david taus

Rivendell

music: Yonder Mountain String Band- Quincy, CA, 7/6/02

The great coast-to-coast trip is underway, but only officially. I have spent today and half of yesterday at home in Milwaukee. The past week or so has been a prologue of sorts, a stopping off with some friendly folk, a re-traversing of roads already taken. We tore out of Boston last Sunday and headed for the Phish show at SPAC. As luck would have it, AJM’s mail order landed us in the orchestra pit, third row. Third row. I’d never been that close. it was a good opportunity to see the band into whom I’ve sunk so much time and money and attention at close range. It was a good opportunity to watch them carefully, catch an intimate glimpse at their interplay. The show itself had its moments and got there at several points, but I think that I’ve pretty much had my peak experience with this band called Phish. Alpine tomorrow and Saturday will be a party: loads of fun but a large, impersonal experience. Coventry should be the same. Meanwhile, the seeds of two new original songs have been planted and will have time to germinate over the summer. AJM and I are working at it, plugging away, gettin’ there.

We made the late-night drive to Syracuse after SPAC and rolled in at about 3:30 AM. DFC and DBGrandi were still up, waiting to meet and greet. And although I have been indebted to DFC for setting me up with blogspace and email, I had yet to meet him face to face. That all got resolved early Monday morning. We all spent the longest day of the year sleeping very late, bumming around Syracuse, and relaying tales of here and there. Thus it was that AnizeCon ‘04 came to pass. We even saw Reid bike by our car, which he of course has no idea about. We’ll check in with the Anize satellite office out West in the coming weeks, but for the first AnizeCon it was great. I’m waiting for t-shirts.

We made an all-day push into the midwest and landed in Chicago Monday night. I crashed hard and drove up to the Brew on Tuesday, and here I’ve been. I liken the two stops in Syracuse and Milwaukee to the first two stops that Bilbo Baggins and his party of Dwarves make in The Hobbit: The Last Homely House, and Rivendell. Each were friendly places, places for rest and recreation, and each were located along the road that will be taken, but not yet in uncharted territory. This is my true jumping-off point, Milwaukee is my Rivendell. From here we venture down roads I have not yet travelled and into untold adventure. For now, here on my outpost on the edge of the Frontier, I can at least imagine fantastic journeys…more from the road. Probably. Perhaps not. It’s a brave thing going out your door, you know.