Two days I waited ten years for

In 2000 I saw two bands I never expected to see again; Orchestra Morphine and Gil Scott-Heron. In early August I saw them both within the span of 24 hours.

Orchestra Morphine is the remaining members of Morphine along with members of Either/Orchestra performing the songs of Mark Sandman. At this point in my life I can pretty safely say that Morphine is my favorite band. No small statement. And to see this music performed live again is nothing short of mind blowing for me.

Russ Gershon has a tendency to send out emails about E/O performances mere days before a show. On a Tuesday morning I saw a notice he had sent out the day before about an Orchestra Morphine show the next day! I got on the phone and rounded up Kyle, Martin, and Linda and off we went. We get up to Boston with no problems, circle the block once and get a spot right in front of the club. To say the Lizard Lounge is intimate is to say Jimi Hendrix was a guitar player. Grab some seats, blah blah blah, they play. Oh. My. God.

These nine musicians both have this music in them and put themselves into this music. They are those songs. Which gives them  the ability to explore while they're playing. Because no matter how far out they take these, well, Pop Songs, they can still turn the train right around and lock it back in. And I dare you not to dance. Go on. Don't dance.

Then the next day:

Erica & I picked up Harry & Bill and we headed to NYC. Pleasant trip down the Merritt (Harrison, You Are Here) got into the city no problem, found $10 parking, went to the MOMA, had awesome salads on 125th, then headed over to Marcus Garvey park in Harlem to see Gil Scott-Heron. Hoe. Lee. Shit. 

Another group of excellent musicians, and at least from my perspective towards the back of the park, Gil looked fairly healthy. When I saw him in 2000, eh, not so much. I spent the oughts assuming I'd one day hear that he had died, so to see him perform live again is also mind blowing to me.

But the thing that *really* blew my mind was that fact that these two show were back-to-back. These are two of my absolute favorite artists, one of whom has been living with a crack habit for decades, and the other has been gone since '99. And they were both near perfect shows in every aspect that I can think of; personal importance of artist, performance, company, parking, over-all experience, etc ...