New York, NY

Posted on September 3, 2008 by Zach

Spread the news — these vagabond shoes went to New York City! Rather than foolishly driving my car into the city and trying to find parking, I intelligently parked my car a good distance away and took the train in to the city. As it turns out, I could have still found parking a lot closer, but that’s as good as it got for my unresearched trip.

I had originally planned on three days in the city. But we couldn’t line up a host (for some reason my friends in NYC were all not checking their facebooks, and NYC Couchsurfers are booked year-round if they want to be), all the hostels were booked, and without a car as an emergency backup bed, I wasn’t going to venture into the city. I’m risky, but not hobo risky. (T-shirt idea. FRONT: I’m Not Risky; BACK: I’m Hobo Risky)

So the modified plan was just to take a train into the city, stay late seeing all the sights, then head back and sleep in the car. I was not happy with New York. It was not playing nice like all the other towns. It was separating me from my car and equipment. It is known for people being hasty and brusque. What’s to like?

So I arrived, bitterly, at the WTC.

Well, so much for a pick-me-up once I’m in the city. In our efforts to get downtown, we inadvertently arrived the site of a great tragedy.

But I was determined to make the best of it. No host? No problem! Friends not reading their facebooks? No problem! Witnessing the site of a tragedy? No problem! Bitter? No problem! (If you don’t already know, ask me sometime about a superhero I invented — “No Problem Guy.”) So we set out to see some great NYC landmarks. First, the Statue of Liberty.

Yep, that picture is as close as we got. So much for that. With unsinkable optimism, I decided to give the Empire State building a shot. We set out from Battery Park on foot for a while and saw some fun sights.

Things were starting to look up. Especially me, apparantly. (WARNING: I intend to use that bad pun repeatedly in this post.)

Finally we found a map and realized we would be walking a long time if we intended to walk to the ESB. So we hopped on the subway (that’s how you get on and off, by hopping) and made a shorter trip of it.

I had been informed by the interweb that we should wait until late to go in the tower, since the lines would be much shorter and the view by night was just as good as the view by day. So we got some pizza.

Movie Preview Man: THE DAY WAS PERFECTLY ORDINARY…
JH: Good pizza.
Me: Yes.
MPM: BUT ALL THAT WAS ABOUT TO CHANGE…
Phone: buzz. buzz. Bleedeep!

Suddenly I got a text message from a Couchsurfer who figured there was no way we would still need a host, but was offering just in case. Elated, I promptly called her to confirm. We were finishing up —

Me: Okay, awesome. Thank you so much.
Angie: Of course, I’m awesome so it’s only natural that I do awesome things.
Me: Cool. Bye.

— when suddenly —

Phone: buzz. buzz. buzz. Da da da dumm dummm da da du–
Me: Hello?
Dude on the phone: Hi, this is Josh Homer.

Josh Homer! One of my non-facebook-checking friends finally checked his facebook. So now I had a place to stay and an old friend to meet. Yes, things were definitely looking up.

And heading up. While Josh was en route to rendezvous avec us, we thought we’d better quick hop up to the Empire State Building before he arrove. Unfortunately,

.
That’s right, I used a picture in a sentence. But I didn’t forget the period.

The line was about like this, except in four separate places. Buying tickets, taking souvenir photos, waiting for the elevator, and waiting for the second elevator. We kept thinking we were free, only to discover another line. But we had fun on the way.

TRUE FACT: The line was so crammed that I went through a turnstile with another person! I started walking through and there was some unusual resistance from the turnstile. I discovered that the cute Latina girl behind me was so close on my heels she got gathered in by the rotating arm of the turnstile. It was the perfect premise for a romantic drama — awkward situational closeness. Until her boyfriend walked up to her and put his arm around her. Make it a romantic comedy.

When we finally got to the top, it was one of those rare moments when everything was looking down and things were still looking up. (Note: for those of you who think I am overusing this pun, I will use it at least one more time in this post.)

And my personal favorite:

Here are some pictures of us so you know we were actually there.

Besides us, there were also other people up there.

We were quick up there because Josh was waiting to hang out with us. I hadn’t expected four long lines to wait through. But I did see this on the way out:

Then we met up with Josh. He was a bandmate and fellow architecture major when I was back at Wash U. He is now doing architect stuff in NYC. It was great catching up with him. He gave me a mini-tour of the immediate area, including some interesting architectural background of several of the recent and not-so-recent buildings.

And now some important “I was in New York with Josh Homer” pictures.

