Audrey

A beautiful Sunday took us to the beach just north of Half Moon Bay, to hear Tierney Sutton sing at the Bach Dynamite and Dancing Society. Her theme was “love.” To open the show, Tierney sang a song from her “Blue” album, which featured Joni Mitchell songs. She playfully combined the standard “April in Paris” with Joni’s “Free Man in Paris.” Later in the show, Tierney gave a tour-de-force performance of the Dry Cleaner from Des Moines, a Joni Mitchell song with a ton of very fast, very complex lyrics. ...

The Roschelle family happily converged at Morningside Heights to celebrate Micah’s commencement from Columbia University. He actually graduated two years ago, in May 2020. But that was the year of coming home for spring break and never returning to New York to finish senior year. So it was great to finally have a full on celebration two years later. My mother, Alice, has a master’s degree from Columbia, making it a multi-generational roar of the Columbia lion. And, of course, Victoria also graduated from Columbia, a year before Micah. Columbia blue was everywhere as were the big smiles. ...

Audrey and I created some impromptu posters, hopped on the #54 bus, and joined the Washington DC Women’s March. We were protesting the Supreme Court’s draft decision to overturn Roe v Wade. Lots of people asked to take a photo of Audrey’s poster: “if men could get pregnant, abortions would be available at ATMs.” The weather was misty, but warm, so we didn’t mind getting wet. The rally started on a lawn just below the Washington Monument. The featured speaker was California congresswoman Barbara Lee. After lots of speeches, it was time to march! ...

Danilo Peréz’s Global Messengers I’ve always been a huge fan of Wayne Shorter’s quartet with Danilo Peréz, John Pattituci and Brian Blade. And I enjoy each of the artists individually. So I leaped at a chance go hear the pianist, Danilo Peréz lead his own group. The setting could not be more beautiful. The 6th and I Synagogue is a historic building in downtown Washington DC, and its a Sephardic-style building. Rather than a long vault ending in an alter, the building is basically square, with a dome above four huge arches. The dome is pained a lovely sky blue. And the colors throughout the space are warm and inviting. I had been looking for an opportunity to show Audrey the space and it was a special bonus that Sarah was visiting us. ...

Stanley Jordan brought the house down at Blues Alley in Georgetown with his recreation of Jimi Hendrix’s music. The audience rose and soared with the Star Spangled Banner. We grooved to Foxy Lady. We were awed by Jordan’s amazing guitar techniques, including lots of high speed tapping. For the guitar nerds out there, he had a series of awesome guitar tones all night long, which must have been driven by some electronics, as there was no guitar amp anywhere in site. We left in a Purple Haze. ...