The Treehouse

Nothin' like a visit to the ol' Giacchino house in Edgewater Park. Catchin' a flick with the kids before bedtime, checkin' out Michael's fine cues on ABC, getting to meet the newest addition to the family, Palene, (who's absolutely lovely, by the way) guilt-tripping Anthony into inviting me to everything he does from now on, and noticing that the Mr. and Mrs. haven't aged at all since 1983. Something in the Edgewater Park water? Something that's buried in the backyard? I hear they're gonna be digging quite a hole on May 9th, 2003. Maybe they'll broadcast it live over the web. That would be cool.

Fest.
Fest, Fest, Fest.
Mmmmmmmmmmm....
What can I say? I got to perform on the mainstage at midnight with my very own personal lighting crew (hooray for prefest!), I found some beautiful old friends, new friends, got all dirty, sweaty, sparkly, sleepy, played amazing music (especially on Saturday night, thank you very much Sarah and Ethan!!), danced a bit, relaxed a lot, and saw some pretty zany things. Musically, the highlights were most certainly Huun Huur Tu (the Tuvan throat singers) (I nearly just typed "Tucan" throat singers, which sounds like quite an act also), Susan Werner, Richard Thompson, and although I didn't catch David Jacobs-Strain's performance, I can say that he's one of the nicest 19-year-old blues guitar prodigies I've ever had the pleasure of meeting.
Philadelphia Folk Festival. I reckon y'all should be there next year, volunteerin' with me and the crew. www.folkfest.org

Hooray for brothers and sisters and moms and dads and dogs and aunts and uncles and neighbors and neices! Another wonderful Burns Family Fun Day! This time up at Leslie's, where there's yogurt in everything, but at least there's plenty of vegetarian options. Joe succeeded in turning me onto frisbee and a New England brew (nifty labels). Nice as ever to see Mr. Pierce, our honourary Burns for the day. (not the first time, not the last) Also excellent to see Scott and Andie at the Saturday night family-fun-day-pre-party. Scott, I'd say we're some of the hippest folk we know. See you at Fest!! (Tom and I will be the rowdy ones in the tent right next to yours) (or perhaps the sleepy volunteers snorin' in the tent right next to yours) (either way, lucky you.) (what's with all the damn parentheses?)

If you ever want to see the All-American household, visit the Spackmans in Virginia. Also a good place to see pictures of camels. It was great to see Tommo again after his farewell to Cork, now gearing up for a new year on his old turf. My, that was SOME weather keeping us inside all day today, wasn't it?! I can't speak for outside, but inside it was rainin' tunes, nutty bars, pirates (of the occoquan) and some major chillin' time for two weary travellers. Had we the space, I'm certain we'd have played some indoor Kubb as well, but maybe next time...

First off, to clarify, in that last post, the "mushrooms" I was talking about are the kind that Mom always manages to throw into lasagnes and casseroles and steak marinades. Not the magic kind, for those of you Irishmen who are way more experienced than I thought, not to name names, Adrian.
I just got back from "Wojo's Got Crabs V", South Jersey's best unofficial festival, I'm convinced. Absolutely fantastic time, very little of which was wasted in slumber. The agenda always looks odd on paper: We arrive to the Wojo's on Friday night, drink heavily, stay up until 5am, wake up at 6am, spend 2 hours in the parking lot at Wawa, then drive to heck knows where so we can sit in the burning sun for the morning and afternoon pulling strings tied to dead fish parts out of the water. But you know what, Wojie? You're really onto something here. Think about it--there were 25 of us all doing that together. Genius!! What a way to catch up with old friends! And get a running start with some new ones! Mad props to Phil Fizz for looking and being great, hope to see you again before your wedding day. Pat, you manage to mesmerize me with your guitar playing every single time, and same about Phil applies to you. CJ and Marco and all of our neighbors from Scranton (ya know, that town up the road), fun times all around, singin' or bangin' on stuff or just sittin' around to take it all in... To Matt, my newest, flirtiest, sunburntiest pal, it was nice lounging with you (and later lotioning). You're lucky you're only 19 and you live in South Jersey and are the little brother of one of my high school buddies, or else there could have been trouble. To the good Father Mac, it was really cool to meet you! Bon voyage, Amanda--have a beautiful time in CA!! And Wojo, you and I still gotta catch up. I'd say your dining room has seen enough by now, but there may still be time to seek softer ground...

I never thought I'd like mushrooms... Stayed away from them most of my life. But they say that thing about your tastebuds and the every seven years, and ya know, maybe I actually buy that. Because I love mushrooms now. They are so weird and cool! So now I'm wondering what it is about my perception that is renewing itself on perhaps a seven-year cycle, though probably not that exact. Whatever it is, I nearly wept today at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, looking at paintings by Renoir, Monet, Cassat, Seurat, and those other crazy cats. I KNOW that I've been through that museum a few dozen times, and never felt a thing. (see? I can't even type the word "museum" without adding "ic" to the first three letters by reflex.) This time I was seriously moved. It used to be: Can't play it? Can't listen to it? I don't wanna think about it. And now I'm wondering about all these amazing enlightened people who have gone before and left these works for me to see. Well I don't know what I owe them, but they certainly brought me a great deal of peace today. How perfect that one human with flesh and resources can manipulate time and thought in such a way that 100 years later their act brings peace over another human (and no doubt, many) with flesh and resources who might just leave something behind that will touch another...

Being at home is always like a time warp.. It's odd to wake up in the same ol' bed in the same ol' room in the same ol' house and it makes me wonder: did the past year actually happen, or was it just a really intense dream? And for that matter, have the past four years happened? There's an amazing consistency in this house, and by that I mean nothing ever changes. But there's also a comfort in that, which I should feel lucky to have. Paid a visit to my old session in Haddonfield last night, just to add to the culture shock. Great to see Cathy and Dennis workin' away, and surrounded by new students all the time! As part of my Fest random publicity plan, I'll be visited in just a few minutes by a photographer and reporter from the Burlington County Times, so that this little pocket of South Jersey suburbia can know what they missed in Cork last weekend. Since the age of 18, I've only been here for extended visits, but I'm convinced that a lifestyle at 105 Parry keeps a much quicker pace than any other. And by that I mean anything can happen, and once it starts happening, you'd better look out!!