If I may be serious for a second. Seeing sights is great, and I have enjoyed that tremendously on this trip. But as a friend of mine once said, in her second language, “It doesn’t matter where I’m, what I’m doing. The matter is people whom I’m with.” True that. And that’s what I have loved the most about this project. Through Couchsurfing I have met some of the world’s best people, I have been shown the little treasures of the places I visit, not just the grand touristy sites. The major tourist attractions do have some appeal (and obviously, some intrinsic merit), but I feel like tourism is more about self-gratification than self-enrichment. It’s a difference of focus, but a significant one. By staying with locals and asking them about what they like to do and the places they like to go I experience a place on a personal level, through the eyes of another person, and I am the better for it.

For example, we spent a good bit of time chatting with our awesome host Angie Han and some of her fellow CS friends. I got an inside perspective on some of the NYC goings-on that I could never have gotten from a map or a tour guide. They recommended (and took us to) some great local restaurants. When talking with Josh I got the inside scoop on the construction of a lot of buildings (which I still find highly interesting), as well as a lot of information on his church (Times Square Church — over 100 different nationalities represented in their congregation — an amazing, unusual, and commendable achievement for a church). This, my friends, is the way to travel.

Here is a great picture of our host warily eyeing a hamburger about the same size as her head.

INTERESTING TIDBIT: Angie’s Korean name is one vowel away from JH’s name! Compare:
JH: 종훈
Angie: 정훈

Next, morning, we hopped on the train, then hopped over to our car, hopped in, and then the car itself hopped down to New Jersey.

NEXT: I look up and hop to it!

Connecticut!

Posted on August 29, 2008 by Zach

Refreshed from our delightful day on Martha’s Vineyard, we headed over a bridge

and then drove on some roads for a while until we came to Hartford.

In my travels, I have noticed a recurring theme about all US cities. See if you can notice it too:

Did you get it? That’s right — buildings. Every city I’ve been to so far has buildings.

“That’s ridiculous.”

Yes. In addition to buildings, most cities also seem to have plenty of people, such as the fun person we met in Hartford, known as The Backpacking Granny. She is an exuberant person with a mission to personally start a school in Ghana through networking and donations. Pretty awesome.

She was our first host in CT and we had a blast chatting with her and meeting some of her friends from the Atheist Society. (That may not be the actual name but it was something about atheists.)

In addition to atheists, there were also some crazy people:

The two happening girls in this photo were our hosts for our second night in CT.

“Okay,” says AG, “overlooking the ‘happening’ issue for the nonce, you had two separate hosts?”

Funny you would ask! The girl in the middle is Emily Hanink, who volunteered her friend’s house (Megan, on the right) for hosting us both. Pretty sweet. I would love to be able to volunteer some friends’ homes for other people to stay at, since I know some people with pretty nice homes. But it takes a special relationship to be able to do that.

Also pictured above hanging out with Megan is a pretty sweet dude named Tom (right). Tom was a keyboardist, and they had a bunch of instruments set up in their basement. So he and several other dudes recorded some cool stuff for me.

I also met a great guy named Steve (whose last name I will figure out someday), who is a great classical guitarist. Meaning he plays classical guitar literature, not just the instrument. I also recorded him later that night.

Next morning, we went outside to see the guineas.

Here is a closeup of the male eating. He was awesome because he would always run at you to frighten you away from his babies but he would always wuss out and stop before he got close enough to actually scare you.

Then we headed out for coffee and to visit the farmer’s market. There were some fun signs on the way.

Not long afterwards, we were on our way to NYC, with no host lined up.

NEXT: NYC just barely avoids making my list of “cities I dislike for relatively arbitrary reasons.”

Martha’s Vineyard

Posted on August 28, 2008 by Zach

Continuing with the misnamed regions, Martha’s Vineyard is more of an island than a vineyard, and it never belonged to anyone named Martha. What was that guy Bartholomew Gosnold thinking in 1602 when he named the island?

Happy thoughts, most probably. We were certainly thinking happy thoughts during our time on the Vineyard.

MPM: It began like an ordinary ferry ride…

That’s right, we took a ferry to the island and it was great. It was about a 45-minute journey.

We pulled up right at the house of our awesome host, Anne DeBettencourt.

She is the mother of Laura Irby (who you may remember from such posts as: Indianapolis, IN) and she had insisted that I visit her on Martha’s Vineyard when I made my way up there. “Sure,” I said. So we set a day aside for some much needed R & R on the Vineyard.

There are several businesses operating out of her home, such as bike and car rentals. For years she lived off the incoming ferry traffic, helping tourists find their way around the island, and we reaped the benefits of her experience. She pulled out the map of the island and gave us a recommended course, then told us we could borrow her Jeep.

What?? Really?? Um, okay.

