[mjbljb]

Well day two of the triple play, my wife and sister-in-law drop my friend
Jon and I
off in Brunswick and we take the commuter train into New York.
 We spent the afternoon going down to the WTC and the Wintergarden. I was
something I
had to do. The lower part of Manhattan is blocked below Canal St and you can
only drive
there if you have a permit (work,live) or are emergency or construction
personnel. The
first thing we noticed getting out of the cab was the smell. It's that
permeating burned plastic smell. All the cars that are parked for even a
short amount of time have a
coat of white particulate dust covering them. There are military, police and
firemen
everywhere. At about 2 blocks around ground zero is a construction wall
about 15 feet
high protected by troops. It looks like a war zone. The pile of rubble that
was the WTC
is still high enough to be seen over the wall 2 blocks away! As we stood
there an elderly
Hispanic man turned and spoke to me " I was there that day, on the 27th
floor delivering
food".... We walked around to the Wintergarden, a huge steel glass atrium
that was in the
WFC across from the WTC,it's in ruin. I had a couple of reasons to do this
trip to
the WTC/WFC. My daughter Lily and I had seen Robert Fripp there a few years
ago, just
a sublime 2 concerts between which we had gone up the Worlds Trade Center
Towers. I have
that memory that is so bittersweet. And my friend Kerry Mendez lost her
husband Chuck a
fireman in the bombing. He was 34 years old and a great guy.
	After a short meditation (the feeling is just too overwhelming to take for
long)
we walked back to catch a taxi. As we walked past a barricade I made eye
contact with
a NYC policeman. We shook hands.  We were both fighting back the tears. He
said "I know"
that was all that could be said. Gabe I don't understand your comments on
Will Hoge's
drummer wearing an NYFD shirt. I don't think it could be more appropriate.
Sorry
to ramble with the NMOC part of the story but as I said this was a very
important part
of the trip.
	Well we went out for sushi and then hopped over to Times Sq. I must admit
the
idea of seeing the Oils at the WWF complex was a little unsettling but I was
willing
to give it my best. The club and personnel were great.The 2 tickets extra I
had went (only at face value!) as the show  was sold out. I spoke with a
woman from Liquid 8 (BMG) the Oils new US label. She confirmed they would be
back "Marchish" and I gave her the PWorks address. I said if you want to
know about the Oils fans, this is the list to see.
 	We were went in (the security was pretty good, detectors and such) and
after
getting beers and shots we settled in on the second tier stage left next to
Jim's spot.
Well if NJ was a good show NY just f****ing went off! From the blast of RW
the energy
of the crowd seemed to push the band even higher. We got 4 songs from
10,9,8... Short Memory, Read about it ,P&tP and Only the strong!!! Yes!. We
were slamming. There were a bunch of Aussies around us and we were all so
into it.  Peter spoke more than at Birch Hill and everyone was cooking. I
was great to watch from Jim's side of the stage as we were on  Martin's the
previous night. Jimmy Mogine is a monster. He is so calm yet is ripping  off
these wicked riffs, arppegiated picking or just cranking out the grind!!!
The keys definitely were an issue as they were too low (Dead Heart outro) or
too loud (strings on the end of "In the Valley". But these are minor points,
the Oils and the crowdwere firing on all cylinders and it was like and
explosion going off. The new stuff
went off to a great reception especially "Too much Sunshine". "No Time for
Games" was
also great. Again I was hoping for more RW songs as we in the US didn't get
that tour.
The Brittany land bit and getting all those people up on stage during KotM
was great. An Aussie bloke we met said they wouldn't trust the audience in
Australia to do something like that. I was the kind of show that is so great
yet exhausting that you feel like you were just tripping or something.
	Well I hopped on the redeye Amtrack back to Rhode Island for a soccer game
Sat morning and then...One more show to go....