for their regularish 2021 AAA schedule, the Blue Jays for actual MLB games in front of actual fans here. Toronto's ticketing remains a few days out (other than the usual scalper-scammers), but Rochester friends and I had marked Monday on our baseball calendars for the arrival of ticketing for Opening Day Night on May 18th.

Postponed, due to, reasons. Probably because the state and MLB keep changing the rules for number and mask/vaccine status of attendees, it got pushed to today at 10. I had an 11 a.m. appointment in Rochester for inpression/x-ray/referral stuff for my possible UB implant, so I got up stupid early and was at my Penfield desk, buying button at the ready, to score tickets for me and a family of friends....

And got hung up on digitally, as did Lisa at her place, from 10:00:00 on.  Demand! Who knew?!?

Fortunately, Mr. Lisa was a block from the ballpark, after finishing a fill-in shift during the local NPR cut-ins of Morning Edition, and by the time that ended, he sashayed over and got ducats for all of us (not an option here, as the Buffalo box office is closed, man!)

So Tuesday night, Here Come the Red Wings for the first time in their own yard in over 600 days since ending 2019 there. The opponent will be the Maine Guides Scranton-Wilkes Barre  Empire State Red Barons Yankees Rail Riders,  still affiliated with the Bronx Sneers.  Why they are doing this at night, I've no idea, but I've been in that ballpark for hockey when it was closer to zero than 70F, so bring it, bitches.

----

Ticket secured and paid for, impression taken and forms filled out, I returned to the 716 for a late afternoon client and to check on the missus. She'd wanted to switch back to her car soon as I got back, but the stressings from the refi/reno/kitty healing had all taken their toll and she left work early- feeling okay by the time I finally came in with groceries, just in time for me to head back out for my first live musical performance in months.

I'd befriended Maria- solo artist, Maniac backup, singer of the We're Gonna Win That Cup 90s reboot and overall lovely person- after she was one of four musicians who I saw right at the end of the Before Times in February 2020. Tonight, she announced her first local solo gig since Shit Went Down, at the closest local watering franchise-hole of Buffalo's legendary Anchor Bar, inventor (more or less) of the chicken wing meal deal.

The original Bar remains on the north edge of downtown, but franchises have taken root here and elsewhere in recent years. The Amherst one originally hosted a Fuddrucker's national chain- famed for its burgers, but offputting us with the pig and cow carcasses displayed in the front windows.  A dude I once sued took it over before a Frank-and-Theresa-franchisee moved in right before the Before Times ended.  The bar section of the place was spacious, acoustically good, and surrounded by Mets to accompany Maria:



(They originally proposed that she play outside in that tent. She expressed worry about the arrival of bees on her microphone, and by showtime she was back indoors.)

I had a wait to get to the bar proper, but I could hear the opening songs of her set. Her covers were authentic and well done.  Then I was led to my own booth for her intermission and second half. The covers covered so much of beloved territory: Adele, Cheap Trick, Al Stewart's "Year of the Cat," Jann Arden's "Insensitive," and ending with Spiral Staircase, leading me to comment:

I want live music more than yesterday,
But not as much as tomorrow!

I got to talk with this mostly-OL friend more than I ever have, and also saw and met others who appreciate her talent and dedication to her craft.  We will meet again, sing along, and broaden our boundaries from the masks and meshugenah of the past 15 months.

The Mets broke their winning streak in Tampa, but we broke our isolation and I will do so again on Tuesday night. Let's go!

Comments

You know...

[dauntless_heart]

...for me it's movie theaters--the gasp of the crowd or burst of live laughter that I've missed. Although we do take in a couple of baseball games a year, generally minor league--the Isotopes or Chihuahuas. :) (Yes, those tiny dogs CAN play baseball!) ;)

Once in awhile we get to take in a magic show--the best of which being David Copperfield when we lived in Cincinnati.