Our plan was to drive over to the west side of the island to watch the sunset, reputed to be extraordinarily beautiful. We also saw plenty of other beautiful sights on the way there.

“So… you didn’t make it in time for the sunset eh?” asks Attractive Girl knowingly. “The sunset seems to be already happening in that picture.”

Well, we were close. There was still some light when we reached the coast.

But then it took a while to find parking. Evidently the population of the island roughly sextuples over the summer, not even counting the tourists, so it was a rather occupied area. But here, for your enjoyment, are some of the photos we managed to get.

When we got back, we were further amazed to discover that Anne ordered a pizza for us. After walking over to pick it up,

we enjoyed a fine evening of eating delicious pizza and chatting with Anne about a wide variety of topics.

Next morning, we were off to the beach!

We swam, enjoyed some sunshine, and played with rocks for several hours.

All too soon, it was time to board the ferry and head back to Falmouth, MA and the Lovemobile.

Thanks a lot, Anne, for an awesome and relaxing 24 hrs. on Martha’s Vineyard!

NEXT: Something interesting!

The Amazing Rhode Island!

Posted on August 26, 2008 by Zach

This island is actually physically attached to the continental landmass, i.e. it is not an island. Amazing!

As with all drives in New England, this too was scenic, as is evidenced by this too-late shot of an amazing scene that recently passed by on a huge bridge.

We spent a pleasant night in Providence with our host, a fun girl named Laura Bridge. Next morning, we were off to Warren, where we met up with a homey by the name of Adrian. Now, this particular homey happened to be very good at playing guitars. So we took some of his guitars and went into this house which he and his father are busy restoring/renovating.

Adrian happened to be very good at playing guitar, so it’s awesome that he happened to have guitars and I happened to have recording equipment.

For the last Loop I didn’t have mic stands. This time around I’ve been noticing a lack of music stands.

It was a good time.

NEXT: An island that really is an island!

Boston, MA

Posted on August 24, 2008 by Zach

Boston! Home of roughly 3.2 billion universities, the city is basically a giant college campus with occasional children.

“Haha!” laughs Attractive Girl, revealing some very attractive creases at the corners of her mouth. “I bet you met many musicians to record there, eh?”

Hey Attractive Girl, are you by chance from Minnesota?

“No, I’m from Tennessee. But I have been to Minneapolis several times.”

Oh, OK. The ‘eh?’ threw me off. Anyway, I have begun to notice an odd phenomenon — the larger the music scene in a city, the more silent its musicians. I have gotten more responses from smaller cities than I have from larger cities — perhaps because the musicians are busy working in larger towns and aren’t looking for more gigs. Or perhaps it’s been just pure chance.

So, I didn’t find many musicians to record in Boston. In this paper I will discuss the trip to Boston, recording in Boston, sightseeing in Boston, and my noise-finding expedition in Boston.

I. The Trip to Boston

The trip to Boston was very scenic, as the highway we followed was very near the coast (see Figure A).

II. Recording in Boston

When we arrived in Boston, I met fellow Couchsurfer and guitarist Chris Hughes. He plays guitar, and his roommate is from Omaha.

Chris recorded some guitar for me for a tune, then we had to be off to meet our host, a very fun girl who goes by the name of Liz Pratt. Probably because that is really her name. Her father’s name is Lance. She lives with a handful of others in a long, narrow, tall house.

They were all of them fun and gracious hosts, and we had a great time chatting with them before we all hit the hay.*

III. Sightseeing in Boston

Next day, I still had no bites from the ads. A whole day in Boston with no one to record — I feel some sightseeing coming on!

We went walking all over Boston. There were buildings there.

There were also some other buildings there.

Not to mention scenic sidewalks.

And parks.

Boston is “America’s Walking City,” and cars everywhere pretty much give pedestrians the right of way. Boston’s streets go every which way, with diagonals and curving streets and train tracks largely interfering with any type of organized grid idea. But, oddly, the alleys were remarkably straight:

I thought perhaps I could find some sweet dudes over at Berklee to record, so we headed in that direction. I chatted up some peeps and talked to some people that looked like they were in charge, but didn’t end up securing any recordings. Part of the problem was that I had somehow managed to get one of the only parking spots in the city remotely near my host, and I was loathe to leave that spot, so we hadn’t driven, just walked, which meant I didn’t have my equipment.

I did buy a Berklee hoodie so I could spy around the school better though. I walked around and checked out the equipment, classrooms, and practice rooms. Pretty sweet place. Made me want to go back to music school again.

