Day 11- New York City

Day 11 - New York City- Calvary church-Feb. 29

Alright, lets get to New York before I decide to put it off any longer. I'm going to attempt to be concise, but, as you've probably noticed, that's not one of my stronger qualities.
As we creeped up the east coast, I was afraid to fall asleep, worrying I'd miss the first glances of New York City. But my sleepiness trumped fear and pulled me in. I woke up to Adam yelling from the front seat "Aisha, we're here! Look! Well, if you want to." And there it was, New York, outside my window. I saw the statue of liberty back in the distance and the cluster of enormously tall buildings stretching up to the clouds. We drove through China town and through the city amongst the taxi's and parked right in front of the church that would surpass all my expectations.

The Calvary church is the most beautiful structure I've ever seen. Imagine the fancy Roman Cathedrals you might study in an art class, with vaulted ceilings, stain glass images of the Biblical cast, dark wooden pews, and a stone sculpture of Christ at the nave. My words won't do it justice. You'll have to see the pictures.

I stood around for a bit while Slow Six sound checked and wow, those guys are so good. They're comprised of drums, electric guitar, keyboards/(synth's maybe?), and two violinists, and of course you know where my attention went. Their violinists were amazing. They ran them through all sorts of effects pedals that transformed the tone, but their melodies were so cool. I felt like a star struck kid standing in amazement. Had I been invisible I probably would've jumped around in freak out mode, jaw dropped. I love watching people play who inspire me to dash away and practice for hours. They made me want to be better.
I decided they probably didn't want some girl mind gawking at them while they practiced, so I ran off somewhere. Later, the Trapdoor-

Balmorhea crew went for dinner at a sandwich shop around the corner. New York is cold! But the food was good. I was disappointed however that I didn't hear one New York accent the whole time. oh well. When we got back, we got to sound checking. The grand piano in there was so clear and gorgeous. Its tones just danced beauty into your ears and all around the room. It lingered, but in the best way possible. After spending a bunch of time trying to get a mysterious hum from Mike's guitar to dissipate, Dave saved the day and Trapdoor set up.

We opened with Shekinah. I'd missed hearing that song with piano in it and oh man, Nicole, we thought the First Baptist chapel was amazing--this was like that chapel times 10. I'll have to get the rest of the set from Adam (he's been keeping a book with all our set lists in it). But I remember Elizabeth sounding really good. Rob was tearing it up on piano, though after the show, he didn't even remember what he played. I don't know how to describe it other than this fast cascading descension of a melody, sparkling from high to low. It sounded so big. It was great. Song of Hooch and the Priest was spot on and the second half with all the singing replays in my mind. Especially when all the instruments dropped out and our voices took over. They echoed and blended so well, each of us tangling into one. It was the perfect place. That's what Trapdoor should sound like.

It was also the perfect place for Balmorhea. In Rivers Arms fashion, we started with San Solomon, the first of about seven piano songs. We had to capitalize on that grand. I don't even know the words to convey what it sounded like. That piano made every song sound all the more expressive, infinitely more delicate and all the more graceful. Winter was thunderous and dramatic, especially the second half. Lament, the piano-violin duet that usually makes me nervous, went off pretty much without a hitch. I don't think I play that song sad enough though. I'm going for tears, people. Real tears. In the middle of the set, at some point when I wasn't playing, I remember staring off, zoning out in the sound, stuck in a smile. That setting was perfect, room was perfect. I realized I was sitting in the middle of New York City, before a fairly large audience, playing music that I believe in, inside an epic cathedral with amazing musicians and I was so happy. What more could I ask for?

Afterwards, a guy came up and asked for our autographs. He was really excited about the music and so happy that he saw us. crazy. I sat at the merch booth and felt important for a while, on my post-show high. That's a fun place to be. I always feel like I've done something worthwhile. Next, Slow Six played and blew my mind. Again, jaw dropping. They turned down all the lights and had a projection of morphing lights and colors. Somehow, they became a group of moving silhouettes. It was so good! The drums sounded so big in there, and their violin lines were awesome. Again, words fail me. Go buy a cd.

We stood around afterwards, excited about all that had just happened. I watched the slow six guys from afar. One of the violinists came up to me after the Trapdoor set and said in a very suave manner, "Good playing kiddo," and talked with me for a while. I felt star-struck again when I remembered that the same guy just played and blew us all away, and he complimented me. Too nice of him.

So my efforts at being concise have failed. So I'll go faster. Afterwards we ate at Lyric's Diner a few blocks away and laughed a lot. Our waiters were funny without knowing it, and Mike's storytelling is always hilarious. He's so great at re-telling things. His voices, facial expressions and gestures are comic gold. After a late dinner, we went back to the church and stayed with Alex's friend Ben. Mike did some Chin ups on a bar. Then Dave hopped up. Then I shocked them all and did some with ease. haha. Seven years of gymnastics shows itself randomly in my life. I swear, they train you to be soldiers. After that, it was sleep time. Such a good night.

-Aisha