IV. My Noise-Finding Expedition in Boston

A delightful girl named Alisa Rutherford-Fortunati had contacted me earlier about finding noises in Boston, and I was all about that. So we arranged to meet up that evening. I couldn’t take all my gear with me, so we used her little handheld voice recorder, for suboptimal but usable results.

We walked all around hunting for noises to record. First: the subway station!

“Oh, that’s a great idea!” says Attractive Girl. “Trains and whistles and air brakes and announcements!”

Are you really from Tennessee? You don’t really have an accent.

“I sometimes say ‘y’all.'”

Hmm. Anyway, yes, but we actually didn’t go for those. See, we didn’t go to just any subway station. We went to a special station with fun interactive noisemaking devices. Evidently a project by students at MIT or some such, some of the stations have levers on the walls which operate various devices, all of which make various interesting noises. There was one that flexed a giant sheet of metal, yielding a big wobbly wowowow sound. There was also this:

Alisa had to be careful to retract her arm before the next train, which she fortunately managed just fine.

Then we surfaced and went about recording city noises like trains, traffic, that little beeping sound the crosswalks made, car horns, etc.

(I’d give a dollar to someone who makes those into a funny animation.)

We also frolicked on a playground in Frog Park! There were many cutesy anthropomorphized frog statues there. There was also a sign, which some clever person had vandalized.

In this paper I have discussed my trip to Boston, recording in Boston, sightseeing in Boston, and my noise-finding expedition in Boston. Thank you.

NEXT: An island that is actually part of a continent! Like, contiguously part of the continental landmass!

* “Hit the hay” is an American idiom meaning “go to sleep”. So far as I know there was no actual hay in their house.

Portland, ME

Posted on August 22, 2008 by Zach

ME! Not to be confused with myself and I, ME is actually the northeastmost state in the Union.

We arrived in Portland to find a pleasant city with a healthy dose of “small bayside shipping town” feel. When we got the the edge of the State, it was our first time seeing the Atlantic Ocean so we found a beautiful spot along the Eastern Promenade to watch the ships come sailing in, etc.

We sat and enjoyed the salty air, cool weather, and the great view for a good while.

In particular, I liked the one with the cool sails.

Then it was time to find the house of Phil James, shakuhachist. A shakuhachist is a person who plays the shakuhachi.

“Didn’t you, in fact, make up the word ‘shakuhachist’?” asks Mr. Yerfulovit.

Yes. Anyway, more information on shakuhachi can be found on Phil’s site. It’s a cool instrument, and Phil is quite skilled at playing it.

By the way, we saw this great sign while trying to find Phil’s house.

Now back to Phil. We recorded some shakuhachi on several tunes, as well as some solo shakuhachi, using a larger, lower-piched one.

Phil was a great guy and a pleasure to work with. Then, after packing everything up, we were on our way out when I saw something that looked like an instrument sitting near the door.

“What’s that?”
“A harmonium.”
“Really.”
“Yes.”
“…”

So we set all the stuff back up and got him on harmonium for a couple tunes.

Then we packed everything up again, and suddenly on our way out I noticed something resembling a piano just sitting there by the door.

“What’s that?”
“A piano.”
“Really?”
“No, it’s actually nothing.”
“Oh okay then. Take care!”
“…”

After recording Phil, we were off to dinner with fellow Couchsurfer Alissa Greenberg, who was in Maine for a bit before returning to her home in Boston. She recommended a place on the coast called the Lobster Shack. I was the only one of the three of us who had lobster. It was incredibly fresh and delicious. Also expensive, but I figured it was probably my only chance to try Maine lobster in Maine.

It was dusk. It was also beautiful.

Then we made a short drive to the place she was staying, which happened to be private property very close to the sea. Evidently due to some sweet familial hookups she can sometimes live at this amazing house on this amazing location. More stunning views ensued.

The mosquitos were feasting on our warm flesh, so we couldn’t stay long. But it was lovely.

Then we were off north to a remote place somewhere between Bucksport and Bangor to meet our hosts, Molly and Shawn Mercer (pictured with children and pets):

Their house was off the beaten path. Also, off the power grid. They use solar power, drink well water, keep animals for food, and even made their own house using wood from their property! Don’t worry about deforestation in this instance. They still have far more than their share of trees.

They have chickens, turkeys, cows, and dogs.

Shawn is also a singer/songwriter, and does a bit of traveling to play various places. We had some good discussion about music and teaching (he’s a teacher, and I was before this project).

Next morning, we loaded up,

followed them out on their long, long “driveway,”

and were off to our next stop — Boston!

NEXT: San Fransisco!

Hit the Road, Zach

Being a recounting of Zach's Recording Tour of Love